There are different kinds of stories in pictures: in theme, style, plot, etc., but they all have one thing in common – in order to draw them you need the basics of visual literacy. And here, as in any other form of drawing, there is no “magic pill”, no spell or universal step by step scheme for drawing people, animals, trees, etc.
At the very least, this is justified by the stylization used by the artist to amplify the artistic image.
Any image, character, plot is developed by a comic book artist individually, specifically, depending on the specific situation. Judge for yourself – Marvel comics look one way, graphic stories about Indiana Jones – another, Tin-Tin and in general has undergone a number of interpretations and transformations during its existence, and modern graphic novels and completely different, in terms of pictorial language.
Let’s sort it out in order.
1). The artists who draw comics are excellent draughtsmen. That means they didn’t just take a piece of paper or a clipboard and create a masterpiece on the spot, but they were seriously, thoroughly trained in drawing, painting and composition. It is a good academic (realistic) school of drawing that underlies their work. Perspective reduction of forms, carefully composed complex angles, perfect knowledge of plastic anatomy of people and animals (not learned from books but acquired as a result of pictorial practice), knowledge of color harmonies, contrasts (comfortable for a human eye), color psychology, specifics of color changes depending on the light quality, harmonic structure of “frames”, the balance of forms and volumes in the format, etc. – all this is so typical for the art of comics and originates in the traditional basic principles of drawing.
2). You can’t do without stylization. Stylization is by no means a deformation or simplification of the image, but rather an interpretation of what the artist intended, a strengthening of the characteristic features and traits for the sake of greater expressiveness of the image. It is stylization that gives characteristic massiveness to the drawn muscles of superheroes, transforms human figures to the point of grotesque, and sharpens the dynamics of poses and angles in the drawings. This is not just a technique in a single picture.
3). The skill of drawing from the head is not as important as the competent use of references and nature. Many people think that comic book creators simply have a good imagination. That’s not entirely true. Drawing from the imagination is just one type of drawing that builds on all the previous ones. The base here is drawing from life. By repeatedly drawing the model in different turns, angles, stylizations, the artist builds observation and skill, without which it is unlikely to draw anything in any other way. After (or better together with) the block of drawing from nature, you can connect drawing from memory – to draw familiar forms and objects, restoring them in memory.
4). Composition is the key skill of a professional artist regardless of the genre, technique or trend. In drawing comics, composition is especially important. It is she who helps to connect the image and text organically, distribute empty and filled fields within one image, create a balance of color and black and white, dark and light elements, arrange step-by-step slides in an original and interesting way and much more.
5). The individual authorial style of a comic book artist develops naturally. Just sitting down to draw, trying to make it as original and unusual as possible, is not the best option. In addition, the individual style and manner of any artist, including drawing comics, comes after mastering all of the above by itself. Constantly thinking about his style of drawing graphic stories, to be original in drawing – the way to nowhere.
6). It is easier to draw on a tablet, it is better to learn to draw on it at once, and drawing on paper – the last century. Computers, tablets and other gadgets are just a means to an image. By itself, the computer, graphics tablet and phone can not draw anything – the result can only guarantee the artist who has mastered not only the graphics program (what to draw), but the principles of drawing, the image base itself (how to draw). It doesn’t matter if the artist draws using traditional methods or modern technology, what matters is the concept itself, the idea itself and its figurative solution.