Yea! Field Trip!

Most towns of decent size have a museum of some sort. If you don't live in a town that does, then you probably relatively close to one that does. So, don't tell me that you can't visit a museum. I don't care if it's not the kind of museum you're interested in. Go to it. Bring your sketchbook. Sit down in front of something--anything--and draw it.

Across the ages, artists have always frequented museums and art galleries to pull influence from other artists. When I was in the Louvre, sitting down for a few hours and drawing a statue made me feel a part of the greater collective of artists over time. No matter what your medium, style, or skill level, every artist is the same when they set up their sketchbook in front of a museum exhibit: they become a student.

I went to the Ella Sharp Museum out in Jackson, MI. The initial pull was the comic art exhibit, but I was also interested in its exhibit on women's fashion of the Civil War era, and its permanent collection of local historical items. I took tons of pictures of everything, of course (you never know when I'll need to draw a woman from 1860, a WWI officer's uniform, or a surveyor's compass!). But I decided to sketch a few things in its permanent collection. A good learning experience.

People-watching

"People-watching" is something that most people like to do. When you're bored, waiting in line, sitting in the mall, or in my case, waiting at the bus stop for a bus that never comes, it's easy to start paying attention to the trivial mannerisms, conversations, and randomness of humanity. To put it in perspective, at some point in your life, someone has done this to you.

For an artist, humanity is like a buffet. Character and story ideas are absolutely littering the streets. A good artist makes a habit of people-watching because they know that there is much to be learned from the way a person behaves naturally--when they don't think someone is watching. This isn't just good for story and character ideas, but also simple and subtle things people do when they walk, sit, talk, etc.

It was a little chilly when I was sketching these passers-by, and now that I look at this sketch, I can only hope that you can see the details I was trying to capture. The two that I learned the most from were the first and third (beginning on the left) figures. The first girl I saw pass by was crossing her arms in an attempt to stay warm; I wonder if that's connected to the fact that she was wearing a skirt! The third person was actually in a group, and as he passed by, I realized that I've seen tons of guys walk just like this: chest out, chin up, hands in the pockets, back straight. It's kind of a "I-spend-my-weekend-nights-at-the-club" way of walking, if you ask me.

When creating characters, capturing details like these are massively important for creating believability. Think of the people you know best. You can instantly think of how they walk, sit, explain, listen, etc. What's more important is this: think of the people you love and care about. Isn't it the little details about their personality that many times you love and hate the most? It's those seemingly unimportant details that define characters.

Seriously Peoples, Seriously

This is possibly one of my biggest pet peeves about many artists today. I'm sorry I couldn't find a better scan of this page (by Jim Lee and Scott Williams, from a Batman comic), but look closely at the guy in the foreground of the last panel. Look at his jacket. Does it seem at all strange to you that the pattern on his jacket is perfectly, geometrically correct? Do you think it's a little odd that the pattern doesn't move and bend with the folds and curvature of his sleeve, you know, like it would in real life (think about it, if the lines are moving downward at his shoulder, wouldn't they bend and come toward you since his arm is bent and the hand is pointed toward you)? Isn't it blatantly clear to you (now that I point it out) that the artist(s) just drew that pattern right over the area of the jacket, without regard--or maybe even blatant disregard--to form or anatomy?

Okay, I'll calm down. My annoyance roots from when I saw this illustration by one of the coolest artists of the 20th century. JC Leyendecker was one of the primary cover artists for Saturday Evening Post (along with, of course, Norman Rockwell). He also had some amazing advertisements for Arrow Shirts and Collars, one of the classiest clothing lines of the time. The reason why I love this picture so much is because of the patterns on the men's jackets and the center man's hat. Those patterns behave with the curvature of the fabric, and it makes the image completely authentic. This is an incredibly minor detail, and an artist has to go way out of their way to do it (and really have to bend their mind around time and space to figure it out, sometimes). But when you compare this illustration to the one in the comic panel above, which one strikes you as more believable?

I'll never claim to be as awesome as Leyendecker. And I'm not too certain that many comic artists could either. But even if the pattern you put on an article of clothing isn't entirely correct, I'd rather that than a digital overlay that is painfully obvious.

If you're curious about my drawing, be sure to check in on my friend's webcomic www.fizzlebit.com for when the finished art is put up.

Yo Joe!

I'm not sure where I first got this idea, but I'm 90% sure that I didn't think of it completely on my own. Artists use reference all the time. I'm not certain that most people realize just how much reference the average artist uses. Photos, live models, books, drawing on location, the internet, books, miniature mannequins, and, oh yeah, books (seriously, you can tell a lot about an artist by their bookshelf).

Anyway, one of the cheapest ways I've ever solved the problem of figuring out how to stage a scene is by putting my action figures to good use. While it might look a little ridiculous--in fact I'm sure it does--setting up a few posable action figures in relatively the blocking I want saves me a lot of headaches, and in some cases saves the drawing.

In this panel, the goal was to have a guy cut in on a dance, with the girl looking happy and the other guy looking angry. This is kind of a complex panel, since three people are going in different directions, and each one's facial expression is important. So, I took Stormshadow, Cover Girl, and Luke Skywalker and put them in the staging I knew would be required. Then I grabbed my digital camera and started taking some pictures from different angles. When I started doing this, I immediately noticed that what I originally had in mind wasn't going to work. Thus, if I hadn't done this, the panel wouldn't have been very successful. You can view the finished page on my Deviant Art page (link on the right). Poor Luke, in every scenario, he gets pushed away...

Express Your Feelings!

The human face has something around fifty muscles in it. Most of these muscles in some way contribute to the way people communicate with each other. I'm not talking about speaking, though (though it is a big part of communication). I'm talking about facial expressions. Scott McCloud has a very nice chapter on the subject in his book "Making Comics." I could seriously talk for hours about this, but since I can't talk about everything, I'll cover the main stuff.

Facial expressions communicate about a thousand times more to the audience than most words can. It's one thing to say how you feel, but it's another to look it (It just makes me angry when people say how they feel). What's more, is that a person can be feeling one way, and say something that is an attempt to hide or disregard their feelings. The point is this: I can say I'm happy, but you're more likely to believe it if I'm smiling, laughing, hugging everyone I meet, or dancing in the street. Comics don't have the luxury of sound, so everything must be communicated visually. With that, some artists have taken a creative license to exaggerate emotions, or use symbology (a lightbulb above the head, smoke blowing out of ears, etc). But an artist has to remember that there is also subtle expressions. I'm at one level of happiness if I find a five dollar bill on the street, but I'm at another if a girl agrees to go out on a date with me.

Facial expressions (and therefore body language), are one of the most important things for an artist to study. Look at your friends and family and note the way they express themselves. Do people display annoyance differently? Who smiles with their teeth and who doesn't? Are some people more reserved in their emotions, and are others the type that wear their emotions on their sleeve? How does that connect to their age, profession, or the context of the scene?

Comin' Atcha

My favorite artist of all time has to be Jose Louis Garcia-Lopez. He's just awesome. I had so much trouble figuring out which picture to use as the example of his work, because just about everything he does is amazing. The only reason I chose this picture of Superboy is because it's a very similar pose. My goal is to have all of his work someday. Anyway, as a comic artist myself, I try to pull ideas from him. One of his most characteristic traits is how he has figures behave in perspective. What this means is that characters on the 2-dimensional page look as if they are in 3-d environments. Theoretically, most any good artist does this, but Garcia Lopez does it in sometimes very extreme, and other times very subtle ways (other artists to look at would be Jack Kirby and Neal Adams).

I just did a page yesterday, and this panel is very much in this style. In this case, the hand that breaks the panel walls helps lead the eye into the next panel (to see the context, you'll just have to buy the comic!). Generally, though, having figures whose hands or feet are coming at the reader pull the reader into the image. It's like characters are literally popping off the page.