How to draw comics when you can’t draw? Most of my comics reading friends were thinking about picking up drawing skills in our last Skype meeting.
Most of us are staying at home due to the coronavirus and we actually have more time to do things that we only talk about previously. The things that we want to do but never have a chance to do.
One of if, is drawing our own comic book.
Comic books have a long iconic place in the history of American pop culture. In recent years, the comic book industry has been revitalized as the characters and stories from comic books and graphic novels have been re-created on the silver screen.
Comics were once gearing primarily towards children, but now they have exponentially broadened to the larger culture.
After Avengers: Endgame from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, almost everyone I know is talking about comics and comics character.
We talk and talk and talk and a few of us decided – why don’t we give drawing our own comics a try?
How to draw comics?
How to start? How to draw a comic book?
One of them made a joke. We just need a pen and a piece of paper and start drawing our asses as characters.
In a way he is right. We do need just a pen and a piece of paper, and we can start off with any character that we can think of.
But of course, when we start to draw, we must be able to draw consistent and dynamic characters. We must understand anatomical construction, action poses and also gestures.
It doesn’t seem easy.
But we got to start somewhere to build basic figures into stylized characters and then set them up in action with the needed backgrounds to complete the visual storytelling process.
Some have started with Youtube for reference, some have started to buy books and digital books on comic character drawing. It looks like they are serious about this.
Reference Books on How to Draw Comics
I have compiled a short list, which I am going to discuss with them in our next Skype meeting. Most of them are from Amazon Best Sellers in the how to draw comics section.
I hope you will find them useful as well.
1. How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way
One of the first and still one of the best, Stan Lee’s How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way has been the primary resource for any and all who want to master the art of illustrating comic books and graphic novels.
2. Stan Lee’s How to Draw Comics
From the Legendary Creator of Spider-Man, The Incredible Hulk, Fantastic Four, X-Men, and Iron Man himself. Stan Lee.
In Stan Lee’s How to Draw Comics, Stan Lee sets out to teach everything he knows about drawing and comic book characters, The book focuses primarily on action-adventure comics but will touch upon other genres and styles, such as romance, humor, horror, and the widely influential manga style. From producing concepts and character sketches to laying out the final page of art, Stan Lee is the ultimate guide to the world of creating comics.
3. Drawing Cutting Edge Anatomy: The Ultimate Reference Guide for Comic Book Artists
This drawing tutorial, Drawing Cutting Edge Anatomy: The Ultimate Reference Guide for Comic Book Artists, is from best-selling author Christopher Hart shows artists how to draw exaggerated musculature of super-sized figures in action poses.
4. Draw With Jazza – Creating Characters: Fun and Easy Guide to Drawing Cartoons and Comics
Draw With Jazza YouTube star Josiah Brooks breaks down an easy-to-follow method that will help you to invent and draw original characters time and time again. Whether sci-fi or steampunk, comic book heroines or tattooed action heroes, animal familiars or alien races, you will discover the limitless possibilities of creating your very own characters for comic books, cartoons, video games and more!
And once you are done with drawings, you may want to start on how to write you story.
5. The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics
For any writer who wants to become an expert comic-book storyteller, The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics is the definitive, one-stop resource!
Dennis O’Neil is a well-regarded comic industry legend. HE has decades of experience with DC as well as Marvel and he is willing to share them in The DC Comics Guide to Writing Comics. His best-known works include Green Lantern/Green Arrow, Batman, The Shadow, and The Question.
You will discover the various methods of writing scripts, as well as procedures for developing a story structure, building subplots, creating well-rounded characters, and much more. O’Neil also explains the many diverse formats for comic books, including graphic novels, maxi-series, mega-series, and adaptation.
Anyone who wants to make story-driven comics should check out this title.
