I really, really want to be able to draw my own comic books, but I have no idea where to start :(

[dwarvenbeard]

Hello, my name's Joe, and I absolutely love comic books, I mean, who doesn't right? I've read them for so long, and now I'm really interested in creating a few pages of my own content, however - I have to start from absolute scratch, I can't draw, and my handwriting looks isn't much better. What I'm trying to ask is, are there any resources that I can follow to perhaps improve my drawing skill? I know that once I have the basic skills, that there are lots of different books that I can buy (such as the drawing like marvel book)to give me the actual basic drawing skills.

Thanks a lot guys, sorry if this didn't make any sense, I've had an awful lot of caffeine this morning!

[CrazyOldHermit]

Start here: http://www.proko.com/library/

[ceroxide]

I'm fairly new to drawing as well however over the past couple of weeks I've seen some dramatic improvements on my drawings and the reason of it being - PRACTICE

there's no shortcuts or easy way around it. You need to practice a bit whenever you can. I've made it into a habit of everyday drawing for an hour. I mostly focus on the human figure, but I guess you want to do backgrounds as well. I would suggest you buy a sketch pad and hit the nearest park on a busy day and just draw whatever you see people, dogs, squirrels, trees, birds, Frisbee coming at your face, that weird martial arts guy, etc. just draw and draw until you get tired of it and then draw some more. Practice is the only way to get good at it and life drawing is the best practice you can get

as for making comics the best book I've found is one made by Ryan Stegman called I Draw comics

http://www.amazon.com/DRAW-COMICS-Sk...=i+draw+comics
http://www.amazon.com/DRAW-COMICS-Sk...=i+draw+comics

if you follow the whole thing you'll come out with a new perspective on how drawing comics works and best of all what the general rule to follow in comics is
Panel construction, vanishing points, over crowding, etc. The idea of the book is to have you making your own pages and further developing your comic book drawing skills

[dwarvenbeard]

Thanks man, I'll be hitting up an arts store tomorrow I think!

[dwarvenbeard]

Cheers man

[Ghost]

I agree with the above suggestions. The best illustrators I know are the ones who practice nearly every day.

Ive found it helps to draw from life. Meaning drawing live models or just people walking around. Also something I hadnt really considered in the past is to draw comics you have to be good at drawing everything. From mailboxes in the background to birds flying around to cars etc. Dont be afraid to use photo reference, it really does seem to make things turn out better.

[CrazyOldHermit]

You have to be dedicated to practice. The more you practice the better you get. It sounds obvious but you have to be disciplined. Commit to your work. Make sacrifices. Do it a lot. I practice at least fifteen hours a week and that is nothing compared to the pros who draw four times that much.

[MoneySpider]

There are also tons of "How To Draw" video tutorials on YouTube that might help.

[coveredinbees]

This is a great book. http://www.amazon.com/The-Human-Figu.../dp/0140042431
Take a class as well. I improved a lot with great teachers and a good book. The guy who wrote the book, David K. Rubins, taught my teacher.

[FLEX HECTIC]

I have this book and all the lesser companions to it...


http://www.amazon.com/How-Draw-Best-.../dp/0976287404


And this one...


http://www.amazon.com/How-Draw-Comic.../dp/0671530771


And this one too along with it's companion set...


http://www.amazon.com/The-Comics-Gui.../dp/0823099237


The Reviews...


The Wizard books feature a large A-list roster of talent giving tips and tricks so if you were stranded on an island and had to choose it's more bang for your buck!


Of course Stan Lee's book is very engaging in that fireside chat sort of way while DC's books are technically sound and historically informative!

[ISC1]

Hello, my name's Joe, and I absolutely love comic books, I mean, who doesn't right? I've read them for so long, and now I'm really interested in creating a few pages of my own content, however - I have to start from absolute scratch, I can't draw, and my handwriting looks isn't much better. What I'm trying to ask is, are there any resources that I can follow to perhaps improve my drawing skill? I know that once I have the basic skills, that there are lots of different books that I can buy (such as the drawing like marvel book)to give me the actual basic drawing skills.

Thanks a lot guys, sorry if this didn't make any sense, I've had an awful lot of caffeine this morning!

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