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Page 1: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains
Page 2: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains
Page 3: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains
Page 4: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains
Page 5: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

Dedicated to everyone who dreams big

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I would like to express my sincere gratitudeto Lenny Brown, creative director of the ToppsCompany, whom I consider to be the maestro ofthe comics, and without whose help this bookmight not have been written. Special thanks goesto Jim Salicrup, a former editor of Marvel Comicsand now associate publisher and editor-in-chiefof Topps Comics, for sharing his time and insightswith my readers. Thanks also to Darryl Banks andRich Faber for their contribution to this book.

A Note to Readers, Parents, and TeachersSome art materials are unsuitable for young children to use.Children should only use art materials that are labeled asnontoxic and carry the statement "Conforms to ASTM D-4236"or similar wording. All purchase of art materials for and artactivities of children under the age of 12 should be supervisedby an adult.

Senior Editor. Candace RaneyEdited by Joy AqullinoDesigned by Bob Fillie, Graphiti GraphicsGraphic production by Hector Campbell and Sharon KaplanChapter title art by Carmine Vecchio

Copyright ©1995 by Art Studio, LLC

First published in 1995 by Watson-Guptill Publicationsa division of VNU Business Media, Inc., 770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003www.watsonguptill.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Hart, ChristopherHow to draw comic book heroes and villains/Christopher Hart.

.p. cm.Includes index.Summary. Covers how to create your own original comic

book characters, draw fight scenes, design special powers,and invent imaginary creatures, with a section on how thecomic business works.

ISBN 0-8230-2245-51. Cartooning-Technique-Juvenile literature. 2. Comic books,strips, etc.-Technique-Juvenile literature. 3. Heroes-Caricaturesand cartoons-Juvenile literature. [1. Cartoons and comics.2. Cartooning-Technique. 3. Drawing-Technique.]I TitleNC1764.H371995_741.5-dc20 95-36859

CIPAC

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproducedor used in any form or by any means-graphic, electronic, ormechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping,orinformation storage and retrieval systems-without writtenpermission of the publisher

Manufactured in the United States of America

First printing, 1995

10 11 12 13 14 / 06 05 04 03 02

Page 6: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

THE CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS

AWESOME ANATOMY

ZAP! POW! CRUNCH!

FANTASTIC FOES

BEAUTIFUL BUT DEADLY

POWERFUL PERSPECTIVE

THE BIG BANG!

THE PLOT THICKENS

SECRETS OF THE PROS

FIRE POWER

MAKING IT IN THE BIZ

I

INTRODUCTION

THE CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS

AWESOME ANATOMY

ZAP! POW! CRUNCH!

FANTASTIC FOES

BEAUTIFUL BUT DEADLY

POWERFUL PERSPECTIVE

THE BIG BANG!

THE PLOT THICKENS

SECRETS OF THE PROS

FIRE POWER

MAKING IT IN THE BIZ

I

"Pumping up" your drawing skills for the heroic head and figure

Creating convincing fight scenes

Inventing bizarre villains, monsters, and mutants

Drawing ravishing and resourceful heroines-and enticing adversaries

Using the rules of perspective to enhance your drawings

How and when to use special effects

The visual art of storytelling

Mysteries of inking, shading, and folds revealed

Advanced weaponry and assault vehicles

The ins and outs of the comic book business

Page 7: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains
Page 8: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

isthe ultimate book for anyone aspiring to be aprofessional comic book illustrator. I'm proud

to tell you that these pages feature the work ofsome of the best talents in the comic book field.

You'll learn from artists who have drawnSuperman, Batman, Spider-Man, The Hulk, Conanthe Barbarian, The Fantastic Four, The Flash, andElvira. These pros, who have worked for such notablepublishers as Marvel, DC, Valiant, and Defiant, revealthe secrets of designing powerful and convincingfight scenes, drawing heroic anatomy, inventingreally bad villains, using special effects techniques,interpreting a script visually, designing advancedweaponry, and much, much, more.

Also, there's a chapter devoted to answeringthe questions that every serious-minded aspiring artisthas. You'll learn what to include in a winningportfolio, what the shortcuts are to landing your firstjob, and how the business really works. For instance,did you know that the person who draws the coversis rarely the same person who draws the interiorpages?

This book also features an exclusive interview withJim Salicrup, the renowned former Marvel editor, andnow associate publisher and editor-in-chief, of ToppsComics. He shares his insights on the business as hetells you exactly what qualities he and other comicbook editors look for when hiring a new artist.

Pencil, paper. And this book. And you're on yourway. Dare.

ow to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

H

Introduction

THE CONTRIBUTING ARTISTSTHE CONTRIBUTING ARTISTS

FRANK McLAUGHLIN

GRAY MORROW

FRANK SPRINGER

J. ALEX MORRISSEY

Celebrated pen-and-ink artist McLaughlinhas 35 years of experience in the comic bookindustry. Frank has contributed his talentsto such famous comic books as Superman,Batman, Wonder Woman, and Green Arrowfor DC Comics, as well as Captain America andIron Fist for Marvel Comics and Femme Fatalefor Broadway Comics. He has worked forpractically every major comic book publisher,including Valiant, Defiant, Charlton, Seaboard,Dell, and Archie.

Admired and envied for his ability to draw themost gorgeous women in the comic bookfield, Morrow has created illustrations forPlayboy and Penthouse, and also has thedistinction of having worked on Batman andSuperman for DC Comics. He worked on theanimated TV show Spider-Man, the comic stripTarzan for United Features Syndicate, PowerRangers for Gladstone Comics, and Creepyand Eerie Comics.

Well known throughout the industry, Springeris highly regarded for his powerful linedrawings. Among his best-known work,Springer drew The Hulk, Conan the Barbarian,The Fantastic Four, Spider-Man, Sgt. Fury, andThe Invaders for Marvel, as well as The Flashfor DC, Elvira for Claypool Comics, andThe Adventures of Hedley Kase for SportsIllustrated Kids.

One of the outstanding new artists on thecutting edge of the industry, Morrissey hasdrawn many Marvel titles, including ThePunisher Ghost Rider, Cloak and Dagger,Cage, Iron Fist, and Power Pack, as wellas Division 13 for Dark Horse Comics.

FRANK McLAUGHLIN

GRAY MORROW

FRANK SPRINGER

J. ALEX MORRISSEY

www.Hart2Draw.com

Page 9: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

on bad guys, then regular anatomy just won’t do.

You’ve got to pump up your heroes to awesome proportions.

In this chapter, you’ll learn exactly how the pros transform

ordinary anatomy into super-powered anatomy.

F YOU WANT TO INFLICT MAXIMUM DEVISTATIONF YOU WANT TO INFLICT MAXIMUM DEVISTATION

Page 10: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains
Page 11: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

the classic hero’s headecause professional comic book artists don't always have access to livemodels, they've created a system for drawing a perfectly proportioned

head. The proportions used in this method of drawing the head can beseen in some of the world's most popular comic book heroes.

B

F

R

O

N

T

F

R

O

N

T

S

I

D

E

S

I

D

E

To make it easier to see how wearrive at these proportions, startby placing the head inside of arectangle. Then think in termsof halves. Divide the rectanglein half with a horizontal guide-line that's where the eyes go.Place the end of the nose half-way between the eyes and thebottom of the chin. Draw thelips halfway between the endof the nose and the chin

By drawing guidelinesfrom the center of eacheye to the edges of thelips, you get the correctwidth of the lips. Thedotted lines indicatethat the eyes are oneeye's width apart.

The details, such aswrinkles and hair, areadded only after thebasic form has beenestablished. If yourhero's head doesn'tlook right, check itagainst these classicproportions andadjust it accordingly.

Just as in the front view,the eyes in a side view arepositioned in the middle ofthe head. Much of the head'smass appears behind the earOnly the front portion of thehead makes up the face.

The bottom of the ear and thebottom of the nose are drawnat the same height, as are thetop of the ear and thecontour of the eyebrow.

The chin should be strong andangular. The neck is thick andmuscular.

Page 12: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

SKETCHING DIFFERENT HEAD SHAPES

he principal parts of the headare the skull and the jaw. The

shape of the skull is a globe-sortof. Actually, it's a globe with thesides lopped off, because thesides of a head aren't perfectlyround either.

Extend a line down the centerof the face, then make a fewmarks along that line to indicatewhere the hairline, the eyes, thebridge of the nose, the mouth,and the chin will go.

By varying the distancesamong these marks, you cancreate different characters.Another method for inventingnew characters is to change theoverall shape of the head.

T

In every comic book or

cartoon illustration of the

head, the hairline, eyes,

nose, mouth, and chin are

drawn on different planes.

Keep each feature fixed

and locked in its own

position and the face will

read with clarity.

Page 13: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

facial features

MEN'S N0SES AND EARSMEN'S N0SES AND EARS

As you draw your hero'sface, consider the complex

angles of his nose and ears. Thenose begins at the forehead.About halfway down the noseis a slight indentation-that'swhere the bone ends and thecartilage begins. Although itisn't always noticeable, it isoften indicated in comic bookillustration because it gives adramatic look. Pay closeattention to the planes of thenose-top, sides, and bottom.

If you look closely at theinterior of the ear (below,right), you'll notice a tilted Yshape. Use this shape whendrawing your hero in profile.

The ears and the nose are

the only two parts of the

body that never Stop

growing. Therefore, when

drawing an older character,

make his nose and ears

larger than normal.

Page 14: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

WOMEN'S EYESWOMEN'S EYES

WOMEN'S LIPSWOMEN'S LIPS

Breathtaking eyes increase the appeal of anyfemale character, whether she's a good gal or abad one. Keep in mind that the eyeball is firstdrawn round, not almond-shaped-it's the way theeyelid is attached to the eye that makes it lookoval. The eyelid acts as a hood, creating a shadowalong the top of the eyeball. The lashes on bothlids become progressively thicker and darker as youwork toward the eye's outer corner, though thebottom lashes are somewhat shorter.

To make the eyeball appear wet, add a highlightof white to the iris. If the highlight is too big, it willmake your character look like she's staring, whichwill also happen if you show too much eyeball andnot enough eyelid. You want to show one-thirdeyelid to two-thirds eyeball.

Get as much expression into the eyebrows asyou possibly can. They are the key to conveyingemotion. Unless a person is squinting or stunned,the shape of the eye doesn't change as dramaticallyas the eyebrows, which can be raised, lowered,furrowed, or arched.

Female characters arealways drawn with full lips,which gives them a pensive,moody quality. The bottom lip isusually fuller than the top one.The lips stretch horizontallyaround the surface of theface, so it's important todraw them as if they werewrapping around a cylinder.Do not draw the lips asstraight lines.

To show gleaming, brightteeth, draw the shadowsbetween them. (Theshadows should becomethinner toward the front of themouth.) Use more shadows atthe edges of the mouth togive the teeth the illusionof roundness. Unless you'retrying to draw an angry,frightened, or otherwise severeexpression, don't draw eachindividual tooth.

Page 15: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

How to draw hair

our own hair doesn't look like a hat-why should yourcharacter's? First draw the head without hair, then decide

what the hair style should be. Lines for hair should flow awayfrom the scalp and continue in the direction(s) set by theparticular style.

Instead of trying to draw each individual hair, draw largeshapes and tufts. Don't make the hair appear too uniform.

For women, especially blondes, you can create the illusionof luster by bunching some black lines together, providedthat these lines also flow in the same direction as the hair.

YMEN'S HAIR STYLESMEN'S HAIR STYLES

WOMEN'S HAIR STYLESWOMEN'S HAIR STYLES

Your character can get pulverizedin a fight scene, thrown through anexploding building, and dumped ina toxic waste dump, but his hair's stillgotta look good. What's more, you'vegot to make sure that your hero's hairstyle stays the same throughout thecourse of his career. Occasionally, acomic book's editorial staff will decideto change or update a character'sappearance, in which case the entirecharacter, including his costume, isreevaluated. Notice how this charac-ter's careless hairstyle (left) is actuallywell plotted. Shown on the oppositepage are some standard types. You canmake up your own, or combine thefeatures of several.

There's a wide range of hair styles forwomen, far more than for men. Theone you choose for your charactershould complement and harmonizewith her appearance. A woman's hairis drawn with longer, more flowingstrokes than a man's. Notice how thehair cascades off the shoulders (left).Notice, too, how the hairline startshigher on the female forehead,emphasizing its roundness.

DON’Toutline the hair like a

hat---it's not a helmet!

Page 16: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

WILD

WAVY WITHA FOREHEADCURL

BOBLONG ANDSTRAIGHT

WITH BANGS

LONG AND WAVY

TIED BACK

PONYTAIL

TRENDY

NEAT

FULL WITH AFOREHEADCURL

HIPSTERCASUAL

Page 17: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

POPULAR COMIC BOOK EXPRESSIONS

There are as many facial expressions as there arefaces, but some are better suited to comic book

illustration than others. You could draw a guy withhis eyes popping out and his jaw on the floor, butchances are you'd be better off working in an

animation studio-or locked away where youwouldn't be a danger to yourself or others. Drawonly the lines that actually create the expression.The width of the jaw will vary, depending onwhether the character is clenching his teeth.

DISDAIN (ANNOYANCE)DISDAIN (ANNOYANCE)

SURPRISERAGE

WORRY

DETERMINATION

Eyebrows curve downward, thenlevel off. The line of the mouth issmall and taut. The jaw is widebecause the teeth are clenched.

Lines on the forehead repeat theshape of the eyebrows, which areseverely arched. The face elongatesas the mouth opens.

Eyebrows plungedramatically downward,then flare out at the edges.The teeth are clenched andvisible; nostrils are flared.

The jaw juts forward,the lips tighten,nostrils flare, andthe eyebrows slopedownward towardthe bridge of thenose, creating a creasein the forehead. Theface narrows,emphasizing thecheekbones.

Eyes are widened,eyebrows are slantedupward, and thebrow is furrowed.

Page 18: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

Grimaces

Because they express a variety of intenseemotions, grimaces are popular comic book

facial expressions. A grimace can convey a fightingmood, a solemn moment, or fury. The characteristictraits of the grimace are intense, down-turnedeyebrows, down-turned mouth, accentuatedcheekbones, and tousled hair. Below are severaltypes of grimaces, both open- and close-mouthed,shown from various angles.

Page 19: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

ANATOMICAL PROPORTIONS

W hen drawing a figure, the head is used as the basic unit ofmeasurement. According to some authorities, the average

person is 61/2 heads high, while other artists use a standardheight of 71/ heads.

The proportions of comic book heroes are extremely exaggerated.These figures are typically drawn 8 heads high. The smaller the head,the more powerful the body will appear in contrast.

Page 20: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

This guy is 9 heads high-positively huge. Theseproportions make the figure look massive and

unreal-desirable qualities for a comic book hero.Some brutes have been drawn as much as 15 oreven 20 heads high, which are highly stylizedproportions.

Page 21: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

BODY BASICS

Look at the basic lines of the body. All its forcesare working in harmony. The thick, black lines

indicate the position of the major bones, whichserve as the foundation for every pose. You can seethe weight and mass of the rib cage, the curve anddirection of the spine, and the width of the pelvis.

Note that the collarbone is wide, like a ledge,which lays the foundation for a massive chest. Theshoulder blades add width to the back. This visualshorthand provides the framework on which thefinished drawing is hung. All of your figure draw-ings should begin with this underlying framework.

Page 22: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

BUILDING AN ACTION POSE

Comic book heroes and villains are made tomove, jump, leap, and soar. But when you start

to position your figure in dynamic poses, things canget tricky-unless you've taken care to maintain itsessential building blocks. This is done by taking amoment to sketch out a solid rib cage, collar bone,pelvis, and the other major bones before executingthe finished drawing.

Contrary to what your instincts might tell you,muscles alone do not make a character appear

sturdy. Solid bone structure does. That's because allmuscles are attached to bones, so unless you have asolid foundation of bones, those muscles will appearrubbery. But that doesn't mean that you mustrender a skeleton in painstaking detail. It can bedone quickly, in a sketchy shorthand, as in thesefine examples. While it's true that you'll erase manyof these preliminary steps when you do the final"clean" version of your hero, your drawings willbenefit immeasurably from them.

Page 23: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

THE ACTION FIGURE, STEP BY STEP

N

Start with asimple linedrawing. Keepit loose. Try tofeel the flowand energy ofthe pose.

Sketch the large musclesand areas first. If a formhas two sections, like anarm, sketch each sectionseparately: first the upperarm, then the forearm.Sketch the upper leg, thenthe lower leg. Sketch therib cage separately fromthe waist and so on.

ow let's apply what we'velearned, taking it step by step,

and finish with a detailed figure.Most pros start with the secondstep, because the first step hasbecome second nature. But no prostarts with the precision of the fifthstep. They always sketch roughlyfirst. After you've gotten the hangof it, you'll begin at the secondstep, too.

Continue to definethe form in thisway. This will giveyour drawing moreauthority.

Page 24: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

Now start to smooth out the figure byerasing the construction lines. The careyou've taken with the underlyingframework has paid off in a solid-looking figure. Draw the hands andfeet in detail, and begin to indicatesome shading possibilities.

Suit your character up in an eye-catching outfit and work out thedetails. The pros always add the finepoints last. The beginner typicallyfocuses on the details of the costumeand tries to draw them early on, butkeep in mind that the figure alwayssuffers as a result.

Page 25: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

THE HEROIC FEMALE FIGURE

The heroic female figure has a fairly widecollarbone, resulting in square, well-muscled

shoulders. A woman's rib cage, bones, and all ofher muscles are smaller than a man's. Her torsotapers sharply at the waist, but her pelvis is wider.As a rule, comic book women are drawn with morecurves, while the men are drawn with more heavyangles.

For detailed information on how to draw comicbook heroines, see "Beautiful But Deadly," pages56-75.

The center of balance is an imaginary vertical linedrawn through the body. Half of the body's weightis on either side of the line, which maintains thebody's balance. If the weight isn't distributed

BODY LINESBODY LINES

evenly, the figure will fall down, bang her head,and sue. You don't want that.

Sometimes, though, it's okay, even necessary, todraw a character with his or her weight offbalance. Can you think of an example? How aboutwhen a character is in motion? The act of walkingis, in reality, a process of falling and catchingyourself. If you were always in perfect balance youwouldn't be able to walk, because you couldn'ttransfer your weight from one foot to the other.

There are shoulder and hip lines to be aware of,too. This means that as one shoulder dips, the hipon that side of the body rises to compensate. Also,each time a limb or body mass extends past thecenter of balance, there must be an equal andopposite movement on the other side of the figureso that its balance is maintained.

Page 26: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

CENTER OF BALANCE

ARMFORWARD

ARMFORWARD

ARMBACK

ARMBACK

SHOULDER LINE

HIP LINE

SHOULDER/HIP

DYNAMICS

SHOULDER/HIP

DYNAMICS

EXCEPTIONS

TO THE RULE

EXCEPTIONS

TO THE RULE

Notice that this figure'sstraight leg (her left one)is the weight-bearing leg. Itpushes the hips up on thatside. To compensate, theshoulder on the same sidedips down. Conversely, onthe other side, her bent leg issupporting little of her bodyweight, therefore, the hipon that side dips down. Tocompensate, the shoulderon the same side rises. Weall make these adjustmentsin our posture constantly,but subconsciously.

The human body isvery versatile. Someextreme poses canshift the body so thatboth the shouldersand the hips are atthe same angle. Don'tbe afraid to break therules if it will makeyour poses moreexpressive.

Page 27: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

ANATOMY OF THE HAND

Many beginning artists try to copy the dramatichand poses of the pros without first taking a

look at the basic construction of the hand. Don'tmake the mistake of guessing on this importantanatomical feature. I can evaluate the caliber of anartist by his or her ability to draw hands-and socan everyone else.

Each finger has threedistinct joints thatare marked withcreases on both

sides of the hand.Even on men's

hands, the fingerstaper at the ends.

DRAWING HANDS AT VARIOUS ANGLESDRAWING HANDS AT VARIOUS ANGLES

Start with a big shape, then break it downinto smaller shapes. Make sure to practice someturnarounds, an artist's term for rotating anobject 360 degrees and drawing it from everyangle (see pages 30-31).

Once you've gained some experience, you candraw "expressions" of the hand that are just aseffective at conveying emotion as the face.

Look at the skeletaldiagram of the hand above.Familiarize yourself with thearrangement of the bonesand joints.

Note thevariousplanes ofthe hand.

Page 28: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

To make a more in-depth study of

the hand and its many poses, you

can purchase a handhand mannequin

at an art supply store.

BASIC HAND POSES

L

THE FINGER POINTTHE FINGER POINT

THE OPEN HANDTHE OPEN HAND

THE RELAXED HANDTHE RELAXED HAND

STAGGERED

FINGERS

STAGGERED

FINGERS

THE FISTTHE FIST

Best used by an angry bossthreatening to fire a reporter.Note how both the heel of thethumb and part of the palmheel are visible in this pose.

This is a standard hand pose, forwhen you don't need a specifichand gesture. Note how flat thetips of the fingers appear

Use this one for heroes orvillains who have beenknocked unconscious by ablow or disabled by nervegas. Note the severe turn atthe wrist, which gives it itslimp appearance.

For a character who isexplaining something.Note the large knuckle atthe base of the thumb.

Lifted in rage, or in combat.Note how the thumb overlapsthe first two fingers, and howwell defined the heel of thepalm is.

earn these basic hand poses and storethem in your arsenal of techniques.

Notice how all the joints of the fingers areapparent, even when they aren't bent.

Page 29: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

HEROIC HANDS

rtist Frank McLaughlin says, "The key to allcomic book-style illustration is to exaggerate

the form at the outset, then tone down whateverlooks too extreme. Don't draw realistically andthen try to soup it up. Your drawing will lookoverworked that way." Below are some helpfulhints on drawing the heroic hand.

The tips of the fingers bend at amore extreme angle than on anormal hand.

The webbing between fingers strains intostraight lines as fingers are spread.

A powerful fistis always tilteddownward,never up.

Massive knuckleson a fist can inflictmaximum damage.

Shading the finger pads at thebeginning of each joint gives thisopen hand a feeling of dramaand dimension.

Notice how thehand points inperspective. Theindex fingerdiminishes in size asit recedes into thedistance.

This dramatic hand gesture has many planes. Thewrist is straight, then drops down on a diagonal tothe fingers, which bend in three more angles.

Page 30: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

FEMALE HANDS

While men's nails are drawn

as squares, the nails of

women are drawn as ovals.

Female hands are more slenderand graceful than their male

counterpart's. Female hand posestend to be less extreme, and thepalm's thumb muscle is lesspronounced.

Avoid heavy knuckle lines on afemale hand, and leave off the ringsand jewelry unless they're part of asecret weapon or power.

Page 31: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

TURNAROUNDS

You must be able to draw your character fromevery angle. The cut of the costume is different

in the front than it is in the back and on the sides.The posture is different, and the muscle groupingsthat the costume reveals are different, too. Thelook of the hair and the way that it hangs are alsovery different.

Before you actually begin to draw a story, makesure you've familiarized yourself with every angleof your character's appearance. That way, you won'tfeel the need to favor the easiest angle. In comicbooks, excitement is created by varying the anglesof the figure on the page. If you can't draw thoseangles, the excitement will be irretrievably lost.

Page 32: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains
Page 33: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

ET’S TAKE THE GLOVES OFF!ET’S TAKE THE GLOVES OFF! Comic book fans

will wade through

any story if there's the promise of a really good

fight scene at the end. These characters are built for one

thing only---and I don't mean dancing! The key to drawing

a great fight scene is understanding how the human

figure adapts to motion and momentum. So take off

your gloves and let's at 'em!

Page 34: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains
Page 35: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

DEVASTATING PUNCHES

Adevastating punch is animportant part of any

character's repertoire. A comicbook punch consists of twoelements:

1. THE WINDUP1. THE WINDUP

Imagine that the character'spunching hand weighs 50 pounds.As the windup begins, the entireweight of the body is pulledtoward the punching hand.

2. THE FOLLOW-THROUGH2. THE FOLLOW-THROUGH

The follow-through is indicated bythe fully extended punching armand its accompanying speed lines.Note also that the punch is shownafter the point of impact. This isthe key to a great punch.

Page 36: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

The point of impact isindicated solely by astarburst. As artist FrankSpringer puts it, "The punchshould look like it hurts!"Notice how the victim ishurled back by the force, hisknees buckling and his headsnapping back.

THE WRONG WAY TO

SHOW A PUNCH

THE WRONG WAY TO

SHOW A PUNCH

This sketch illustrates hownot to show a punch. Seehow weak the punch lookswhen it's drawn at the exactpoint of impact? Skip thisinterim step completelywhen drawing fight scenes.The follow-through is themost dramatic part of thepunch.

Page 37: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

CLEAN PUNCHES

There are no small punches in a comic book fight. Every punch is ahaymaker. Because fight scenes frequently show overlapping figures

(as in this series of sketches), be sure to space the characters so that thereader can easily see the completed punch at full extension. Shortuppercuts and hooks aren't dramatic.

Page 38: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

THE LUNGE ATTACK

Artist Frank McLaughlin drawssome of the meanest-lookingfigures in the business. In fact, thisis a picture of Frank himself beforehe's had his morning cup of coffee.

e're all nice guys in this business,but sometimes we want our

characters to go for the kill. Any lungeor attack movement needs to be swift,sudden, and totally forward-moving.

W

Notice that not all of this character'sbody is attacking at the same time. Hishands are out in front, followed by hisshoulders, then his torso, and finally byhis launching foot. This creates thefeeling of movement, like a lionpouncing. It is visually powerful. Youcan use this technique whether yourcharacter is lunging empty-handed,with his fist, or with a weapon.

Page 39: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

LEANING INTO THE PUNCH OR KICK

It may seem natural to lean back tothrow a kick. But to do so means

you're throwing your energy awayfrom the target. Your charactershould lean into his punch or kick,thrusting all his weight forward.The character who lands the hardpunch or kick has both his fiststightly clenched, while the characterreceiving the blow slackens hisfists slightly, a sign of weakness.

Page 40: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

You can demonstrate theimpact on the opponent mostclearly by drawing his chin upin the air, as if he'd gottensocked right there. This is aclear sign that the punch waseffective.

Page 41: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

THE JUDO SHOULDER THROW

Every comic book artist should know a few martialarts moves. It's a popular belief that a martial arts

expert can take on many ordinary street fighters atone time. This makes for great drama, and also boostsenrollment in local karate studios.

The judo throw is a stunning way to end a battleby literally tossing an opponent into the air and ontohis back. Let's break down the various moves:

The Defender sidestepsthe Attacker's punch while

simultaneously grabbinghis punching arm.

The Defender beginsto turn forward, and

as he does, gives a tug,causing the Attackerto lose his balance.

The Defenderdips his shoulder,

getting readyto position itunder theAttacker'sarm.

Page 42: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

The Defender now shoves hisshoulder under the Attacker’s arm.

Now it’s bye-bye to the foolish Attacker,because at this point, it’s all academic.

The Defenderpitches forward

and the Attacker sailsoverhead...

...and just beforethe hits the

ground, the Defenderlets go, which causes the

to hit theground harder. Phew!Another dastardly villainhas been disposed of.

Attacker

Attacker

Page 43: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

david vs. goliath

A

When a towering brute

fights a smaller man, the

latter is usually the hero.

n unfair fight is a very dramaticdevice, and has been since time

immemorial. Casting the hero as theunderdog, who must win againstinsurmountable odds, makes us wantto root for him, and if he starts thescene by ostensibly fighting a losingbattle, only to come from behind towin through sheer heart, the fightwill be truly exciting.

Make sure the giant nemesis useshis physical advantages of strengthand size in the fight scene.

Page 44: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

The balance of power

You don't always have to throw a punch to win afight-provided you're a comic book character.

Super powers, such as body force fields, can repelan attack, hurling someone even farther than themost powerful punch.The most important thing to remember whendesigning super powers for your characters is this:A character should also have a weakness. Why is

that so important? Think about it. If your characteris so strong that he or she can't possibly be beaten,then why watch the fight? Even Superman neededKryptonite to heighten the suspense. The weaknessdoesn't have to be physical-your character couldhave a thing for a "bad girl." Design a weaknessthat's as original as the special powers you'veinvented.

Page 45: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

ILLAINS TODAY ARE NOT JUST BAD GUYS.ILLAINS TODAY ARE NOT JUST BAD GUYS. They're vile,

repulsive,

wicked, sadistic, insane, evil, bad guys. They're worse

than the guy who's dating your sister. Here's an important secret

about comic book villains: The more powerful and formidable

the villain, the greater the hero. Villains have a wonderful time

being wicked. So have fun creating an impressive villain. After

all, it's an evil job, but someone's got to do it!

Page 46: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains
Page 47: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

THE RENEGADE SOLDIER

Atough guy with a gun and anattitude. Hey, wouldn't you

be pissed if someone blew up yourworld? These guys roam the earthalone or in splintered battalionsafter the rubble clears from anuclear world war. Armed to theteeth, grubby, and mean, theyhave only one aim: to survive, byany means necessary.

Notice that the soldier's gun—and in case you haven't noticed,that's no pistol!-is backed up byammo hidden all over his uniform,in his belt, shoulder packs, andknee pads.

Page 48: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

SWORD-AND-SORCERY VILLAINS

Sword and sorcery isa popular comic

book genre. The mostnotable series of thistype is

. Villains of thesword-and-scorcery ilkare hulking, prehistorichunters and fierce, tribalwarriors. Clothe them inanimal skins andritualistic ornaments.

Conan theBarbarian

Page 49: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

FORCES OF EVIL

If you ask any Hollywood star what role he or sheenjoyed playing the most, the answer will inevit-

ably be, "The bad guy." Bad guys are just more funbecause they're so wicked and single-minded. Theydon't have to worry about being nice. Or playingfair. However, they can be quite charming, elegant,polite—even fastidious. And deadly.

Why are we so fascinated with bad guys? Maybebecause bad guys come from primitive, subcon-scious images of evil. The things that go bump in

the night-rats, bats, snakes, lizards, wolves, andspiders. If it can make your skin crawl, it can make agreat bad guy.

Don't be literal in transforming creepy crawliesinto villains. The days of giant ants that devour acity are over. Use nightmarish images to suggest avillainous personality. A spidery black cape on avampire-like woman is much better than giving hereight spider arms. Don't repulse your audience; lurethem in.

CHARACTERS-THE BADGUYS/GALS CAN BE HUMOROUS, HANDSOME OR HORRID. REFER TO YOUR FAVORITE FILMS AS AGUIDE. A TINGE OF SENSITIVITY OR COMPASSION MAKES THEM MORE BELIEVABLE. (THEY USUALLY DEPLORE VIOLENCE ANDONLY WANT TO BE ADMIRED, IF NOT LOVED.) WHEREVER POSSIBLE USE DRAMATIC LIGHTING. COSTUMING USED PARTIALLYCONCEAL OR EVEN EMPHASISE SOME INFIRMITY. LASER OPTICS, LETHAL PROSTHETICS, OR ARMED CANES OR CRUTCHES

SIDELONG GLANCES, SNEERS, THIN LIPS DENOTING CRUELTY, CLAWED HANDS, CURLED LIPS, HIGH FOREHEADS, STRANGEATTIRE AND ALMOST ANYTHING SUGGESTING CONTEMPT FOR ACCEPTED CONVENTIONS, THESE CREEPS REFUSE TOCONFORM UNLESS IT SUITS THEIR NEFARIOUS PURPOSES.

Page 50: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

C

INVENTING A VILLAIN

hances are, your villain started out as an aver-age guy, just like you or me, but somewhere

along the line he got dipped into a vat of toxicwaste, was exposed to a strange radioactive brew,or became the victim of an industrial accident. Hebecame embittered. Vengeful. Delusional. Insane.As a result, his appearance changed. He may havehad to replace parts of his face, or they may haveeven mutated. So you can start by drawing an

ordinary face, and by playing around with it, chang-ing it little by little, you can transform it into theface of a consummate villain.

Sometimes it's enough that the evil inside aperson shows itself on his or her face. Villains don'talways have to be fiery. Sometimes the dispassionthey exhibit is evil, too. This is the case with a bad-guy scientist who cruelly and relentlessly stalks newsubjects for his experiments.

Take an ordinary person and see what you can contrive when you let yourimagination endow him with whatever Characteristics YOU WISH

WHEN DOING THE CREATING OF COMICS...”CREATIVE” IS THE OPERATIVE WORD. AS INFILM YOU, THE ARTIST, ARE THE WHOLE SHOW. DIRECTOR, CHOREOGRAPHER, SETDESIGNER, MAKE-UP ARTIST, SPECIAL EFFECTS TECHNICIAN, THE WHOLE SHEBANG!

Page 51: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

A

H

BEASTLY VILLAINS

MENACING

MENAGERIE

Can you spotCan you spot

a leopard, a wolf,a leopard, a wolf,

hawks, an ape,hawks, an ape,

and a lion onand a lion on

this page?this page?

alf man and half beast. These villains are totally unpredictable, just like wild animals. Youcan combine the human form with any animal's to create a convincing foe. This type of

villain gives the impression of being physically stronger than its purely human counterpart. Itis especially effective if the animal you choose is a predator.

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hollywood heavies

When inspiration vanishes, as it sometimes does, there are ways of getting around it.Pick a silver-screen bad guy-either famous or not-so-famous-and draw a loose

likeness. Then start altering his features. You can change them any way you like-makehim taller or shorter, fatter or thinner, older or younger-but be sure to maintainthat twinkle of villainy in his eye. You won't have to change very much before you've addeda new character to your cast.

dead-on copy Slightly revised memory swipe alteredto represent

yourscript’svillain.

Actor

remodeled to suit

reference usedonly as a “type.”

Page 53: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

dressed to kill

The bad guys enjoy their costumes. They love their jobs and they like their uniforms.They are egomaniacs with inferiority complexes. Good guys wear their costumes

out of a sense of duty, even though they're frequently no more practical than the badguys'. When designing a costume for a bad guy, make sure it reflects his or herpersonality. Is it ostentatious? Dark or sexy? You decide.

the movie serials and comics of the ‘30’s and ‘40’s were fond of draping villainsand villainesses in cloaks and hoods. more recently, the emphasis seems to beon various kinds of armor and/or circus-type costuming.

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unearthly creatures

Evil creatures are a recurring-and frequent-comic book device. You can findinspiration in the monstrous images of myths and fables, like the Medusa or

Cyclops, or you can use your own imagination and any assortment of shapes inyour drawings.

A word of caution: If you create an ornate, incredibly complex creature with lotsof bumps and teeth, just remember that you're going to have to draw it over andover again in every panel. Design something you can live with.

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Not even a mother could love these faces. Worms sprouting out of headsisn't something you see every day. Shrunken heads may also be a littleexcessive. But your job as a comic book artist is to elicit a response fromthe seasoned comic book reader, who has seen just about everything.So take it to the limit-be extreme.

Page 56: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

Horns, pointed ears, sharp teeth, scales, warts, and fur are all popular.As long as it doesn't make the drawing look cluttered, you can pile onas many of these kinds of features as you want. Design your creature'sface to appear frightening at all times, regardless of expression.

Page 57: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

HAT WOULD A BOOK ABOUT COMIC BOOKSHAT WOULD A BOOK ABOUT COMIC BOOKS be without

a chapter

devoted to the gorgeous women who grace their pages?

As any fan will tell you, these fabulous females are a large part

of the allure of comic books. Just as male comic book heroes are

depicted with an exaggerated masculinity, comic book females

are drawn in a way that capitalizes on their sex appeal as well

as their strength and resourcefulness.

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Page 59: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

comic book beauties then...

A

SOME HEARTHROBS OF EARLIER TIMES. SEXY? WELL, GRAMPS THOUGHT SO.NOTE THE BLACK LIPSTICK, A DEVICE LARGELY DISCARDED TODAY.

rtist Gray Morrow, who is renowned for his illustrations of beautiful women, shares his pointof view on the origins of and latest developments in designing and drawing female comic

book characters. "In comics as well as in film and other forms of fiction, the femme fatalesgenerally fall into a few stereotypical categories. The provocative good/bad or all-out bad girlin comic books has been with us for quite a while.

Page 60: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

...and now

“Certainly not the first, but perhaps one of the earliest to make an indelibleimpression, was Milton Caniff's 'Dragon Lady.' She remains to this day a model for

that eternally mysterious and fascinating example of an independent, self-reliant, andsometimes amoral, if not immoral, female, scornful of all males, except, of course, the'Good Guy' hero. She and her clones, while somewhat varied, had many similarities."

Page 61: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

femme fatales yesterday...

“T

theda bara, the original film vamp that inspired countless clones.for the ladies it was “The sheik”, valentino, and for the men it wastheda, the “sheba”.

pulchritude plus poundage

heda Bara, 'the Vamp' of silent films, raised our grandfathers' blood pressuresseveral notches and inspired a number of look-alikes, though she was somewhat

toned down in the realm of printed matter. The 'Dragon Lady' type has, in our modernlexicon, become synonymous with the 'vamp.' So how do we recreate her?

Page 62: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

...and today

“The femme fatale must have an exquisite form.In today's more permissive media, we can get

nearly as explicit as anyone would want. She shouldbe slinky, catlike in her movements, arched eyebrows,slitted eyes, always posturing, and—even today—smoking! She doesn't give a damn about the 'big C’or the environment. She can be big-breasted orstreamlined, or even very muscular-and thereforedoubly dangerous. She just might possibly be a matchfor the hapless hero. Her costuming should be exotic,alluring, daring, and even alien or offbeat."

even with “superwomen”, excessive muscular de-

study your favorite sultry screen sirens tolearn more from their “bag of tricks.”

the provocative stance, insolentor baleful stare, arch or aloofexpression all server to denote her

antisocial (a gun helps) personality.

finition is not desirable. such delineation givesa flayed or ‘ripped’ look distinctly unfeminine.try to “feel” the form and strive for proportionsthat suggest power without having a figure thatlooks like an anatomical diagram.

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denizen of the street

Don't bring this one home tomeet your mother. Trust me on

this. However, no one said youcouldn't have a little fun with heron the pages of a comic book. The"tough" bad girl wears clothes thatare so scanty she could cause atraffic accident in a parking lot. Sheis muscular, but drawn with plentyof feminine curves, lots of legs, andan attitude. She is resourceful anddeceitful, and frequently has acrush on the hero, consequentlyleaving him with a moral dilemma:Does he stay loyal to the good girl,or give in to his darker impulses?Ah, to have such problems.

Page 64: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

slighty

shady ladies

Gray Morrow notes,“The good/bad girl,

the tramp with a 'heart ofgold,' is similar, stillseductive, but a bit lessobvious. She undoubtedlyhas designs on the hero,but realizes that becauseshe has a 'past,' she's notworthy. Therefore, sheshould be depicted astorn, uncertain, andmoody, yet still alluring."

Page 65: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

The classic “good girl”

A

big eyes, wide-eyed expressions, dimples, carefree or tousled hairstyles allhelp to define the “good girl”. also check with the women you know formake-up and fashion tips. women’s magazines can be a big help.

ccording to Morrow, "The 'Good Girl' is the gal next door: fresh, open, a pal. She's definitelysexy, but less obvious, and less affected, than her 'bad girl' sisters. She's exuberant, perky,

sympathetic, pensive, and unsophisticated. The examples below are, of course, all stereotypes,presented as takeoff points or guidelines from which you can extrapolate your own."

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Beauty in all shapes and colors

M

all different types, all different features, all attractive. variety truly is the spiceof life. note that eyebrows are not all solid black lines. liplines vary and theexpressive hands add much to conveying the expressions.

orrow observes, "For some strange reason-perhaps becauseit's a hard skill to master-many, if not most, cartoonists, when

drawing their version of a pretty girl, draw virtually the same girlall the time. Clothing and hair styles are changed to make onedistinguishable from another, but features and figures remain thesame. Since in real life there is an astonishing variety of attractivefemales, it seems a shame not to indicate that on paper."

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“Agood-looking girl can be short or tall, slender or voluptuous, with a wide arrayof facial characteristics-a beauty mark, full or thin lips, a cleft chin, an aquiline

nose, high cheekbones, full lower lashes, and so on. Look around you and take noteof the fact that not all 'gorgeous babes' are cookie-cutter Barbie Doll clones.”

Page 68: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

mother nature is bountiful in her provision of model types. seek to make them convincingby giving them distinctive characteristics, gestures, expressions, attitudes. Costumingis rarely “sensible”, but not to worry-These gals never seem to catch cold.

Page 69: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

drawing from photos

Morrow suggests: "If, for whatever reason, you don't draw from livemodels, there is a preponderance of photographic references available

to study and draw from. This material can be invaluable in solving problemsof perspective and foreshortening-and in saving time. Sometimes just 'makingit up' can consume hours, and may not even pay off. Use photographswherever applicable to create your own sirens."

Page 70: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

good gal heroes

Now let's see how we get there, step by step. Artist Frank Springer approachesthe figure by starting rough in an attempt to capture it in sweeping lines.

The comic book heroine has anarrow waist large rib cage,somewhat wide hips (slender hipsare less attractive), and muscularlegs. Note how the lines that formthe hips travel downward to the topsof the feet giving a pleasing curveto the lower leg. The feet are

positioned to allow for her high-heeled boots, which are added later.(Just because she fights bad guysdoesn't mean she isn't a fashionplate.) Shoulder flares serve nopurpose except to put a little zing inher look. (Remember: In art formfollows function, but in comics, form

never follows function!) Even thoughthe cape is flowing, the costumealways fits snugly, as if it werepainted on. That's why it's soimportant to concentrate onmastering anatomy. Comic bookcharacters wear extremely revealingcostumes. You just can't fake it.

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Allow yourself the freedom to sketchloosely while you search for the right form.

All the initial work on the body pays off in thefinal costumed figure, which appears solidand proportional.

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Page 73: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

Strong but sexy

Women with muscles are sexy. But don't overdo it and make your heroine into some massive femalebodybuilder. Avoid building up the typical male bodybuilder muscles, like the biceps, triceps, pecs, and

lats. Instead, give her overall tone and increased definition and size. Concentrate on her delts and quads.

In this sketch, the figure is being conceived withvanishing trace lines. These are the lightly drawnhorizontal lines that are sketched across the figure as areference guide for the artist to draw in perspective. Asthe figure recedes into the distance (the bent leg isfarther from us, and therefore recedes; the straight leg iscloser to us, and therefore advances), we must makeadjustments for perspective.

You've no doubt noticed how a row of street lightsseems to get smaller as it recedes into the distance. Thehuman figure is affected by the same principle, althoughto a somewhat lesser degree. Objects that recede intothe distance start to converge toward a single point thevanishing point. The figure is being compressed everso slightly as it recedes, and expanded ever so slightly as itadvances. Your characters will become more powerful ifyou draw them in perspective. (See "PowerfulPerspective," pages 76-91.)

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Add contours with darker lines and shading. It's a goodhabit to define all of the muscles at this stage. Once youcostume the figure, you'll want to retain the definitionof the "show" muscles and decrease the articulation ofothers, but you can't make those decisions until you seehow the costume actually looks on the character.

The cape hangs like a piece of drapery, folding andcurving. It expands as it travels down the body andcrushes along the creases.

Page 75: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

Here is a tighter version of the same drawing with boots,gloves, and short, form-fitting pants. Folds have beenadded to the cape, and shadows help give a feeling ofvolume to the form. We've gotten rid of some of theextreme musculature that was used to first construct thebody. But the form retains its feeling of strength.

And the final version. It has cleaner, bolder lines. We'veadded a mask and lost the short pants in favor of mid-thigh boots and long gloves. Now this character is readyfor whatever destiny awaits her!

Page 76: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

a hint about skintight costumes

kintight costumes arepopular and easy to draw.

The body itself provides theoutline for the costume. Youonly need to draw the lineswhere the costume ends, as inthis example, in which the lineof the costume follows thecontours of the torso.

S

Page 77: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

ENTION THE WORD “PERSPECTIVE”ENTION THE WORD “PERSPECTIVE” and you send

chills down

the spines of ordinary men. Never fear. This

chapter is easy to understand, but even more important,

the information in it is easy to use. Remember, we're

drawing pictures here, not designing spacecraft. Stay

tuned. This will be short and painless.

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Page 79: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

one-point perspective

The terms horizon line and eye level are usedto refer to the line of sight that's created from

your position in relation to the scene you're aboutto draw. A drawing uses a system of one-pointperspective when all of the lines that recedetoward the horizon line eventually converge atone point, which is called the vanishing point.

Note, however, that not every line converges.The vertical and horizontal lines remain parallel tothe frame of the panel. These lines don't converge

because they're not traveling into the distance.They just go up and down, or from side to side.Once you draw a line that appears to travel fromthe background to the foreground, or from theforeground to the background, you need to usethe principles of perspective.

Take a look at the boxes below. Notice how youcan extend guidelines to the vanishing point tocreate the corners within a box, which younormally wouldn't see in a finished illustration.

HORIZON LINEOR EYE LEVEL

VANISHINGPOINT

Page 80: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

two-point perspective

Take this quiz: Two-point perspective means that the vertical ones) in the direction it's already

heading, you'd see that they all converge at eitherthe left or right vanishing point. In illustrationswhere you want the perspective to appear moregradual, you can place the vanishing points fartheraway from one another. The closer together thevanishing points are, the more severe theperspective will be.

You'll notice that the horizon line runshorizontally across the picture. It doesn't matterwhere you place the horizon line; that's justyour own personal preference. But once you'veestablished the horizon line's position, the rest ofthe picture must conform to it. Everything belowthe horizon line vanishes up, while everythingabove it vanishes down-toward the left andright vanishing points.

the picture has:

(a) One vanishing point

(b) Two vanishing points.

If you picked "a," take a lap, give me ten push ups,and sharpen your pencil. If you picked "b," keepreading.

In two-point perspective, the objects in thepicture are not facing forward, but are turned atan angle so that a corner is pointed at the viewer.Because of this, the horizontal lines no longervanish toward the center of the page as before, buttoward opposite ends of the page, to two separatevanishing points. (These can't be seen here becausethey're too far off to place in the picture.) If youwere to extend every line in this picture (except for

< TO VANISHING POINT LEFT TO VANISHING POINT RIGHT >HORIZON LINE

Page 81: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

finding the vanishing points

Pretty scary-looking, huh? These two scenes mayintimidate the ordinary artist, but after reading

the preceding page, you can sense the logic behindeach one.

The horizon lines are the horizontal onesrunning across each picture. All figures diminishor increase in size relative to their distance fromthe viewer. If you have more than one figure ina scene, you've got to draw the ones that aresupposed to be close bigger, and the farther ones

smaller. Don't give me that bit about how yourcharacters are from another planet where the lawsof perspective are different. Cute.

Notice how all of the figures fall within theparameters of the vanishing points. They have to.It's not a choice-it's a law. A physical law. If youbreak it, you get a metaphysical ticket.

Can you spot the three vanishing points in theillustration at the bottom of the page, and the fourvanishing points in the one immediately below?

PERSPECTIVE LINES

PERSPECTIVE LINES

HORIZON LINE

HORIZON LINE

Page 82: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

the horizon line and the figure

Where you place the horizon line in adrawing determines whether the viewer

looks up at the subject, down at the subject,or straight at it. In other words, the positionof the horizon line determines the positionof the viewer relative to the picture.

In drawing 1, the horizon line is at groundlevel, which means that the viewer is posi-tioned above the figure, at a high eye level,which creates the illusion that the viewer islooking down at the figure. The ellipses thatare used to indicate the figure's underlyingform become wider the lower they are withinthe drawing. Therefore, the ellipse withineach calf is rounder than the one within thechest. Because the vanishing points of theperspective lines would run off the page, arough grid has been drawn over the figure.

In contrast, a low eye level places theviewer's eye below a figure, which createsthe illusion that the viewer is looking up atthe figure, as shown in drawing 2. In bothexamples, the angle of view distorts thefigure slightly. In the example at right, thefeet and legs appear larger than the headand chest because they are closer to us. Inthe other drawing, the effect is reversed, sothat the head and chest seem larger, andthe legs and feet appear smaller.

To determine the proportionsof a figure regardless of thelocation of the horizon line or theeye level, erect a vertical line fromthe horizon line anywhere alongits length. To approximate thepoints for the top of the head andthe crotch, divide the vertical inhalf. Divide each half in half oncemore to establish the chest at itsbroadest point and the position ofthe knees. A bit of room has beenleft below the bottom quarter forthe feet, which makes the figureslightly taller than 8 headshigh-great proportionsfor a comic bookhero.

PERSPECTIVE LINES

HORIZON LINE

VANISHING POINT

Page 83: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

MULTIPLE FIGURES IN PERSPECTIVE

These four figures are all standing on a levelsurface. Assuming that they are all the same

height, then the horizon line would pass throughtheir bodies at the same point—in this case, theirwaists. Alternatively, the horizon line could haveintersected the figures at the knees, which wouldlower the horizon line, making the viewer feel

that he or she is looking up at the figures.You have to make slight adjustments when

drawing short figures or figures not on the sameflat surface. "Eyeball" it-if it looks right, it's right.If a figure looks like he's "floating," he's too high.Lower him, or, as many artists do occasionally, drawa step under him.

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HANGING FIGURES ON A HORIZONTAL LINE

This is an artist's trick for keeping all the figures on the same ground plane. When youplace figures in detailed backgrounds, you have to use vanishing points to indicate

perspective. But if there's an open background in a single color, or a background with nohard edges in perspective, such as sand dune, an open field, or just a wall with only straightvertical and horizontal lines, then you can use this technique

You can align the figures at any point. In this drawing, they're aligned at the eyes. Thisassumes that all the figures are generally the same height and on even ground.

HORIZONTAL LINE

You shouldn't align a four-year-old child's eyes at the same

point as a six-foot-tall man's eyes. That would make the child

appear to be levitating. Don't want that. Not unless the man

were the Amazing Presto.

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creating volume with perspective

The human body exists inthe real world, and, as

such, is subject to itsimmutable laws: Everyonepays taxes, everyone hatesgym class, and everythingdiminishes in size as it travelsaway from you (toward thevanishing point[s]). If youwere drawing a railroadtrack, you would doubtlessdraw it so that it appears todiminish in size as it travelsinto the distance. But whenpeople draw figures, theysomehow think that the lawsof perspective don't apply.

Not so. In fact, there is nomore necessary application ofperspective than on the comicbook figure. Perspectivecreates much more dynamic,powerful-looking characters.You don't need a lot ofperspective for the body;just a little will give yourdrawings that added air ofprofessionalism. Because thebody doesn't cover as muchdistance as a road, a slightsuggestion of perspective willbe effective.

To find the perspectivepoints on a figure, it's usefulto create a mannequin madeout of blocks. These blockshave straight lines that canbe followed toward avanishing point in thedistance. Each block hasdimension-sides, if you will.They're not flat. Rememberthat everything has a side toit. Even a cylinder, which isrounded, has a "side" thatappears closer. Next time youdraw a rib cage, rememberthat you're not just drawing achest and a back; you're alsodrawing the sides of the ribcage, which you can shade tocreate depth and dimension.

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dynamic angles

Leaping, falling, jumping, soaring—thesedynamic actions all have one thing in

common: They are best expressed by drawingthe figure at a severe angle. By angling thebody, you heighten the drama of the pose.

By loosely dividing the bodyinto building blocks, you canshow the angle by revealingthe undersides of the blocks.

This figure is shown from a"worm's-eye view," which meansit's the perspective a worm wouldhave looking up from the ground.Conversely, if we were to show a"bird's-eye view," we would belooking down at the figure fromhigh above, as a bird would see him.In that case, we would see the tops,not the undersides, of the blocks.

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from start to finish

Now let's build a figure usingvanishing trace lines as guides

along various planes of the body.

The vanishingtrace lines (andyou can usemore) are alongthe collarbone,pelvis, knees,and feet.

Using rectanglesand cylinders,construct a bodyin perspective.

Once you flesh out the form,the rectangles and cylinderscan be erased, but thefoundation of perspective willremain solidly in place. Manybeginning artists leave out thefirst three steps and start atstep 4. The body may have allthese great-looking details onit but the perspective will bewrong, and its impact will beundermined. Look how muchstuff we've already covered bythe time we've gotten to thisstep. Costuming this guyshould now be as easy asfalling off a log. But to theperson who doesn't knowabout drawing in perspective,this step will be a struggle, ashe or she "guesses" how tomake the figure look right.

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Now that we've got theigure in perspective, we canconcentrate on the funstuff-creating the costume.

This costume is average incomplexity. You can beefit up with more armor, oryou can streamline it byeliminating the shouldershield and some of thehardware on the armsand knees.

Page 89: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

extreme foreshortening

Comic book illustrations are famous for their useof extreme foreshortening. Foreshortening is

the way an artist makes an object look like it'scoming straight at you, but without making it looklike it's flattened out. It's a powerful tool at theartist's command.

Gray Morrow points out that foreshorteningmakes the figure "seem to jump right out of thepage. It is difficult to make this effective and, at thesame time, believable, because you're attemptingto give the impression of three dimensions in atwo-dimensional medium."

To create the illusion of depth,

layer one form on top of

another, showing the overlap,

and thus tricking the eye into

seeing the overlapped shapes

as being further away. Always

draw general shapes first when

building the foreshortened

figure. If you go to a finished

drawing right away, you'll get

stuck in the details, and lose

the layering concept.

Page 90: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

foreshortening is a subject thoroughly covered in a great selection of books onanatomy widely available. how to use it in comics will be our main concernherein. there are many instances in a story where the action can be pointedup to a greater advantage. perhaps the foremost is...the punch...

tells the story, reasonably accurate ...now we can see the miscreant isbut frankly static... really being knocked into the

middle of next week!

Page 91: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

...thekick...

...your full-length mirror

...this isacceptable, but... ...this is better for the jump...

and the cooperation of friendsand relatives willing to model willaid you in achieving almost any poseyou can imagine...

Page 92: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

A SUB-TITLE FoR THiS chAPTEr MighT BE-"cOMin-Atcha”, OR MORE PROPERLY, P.O.V.,(pOintOF VIEW), WITH YOUr CAMERA EYE YOU CAN PLACE THE REader/ViEWER JUST AS A FILMDirEcTOR DOE5, IN ALMost ANY P0siTION THAT WILL ACCENTUATE The AcTION TAKtNG PLACE.

THE SHAPE5 0F THE PANeLS thEM5ELVES, The WAY You brEAK UP ThE PAGe, CAN HELP YOUdetERMINE tHE P.O.V. ANd AMPLIFY YOuR DESIGN OR cOMPOSITIOn

...head-on...

...frombehind...

...downshot......upshot...

a difficultANGLE oN ONe OF

ThE M0st dIFFICULtANIMALS to DRAWwell. take the

time and troubleto learn-it will

pay off.

Page 93: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

OU NEED THEM TO DRAW EXPLOSI0NS.OU NEED THEM TO DRAW EXPLOSI0NS. You need

them to

draw fight scenes. You need them to draw weapons

that are firing. And you need them to draw those fantastic

spreads that depict colossal action or emotion. What are they?

Patterns of energy, visually elegant yet powerful abstract

designs that convey mood and impact. These are important

tools in your growing arsenal of professional comic book

techniques.

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Page 95: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

using pattern and value

Comic book artists usepatterns to create shading,

backgrounds, explosions, spacegoo, and to decorate emptyareas of a page.

Let's say that each pattern isa specific value, or degree oflightness or darkness. We'll talkabout these as percentages, 0%being pure white and 100%being jet black. Unless you'redepicting a gradual transitionfrom light to dark, patterns thatappear side by side shouldalways be at least three valuesteps apart. For example, youcould put a 20% value and a50% value next to each other,or a 30% value and an 80%value. But not a 20% value anda 30% value. Because thesevalues are too similar, thereIsn't enough contrast, and thepatterns would blur together.Notice how the three barsabove, left, appear confusingto the eye. That's because theirvalues are too close to eachother. But the six bars above,right, are all distinct becausethe value of each one is quitedifferent from the one nextto it.

This is very practical stuffyou're learning. If you draw acharacter in front of a building,you now know that they haveto be shaded with values thatare somewhat far apart, orthey'll blend together.

At right are examples ofestablished comic bookpatterns. But don't stop there.You can make up your own.Keep in mind that yourdrawings will be reduced to fiton a comic book page, so don'tdraw the lines of any particularpattern too close together orthey'll reproduce as an indistinctmass.

80% 90% 70% 100% 0% 30% 100% 50% 0%

Values

PARALLEL LINES CROSS-HATCH CROSS-HATCH(20% VALUE) (40% VALUE) WITH VERTICAL LINES,

(TRANSITION FROMLIGHT [40%] TODARK [60%] GRAY)

GRADED LUSTER GRADED SPATTER GRADED STROKES(100% TO 0%) (100% TO 0%) (70% TO 0%)

RANDOM VINTAGE SCALESCIRCULAR PATTERN CROSS-HATCH (30%) (10% TO 20%)(10% TO 20%)

PARALLEL WAVES ROWS OF RANDOM CLOUD(40% TO 60%) PARALLEL LINES SHAPES (10%)

(40% TO 50%)

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special effects in space

If you're a normal person, you probably think of space as vast emptiness. Ifyou're a comic book fan, you know that space is filled with eerie visual effects,

unnatural forces, and bizarre energy patterns. Feast on these examples:

ENERGY WAVES MILKY WAY GALAXY EFFECTENERGY WAVES MILKY WAY GALAXY EFFECTDraw or paint parallel horizontallines, then erase or paint in whitewhatever you want the patternwithin the lines to be. You can alsospatter the lines with white paintfor a random effect.

The jagged borders of the blackvoid are flecked with black bubbles.Within the black areas, randomlyadd stars with white paint. Groupthe stars instead of spacing themevenly, and brighten a few withlarge twinkles.

Another version of the Milky Way,but with elliptical instead of roundshapes. A funnel effect creates afeeling of movement.

Unearthly shapes and spheres forstrange or weird stories.

MYSTICAL COMIC EFFECTS ALIEN SPACE FORCE SPACE EXPLOSIONMYSTICAL COMIC EFFECTS ALIEN SPACE FORCE SPACE EXPLOSION

A crystalline force radiates intenseenergy illustrated with randomlypainted thin white lines acrossblack ink lines.

In contrast to an earth-boundexplosion, a space explosionexpresses pure energy without anyhaze or smoke-because there's nooxygen in space. Despite the forceof the blast its center remainsspherical.

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bursts

The special effects of yesteryear were sedatecompared with the galactic-sized bursts that

reverberate throughout comic books today. Burstsare used in fight scenes, to herald the suddenappearance of a powerful figure, to express impact,to draw attention to whatever is at its center, andto illustrate explosions. They add energy, conveyaction, and create the illusion of motion.

Many, but not all bursts, include tiny bubbles. Ablack background provides maximum contrast forthe burst's tiny bubbles, which can be difficult to

see in color against a colored background. But ifthe bubbles appear against a black background,the colorist just adds color to the whole image.

Related to the burst is the mind-numbingexplosion (shown on the opposite page). Thisearthly blast exhibits certain hallmarks: Debris fliesout of its center, smoke in various shades billowsacross the scene, and its very center is white,indicating extreme heat. Its surrounding rings—from yellow, to orange, to red at the blast'speriphery—show a gradual decrease in heat.

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Page 99: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

putting

it all

together

In this wonderfulillustration, artist Frank

McLaughlin has used allof the elements that arecovered in this chapter.While the figures andfaces in the drawing don'tdisplay a lot of action, thespecial effects create anexplosive feeling, as ifthe entire image were inmotion.

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Page 101: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

HAT WAS THE BEST STORY YOU EVER HEARD?HAT WAS THE BEST STORY YOU EVER HEARD?

My favorite is a supernatural tale of good versus evil

that was told by a camp counselor as a group of us sat, enthralled,

around the fire. Every word he uttered conjured up an image

that created a feeling of urgency. As an artist, that's the kind of

life you want to breathe into a comic book script. You want your

readers to be captivated by every image. It can be done....

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Page 103: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

effective composition

The secrets of effective composition are sharedamong professionals but are rarely found in

how-to books. Yet, these rules are essential if youwant to create powerful images. You can renderthe most exquisite drawing, but if the figures

aren't positioned well in relationship to each other,the reader, the background, or the panel thatframes the scene, then it won't have the impactyou're striving for. Don't rob yourself of the effectyou've been working so hard to achieve.

DON’T!

DO!

DO!

DO!

DON’T!

DON’T!

...put the dominantelement in the center.It's just not dynamic.

...cut off corners. It'sa sign of an amateur.Instead of making thepicture more interest-

ing, you've succeededonly in making tri-

angles in the corners ofthe panel. Less tilt

would actually makethe drawing more

dramatic.

...cut off handsand feet. What it tells

the reader is, "Oh,this guy can't draw

hands and feet.”

...divide a panel bythree both horizontallyand vertically, for atotal of nine equalsectors. This is apainter's andillustrator's trick forcreating dynamiccompositions, and it'sworth the price of thebook alone.

...place the center ofinterest at any pointwhere these linesintersect. In this casewe've placed the hero'shead at the intersectionof the right verticaland top horizontalguidelines.

... vary yourcompositions. This is alonger shot using thesame principle, butwhose point ofemphasis falls at theintersection of theleft vertical and tophorizontal guidelines.

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the establishing shot

The establishing shot does just that: It establishesa scene or the positions of different characters

by showing them from a distance where everythingand everybody is visible. If you didn't have anestablishing shot and used only close-ups, beforelong the reader would be lost and unable toidentify the context in which the scene takesplace. On the other hand, too many establishing shotsmake a story remote and inaccessible because thereader is kept at a distance from the characters.

An establishing shot doesn't always have to beat the beginning of a story, although that's usuallythe case. Sometimes an establishing shot, like theone below, is used in the middle of a story to

"widen it out" and let it breathe. You might beillustrating dialogue that takes place in an office,but an office interior can become claustrophobic,so you cut to the exterior of the office and showthe city to give the scene some breathing room. Inthe example below, the exterior is a futuristic city.This professional technique breaks up themonotony and helps to keep the reader's interest.

Notice how the dialogue balloons appear to becoming from the office building, but their spoutsaren't coming from any particular window. Theysimply indicate that the dialogue is coming fromthe general area of the office, and the point comesacross clearly.

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what a comic book script looks like

Each comic book script is different. While some writers offer lots of descriptivedetail, others provide very few clues as to how a scene should look. The role

of the comic book penciler is part interpreter, part creator. He or she must findthe most exciting and effective way to tell the story.

HERO VERSUS VILLAIN/SPECIAL ISSUE, VOLUME III

PAGE 4

Our Hero reels in agony as the huge, other-worldly villain shootsa cable around his neck, strangling him. Hero grabs knife fromhis belt and slashes the cable, breaking free. He is now oneticked off guy. He's ruffled, not the smooth, untouchablefighter we are used to seeing. The Hero gives Villain his famousglare of bad intentions.

If that won't kill the Hero, this will: with his free hand, theVillain quickly pulls out a heavy gun that FIRES four missilesall at once! The missiles race toward our Hero.

Hero leaps into the air - and I mean acrobatics - just as themissiles explode at the exact point where he was.

Hero suddenly spins, and with a solid two-handed grip, fires hisblaster into Villain's body. Villain is right behind Hero, onemore moment, and Hero would have been Spam. A huge explosionfills the panel. Villain is blown back -- the weapon goes flyingout of his hand. Nothing could survive that.

PAGE 5

Hero slumps to his knees, in the middle of the city street.Villain lays next to him, face down, gone. Hero is exhausted.Crowds peer. Life coming back to the street. Herowhispers: "It's over..."

Villain's arm lays dormant as we see the Hero walking away in thebackground.

The Hero gets on his motorcycle, kick starts it and it hums Helooks at a kid who is looking at him.Kid says, "Gee mister, Ithought you was gonna get killed.

Hero says, "Thanks for having so much confidence in me.

Kid says,"Do you think you could beat him if you fought himagain?

WE SEE THE VILLAIN'S FINGER TWITCH. The fat lady didn't singyet.

Hero says, "Why do you want to know that?"

Kid says, "Because he's right behind you!"

And with that, the Villain rises, grabs the motorcycle the Herois sitting on, and hurls him into the side of a building!

is also important.If every panel is anexplosion, then thereader will becomeweary after a fewpages, and theexplosions willlose their “pow”(pardon the pun).

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thumbnail sketches

When a penciler starts laying out a page froma script-in this case, page 4-he has many

options. He begins by sketching a variety ofapproaches without committing to any. Somehe'll save, some he'll combine, and some he'lltear up into teensy little pieces.

Thumbnail sketches are small, quick sketchesthat show the sequence and general direction ofa series of images. It's very important that youdon't fall in love with your thumbnail sketches.This would defeat their purpose, which is to givean artist the freedom to throw them away orchange them. You're seeking ideas at this point,not finished drawings.

The approach above, left, doesn't show enoughof the characters' faces to make the actioncompelling.

The approach above, right, has wonderfuldramatic angles. But the characters are still toofar away to pull us into the story.

The approach at right combines medium shotsand close-ups with a variety of interesting angles.It's a keeper.

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the rough layout

Once the penciler decides on the best way toapproach the script, he begins the rough

layout. The most significant part of this stage isto evaluate the general feeling of the page. Doesthe story flow, or does it seem like random panelsjumbled together? Is it dramatic, or does it meanderfrom picture to picture? Are the images withineach panel clear or cluttered? Does the largest

panel contain the most important action? Noticehow a heightened sense of urgency is achieved byalternating close-up shots with full shots, as well asby alternating the angles. We're either looking upat someone or down at someone, but rarely are welooking at them head on. Also notice that thepanels vary both in dimension and size. Varietykeeps readers on the edge of their seats.

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preparing a pencil layout for inking

After the rough layout, the penciler starts towork "tight." This means that everything must

be precise, because the inker, who works on it next,can't read the penciler's mind. If a line is missing,the inker may not put it in. If a sloppy line is there,the inker might ink it anyway. So the page shouldbe perfect. Now is the time to work on the details.This is when it really counts.

Notice how much care is taken to save room forthe large inked areas. Black areas add weight andmelodrama to a scene and create contrast whenjuxtaposed with white or light colors. Note also thestriking negative (white) space among the billowsof black smoke in the bottom panel. An exper-ienced penciler works to create such areas for thecolorist, who can have a field day with them.

Page 109: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

the final inked page

Inking is a tremendous skill. Professional pencilersknow how valuable a good inker is, and they

actively lobby the publisher to get the best inker toink their pencil drawings. The inker does more thanjust trace pencil lines in ink. He gives them shapeand crispness. He is also constantly on the alert,

making sure that drawings read clearly in terms ofights and darks. In doing so, he may make smalladjustments to the pencil drawing. The followingare some of the flourishes that Frank McLaughlin,known for his deft pen work, has made toAlexander Morrissey's excellent pencil drawings.

Textural detail wasadded to the whip,and a touch of whitewas added to thecharacter's beardfor contrast.

Frank added aburst of energy

around thecharacter toheighten the

urgency inthe scene.

The cartridgesaround the

missiles were leftout because the

image was sharpand effective

without it.

The buckles on thehero's boots are

rendered in whiteand black. If they

were left black,they would blend

into the blackbackground.

Burst lines wereadded betweenthe clouds of smoketo fill in the page.

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Page 111: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

HERE ARE CERTAIN SKILLSHERE ARE CERTAIN SKILLS that can't be mastered

unless you're working in

the comic book field. That's because these techniques

don't fit neatly under one category, but instead are acquired

over the course of a career. These techniques are usually shared

over coffee with fellow cartoonists, as everyone discusses what

they're working on. If you were there at that table, at that

diner, this is what you would have overheard....

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Page 113: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

inking like a pro

Many people break intothe business by inking

other people's pencils, so it'simportant to at least acquaintyourself with the subject. Butinking is an art in itself. Eventhe most dramatic comic bookillustrations can achieve theirfull impact only when atalented inker adds his magic.The ink line has a crispness,boldness, and variety ofthickness that a pencil linecan't produce. As shown inthe illustrations at right, thereare three basic types of inkline. By varying its thickness,we get bolder or softer lines.Just using one thickness ofline leaves a character lookinglifeless.

The magician's adage "It'sall in the wrist" also applies toinking. The more you bendyour wrist, the less controlyou'll have. Of course, the linewill remain straight up to apoint. But when you bendyour wrist too much, the linebecomes wobbly. The solutionis to keep your wrist locked,your hand loose, and moveyour whole arm instead. Witha little practice, it'll becomesecond nature to you.

A few more points: Holdthe pen or brush straight upand down. Feel free to movethe page around, so that yourarm is always at a comfortableangle.

HOLD THE PEN ORBRUSH PERPENDICULARTO THE PAPER

THICK TO THIN

EVEN

DON'T BEND YOURWRIST OR THE LINEWILL BECOME WOBBLY

THIN TO THICK

Page 114: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

stuff you need to know

D

COMIC BOOKPAGE WITHDRAWN PANELS

T-SQUARE

TRIANGLE

oesn't a T-square look serious? But hey, ifcomic book artists use one, how complicated

can it be? It's a great tool. You'll actually like itwhen you use it. Scary thought. All horizontallines are drawn with a T-square; all vertical linesare drawn against a triangle. This eliminates thefuss of measuring.

Lucky you. Just when you were wonderingwhen we were going to get back to this subject,here it is again: more gray tones! In black-and-white drawings, tones are created by addingshaded sheets that come in various percentagesof gray. If you look closely at a newspaperimage, you'll see that the shades are all madeup of black dots called screens. The bigger andcloser together the dots are, the darker theshade. After your drawing is finished, carefullycut a sheet of screen so that the piece fitsprecisely within the area to be shaded, thenburnish it down.

20% 30%

40% 50%

In addition to drawing your own patterns for shading,you can use screens.

Page 115: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

art supplies shopping list

You don't have to commit thisstuff to memory. Just bring this

book into any art store and thesalespeople will help you find theitems you need. Before you purchaseany art materials, check the labels tomake sure they're nontoxic. Youshouldn't buy or use anything thathas a warning label on it. Use onlynontoxic inks and materials with allthe instruments listed in this chapter.

The brush preferred by many inkers is theWinsor & Newton Series 7 watercolorbrush. The best sizes are the No. 1 andthe No. 2. Experiment to find the sizethat works for you. The advantage of abrush is that it gives you thin and thick lineswithout changing instruments. It gives yourline a softer edge, and a brush line driesfaster than a pen line. But the thing thatthe pros like about it is that it's fast.However, a brush takes time to master. Besure to wash the ink out of your brush before itdries or it'll be ruined, and brushes are expensive.Just dab it in a jar of water immediately afterusing and dry it with a clean rag.

Professional inkers also use pens, which are easierto use than brushes. Starting out you'll feel moreconfident using a flexible-point pen that hasremovable tips. There are many pen tips tochoose from. Try starting with Joseph Gillott Nos.170, 290, and 404. If your local art supply storedoesn't carry this brand, ask the manager to helpyou choose something comparable.

Use a technical pen with a nontoxic ink togive you an even-weight line. Its pointsare interchangeable and come in varyingdegrees of thickness. It has a rigid feel.You should also buy a few nontoxic fine-line markers in different widths.

Use a nontoxic India ink for inking andPro White for whiting out. If you usenonwaterproof ink, your drawing willsmear if it gets wet after the ink has dried.Waterproof inks, on the other hand, arepermanent.

French curves, available in many sizes andshapes, are used by pencilers and inkersfor drawing smooth, curved lines.

Drawing circles and ellipses can take a long time if donefreehand. So we cheat a little. We use circle and ellipseguides, which are plastic and translucent.

For inking straight lines, use a raised 6-inch plastic ruler.A T-square is too unwieldy to use for drawing shortlines. Turn the ruler upside down and run your penagainst the edge. If the pen weren't raised off thepaper surface, the ink would blot and you don'twant that.

FRENCH CURVE

PEN NIBS

PEN NIBS

CIRCLE GUIDE

ELLIPSE GUIDE

RAISED PLASTIC RULER

PEN NIB

FINE-LINE MARKER

TECHNICAL PEN

BRUSH

NIB HOLDERS

Page 116: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

reflections

Both glass and water reflectlight. A glass skyscraper

should be drawn so that iteither reflects what's acrossthe street, or so you can seethrough it, but not a combin-ation of the two. Think ofwindows as a big sheet of glassinterrupted by little strips ofnonreflective material. Don'tshade each pane differently.Also, be sure to show a slightrippling effect, which helps itto "read" as glass.

For the most part, waterreflects the sky and surroundingfoliage, depending, of course,on the character of its surface.If the water is smooth, it willreflect like a mirror. If it's roughor choppy, you'll get a brokenreflection.

Page 117: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

LIGHT SOURCE

Shadows can heighten the visual appeal of acharacter by making him or her seem more

intense, more urgent. It also makes objects appearthree-dimensional, because an object must havemass to cast a shadow.

But you can't determine where shadows gowithout first deciding where the light source is.What are some light sources? The sun is a lightsource. Lamps and street lights are light sources.

A partially opened window shade during the day isa light source. An explosion is an excellent lightsource, one so intense that it creates deep shadows.

Once you've decided on the direction andlocation of your light source, place your shadowsaway from it. Note that there may be more thanone light source in a scene, and that they maydiffer in intensity. The brighter light source will castshadows over the dimmer light source.

Page 118: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

If you draw ashadow on the farside of a face, asshown in the twoexamples on thispage, the face willtend to recedebecause darkerimages draw theeye toward thebackground.

If, on the other hand, you wanted thischaracter's face to pop out at you, youwould move the light source from theright side of the page to the left. Thenthe far side of the face would bebathed in light, and the near sidewould be cloaked in shadow. Thisdramatic effect draws readers into animage by emphasizing a detail. Just aswith hair, costume, and other details,draw shadows after you've firstcompleted the full image.

Page 119: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

SHADING

There are several styles of modern comic bookshading to choose from. Except for hollow

shading, you can combine the techniquesillustrated below according to your personal taste.

Here's the basic guy.(Even when relaxing,a comic book hero'smuscles are alwaysflexed!) The minimalshading here is loose andnatural in appearance.

Hollow shading givesa reflective appearance.It makes the characterlook like he's made ofplutonium. Notice thatthe shaded areas havesharp edges; they're notgentle pools of blackshadow. This is a crisp,metallic, and severe look.

This is cross-hatching.It's more rugged-looking than thehollow style. Thistechnique would workwell on a down-in-the-trenches street fighter.A word of caution—this style can look toobusy if you overdo it.

This is the standardcomic book-styleshading-old, reliable,and still as popular asever. This approachcombines light cross-hatching with pocketsof solid black.

Page 120: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

NO SHADING

COMBINATION:CROSS HATCHINGAND POOLS OFSHADOWS

HARD SHADOWS

CROSS HATCHING

Page 121: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

VARYING AN INK LINE

The figure below, left, looks flat and dull. That'sbecause it's drawn with only one thickness of

line. So that your drawing has life, it's important tovary the thickness of a line. But you've got to havea plan. You can't just alternate thin and thick lineswith no underlying purpose, because that wouldlook weird.

The figure below, right, looks three dimensional.And there's some logic to it. If the source of light is

above the figure, which is generally the case, thethinner lines are drawn toward the light, and thethicker ones are drawn away from it. More lines areusually apparent on the folds of the shaded side.The light source for the example below, right, isabove and to the right of the figure. Can you seethat? With the exception of heavy folds, the lineswithin a figure are lighter than the lines on itsperimeter.

Page 122: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

folds and drapery

Not all clothes or fabrics fold thesame way. Because many beginning

artists draw only skintight plastic suitsfor their comic book heroes andheroines, they're at a loss when theyhave to draw a character in somethingas simple as a button-down shirt. Take amoment to notice the kinds of foldsmade by different types of clothes.

This character is outfitted in abaggy costume based on a biblicalor Middle Eastern theme. Its folds,therefore, are soft and loose.

This character is outfitted in afantasy style. Flowing andornate, her costume is based onancient Greek and Romanclothing. It is best served by afeeling of gravity pulling on iteliminating the folds you'd findin a baggy costume. The fabricends up as inert folds aroundthe bottom of the costume,where it bunches up.

This character is dressedin modern, tailoredattire. The syntheticfabric creates crispfolds in shorter,straighter lines.

Page 123: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

designing costumes

Costumes are fashioned in one oftwo ways: skintight, as if they

were painted on; and loose. Skintightcostumes are easier to draw, but requireheavy shading to give them a slick,three-dimensional quality. Loose clothingrequires more planning to show thecorrect flow of the folds.

Page 124: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

Try both textures on your charactersbefore deciding. By costuming yourcharacters in different looks, you cansee how clothes really do make thecharacter. You can invent largeaccessories for costumes that have nouseful function except making yourcharacters look tough.

The metallic look, as shownin this character's armor collar,requires shading to indicateglints of light.

Page 125: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

EAPONS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN POPULAREAPONS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN POPULAR comic book

props, since

they heighten the stakes in a story. If one character has

a serious weapon, then the motivation for winning-and the fear

of losing-is much greater. Whoever holds the bigger weapon takes

on the role of the hunter, while the character who is out-gunned

becomes the prey. If two characters have equally powerful weapons,

the city will be annihilated during a shattering fight scene.

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Page 127: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

rapid fire

When drawing any weapon, the method is thesame. Start with rectangular shapes, combine

them until the general outline of the entireweapon becomes recognizable, then blend themtogether. Then go to work on the fun stuff, andput on all the bells and whistles.

Page 128: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

in the crosshairs

J

The character using a rifle shouldbe considered by all to be anaccomplished marksman. A riflewithout a scope becomes ageneric weapon, good for anydangerous situation.

ust as the cowboys were devotedto their horses, heroes and villains

are very attached to their weapons. Ifyou want your hero to be able to blasta villain at 100 yards, give him aweapon with greater range. A long-range rifle has pinpoint accuracy.

You can get ideas of howto draw weapons from otherdrawings, or you can start acartoonist's morgue. Morbid as itmay sound, a morgue is a usefultool for the pro. A morgue is acollection of images of variousobjects that you may be calledon to draw from time to time.Whenever you need an image ofsomething, from a machine gun toan amphibious assault vehicle, itshould be there in your morgue.

Page 129: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

hidden danger

I

Spent cartridges fly off as a gun fires,which is indicated by a burst. A doubleimage of the gun shows its kick. Smoke rises delicately

from a gun thathas just been fired.

n a pinch, when your hero is cornered, out ofluck, and has nowhere to turn, he just may be

hiding a pistol under a pant leg. Small, but deadly,the pistol is a great last-ditch weapon.

Page 130: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

aggressive assault vehicles

N

Alexander Morrissey can draw military vehiclesas well as anybody in the comic book fieldtoday. Notice how he achieves his results:

1. Start by outlining the large shapes. Sketch inhuge, knobby tires that will allow the vehicle todrive over literally anything. The key is tooverlap the tires. Add protruding forms such asguns and fenders. Begin to sketch in the designof the vehicle's body.

2. Refine the forms to give them dimension.Sketch in some details, but keep the drawingloose. You can clearly see the complex layersthat make up this type of tank.

3. Now for the fun stuff. tire treads, weaponsystems designs, buttons, hatches, and radar.

4. Add the correct shading.

5. Finish up by inking.

ot all heroes can fly. But when duty calls, yourhero can't very well buy a ticket on Amtrak. So

how does he get from here to there? In a high-tech, fortified, ground assault vehicle. Some comicbook vehicles, like the Batmobile, have become sofamous they are almost characters in and ofthemselves.

The vehicles should look convincing and state ofthe art, fully armed with a variety of weapons. Onelook at an assault vehicle should send chills throughthe enemy camp. A comic book hero in an assaultvehicle would have no compunction about drivingright through the window of a restaurant if a badguy were inside.

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off-road

Even heroes without super powers, such as aband of teenagers, can become exciting

characters in a comic book. But they need to begiven the tools to fight crime. An off-road truckcan help accomplish this. An off-road truck shouldhave huge tires, a souped-up chassis, and heavy-duty fenders, perfect for ramming. This kind ofvehicle gives the reader the sense that its driver isready for action, that he or she can and will goanywhere the action is taking place.

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mean machines

Motorcycles convey a feelingof speed, power, and

freedom, and embellish acharacter's personality. Afterall, Clark Kent never rode a hog.What your character rides says alot about who he or she is. Amotorcycle also allows thereader to see the character'sbody while he or she is driving.In a car, the character is mostlyhidden from view.

Give your hero's bike abeefed-up look that's built forspeed. A motorcycle is excitingbecause of the way it can weavebetween pedestrians on side-walks and make impossiblejumps over open drawbridges.

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sky patrol

Great chase scenes can be created when youcombine two entirely different modes of

transportation; for example, a helicopter chasinga motorcycle. The two vehicles have differentstrengths and weaknesses, and just as withsuperheroes, the weaknesses are as importantto the drama of the chase as the strengths.

For instance, the chopper's strength is immed-iately apparent: It can fly faster and has a greatercapacity for spotting a target. The chopper mightalso be equipped with guns. The pilot has a radiothat he can use to call for backup. The chopper'sweakness is chilling: It might have to fly danger-ously low to follow the motorcycle and get sand-wiched between two tall skyscrapers. Splat city.

The motorcycle's advantage is that it can drivethrough places like tunnels, buildings, and mallsthat the helicopter can't. It's easy for the driver toditch his motorcycle, but not so easy for a chopperpilot to get out of his chopper whenever he feelslike it. The motorcycle's potential drawbacks areoil slicks, traffic jams, crashes, and police cars thatenter the fray as the motorcycle whizzes by at100 m.p.h. or more.

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fighter planes

When you want to blow something up—andwho among us hasn't had that desire at one

time or another?—then it's time to send in thefighter aircraft.

Notice the perspective of the wings. The farwing is all but hidden by the body of the aircraft.Note the tilt of the aircraft. It's drawn at an angle,as if it were ascending. A horizontal view would bemuch less interesting. Also, its weapons are in fullview. An aircraft doesn't need to have a lot ofgizmos drawn on it. Its high-tech look is implied bythe graceful lines of its form; for example, in theway its nose tilts downward in an aggressiveposture.

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O YOU WANT THE INSIDE STORYO YOU WANT THE INSIDE STORY on how the

comic book biz

works? Smart thinking. You'll need to know what

happens in the real world so that you won't be lost when

you get your first job. You've come to the right place. Keep

reading, because here is the inside, professional scoop.

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Page 137: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

HOW THINGS ARE SUPPOSED TO GET DONE

Putting together a comicbook is a big job. Many

talented people—and maybea few not-so-talented ones—are involved in producing it.What follows is a step-by-stepchronology of the birth of acomic book issue. Take notethat there are job titles listedhere that you may not haveconsidered for yourself butthat may appeal to you, suchas writer, editor, or computercolorist. 1. THE EDITOR1. THE EDITOR

8. THE EDITOR,8. THE EDITOR,

10. THE EDITOR,10. THE EDITOR,

9. THE COMPUTER COLORIST,9. THE COMPUTER COLORIST,

11. THE PRINTER11. THE PRINTER

12. COVER CONFERENCE.12. COVER CONFERENCE.

13. THE ARTISTS,13. THE ARTISTS,

3. THE PENCILER,3. THE PENCILER,

7. THE INKER.7. THE INKER.

4. THE EDITOR4. THE EDITOR

5. THE LETTERER,5. THE LETTERER,

6. THE EDITOR,6. THE EDITOR,

2. THE WRITER,2. THE WRITER,has a deadlineto deliver a new comic bookissue, so he quickly calls

who writesthe story and dialogueand indicates the action.The script is then sent to—

who illus-trates all the action in the scriptin pencil, placing everything inpanels and leaving room forthe dialogue balloons. Once he'sdone, it goes quickly back to—

for hisapproval, and if he likesthe pencils, he shootsit over to—

wholetters the dialogue in ink,and then gives it to (guess)—

who checksthe details.

Then it's on to

By now everythingis usually runningbehind schedule.The inker inks thebook and erasesthe pencil lines,then hands itback to—

who checks it again,and then fires it off to—

who putsin all those nifty tints we love so much.The colorist gives it right back to—

and this is the lasttime he can makeany changes. If hesays the word, itgets shipped to—

who's about as excitinga guy as your uncle in

the men's wear business.Meanwhile, back at

Comic Book Headquarters,they're having a— The executives are

trying to decide what the cover should look like,and when they can break for lunch. A differentartist does the covers because the publisher wantsall their covers to have a similar look. Once that'sdecided, it's time to do it all over again withanother issue. So what happens to theoriginal artwork? It goes back to—

and gets dividedbetween the

penciler and theinker, for them to

keep, frame,or sell.

Page 138: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

hoW TO GET YOUR FIRST JOB

You're already on the right track. You're drawingand educating yourself with this book, while

other guys are at the beach, preparing themselvesfor the future by deciding what number sunblockthey should use.

The next thing you might want to consider isgetting an art education, by attending classes at anart school, continuing ed, or the university you'reenrolled in. In art school, you'll be inspired by yourclassmates. You'll strive to increase your abilitybecause you'll want to keep up with everybody, or

be just a little better than they are. Take classes indrawing, perspective, design, and anything elsethat interests you, but don't focus solely on whattype of class to take. Look for the instructors whohave the most to say and can challenge you. If aninstructor loves everything you do and thinks thatart is self-expression-and that therefore no oneshould judge anyone else's work—run the otherway. Everyone judges everyone else's work—that'show you get hired, because your work is betterthan the next guy's.

ORGANIZING A PORTFOLIOORGANIZING A PORTFOLIO

If you're going to convince someone to hire you,you've got to show them your stuff. One way tomake a portfolio is to collect copies of your bestdrawings (never include original art in a portfoliobecause you may be asked to leave it behind forreview) and arrange them in a nice-looking carry-ing case that you can buy at an art store. Thelargest size an individual piece of art should be is11 by 14 inches, and the smallest is 8½ by 11 inches.Show between ten and twenty pages, and includecolor pieces if you have them.

To prepare a portfolio that is more specific tothe comic book field, try revamping a character

that a comic book publisher already owns. Don'tuse a superstar character like Superman, butsomeone less popular that has been lying dormantfor a few years. Create a whole new approach forthe character. Write a two-page story synopsis andreinvent the costume and supporting characters.But don't reinvent any popular characters withwhom the character interacts (no editor wants toreinvent something that's working). This type ofportfolio shows the editor that you can draw hischaracters, which is what he wants. In addition, ifyou can bring new life to a tired formula, youmight be the answer to an editor's prayers.

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MEETING THE PUBLISHERMEETING THE PUBLISHER

Once you have your portfoliotogether, you can try calling thepublisher for an appointment toshow your stuff. But it's not alwayseasy getting through.

If you can't arrange for a meeting,send a copy of your portfolio with acover letter and a self-addressedstamped envelope. You can get thepublisher's name and address bylooking at the small type at thebottom of the first page of a comicbook. If you do get to meet with apublisher, or with someone else atthe company, make sure you leavesomething behind that is repre-sentative of your best work.

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DOING YOUR HOMEWORKDOING YOUR HOMEWORK

By visiting a comic book store and combingthrough new and obscure issues, you can findsmaller comic book publishers that may be willingto take a chance on you. But most important, you'llget the latest info at a comic book shop. Everyonethere is a fan. And every fan knows a comic bookartist or two. You can make connections. But whileyou're in there, be sure to find out where the nextcomic book convention is being held. That's wherethe action is.

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COMIC BOOK

CONVENTIONS

COMIC BOOK

CONVENTIONSThere are always prosroaming the conventions,so bring your portfolio.Many comic bookpublishers set up boothsat conventions tointerview new artists. Youwant to find a pro whoneeds an assistant. Try toshow your stuff and seeif you can get phonenumbers. Then be sure tocall after the conventionis over. Don't expect a proto call you. He's got a job.You're the person whowants one.

APPRENTICING

Once you're apprenticing for a pro, you canpester him with all the questions you've everhad, and he'll probably answer them. When hegets busy, he'll start to throw smaller jobs yourway, and maybe he'll even help you to set upyour own studio.

As you improve, you'll graduate frombackgrounds to more impressive stuff. Thenone day, as you're roaming a comic bookconvention, some kid will walk up to you andask you to look at his portfolio. And you'llrealize that you're so busy, you need anassistant to do your backgrounds.

When that happens, you've arrived.

Page 142: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

A

INTERVIEW WITH A NOTED COMIC BOOK

EDITOR AND PUBLISHER

s an editor at Marvel Comics, Jim Salicruppresided over such famous titles as

and many others. He left Marvel to becomethe associate publisher and editor-in-chief of ToppsComics, where he has ushered in the successfulcomic book titles

and Jimshares with us his views on the origins of comicbooks, where they're headed, and some of theopportunities available to the aspiring comic bookartist today.

: Jim, what makes a great penciler?: Each case is different. You could take

someone I think is a brilliant penciler, a darksuperhero avenger-type artist, and you give them aromance story that's supposed to be nice, bright,innocent, and light, and they make it seem like aMartin Scorsese film-that might be interesting butit may not be what you're looking for. So it alwaysdepends on the project. If you have a western,obviously it helps to find an artist who, numberone, is very passionate about that period.

: Can you comment on the traps beginningartists tend to fall into?

: When they get their first script, it's astrange phenomenon. They almost look at it theway my daughter looks at her homework

The X-Men,The Fantastic Four, Captain America, Iron Man,Thor,

Bram Stoker's Dracula, JurassicPark, Duck Man, Mars Attacks, Zorro.

HartSalicrup

Hart

Salicrup

assignment-the priority is to get it done. I mean,they have that deadline looming over them, andthey want to get their paycheck-all that I canunderstand. And if the script says, "the hero'slooking out the window, then he talks to his bestfriend, then he makes a phone call," beginnerscould say that the story is just dull-there's nofighting, no action-and they'll just draw the firstthing that pops into their heads. And I'll have a dullpage. And if I say that it doesn't look as exciting as Ithought it would, they'll immediately blame thewriter: "Well, what do you want me to do? This is adull script. Give me something exciting to draw."

And to me that's not really an acceptableresponse. The top artists in the business could makea splash page out of that. They could have thisbreathtaking cityscape. They could have otherthings going on that are totally fascinating, andyou pull back, and the hero is talking to his friend.And there's a way to do a sequence where makingthat phone call is a turning point in the story, andthe way that the characters move, and theirresponses, and the way that the frames are cut andthe panels are designed-suddenly this phone callis as important as any fight.

: Can artists today hope to own their owncharacters? I know that in the past that wasimpossible. The guys who invented Superman werecut out of the whole thing.

Hart

Page 143: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

Salicrup

HartSalicrup

Hart

Salicrup

: It's a tricky thing. Siegel and Shuster [thecreators of Superman] are a good example, in thesense that their undoing was not so much the "evilpublishers"-although I'm not going to defend thepublisher's actions in this case-but their sheerfrustration. They had a character that they werereally excited about. They tried for years-I believeit was about five years-to sell it, and it's somethingthat they really felt strongly about. Just to see it inprint, and at that point as a comic book, meant somuch to them that they were willing to sign almostany deal. And the same thing could happen today.It happens a lot with creative people. If they have apassion for something, whether it's to star in amovie or sign a recording contract, they have to bevery careful about the kind of deal they make. Alot of creators may feel, "Well, this is just one of mycharacters. I'll give that one away, but the next oneI'll own."

: And there never was another Superman.: The environment has changed a lot for

the better. There are more cases today wherepeople publish their own work and make betterdeals with publishers to retain all sorts of rights.And even if artists are creating characters for comicbook companies, they could make better dealsthan have ever been made before. When I startedtwenty years ago, a lot of those options were thestuff dreams were made of. It wasn't as easy as itis today.

: Would you recommend art school tosomeone who wants to be in this field? Do youthink a formal education in art is beneficial?

: Definitely, but it's not essential. Therehave been a lot of great comic book artists thatwere totally self-taught. It's like any great talent: Ifthe ability's there, education will hone it and makeit better, perhaps. If someone doesn't have thetalent, but has the money to take classes, it couldbe a sad thing to look at that graduate's work. Itmay be lacking some kind of spark. But what tendsto be the best part of attending an art class or aschool is seeing real artists, either instructors orguest lecturers. Once the student starts in anythingthat resembles a real situation where he or she hasto create comic books, that experience can be really

beneficial, as opposed to just working in yourbasement.

: How have women's roles as comic bookheroines changed through the years?

: It tends to reflect what's going on insociety in general. In the early 1960s, probably themost telling example of this was the femalecharacter in The Fantastic Four. She was called the"Invisible Girl"-someone you don't see. And she'snot a woman, she's a girl. She's the girlfriend. She'sthe sister. Her powers are to fade away. Often whathappens in pop culture is that one stereotype isreplaced by the latest, newer stereotype. So nowyou get a lot of sexy, aggressive, powerful femalecharacters.

: Do you have any advice for aspiring comicbook artists?

: When I review portfolios, I tell artists thatthey should show me what they truly think they'rebest at and most passionate about. Although"What are you looking for?" is a very validquestion, sometimes I may not know what our nextproject is going to be. If an artist feels he's the bestat funny animal cartoons, or moody atmosphericpieces, or whatever, the best tip I could give is toinclude a couple of pages that represent what hewould really want to do under ideal circumstances.Chances are that the work might be a lot betterthan his samples of the top company's popularsuperheroes and typical action and talking pages. Ifhe could really show me something that makes himunique, that he's the only guy who can do this kindof work, that has a far more lasting impression onme than if he gives me something that's kind ofgeneric and looks like what everyone else hasshown me.

Try to find out as much about the field aspossible. This can be done just by visiting the localcomic book shop, finding out everything aboutevery detail. The more you know, the better you'llbe able to figure out what your next step is,whether it's presenting artwork to publishers,contacting writers directly, perhaps writing andpublishing your own comics, whatever is best foryou. The more you find out about the field, themore informed your decisions will be.

Hart

Salicrup

Hart

Salicrup

Page 144: How to Draw Comic Book Heroes and Villains

$19.95 U.S.A.

How to Draw Comic Book Heroes andVillains contains everything you need to

know about creating super-powered images,and gives you the inside scoop on the comicbook biz. Comics luminaries Frank McLaughlin,

Gray Morrow, Frank Springer, and AlexanderMorrissey reveal the secrets of drawing heroicanatomy, designing powerful and convincingfight scenes, inventing really bad villains, usingspecial effects techniques, interpreting a script,depicting advanced weaponry, and much,much more. You'll learn what to include ina winning portfolio, the shortcuts to landingyour first job, and how the business reallyworks. Also featured is an exclusive interviewwith Jim Salicrup, the renowned former Marvel

editor and now associate publisher and editorin-chief of Topps Comics, who shares his insights

on the business, revealing the qualities that heand other comic book editors look for when hiringnew artists. Every comic book fan, collector, andartistic hopeful will find this essential reference

impossible to put down.

OTHER CARTOONING BOOKS

FROM CHRISTOPHER HART

OTHER CARTOONING BOOKS

FROM CHRISTOPHER HART

MEET AUTHOR

CHRISTOPHER HART

MEET AUTHOR

CHRISTOPHER HART

Christopher Hart is the best-selling author and artist ofa popular series of how-to-draw books published byWatson-Guptill Publications:

and Hart's company,The Idea Workshop, Inc., creates how-to-draw art products for the aspir-ing cartoonist. He has also hosted several videos on popular cartooning.

Hart has worked on the staff of the world-famous Blondie comicstrip, and is a regular contributor to Mad magazine. His humorousarticles and illustrations have appeared in numerous publications.

Hart is also a writer and director of film and television. He directedand co-wrote the feature film Eat and Run, and has written for manyother Hollywood studios, including 20th Century-Fox, ParamountPictures, MGM, NBC, and Showtime, as well as for PBS.

Hart resides in Connecticut with his wife and two daughters.

How to Draw Cartoons forComic Strips, Everything You EverWanted to Know About Cartooning ButWere Afraid to Draw, How to Draw CartoonAnimals, Christopher Hart's Portable Cartoon Studio.

144 pages. 8¼ x 11 " (21 x 28 cm). 64 colorand 375 black-and-white illustrations.

Cover design by Bob Fillie, Graphiti GraphicsCover art by Frank McLaughlin

Watson-Guptill Publications770 Broadway, New York, NY 10003

Printed in USA