Hey just thought I'd let you know you have some of the best artwork I've ever seen! Congrats! Especially Chirrut, he's amazing in your style! I was also wondering if you had any advice on how to draw heads and eyes? They're one of my two biggest struggles and I'd love it if I could get your advice. Anything helps. Thank you and I hope you have a fantastic day!
*_* Thanks a bunch askdh and thanks for taking the time to write me! I had a lot of fun working on Chirrut ;;;
Hmmm I usually think it’s not useful to explain how I make eyes or noses, since the way to draw them changes depending on the pose… My advice would be practicing with ¾ heads. That view always force you to work volumetric shapes and also give a lot more of information. Also, I think it’s much more easy since you have more landmarks to help you.
I would also say consulting anatomy to identify the landmarks on the face (zygomatic and nasal bone , superciliary arch, mandible…) and practice on photos. Using references for drawing is not bad and drawing over photos when you need information of a face is a lot of fun. Is not necessary to draw all the bones, but knowing where the volumes and principal shapes are can help you learn. I.E:
I love that photo because it’s SO SO easy to see the volumetry of the face; just the line of the jaw gives you a lot of informacion about it. And it makes it easy to identify the elements and principal shapes of the head:
(I broke his nose, I’m sorry, but I made this quickly (??)) the point is, take your time to study the lines and understand the anatomy.Also:
that triangle is very helpful too and could help you placing the principal elements. The lines that make him look like he’s crying (?) are the relation between the eyes and the mouth and are very helpful when placing it.
Again, this is only a way to learn and understand how to build a face. That is always the key, even if you use a cartoon style. Rules can be broken, but I think it’s important to understand them first. It could help you make your style more solid.
And well, once you’ve studied it from photos, trying it on your own (even if you have references, that’s ok) and practice, practice u3u
Hope this helps and hope it’s not too technical ;;;
Hi Fer! I simply love your blog and tutorials so much, but I was wondering on how you draw masculine bodies? My drawings have been female and slender men, and when I try... it just doesn't look right. So any tips can be really helpful because I want to try and draw different body shapes. Thank you so much! <3
easiest thing is probably to widen the shoulders and up the muscle mass! it really helps to study anatomy so you know which areas to exaggerate. a more muscular/masculine person will have a more defined sternocleidomastoid (in blue) and bigger traps (green); basically a thicker neck. playing with the shoulder to hip ratio will help as well. i guess if you want a super manly man just make him look like a dorito
In the conclusion for now, some things I’d really recommend doing if you’re seriously considering making a webcomic (or really a comic in general). Some of these don’t really apply to strips or gag-a-day type of comics, but I’m not talking about those here.
1. Write down ideas\sketch stuff, LEGIBLY. “I’m gonna remember it later” NEVER works. And if you scribble it somewhere on a piece of paper, you’d better scan it or retype in one doc later, because tiny notes always get lost among other doodles in my skethbooks.
(i know it’s hard to keep everything clean and organized, but this mess is just not productive)
If your project is a collaboration, save your conversations. If you’re working alone, make a blog for your ramblings. You have no clue what tears of relief I cry when I open that blog and rememeber I don’t have to painstakingly look through my heaps of sketchbooks and folders for a tiny idea I’m not even sure I wrote down a few months ago.
2. Inspiration folders, or even better, inspo blog with tags also help with collecting and remembering ideas. Color schemes, landscapes, style inspirations, atmospheric stuff, maybe some photo references, all those neat things.
3. Basic tier: character design sheets. Top tier: common poses, expressions. God tier: outfits they wear throughout the comic. Holy cow tier: turnaround sheets for all those outfits.
(I’d die trying to find good pages for references without these)
4. If you haven’t finished detailing the plot, don’t even think about moving on to drawing the comic. You’re gonna regret it when you come up with a really cool plot element that can’t be incorporated anymore because you’ve already drawn all the parts you could’ve tweaked.
5. Don’t just define the plot, make a script. Writing down the lines and the brief description of the actions serves me fine:
(notice that I approximately divided the pages & the text that’d go to each panel on a page)
6. Hard mode: make thumbnails for all the pages, if possible. At least whenever a new chapter starts.
7. If your story involves some convoluted chronology shenanigans, you’d better write down the events of your timeline in the chronological order.
8. Backgrounds. You can’t avoid them, bro. Like half of the comics are backgrounds, especially if your story involves a lot of adventuring and looking around. I know it hurts, but you’ll have to become friends with them. Read some tutorials, practice on photos, go out and sketch some streets, use 3d programs (like Google Sketch) to understand the perspective, use sites like houseplans to visualize your buildings better, I don’t know. Just be prepared for their imminent evil.
9. If you’re drawing digitally, pick a brush size for the lines and stick with it. You don’t want your lines and detail levels to look all wonky and inconsistent in different panels. And I don’t mean the cool stylistic varying lines, I mean this:
Also, things on the background should have thinner and/or lighter lines to avoid distraction. Usually less details too, unless you’re making a busy background with a simple foreground to help it pop out. Or wanna draw the attention to an object on the bg.
10. Readable fonts. Even if you chose to ignore people with poor sight or dyslexia, the majority of your readers aren’t gonna be excited about struggling to decypher this:
Also, as much as I love my black speech bubbles, colorful text on black still kinda hurts the eyes. I wouldn’t recommend doing that for all the characters. Black speech bubbles are usually used for creepy, inhuman voices. And yes, having a colorful outline in this case helps.
11. Probably newsflash, but did you know that panels have their place, order and functions? They do! My favourite thing ever is how I used panels when I was like 12:
(comics ain’t rocket science, but this one is)
The composition of the panels and word balloons always serve for a better reading experience. They guide your eyes over the page, so that you never feel lost or confused. The images in the comic equal frames in a movie, so it’s pretty damn important in what order you look at things and how quickly you can understand what’s going on!
(Eric Shanower & Scottie Young’s Wizard of Oz)
12. One update a week is fine for testing waters. Don’t overestimate yourself, especially if you have a pretty busy life outside it. A stable comic that updates slowly, but regularly is better than an unpredictable erratic one. You can always pick up the pace later, if you feel confident enough.
13. Try to always have a buffer - a couple of pages in reserve. If you’re making the pages much faster than you’re updating, this shouldn’t be a problem. But if those paces are equally the same, it’s goddamn HARD. But on the other hand, if something happens and you skip an update, those come in handy.
If you’re looking at this list and thinking “wow that’s a LOT of work”, you’re totally right. And it’s okay to be intimidated at first! But that’s why it’s important to start with something small. Once you get the formula down, these things will be natural to you.
hey i was wondering how you draw female faces? drawing guys im like hell yeah, but ladies im like hell neh. would you be able to give an example with rey?
Ahhh I’m not the best person to ask for drawing females but um I think generally you just have to be a little more careful with your marks. Everything should be a little softer, more curves, etc. Rey’s a little difficult bc she has a pretty boxy/angular face but her facial features are more delicate.
Of course these are just suggestions and stuff I noticed and not set rules ;;;; but I hope it helps a bit!!
Art Help
I redid this list because broken links 💀
General Tips
Stretch your fingers and hands
Art is for fun
Never too late to start/improve
Using a tablet
Editing software: pictures & video
Moodboard resources
Comic pacing
Watercolor
Coloring
Color Theory (not children's hospital)
Resources: coloring things a different color
Gold
Dark Skin undertones
Dark Skin in pastel art
POC Blush tones
Eyes colors
Cohesive Color Palette
Lights and Colors
Human Anatomy
POSE REFERENCES
Wizard Battle poses
Romance poses
Shoulders
Tips for practicing anatomy
Proportional Limbs
Skeletons
Hair Directions
Afro, 4C hair
Cane use
Clothing
Long skirts
Traditional Chinese Hanfu (clothing reference)
CLOTHING REFERENCE
Sewing information
Animals
Horse -> Dragon
Snouts: dogs, cats, wolves, fox
Foot, paw, hoof
More
Drawing references sources
Art tutorial Masterlist
Another art tutorial Masterlist
Inspiration: father recreates son's art
Inspiration: Lights
ART BOOKS
Plants/flowers: North America, Hawaii, Patagonia
Art Cheats
Hey friends, Meg here for WOOPS IT’S WEDNESDAY! Today we’re taking a look at how to study values and the importance of knowing how to use them! It’s not all about color, you know. If you have any tutorial recommendations send ‘em in here or my personal. Now go forth and I’ll see you next week!