Here are some of the projects from my most recent class, Drawing for Sequential Art. It was more or less a class in traditional comic book penciling. Very different from how I usually draw, but good practice in perspective, storytelling, and acting.
I’m aware some of the previews are broken over at my portfolio page…I will try to get that fixed soon! Over the break ‘ll be working on a site overhaul as well.
I’d like to talk about this subject exactly because no one else seems to want to talk about it. In art school it’s taboo- at least in the ones I’ve attended. It’s frustrating to be told, “don’t worry about style right now,” then graduation comes and goes. When, exactly, should I worry about it then? While the discussion centers around illustration and cartooning, I believe it can apply to the fine arts and other areas as well.
Myth #1: Style just “happens” when you stop trying.
Although style will develop given time and experience, much of it starts with conscious choices. How, for example, should you draw a foot? Will you draw it like Jack Davis or like Joe Barbera? Will you draw in pen and ink or digital paint? Much soul searching is required. You can begin by asking yourself a few questions:
-”What are you trying to say?” What do you want to communicate with your work? Angry and loud? Small and gentle? Masculine or feminine? Answering these questions can lead you to think about the way you draw or the media that you use. A dark, angular line says something completely different than a thin, wavy line.
-”What are you trying to accomplish?” Do you intend to work in superhero comics or greeting card illustration? These require completely different approaches.
-”What is your nature?” Are you an OCD type of person focused on perfection? A tighter, more finished style will come more naturally. Are you a spontaneous person that loses focus after working on something for a long time? Think about working towards a sketchy, loose, expressive style instead.
-”What artists do you admire and why?” Be careful with this one. You don’t want to rip off someone’s style, nor do you want to fall in the trap of copying the popular style of the moment. I suggest laying out some drawings of artists that you admire and try to figure out why. You might like the art of X, but you prefer the way Y draws faces and the way Z uses crosshatching. Try mixing and matching. Draw a bunch of characters and play with different styles.
Myth #2: Style isn’t important.
Without a consistent style, editors, clients, and others aren’t sure who you are, or which artist they’re going to get, making them less likely to hire you. This isn’t intuitive to graphic designers- most of us are taught to adapt our style to the project. But an illustrator shouldn’t venture too far outside of their area of expertise if they want to succeed- rather, they should find work to suit their style instead. This doesn’t have to limit you- but narrow it down to maybe two and keep them to separate areas of your portfolio. I’ve made the mistake of including some of my best realistic drawings in my portfolio; my reasoning being that I wanted to show employers “that I could draw well.” Instead, I got questions about my interest in concept art or general compliments that weren’t related to the job. The lesson there is that you shouldn’t include subjects or styles you don’t want to work in.
I do believe that style should be part of the discussion for young artists. True, the first couple of years should be spent exploring techniques, media, and practicing fundamentals, but at the very latest by the senior year, artists should be encouraged to focus their styles to create a consistent portfolio by graduation. In fact, an entire portfolio class should be included in the syllabus to accomplish this very thing. In my own case, students often graduated from UGA with their 4-year art degrees and then went and threw MORE money at a special portfolio “finishing” school to do what should have been done before graduation.
I don’t claim to have everything figured out, but I hope these ideas will help anyone who’s still finding their way. I’d love to hear what you think, too!
Suggested resources: Cartooning the Head and Figure by Jack Hamm
I’m finding it hard to keep up with the blog even though I’m on a school break until next week. Large tasks get put off until school is out and then they dominate my time. But I found this (very) old drawing of Serik and Cam and I thought you might get a kick out of it. 
Next quarter I’m scheduled to take just one class at SCAD, Drawing for Sequential Art, with the infamous Tom Lyle. I’m looking forward to it as it has LOTS of drawing, and he’s promised to record his individual critiques for the whole class! BRING IT. I’m also signed up to take Don Bluth’s 5-week online animation class, which I’m looking forward to and highly recommend! You could not ask for a better teacher or mentor. I expect to be busy drawing next quarter but I’ll try to take some time to do some posting too!
I just wrapped up summer quarter at SCAD and I’m doing some catch-up on my blog posts. I’m not posting everything because there are some things I’m saving for special projects that I don’t want to share just yet. But I’ll share a few…here’s the maquette I did for the character design assignment. This is my first time working with Super Sculpey. It isn’t perfectly smooth, but still, it took a long, LONG time to get it to this point. I’m not sure I have the patience to be a sculptor! The design is the fun part for me…the smoothing and perfecting…mmm…not so much. Still, this is a handy skill to have. I’m looking forward to making one for fun, for me, instead of for a grade.
Update: I wanted to add a few notes about how I baked this maquette, as it baked well without cracking. If you scour the internet on information for baking Super Sculpey, you will find scores of conflicting ideas. I will admit that since this is the first time I’ve done it, it doesn’t guarantee that this is the best method, but I thought I’d pass on the information if anyone else wants to try this system.
The first thing I did was estimate the thickest area of the polymer clay at any one point. This figure is 8 inches tall, and the inside is well padded with foil around the armature. I estimate at its thickest it could be no more than 1/2 inch. I also assumed that cracking while baking is most likely related to rapid temperature fluctuations (that’s why sidewalks crack, right?). So I put it in the cold oven and decided to use a “ladder” system of temperature changes to try to minimize any cracking. Here are the times and temperatures I used (note that 170 was the lowest setting for my oven):Â 170 degrees for 20 minutes + 200 degrees for 20 minutes + 225 degrees for 20 minutes + 200 degrees for 20 minutes + 170 degrees for 20 minutes = 1 hour, 40 minutes total baking time. I then let it cool down with the oven door closed for about 4 hours. The color changed to a slightly darker flesh tone from the unbaked color, and it has the look and feel of plastic when baked. I’ll probably try the same method when I do this again, and I’ll be sure to report on the results. One last thing: the oven definitely had an odd chemical odor after I finished, so I gave it a thorough scrub with a foaming oven cleaner before I cooked anything in it. I’d suggest having a can of oven cleaner on hand if you plan to cook anything afterwards, as you don’t want to use the self-cleaning cycle for this cleanup. Happy baking!
So here is the first layout for my animation class…I used photo reference but only very loosely. Perspective is very challenging for me- I did try to design it so the eye is drawn towards the characters though. What do you think?
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