CHRISTIAN COMIC ARTS SOCIETY :: A NETWORK OF CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP FOR COMICS FANS, PROS, AND AMATEURS

Making and using Practice sheets

  What I am advocating is that an impatient amateur (such as myself) can learn a lot from making and using cut-paste montage sheets of the online work of others. With banks of art images to choose from its never been easier.

1) Find an uber-cool piece that exemplifies something you need to work on (I've attached a montage of Atomic Robo scenes that do an eye-popping job with action poses and foreshortening). Hit the 'print screen' button on your keyboard, which saves a copy of the entire screen to your computer's clipboard.

2) I then go to my art program, Photoshop7, and create a blank document. Hit 'Paste'.  I then crop-adjust the part of the image I want to save.

3) I make sure to insert Title-authors-website on the page for several reasons. I want anyone who looks at this page to know that in no way am I claiming these images as mine; and personally I'm honoring the decades of time-money-talent that a fellow artist(s) has put into reaching this apex of excellence.

4) Practice-look at ref sheet-practice-practice. Improvise new drawings, erase-erase-erase, stare at ref sheet, practice-practice-practice.  I am not advocating this as a replacement for a good art school, but it sure beats suspending people from the ceiling so you can live-sketch them( and the screaming is sooo wearisome.)

5) About a year ago I picked up an online Pose Drawing Sparkbook by CCAS Cedric Hohnstadt; yet another way to energize poses using someone else's expertise.

God loves and can use any surrendered believer, however learning from others opens up new ways for the Holy Spirit to be able to use us. For his glory!

AtomicRobo Scetch sheet.jpg

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