The Creative Process Tutorial 01 - Tools of the Trade - Blog - CCAS

I have been seeking to bring my talent out of darkness into light. It has been a fun and challenging process. I have found things that work and things that don't. If you are interested I will be sharing so of those things with you (my fellow CCAS members).

PLEASE UNDERSTAND I AM NO EXPERT NOR AM I CLAIMING TO BE PROFESSIONAL. (I leave that to Buzz Dixon, Lee Jiles, Luis Serrano, Christian Cheek, Bryce Morgan, Dan Lawlis, Justin Martin, Mel Todd, C. Reyes, Eric Jensen and Steve Crespo --- and anyone else whom I may forget). But I digress.

I hope that if you are reading this you already have a general basis in digital art, that is how to turn on the computer, how to scan your work, how to use a pencil, how to sketch a character, etc. I want to first focus on what software is best for what projects. I have watch hours of tutorial and seen artist using photoshop for everything. Though its plausible to do so, its not time effective or practical.

In the profolio project pieces shown above I used various art software packages. The original artwork, is from a dynamic and awesome artist named Harold Edge (google him and his blog will show his work also he works on my fav web comic dyna girl – www.dynagirlonline.com ) The blue line art will show as a basis of a scanned art piece.

I inked the blue lines breakdowns in Managa Studio (only $40 in most stores). Manga studio, in my opinion is the best tool for digital inking and comic book page creation. The digital inking pens are superior to anything else I have seen out their. They have the ability to flow between vector based and raster based drawing.

I then colored the image in Sketchbook Pro (ave cost $40 in most online stores). SBP takes some getting used to if you are a Photoshop user. But understand photoshop is for photo editing and retouching. (hence the name). I am finding that Sketchbook’s interface is quicker and easier to use, and the brush tools are tailored to comic artists.

Lastly, a word on design programs. I think that we as comic artist miss out on the advantages of using these type programs. Freehand, Illustrator, and CorelDraw! (listed in order of superiority) are excellent tools in coming up with and creating logos, insignias, creative text images.

I am interested in your take and your criticisms. Also feel free to critique my art I am a work in progress and need all the help I can get.

Here I am working on getting my line art together. I used Macro Media Free Hand to draw a mustang. I think that when working in Comic/Sequential art time is key factor. If it takes you 4 hrs to draw a car from reference, its draining and frustrating (for some). But it took me about 20 minutes using the pen tool to make a wire frame of this car. I then can ink and color it as needed. When I add the inks, I will then get the needed line weight and contrast. I know that I will catch A LOT of FLAK about this. But I by experience I am a production artist, driven by deadlines and/or having to find quicker and easier ways to do things to get the job done so that it can get produced. I hope to learn the healthy balance between production speed and artistic aesthetics.

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Comments

Justin Martin July 31, 2012 at 11:03pm

Very nice!
D.L. Maffett July 30, 2012 at 3:55pm

Here I am working on getting my line art together. I used Macro Media Free Hand to draw a mustang. I think that when working in Comic/Sequential art time is key factor. If it takes you 4 hrs to draw a car from reference, its draining and frustrating (for some). But it took me about 20 minutes using the pen tool to make a wire frame of this car. I then can ink and color it as needed. When I add the inks, I will then get the needed line weight and contrast. I know that I will catch A LOT of FLAK about this. But I by experience I am a production artist, driven by deadlines and/or having to find quicker and easier ways to do things to get the job done so that it can get produced. I hope to learn the healthy balance between production speed and artistic aesthetics.
D.L. Maffett July 26, 2012 at 6:02am

@ brien. I just bought poser. it is a 3D modeling software and might prove to be helpful in drawing in perspective. I also started an extensive digital photo reference collection of different poses, facial expressions and images to help me with that. I will post something on that next.
Brien Sparling July 23, 2012 at 1:36pm

First off, congradulations on your winning entry for the Gideon/Kingstone. Secondly, I am really interested in this topic since I pencil and ink offline, then use photoshop to color. Hmmm, I'll seriously consider your recommendations.

Thirdly sometime in the future we need a forum/format for redlining sketches, or I need to be directed to such a mentoring site. I need mentoring on figure composition, rotation and perspective.

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