Bad art tips i learned from comics! And why you SHOULD make comics!

Added: 2026-05-05

[00:00:01]Hey, thanks for joining me. Uh this is a video I've kind of had in my head for actually a long time and trying to think of a way to just kind of make it interesting and relevant to anybody. Um a little bit more art-focused um on a personal level, which I occasionally, you know, bust out my own stuff and show what I do. I know I get on here and I talk a lot of [ __ ] about a lot of artists and how things don't look right or how they look weird or it's poor storytelling or it's poor anatomy or whatever whatever whatever.

[00:00:27]And um you know, for some of you who are newer and don't know, I do make my own stuff. I do make my own comics. I draw my own things. Um I am very much aware that uh no one's hiring me for anything and I I have no illusions, but I do make stuff. And I so I do have um some kind of idea a little bit of what I'm talking about. Like for example, uh I grabbed a couple of comic pages that I've been working on. Um sorry, my camera angle's really up close. So, this is some stuff that I've been working on. Um God, this is really close up, but you could kind of see I'm working on my own stuff. Doing my own thing. Um telling stories. Trying to keep it dramatic and interesting and try to do the best rendering I can do. I'm trying to you know, I like the 90s era. So, you know, I'm I'm trying to draw like that in a way, but trying to do my own best version of it.

[00:01:19]So, yeah, I make my own books. I try to you know, pay attention to storytelling uh kind of first and foremost. You know, having a cool drawing is fun, but if you can't tell what's going on, um then kind of what's the point of the thing that you're showing.

[00:01:36]But uh yeah, this is stuff that I do.

[00:01:38]Just again, so you can see that I do put some time and effort into this um to make my own stuff.

[00:01:45]This page right here is one that I just finished just last night. I was kind of actually having a lot of fun with this bottom panel of all these villainous characters jumping down to go into battle.

[00:01:54]Kind of your standard, like I said, 90s type era big superhero type stuff. Big action scenes, big shiny guys, and energy blasts, and screamy faces, and all that type of stuff. But, you know, I make stuff. But, what got me thinking, and again, I've had this in my mind for a long time, is um it really kind of is coming to my mind recently when I was reviewing this book, the Youngblood Yearbook. And um I was talking about how this is very early Chap Yap work.

[00:02:23]And this is from '93. So, I mean, I this has got to be some of his absolute earliest stuff. And I did a whole video on it talking kind of about the story, but there's a lot of art-focused, but what I was talking about is a lot of these crosshatching lines all over the page where it's an artist throwing lines down in places where they see other more experienced and at the time talented artists. I'm I'm not trying to say Chap is untalented.

[00:02:51]That's not what I'm saying. It's just that he was very young and just kind of getting a start, and he was kind of doing what he sees everyone else doing.

[00:02:58]And I did focus on things like this where all these like crosshatching lines everywhere to kind of show this form. Um but it's employed in a way that looks really strange. I can just imagine some of the I I mention this often how some of the old school artists out there uh most of which are not with us anymore.

[00:03:16]Like your Jack Kirby's, uh John Buscema, uh um and Neal Adams, guys like that where they would look at this type of stuff. I'm sure they would look at this and just go, "What the hell has happened to art? What is going on?"

[00:03:32]And I'm not trying to say that this type of art the the big 90s explosion style isn't valid. It totally is because it was the big seller for years and years. And it honestly to me, from what I see people talking about, what I see people get excited about, people miss this kind of energy.

[00:03:51]But, there's a balance to be struck when you're just throwing weird lines everywhere, trying to do this big bombastic over-the-top 90s Image Comics style stuff, and balancing it with knowing how to draw and what you're doing, and not just throwing lines on the page in a way that doesn't make sense to anybody anywhere. Um The I In my opinion, the the artist who is the most prolific 90s artist who does this kind of over-the-top again 90s style with all this crosshatching and rendering, but knows exactly what he's doing and how to make it look exactly correct, the best guy out there is Mark Silvestri by far. He is a master. He can do anything. He can do everything. And he can do this big ex- exciting stuff, but when he's throwing these lines down, he knows where where they're supposed to go and why they're there. And then he's been lucky enough to work with some of the best inkers in the business.

[00:04:46]Joseph Williams, of course, being my favorite. Scott Williams, Matt Banning, um all these guys that work with them.

[00:04:52]Uh Dan Green uh back in the old X-Men Wolverine days. Anyway, the point that I'm getting at is that there is just an art style that's going on that a these younger artists were grabbing onto and using and not understanding it.

[00:05:08]And one of the bigger kind of like most egregious ones that was this page here also. This shot where the face is kind of fine, you know, it's kind of I'm I was talking I don't think this is kind of a Jay Lee inspired thing, but this is like a tricep muscle, and this is heavy black shadow, and then these lines thrown [snorts] down there.

[00:05:28]It makes it look any it makes it look like anything but what it's supposed to be. It doesn't look like an arm. It doesn't look like flesh.

[00:05:36]It looks like kind of a weird plasticky shape that someone else might look at that and go, "What the hell are we looking at?" So, anyway, thinking of that type of stuff got me thinking personally, when I was younger, I am currently 49. And so, I was born in '77. So, I was right there as a young teenager when all the Image Comics stuff started happening.

[00:05:57]And read the age to kind of like be a fan of all this stuff, but then also I'm an artist. I wanted to learn to draw, and so I started looking at all these artists, and as I started to learn to draw, I started picking up bad habits that I didn't know why I was doing it and why they were there. Kind of like the stuff I was just showing you. And some of those things still stick with me in my brain. Whenever I'm drawing certain things on certain parts of a figure, my brain still defaults to you need to put these lines here because that's how you that's how you're supposed to do it. And this is [ __ ] I picked up as an early teenager. So, I thought that I just kind of sketch out a couple of silly things. And I'm kind of curious for any other artists out there who are maybe around my age, if did you get these similar things?

[00:06:38]Um you know, is this the same kind of thing? Did you pick up on the same stuff?

[00:06:43]Um or am I am I just crazy? Um again, talking about that big foldout page, um I didn't I don't plan these videos out. I just kind of turn the camera on and start going. But like, if for anybody, you know, I'm not I'm not trying to say I'm one should be giving art lessons, but I do know a little bit. Uh but I'm by no means a pro, so take what I say with a grain of salt. But like, when you look at what the artist is trying to do here, what what is he trying to imply here? What is the point of this heavy dark shape and these lines being thrown the other direction and then these crosshatching lines on the other direction. What is he trying to do? Well, for anybody who draws, in theory, you at least took basic art classes in at least high school.

[00:07:26]>> [clears throat] >> Um Let me find Uh here we go.

[00:07:32]Um >> [clears throat] >> Got a circle dealy here. I'll just do a circle. And most of us probably saw or have seen where you're taught how to light an object. Like say say this is just a sphere. Like it's it's not a not a circle, but a sphere. A round thing.

[00:07:49]Like a like a a pool table ball. Or you know, a bowling ball, a basketball, something something that's round. How do you make it look round? So, as is typical, I mean, whenever I see these kind of um sphere drawings, it always seems like it's kind of the same thing where the light source is here. So, let's just say up here there's a flashlight.

[00:08:09]We'll just draw a pretend flashlight, right?

[00:08:12]And it's casting the light on the thing.

[00:08:15]So, the heaviest part of the light is going to be I'm again imagining it's round. Depending on where the light is positioned in relation to the sphere. Could be behind it. Could be in front of it.

[00:08:25]Could be flat even with it. Let's just kind of imagine maybe it's just kind of flat even with it. So, the brightest part highlight white part is going to probably be right there.

[00:08:34]And then the darkest part, it's not what you might think. You might think that it's the darkest part would be on the bottom side of the sphere, but it's not really.

[00:08:44]It's kind of there's a shadow that will be cast across it kind of like this.

[00:08:48]Now, I'm just going to do a really quick version of this. And again, I'm sitting here and I'm feeling kind of embarrassed being that I'm going to sit here and pretend to give an art lesson as if I'm someone qualified to do such a thing when you know, there's way better people out there to do it. Um But, it's to kind of give the idea. Like I was showing you on that page where there were those arm muscles, and why are we throwing those big weird lines like that? The the idea is the same concept as this sphere. There's a round object, and you need to give it form and roundness and depth, right? So, and then of course, imagine this is sitting on some kind of flat surface. So, it's going to cast a shadow out here. And again, depending on where the light is, that shadow's going to come out somewhere, you know, it could be you know, if we're looking at it really flat, you're not going to see much of the shadow. If we're looking at an elevated position kind of down on it, you might see more of the shadow. But then, what you end up doing is depending on how you want to render a thing. If you're doing pencil, you're doing ink, you're doing charcoal, watercolor, paint, whatever whatever. Uh you have to kind of give values. This shadow cast across here is typically going to be the darkest part.

[00:09:55]Now, I you know, I remember when I was younger, I think well why wouldn't the if this is the brightest part where the light is hitting it, why isn't the exact opposite of it the darkest? Well, as I you know, there's like bounce light.

[00:10:06]Like the light is coming and it's is you know, coming across the sphere itself hitting the surface and kind of bouncing up and reflecting and casting a little bit of a highlight on the backside.

[00:10:17]That's just how things work. So what you end up doing when you're drawing this thing is you're rendering it and you're trying to um soften the transitions from the heavy dark shadows.

[00:10:28]>> [clears throat] >> So there's the heavy dark shadow line and then it kind of fades out into a little bit of a lighter tone like a gray tone. So that's where you get into crosshatching to kind of like I said soften those transitions to as if to give it kind of a round shape.

[00:10:50]And there's there's a hundred you could like this is I don't ever draw with these type of pencils. This this is like a standard number two pencil. I don't draw with these. I use people are always shocked at this. This poor little guy is is almost at the end of his uh his uh fighting days here. But I use a 6H which is an extremely hard lead.

[00:11:09]Um and it leaves a very light pencil line. It may not look that much different but it definitely you can feel the difference between that and this soft number two lead. With applying about the same amount of pressure you get a darker lead there and this is a much lighter lead. So if I want to get a darker craft I have to really push hard and with a hard lead you're really grinding into the paper but I use a 6H pencil but when I sketch I light box things where I use a blue coal erase erasable colored pencil and I sketch.

[00:11:41]Um let me find an example here.

[00:11:46]Yeah.

[00:11:48]Like I do all my pages in this light blue like this. I try to figure out where the perspective is and I kind of figure out all the basic positions of the character and then I light box. I put a fresh piece of paper on top of it and then I use my 6H pencil to do just a simple clean line so I don't have a page that's cluttered with all this sketchy stuff all over it. I can have a clean page left when I do the light boxing and kind of an example of that I've just started one where here's kind of like it's not finished by any means but this is where I started my light boxing to just get the basic form down and when I ink myself I I find a lot of the final drawing in the inking stage. I don't do full pencils typically when I ink myself so I just kind of do stuff like this.

[00:12:34]Again, this isn't done but this is kind of an example of where I have the light blue pencil coal erase light blue pencil and then I can light box and leaves a cleaner page without all that smudge and lines all over it to then ink my ink.

[00:12:53]But yeah, so yeah, I use the when I pencil my own comics a coal erase blue erasable colored pencil and then a 6H. I just like a hard lead. I'm crazy like that.

[00:13:02]But for this video back to the subject matter.

[00:13:06]This darker lead. So if if I'm doing my job right at all this circle that I drew with this whatever the hell this thing is called.

[00:13:16]I found this just at my local arts and crafts store. You know, you can choose all kinds of different parts right here to just draw different circles of different shapes. But the idea is that it suddenly starts looking like a round object and then also the the shadow um the bounce light it may not make the darkest part of the shadow even this part on the ground. It might be cast out here a little bit.

[00:13:41]Um and the only way to really kind of understand this is to just do the same kind of art um exercises that you end up having kind of getting taught in art class in high school which as a kid I thought they were the most boring things. Like here's a bowl of fruit. Draw the bowl of fruit.

[00:13:59]Or here is a round thing. Just draw this. And I hated it cuz I wanted to draw Wolverine stabbing you know, Sabretooth in the nuts. That's what I wanted to draw. But honestly that's where you know, a lot of artists can go wrong where you just want to draw the cool [ __ ] Rob Liefeld. You have to learn how to draw things and if you can start understanding the basic sphere shape when you're drawing an arm like let's just say like here's like let's say that's a shoulder and then here's kind of the upper part where your biceps are. Here's a joint where your elbow is and then your forearm. We're going to make it a big muscular superhero uh cylindrical shape here. And then you know, you have to understand and figure out where all the muscles go of some type. You know, muscular um perfect realism is not necessary for comics and don't let anybody tell you that hyperrealism is the only way to draw comics. That's [ __ ] It just needs to be exciting and dynamic and fun and tell the story. But you do need to have some understanding. But the point being that I'm getting at is here is on this arm there's all kinds of round shapes that you have to employ this kind of sphere lighting concept. Let's say this arm here. Let's say this light is you know, there's a light right here casting a light on it.

[00:15:21]So you see a round shape. There's a muscle here. There's kind of a muscle here. You got your big bicep here and then there's triceps and a bunch of other muscles I don't know any of the names for and then you know, if we're going to do a Rob Liefeld face we just do that. Um but so this is where these artists start getting in there and start doing that crosshatching thing where like if that light is cast across and you're following the same kind of concept as this well then there's maybe a curve there and maybe one here and then maybe one here and then you start getting like all right, well where do I start putting all these lines? So then they start crosshatching these lines in here and trying to give it a three-dimensional form of some type and then some artists will just get in here and do it on every little minute part of the arm and then just start making [ __ ] up. And I again, I'm honestly kind of fine with the make [ __ ] up part. It if you can make it look dynamic and awesome, that's fine. But does that make sense? Again, this is probably like first year art [ __ ] and most people are watching this probably want to hear me just talk and [ __ ] on comics or something like that. But for those of us who are artists and all of you who pay attention you probably know all this. But I just thought it'd be interesting. I'm kind of off topic from the initial thing that I was going to get going on but I started thinking about the sphere shape and how and why you want to start rendering these round shapes on a body kind of like Chap was doing in this thing over here. That's the idea of what he was going for.

[00:16:49]He's trying to do this kind of thing here but it it's kind of the approach. He doesn't understand what he's doing. And again, no disrespect to Chap. He got pretty good pretty fast and I actually ended up liking his stuff in a way that I actually didn't expect. So anyway that's just kind of a basic idea with this crosshatching stuff that a lot of artists do and getting the wrong idea of how to use it. Now all that being said um a lot of these artists like I said when I was younger I would look at the same thing in the popular artists of the day. When I was younger there was nobody cooler and a better artist than Jim Lee specifically on X-Men. I once I started paying attention to the art in comics.

[00:17:30]When I was younger I didn't pay attention to art at all.

[00:17:33]I just read them and just thought they were awesome. But then as I kind of kept reading them and kind of got used unconsciously used to a certain look and then suddenly the art the the drawings weren't as cool. I'm like what the hell happened? So I started paying attention to the artists and um I was getting in right when Jim Lee was getting started on his Uncanny X-Men run.

[00:17:53]And at the time there was nobody better than Jim Lee and everything he did was just the coolest stuff I'd ever seen in my life. I couldn't believe it. So I started drawing and then I started picking up these weird little ticks that he would add that he knew what he was doing and why they were doing it but I just were like you just put lines here. So for example and again, I would love for any artist out there. If you have the same kind of like weird things that you kind of picked up and learned and you had to unlearn. You must unlearn what you have learned. Like for example, let's just say we start off with a close-up of eyes. Let's just say these are just your generic eye shapes, right?

[00:18:36]And then you got your eyebrows.

[00:18:38]I remember seeing Jim Lee specifically every time he would draw eyes he would put these lines like this under them.

[00:18:50]>> [clears throat] >> Now of course what he's doing there is because the human skull it shapes you know, that there's the shape of the human face has you know, curves and folds and you know, noses and cheekbones and the eyes are kind of set back in. So what he was doing is putting these lines to imply kind of like the how the eyebrows kind of curve that from the eyebrows it curves into the eye there your eyes are set back. So implies a shadow area. But I just saw lines there and so I would just put lines like that everywhere I put eyes anywhere without even understanding the how or the why.

[00:19:26]Just always put lines like that. Another one that is probably the most prominent one that sticks with me to this day. And again, I saw it from Jim Lee and then I would notice it on other artists. Let's just use the same drawing. You got the eyes and then there would always be these folds in the brow, right? Like this and it's not those folds that are the big deal but I would see these artists right here just put lines across it like this.

[00:19:53]So, I would just put lines like that everywhere all the time no matter what.

[00:19:58]Now, the idea is is that if this is an angry Wolverine type character and he's squinting his eyes like these eyes would be more squinted, you know, if we're going to do a Wolverine thing and get some folds in the flesh.

[00:20:12]And he's squinting and you got to have little wrinkles in the nose. You know, the whole point is that this is a furled brow and then this is kind of I guess a shadow shape to indicate something, you know. Um and some artists would even then do these lines across like that and then they throw some lines like this going the other direction.

[00:20:32]As if to be like why is that there? Um I'm looking for I just set it down. I was noticing that um my boy chap like looking at this book.

[00:20:47]See how those lines are on the forehead right there?

[00:20:50]They're They're there.

[00:20:51]They're on him there. They're on him there. I hope it's coming through clear.

[00:20:55]Again, why are those lines there?

[00:20:59]Um there's kind of an example of the eye thing.

[00:21:03]Those things across the forehead, they're all there.

[00:21:07]Um Let's find some other close-up of some faces.

[00:21:15]See right there with uh Photon here with those little French mustache and his big lips but see the way the eyes are kind of got those lines in them. Now, this would kind of make sense because of a heavy lighting source, but I was doing it just putting lines there because that's what other artists did. I would always put those damn lines there. Um another example.

[00:21:33]Uh let me sharpen this pencil.

[00:21:37]I have Let's just draw a generic like just human head.

[00:21:44]Again, these are probably just going to be like we'll just kind of assume male heads. You know, you learn how to block out the face. You got your eyes, your nose, your mouth and then you figure out where your ear placements are supposed to be and where the hairline, you know.

[00:21:56]And you do your necks.

[00:21:58]Um I would always see these artists do and then I see every one of these younger artists do the same thing when they're drawing that human head.

[00:22:09]The cheekbones. There's always some kind of like lines on the sides of the cheek coming down like this.

[00:22:18]Like always.

[00:22:19]Sometimes they throw lines the other direction.

[00:22:22]Sometimes there's a heavy shadow. Now again, it's a cheekbone. So, you've got um I got a skull here somewhere.

[00:22:31]Um Where the hell did I put it?

[00:22:41]Oh.

[00:22:51]I got this when I worked at an arts and crafts store like 25 years ago um for Halloween. But, you know, it the lower jaw's kind of come disconnected. I've got it sitting around here somewhere.

[00:23:01]But yeah, you've got these high cheekbones on your skull and then you got your lower jaw. So, there's this soft kind of place on your cheek in between your cheekbones and then your your your front of your I don't know the terminology here, but you know, your jaw and you got your jawbone that connects over. So, there's a soft squishy part.

[00:23:16]So, there's always going to be a little bit of an indentation, but it's always rendered as if to do just these lines on the cheek. Like even if this is a side three-quarter face, let's do just a quick This is not going to be perfect anything, so no judgment. Or you know, go ahead judge me. It's fine. But, you know, if you got your nose and your mouth and you got your eye over here.

[00:23:50]Again, if I'm following the same pattern. So, here's an eye. So, I'm going to put those lines underneath the eye. I'm going to do the furled brow and then put those lines above the the furled brow there and then on the cheek there's just always these things.

[00:24:07]It's just always there and I was just throwing those everywhere because that's how I saw other artists do it. It's so silly. Again, it makes sense. There's a reason for most of these things, but if you're just putting them there just because you see other artists do it, it when you're drawing it's fun to put lines down. I don't know how else to put that. For a lot of artists, it feels like you're just throwing lines down, but you may not know what you're doing or why you're doing it. So, you just do these patterns, you know, um they just be kind of kind of become I don't know what the term would be. Just just patterns that you're just kind of used to, so you just start throwing them down, but you don't know why, but you just do. And then if hopefully if you're paying attention and you're learning, you start understanding, oh, I see what they were trying to do and then I see how and why I am failing, why I'm why my [ __ ] looks stupid and Jim Lee's and Marc Silvestri's looks amazing. So, then you can put those things there, but you have to understand like, okay, there's a heavy light source. So, if there's going to be a light source under the cheeks, there needs to be a light source on everything else, too. Like if there's a light cast down from the top, you know, of this guy's head. So, yeah, there'd be some heavy shadows underneath his eyes, but there'd also be shadows underneath his nose, underneath maybe his lower lip, maybe underneath his chin a little bit and then suddenly these cheek crosshatching lines, suddenly it starts forming like it starts making sense as to why they're there. But again, if there's that bright light source coming straight down, if you got his neck, again, this is a typical muscular male figure.

[00:25:46]You know, this entire head becomes a shape that's going to cast a shadow kind of like that um Grab it here.

[00:25:56]This sphere thing that we were talking about where the light source is coming down, there's a shadow and then there's a you know, a heavy shadow on the surface and then a shadow underneath it. Well, if you got this freaking giant head, where you got your jaw, so there's going to be some kind of shadow underneath the jaw, right? And you see a lot of artists do this thing.

[00:26:15]Something like that. You There needs to be a consistent light source. Let's Maybe this is Professor X and he's bald, right?

[00:26:23]But yeah, you got to have that light source underneath the chin. But then there's light source underneath the side muscles and then you got your collarbones and then it just suddenly starts becoming a huge figure with light sources everywhere.

[00:26:36]But again, I would just throw these lines on that cheekbone. I just You just put lines like that. That's because that's why You just put them there. You just do. Like that They do it, so I do it. Um other things that are similar.

[00:26:50]Um Like I was kind of showing when I was doing this drawing of this arm, I would see artists all the time, but again, the one I was paying attention to is Jim Lee. Let's say this is a shoulder. Let's say this is a looking straight on at somebody's right arm. So, here's a shoulder, some tricep, bicep and then, you know, connects into the collarbone and then you got the pectoral muscle, right?

[00:27:17]I would see them put lines all the time kind of going like this.

[00:27:21]And then like this again.

[00:27:25]And so, I would just repeat that pattern. It's just lines. It's just patterns that you draw.

[00:27:31]Now again, it's the same idea. It's the sphere that I've kind of um the sphere thing.

[00:27:39]And so, they're trying to imply the shadow of this round object under it to give it shape. But again, I just I didn't know what I was doing. And another one that was kind of similar to this I saw Jim Lee do all the time is say you have a big pectoral muscle and you have a little nipple right here, right? Well, there'd be a a hard line kind of coming across like this and then you know where we're going with this, there's lines just underneath it.

[00:28:10]And it's just everywhere all over the place whether or not that's a nude figure or it's spandex.

[00:28:16]They just always have that heavy shadow.

[00:28:18]And again, it does make sense. It's pectoral muscle, you know, it kind of comes down but then it kind of curves under if it's a big beefy kind of figure. Um Let's see.

[00:28:35]Hell yeah.

[00:28:41]I would like to introduce you to Jitsu.

[00:28:45]And these overly muscled figures.

[00:28:48]Um It's not like the greatest reference for human anatomy, but it's kind of an idea.

[00:28:52]And then if you could just you could you know, it's a good idea to get a figure or some kind of three-dimensional object where you can set it up and cast the light. Like if you're just looking at this thing, the light source I've got is a lamp just right above me here. You know, you can see that the shadow is cast down from under his head. You can see how the there's the shadows underneath the pectoral muscles and there's shadows underneath the round shoulders. Like it's all there.

[00:29:12]It's just how you render it. But my point being is not that these lines that Jim Lee would do and and other really good talented artists, not that it's not valid, not that you're not supposed to.

[00:29:21]It's just understanding why they're there and when you do it. I would do these things no matter what all the time. I would just put them there. I just put those crosshatching lines there.

[00:29:32]Another one that's kind of a similar.

[00:29:33]Let's see if I can continue this. If I kind of got the figure off center. Um you know, his So, you've got kind of a indication of a ribcage. This is part of the anatomy that I I I I should study up on more. Uh I don't get it very correct. But you got the rib cage and then you know you got the what is it the traps coming down. So you've got the abs.

[00:29:58]I would say Jim Lee specifically I'm talking about it cuz when I was a younger early teenager he was who I was watching.

[00:30:05]He would eventually start doing things where he would just draw the abs kind of like this.

[00:30:10]You know just things coming straight down not rendering each individual ab but it's just a a style choice and how you want to do it and what the drawing calls for and what the costume the character is wearing and what the lighting is like. But another thing that I would see him do and then a lot of artists would um copy that I would just put those lines over on the abs right underneath the rib cage.

[00:30:32]Big lines like this.

[00:30:36]So I would put those shoulder lines those pectoral lines and those under ab lines all the time all over the place.

[00:30:44]Just because I saw other artists do it. And again it makes kind of sense if you're looking at a figure the abs you know there's a heavy shadow like it it's it's it's shaped inward. So if there's a heavy overhead lighting those abs are going to disappear into a shadow which is what that is implying.

[00:31:04]It's that same kind of thing. So those are kind of the the big things that I would do when I was a younger artist and still to this day whenever I'm drawing there's a little thing in the back of my head whenever I'm drawing an eye I'm like I have to put those lines there. I have to do that furled brow thing. I have to put those cheekbones. But I'm like no fight that urge cuz it's fun to throw lines on paper. Like when you're drawing and you like to if you can get into a zone and you get into a vibe you're just sitting there and you're just throwing lines everywhere and it's looking good and if you got a good inker they're going to translate those inks into really neat [ __ ] You might look at and think that you're you're doing something right. But if you don't understand what you're doing and why you're doing it it just becomes a repeating pattern of lines that doesn't make sense and it makes the great artist stand out from the lesser artists who aren't trying.

[00:31:59]Now most of the artists that I would watch in these early images uh books that um were these young guys that would do this stuff and not be really great at it.

[00:32:10]Anybody who's drawing and takes it seriously an artist you look and you're you're always noticing and you're looking and you're referencing and you're thinking. Like to I'm always like for example if I'm watching a movie or a TV show or something like that I'm always like periodically like look at the lighting. Look at how that shadow is cross cast across that figure. I'm just kind of like backlogging it in my skull a little bit to kind of help employ it and use it later. And also you need to sit down and draw from life.

[00:32:39]Yeah if you want to draw cartoony like you want to do a J Scott Campbell or a Joe Mad or Humberto Ramos or anybody that has a cartoony style you have to learn how the human figure works for real before you could start twisting it up and turning it into a cartoony stylized version of it. If if you don't then you're just repeating patterns that you see from other artists and probably taking the wrong lessons and you're not going to use it right and you're going to be you're going to be missing a whole bunch of like artistic growth.

[00:33:12]And like I said most artists who who did these bad things like Chap like that stuff I would show you is it's just kind of terrible but he became a really good artist in my opinion.

[00:33:23]I think about a lot of artists. I didn't like Travis Charest when he started he did a lot of similarish stuff but he grew real fast and he's like one of the best artists you've ever seen anywhere ever.

[00:33:35]Um I didn't like J Scott Campbell stuff to start he's absolutely brilliant. Joe Mad I didn't care for his stuff when he started but he's one of the best ever.

[00:33:44]Um And then even somebody like you know the recently uh deceased recently passed on Sam Keith. If you look at his stuff hyper cartoony. But there's a man if you look at his heavily rendered drawings he understands shadow and form and lighting. He takes these cartoony figures and made them kind of look weirdly three-dimensional and realistic even with those crazy cartoony proportions on his heavily rendered stuff. It's so interesting there's a guy who understood and paid attention to lighting and form and then turned it into a stylized awesome thing that was just fantastic. So um I could probably go on with a bunch of different examples of you know weird little ticks. I yeah another one I I did pick up some stuff from old Rob Liefeld that stuck with me for only a minute.

[00:34:32]Again this is just kind of a less interesting one but if I'm looking at like a straight on of a face I saw him do this on cable a lot. Say you've got his eyes but what I would see him do um in his early I'm going to say end of New Mutants early X-Force work is you know he'd have the mouth but then he'd have these cheekbones coming down these lines and then he'd have them kind of curve around the mouth like this in a way.

[00:35:01]And a little tiny pointy and then of course you got to have a flashy eye and then multiple scars.

[00:35:11]But this kind of weird cheek lines into curving into the mouth is something that I copied but I was also trying to like reconcile how that was supposed to look with the Jim Lee influence where well now they're supposed to be lines here right? And then it would just look weird and I was like why does my [ __ ] suck and why does their stuff kind of look good?

[00:35:35]And I I do a lot of live streams and I get a lot of people occasionally new people who show up and they ask how what what's your advice on getting better as an artist? How do you get started? Like they're like ask me what advice do you have if I want to draw comics how do I get started? And I'm like that's such a broad ranging question it's such a wild like there's so many parts to that question.

[00:35:59]Um the best advice I can get on the most basic level without digging into a lot of minutia is one if you're doing this for money and to make a living you got that's your goal you're you're probably going to be disappointed. There's a very very small percentage of people who do this [ __ ] and make a lot of money and make a living out of it. It's possible maybe you're one of those magical unicorns so you know go get your go get your nut buddy but you should do this because you love it because you have to because you want to because you need to and you are incomplete without doing it. That's why I do it. I make a little teeny tiny little bit of side cash on my YouTube channel and my art and my comics and I'm happy to do it but I do it because I want to. Now I I make these things because I want people to see them. I don't make them just for me privately just to look at and go ha I made this but I don't want anybody to see it. I make this [ __ ] cuz I want people to see it cuz I I think I have ideas in my head I think I have stories in my head that people would be interested in seeing and so I want to make it so I can show people because I want to share. But I'm not under any illusions that I want to do this because I'm going to make money at it. I just want to do it because I want to share it with people. That's step one.

[00:37:09]You have to want to do it and then when I mean want to do it like you will have to do this no matter what even if you're not going to be successful or make money at it.

[00:37:17]And two they ask well how how can you get better at drawing? Sit down and draw. That's the most basic thing I can tell a person. If you I get these questions all the time like I've just said how do I get better at drawing? Sit down and draw.

[00:37:32]Just draw over and over and over. Draw everything young people old people animals buildings jets you know strong muscular figures big fat figures anything. You just have to draw it all.

[00:37:45]There's almost it's almost impossible to sit down and put some kind of lines on paper or digital or whatever the [ __ ] you're doing. But it's almost impossible to put lines on paper and not learn even something even if it's just a minor little thing. Just flowing that pencil on the page. I've heard artists suggest just sit down and just start moving the pencil on the page and just start doing things. Don't even think about it. You know I do this often especially like you're on the phone and you're waiting you know just I just start throwing lines around and just casually just casting my hand across the page and just just to see what the hell the tool does and what kind of weird patterns can you get you know? You're going to get some gradations and who cares? But every time you're putting a tool to paper or digital or whatever the hell you do you're kind of learning something.

[00:38:37]And then take the time to learn how to draw your basic stick figures and you know do your little basic stick figure renderings and how to give your a stick figure some energy and momentum not worrying about anatomy like if you're going to have them jumping or doing some weird Spider-Man [ __ ] you know just sketch out and be quick and be loose and just start throwing things down and just see what happens. You learn a lot just by scribbling and goofing around and then you have time where you have to stop and focus and we're going to do a really nice drawing. But the point is is sit down and draw. If you want to make comics and how do you get to be a better artist? Sit down and draw.

[00:39:15]And when you're done drawing draw some more and when you're done draw some more and just keep going and it's going to take a minute. Some people are better than you. You're going to see people that kind of your contemporaries and your friends and you're going to see them get so much better so much faster than you and it's going to piss you off.

[00:39:31]But that's just how it is. Some people have a more innate natural talent and it just kind of comes out of them faster than you. Or maybe you're the fast guy.

[00:39:39]Maybe you're the hyper talented person that you're just going to excel ahead of other people, but always be willing to take a lesson. Always be willing to hear critique and have people look at your stuff and say, "Hey, I like this, but I think maybe this doesn't work." I've been doing live streams and some of my guys will look at a drawing I'm doing and they're like, "Hey, you got that hand positioned wrong." And I don't see it until they point it out and I'm like, "Oh, [ __ ] You're completely right." I I just I get tunnel visioned and I don't see things and it's not until someone else points out what I [ __ ] up that I can see it and correct it. And then hopefully if you're paying attention, you don't make that same mistake again.

[00:40:16]That's the whole idea. Practice, learn, draw, take critiques.

[00:40:22]Sometimes people are just going to [ __ ] on you because they're douchebags and they're just going to put you down no matter how good you are or how matter no matter like they can't do it, but they're going to tell you you're a piece of [ __ ] Like just sift through the nonsense, take the good lessons, leave the dumb [ __ ] behind, but just sit down and draw.

[00:40:40]Just make your stuff because you have to and you want to and just get going.

[00:40:45]That's the thing. Just start. How do you make comics? Just start making comics.

[00:40:49]That being said, I have my own Masters of the Universe.

[00:40:56]Um I'm missing one. Whatever. There's volumes one and three. There is volume two right there. I've done a whole fan comic of He-Man because I can't sell this, you know? I can't make big money off this. Not that it's, you know, I'm not saying it's that good, but you know, I made a six graphic novels of a He-Man fan comic because I wanted to. I'm like I had this story in my head and I'm like, I think this is interesting. I have to tell this story.

[00:41:26]No one else is going to. So, I guess what? I did. I told the story. I did the thing I wanted to do. I willed into reality and I'm so much happier that I made this thing rather than sitting here years later going, "God, I think it's such a cool story. It's a shame it'll never be seen." Guess what? I made it.

[00:41:44]It's right here.

[00:41:46]It is what it is for better or worse, you know?

[00:41:51]So, again, these are volumes one, two, and three.

[00:41:55]I have right here four, five, and six. The last one, number six, I I was putting this together last year. It's like 137 pages.

[00:42:06]Just a huge book. I was fortunate enough to have WildStorm Comics inker Chuck Gibson come along and do some inking with me. And these are some inks that he's done on it.

[00:42:18]And I'm super thrilled with it. I couldn't be more excited about the stuff that he did like this panel. This is Jitsu, like, you know, ironically.

[00:42:27]The character here, I kind of adopted the character and made him into my own and kind of gave him a my own backstory and gave him a different kind of weapon and this is him using it and Chuck Gibson's inking the [ __ ] out of it and making it just look badass. It's I'm excited for this. I'm I'm proud of it and I've made these things and I do have them available if you want to do what we'll call a donation to the channel, I can get copies in your hands. But anyway, um that's it, I guess, you know, just a I guess a little art tutorial for lack of a better term. Not that I'm qualified to teach anybody anything, but it is what it is. I am just showing the little bit of information that I have, but if you want to make comics, make them.

[00:43:06]Don't don't be one of those guys that's sitting around years from now just going, "God, that I wish I could have done that." Or maybe something will happen in your life where you suddenly you can't do it, but you had all that time before where you could have done it and you're going to sit there with regrets going, "God, I had all the time in the world. I could have made it and I didn't." Just make it.

[00:43:25]You'll be happy that you did. Even if it's not as good as you want it to be.

[00:43:28]It won't be. Here's here's another thing. It won't be ever as good as you have it in your head. It's always better in your head than what you can put on paper, but you just keep working at it and it'll eventually get better and you'll start becoming better. And even though you probably will never be as good as you want to be, other people are going to look at your work and go, "God damn, you're a genius. How did you do that? How Tell me. Inspire me. How do I get better? What do you do to be so good? I want to be as good as you."

[00:43:58]You'll find people hitting you up like looking at the [ __ ] that you make now and go like, "You're you're badass. Like tell me what your secret is." And you're going to sit there going, "I have no secret. I [ __ ] suck."

[00:44:10]That's the, you know, the tortured artist. We're always terrible. We're never as good as we should be or wish we were and but if you don't think you're any good, you're always pushing to get better.

[00:44:21]And then you just improve and then just make the thing. And eventually you start producing stuff. You're like, "You know what? I'm kind of okay with that. I kind of think I did okay." Anyway, I thought this would be like a 10-minute video, but when I get talking and yapping, I just start going on and on and on.

[00:44:36]So, I was really just going to talk about these little weird side zippers that I was talking about. I just put lines on shoulders and under pectorals and abs and cheek muscles and things like that, but ended up talking about here's how you light a forearm and here's how you get inspired to make comics and this is what you should do.

[00:44:51]And I just talk and now we're here we are 45 minutes into it. Anyway, um go make your comics, guys.

[00:44:58]You know, read more comics, but make more comics. Make them. You'll be so happy that you did.

[00:45:03]Anyway, um that's all I've got. Thank you for joining me. I really really really appreciate it. I'll see you next time.