I recently started making comics and my storytelling ability is still developing, so I don't have any advice, however there is an incredible book that I've found ridiculously helpful, and I think that you would benefit from. Scott McCloud Making Comics
Wrote this comment before I read through the comments, and then just copy pasted down here instead...
I found Perspective by David Chelsea useful. It's aimed at comic artists but the techniques are exactly the same no matter what medium you're using.
The hardest part will be the foreshortening. But once you get that sorted you'll be on your way.
Perspective is one of those fundamentals you need to learn, just like shading and anatomy. It does indeed add a shittonne of work to your piece. People will notice when it's not there or done badly. They won't notice when it's there and done well. It sucks but it needs to get done.
There's a book called Perspective for Comic Book Artists by David Chelsea I recommend. There's a decent chance your local library system has it. The rest is just practice.
However...
Clip Studio Paint has a lot of very good perspective rulers and it does everything it can to idiot-proof the process. IMO it's far superior to any other option for making comics and comic-adjacent art, and it's a one time purchase.
This book is fucking amazing for people new to drawing the human form. it goes over heads, perspectives, dynamic poses, etc.
If you don't mind spending a little money: How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way (Amazon Link) is an excellent resource. It suffers slightly from being "a little about a lot" but there is plenty to learn from it and it's entertaining & easy to read.
There also appears to be a Youtube video narrated by Stan Lee and John Buscema. I haven't seen this before today, but the drawings in the video are straight out of the book.
You should check out a book on this topic. "Making comics" by Scott McCloud is a good starting place for how to structure these things:
https://www.amazon.com/Making-Comics-Storytelling-Secrets-Graphic/dp/0060780940/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=making+comics&qid=1618952504&sr=8-1
Read up on the art form. Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, I think is a great place to start.
The next would be what sort of comic are you trying to write? A superhero comic? A four panel web comic? A manga? A graphic novel? All these have slightly different goals and conventions, knowing which one you want to work in helps focus what you want to do.
The next is work on drawing. Or learn to write for other mediums. Most people who have jobs writing for comics either started out doing their own or moved over from something else. Drawing also some also helps you understand what the artist is doing and will help you to write for that medium.
Just do it. Make a bad comic with bad writing and bad drawings. Then work to make it better. It amazes me how when you look at comics where people were just starting often have a spark of talent but not the fully realized craft, and then realize how much they learned by doing. The vast majority of people have to hone their craft. Just do it.
There's a lot of great resources on designing comics if you look around online. My personal introduction to a lot of this theory was Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics and Making Comics, two terrific books that are basically just nonfiction essays about the comics medium-- and of course, they're comics themselves.
My favorite major class was Compilers taught by Jan Prins. He still teaches it! COMP520. It's really fascinating to see how a program can take another program in a language like Java and translate it down to machine language.
My favorite non-major class I don't remember the name of but it was on graphic novels out of the English department. It was fascinating and the subject matter of the graphic novels selected was fantastic: Holocaust, Palestine, Systems, and then a great book on how graphic novels are made which I feel is one of the best visual communication books I've read by Scott McCloud: https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Comics-Invisible-Scott-McCloud/dp/006097625X
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Sure. There's a classic book on the subject called "How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way" that goes into some detail on the body proportions relative to the head of the figure.
In short, while an ordinary person is between 6 and 7 "heads" high, Marvel heroes are more like 8 or even 9, depending, and their bodies are at least 3-4 "heads" wide (while normal people are more like 2.5). If you want to make someone look puny, make his head overly large relative to his body. Stocky? Make their head large, square, and their bodies wide.
Colors are important, but not I think as much as camera angles, subtle facial features, lighting, and posing. Anyone will look villainous with a light source below their face, yet look fine with the same light to one side or from the top. Try it with a flashlight.
There's a lot more in the book, and other books like it. The art of comics is more of a craft these days, since there are fairly specific rules, at least with the weekly comics stuff. Graphic novels are more inventive, but there I think there's a much wider variety of subject matter so it's not the same.
https://www.comicsexperience.com/scripts/ - grab a script and just go nuts drawing. Don't worry too much about it. After you have attempted that - check out How To Draw Comics the Marvel Way. The fundamentals presented in that book are still valid even though the tools and technology has changed quite a bit. Then give your script another attempt!
Good luck!
It's an old book, but I got into drawing figures from "How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way"
IMO, It's a great book for beginners. Keeps it fun, especially if you happen to be a comic book fan. Ofc, I supplemented it with other books and videos later on down the road. But that is cool thing about art, you never stop learning and improving, just from doing it. Just don't stop drawing!
I believe typically these lengths are measured in "panels"-- but I'm not an expert in writing/publishing comics so take with a grain of salt.
Though I'd also note that the webcomic/webtoons that are the most popular these days-- maybe only in my circles? --aren't always short "comic strip" style comics; they're much more like traditional comics or manga with chapters that can be quite long.
If you're particularly interested in the essential nature and structure of comics, you might look into reading Scott McCloud's <em>Understanding Comics</em>. I'm sure it's a bit outdated now, but I believe it's considered a fairly seminal work on the medium.
The best way to learn perspective is by thinking of the body as 3d forms, rather than 2d shapes. Practice drawing the body using 3d forms like cubes and cylinders. I'd recommend picking up a copy of How to Draw Comics The Marvel Way or watching the Video Version. This book has some great fundamental tips and exercises. Good luck on your improvement!
Books.
How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way has been one of my favorite books on stylized art. Being written in 1978, it's dated in some aspects, but it does have quite a bit in it that I liked.
This book will really help. Just about all modern comic book artists started with it.
One of the tips in Drawing Comics the Marvel Way is to spend less line economy all around, especially in the face. If you're drawing comics then you'll need multiple panels per page and multiple people per panel. You can only manage to fit so many lines on faces at those sizes before it gets muddy so make those lines count. Figure out how to simplify all the information you're trying to communicate so you can go from rough sketch to finished line work by using fewer overall lines to get you there.
That's also a tip mentioned in Drawn to Life when talking about making your frames easier to animate. Do you really need five folds to communicate a folded piece of clothing? Does one still convey the same idea of a folded piece of cloth and take less overall line work to get me there? Those sorts of efficient details really help you get to your finished work faster without sacrificing quality.
comic books use a format sort of like film scrips. samples here among other sources online https://www.scriptsandscribes.com/sample-comic-scripts/
you can potentially supplement scrips with storyboards/sketches
this is a go-to book for the genre: https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Comics-Invisible-Scott-McCloud/dp/006097625X
Understanding Comics - The invisible Art by Scott McCloud
hands down the best book about how to communicate in a visual medium. Invaluable for anyone who regularly creates powerpoint presentations.
Stan Lee wrote a book along with illustrations by John Buscema called How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way : How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way
Google the book title and you’ll be able to find YouTube videos that people have made to accompany the book.
Amazing recommendation! I was actually looking for this reference. It was recommended to me while studying painting in the early 90’s at college. Then again in the late 90’s while studying computer animation. I recommended this book to both my kids who are avid artists. Great start with your drawing ms by the way. Keep going and keep asking for criticism. So important!
On drawing "monsters" please take a look at this book:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1770463690/
tl;dr: Drawing monsters is the most natural thing for kids and you should totally join them :)
Oh yes. I know that feeling of futility all too well. I made a comic about it.
The nice thing about art, one of the defining attributes of art according to people like Scott McCloud, is that art doesn't need to have a purpose. It can just exist for the sake of existing.
Depending on what field of STEM you get in to, there are plenty of ways to merge art with it. I mean somebody has to design to GUI for that software afterall. The Magic Schoolbus was all about teaching various science principles through art and words.
this is a book I see reccomended everywhere but haven't read myself. The most accessible analysis imo is Strip Panel Naked on Youtube, very easy watches and always super interesting.
Check out Words for Pictures by Brian Michael Bendis. Unlike most screenwriting books written by no names whose handful of scripts went nowhere (or were awful), Bendis is a huge name in comics and his book on writing them is a no nonsense, straight to the point how to. He has scripts from various comics he and others have written in the book, too, so you have a nice visual reference for it since comic scripts are hard to come by.
Beyond that, many graphic novels or collected editions have script excerpts in the back. My copy of Dark Knight Returns has some of Frank Miller’s script in it, for example - though that’s from the ‘80s, so the medium has come a long way from that. Ed Brubaker’s first Reckless book has a process page showing his script next to Sean Phillips’ first page of art, too; his style is very modern, read close to a traditional screenplay besides the notes on what panels he is describing. DC also released a special “director’s cut” of the first issue of Tom King’s Strange Adventures mini-series from last year that has the entire script alongside the preliminary art. You can probably find that at a comic shop or eBay for $5 or less.
Lastly, one of the very best references is From Hell by Alan Moore. Beyond it being an incredible work of literature, there is a From Hell companion book that has a lot of his script in it (along with annotations and analysis), so you can literally read the script and reference the book to see how Eddie Campbell brought Moore’s descriptions to life.
Hope that helps!
Your anatomy and shading, - pretty damn good. The one book I think you would get enormous benefit from is this one: https://www.amazon.com/How-Draw-Comics-Marvel-Way/dp/0671530771 Your poses are a little stiff, and I think this will help tremendously.