I would love your help again /co I went to /ic for advice and didn't get much. Just one guy and a art request :/
I found an editor and asked for his advice and they said "Most telling becomes the LEVEL of work that you sent. Study pages from actual working established Marvel and DC artists. In storytelling, dramatic power, sense of finish, etc., how do your pages stack up? Artists need to be as good, or better, than folks they're already using to get the jobs.
I'm attaching some recent examples from one of our artists, Joe Bennett"
i asked him to elaborate cause i was comparing my work to Erica Henderson, Derek Charm, Alton Firmansyah, Elsa Charretier, or even Amanda Conner and felt i was getting there, but would love to know what you guys think i should work on to get better.
what did he mean by this and what can I do to start work professionally in comics.
note:i emailed him back asking if he meant i should start drawing more like Joe bennet or Mike Deodato or something else and got no response back.
at the very least he responded to me, everyone else ignores my messages lol
If I'm not mistaken, I feel as though I recognize this scene from a Superman comic. Did you get the script from somewhere?
Charles Parker
Figured it out. This is from Superman Secret Origins.
The meaning of what the editor is trying to say is compare yourself to the professional artist and how you stack up against them. Not to draw more like them, but understanding your personal shortcomings by comparing yourself to them.
In this instance, you're going to be comparing yourself to Gary Frank, who is personally one of my favorite artists. He's one of the best. You're inviting editors to look at his work and then at yours. So that alone is a mistake on your part.
But since we're here, let's compare. What is Gary doing and what you doing with the exact same content?
And to answer the question, I looked up sample script so from online and found that one and Felt the as good enough to try. So please tell me what you don’t like about it and go to town. I purposefully didn’t look at the original work so as not to influence my own
Julian Myers
My advice would probably mislead you because I'm a Euro artist but I suggest you look at European and (dare I say) manga artists as well. Even if your cup of tea is superhero stuff and you don't like manga at all, it is absolutely criminal to ignore the wealth and experience of foreign comics. There are classics in French comics that should be studied by anyone who wants to take on the craft. I find American comics really awful and amateurish on a technical level.
Jaxson Fisher
How is it a mistake? this was the script dc was allowing artists to choose from some talent search a bit ago. My guess was to see different takes on the scene, but I'm not sure
Juan Martin
OC here i actually do from time to time. Any artists you recomend, shunya yamashita and Kohei Horikoshi are my personal favs. Also can I see some of your stuff, I would love to see how Euro artist might have influenced you :)
Blake Roberts
Not a literal mistake. It's totally fine, in actuality.
It's just like watching a rookie boxer compare their workout routine to Rocky's. That's fine... but everyone is going to focus on comparing you to Rocky rather than what you're actually doing.
Brody Rodriguez
not Oc but i have a question,
It looks like Gary Frank is in his 50s or close to it. Seems he's been working for close to 30 years, I'm curious how old OC artist is, cause if thats the case, DC is setting up artists and themselves to fail if they are comparing new up and coming artists to a guy thats worked longer than most new artists have been alive.
Are there any artists that are under 25 that are considered as good as gary frank?
IMO the best option would be to find artist with talent and drive and hire them and let raise them up to the quiality of Gary Frank, plus it seems Gary Frank can't keep a monthly scedule anymore.
Imo, youre doing fine, if youre 25 or under, amazing!
Read Bilal, Moebius, Franquin, Hergé, etc. Those people knew what they were doing. Get the popular graphic novels like Blacksad then just go on bedeteque and take a look. Read 2000AD. Nausicaa is a masterpiece but there's new stuff like Tongari no Boushi no Atorie that is really well made too. There is other stuff if you like action like Dangu (it's Korean) or Vagabond. The popular action manga tend to sag in quality outside of action scenes because of their deadlines and they just default to a lot of talking heads so I would look at them just for the action scenes. Euro comics tend to manage things more cinematically in general and there's usually more nuance than the usual dick measuring contests in manga. Adam Warren of empowered is really good, the comic is silly but he's so solid. Usagi Yojimbo is great. Bone is great. Look at comics made by people with an animation background, those always feel alive instead of the stiff superhero stuff.
I don't know how much they still care about "house style" but those comics always look dead. If you know basic animation and the idea of gesture and keyframes you have a gear up. Old superhero comics like Kirby had great gesture so I have no idea why they're consistently hiring these mannequin artists.
Honestly your drawings look more expressive than the professional work, I find those faces atrocious. But your perspective is wonky and confusing, shots make little sense or have little narrative continuity. The professional comic makes better decisions. Watch some stuff on cinematography and storyboarding, you have to imagine yourself like you're a movie director. Even if the script is very detailed you will benefit from that.
David Kelly
It´s a good advice, maybe the best that OP will receive in this site.
Jackson Watson
OP here This is great tahnk you! I'm saving this, this is a big help!
did he come back?
Tyler Hall
this guy has a fucking point
Justin Gonzalez
>you have to imagine yourself like you're a movie director. >Even if the script is very detailed you will benefit from that. This. Don't be afraid to go off script if you can envision a way to more clearly depict the action the author is trying to convey. Movie directors don't adhere 1:1 to the screenplay and you don't have to either. Interesting art is more attractive than obedient art.
>if you redraw old material its considered an insult to the artist (what an editor told me) Apologize after you get the work. It's better to ask forgiveness than... etc. If you're young and good enough the old guard should be able to overlook your brashness so long as you swear to be good and never do it again, you naughty dog. (Until next time...) Knowing the difference between who's ass to kiss and who's ass to kick is every bit as important in the comics industry as every principle of art and design.
i agree with everything but the perspective, the artist is clearly showing Clark is taller than the other characters. everything else you said seems spot on
