Ask an Artist on the 11th! - A3on11 - Best Advice?

This month's question: "What is the best advice you’ve ever received"?

I’m going to assume that this question is about comic art, otherwise I’d have a smart ass answer like “always eat your vegetables” or “never drink liquor after beers” or some such…

I’ve been a student of comic art for a long time, and ALWAYS will be. Because of this, I’ve had the luxury of getting to know a number of comic professionals. Each one of them has taught me something in their own way. When it comes to helpful advice, here are some of the highlights that really helped me.


The late SETH FISHER (R.I.P.) was a terrific talent and a super nice guy. In my early days he helped me a TON via emails and scans. Here are a few quotes from Seth’s correspondence to me that I found fantastically useful:


"Just draw to feel good and always raise the bar for yourself
on every picture you draw. in this way you will always move forward.

No matter what you draw it is still a vast
simplification of the object so don’t worry about perfection.
Perfection is dull. Character is interesting. Give your objects
and people character.

I’m guessing that the bottom line for you that distinguishes between really good pages and the mediocre is just the amount of time that you put into the page. A good page takes a long time to make and is often redrawn several times to make it work. This is a secret part of the process of course. People assume it comes out right the first try".


GQ here again….This last quote REALLY flicked on a light bulb in my head, as in my early days that was exactly what I did assume! Learning this ‘secret’ from Seth really helped me.


JOE MADUREIRA is another artist who’s an inspiration to me, and I’m a fan of his work. I found an online interview with him where he said:


"The best advice I can give you is to pick up a few books on animation. I LOVE animation and I really study how things move, react, etc. Im sure my love of animation has rubbed off on me in more ways than I can imagine".

That coupled with his speaking about ( and I’m paraphrasing a bit here as I cant find the exact quote) the fact that :

“you’re never as good as you think you are”

I found to very helpful to keep in mind…and I still do.

TY TEMPLETON has given me so much terrific advice over the last 4 years its hard to know where to start!!! To keep it brief, I’ll summarize the most helpful thing he ever taught me in 2 words:

“Narrative flow”.

It’s all about leading the eye around the page on purpose, and correctly. (I touched upon this a bit in the very first ‘A3on11’ right here…it’s the red line on the rough layout page)
The last piece of advice is more general, and comes from one of my favorite writers, BERNARD CORNWELL:

"In the end you have to write the book. Do it, and remember that everyone began just like you, sitting at a table and secretly doubting that they would ever finish the task. But keep at it. A page a day and you’ve written a book in a year! And enjoy it! Writing, as many of us have discovered, is much better than working".

Substitute the word ‘drawing’ in there for ‘writing’ and voila, instant comic artist advice. This quote is printed out and hanging above my drawing board to this very day.

That’s some of the advice that worked for me, and I really hope it’s helpful to some of you.

As always, if you have a question or want me to expand on any of the above…just ask! I’ll be back next month on the 11th to answer another question. They can range from very technical comic art ones, to very general questions- there is no such thing as a bad question. What I answer will depend on what gets asked. Feel free to email me at gibsonquarter27@yahoo.com , ask it in the comments section below, or shoot me a message on Facebook.

Other 'A3on11' blog posts can be found by clicking here.

Cheers!

Ask an Artist on the 11th! - A3on11 - What Materials do you use?

The question this time around is: What materials do you use?

My working methods and supplies used have really changed since my "One pencil" days of long ago.

Here is a quick shot of just about all my 'tools of the trade' as it were. You cant see the photoshop program, but it's a big part of my work now too.





I use colored pencils alot more lately for layouts and underdrawing. I try to keep the gestural stuff (energy and lively lines) a different color than the tigher top pencil layer, where I'll lock in the parts I like while tightening things up. At this point I'll switch between technical and taditional pencils depending on what I'm rendering.

Once I'm done this part (often on seperate pencils in my sketchbook) I'll scan and throw in the individual section into photoshop to play around with. Photoshop is super helpful in the 'tweaking' of the page to help make it more dynamic when called for. Things like adding more of an angle to the panel, enlarging or shrinking etc, are all the types of descisions I'm confirming here. But all the while doing this, I'm keeping an eye on the layouts I've done previously.



Once the page is laid out in a manner I'm happy with,(and there is enough room for word ballons, sfx, etc) it gets printed out on quality paper sized at 11x17.

The inking starts and I'm now using lots of brush work (brushes size 2 and 3) for line weights and organic objects. After that a LARGE portion of the inks are done with a crowquill, Hunt 102 almost exclusively. Lastly the spotting of black gets the big old Sharpie marker treatment. Lastly, the touch ups are done with white ink -again with a crow quill- and I'm done!



I hope this answers the question!


Previous month's 'ask an artist' articles can be found over here : A3on11

Remember, I’ll be answering any questions you ask on the 11th of every month right here. Questions can range from very basic ones about general art creation and processes, to very technical comic creation ones. To shoot me a question, just email me ( gibsonquarter27@yahoo.com ), ask me on Facebook, or throw it in the comments section here. What I talk about just depends on what gets asked! Thanks for the question. Keep 'em coming. See you next month.

Ask an Artist on the 11th! - A3on11 - Timing with publishing?

This month's question is: "How far ahead do you work?"

Hopefully WAAAYY ahead of the deadlines...but that aint always the case! It's usually about 2-3 months from the time the page leaves my drawing board to when it gets published in the comic. For example, I'm currently working on pages for the next issue of WASTED which will be published in and around May.

I'm also just finishing up some Zarjaz pages which are set to be published in time for the comic expo in London mid-March. Admittedly, I'm cutting it a bit close on that one.

There is also the one comic that took about 8 years from when I drew it until it saw the light of day...that story is over here.

Comic covers have a much longer life cycle, as they need to be done very early for marketing purpose. (Website promo, the Previews catalogue, etc.) The next cover for Wasted was done back here, and that was done in early November. It'll be out in May, so that's like 6 months or so.

The publishing delay is frustrating to me. Once I finish the pages, I'm obviously happy with them or they wouldn't be finished! At this point I want to show EVERYBODY what I'm up to, and how they look. Problem is, publishers hate that and it will often spoil part of the story. (Spoiler alert- Johnny K. shoots a junkie!) You know, that type of thing. So...by the time the actual issue comes out, I'm usually thinking, "yea it's ok, but you should see these NEW PAGES I'm working on now...they really rock!" Unfortunately that art wont be out for about 3 months. The vicious cycle continues. ;-)

That's why I sneak in previews on my blog. It lets me my sanity, and show a little art to the world without getting in too much trouble.


Previous month's 'ask an artist' articles can be found over here : A3on11


Remember, I’ll be answering any questions you ask on the 11th of every month right here. Questions can range from very basic ones about general art creation and processes, to very technical comic creation ones. To shoot me a question, just email me (address on the right side on this blog), ask me on Facebook, or throw it in the comments section here. What I talk about just depends on what gets asked! Thanks for the question. Keep 'em coming. See you next month.

Ask an Artist on the 11th! - A3on11 - Inspiration?

This month's question is: "What inspires you?"

I honestly think when people ask me this they want to hear about some mystical creative secret that only a few folks know, and aren't allowed to speak about except in hushed tones. (ie: The first rule of ART CLUB is do NOT talk about ART CLUB!)

The reality? When it comes to inspiration...deadlines help.

Seriously.

As much as we like to think of comic art as true 'art', and take all the time in the world to create it -"I'm an artist dammit, it'll be done when it's done!"- the reality is when drawing for publishers you just dont have this luxury. Comic art comes with a timeline.

This means that SOMETIMES you have to crank up your own inspiration and draw when you really dont feel like it. When this happens to me, I usually flip through some comic works from my favorite artists, and surf over to deviantart. Just looking at other great artists can help get the creative juices flowing. The trick here is to not spend too much time surfing, reading, and generally 'getting ready'.

The right music always helps too. I've gotten some great band and disk suggestions from other artists, as we all seem to have a rather voracious appetite for tunes! Occupational hazard I guess. The right music can really get me ready and zoned in to draw.

If these options haven't got me going, I use my ace in the hole technique...I go to my bookshelf and grab Stephen King's ON WRITING book. I flip it open to page 151 ( hardcvover version). It's here that he writes "if you read alot , write a lot", and proceeds to tell the story of the writer Anthony Trollope. Anthony's "day job was as a clerk in the British Postal Department, and he wrote for two and a half hours each morning before leaving for work. This schedule was ironclad. If he was in mid sentance when the two and a half hours expired, he left that sentance unfinished until the next morning. And if he happened to finish one of his 600 page hevyweight novels with 15 minutes of the session remaining, he wrote THE END, set the manuscript aside and began work on the next book."


Sure he's talking about writing and not drawing, but that's not the point. For some reason, just thinking about that level of dedication to one's craft motivates the hell out of me and makes me want to get the pencil moving. So that's what inspires me. I hope that helps. Excuse me, I'm psyched now and gotta go draw something. ;-)

Previous month's 'ask an artist' articles can be found here: A3on11 !

Ask an Artist on the 11th! - A3on11 - books?

Welcome to ‘Ask an Artist on the 11th, or ‘A3 on 11’ as I like to call it. It's a little early this month, as I'm keen to get right to it.

This month’s question comes to me via Facebook:
“Are there any books on art techniques/comic creating that "you" personally recommend?”

This is a perfect question for me, since I’ve read a TON of art books. (yes, a metric ton, I checked!)I mean, I have a really large collection of ‘em. This is partly due to the fact that I love to learn, and also due to an early phase I suspect lots of folks go through when first starting out.

See, back in the early days I thought if I somehow bought and read JUST the right book, everything would fall into place, and I’d become a great artist. An illustration ‘short cut’ as it were…no such luck. So, let me preface this discussion by warning that books are only 20-30% of what can help you. The rest is a combination of drive, focus and talent in my opinion. And practice! Lots of practice! I heard somewhere that every artist has 1000 bad drawings in them, you just have to get them out before you can really see improvement. I don’t know if this is true, but I sure choose to believe it.

I also believe that part of what will make a book ‘good’ for you, is where you are with your art. I’ve read a few books where it soon became apparent that it was a case of ‘too much too soon’ for it to benefit me. Basically, it was ahead of my time. I’ve gone back to books like this later on and they were much more helpful. Only THEN was I ready to internalize what they were trying to tell me…know what I mean? I think this is worth keeping in the back of your mind while you read art books. Sometimes it might be the right book at the wrong time.

By now you are probably thinking, GQ just say what damn books you like already! OK, alright! There are 2 books that I continually refer to, and probably couldn’t live without.

The first is ‘Gesture Drawing for Animation’ by Walt Stanchfield. This was available out on the web as download at one point, and that’s when I first read it. My copy is well loved, and I refer to it constantly. Basically, it helped loosen up my figure drawing, and helped me make a quantum leap forward with my art. With chapter titles like “Go for the Truth”, “A Visual Vocabulary for Drawing” , “Elements of the Pose”, & “A Sense of Story - talk to your audience through drawing”, I can’t think of a better more comprehensive art book. The first page of my dog eared copy says:

”Draw ideas, not things; action, not poses; gestures, not anatomical structures”

Reading that was like a light switch going off in my head. If that quote appeals to you, try and track this book down.
It has since been collected, updated and formally released as a 2 book set called Drawn to Life (The Walt Stanchfield Lectures) I bought these books, but I still prefer my old, worn, highlighted original copy the best. ;-) All the same material is in the new releases, but they messed up the order of the lectures and it doesn’t seem to flow as well to me . Still worth a place on your shelf though!


The 2nd book that really helped me advance my comic art was- and is- 'FORCE -Dynamic life drawing for animators’ by Michael D. Mattesi. This book really helped me figure out why some art has more energy and well…force, than others. Since energy and motion are elements I really like to play with, it helped give me a few tricks and tips to use to help turn up the volume in these areas as it were. (This one goes to 11…it’s one louder!)


With chapters like “Seeing life”, “Forceful Form” and “Forceful Shape” it stays very close to what the title promises. It deals with rhythym, balance and straight vs. curved lines -how to use them to maximize the force of your art. You know, the stuff that Bruce Timm and other great cartoonists seem to do effortlessly. For some inexplicable reason the author put a section about animals as the last chapter which I skipped over. Hey, it’s his book, I guess he can do what he wants. Don’t let the livestock section fool you… I highly recommend this book .


Remember, I’ll be answering any questions you ask on the 11th of every month right here. Questions can range from very basic ones about general art creation and processes, to very technical comic creation ones. To shoot me a question, just email me (address on the right side on this blog), ask me on Facebook, or throw it in the comments section here. What I talk about just depends on what gets asked!

See you next month!



Commercial break- If you'd like to support small press, please go here and grab a copy of Undertow #1.

If you missed last month's 'A3on11', it was all about the process of creating a page of comic art from the script to the finished page...it can be found right here.