After attempting my first comic, I realized being a comic book artist means also being a cinematographer. Not only do you need to make sure the composition in the panels are appealing and captivating, but even the panels themselves need to be arranged in a way that compliments the other panels. The worst experience I had while miaking storyboards was realizing I needed to lose a few panels, which majorly messed up the flow I had established in later pages.
We're not just the cinematographer, but, the set designer, wardrobe, lighting, and we're doing the acting for the characters. Basically we're the whole movie crew.
I use Clip Studio's *Vector Layers* and set my Eraser to "Erase up to Intersection." I deliberately extend strokes thru crossing lines. This is such a valuable and rapid way of working that I use Vector Layers even for my roughs.
Storytelling is THE thing. Any way you can get the story out the door in an efficient and effective way. When I'm working digitally I often use a tone brush (small dots) because it helps my sketch be more impressionistic. Which helps me not tense up and lets the creative juices flow.
Back in the early 90s I was assistant to several guys. Two tips I’d picked up were from Neal Adams. The pomodoro technique where you set a timer and try to gamify drawing and inking. Gauge how fast you think you could do tasks. set the timer and go. Me and a guy inked two comics in three days this way. I was also taught to not draw horizon points etc until after you roughed your sketch out. You could then use the outer lines to find the vanishing points. Last… Alex Toth at one point started drawing pages at 1 to 1 scale. The size of an actual comic book.
I love all of these tips, Chad! I have utilized the pomodoro technique myself and find that one to be helpful, for many different tasks actually. I didn't know that Toth drew 1 to 1 at a certain point. That's wild. I've been tempted to try that myself. Thanks for sharing those!
@@thomaspitilli I’ve used this a lot drawing props for animation. I single handedly drew props for two seasons of two different shows at WB. It really works and cuts out spending too much time out of my day and allows me to be present with my family.
This was great! Thank you! My small tip: Get comfortable using the warp and distort tools if you're working digitally. I use those to quickly adjust perspective on parts of my drawings sometimes. Sometimes I'm able to get it exactly where I want. Other times I'm able to get it "close enough" and then just redraw what is needed in perspective. But it saves me a lot of time trying to figure out perspective on individual figures and objects.
As an additional note, Kishimoto, the Author of Naruto, has stated that his style was SPECIFICALLY meant to allow him to draw characters fast, in order to meet deadlines, and ive hence leaned towards a similar principle; get things across, but keep it simple enough that it will one day be doable in a reasonable amount of time, and of course trying to learn to avoid perfectionism and accept un-ideal panels, in the name of time.
¿Alex Toth and John Búscema draw 3 book each month, how many page in each book? Draw small thumbnail/stamp image faster if want try diferent idea and still develop story, need change stuff.
I used to use a Red Colerase pencil. Then I would turn over my paper then use a Blue Colerease pencil to correct some mistakes.... And then I would turn back the paper and then use the regular pencil to do the actual drawing. Obviously... I was doing all of that on a Ligth table to see through the paper or the artboard. ;) It was a bit exasting sometimes.... because you could end up doing the drawing 3 times that way.... a 4th time if you did ink your work. Although for the ink.... you could sometimes skip the regular pencil stage on go straight to ink. But the red drawing had to be pretty tight to do that. Although I use a Cintiq now.... I still do a similar method. ;)
This might be exclusive to digital, but I keep a sheet of various sketches of my characters in different poses, and I copy and paste. A lot of times I might have to adjust them to suit the panel but it helps keep my characters on model and quickens the sketching process by quite a bit.
Solid video! I've heard from European editors that some artists take their time to create comics and don't rush things. As a comic book artist working for U.S. publishers, I envy them o__o (And I've been using 3d models for background for over 15 years... I'm a 3D modeler as well. It speeds up the process. Still, I'd like to make 5 pages a day. Unfortunately, I can't draw anything too much stylized. I don't like it).
Yeah, I think we all wish we were European cartoonists from time to time, if for nothing else but the long deadlines haha. And that's awesome that you can make your own 3d backgrounds, I bet that has saved you a bunch of time over the years.
On the other hand, for some creative people having a deadline and pressure makes them produce great work and having all the time in the world just leads to procrastination, second-guessing, and damaging perfectionism. The Beatles produced 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 LPs' worth of tracks every year for 7 straight years because they had to.
@@docsavage8640 "On the other hand, for some creative people having a deadline and pressure makes them produce great work and having all the time in the world just leads to procrastination" Agreed. I'm not this type of artist, but I know some that are just like that.
Powers worked for a really sorta esoteric reason. It came out when Batman the Animated Series was still so prevalent and important in so many reader’s minds, and to see essentially that style placed into a Mamet-esque, very adult situation, turned Powers into a kind of elevated satire. And it still holds up in that way today, as that animated style has become ubiquitous in American animation (especially for superhero stuff). I don’t think that Powers would’ve been successful without Batman the Animated Series’ existence. It’s a weird thing to say, but BtAS really was integral to comic book readers accepting the art style.
Artists On Comic Art by Mark Salsbury. I made a video called How To Make Comics: 5 Book Recommendations or something like that. I go more in depth about it there 👍
I disagree about its just about telling the story with pictures…even if it’s just stick figures…where I stopped at 4:44 in this video. The art being great is what makes comics great. Is there a place for less great art making a place for itself? The current market place says yes. But the fact is, for me, I can’t even get into the writing of the story if the art is boring. Fast boring art is not good comics. Or should I say comic books. Samnee is a “cartoonist” in his style, but it’s good drawing, interesting shots, page design, and rendering of of light and shadow. Azaceta is a more realistic version of the same approach. Tommy Lee Edwards a more detailed version of both previously mentioned. Lee Weeks a more classic comic book style of rendering, Butch Guice a more realistic approach to all the above, Sean Phillips a naturalistic approach with a lose photo real take, Bryan Hitch a hyper rendering realistic approach. Oeming has a hyper cartoonist design approach. What all these guys have in common is they deliver interesting images to look at with their art. So now the story has real interest. If the writing is real good, you have something going on. Kurt Swan , drew boring shots, really well. Adams drew exciting shots real well. That’s the whole ball game. Speed actually comes from being able to draw well. The more you know, the less you have noodle it out. Speed doesn’t come from simplicity of style per se. That certainly can be helpful… but if you’re simplicity is boring…is that good story telling or art. I’d argue no. Drawing well fast comes from knowledge mixed with real creativity. What creates slow drawing is less knowledge trying to draw great. It’s that simple. You’re trying to draw above your knowledge abilities. If you keep pressing and learning you will get better, and thus faster. But speed without good drawing, to me, hurts the medium…and isn’t a virtue. Maybe this is out side the scope of what you’re video wants to say or deal with. If so, feel free to delete it. This is just my opinion.
If you have to hold your inker's hand, you should work with a different inker. A professional inker should be better at it than you, not worse. Unless you have no say, don't be on a team you don't trust.
More is not better… Better is better. Relax with the speed. It’s not like you’ve got a million projects to do or that you’re gonna be a millionaire because of them.
There's a time and place for everything. Including speed. Especially when you're trying to make as good a living as possible. But I get what you're saying 👍
After attempting my first comic, I realized being a comic book artist means also being a cinematographer. Not only do you need to make sure the composition in the panels are appealing and captivating, but even the panels themselves need to be arranged in a way that compliments the other panels. The worst experience I had while miaking storyboards was realizing I needed to lose a few panels, which majorly messed up the flow I had established in later pages.
Draw more pages. Manga.
We're not just the cinematographer, but, the set designer, wardrobe, lighting, and we're doing the acting for the characters. Basically we're the whole movie crew.
Ya, comics are the ultimate art because you're also composing new image each panel.
I use Clip Studio's *Vector Layers* and set my Eraser to "Erase up to Intersection." I deliberately extend strokes thru crossing lines. This is such a valuable and rapid way of working that I use Vector Layers even for my roughs.
Jim Lee’s approach seems to be “Step one, draw a circle. Step two, draw the rest of the face.”
Haha yep, totally
Storytelling is THE thing. Any way you can get the story out the door in an efficient and effective way. When I'm working digitally I often use a tone brush (small dots) because it helps my sketch be more impressionistic. Which helps me not tense up and lets the creative juices flow.
What's really amazing is Curt Swan's consistent quality for that many pages
Back in the early 90s I was assistant to several guys. Two tips I’d picked up were from Neal Adams.
The pomodoro technique where you set a timer and try to gamify drawing and inking. Gauge how fast you think you could do tasks. set the timer and go. Me and a guy inked two comics in three days this way.
I was also taught to not draw horizon points etc until after you roughed your sketch out. You could then use the outer lines to find the vanishing points.
Last… Alex Toth at one point started drawing pages at 1 to 1 scale. The size of an actual comic book.
I love all of these tips, Chad! I have utilized the pomodoro technique myself and find that one to be helpful, for many different tasks actually. I didn't know that Toth drew 1 to 1 at a certain point. That's wild. I've been tempted to try that myself. Thanks for sharing those!
@@thomaspitilli I’ve used this a lot drawing props for animation. I single handedly drew props for two seasons of two different shows at WB. It really works and cuts out spending too much time out of my day and allows me to be present with my family.
@@ChadTownsend Love it 💪
This was great! Thank you!
My small tip: Get comfortable using the warp and distort tools if you're working digitally. I use those to quickly adjust perspective on parts of my drawings sometimes. Sometimes I'm able to get it exactly where I want. Other times I'm able to get it "close enough" and then just redraw what is needed in perspective. But it saves me a lot of time trying to figure out perspective on individual figures and objects.
Solid tip, man! Thanks for sharing. Digital definitely provied some really helpful shortcuts when you know how to use them 👍
@@thomaspitilli Happy to share! Digital really is a fairly different workflow :)
As an additional note, Kishimoto, the Author of Naruto, has stated that his style was SPECIFICALLY meant to allow him to draw characters fast, in order to meet deadlines, and ive hence leaned towards a similar principle; get things across, but keep it simple enough that it will one day be doable in a reasonable amount of time, and of course trying to learn to avoid perfectionism and accept un-ideal panels, in the name of time.
Very useful mindset to have when making comics 👍👍
At the end of the video i just take a look at your subscribers... and i was shocked. You do it very well and you deserve much more views.
This is the first video of yours I’ve seen. Straight forward, solid information. Thanks. Booting up now to check out your Skillshare classes.
Thanks so much, Steven! I appreciate the positive feedback, I'm glad you enjoyed it 😊
Thank you for the great content and thank the algorithm for getting me here. You just got a new subscriber.
I'm glad to hear that! Welcome 🙂 Hope you enjoy the library as well as the vids to come.
Jim Lee still blows me away.
I think that this video hit a lot of great points. I will endeavor to include these tips into my own work.
Great video and great tips. I love watching your process.
🙏🙏
thank you for making this video! i've found it to be very inspiring.
I'm reallt glad to hear that, thank you for watching!
I needed this advice. Thank you so much ^_^
I'm glad to hear that! Glad you enjoyed 🙂
¿Alex Toth and John Búscema draw 3 book each month, how many page in each book?
Draw small thumbnail/stamp image faster if want try diferent idea and still develop story, need change stuff.
That was really helpful, thank you! It was nice to know that not everyone does thumbnails because it doesn't really work for me
I used to use a Red Colerase pencil.
Then I would turn over my paper then use a Blue Colerease pencil to correct some mistakes....
And then I would turn back the paper and then use the regular pencil to do the actual drawing.
Obviously... I was doing all of that on a Ligth table to see through the paper or the artboard. ;)
It was a bit exasting sometimes.... because you could end up doing the drawing 3 times that way....
a 4th time if you did ink your work.
Although for the ink.... you could sometimes skip the regular pencil stage on go straight to ink.
But the red drawing had to be pretty tight to do that.
Although I use a Cintiq now.... I still do a similar method. ;)
This might be exclusive to digital, but I keep a sheet of various sketches of my characters in different poses, and I copy and paste. A lot of times I might have to adjust them to suit the panel but it helps keep my characters on model and quickens the sketching process by quite a bit.
Very efficient, I like it 👌
Solid video!
I've heard from European editors that some artists take their time to create comics and don't rush things. As a comic book artist working for U.S. publishers, I envy them o__o (And I've been using 3d models for background for over 15 years... I'm a 3D modeler as well. It speeds up the process. Still, I'd like to make 5 pages a day. Unfortunately, I can't draw anything too much stylized. I don't like it).
Yeah, I think we all wish we were European cartoonists from time to time, if for nothing else but the long deadlines haha. And that's awesome that you can make your own 3d backgrounds, I bet that has saved you a bunch of time over the years.
On the other hand, for some creative people having a deadline and pressure makes them produce great work and having all the time in the world just leads to procrastination, second-guessing, and damaging perfectionism.
The Beatles produced 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 LPs' worth of tracks every year for 7 straight years because they had to.
@@docsavage8640 "On the other hand, for some creative people having a deadline and pressure makes them produce great work and having all the time in the world just leads to procrastination"
Agreed. I'm not this type of artist, but I know some that are just like that.
Great video!!!
Thank you!
great advice,
thanks
New sub! Thanks for the tips
Welcome to the channel! Thank you 😊
Nice insights, thanks! =)
Powers worked for a really sorta esoteric reason. It came out when Batman the Animated Series was still so prevalent and important in so many reader’s minds, and to see essentially that style placed into a Mamet-esque, very adult situation, turned Powers into a kind of elevated satire.
And it still holds up in that way today, as that animated style has become ubiquitous in American animation (especially for superhero stuff).
I don’t think that Powers would’ve been successful without Batman the Animated Series’ existence. It’s a weird thing to say, but BtAS really was integral to comic book readers accepting the art style.
Very good point. That's probably why I enjoyed it too.
Does it really them by who drew them? Because the pages aren't finished until they are printed.
0:48 so many other things to do with you time on earth 😅 I guess you gotta love it, I’m cheering y’all on
Any tips for coloring/toning? It is much more time consuming than I wish it to be, and really breaks my motivation since it also feels boring.
Adam Warren. 10 stories, 120 pages. But they’re really quite good.
Can you link the book name? 14:15
Artists On Comic Art by Mark Salsbury. I made a video called How To Make Comics: 5 Book Recommendations or something like that. I go more in depth about it there 👍
Hi Mr Pitilli I erase a lot what advice do you have for drawing paper that doesn't spoil a lot?
I like Strathmore 300 Bristol, Vellum finish 👍
Interesting, Ive always done my thumbnails full size. Maybe going smaller will work faster for me.
It might. Different for everyone though. Seems like Jim Lee does them at full size, right on to the board. Just comes down to what works best for you.
The masters drew those many pages the TRADITIONAL WAY!
Today artists can practically CHEAT with the tech today, it's not the same!
Sal Buscema actually did more than his brother John Buscema
I disagree about its just about telling the story with pictures…even if it’s just stick figures…where I stopped at 4:44 in this video. The art being great is what makes comics great. Is there a place for less great art making a place for itself? The current market place says yes. But the fact is, for me, I can’t even get into the writing of the story if the art is boring. Fast boring art is not good comics. Or should I say comic books. Samnee is a “cartoonist” in his style, but it’s good drawing, interesting shots, page design, and rendering of of light and shadow. Azaceta is a more realistic version of the same approach. Tommy Lee Edwards a more detailed version of both previously mentioned. Lee Weeks a more classic comic book style of rendering, Butch Guice a more realistic approach to all the above, Sean Phillips a naturalistic approach with a lose photo real take, Bryan Hitch a hyper rendering realistic approach. Oeming has a hyper cartoonist design approach. What all these guys have in common is they deliver interesting images to look at with their art. So now the story has real interest. If the writing is real good, you have something going on. Kurt Swan , drew boring shots, really well. Adams drew exciting shots real well. That’s the whole ball game. Speed actually comes from being able to draw well. The more you know, the less you have noodle it out. Speed doesn’t come from simplicity of style per se. That certainly can be helpful… but if you’re simplicity is boring…is that good story telling or art. I’d argue no. Drawing well fast comes from knowledge mixed with real creativity. What creates slow drawing is less knowledge trying to draw great. It’s that simple. You’re trying to draw above your knowledge abilities. If you keep pressing and learning you will get better, and thus faster. But speed without good drawing, to me, hurts the medium…and isn’t a virtue. Maybe this is out side the scope of what you’re video wants to say or deal with. If so, feel free to delete it. This is just my opinion.
Yeah but Jim Lee’s storytelling isn’t very strong. Thumbnails is the way to go I think
If you have to hold your inker's hand, you should work with a different inker. A professional inker should be better at it than you, not worse. Unless you have no say, don't be on a team you don't trust.
That page should add Japanese artists. Tetzuka might beat all of them
Then there is the insane workload for Manga Ka....
More is not better… Better is better. Relax with the speed. It’s not like you’ve got a million projects to do or that you’re gonna be a millionaire because of them.
There's a time and place for everything. Including speed. Especially when you're trying to make as good a living as possible. But I get what you're saying 👍