Advice for a Beginner

[Vida Eterna]

Hi, I'm new here. Basically, I am at the moment really just a realism artist. I have a fair knowlege of Photoshop.

I have recently tried to expand my horizons with manga, but that didn't work and I got told off for it by my art teacher who suggested I look into western comic book styles instead.

I apologise if I have done this in the wrong place but any links to firstly, how to draw the pictures themselves would be greatly appreciated. Also, advice on the inking and colouring process would be fantastic.

I look forward to hearing from you!

~Vida Eterna

[Phil Clark]

If you are new to comics art, start hanging out at the Critical Mass forum. We post projects for everyone to draw and post, and then we critique the results and you can compare your art with everyone elses. Vegeta has been haning out there since he registered, and he is improving by leaps and bounds. You will too, if you participate.

Aside from that, find a copy of Drawing Comics the Marvel Way by Stan Lee and John Buscema. And Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud is another must have for understanding the philosphy behind comics. Both of these books are essential to comics artists IMHO.

[Inkthinker]

Practice. It's all about the practice and a good reference library. I'd also recommending finding the Andrew Loomis art books that are available on the web here and there as .pdf files

[Darren Schwindaman]

i think Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud would definitely be the way to go...After all, who says you can't adapt your realism art for comics? All comics are is a series of images that go in a certain order. As for making the transition, I would guess that most of the "techniques" that are specialized to comic art come from the necessity of black and white printing...hence cross-hatching instead of shading.

[Vida Eterna]

Ah ok, thanks.

Basically, as it stands, its not that Im looking to make a comic, or draw any comic strips, its just the style that I am after.

The main part I am struggling with is the actual inking part. I have the basic lining, no variation in line so far, and it's driving me insane trying to make it look half decent by adding line variation. Ive tried like 7 times and Im getting a bit frustrated on it...

any books or tutorials would be much appreciated on the inking process. I have seen one and tried it but it didnt work for me...

[Pixelated_Pope]

I asked the same question about line variation several months ago.

The basics of the basics of the basics is that rounded off, softer objects tend to have a thicker line to them (Like the palm or a breast or something of that nature), where as things that are hard or sharp, tend to have thinner lines if any line at all (Like a blade or a place on the body where a bone pokes out a little).

I'm not much of an inker myself, so I don't feel totally justified in dealing out advice, so from here on out, I'll leave it to the pros.

[Saturn Lad]

There are The Art of Comic Book Inking books by Gary Martin, as well as a new book coming out this summer from DC called The DC Comics Guide to Inking Comics. I'm not sure which book you tried, but you might want to look into these.

The most basic way to start is to use line weight to indicate your light source, thicker lines on the shadowed side and thinner on the light side. Start out with that and you will have some consistency to build from. If you're getting frustrated it may be because you are trying to imitate a particular style you are looking at without understanding why the artist chose the line weights used.

[SenorSwanky]

Yeah, Pixelated Pope, that's not really true, but Saturn Lad, what you said is. I highly recommend Gary Martin's book, which is in 2 volumes, but the first is all you need. I'm sure Janson's will be great because he is one of the best inkers ever.

[Tony Moore]

Swanky is on the money.

also, like Phil said, hang out in Critical Mass, and you'll pick up a lot of things just from exposure and practice.

-T

[Pixelated_Pope]

Crap! I totally meant to mention the light source thing, but I spaced it. *shrug* I guess that's what I get for speaking outside of my expertise... but if I didn't speak outside of my expertise sometimes, I'd never say anything!