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Frank Miller

The Art of Stealing

by Palle Schmidt Leave a Comment

I have a friend who has the habit of taking things apart to see how they work. Anything from a radio to a vending machine. To me this is the ultimate approach to art.

Find something that works – a film, a novel, a painting – analyze it, break it down, take it apart and figure out why. This is how Raymond Chandler started writing short pulp fiction stories. He took a story from Black Mask, dissected it and identified the various element and then created a new story by replacing each piece with his own. 

You can become a great artist by copying what you love about another artist. This will teach you a lot. Then after a while, you can bring in other influences and start adding your own voice, thereby creating something new. If you look at my early drawings, you’ll definitely see a Mike Mignola phase, a Frank Miller phase and a Sean Phillips phase (which you could argue is not over yet).

My first 48-page comic that was published in Denmark in 1999, was the result of sitting next to Peter Snejbjerg. Peter was a master of the quill (the kind of metal-tipped pen you dip in ink) and all the “real” comics artist all used it. So of course this young whipper-snapper had to try and copy the technique, with pretty disastrous results. I learned a lot of lessons by sticking it through for 48 pages – the most important being I shouldn’t be using a quill. I learned later, that I could use a soft-tipped marker to almost the same effect and that my hand liked working with that way better. Nowadays I listen more to my hand than I listen to my brain.

As an artist it’s important to stretch your muscles, draw the things you have a hard time drawing rather than sticking to the things you nail every time. Again, it’s a great strategy to just copy. Drawing from life or recreating works from other artists is a crucial way to get better at the craft.


This post is an excerpt from my book SOLO – Survival Guide for Creative Freelancers – Pre-order now on Amazon.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: artist, artistic influence, copying, Frank Miller, improving as an artist, Peter Snejbjerg, Raymond Chandler, self-employed, SOLO, stealing

ProFile: Jason Copland

by Palle Schmidt Leave a Comment

ProFile-Jason-CoplandJason Copland has produced art for various companies, including illustrating The Perhapanauts: Molly’s Story for Image and short stories from Trickster: Native American Tales and Postcards: True Stories that Never Happened. He recently provided art for a story in Ed Brisson’s Murder Book, and is currently working on the online comic Kill All Monsters. He also runs an experimental comics blog called Poutine alongside fellow artist Noel Tuazon.

What made you decide to work in the medium of comics?

The discovery of comics at age 13. There was so much awesome work coming out from artists like Frank Miller, Walt Simonson and John Byrne that it inspired me to start drawing comics. Miller’s RONIN in particular really opened my eyes to what could be done in comics.

What part of the process is the most challenging or frustrating to you?

Inking. I try to do most of my drawing in the inking phase. I keep my layouts/pencils pretty loose and then start inking over those so that the lines I put down are more spontaneous. I think the act of drawing should have a little fear infused into it. There should be risks taken. Needless to say, I use a lot of whiteout.

If you could give one piece of advice to an aspiring comics creator, what would that be?

Don’t be afraid to fail. Drawing is an adventure and should have the risk of failure present. Don’t let mistakes stop you from pushing on. It’s only lines on paper; there is nothing to worry about.

More at http://jasoncopland.com/

Filed Under: News Tagged With: career, comics artist, comics industry, creativity, Ed Brisoon, Frank Miller, Image Comics, improving as an artist, inking, Jason Copland, John Byrne, Kill All Monsters, making comics, Murder Book, Noel Tuazon, pencils, Poutine, pro tips, Ronin, The Perhapanauts: Molly's Story, Trickster: Native American Tales and Postcards: True Stories that Never Happened, Walt Simonson

Sin City: A Dame To Kill For trailer hits

by Palle Schmidt Leave a Comment

348926-sin-city-2-josh-brolin-620x0-2Frank Miller’s hardboiled graphic novel Sin City was first brought to the screen in 2005 by Desperado director Robert Rodriguez. Now the trailer for the second follow up is online.

Looking at my art it probably comes as no surprise that Frank Miller was a major influence for me in my formative years as a comics creator. First intrigued by his Daredevil run in the 80’s, I was completely won over by his Return of the Dark Knight and Batman: Year One, the latter illustrated by David Mazzucchelli. This was superheroes, which I loved at the time, combined with the gritty realism of American noir. When Miller abandoned (more or less) the superhero aspect and went straight for the jugular with his hardboiled series Sin City, I fell in love all over again. Staying true to his trademark of reinventing his drawing style with every new project, Miller seemed to perfect the black and white art with A Dame to Kill For – a book that still stands as an example of how little outline you can get away with.

The 2005 movie stayed true to the visual style and the storyline, keeping almost every line of gravel voice over as it was in the comic. But what felt like a punch in the gut in comic form was beautifully boring on screen. The hardboiled scenes fell flat and the dialogue was cringe-worthy – to me an example that a movie IS in fact another medium and should be treated as such. But as I see it, Sin City paved the way for more comics adaptations (because it was cheap to make) and hopefully brought more readers to the source material. But the best thing Sin City caused, was the reviving of Mickey Rourke’s movie career!

Rourke is back as Marv for A Dame to Kill For, and so is Jessica Alba, Powers Boothe and Bruce Willis – adding Josh Brolin as Dwight (before the plastic surgery that made him look like Clive Owen) and Eva Green as Ava, the Dame herself. Once again spot-on casting. And the trailer promises lots of excessive violence and gratuitous nudity. What’s not to like? Well, we’ll have to wait until August to see for ourselves…

Enjoy the trailer below!

Filed Under: News Tagged With: A Dame to Kill For, Batman: Year One, casting, Daredevil, David Mazzucchelli, Eva Green, Frank Miller, hardboiled, hollyood, Mickey Rourke, movie adaptations, movie trailer, noir, Robert Rodriguez, Sin City, The Dark Knight Returns, trailer

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