It’s Tutorial Tuesday yet again, and this week we are going to look at facial features. This tutorial will focus on how to examine and draw parts such as the eyes, nose and mouth when you’re drawing characters for your digital comics. We will begin each facial feature by reviewing a real life photograph sample and the pieces involved in developing each part. Click here to continue…
It’s “Tutorial Tuesday” once again at idrawdigital. This week I’m going to show you how to prep and draw a simple base file in Photoshop to create your own character turnarounds. These sheets are absolutely vital in keeping your characters looking consistent from all angles. By having this handy reference, you’ll be able to compare it to your current drawing for any inaccuracies. Click here to continue…
It’s time for a new digital drawing tutorial. Today we’re going to focus on a basic fundamental of character drawing – head shapes. There are a number of different methods to drawing heads and faces, and in this tutorial, you’ll learn a few different ones than you may have seen before. Since we will be doing this entire sketch digitally, you’ll notice certain shortcuts and techniques you can use to speed up your workflow. Click here to continue…
Hi folks, here’s a simple tutorial for all of you. I’m going to show you how to create a few Photoshop master files for comic book pages, complete with guides and page info. Follow this easy step-by-step tutorial to set up your workspace for drawing digital comics.
Click here to continue…
We’re back with another week of tutorials – this time around, we’re going to try another Marvel character. We’ve tackled Wolverine, and we’ve tried our hand at DC Comics’ Batman. This tutorial is going to show you how to draw a basic version of our favorite wall-crawler, Spiderman. Click here to continue…
And now, for your viewing pleasure… here is the second part of the tutorial on drawing action poses. If you recall, in the first part of the tutorial, we talked about starting with a gesture drawing/mannequin and developing the scene into roughed forms. Now that we have our characters blocked in, I will be focusing on drawing and inking the character details of our scene. Click here to continue…
Hi folks, I’ve created a series of new tutorials focusing on drawing action poses. It’s one thing to be able to draw your favorite characters in a static setting, facing the front, either full length or partially in view. But what about drawing your figures in dynamic action sequences? Never fear, gang – idrawdigital is here – with a few tips on how to develop your own action sequences for your comics. This series of brief tutorials will show you how to set up a wide range of action poses and rough in your forms. This first tutorial will focus on the classic martial arts move: the side kick. Click here to continue…
Okay – back at it for another week of tutorials and tips for drawing comics! Today’s installment features another one of mainstream comics favorite stars – Batman. In the first part of this 3 part tutorial, I’m going to show you how to draw a basic version of the Caped Crusader, complete with a background at night. This tutorial requires a WACOM (or similar brand) tablet and stylus and Adobe Photoshop – you can substitute Photoshop with a different photo editing/drawing software. For the purposes of this tutorial, I will be using Photoshop CS3 and a Wacom tablet (Graphire 3 – the OLD standby).
I like to start with a nice wide sheet – you can use the typical US Paper settings of 8.5 by 11 inches. Make sure your resolution is at least 300 pixels/inch (dpi).
We all know the basic ‘look’ for Batman. The common items include a cape and his trademark cowl, and depending on the level of heroic looking figure, a muscular armored chest piece. I gathered all of these pics from Google images – ripped abs, a vampire cape, and the Batman mask. These items are all you need to get started.
Create a new layer for your rough outlines / blocked images. Choose a small brush ( 1 or 2 pixels) for use when scratching in your construction lines.
Step 1 : Draw an oblong head shape similar to a watermelon.
Step 2: Create dividing lines on the head shape to indicate where the eye level of your figure will be – if the horizontal line is low on the shape, it will look like the head is facing downward. If the line is higher up the head is facing upwards. If the vertical line is closer to the left, the head is facing left, and if the line is further right, the head is facing right. You get the idea.
Curve the lines slightly to create a reference for developing 3D depth.
Step 3: Divide the horizontal line into 5 equal segments. This will determine the proper proportions for the eyes.
Step 4: Divide the lower half of the face into 3 sections vertically. Place horizontal markers indicating the bottom of the nose and the opening of the mouth.
Step 5: Create the shoulder line by drawing a curve that equals twice the length of the head. The center of the curve at its peak should touch the tip of the chin.
Step 6: Rough in some ears. The neck lines should extend from the point where the earlobes touch the head. Extend these lines through your shoulder curve.
Step 7: Add two circles for shoulder sockets, and complete the neck cylinder by drawing a curved line between the two points from the extended lines.
Step 8: Draw another vertical line to indicate the center axis of the torso. Draw another curved line from shoulder to shoulder. This line indicates where the top half of the torso will be (the wider half). You should have a shape that resembles a lemon.
Step 9: From the torso dividing curve, draw two lines extending downwards that curve inwards and flare outwards towards the hips. The trunk part of the torso (where the ab muscles are) should look slender – if you were to draw straight lines here, your Batman might appear like a barrel – in this example, we’re trying to make him look heroic, so we have to bend reality a bit and make the proportions more exaggerated.
Step 10: Block in your arms and hands with cylindrical or oval shapes. Pretend like you are creating a mannequin. This is where you can develop your poses ahead of time, and get your proportions down.
Step 11: Close off your torso and create two curved lines at the hips.
Step 12: Draw another curved line below the bottom torso line – as if it were a belt. From there, create a crotch/codpiece area by making a rounded triangular shape. This will give you a reference point for creating your legs.
Step 13: Extend lines from the hip curves you have drawn. Taper them outwards to give the legs a thick, solid appearance.
You now have your construction lines set for your Batman figure. Now its time to draw the actual character.
Step 1: Turn down the opacity of your rough layer to 25%. Add a new layer, and label it as PENCILS.
Step 2: Using a small brush, begin to draw the main outlines of your character, based on the initial construction lines you’ve made. Use your reference material to help you. Start with the shape of the head and work your way into the body. Don’t worry about details – we’ll fill those in shortly. Concentrate on drawing the exterior lines first.
Step 2: Continue drawing your outline. Refine and reshape your drawing as you see fit.
Step 3: Draw your hands and refine muscles. In this example, I noticed that I didn’t like the proportions leading into the lower part of the trunk/midsection. I am going to fix that.
Step 4: Adjust and reshape the figure proportions if necessary. If you are comfortable with the look of your outline, continue past these tips. If you do not like certain areas of your drawing and want to resize/reshape them, follow along.
I selected the area I wanted to reshape/transform.
Using the Free Transform tool, I adjusted the length and width as well as position of this part of the drawing until I was comfortable with its new dimensions.
I committed to the changes, drew in the missing linework and cleaned up any odd looking outlines or stray marks.
Step 5: Draw in your hands and adjust your muscles. Use your photo reference for hands and fingers, and getting your proportions right.
Once you’ve drawn your outline – go back and re-evaluate it. Do the muscles look right -is the proportion WAY out of whack? Take this opportunity to fine tune your main shape before getting too far into the drawing and having too much work to do later in order to correct it.
Step 6: Add in your details – areas for your muscles, belts and costume pieces…
… add in the details for the signature peaked cowl.
Step 7: Begin to draw in finer details – eyes, profile lines, etc.
Step 8: Draw the chest symbol/clasp for the cape, and the outline for the cape.
Step 9: Draw in the folds of the cape – you may want to re-draw the shoulder lines with fabric folds for added realism. The cape doesn’t have to look like it is painted on. A few curved lines and overlaps in your outline will help to create the illusion of folded cloth.
Side Step: I didn’t really like the proportions of Batman’s torso, so I’m using the same Free Transform technique to fix that.
I filled in the lines to fill out the overall character shape.
Step 10: Draw in the details on the cape, the Batman symbol, and any additional extras – like the gauntlets, etc.
Step 11: Using a large calligraphy brush, trace the exterior outline of your Batman to define the body form. I use a calligraphy brush because it is the easiest method of creating variable line width – it also creates a different style to your linework.
Now that you have completed the outline, you have finished the first part of the tutorial. In the next post, I will show you some inking techniques and a quick method on creating a background.
I hope you enjoyed the tutorial – see you soon!
Going back through the archives, you’ve seen and read about ways to develop your own comics. In this post, I will be showing a group of videos on how other artists create their print and webcomics. Some have commentaries, others are tutorials. Many of the techniques I have mentioned in earlier posts apply, with the artists personal workflow methods injected into the core process.
Here are a few examples:
This first video is done by EXTRA LIFE webcomic creator Scott Johnson. He talks about how he developed this particular webcomic strip about the joys of late Christmas shopping. Scott offers a number of time-saving tips while he discusses certain aspects of his process during this time-lapse video.
In this three-part video series, Brett Lamb from LessonBucket decribes the process used in creating a Frank Miller “Sin City” noir-styled comic book. The process is very easy and effective for creating a comic book, using mainly photo reference and Photoshop techniques. There is no actual drawing involved, but this style works if you are looking to create something hand drawn and are wondering about the effects of light and shadows.
This quick tutorial by master illustrator Jay French shows you how to plan out a panel layout and sketch simple blocked in characters prior to creating a full blown comic.
The tutorial by Xia Taptara of idrawgirls is an advanced tutorial which requires a bit of drawing skill. This is more of a commentary while drawing rather than a step-by-step tutorial. Xia shows you some techniques using construction lines and poses.
From the DVD based on the best selling book “How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way” Stan Lee and artist Jim Lee explain how to draw individual parts for characters in comics – foreshortening, perspective, musculature and process are all explained.
I hope you learn something new from this series of videos. I’ll be back with some written tutorials later on in the week to add to your knowledge base. Until then, check out some of these other tutorials from the archive.
In this previous post about drawing backgrounds, I wrote about their importance and how to apply them to your comics in order to add further detail to your stories. Without some kind of defining background (whether its a colour, abstract linework, or a beautifully rendered scene) your foreground characters will just appear like they are floating in dead space with no purpose. This quick tutorial will give you a few more advanced techniques for backgrounds, and how to keep a nice big library for use at a moments notice.
If your comic is set in the city, amass a folder filled with reference shots in the city. Skylines, high and low angle views, rooftops, sidewalks, interesting buildings, street scenes, traffic, etc. The more reference photos you have, the better. If your comic is set in the wilderness, you’ll want trees, mountains, lakes, rivers and all sorts of natural vegetation. Separate these files into folders based on location.
You may find yourself seaming two or three photos together in order to get the right look for your scene. Using photo editing software like Photoshop allows you to alter your images in order to create the basic background you are looking for. Here’s some basic tips on how to do this:
Using the transform tools to warp, skew and twist your photos to fit can save you a lot of time trying to figure out what the structures would look like on an angle. Save time and use photo reference where necessary.
Once you’ve set up your photo reference, merge your layers together.
Reduce the opacity of that layer to 40-50% so you can see what you are drawing over.
Your work area should be somewhat transparent.
Now, proceed to trace out your background on a separate layer. Use a variety of different brushes for increasing line weight and creating depth.
I prefer to use a bright colour such as a lime green or a bright red. This shows me where I have traced – using flat black can lead to some problems if the photo below has a lot of dark patches (like the night scene in this example.)
Once your background has been traced out, use the black and white filter to convert your colored line to black.
The Black and White adjustment has a number of options to convert the color on your layer to black and white – choose ‘Maximum Black‘ in the settings.
Adjust the sliders in the dialog box until you have found a dark black that does not lose any of its edge fidelity (gets jagged or too blurry) and click OK. You have converted your background line art into solid black.
With all of these background files for use in specific situations, you will have an easier time keeping a consistent look to your setting, as well as saving time. I most of your story takes place in a certain area, reusing and modifying the line work is much easier than redrawing it all by hand. This helpful set of shortcuts will make you comics process way more efficient.
Tune in next time for another how to draw comics tutorial from idrawdigital. Check back through some of the previous articles for tips on color, inking and pencils.
