Comics for Beginners

How to Write & Draw Comics

How to become a better artist

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getting-better-as-an-artist

Do you think top athletes just decide one day to go and win the olympics? Well, maybe they do, but they don’t get there without a lot of work.

Getting to be good at anything, requires a lot of training. Ideally, you should do it every day.

It’s hard to give advice on how to get better at drawing or writing. But there are exercises, just as in sports, that you can use to develop the skillset and dicipline you need in your work.

My first tip is to set achievable goals. Don’t set out to write 5 pages a day, set out to write one. Just one. You increase your chance of succeeding, and thereby building confidence. Chances are you will even write more than you plan for, adding an extra feeling of success to your daily routine.

Getting in the habit of doing something every day can take some time, but it can be done. Start by just doing SOMETHING on your comic every day. Even if it’s just pencilling one panel.

Slow still get’s you there.

Find a peer group that can hold you accountable and help up your game. Playing against someone better than you, makes you a better player.

If there’s no one in you immediate circles who you can count on for inspiration and encouragement, use the internet as a way of connecting to peers. All it takes is a couple of people who are remotely interested in your progress, and you’re a lot more likely to improve your skills.

Putting up a daily strip or a weekly page can be a motivation – as long as you see it as a learning process and not a career. Careers tend to bring in some money and one cannot live on Facebook likes alone.

If you want to improve your drawing skills, take some lessons or draw from life. Be sure to force yourself to draw the stuff you are NOT good at. Over and over and over again. Also be sure to keep the drawings you make on file, however horrible they seem to you! It can be very hard to see progress when you’re in the middle of it. Looking back at earlier works will show you have improved, urging you to go further, get even better.

And to get better, you need to do it every day.

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Comments

  1. I really love your videos and blog.

    I am a beginning artist and to be honest, I am not really good at drawing anything.

    I am writing a script, a short one with just two main characters and a fairly simple background (forest at night).

    My question is, should I focus my attempts on learning to draw the characters, or should I focus on drawing in general? I am taking some online courses, so I try to draw everyday, but drawing the nude form is not exactly going to help me with the characters I want to create. I mean, it will in the long term, but if I want start now, how do I go about it?draw my comic now, should I just focus on what I need for that comic?

    Many thanks for the advice and the website!

    • Hey Joe, thanks for your comment!

      To your question I would say: both!

      It is possible to train yourself drawing while you work determinely for a specific goal. But it sounds like you should study faces and gestures for this project, and decide how you are going to ink it, how to apply shadows. Stuff like that. Think of character designs that you can tell apart even in silhouette, save some time in some panels. Look at how other artist solve night scenes and wood scenes. And then do the best you can.

      I understand your hesitation and insecurity completely. The only way to beat it is to start. Maybe you “fail”, but that’s the best way to learn. Just make sure you finish that story, no matter what you think of it by the end. The only way to gain anything from that learning experience is to finish and move on.

      Hope this was helpful.

      All the best,
      Palle

  2. Somehow I knew you were going to say that! I am going to finish the script and play with character designs for my drawing sessions everyday.

    Well. I suppose I have put this off long enough. Here I go!

    Thanks!

    Joe

  3. Anytime l draw the panels, my ideas will just fly away but soon I started writing script but still I get tired when drawing it. What should I do , I’m already giving up but I still want to wait for the website that will tell me what I will do after 97 websites I’ve got nothing. Please help me

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