I’ve reviewed how to come up with ideas for comics, told you the basics of writing for comics, and then some more detail on it. Now we’re going to actually talk about DRAWING comics. The process of actually drawing your comic is divided up into pencilling, lettering, and inking. Those will each have their own entry. This particular blog post will consist of focusing on the drawing aspect of comics.
Here’s a tough one: do you need to be able to draw to make comics? Think it over…time’s up! The answer? You DO NOT need to be able to draw to make comics! Hmm…what was that? There’s a few of you out there in Internetland that don’t believe me? I’ll explain. There are some people out there who do NOT draw at all. There are some out there who use photographs to make comics. They might use photographs of people, action figures, stock images, etc. One example of this is the Alien Loves Predator webcomic. Some out there like David Rees use clipart to make their comics such as the rather left-wing cartoon collection Get Your War On.
There are those who draw minimally for their works. A very good example of this would be Matt Feazell who is well known for drawing stick figures. There are many more examples of stylized, exaggerated, and/or minimal drawing methods of drawing. Many of these can be found on the newspaper comics pages of today and yesterday. Look at Charles Schulz (Peanuts) as well as Bud Fisher (Mutt and Jeff) and Cathy Guisewite (Cathy). So if you can’t draw or don’t feel that you’re good at it, don’t worry about it. There are other people out there who don’t draw well or don’t do so at all.
Contrary to what a lot of people think, drawing is not necessarily some inborn talent that you have or you don’t – it’s actually a skill that you can learn! So how do you go about learning how to draw? Well, luckily there’s no shortage of books out there to use. A number of these are quite affordable though if money is an issue, you can get used copies online or visit your local library.
I can recommend two very handy books. The one is probably one of the best (if not the BEST) books out there and it is titled The New Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Dr. Betty Edwards (Tarcher/Penguin, 1979). This book can teach ANYONE how to draw even if you have no drawing experience or skill. I’ve used this book to great effect – my drawing skills vastly improved. This is also available as a workbook and a video (both in DVD and VHS format). I also advise the Art of Basic Drawing from the Walter Foster company. The Walter Foster publishing company has a variety of books on drawing, painting, calligraphy, and other artistic subjects. What’s more is that their books are quite affordable. You can buy a number of them for around US$10! Continue reading →
I’ve had this image in my head for awhile. I pictured Samantha Macgregor and her older sister, Margaret, just walking along the streets of town. It took a long time to realize that image and put it down on paper. As you can see in this rough pencil, I’m making use of linear perspective, namely one-point. Around the time I started pencilling this comic, I started taking a class in perspective drawing with noted DC/Marvel professional Sal Amendola. While I’m not positive how much use I’ll make of two-point or three-point, it’s still good to know and it has helped my drafting skills here. Anyway, we see the girls here just walking along and talking about their toaster oven. Continue reading 
