For the Superhero vs. Superhero fight this week, we’ve got Tigra (Marvel) vs. Cheetah (DC). They fight because they’re practically the same character, only one is a Tiger and the other a Cheetah. One is a villain, the other is a hero.
Cheetah, by the way is specifically a Wonder Woman villain.
For more info on each character click the hyperlinks on each.
I drew this after having bought the image book GIANT-SIZE KUNG FU BIBLE STORIES anthology comic. It had an eight page story drawn by Bruce Timm in it, and it made me want to draw girls.
This was drawn in my usual method of roughing out the drawing digitally, in non-photo blue, in Photoshop and then printing it out to ink it by hand.
This time I used various pens like Microns, a Pentel Pocket pen, and a special felt tip brush pen, whose’s brand I don’t know.
They fight because they both have flaming skulls for heads. Only the Atomic Skull’s flaming head is radioactive, not hellfire.
I drew this by roughing out the drawing digitally on Photoshop, then I printed out the rough drawing as non-photo blue on 11×17 paper and inked it with my Pocket Brush pen. I spotted the backs using my “Special Black” Copic marker.
I then rescanned the drawing in and the non-photo blue didn’t even show up, which was awesome. I wasn’t sure it would work as intended.
I liked doing the art this way. I don’t like inking digitally. It’s nowhere near as fun as doing it with a real brush.
UPDATE:
EB in the comments below wanted to see the rough drawing I did for this piece so I’ve added it below.
I was in need of a Cintiq. I use one at work and it’s kinda become a tool that, as an artist, it’s tough to live without.
The problem is, Cintiqs are not only expensive, but they’re big, bulky, and force you to only work in one spot for long stretches at a time.
Sometimes, I like drawing in different places and I wanted something that was a little bit more versatile, like an iPod or an Android Tablet. But those things where never as good as Cintiqs. I kinda needed both.
Well, turns out Wacom made a Cintiq that IS both. Here’s what I think of it.
(This post has affiliate links, thanks for your support)
The Good
It’s a Cintiq and an Android Tablet
THE number one best thing about the Wacom Cintiq Companion Hybrid is that it’s both a Cintiq AND an Android Tablet. This means you get two devices for the price of one.
If you want a portable sketch book you can draw on with the same accuracy as a Wacom Cintiq, this is it. Download an inexpensive drawing App like Skechbook Pro, or better yet, Layer Paint HD, and you can draw anywhere.
Layer Paint HD creates artwork at 600 dpi. You can pretty much do professional drawing on that program alone.
Put if you have Photoshop or Manga Studio on your computer and want to work on one of those programs instead, simply hook up your Hybrid to your computer and the Hybrid become a regular Cintiq like any other one.
Not to mention it’s an Android Tablet so you can read comics and play games on it too. But that’s not REALLY why you get this.
It’s SO handy.
Which leads me to the next great thing about it…
It’s Portable
No more having to wait til you get home to work on the Cintiq, you can take it with you.
Sit on the couch and draw, take it to the park. the Zoo, the mall, a story meeting…etc. Pretty much anywhere you can take a sketchbook.
Get some sun as you work. It’s great.
And it comes with a stand that props it up.
Good Battery Life
The best way to work with this tablet is to obviously have it plugged in. That said, you don’t have to. It’s got a remarkably long battery life.
So far, I worked on it for about four hours and barely saw it taxed at all. It’s suppose to have a 12 hour battery life. That’s pretty awesome.
Especially since I don’t plan to draw on it for that long without ever being somewhere I can plug it in.
The Bad
Not Enough Apps
I think the most annoying problem with the Hybrid is the very fact it’s an Android Tablet. It doesn’t have nearly the amount of quality Apps you would find in an iOS device.
I have an iPod and an iPhone, there are drawing Apps I own in those devices that I would LOVE to use with my Hybrid but they aren’t available for Android.
That said, Layer Paint HD works well enough for my purposes.
It’s Got a Small Screen
If you’re used to working on a large screen Cintiq, this is going to take some getting used to.
You’re going to have to get used to either working on less drawing real estate or simply turning the menus on the screen on and off a lot.
The screen’s width is not as wide as a regular piece of paper but it’s a tad longer. If you don’t mind this and can work around it, that’s not a big deal.
Otherwise, it might very well be a deal breaker, all the other pros aside.
This was a great purchase for me. I tend to do a lot of my drawing on the couch or on the go. I find it annoying to always have to be attached to a computer to do my work. Especially if my computer is a desktop located in one place.
The Hybrid let’s me draw anywhere I want and if I need to attach it to a computer, there’s always my Laptop.
I love it.
If this sounds like something you’d benefit from as well, I highly recommend picking this device up. It’s a great investment.
ART/VIDEO – Drawing Good Girls with Adam Hughes, The Pros and Cons.
Adam Hughes is one of my favorite artists. He’s an incredible draftsman. I follow him on Twitter, and Deviant Art, and I belong to the Adam Hughes Yahoo Group.
I own quite a few of his sketchbooks and I’ve downloaded tons of his art. I also try to pick up as many of his comics as I can.
He is worth studying.
If you’re not familiar with his work, he’s mostly known for his “Good Girl” art. Which is to say, he draws a lot of pretty girls. Although he can do much more than that.
He’s a comic book artist who mostly does covers now a days. Mostly because he’s really slow (or so I’ve heard).
His art is heavily influence by the Art Nouveau movement.
Here’s a teeny tiny sample of his work. He’s super prolific:
Learn to Draw Like Adam Hughes
I’d like to know some of his secrets. How he approaches stuff, what he thinks about when he draws…that sort of thing.
I thought I’d put down the Pros and Cons of this DVD and then show you a good place you can pick up a copy if you’re interested.
The Cons
I thought I’d start with the Cons.
They cut out chunks of the his drawing process!
I don’t know why but in the DVD the editor cuts stuff out. Adam is drawing the girl from start to finish, which is great because you think you’re going to see the whole process. Then suddenly the video fades and you jump to a slightly more finished drawing. We don’t actually get to see it all.I don’t know why they did this. I mean, you’re paying to watch the guy draw for a reason. It’s part of the learning experience. Why cut some of it out?
This is NOT for beginner
On the bottom of the DVD box it reads: “Recommended for All Skill Levels.” BOLONEY! This is absolutely not a video for beginners. Adam Hughes talks about his process as he draws but a LOT of what he’s doing he’s not talking about at all.I have a lot of experience drawing. I could see what he’s doing that he’s not talking about or telling the audience about but a beginners would never catch any of that.This isn’t to say that a beginner might not pick up a thing or two watching him draw, but if you think you’re going to learn to draw watching this, you might be disappointed.
It’s a $30.00 DVD
The MSRP on the box is $30.00. That’s really steep. Especially for a DVD that has the Cons above. If it didn’t cut parts of the process out, I think it would be much more valuable and worth the price. But because it edits out part of the process, I find it less valuable than the MSRP.Below, I’ll give you a link where you can get it cheaper.
The Pros
Okay, all that said, here are the Pros:
You get to see Adam Hughes Draw.
I learned a ton simply watching him draw. Yes, some of it skipped over and that’s annoying but doesn’t mean it all got skipped over.There’s plenty of drawing to be seen here. As an artist, you learn as much if not more from watching someone do it than simply listening to them do it.
You’re taught a lot about using Copic Markers.
This is especially good if you want to learn his marker technique. I learned a ton watching him draw and apply his markers. He shares a lot about using Copic Markers in your drawing.
You learn his Art Nouveau inking style.
I’ve developed my own way of inking, but watching this video has added to my repertoire.Watching him ink is ridiculously useful. He uses a few different inking techniques that I never thought to do. It’s great.I learned a lot from his example. He straight up shows you how he does his Art Nouveau inking. It’s cool.
You get some good drawing tips.
Even though he doesn’t straight up teach you to draw, he does give out some really helpful drawing tips.You hear his thinking behind the things he does. Sometimes as he draws and other times as voice over. Some things I already knew while other things where I’d never thought of. Good stuff.
There’s some nice bonus lessons.
Perhaps the DVD cut out some of the drawing in the main part of the video to make space for the bonus lessons. I hope not.That said, the lessons are nice. One is on using markers do flesh tones, one is on using markers to draw fabric, and one is on eyes. The good news is that you can see the bonus lessons online for free. This gives you a small peek what you can expect from the video.You can watch them below:
This DVD inspired me so much so that I drew these drawings after watching it. I used the techniques I learned from it:
The MSRP is $30.00 (no joke) but your investment is $17.97 plus shipping (Sorry, no shipping outside the U.S., otherwise the shipping ends up being as much as the DVD itself).
The price is much more reasonable.
Watch the bonus videos above and read my pros and cons, then decide whether it’s worth your investment. I’m really glad I bought and watched this DVD. It’s great.
I don’t know how long I’ll be able to sell these before my wholesaler runs out of stock so order one now before you miss out.
Click the link below to get a copy. I’ll ship them out personally, and perhaps add a few extra bonus goodies. Who knows:
“Dear Marge, thanks for the fab painting of yours truly! I hung it on me wall! You’re quite an artist. In answer to your question, yes we do have Hamburgers and Fries in England, but we call French Fries “chips”! Love, Ringo. PS. Forgive the lateness of my reply.” ~Ringo Starr
This article was originally posted on TheDrawingWebsite.com. It was written by guest writer Lisa Fraser who’s a great writer. It’s a fantastic and informative article and I thought it would be beneficial for anyone who read it here too. So I’m re-posting it here.
Enjoy:
Are There Any Psychological Benefits to Drawing?
There are certainly benefits to using the creative arts to express oneself. It can be used as an outlet for stress for example, which many people can find therapeutic and ultimately beneficial to their well being. Drawing is a great method of communication, and is something that anyone can do to express themselves, as everyone can be creative in some form or another and therefore hopefully find at least some small benefit from it. On the other hand, for people who enjoy drawing as a hobby or job, the benefits could be huge, with improved levels of happiness from doing something you take pleasure in, reduced stress levels, feelings of achievement and many other positive psychological effects.
Drawing with Children
Drawing is particularly good for children or simply those who don’t feel confident or completely comfortable with expressing themselves through a purely verbal means of communication. Young children generally lack the ability to articulate every specific thing they would like to say, and this can be very frustrating for them, so for them, drawing is a way of putting their thoughts, feelings and ideas across to adults. Drawing can also stimulate brain development in young children, as the process and techniques used in making diligent observations can help to encourage an eye for detail and an improved memory as well as improving handwriting and general dexterity. The importance of having art subjects on school curriculums is justified by the visual imagery links that some people find vital to the understanding of other subjects on the curriculum, for instance with subjects such as math and geography, which may require a certain capacity and understanding of visual imagery.
Drawing for Adults
Psychological benefits from drawing for adults could be substantial to the point where it affects a persons day to day living. By drawing out your thoughts and ideas, and letting your imagination loose on paper in a tangible form, you might find yourself releasing some inner tension that you were previously unaware of or you might just find the experience relaxing and refreshing, a sort of catharsis that allows you to restructure your mind and think more clearly. This could then lead you onto solving a problem that you had previously not been able to find a solution to without the therapeutic nature of drawing. Drawing ideas down on paper can also help you share your thoughts and feelings with other people that you might find very difficult to express verbally or otherwise. Self-exploration through drawing could lead you to some insightful conclusions about yourself, as well as improving your mental, physical and emotional wellbeing.
Art and Therapy
Art can be a very effective tool in the treatment of mental health disorders, because the expression it can provide helps people communicate with each other with ultimate emotional freedom, helping them to alleviate stress and help them explore different areas of their creativity. As a result of this, patients may then find that they are able to handle their behavior more effectively, which in turn helps to build their self esteem and awareness. It can also help with developing healthy coping strategies and acceptance of the challenges we face throughout life. Throughout the 20th century, doctors noticed that patients who expressed themselves in drawings, paintings and other creative mediums led to doctors being able to assess and treat patients more effectively. These methods have been used as a treatment in the form of art therapy ever since, usually in conjunction with other forms of therapy such as, behavioral, cognitive and these options on recovery.org. Anyone can use art therapy, either on their own or with help from a professional, and no matter how good as person is with the creative mediums.
Other Psychological Effects
With adults, children and those receiving art therapy alike, drawing and art therapy as an extension can help with interpersonal skills, problem solving skills, increasing attention-span, self-managing techniques and other vital life skills that we all make use of on a daily basis. If drawing was a standard, widely practiced method of managing our stress levels, and something that we could get into the habit of fitting into our busy day to day schedules, then who knows what the psychological impact on our lives could potentially be.
And That’s Lisa’s Article. Did you Like This?
If you want more drawing advice, tips, tricks and info, subscribe to The Drawing Website newsletter. If you do, you can get The Art of Draw Fu: Beginners Level pdf book for FREE. Don’t miss out.
If You Think Talent is Necessary to Learn to Draw…
I challenge your assumption.
In school, some kids picked up writing faster than others. Some kids picked up spelling faster and some picked up math faster. But no matter who had a natural affinity for a subject, we ALL needed to learn those subjects. And so we all did.
For some reason, when it comes to drawing, everyone makes an exception. The kids that have the natural affinity toward drawing are considered “talented” and everyone else is considered “without talent.”
The truth is, if drawing was taught the same way writing, spelling and math was and everyone was forced to learn it, everyone would have some sort of drawing skill. Everyone would be able to draw.
The reason it’s NOT taught that way is because teachers simply don’t know the principles of drawing, so they simply can’t teach it.
That’s where my books comes in. If you’re interested in learning to draw, my book The Art of Draw Fu: Beginners Levelwill teach you the basic principle you need to know so you can start drawing. It’s especially written for people who don’t know anything about drawing at all.
ANIMATION – Thoughts on the Legion of Superheroes Animated Cartoon
Simpsons Quote:
Lucy Lawless: I’ll take you home.
[Lucy flies, carrying Bart and Lisa]
Lisa: Hey, Xena can’t fly.
Lucy Lawless: I told you, I’m not Xena. I’m Lucy Lawless.
Hi. So as I’ve said before, I’m a big fan of animated cartoons, and one of my all-time favorite animated cartoons is the Legion of Superheroes, and today I’m going to be talking a little bit more in-depth about that.
You can either watch the video or read the transcription below:
Some of the links below are affiliate links. Thanks for your support.
A Bit of Gushing
I liked the Legion of Superheroes cartoon. I’m very disappointed that there’s only the first season of it on DVD. I want the second season, because I happen to be a huge Superman fan. A huge Superman nerd. I’m such a nerd when it comes to Superman. Love Superman.
Legion of Superheroes season two has one of the most interesting versions of Superman. There’s this character in it called Superman X that’s like a cross between Batman and Superman, with Superman’s powers, and it’s good.
Why I Like the First Season
I’m getting way too ahead of myself. Let me at least talk about the first season. Why do I like this show?
Well, first, I really like the approach that they took with the designs. I really do think that these designs are way more pushed than, say, they took the Bruce Timm style and they kind of cartoon-ified it even more and pushed it, and so that’s one of the things. I like the look of the show.
What is the Legion of Superheroes?
Second, the stories are a lot of fun. If you don’t know what the Legion of Superheroes is, it’s a group of superheroes, and they’re all aliens on Earth being superheroes.
They’re a superhero team of the thirty-first century that were inspired to come to Earth to be the alien superhero of Earth because Superman was an alien superhero. So, since he has become a legend by the time of the the thirty-first century, it inspired a group of young kids to also come to Earth and be the superhero of Earth.
There were so many of them, they all kind of banded together and they became the Legion. So one of the things that they did was, because they wanted to meet their hero, they created a time bubble and they traveled back in time to Smallville, and met Superboy, who was at the time their age, and brought him into the future and have adventures with him.
Clark, I guess, just graduated high school or something, and now he’s Superman. He’s about ready to go into Metropolis, but then he goes into the future to have adventures with the Legion.
The Feel of the Cartoon
It’s a great cartoon. I like it. The animation is great, the stories are fun, it’s not as serious as, say, Batman Beyond and the Bruce Timm Batman, and The Batman, and I would even say Justice League and Justice League Unlimited.
It’s not as serious, but it also is not as wacky as, say, Teen Titans animated cartoon. It’s somewhere in between. My kids like this cartoon also. But I didn’t get that for them, I got it for me.
All right, so check out that Legion of Superheroes first season. Maybe if they sell enough of them they might release the second season, which I think is much, much better.
Why I liked Season Two
Like I said, it’s got a clone of Superman from the forty-first century. It’s a fun character. His name is Superman X. I have no idea why DC has not made a comic of Superman X, with Superman X in it.
He’s a cool Superman. I’m going to have to draw Superman X, because he’s cool. And it’s funny because the design of Superman X looks like Tom Welling from Smallville, the live action Superman TV show that went out for ten years. I think that’s great. I’m a fan of Smallville also, so I thought that was a cool nod to that version of Superman.
Below you’re going to put links to some episodes of Legion of Superheroes season two, with a Superman X episode.
You can watch, if not all, most of season two of Legion of Superheroes on YouTube. It’s the only way that you can see them right now.
Have you Seen This Show?
Okay, so let me know if you’ve seen the show. What do you think? Do you have the same opinions? Do you not like this show? I’d like to know.
Leave a comment below. If you want a free “Art of” book from me, with all my artwork in it, subscribe to my newsletter. You will get a free copy of the book, and if you want a copy of the print version of the book, you can go to Amazon and get it there.
VIDEOS – Legion of Superheroes Season 2
Here are the first two episodes of Legion of Superheroes Season 2. Enjoy:
How learning to draw basic shape can let you draw anything.
How to draw stick figures with style.
What professionals know about tracing correctly.
How to draw basic cartoon characters…and much more
Most “how to draw” books always assume you have some level of competency. This book doesn’t. It helps you from the ground up.
Draw as if you’ve been born to. Amaze your friends. Have fun drawing again, like you did when you were little.
For more comics and stories written by me: COMICS AND STORIESIf you like what you read, please consider signing up to my rss feed.
ANIMATION – Thoughts on the Animated Show, Tron: Uprising
The Simpsons Quote:
Homer: “Er…it’s like…has anyone seen that film Tron” Frink: “No” Dr. Hibbert: “No” Chief Wiggum: “No” Rev. Lovejoy: “No” Patty: “No” Chief Wiggum: “No” Frink: “No” Marge: “No” Chief Wiggum: “Yes…wait, I mean NO”
My favorite type of animated TV show is action/adventure. And today I’m going to be talking about Tron: Uprising. Which happens to be an action/adventure animated show.
You can either watch the video or read the transcription below:
Some of the links below are affiliate links. Thanks for your support.
My General Thoughts About the Tron Franchise
I like Tron: Uprising. I watched it OnDemand. I used to have cable at the time. And whenever a new episode would update I’d watch an episode and I loved it.
As a kid in the ‘80s, I watched Tron the Movie. I thought it was weird. It kind of freaked me out a little bit. I wasn’t a huge fan of the movie.
But it was part of my childhood and I liked it okay. It was all right. So then I watched Tron: Legacy because I had seen Tron as a kid. And I made sure that I rewatched Tron before I went to watch Tron: Legacy .
Well, another reason that I liked or at least wanted to watch Tron: Legacy was because I’m a fan of cyber punk. So I watch Tron:Legacy and I liked it okay. I liked it about as much as I liked the original Tron movie.
I like the concepts. I like the idea and it’s a cyber punk movie.
Then I watched Tron: Uprising based on Tron: Legacy .
About Tron: Uprising
The story takes place sometime in between the Tron movie and Tron: Legacy . It kind of is like the bridge story. It’s basically about a program named Beck who takes the place of Tron. He tries to liberate the grid from Clue who has been established as this guy who kind of oppressed the grid.
So the gist of the story is that this character named Beck pretends to be Tron or at least it’s a little bit Batman Beyond-ish where you’ve got Tron and he’s training his new protégé, Beck, who is going to be liberating the grid or at least, this town.
The First Reason Why I Think Tron: Uprising is Cool
But what is it about it that makes me excited? What is it about it that is so good?
First of all, the designs the character designs on Tron: Uprising are designed by this incredible designer by the name of Robert Valley.
Now Robert Valley is amazing. He’s such a good artist, but I really, really like his designs for this show. And the show is a CG show. It’s a computer generated show and somehow they’ve managed to capture the design style, his design style so perfectly and clearly. It’s amazing.
So it’s really eye-candy. The look of the show, the colors, the way that it looks, the way it feels, the graphics, something about it, it’s just pretty, so beautiful.
You Can Watch it (as of the time of this writing) on Netflix
Because I didn’t watch the entire show all at once when it aired as it aired and I only caught it OnDemand I eventually wasn’t able to keep up. I kept forgetting to watch it. I just couldn’t make the time to watch it. So I eventually saw the rest of the show recently on Netflix.
The entire show is on Netflix now, the first season. The show has been tragically cancelled after the first season and that’s a bummer because the way that the season ends is wide open for the next season. It’s left wide open so it’s really disappointing to watch the show and then have it just kind of end, right? And you wanted know what would happen next.
The Second Reason Why I Think Tron: Uprising is Cool
One of the other reasons I really enjoyed the show was because it’s so well-written.
The stories are a lot of fun. It expands on the universe. I don’t know what it is about it, but it just pushes all the right buttons for me.
It has the cyber punk elements. It’s got this guy Beck is wearing this like white Tron suit that looks great and he looks cool. Like I said the visuals are great.
The characters, you get to like them. You get to enjoy their relationships to each other. It does have a little bit of that Batman Beyond vibe. If you like that show, you’d probably really like Tron: Uprising.
Back to Robert Valley , the character designs the caricatures of the actors in this CG show are really great. It captured their likenesses so well. Unbelievable how good they look.
Some of the original actors also voice the characters that they played on the movie.
In Conclusion
It’s a great show. I highly recommend it. Go watch it. It’s great. It’s so much fun.
Rumor has it that if you watch it on Netflix and if it gets good enough ranking on Netflix that they might consider running another season or creating another season. Whether or not that’s going to happen is up in the air.
I don’t know, but it’s worth watching anyway. If you’ve got Netflix streaming or if you can get it on DVD, I highly, highly recommend Tron: Uprising.
Go take a watch.
Have you Watched It?
If you have seen this show, go ahead and let me know so that we can talk about it and see what you have to say about it. I would like to hear what you think about this show.
New post on the drawing website this week. It’s been six months since there was one on that site. I’ve been sending newsletters every week to subscribers but post have been long in coming.
Homer: Astrid said the key to my art is anger, but you know me, I’m Mr. Mellow…
[Bart and Lisa look at each other]
Homer: …so I’m giving you kids permission to get me mad. Come on, give me what you’ve got.
Lisa Simpson: Well, if it’ll help… um, mom found out her engagement ring is made of rock candy.
Homer: [hits clay mold] Good work honey, keep it comin.’
Bart Simpson: Well I’m flunking math, and the other day I was a little attracted to Milhouse.
[Homer screams hysterically]
Hi. So, I was asked a question on youtube about how I approach character design. I spoken about this a few time, but not all in one place. I thought perhaps I should say as much as I could about the subject in one post and link to the other ones.
You can either watch the video below on the read the transcript:
The Question
I’ve talked about character design a lot in my own blog, as well as The Drawing Website that I’ve got. I’m going to try to sum up all of what I’ve written so far, and include links. But I’m going to try to also just, kind of really quickly explain it all here, so that it’s not just all scattered all over the internet the way it is in multiple websites and multiple posts.
This question was from MindOfAStoner and specifically said,
“i was wondering if you could do a video about how to design your characters, i have the idea of what i want to do, i just cant seem to put my character to paper and come up with my own drawing style, thanks in advance Luis”
First, Reference
Alright, so there’s a few things here. Okay so, one of things if you look, I did do a series where I was designing characters for an animated cartoon that I was working on that I still haven’t completed, and I’m sorry. But if you look there, you will see that what I did was, I went and I looked at a lot of reference.
I went online and I have the specific website that I went to. But as you can see in the posts, you’ll see that there’s like a lot of photographs. If you scroll down, you’ll see all the photographs I was using to try to get something, a jumping off point- something that will trigger that thing.
You need photography. Look for reference. It doesn’t just have to be in your head. It doesn’t have to just— you don’t have to live in a vacuum and not use real world things. Use real world things. Go out, look around, go to the mall, look at other people, look online, look for photographs, look anything. Just get your ideas going.
That would be my recommendation on trying to try to get them— just something to get them in your head, out on to the paper in some kind of tangible way- something that you can use, something that you could actually have physical there. I mean, it really does help me a lot.
Finding a Style
“I can’t seem to put characters to paper and come up with my own drawing style.”
Okay, so that’s a little bit different. There’s a few things to talk about there.
Drawing style- I have a video about not worrying about style. You ought to worry about draftsmanship first. Let’s assume that you’ve got great draftsmanship. You’re just as good as Frank Frazetta. Then what kind of style are you going to use?
Alright, so once you’re confident enough to have good draftsmanship skills, then I would recommend you just start finding sketchbooks of stuff from artists that you admire, styles that you like, comic books of guys whose styles you like, and then pick and choose bits and pieces of what they’re doing that you really enjoy. Try to emulate it in some way, shape or form.
This isn’t plagiarism, because what’s going to end up happening is that you’re not going to be able to copy them. You’re not going to be them. No matter how hard you try, you’re still going to be you and they’re still going to be them, and they’re going to do what they do better than you could possibly ever do. That’s because you’re not them.
What you’re trying to emulate is their personality and who they are. And because you are not them, you’ll never get what makes them unique.
That is a good thing! Because it means that whatever YOU do cannot be emulated either. What comes out of you eventually, from all the hodgepodge of different influences, will be uniquely you. So, if you want a specific style, you can do that specific style but it will end up being your version of that style which will end up being unique in and of itself. So, that’s another way you can think about it.
Some Words on Advanced Character Design
Okay now, I’m going to talk really quick about the Advanced Elements of Character Design, and When It Comes to Character Design. It’s all about the interior- where the character’s coming from, who that character is, will shape everything about the character including the way he’s posed, the way he looks, the way he carries himself, what kind of clothes they wear.
This is interior stuff. This is more advanced stuff. This is what the professionals think about when they’re just doing stuff, because they’re no longer thinking about the basics of design, okay? They’re thinking about acting, history, storytelling, making the character, creating the character from the inside out- emotionally, historically, who they are, the story behind the character. Alright? So always, always think about that stuff when designing the character.
Don’t Forget the Fundamentals
But now let’s go back to the fundamentals. Let’s go back, all the way back to elements that you absolutely need to have before you even start designing a character. And that is the idea of contrast. And in The Drawing Website, I do break this down with stick figures.
That’s how simple these elements are. It’s all about balance and contrast. It’s all about not making everything even, and making a character visually boring by doing something super, super even. That’s just really, really bad design.
You should be able to get it for free, but you could just read the post there because it’s the same information that’s in the book. I do talk about design. I talk about basic shapes. After that, you should read that post too. It’s very important to balance and contrast to make your design more interesting.
This is too big of a topic. I’m sorry, I have to sum this up so quickly. But I hope this helps. I hope this is good information that will help you be able to design your characters better.
Alright, so if you want another free book from me, I have The Art of Luis Escobar for free if you subscribe to my newsletter on my blog. And there’s designs and drawings there too, and I talk about drawing in that book as well. So if you’re interested, go ahead and subscribe to my newsletter below and you will get that book delivered to you for free, as a free digital book.
BOARD GAMES/VIDEO – Craziest Board Game Ever.
If you like board games as much as I do, you’ll love this video of the craziest board game ever. If you’re not into them that much, it’s still very funny, but there’s a few inside jokes in there that you might not get.
Enjoy:
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ART – Get ready to Get Inspired, the Art of Richie Chavez
Simpsons Quote:
(At the museum)
Homer: Aw, why does art hate me? I never did anything to art. (notices that his arm is stuck through a painting) Uh, let’s get out of here.
Alright, so I came into work one morning and my friend Paul IMed me.
“Get ready to die,” he wrote and then attached a link.
I followed said link and died. Turns out his friend and my acquaintance Richie Chavez had a website with his art on in and it blew our minds.
Today I’m going to share that link with you and talk a little bit about Richie.
You watch the video below or you can read what everything I say in the text below the video. It’s the same info so you choose:
Who is Richie Chavez?
Richie Chavez is a concept artist for animated movies. He’s worked at Disney, Dreamworks, and Sony pictures, to name a few of his high profile studios.
ONE of the movies he developed art for was PRINCE OF EGYPT. He was on of the Art Directors in that movie.
If you own the Prince of Egypt art book, you can see some of his work. Work like this:
and this one:
And here’s a picture of Richie:
I got to know Richie because we took Kung Fu together. We were in the same class.
He’s a really great guy, he’s a really nice guy. In fact, I was working on a Simpsons bible story comic, and Richie let me borrow some books he had used for reference on Prince of Egypt. Which was very cool. I was very very handy and it was very nice of him to do that for me.
Richie’s Site
Well, it turns out that my friend and mentor Paul Wee knows him very well, because they went to school together. Paul has been bugging Richie about getting a website up online with his work.
Well, he finally got it on up. Richie now has his own website with his artwork and it’s mind blowing. You’ve got to go see it. It’s such good art.
He’s got stuff from Sinbad up there that. Oh man, it’s so awesome! The ideas and the artwork is just incredible. That movie had sooo much potential.
There’s work from the movie Surf’s Up there too.
I actually went down to Sony when that movie was in development and had lunch with Richie and because my friend Paul where working there at the time. The artwork and development artwork on the movie was so incredible. At least you get to see some of it on his site.
He worked on Hotel Transylvania, Brother Bear…among many others.
If your interested in having some art, then you’re in luck. I’m giving away a FREE digital copy of my art book, Angel Cowgirl is you subscribe to my newsletter.
THE SIMPSONS NEWS – My Hiatus…or not
Last Thursday my hiatus began. I should be back at work on May 20th. Well…at least that was the plan.
So I go on hiatus, and quite frankly, I can’t afford to do so. My wife and I have NOT be saving money. Any extra money we make goes directly to getting rid of debt. We’re trying to get rid of as much liability as we can so we can start having only assets.
The Money Problem
This basically means we’re risking it all to get rid of our debt. So far we’re doing great. We’ve only go one more credit card left to pay off and then we’ll tackle Alesha’s student loans. After that, our car payments.
Anyway, the point is, we’ve got nothing saved up at all and we got hit REALLY hard last month on our property tax (remember, we live in California). This left us without enough money to pay our mortgage. Then I’m sent on hiatus and hiatus is unpaid.
But don’t worry too much about us, our tax return helped us out. In fact, our state tax return came a day before I was put on hiatus and it helped us pay our bills for the month, just in time.
Back to Work?
Breathing a sigh of relief I settled into my hiatus and started trying to figure out how I could get my personal projects done while still spending quality time with my kids.
Just as I was figuring all this stuff out, I get a call on Monday from work. I was asked if I could come in for two days to help out on some storyboards beginning Tuesday. What am I going to say? No? Of course I said I was available.
I came in on Tuesday and began to work. As I was doing my thing, one of my directors come into my office.
“Remember the Couch Gag you boarded two weeks ago? Mike Anderson gave some great notes on them, I need you to apply them for Thursday.”
“But I’m only here today and tomorrow.”
“They haven’t told you? You’re going to be here Thursday too so you can add these fixes.”
“Oh…okay then.”
A few hours later, production came in and asked me to come in on Thursday only to find out that the director had jumped the gun and told me.
So two days has now turned to three, but hey, I’m not complaining, I need the money. For more comics and stories written by me: COMICS AND STORIESIf you like what you read, please consider signing up to my rss feed.
Bart: What a perfect plan. Now, Roger Myers will tell as just… Myers: [announcing the studio’s re-opening] And so when no one could think of a plan to resurect Itchy & Scratchy, a young boy, a wonderful irrepressible young boy, took it on his own to solve the problem. He discovered that the postal service’s Mr. Zip. was just a rip-off of my father’s stick figure character Manic Mailman. [crowd murmors] So the government gave me a _huge_ cash settlement, and Itchy & Scratchy Studios is back in business. [engines start up again] Thanks to you, Lester. [a Tracey-Ullman-era Bart comes on stage] Bart: What the hell is going on? Lisa: I don’t know, but it looks like you might have a little competition all of a sudden. Lester: Thanks everybody, but I couldn’t have done all this without the help of my brainy sister Eliza. [a Tracey-Ullman-era Lisa joins him] Lisa: [gasps]
This question was asked to a Facebook group that I’m a part of. It was specifically about two things: Superheroes and Manga:
When is fitting the standard too… standard?
I’ve been looking at some kids’ writings and comics and have thought about familiarity between readers and the border of having something too generic and having something familiar that a reader can be comfortable with.
What comes to mind is when people draw things for Mangas and Comics. In comics, we all love superheroes in outfits, but how long until everyone looks the same or try-hard? Same goes for anime; how long until they all look like schoolgirls or kids who stumbled into a hot-topic?
There are a lot of memes that come into the expectations of our media, so it’s difficult to be really different, yet remain in the comfort zone long enough as to not scare off any prospective audience.
What are your experiences? Thoughts? Things to add?
I LOVE this question and I’ll do my best to answer it in the video below. I also wrote out the answer if you’d rather read it. Either way you get the same info.
I didn’t answer the question thinking I have THE answer, I just wanted to try to give one:
The Sea of Sameness
So Manga has a standard and there’s also genres within Manga. So you’ve got the “school girl” genre, right? And you know there’s a market for the school girl kind of stories. If you want to join in, how are you going to stand out in a sea of sameness?
Same problem with Superheroes. There’s a bunch a guys in tights fighting and they’re all superheroes. How are you going to stand out? Marvel and DC have basically monopolized the market. How do you stand out in a market like that?
Well, I’m no expert, I don’t think I have THE answer. If I did, I’d be doing it and I’d be rich, right? But I’m going to throw out my thoughts on the matter. This is how I would approach the situation.
Okay so here goes:
My Answer
One of the reasons you’re not standing out is because you’re not saying anything new. You’re not taking that genre and saying something new enough.
I understand that the genre exists because people are looking to get specific things within the genre. Specific emotions, a specific experience. Every genre has specific experiences that they draw from that people are attracted to.
“What people want is the same but different.” They want to be surprised. They want to get something they didn’t see coming while experiencing the familiar.
I think, the problem is that you’re trying to say the same thing everyone else is saying. You don’t have a voice, you’re not saying ANYTHING. YOU are not in the work. I think that’s really the problem.
I think you can make a successful Superhero story or School girl story if you’re actually saying something of VALUE. That is new, that also fills a NEED.
Search for What you can Uniquely Fill
In order to do that, you have to find out what is MISSING. Then see how YOU can uniquely bring that subject to the table in a way that has not been done or said.
So it the end, it’s not really the genre. It’s about what is missing that you can fill, that you can uniquely say, within the confines of the genre.
You can also do this without being within a genre. You can do this by just finding something unique that you’re interested in talking about. You can start there first and then put the genre on top of it later.
So that’s what I was thinking. That’s my two cents.
What’s YOUR Answer?
What do you think? Am I wrong am I right, am I missing something? Let me know. Seriously, I don’t have THE answer here. I have a possible answer, I have a possible solution.
If you think it’s a good solution, let me know, if you think it’s not, let me know.
It’s a good topic for conversation.
I hope this was something worth thinking about.
Pulp Simpsons
If your still interested in seeing the Pulp Simpsons drawings, I’m sending out five more drawing to my email list this week. Join up and see what you’re missing.
CATHOLICISM – Pope Francis
Viva il Papa!
Hurray! We got a new Pope and I think he rocks!
I’ve been following all the new about him pretty obsessively.
I also like his face. So much so that I got an overwhelming urge to draw him. So here’s my drawing of Pope Francis.
. I spotted the backs using my “
.
, which is a different device.
. I use one at work and it’s kinda become a tool that, as an artist, it’s tough to live without.
in your drawing.
art book, you can see some of his work. Work like this:
by Blake Snyder:
