Arts, Comics & Movies

How to Draw Comics: Lesson 1

2010-03-01T19:11:00.000-08:00

A good comic book artist can not only draw guys with big testicles and girls with even bigger chesticles. A good comic book artist can draw the environment surrounding said well endowed icons. If you're in denial about the importance of learning to draw more than just ripped bodies, you will not succeed. That's my guarantee to you.

From this spawns the first lesson.

If you don't already have one, get yourself a sketchbook and a pencil. If you can't afford or can't wait to go to the art store because your tech riddled attention and focus have been dwindled down to being measured in farts, then go grab an old textbook or encyclopedia (are there still new ones being printed?) and bring it here. Yes, that's gonna' be your sketchbook. Always remember that a sketchbook isn't for finished polished pieces. A sketchbook is for SKETCHES. The looser, the dirtier, the better. Use the "KISS" mentality. KEEP IT SKETCHY STUPID.

That doesn't mean you should forbid yourself from having a finalized piece in your sketchbook. The 'KISS' mentality is just there to remind you that your sketchbook is for you to brainstorm and feel free to mess up there as much as possible. Perfect your technique in your sketchbook. Then put your learnings on the canvas or illustrator paper, whatever.

OK... Now that you've got your book, start sketching from reference. Go hang out at Barnes and Noble's coffee shop and sketch people there. Different people, different sizes, different gestures, doing different things. Also take different amounts of time drawing them. Take 30 seconds drawing the well educated, white bearded college professor, then take 5 minutes drawing the emo kid that couldn't possibly wear tighter pants. Get outside to a park and draw varying architecture. Cars. Sculptures. Street lights. Storefronts. EVERYTHING.

Now, let's talk technique. Absolutely, for no reason, should you be trying to draw in any style when you are barely learning. The style will find you. It always does.

Keep a loose hand by not having your fingers close to the tip of the pencil. Have them at least halfway back. Learning to draw like this assures an organic, fluid look to your line quality. You'll avoid choppy lines that look like insecure bunny tracks while at the same time, not making your lines so dark and etched in the paper, that you won't be able to erase when you screw up.

Speedy Gonzales has always equaled George Lopez

2010-02-25T13:59:00.000-08:00

In an effort to not make the mouse Speedy Gonzales a cliché, New Line has signed George Lopez to voice the cartoon character in the upcoming flick... Hey, New Line, FYI: George Lopez is more of a stereotypical cartoon than Speedy. At least Speedy was known for being uncommonly fast, whereas George's lazy ass hasn't come up with a new ...schtick since Slowpoke Rodriguez actually got the cheese on his own.

Review of Paranomal Activity the Movie

2010-02-21T19:47:00.000-08:00

We saw 'Paranormal Activity'. Shit gets broken. People lose sleep. Crap gets thrown on the floor and dirty footprints are everywhere. People get dragged out of bed to lose more sleep. Keys get lost and doors get slammed.

So we pretty much spent $45 that night to see our lives. The only difference is that the ghost is invisible, whereas our children aren't. Paranormal Activity, my ass! You want scary? Having to wipe your child's ass after she's been constipated for a day and a half. That'll make you take on a second religion.
The ONLY difference is that they haven't killed me... Yet.
Oh yea, spoiler alert with that sentence. Sorry.

the book of eli movie

2010-01-26T19:07:00.001-08:00

the book of eli review

Post apocalyptic film. Good environment. Would of involved the audience more if we had more exposure to the cool looking world . Very desolate, desperate wild west feel. Accenting the barter system was a nice touch. They talked about the apocalypse that claimed the modern era. That’s a whole spin-off opportunity there. Throughout the movie, they mention some antagonists that are distinguishable by looking at people’s finger tips or nails, but they never went into any explanation of them. Quite a bit of build-up for no delivery. So that sucked. Denzel is believable when kicking ass. Which reminds me; the cinematography during the fight scenes was particularly good when he cuts up the marauders just past the underpass with the dingy woman as bait. There were a couple of times where the camera caught the stunt men too far away from the point of contact, though. Little things like that will remind the viewer that it’s just a movie. Not good.

The plot wasn’t too complicated to follow, yet wasn’t too simple that it communicated in a remedial fashion to the crowd. The message was good. To me, it stated that our tools don’t define us as good or evil. We do it to ourselves. Worth the ticket price, definitely.

The Book Of Eli Trailer

Watch the book of eli movie trailer online by visiting - http://thebookofeli.warnerbros.com

Upcoming Posts: The Book Of Eli Plot Spoilers, Book Of Eli Machete

upcoming comic movies list

2010-01-26T18:12:00.001-08:00

List of Upcoming Movies based on Comic Books

Spider-Man 4 (to be released May 6, 2011 according to http://spiderman.sonypictures.com/)
Human Target
Red
X-Men: First Class
Kick-Ass
Green Lantern
Thor
Iron Man 2

List of Movies Based on Comic Books

Catwoman (2004)
Fantastic Four (2005)
Fantastic Four Rise of the Silver Surfer (2007)
Spider-Man (2002)
Spider-Man 2 (2004)
Spider-Man 3 (2007)
Hulk (2003)
The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Batman (1989)
Batman Returns (1992)
Batman Forever (1995)
Batman & Robin (1997)
Batman Begins (2005, new franchise)
The Dark Knight (2008)
Hellboy (2004)
Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008)

How To Draw Comics

2010-01-26T17:29:00.000-08:00

How can you learn to draw comics? You can go to Michael's and buy a 'How-To' book. You can get the 'Wizard Magazine' back issues that used to have interesting articles, such as "How To Draw Comics" with lessons from seasoned professionals. You could also enroll in art classes at your local community college. For that matter, you could go to art school and pay a doctor lifestyle's worth of tuition. Or I could teach you. Here. Grass roots approach. The 'grass' in this case being the screen and keyboard, and the root would be your internet cable or wireless router. Either way, let's learn you some doodles!

Who the hell am I to teach you? Good question, but you don't have to be so pushy in asking. Geez. I've been a freelance illustrator for 9 years and began focusing on comics exclusively for the past 2 years.

In all my experience, I have never been asked where I went to school or what degree I have. Just saying. What matters - the only thing that matters - is your portfolio. Your portfolio should speak for you. If you have to talk about what you were trying to convey in a piece then you need to improve your abilities as an illustrator.

Ideally (is that a word?), you should shut your mouth and speak only when asked a question. Otherwise you are excusing your work, and a client doesn't need excuses. They need an illustrator that can deliver a message VISUALLY.

I realize this sounds like an elitist approach. Maybe it is, but in a flooded market (and believe me, it is) of creative firms and freelancers, the only thing that will stand out in the long run is quality work. Take the time to learn fundamentals. Traditional methods. Without strong foundation, a building will not last. Come the first storm, nothing will remain. And the storms do not let up. Acquiring a strong foundation is the first and most important step to becoming a quality artist.

Sadly, this means having to draw many boring things, many boring times. A box, a sphere, a tube, a book, etc. The point of drawing those things is to learn how light and shadow affect different objects. For that matter, each surface of each object is rendered differently. From there, you'll move on to drawing...

Let's officially start with the lessons: How to Draw Comics Series: Lesson 1

Welcome to Arts & Comics Blog

2010-01-26T17:16:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my Arts, Comics & Movie blog...
A blog about arts, comic books, movies and whatever else interests me at the moment. If I watch a movie, I'll post a review. If I'm in the teaching mood... I'll post a how-to. You get the idea.
I'll try not to venture too far from my main topics: arts, comics and movies.

Following this first 'welcome' post, I'm putting up a few other posts:

an intro to a mini series on how to draw comics
a review of the book of eli movie
an upcoming comic movie list

For easy navigation, use the labels listed below each post to find topic-related posts or search for topics by browsing the list of categories (lcoated at the top right of the blog-site).