Hi, I'm new to art (I started drawing a week or so ago but I've always made stick figures), and I've always wanted to make a webcomic. I finally got the grit and started writing it,
http://nardycamix.smackjeeves.com/ but for now, I have a friend doing the illustrating. I'd like to be able to carry it on my own in the future. First off, all I've been doing is imitating PA in my sketches but I think that if I use that in my webcomic, it'll be nothing more than a clone.
Here comes the begging:
Can I get any tips?
Here comes the question:
How do I create my own style?
Posts
It might take more than 25 minutes to get a response here
Just give it a few hours. US primetime is coming, and people will be on the forums. Give it some time, and welcome to PA.
XBL: LiquidSnake2061
In the mean time, to answer the last question based on what everyone here tells everyone who starts off in art: practice practice practice! Draw everyday, and draw from life. Don't try to develop a style. Try to draw what you see as skillfully as you can. You'll develop the style over time. Once you can faithfully reproduce what you can see you'll be able to decide how to draw it. But if you start off trying to make a style before you can really draw then your art will always be lacking and seem false to the viewer.
My Website | My "photo-a-day" 2010
What do you want people to comment on if you have no art to post? If you merely seek a discussion, see the discussion thread above.
My Website | My "photo-a-day" 2010
My Website | My "photo-a-day" 2010
Somehow I doubt this. Draw something, take a picture of it, and show us what you can do
and describing your skills doesn't work -- i've seen a lot of people say, "oh yeah i can draw photorealistically" and oh, oh no they can not
Unless you're looking to get advice and help on your artwork, take this stuff to either the doodle thread or, if you have a question that doesn't quite warrant a thread, the Questions & Tutorials thread.
Thanks!
Anyway, about the art, I'd say ditch the PA style; without a firm grasp on what makes that style work for Gabe, it doesn't translate well. There are anatomical problems (yes, you can have those, even on a cartoon), like the placement of the mouth--that little tick before the actual mouth starts represents the profile of the space above the upper lip, so it should either not be there, or be under the nose. The ears strike me as being too far up (and back), which is reinforced by the awkwardness of the lines of the dude's glasses. That second eye looks like it's kind of melting off. I (and the others, I'm sure) would like to see what you can do with real-life stuff, if you don't mind. If it's at all possible, try to get the camera a bit more focused for future stuff (until you find your school's scanners, that is)
You'll need a thicker skin (and cooler head) than that to stick around here, I assure you.
Practice some more. If you've only been drawing for a week, why even bother trying to make a webcomic? It takes skill; and to be perfectly honest, the jokes I see in there are really lacking. With sub-par jokes and uninteresting art, there's really nowhere for it to go but down.
I'm fairly sure you'll take this as me being mean, but it's just me being honest. It's one of the many services we provide here.
I've heard that the pc lab at this school is severely underfunded.
So that's what the little tick is. Wow. Yeah, I'm having alot of difficulty with the eyes actually.
Real life stuff? Someone else also mentioned that I should start with real-life stuff as well. guess I should start doing that.
Thanks.
What are the metal(?) things on the side of the door?
there's a difference between an accusation and a criticism. I can take criticism, just not something like that. I'm not trying to learn how to draw in a couple of months for the sake of the webcomic, that's secondary. It's just that with the start of the project, I really got interested in drawing.
Anyway, how you develop a style is, as erisian pope said, by drawing. A lot. And then drawing some more. Your work will obviously be influenced by artists you like but don't just ape one person's style. Look at what lots of different artists are doing. What you like, what you don't. What works, what doesn't. Fusing that with being able to observe and draw from life is where style starts to emerge. Eventually you'll start doing things your way.
Gabe may not do a lot of life drawing but he does at least 3 comic strips a week. And I'm sure he looks at what he's doing with a critical eye. He tries new things. Some work, some don't. The worst thing you can do is just decide that your art is "good enough" and stop trying to improve.
I'd also, as advice, strongly encourage you to browse some of the threads here, and pay attention to some of the crits that are given, especially from Leggraphics's, Vann Diras's, and surrealitycheck's threads (those are the "beginner" threads I can think of at the moment), and the doodle thread. There's some good advice there as well.
EDIT: And, of course, the discussion thread.
Thank you. I'm not trying to ape, I just like Mike's art very much and this strip was one of the major sources of inspiration.
Everything RubberAC said is true. Your questions should have been posted in the Questions/Discussions/Tutorials thread. If that's your idea of being a douchebag then maybe you should try lurking for a while before you post. Lashing out at people trying to point you in the right direction is not the way to endear yourself to the forum.
How is everything he said true? It is not a ploy to market the webcomic, I posted art, and i personally do not think that he was trying to point me in the right direction.
You posted a blurry laptop webcam capture of a single doodle about 10 posts in. Initially, you just posted a description of your overall skill and a link to your webcomic. Do you honestly not see how we could possibly jump to the conclusion that you were blatantly trying to market your strip?
I see it yes, but why bring this up again after the art, however shitty, has been posted?
He wasn't accusing you of doing anything underhanded, and he certainly (upon a second reading) wasn't being harsh about it, at least not by the standards of the AC. His point was that a thread with no art, just a link, is against the rules of this forum, and he was letting you know where your questions would be better served. Seems to me he was being helpful, there.
You finally posted art 15 posts into the thread and it was a tiny little drawing of a head. All your initial post contained was a link to your site and questions.
Quick sketches belong in the Doodle thread. Questions belong in the Questions/Discussion/Tutorials thread. Posting a prominent link to your site in your initial post is commonly referred to as "Site Whoring".
If you haven't bothered to read the forum rules or gotten to know how things work around here then don't complain when someone points out what you're doing wrong.
Don't give up, but don't lash out at people trying to help.
Sorry if I appeared to lash out.
thanks for everything.
as an alt
smooth
...?
What's so hard to get? He was asking for the thread to be locked, to be banned and his house burnt down.