I saw an awful list of 'advice' on Pinterest yesterday, that included 'avoid copying your favourite artists' and 'you have to force yourself use different mediums if you want to improve.' 🙃
I would argue that forcing yourself to use different mediums can be a good tip, it's just not a "you absolutely have to do this to improve" type. I speak from experience that there's a lot of overlap between techniques in different mediums and I've actually learned most of my digital painting skills from traditionally painting lol. It can really give you a new perspective on how to approach different artworks. The other tip is just stupid though.
Another great video. Most of the worst advice I received was already stated in this video, but some of the best advice is to start making comics regardless of your skill level. It's easy to get into the trap of feeling like you aren't good enough to start, but it's not true. There are ppl making comics at all levels of art, and a good story is still a good story.
these are good myths to tackle i swear i see the same comments from reddit and it's pretty obvious who are the ones with real experience with the craft. the part about deadlines is super important. whether it's for a job or for your own story you need to stick to a deadline. although with the latter you can be lenient with yourself. I've been through the "no deadlines I'll finish when i do" route and it's not a fun experience. felt like im sisyphus and the rock tumbling down is me getting burnout even moreso because i didn't have an ending in mind for the story ugh 3/10 no mas. deadlines help in making the process realistic.
yeah, I agree on drawing daily won't make you better artist. For past 2 years I worked on my lines by drawing straight lines and circle. My line got better on drawing straight lines and circles but when I draw anatomy or gesture, 2 years of straight line went into gutter. Turns out all I need was to draw what I want to achieve from the beginning to end.
22:33 In some ways, I feel like zinemaking actually addresses most of the myths. I've hit on them recently as a tool for ideation. There's no particular reason to even publish a zine if it's for an audience of one, and that's how I've been using them; I have some scrap paper, so I make a booklet out of it, give it a title and go about filling it up from there. That means I get to ignore what every entertainment industry prefers doing - maximalist productions that need layers of capital investment - in favor of rapidly satisfying creative goals and creating something that is any amount of finished, so that it doesn't linger around in my brain any more than necessary. If you practice at that part of it, of course you can return and add polish and production on top of that later and do things in a way that aims to engage with industry. Returning to an old, roughly-made work like that is a good sign, it means the audience of one wants more.
i think that when it comes to the thing about perfectionism, it is of course true that if you're just a perfectionist 24/7, you won't get very far. I had a lot of that issue. Aiming for something that is completely out of my reach. I do think that you should try to do every panel to the best of your ability though. not rushing things, or saying "eh nobody will notice that. If you can see a mistake, and you know how to fix it, fix it. try your absolute hardest even if it takes double the time, because the only way to improve is trying your hardest
Somebody told me I shouldn't bother studying Todd McFarlane because his anatomy is so exaggerated. One of the biggest icons in all of comic books and revolutionized the medium, yeah definitely nothing to learn from him.
So much of what you say here echoes what I've seen from authors writing about writing. I suspect that all creative endeavours share a lot more than is immediately apparent. (I also laughed at the 'economist' advice!) Another corker of a video, John! X
People who ignore thumbnails in favor of exclusively focusing on inking are how you get comics with very pretty illustrations that do an absolutely awful job of telling a story. I see so many comics where the pages are great pinups but the flow of action from panel to panel makes zero sense. Thumbnails are how you set up the composition for your comic, and one of the things I put the most focus in because you should ideally be able to follow the action with no dialog. RE drawing feet: I'm awful at drawing human feet, lucky for me the two main characters in my comic have digitigrade legs and paws/clawed lizard feet. I'm still not great at those and definitely need to practice them more, though. But I can draw boots better than Leifeld at least (lowest bar possible I know)
A lot of artists say "just draw" because you arent asking anything specific. If its generally just asking how do I draw, of course you're just gonna get the answer to just pick up a pen
I think Where Manga has this culture of reducing your art style to a more simplified version that looks almost the same for every manga, there are exceptions but when you think of amazing Manga art like Miura from Berserk or Araki from Jojo, the thing you'll notice is their art stands out because they don't have the constraint of having to do manga weekly, and the artist who are on demon time usually end up in pretty bad health because of it. ON the other hand, American comics outside of Marvel and DC have always had weird artstyles and you can instantly go, "Oh this is a Joe Mad piece" etc. There are comics like Department of Truth or Hellboy that prove that you don't need super realism or the same boxy-shadow illustrations that comics are known for. just do art and create a story it's that simple.
I saw an awful list of 'advice' on Pinterest yesterday, that included 'avoid copying your favourite artists' and 'you have to force yourself use different mediums if you want to improve.' 🙃
It's hard to understand the logic behind that "advice"
It's not awful advice
@@theanimelibarian7881yes it is. All artists are copiers.
@@theanimelibarian7881using a different medium could help you improve but it’s not the only way
I would argue that forcing yourself to use different mediums can be a good tip, it's just not a "you absolutely have to do this to improve" type. I speak from experience that there's a lot of overlap between techniques in different mediums and I've actually learned most of my digital painting skills from traditionally painting lol. It can really give you a new perspective on how to approach different artworks. The other tip is just stupid though.
Another great video. Most of the worst advice I received was already stated in this video, but some of the best advice is to start making comics regardless of your skill level. It's easy to get into the trap of feeling like you aren't good enough to start, but it's not true. There are ppl making comics at all levels of art, and a good story is still a good story.
these are good myths to tackle i swear i see the same comments from reddit and it's pretty obvious who are the ones with real experience with the craft.
the part about deadlines is super important. whether it's for a job or for your own story you need to stick to a deadline. although with the latter you can be lenient with yourself. I've been through the "no deadlines I'll finish when i do" route and it's not a fun experience. felt like im sisyphus and the rock tumbling down is me getting burnout even moreso because i didn't have an ending in mind for the story ugh 3/10 no mas. deadlines help in making the process realistic.
There's definitely a sweet spot between setting a deadline and making that deadline reasonable, for sure.
yeah, I agree on drawing daily won't make you better artist. For past 2 years I worked on my lines by drawing straight lines and circle. My line got better on drawing straight lines and circles but when I draw anatomy or gesture, 2 years of straight line went into gutter. Turns out all I need was to draw what I want to achieve from the beginning to end.
22:33 In some ways, I feel like zinemaking actually addresses most of the myths. I've hit on them recently as a tool for ideation. There's no particular reason to even publish a zine if it's for an audience of one, and that's how I've been using them; I have some scrap paper, so I make a booklet out of it, give it a title and go about filling it up from there. That means I get to ignore what every entertainment industry prefers doing - maximalist productions that need layers of capital investment - in favor of rapidly satisfying creative goals and creating something that is any amount of finished, so that it doesn't linger around in my brain any more than necessary. If you practice at that part of it, of course you can return and add polish and production on top of that later and do things in a way that aims to engage with industry. Returning to an old, roughly-made work like that is a good sign, it means the audience of one wants more.
i think that when it comes to the thing about perfectionism, it is of course true that if you're just a perfectionist 24/7, you won't get very far. I had a lot of that issue. Aiming for something that is completely out of my reach. I do think that you should try to do every panel to the best of your ability though. not rushing things, or saying "eh nobody will notice that. If you can see a mistake, and you know how to fix it, fix it. try your absolute hardest even if it takes double the time, because the only way to improve is trying your hardest
Somebody told me I shouldn't bother studying Todd McFarlane because his anatomy is so exaggerated. One of the biggest icons in all of comic books and revolutionized the medium, yeah definitely nothing to learn from him.
I'm surprised more artists didn't copy McFarlane in the 90s...there were a ton of artists copying jim lee and Rob liefeld..
@@tonyfrickey9062fr
Todd McFarlane? What's he ever done in comics? /s
Study Todd's storytelling and composition. Very foundational stuff he is applying.
@@rockon8174 Todd's page layouts and composition were on point back in the day.
I love these videos! still haven't started my comic hahah
2025 is a great time to start!
I still haven't finished chapter 1😂😂
So much of what you say here echoes what I've seen from authors writing about writing. I suspect that all creative endeavours share a lot more than is immediately apparent. (I also laughed at the 'economist' advice!) Another corker of a video, John! X
People who ignore thumbnails in favor of exclusively focusing on inking are how you get comics with very pretty illustrations that do an absolutely awful job of telling a story. I see so many comics where the pages are great pinups but the flow of action from panel to panel makes zero sense. Thumbnails are how you set up the composition for your comic, and one of the things I put the most focus in because you should ideally be able to follow the action with no dialog.
RE drawing feet: I'm awful at drawing human feet, lucky for me the two main characters in my comic have digitigrade legs and paws/clawed lizard feet. I'm still not great at those and definitely need to practice them more, though. But I can draw boots better than Leifeld at least (lowest bar possible I know)
A lot of artists say "just draw" because you arent asking anything specific. If its generally just asking how do I draw, of course you're just gonna get the answer to just pick up a pen
I think Where Manga has this culture of reducing your art style to a more simplified version that looks almost the same for every manga, there are exceptions but when you think of amazing Manga art like Miura from Berserk or Araki from Jojo, the thing you'll notice is their art stands out because they don't have the constraint of having to do manga weekly, and the artist who are on demon time usually end up in pretty bad health because of it. ON the other hand, American comics outside of Marvel and DC have always had weird artstyles and you can instantly go, "Oh this is a Joe Mad piece" etc. There are comics like Department of Truth or Hellboy that prove that you don't need super realism or the same boxy-shadow illustrations that comics are known for. just do art and create a story it's that simple.