Getting Started

Hey guys my name is Juan, and Iv'e never done a blog before... woopty doo. So I've been drawing for some time and I could never get, what I call an 'accurate', body shape or figure. With this problem in mind I chose a book written by Lee Garbett, a British comic book artist who in the past had worked for DC comics, to help me with my...predicament. As I read through his introduction I was thinking to myself 'What if this book doesn't help me? what if I'm wasting my time?' but as I kept reading I came across an answer to my question; Garbett questioned himself abut how he could teach anyone how to draw, but continued in explaining how he wanted to share how he approached his methods, saying I need find a style and stick with it. That's when i realized I don't need to draw someone else's way, i need to study someone else's to find my own.

As I read through the first page after the introduction, which was the materials page, I read through what I - or what Lee Garbett would need - for drawing, the tools he listed included a pencil; either putty or plastic, and also says "You can never have too many of these...find on that is clean and has a nice edge to work detail..." (Garbett 8). Pencils, either mechanical or traditional or both but the mechanical pencil has more of a defined line when drawn. Unfortunately I do not have any of the other tools such as stencils, correcting fluid, or ink pens, just the bare minimum.

 

In the past I attempted to draw a male figure but the shape of the head or the chest and lower body area never looked right, like something was too wide or something was too thin. Reading through more of the book and studying the sketches Garbett gives on the pages, his side notes give insight to how this step in drawing a figure is help full; for instance the cylinder figure method (I call it) uses cylinder like shapes and rectangles for various parts of the body like limbs, but excluding joints.



The idea of mapping out where your figures limbs will be, is important because positioning and body language determine emotion and feel of the character, otherwise the boring poses of a figure. I think I could use this method for my future works, even though there are many other methods of having a rough sketch of what your planing to draw. I am also very curious, what do you consider a boring pose? And what other methods do you use before applying detail to your character?