What do i need for becoming a comic artist?

My brother is the real artist in the family, but here are some thoughts...

I'd start with Andrew Loomis' books, they are very much about the fundamentals of drawing, but you'd be surprised how many of the great comic artists also have great classic fundamentals.

William Andrew Loomis (1892–1959), better known simply as Andrew Loomis, was an American illustrator, author, and art instructor. His commercial work was featured prominently in advertising and magazines; however, Loomis is best known as author of a series of instructional art books printed throughout the 20th century. Long after his death, Loomis' realistic style has continued to influence popular artists.

Born in Syracuse, New York, Loomis grew up in Zanesville, Ohio and spent much of his working life in Chicago, Illinois. He studied at the Art Students League of New York under George Bridgman and F.V. du Mond when he was 19. Loomis then went back to Chicago to work at an art studio and study at the Art Institute of Chicago.

After military service in World War I, Loomis worked for a couple of advertising agencies before opening his own studio in downtown Chicago. In the 1930s, he taught at the American Academy of Art. It was during this time that his teaching techniques were compiled for his first book, Fun With a Pencil, in 1939.

It might sounds weird, but finding and signing up for life drawing classes in your area would probably be worth it. Much of great comic art is about characters, dynamic poses, etc... life drawing is a great way to study that. Lots of people can draw a hero standing still, but drawing someone in a fight, doing a back flip, etc, requires a fairly rich understand of human anatomy and kinetics.

I know my brother spent an insane amount of time drawing his own feet :). Much easier than drawing your hand and almost as complicated. Easiest way is to use a see-through table.

Lastly, it might help to study film. Things like setting up tension in a shot, general shot composition, etc are all applicable across film and comics.

I'll ping Greg and see if he has any recommendations then reply back to the thread if so... cheers!

First of all, you need to have the desire to pour hours and hours into working. If you want an idea of what a professional comic artist's work is like, look for the curriculum and schedule of an average Kubert School student. The university is designed around taking amateur artists directly into the profession. A peek at the Kubert School's online supplies store will also give you a good idea of what materials professionals use. You don't have to be a student to order stuff. Get some of it, practice using it.

If you want to teach yourself the language of comics and cartoons, I fully recommend Scott McCloud's book Understanding Comics. For a tasty-taste of what he writes about, you can find a portion of it on his TED Talk.

If you want a college education, this is a thread that a friend e-mailed to me about going to art school. Visit the main site, get a good idea of what kind of people post there, and I'm sure you'll be convinced these people are the real deal, trying to help out fellow up-and-coming artists.

I sincerely hope that this helps you and wish you all the luck in the world.

Well I'm not much of an artist, but I did get some good advice from someone once which was, the longer it takes you to make one drawing, the longer it will take you to learn, and improve. But if you work, and complete two drawings in the time that it took you to complete one, you are learning from your mistakes faster. So if you want to get better (at a reasonable pace), you need to make a lot of mistakes! Good luck!!

Unless you're producing work for someone else, it won't really matter what you use. I've seen talented folk produce brilliant work with a standard office ball-point pen and a sheet of printer paper.

Find things that interest you and imitate them, through practising different styles, your own will develop. Practice drawing things from different angles and distances to get a handle on perspective. Try as wide a range of topics as you can, from vehicles, to plants, to animals, architecture, and of course people. Study human anatomy to get a feel for posing and form, a lot of artists swear by having a full-length mirror so that they can practice poses, see how it looks and what shapes they make when performing certain actions.

What really matters when you get down to it, is that you practice your butt off.

@tmyles23 My brother, who did the art for NinjaBoy http://www.2tonstudios.com/shipped.htm said he'd be happy to answer any questions you have. So if you fire them over here, I'll make sure he gets them.

Cheers!

Was any of this helpful for you?

Although the OP seems to have disappeared :)... here's an interesting addition to the thread:

Cheers