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Comics 101
Art tips and techniques, reviews and interviews from my studio. Archived here and at World Famous Comics.

Comics 101 Archives

Comics 101 for 04/29/2004
Advice on Deadlines and More Lord of the Rings Artwork
Hi Joe,

I love your website! The first time I saw it I was up past midnight trying to read all of it.

Question: I'm an aspiring comic book artist, and I am getting better and better at my technique through, what else - practice. I have people who are soliciting my art, and I find I am severly lacking in an important area : Speed. How on earth do you get faster and better? Am I developing slow habits I need to break, or what does it take to be able to get enough zing to complete projects quickly and be a prolific artist? I can draw all day long, but at the end I'll have good drawings, but too few. It's taking forever just to build a portfolio. HELP!!!

-Alex
Hi Alex,

One word: deadlines. Deadlines make you draw faster. Oh yeah, and editors are pretty good at encouraging you too. But since you may not have advantage yet of being professionally published then you have to find motivation within yourself. Sometimes having other friends around who are excited about your work or perhaps working with other artists can be great inspiration for accomplishing a project.

Usually though, and what it sounds like in your case, some creators (artists, writers, perhaps musicians even) just have trouble getting things done since they feel the need to always make their work perfect. I've been very guilty of that myself in the past. Everyone, especially artists, have to come to grips that they will make mistakes. There's no way around it. The more time you go back spending time polishing something, making it perfect to the very end, the less time you have finishing the bigger picture. There comes a time when you just need to abandon a page and move on. I mean you really just need to give it your best in the allotted time you give yourself, put it down and move on to the next page or drawing. Maybe if there's time at the very end of a project is when you should give it fresh look again and maybe go back and tweak what you can. Basically don't spend time editing or re-reading the first chapter of the first draft over and over. Finish that first chapter and move on to the second chapter and so on. When you finish the first draft put it away, step back and come back to it later and then begin your revisions.

Sometimes giving yourself a schedule to adhere to helps. I know being organized isn't exactly a typical artist trait but just like you might have a goal with a specific comic or piece of art, take the time to set up your own schedule or deadline and stick with it. Draw every day if you have to. If you have the drive, you'll get it done. A good resource for you would be at Scott McDaniel's web site. He has a comic drawing schedule available for download that will give you something to look at and work from perhaps.

Check out his 'Drawing Comics' feature in his sidebar navigation.

I hope this advice helps and wish you luck and lots of success in your endeavors. Thanks for checking out my work at my official site and for dropping me a line.

Also, this week I wanted to give my readers an update on the latest Lord Of the Rings artwork from my pal and fellow illustrator, Cynthia Cummens.

After you take in this piece drop by her official website to check out out more of her amazing work.

Cynthia Cummens

And this weekend (April 30th to May 2nd) I'll be appearing at Pittsburgh ComiCon. Other Star Wars guests featured at the show include Orli Shoshan (Shaak-Ti), Mercedes Ngoh (Rystall) and Ailsa Berk (Amanaman).

I'll be signing and selling my Star Wars and comic book artwork there so if you're in the neighborhood be sure to check out the event and stop by my table and say hi!

See you at the show and see you next week for a new Comics 101 feature!

-Joe

<< 04/22/2004 | 04/29/2004 | 05/06/2004 >>

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