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Anthony J Lombardi Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 12 January 2005 Location: United States Posts: 9410
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Posted: 21 February 2014 at 4:48pm | IP Logged | 1
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It's my opinion that a vast majority of the fresh blood working in comics needs a refresher course in How to Draw the Marvel Way.
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Michael Roberts Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 20 April 2004 Location: United States Posts: 14857
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Posted: 21 February 2014 at 4:52pm | IP Logged | 2
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I've seen some comments in other threads that modern comic book artists draw as if they're shooting a TV show or a movie. That's what I thought when I saw the "modern vs Buscema" Thor art above. The modern page is centered around the money-shot/pin-up* of Thor. It's pretty, but boring, and the page reminds me of storyboards. Buscema's page is action & drama in every panel and is comic book art.
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I was just about to post this as well. A lot of modern artists draw as if they were storyboarding a film instead of taking advantage of comics as an illustrative art form.
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Anthony J Lombardi Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 12 January 2005 Location: United States Posts: 9410
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Posted: 21 February 2014 at 4:56pm | IP Logged | 3
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Whenever I begin drawing. I think how would Jack Kirby do this layout? I try to make everything look dynamic. Even the pedestrian scenes. I tend to think that telling the story is the most important aspect of drawing. Much of what I see today forsakes telling the story.In favor of the "money shot".
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Carmen Bernardo Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 08 August 2006 Location: United States Posts: 3666
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Posted: 21 February 2014 at 5:54pm | IP Logged | 4
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How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way was my original textbook on -- what else? -- how to draw comics. I get the feeling that the storyboarding and pinups is all you get from today's artists. No matter how well they could draw a character, there's a bit too little of that "POP!" that used to draw my eyes to the page.
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Doug Centers Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 17 February 2014 Location: United States Posts: 5598
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Posted: 21 February 2014 at 6:58pm | IP Logged | 5
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I have a first printing hard cover of How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way, and I still break it out every once and a while with my sketch pad.
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Stephen Churay Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 25 March 2009 Location: United States Posts: 8369
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Posted: 21 February 2014 at 7:44pm | IP Logged | 6
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The older style artists seemed to be combination illustrator and cartoonist. Some were closer to being illustrators and others cartoonists. But, all had some of both. Too mammy of today's artists seemed to lackthe ability to be cartoonists. Look at Jerome Opena's recent work on AVENGERS. Great draftsman. Terrible ability to be a cartoonist. The cartoonist aspect allows for the more dynamic figure positions and exaggeration. Take that away and you get stagnate but pretty artwork.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005 Posts: 133325
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Posted: 22 February 2014 at 6:16am | IP Logged | 7
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I've seen some comments in other threads that modern comic book artists draw as if they're shooting a TV show or a movie. That's what I thought when I saw the "modern vs Buscema" Thor art above. The modern page is centered around the money-shot/pin-up* of Thor. It's pretty, but boring, and the page reminds me of storyboards. Buscema's page is action & drama in every panel and is comic book art.•• Occasionally I see complaints (mostly other than in this Forum) about drawings I have done, especially commission pieces. The poses of various characters are dismissed as "unrealistic." No one, the complaint goes, could hold a pose like that! And you know what? That's TRUE! When I draw a character -- Spider-Man for instance -- in an extreme, limb contorting pose, I do so knowing full well that the pose could not be HELD. But that's the POINT. This is a MOMENT, a FRACTION of a second. An extreme point of extension thru which the character passed in the heat of action. What many -- too many -- current artists draw IS characters POSING. As if live models have been hired to assume the poses while the artist takes pictures. The Alex Ross Effect, if you will.
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005 Posts: 133325
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Posted: 22 February 2014 at 6:22am | IP Logged | 8
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•• The page on the left breaks one of the most BASIC rules of sequential storytelling, whether it be in comics or on film. Between the third and fourth panels, the "camera" crosses the 180° line -- we're looking at Thor from the front in one panel, then from the back in the next. Did he turn around? No, as it happens, that's supposed to be a single, continuous action. But the pictures don't SHOW that. (For those so inclined, let me save you some time and effort: if you search, you WILL find examples of me breaking this rule, too. It happens. And, indeed, the page posted above may be the only time the artist has ever broken this rule. But the rule is still broken, and that's the point made.)
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John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005 Posts: 133325
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Posted: 22 February 2014 at 6:29am | IP Logged | 9
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BTW, as long as I'm in "Art Teacher" mode, this:Note that, while the artist DOES apparently understand the the widest part of an ellipse is always at 90° to the axis, if that plug at the top of the handle of Thor's hammer is still supposed to be circular, viewed from the angle shown the ellipse should be wider horizontally.
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John Cole Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 02 March 2008 Location: United States Posts: 510
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Posted: 22 February 2014 at 5:54pm | IP Logged | 10
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Marvel lost their soul when the stockholders started running the business.
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Ed Love Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 05 October 2004 Location: United States Posts: 2712
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Posted: 22 February 2014 at 6:42pm | IP Logged | 11
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I think it's not the drawing itself but the coloring. So many of the modern colorists are coloring the images they way they would for modern animation, with color texture fills, colors defining shapes etc, that the power of the line work is actually lost as is the idea of using color to actually aid the storytelling. I am surprised in the Thor image that they actually have a white background, as it seems that anywhere there is an open space, a computerized gradient or texture filter is used. And no use of the blur filter on him throwing his hammer... that page actually shows some restraint. But, you still have the colors defining the muscles on the arms and bright vibrant colors everywhere. Compared to the old-school page, the colors are used so that your attention is drawn to Thor in each panel that he's in. While it may look good in animation where there's actual movement, the images in the comics lose a lot of their oomph without actually having the black lines and shadows. Can you imagine a Kirby Thor colored this way?
Likewise, the covers. The modern coloring method takes what should look cosmic and manages to make it all look mundane and posed. Also looks like the Surfer lost his trunks... was he doing a bit of skinny dipping before Thor dropped by?
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Stephen Churay Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 25 March 2009 Location: United States Posts: 8369
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Posted: 22 February 2014 at 7:30pm | IP Logged | 12
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Kind of a rare miss for that Thor artist. He's actually a favorite of mine. I agree them colors are off-putting, but not as much as the fact that the page hasn't been inked!
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