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KiabIce
Oct '20

I don't know what to focus on first.

I have the resources to draw better environments. I have the resources to draw better anatomy, I have the resources to draw perspective and color.

But my question is which one do I start on first?

I want to get better at it all! Esp when making comics it's important to be good at drawing a lot of things.

What would you all reccomend I start on first?

My head is spinning thinking about it all.'

Making comics is hard.

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    Oct '20

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    Oct '20
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skicoak
Oct '20

Start with visual storytelling.

It's the big ticket item.

KiabIce
Oct '20

Isn't visual storytelling comics? What do you mean?

migxmeg
Oct '20

I feel the same way (my dweeb self has spent the last 2 hours taking notes on things to try from other comics :sweat:).

I think you could try targeted improvement, but honestly any improvement is good, so maybe focus on improving whatever seems interesting and let the rest get better naturally. Then when you get bored, switch!

WillowTree
Oct '20

I'm an author, not an artist so my advice might not apply!

When I was new I had a similar thoughts. Grammar, characterization, different plot structures, combining the romance arc with the main plot, realistic dialogue, etc, etc. There was so much to learn and I'm still learning! I still make mistakes. The way that I learned though was by just doing it. As I wrote more, I was able to more clearly see where my skills were lacking and I would focus there for awhile. As that area would improve, I'd identify a new area and be able to focus there.

For example, my first novel was basically just a stream of consciousness on paper. If anyone were to read it, they'd nope out after the first paragraph. I focused on creating an actual plot for my next novel, but it was really rushed so then I turned to learning about pacing. After I got pacing down, I realized my dialogue was really bad. Every novel has shown more and more improvements

The more you do it, the more you'll see which area is lacking the most :heart:

KiabIce
Oct '20
migxmeg

Ok whatever seems interesting.... I am like you I skip around when I get bored or too overwhelmed by one subject lol. Thanks for your 2 cents :slight_smile:

KiabIce
Oct '20
WillowTree

I think after making around 22 pages I see what is lacking. My anatomy and perspective sucks. Esp when it comes to enviorment shots. My coloring skills suck too which is my reason why I decided to do grey scale and not color.

So I guess my answer is I need to work on anatomy first. When I get bored swtich the subject.. For practice I have drawn people secretly on the bus!

But yeah thanks for your story still feel overwhelmed

skicoak
Oct '20
KiabIce

Just drawing something isn't visual storytelling.

Visual storytelling is using your visual choices to augment the the emotive impact of something beyond just rendering it.

A simple example is choosing colors that augment the scene emotionally.

Let's picture a break up scene in a restaurant... The establishing scene might be warm bright colors of candle lit romantic dinner... But as the scene continues, the colors change. The dumper's lighting gets unforgivingly harsher and the dumpee gets colored in blues and greys.

You do the same with panel choices, pacing, extreme perspectives and so on.

cleo_san
Oct '20

Aaaah, I know your pain! I've been at this point too - the direction in which you go is yours to choose. I went for "drawing emotions" first, since they make your characters relatabla to others, even if they are stick figures or ducks :wink:

You might want to read "Making Comics" by Scott McCloud - it does not tell you how a skeleton works, but how a comic works and which aspects might be useful in conveying your story to the reader =)

It's much more important to chose the right panel focus than to draw perfect anatomy. It talks about how to make a good reading flow, how to balance text and images and how you make your characters three-dimensional personalities (How to show emotions is more important than perfect anatomy, too). Worth every Cent, I wish I had this book 20 years ago when I started my first project =)

KiabIce
Oct '20
skicoak

That sounds like comics though. But I guess I could try what you're saying. So it's like short panels? interesting

KiabIce
Oct '20
cleo_san

I had this book but it lost it

I might have to read the fundamentals again. Is that true that picking the right panels is more important than anatomy?

darthmongoose
Oct '20

I definitely approve of your burning desire for improvement! :smile_01: I can completely understand that feeling of "I need to get better at everything! ASAP! By thinking about where your weaknesses are and striving to be better, you're already on the right path.

Looking at your work, I'd say that while your colour work has room to grow, it's not that bad, so I'd say your main areas for improvement are perspective and learning to apply that to your figures so they have a bit more solidity. You have a decent understanding of how to place figures in a scene, your proportions aren't bad, particularly the faces, and your panels are readable. The main issue is your understanding of space, depth and volume.

Seek out the following books:
Perspective! For Comic Book Artists - David Chelsea
Colour and Light: A Guide for the Realist Painter - James Gurney
Making Comics - Scott McCloud
Drawn to Life volume 1 - Walt Stanchfield

For you specifically, I'd recommend Perspective! and Drawn to Life first to build up your figure drawing skills. A bit of observational drawing (like life drawing, doesn't have to be naked) would certainly help, and speed figure studies to build up your confidence in where you put your lines.

skicoak
Oct '20
KiabIce

It's more than that... That's just the simple example of it...there's many ways to go about....like in this movie poster example... Leading the eye

Jaws_7.jpg729x602 237 KB

KiabIce
Oct '20
darthmongoose

Thanks for checking out my profile and seeing what my weaknesses are!

I will definitely take your advice and work on that.

It's funny you mentioned observational drawing because I just started a sketch book of drawing random people on the bus when I take the bus places! Completely observational . Just draw what I see.

I wil try to get these books I hope they're not expensive.

Thanks again for your review!

cookieroach
Oct '20

Yeah, comics are complicated... There's just so much to learn.

I think it's important to focus on one thing at a time. If you try to improve everything all at once, it will be much harder and not as efficient.

I'd also like to add that I don't think you need to master everything. It's ok to have strenghts and weaknesses. Are there certain things you enjoy drawing more than others? What do you think is the most important?

Some people are able to draw extremely detailed backgrounds and architecture. Others can draw expressions really well etc. I think it's important to focus on the parts you find the most enjoyable, because that will become your strength!

Rhonder
Oct '20

To regurgitate some of the above good advice in my own words, I think the most important aspect to focus on improving is always legibility/clarity first (and/or aspects that are making your work less legible or clear) and then work on other elements afterwards.

I think if I were to pick one or two from the list in the OP, I would suggest perspective first, and then tackle environments at the same time or second. I agree with an above comment that your colors and anatomy are definitely good enough for now :slight_smile: Like, they're something you'll work on and get better at too, but I think getting perspective down helps with clarity because you can look at a panel and logically make sense of where things are in space. It'll also increase the types of camera angles available to you if you have a good grasp on how vanishing points work, and what happens when you add more, or move the horizon line up or down, etc.

Adding better environments to that next is nice for a few reasons. Firstly, the better you're able to render out a background with important details the more you can use the surroundings to help tell the story. Secondly (and not as important, but still kinda), being able to draw nice backgrounds can honestly elevate a comic above a lot of its peers in quality since they're... hard and time consuming. It's an investment to learn how to do that will continue to pay off in not only any comics you do, but other types of drawings too.

KiabIce
Oct '20

Thank you for your feedback! I agree that knowing perspective and drawing diferent environments will help me build my story better! It would also increase my camera angles too.

Thanks so much for your feedback I will keep this mind with what everyone else has been saying.

This is going to be a real challenge.

scribesunlimited
Oct '20

Making comics is easy.

Making them successful is hard. :smiley:

But I really dig the advice you got here, especially @skicoak and the "Jaws" poster. That's literally what made everyone read the book. This was like Advertising classes for me back in art school, thank you for the memories. :heart:

KiabIce
Oct '20

Hmm good way of putting it. I put the books on hold at the library so I can check them out without buying them. If I like them emough I'll buy them!

The only art classes I took were so long ago.

If I could I would go back to school but nope. I will have to pay out of pocket