Like most aspiring comic book artists I look to books for instruction, inspirations and resources. Almost as soon as I started reading comics I wanted to create comics too. My introduction to comic creating was Marvel Comics Try-Out Book. This book taught me so much in the process in creating comic books.  As I got older I would regularly visit my local book store and buy any new how to draw comic book they had. Every book was a treasure of knowledge and encouragement.

I decided to create a special page on this blog to help other aspiring comic artist find the knowledge and encouragement I received when I was first starting in my drawing education. These books will help set you on the right track. So take a look have fun and enjoy. – Shazam!

For the past few years I’ve noticed a lot of comic artist creating sketch cards. You can find them on their personal website and Deviant Art. I think it’s a really great trend. You can both create and collect awesome art. I’ve been wanting to draw some sketch cards for a while now. I looked fall over the web for some blank cards. I found them at a comic art supply shop, and spend a little more then I wanted. But I was happy to have them. The next day I went to my local art store and found some for 90% cheaper. So I decided to create a free sheet for people print on their own.

I’ve created a Sketch Card sheet with 8 cards. I would suggest printing these on card stock paper. Card stock is very close to Bristol board and is great to draw on. I’ve put crop marks so it’s easy to cut the cards out with a ruler and an x-acto knife. I’ve also added a dotted line if you’d like to cut them out with scissors you can too. Each card measures 2 1/2″ by 3 1/2″, regular sized for collectible cards.

Here is a free high resolution pdf file. Go ahead and download it and have fun creating some Sketch Cards. I’ll be posting more Free Comic Book Resources every Monday.
- Shazam!

Download the High Resolution PDF
or click here to open in Web Browser

This last week Marvel Comics has been promoting their new event called The Heroic Age. It was hinted last year with a teaser showing Thor, Captain America and Iron Man in shadow. the last few years in the Marvel Universe have been very dark. There was Avengers Disassemble, Civil War, Secret Invasion and the Dark Reign. But in May Marvel will bring in the Heroic Age, There’s going to be a new spirit of hope, courage, and the selflessness at the heart of heroism will rise up. Marvel’s most elite characters will be at the center of The Heroic Age, including Iron Man, Captain America, Thor, the Fantastic Four, the Avengers and more.

I’m personally excited about the new direction Marvel plans on taking. I grew up reading Marvel Comics and think this new story line will be awesome and full of great adventures. I’ve decided to use my blogging skills and create a fan blog site dedicated to The Heroic Age. I’ll be putting any and all new info up on the site including news, promo art and future Solicitations.

So if you want the latest info about Marvel Comics The Heroic Age check out my Fan site: www.TheHeroicAge.com

-Shazam!

Disney/Marvel will be casting for principal roles and extras to appear in new Thor feature film when it begins filming in Santa Fe, New Mexico this March.

Open Casting Call Details:
Ages 18 and over may attend. You are welcome to bring non-returnable photos of kids interested in being extras in the film. Please bring a pen. Photos will be taken at no charge.

Where:
224 E. Palace Avenue
Marion Hall 1st Floor
Santa Fe, NM 87501

When:
Friday, February 19 2010
2:00pm – 7:00pm

Saturday, February 20, 2010
9:00 – 4:00pm

You may be able to submit your information to:
Thor Casting
1698 Galisteo Street
Santa Fe, NM 87505

For more information click here:

Research is very important when working on a comic book. If I’m going to draw a car, horse or gun then I need to know what it looks like. The same can be said about the characters in the comic too. Back in the 90’s Marvel Comics published  “The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Master Edition” I believe this was one of the greatest references created for us aspiring comic book artists.  Per page in shows a character in a 180 degree view. We see the front, side and back view. This was a great way to know what their characters would look like from different angles.

What I’ve done is created is a Character Design sheet that helps in creating a 180 degree view of your character. This way you can have a solid idea of what they look like from the front, side and back. This is a more technical way to design a character, but I believe it is an invaluable one.

If you’ve picked up any how to draw comics book, then you’ll know that they explain that comic book heroes are usually 8 1/2 heads tall. I’ve incorporated this into this Character Design sheet. The left shows the head sizes, this will help in keeping all views of the character unified.

Here is an example of how this Character Design: 180 degree view sheet can work. I’ve taken Wolverine’s 180 degree view from “The Official Handbook of the Marvel Universe Master Edition” and superimposed it over the Character Design sheet I created. As you can see Wolverine is 7 1/2 heads tall.  We also see the design elements that make up his costume from all angles.

Here is a free high resolution pdf file. Go ahead and download it and have fun designing your characters front, side and back views. I’ll be posting more Free Comic Book Resources every Monday.
- Shazam!

Download the High Resolution PDF
or click here to open in Web Browser

A few months ago I was looking through some of my old drawings. Ones I did while I was a kid up to when I was in collage. I found my original sketches for a character named “The Hunter”.  I had redesigned his history and biography a few years ago, so I decide to redesign his look too. Want to see the original designs and the rough redesign check out my earlier post The Hunter – Character Design – From Sketches to Final Ink – Part 1. I was very pleased with the redesign so I decided to create an action posed pin-up of my character.

For the past year I’ve been digitally inking my pencils. I usually use Adobe Illustrator using vector points. I like using the pen tool to create crisp sharp/smooth lines. You can see a great example of this in a past post Comic Book Digital Inking Techniques with Illustrator Vector Anchor Points. But for this inking I wanted go old school and use a real brush and pen. A process I do not used very often. I had a real blast inking it by hand!

I didn’t want to loose my pencils so I scanned the original and reprinted them on card stock. I used Adobe Photoshop to replaced the original black lines to blue lines. This way it would be easier for me to ink them. Check out the difference between the original pencils and what I inked. The Hunter – Character Design – From Sketches to Final Ink – Part 2.

Here are my final inks of “The Hunter” I had a real blast with this piece. I started with very rough sketches to tight pencils and finally to a finished inked piece. In my next blog post (that’s right I have one more to go) I’ll show you what I did to vectorize my final inks so I can print them at any size with out loosing quality of the inks. – Shazam!

One of the most important things when drawing a comic book is the background. You can have the most stylized or realistic characters, but if the background is weak then the whole comic can suffer. Things on your paper will just not look right. If the story takes place in a bar, a mall or even an apartment it’s a good idea to have a clear idea of what the backgrounds will look like.

I’ve created a Scene Design Page that can help define where the story is taking place. It’s a grid with a section for notes on the side. This grid is very similar to what architects and interior designers might use to make blueprints for their projects. As a comic artists we are both the directors and set designers. Using the scene design page can help you see the different angles you might want to draw.

I’ve included a sample of how I use the scene design page. On the bottom right I came up with a simple blueprint of what I wanted the scene to look like. It’s a Hall/Assembly room. On the upper left I’ve drawn the Hall/Assembly room as I would in a comic. I used 1-point perspective to get the general idea of what I want the scene to look like. Using the grid helped to keep the lines and spacing unified when designing the scene.

Here is a free high resolution pdf file. Go ahead and download it and have fun coming up with great scenes to tell your comic book stories. I’ll be posting more Free Comic Book Resources every Monday.

Download the High Resolution PDF
or click here to open in Web Browser

While looking through some of my drawing from ten years ago I found a character design I did for “The Hunter”. Form that original sketch I redesigned his look and biography. The newer design sketches were a little rough, but they were intentionally quick to get my thought down on paper. You can see the original sketch and the redesign on my previous post The Hunter – Character Design – From Sketches to Final Ink – Part 1.

Once I had the look for The Hunter down, then I could start having fun. I decided to draw him in an action pose, jumping at a target with his gun and sword ready for battle. I tried playing with shadows, perspective and highlights. In the past year I’ve been refining theses elements in my drawings. They have been helpful in me finding my own comic book art style.

Now that I’ve got an awesome action pose drawing I was ready to ink it. I’ve been digitally inking my pencils for the past year. For this drawing I wanted to go old school and ink with real inks, but I didn’t want to lose my original pencils. So what I did was scan the drawing and turned the pencil lines blue in Adobe Photoshop (being the crafty graphic designer I am). I then printed the pencils on card stock paper and was ready to ink traditionally.

Right on! My next post will show the cool inking of this Pin-up. I’ll also have a video of me inking. So keep an eye out.
-Shazam!

Thumbnails are very important when your drawing sequential stories. To help with this you can use Comic Book Layout Pages to sketch down your ideas. It’s a great way to play with different angles and vintage points. You get a good practice before you decide on what your final pencils will look like.

I’ve created my own Layout Page Sheet, much like the ones you can find at online art supply stores. The difference between the one I created and the ones from these shops is mine have two pages per sheet instead of four. I did this because it allows me to draw a little bigger and not have my layouts to tight. I like to print these out on regular paper, I find it much cheaper than buying sheets online.

Here is a free high resolution pdf file. Go ahead and download it and have fun coming up with some comic stories. I’ll be posting more Free Comic Book Resources every Monday.

- Shazam!

Download the High Resolution PDF
or click here to open in Web Browser

The Daily Comic Sketch Challenge – 2010 Week 1. Last year I did a set of  quick drawing of only 30 minutes each. These drawing were of random comic book characters suggested by friends from Twitter.  I had a major blast drawing them. I really think it helped my drawing ability. I’m now planning on making this a daily self exercise in 2010. The original sketches were done on 8.5″ x 11″ card stock paper for 30 minutes each. I’ve decided to upgrade this to an hour. I”ll be drawing on 11″ x 17″ comic board paper too. So I’m very excited to get started on this daily exercise. I’ll be drawing 5 days a week, this way I can rest on two days.

Here is the list of the characters I’ll be drawing this week!

1. ROM Spaceknight (Marvel)

2. Mary Jane Watson (Marvel)

3. Man of Miracles (Image)

4. Jaina Solo (Dark Horse / Star Wars)

5. Johnny Sorrow (DC)

I’ll be posting the new Drawing every day. If you have any suggestion on who I should draw next, please let me know. – SHAZAM!

Check out my other: Daily Comic Sketches