Here’s a perennial of comics lore that gets posted every once in a while. Chris Sims looks at Carson Van Osten’s ‘Comic Strip Artist’s Kit’ , a brief 8-page guide to solving the most common problems of comics prepared by Creative Services’ Van Osten. The above two-panel spread will give a sampling of its exceedingly basic yet hard to follow advice. Yep. Don’t be wooden, alright. Easy peazy! Entire life dreams have exploded over that little gem.

We can testify that as far as simple, clear storytelling goes, artists can still look at this and learn, even though it was devised in the ’80s or thereabouts.

Sims does not mention it, but whenever this strip is posted, we are contractually obligated to note that before he worked for Disney, Van Osten was the bass player in Todd Rundgren’s band, The Nazz. Because nothing prepares you for passing on cartoon advice from on high like being in a psychedelic rock band.

Last year Dean Haspiel kick-started the creative juices of the new year with an essay called “Dear Content Maker” that confronted some of the excitement and uncertainties of the new horizons. Since then he’s launched a new website — Trip City — and kept juggling all the balls a creator needs to.

This year, he has a similar call to arms that surveys the current landscape called “Publish or Perish”, named after a tweet by Jimmy Palmiotti:

Frankly, pitching proposals sucks right now. What if you don’t have three books and your new idea doesn’t translate to a movie or toy? Worse, what if you do have three books and the numbers didn’t inform the zeitgeist and thrill Hollywood? Why does one thing need to yield the other in order to make a cool comic book? Because comic books don’t sell like they used to. I get it. While the internet leveled the playing field it also made everything a niche. However, the comix industry does have a strong fanbase. I’ve seen them and they are us.

Now is the perfect time for a cartoonist to manifest his or her own industry. We have the DIY tools. We have the social networks and viral know how. We have proof that crowd funding works and community is key. We have a cranky comedian like Marc Maron rise from the ashes of every bridge he ever burned and make his own rules with his WTF podcast, and popular acts like Radiohead and Louis C.K. making affordable, direct deposit products; offers no one in their right mind could refuse, and venues like Etsy and Kickstarter changing the ways we consume by supporting work with our wallets BEFORE it’s made so that it can BE made sans corporate fear and scrutiny.

More in the whole link. For those who don’t want to event or reboot, you have to make your own path.

Remember when Dave Johnson started that blog devoted to cover design — with actual criticism for covers that don’t work? Well, he’s still at it with both picks and pans. You’ll have to go to the blog to find out of which cover Johnson wrote this:

 Okay, here we get another pin-up cover, *sigh*. Besides the girl in the front, whom I’m assuming is Power Girl of the Fairy Realm because of those costume colors and giant balloon titties, the main reason for calling out this cover is the chick behind her. Now let me get this straight. She has fabric that hangs BELOW her ass? Maybe in this fantasy world, the middle part of the back of one’s legs is what really drives men mad with lust, and she being a modest girl likes to keep that shit locked up tight, as to not be considered a whore. Got it. Also, once again, a poor use of a photo background for the lazy artist.

He’s also posted his own covers for criticism, resulting in some lively comments. Johnson, just picked his cover of the year, and it’s by Jock:

Hard to argue with this, at least from the mainstream perspective.

In case you haven’t noticed their fantastically stylish ads running in the sidebar. Comicraft is wrapping up their New Year’s Day font sale right about now — hurry over and pick up some serifs to keep your comics looking classy.

We were unaware that Titan Books has reprinted the highly sought after anatomy books by Andrew Loomis that have assumed a legendary status among classically minded cartoonists and illustrators. The Lines and Colors blog has a good write-up of the reissues and just why they are so prized:

The book goes into better detail than I have seen anywhere else on understanding the change in proportions that the human face and head undergo as we move from infancy through childhood into adulthood.
His section on hands brings similar focus to the proportions of the various parts of the hand, an understanding of the hand’s underlying geometry, and the distinction between the hands of the young and old, male and female.
In case I haven’t gotten it across, I can’t recommend these books highly enough for those learning to draw the human form without reference to a model. For those who are drawing from a model, you might be surprised how much a study of the Loomis construction methods can inform your drawings with an underlying strength and dimensionality.

Titan has already released facsimile editions of FIGURE DRAWING FOR ALL IT’S WORTH and DRAWING THE HEAD AND HANDS:

Next May they’re releasing SUCCESSFUL DRAWING.

According to reports, these editions are faithful facsimiles of the originals from the ’40s and ’50s — books that routinely go for hundreds of dollars on eBay or are quickly snatched from libraries. If you’ve been relying on crappy pdfs, these new editions should be a formally correct replacement.

Loomis has been cited as a big influence by Alex Ross and Steve Lieber; Steve Rude and Mike Baron named Admiral Loomis in NEXUS after him. It’s not too hard to see the huge influence of the whole “golden age of illustration” encapsulated in Loomis’s pleasing proportions and rounded lines, but it’s still awfully nice to look at.

We’re not going to plagiarize ALL of Dave Johnson’s cover comments…only several of them. He’s at it again this time with some cover PICKS:

First off, this is a fun cover from Cory Walker. There’s a lot going one but it’s got great depth and priorities. The main characters stand out against the background, allowing you to discover the detail in the background as a secondary note. The way it should be. The atmospheric perspective helps out by lightening the BG as the elements gets farther away. It’s the way to do it people, take note.

Then he has at this cover, which has a teeny tiny problem

My main problem with this is lack of credit to the original artist Frank miller. People, without a credit note to the original source of your design I’m just going to assume you’re a plagiarist. You’re better than that.


and says what we all wanted to say about Lady Death:

Ok, my issue with this cover isn’t so much that it’s a bad design, but the fact that all the Lady Death covers are basically the SAME FUCKING COVER!!! Usually a traced Victoria’s Secret photo with some random elements tossed in. Never anything about a story, although that might be on purpose. I can’t imagine that it would be that great of a read to begin with, but maybe I’m just immune to ways of Lady Death. For all I know, it could be the Watchmen of soft core titillation super hero books. If you’re a huge fan of the book and you think I’m wrong about it, let me know. But regardless, the cover designs of this title leaves me limp.

There’s more, but you will have to go to the link for that.

How would you like to sit in while Anthony Bourdain critiques food or Albert Pujols talks hitting or Herman Cain talks how to look credible in a big sinister fedora? That’s the kind of master class Dave Johnson has been delivering on cover design via Twitter and now…a blog.

That would be the Dave Johnson who created some of the most iconic covers of the last decade or so. While he may not be making a lot of friends, he’s calling ‘em as he sees ‘em. Here’s a sampling:

Like I said, team books are the worst. To many focus points, too much competing color. It really is the enemy of good design.
Not that it’s impossible. The old timers did it well. Kirby, Buscema, Romita and Kane were masters of it.

First off is this one. The layout is kind all over the place. The color isn’t helping either. And not sure why the gun and the tomahawk aren’t centered over the Supes shield. Seems kinda obvious.

Ok, I get that you’re doing a movie poster parody and you love Adam Hughes city BG’s but the problem here is cropping. The characters are the focus, not the BG. Leaves me cold.

Speaking of cropping, this cover is cropped TOO close. It took me a while to figure out what was going on. My first thought was the artist was trying to do a Mucha decorative vibe. But wait, it’s a fence. All in all, it lacks tension.

Johnson even takes on RED HOOD & THE OUTLAWS #3, critiquing it for the size of Starfire’s boobs on the design:

This is why I stay away from team book covers. It’s usually a lose-lose. The problem with this one is depth of character. Everybody is on a middle plane. Pushing two characters forward would have helped. Keeping them dark also.

However, the cover to SEVERED also comes in for frank talk:

So much is wrong with this cover. Not sure how many parts it’ll take. First, let me say that the logo treatment is solid. But after that it all goes down hill. Let’s start with the design. So much boring deadspace. The diner looks wrong. Should have used better ref. Maybe it’s a story point but shouldn’t there be a parking lot in front? But we get grass instead. Now let’s move to the rip. It’s hard to tell if the rip is through the illustration or the diner itself. Confusing. Also having both elements the same tone and hue is a big no-no. Every part blends together when the opposite should be happening. I would have made the diner normal looking with normal coloring, and had the face coming out covered in deep red blood for shock value. Instead it looks like Koolaid

Last one for now. Uggg. Seriously? Can we retire this idea? It’s been done into the ground. You’re better than this.

While it’s easy for Johnson to sit in his giant mansion smoking his pipe and critique others’ covers, nothing is secret on Twitter. Kalman Andrasofszky, artist on the X-23 cover above, responded:

Johnson: Hope you take it in the spirit in which it’s intended. Trying not to hate on artists, just trying to make them better.

Andrasofsky: Totally Dude, no worries! I stuck to the bizarre layout of the source when I could(should?)have tweaked it t.co/2mTqDazX

At his new blog spot, Johnson offers some slightly tweaked versions of the above covers. For instance, here’s another take on SEVERED with more focus:

Johnson promises looking at his own failures in future Twitter columns, as well as GOOD cover design. He also looks at submitted covers by nine publisher artists and offers fair critiques. Great stuff.

Need more Dave Johnson? See next post.

Not too long ago, Rob Liefeld had a long blog post about how to deal with the ups and downs of the business. When you think about it, he’s the perfect person to write that piece — his ups have been high and his downs have been low. And despite his very name being one of those push-butten codewords for bad art among many comics observers, Liefeld hasn’t let that stop him. He does more public appearances than ever and every time we see him, he appears to be having a good time. Say what you will about his art, in that way Liefeld has exhibited a professionalism that a lot of people could learn from. And one of the message of his piece is that you just can’t listen to the haters:

Very recently, a longtime friend and comic book author called me in a panic. He had enjoyed a nice run of success but his recent projects had been critically lambasted. He was tasting the fanboy wrath and was clearly coming undone. “Rob, how do you cope with it?? Does it affect other areas of your life??” What? This guy had lost his mind. I distinctly remember having to work extra hard to calm him down while I watched the baseball playoffs. He chewed my ear off for an hour. ” They can;t find a single positive review or quote to put on the trade collection” he whined. I stopped it all cold with offered up some blunt talk. ” Your books are top sellers. They chart great and you are moving tons of product. I don’t get your worries here. Welcome to success” And I meant it, I went on to cite many directors and movie stars including Michael Bay and Tom Cruise that the public supposedly loathed but somehow always managed to chart and connect with the masses. Same with pop stars and all other variety of artists. ” Stop worrying. I wish I had your problems” I commented. “This will pass and your next project will be even better.” That’s how I honestly feel and I stand by that sentiment always. Get up, get back at it. That’s how its done. You have to have thick skin in this business. Period. It’s not for the weak or faint of heart. Fan is short for fanatic and we are all very passionate about our favorite characters and story lines.

Don’t get me wrong, I’d rather Michael Bay was stopped before he kills brain cells again. But there’s a lot of good practical advice here, as well.

Recently, letterer/artist Chris Eliopoulos posted some guidelines for how to stay in the business once you’ve broken in. There are a few comics-specific details, but mostly, this is how you stay in any field. A sampling:

•Don’t be a jerk. Obvious, yes. But in the stressful environment of periodical publishing, things can get tense. Don’t take out your frustration on others. People talk and if you become known as a jerk to one person, expect everyone to hear it.

•Don’t lie. Again, obvious, but hear me out. You’re a colorist and you have a crushing deadline. Do you tell your editor that you’ll have it done in time when you damn well know you won’t, or do you tell them honestly that it’s not going to happen? Editors are jugglers. They have a lot going on at once and if you screw them over, they drop the balls. They’d much rather you be honest and work with them. More than likely they can give you more time, but more importantly, they know that you’ll be honest with them in the future. I’ve seen too many people no longer in the business over-promise.

Darryl Ayo is at it again with another in his ongoing series of rabble-rousing blog posts. This time he suggests that we need to take a look in the mirror in order to get comics more visibility.

It’s no coincidence, people. A resounding success in comic books is a hundred thousand units sold. A thunderous applause in comic strips is merely getting a new strip into the door. In rap music, bragging about either of these things would get you laughed out of the industry. The bar for success in comics needs to be set much higher and it should be enforced by those of you who operate under the pretense of bettering comics. Slowly, but surely, we will not find ourselves needing to boast about terrible sales or projects that merely get optioned.

It’s often noted that the comics industry is one of the friendliest creative fields, with the entrance level set at no more than a handful of mini-comics or webcomics, and success isn’t even defined as making a living from your work. As a result, sheer creativity is elevated and egos (no matter what you think of so-and-so) usually blow in at no more than a Category 1.

Nonetheless, Ayo does hit on a worrisome thought that most of us professional observers have pondered. Are we just TOO easygoing? Have comics become like that scene in THE INCREDIBLES where you get a ribbon just for entering the race — with the result that actual success is downplayed?

Ayo has a list of generalized suggestions for various comics practitioners to up their game. So who’s been dogging it?

Artist Paolo Rivera recounts an amusing story of how he found himself on Google’s Street Viewstanding in front of Jim Hanley’s Universe. He adds some interesting tips on how he uses the service as an art reference:

Environment and architecture reference are the two most obvious benefits of Street View, but it’s also a great source for candid shots of people and vehicles, especially in a traffic-heavy city like New York. As you can probably see, Google makes every effort to blur out faces using an automated program, but there’s still enough information there to inspire personal clothing styles and body types.

While the panoramas are fairly up-to-date, I hope that Google will someday archive subsequent “passes” into a searchable database, allowing us to not only explore cities in space, but time as well. I can’t wait to look back (wearing shiny spandex, I’m sure) at how silly my clothing choices were in the first decade of the 21st century. I know they’ve already updated New York at least once because the current crop of photos is at a much higher resolution than the previous (making my job even easier).

Ed “Wizzywig” Piskor has created a Photoshop version of the famous 64-color chart used to color comics up until the advent of computer coloring and scanning in the ’80s.

It is, as he points out, rather than a crippling limitation, an invitation to actually think about color:

Anyhow, the color work that I’ve always responded to positively seems to share the similarities of operating within a select palette of color. With this sparse set of colors, the artist is forced to be pretty inventive and has to put some thought into his choices. The mind isn’t boggled by the “candy bowl” effect of seeing too much information at once. This goes without saying, but a consistent palette also creates a cohesion throughout an entire work which helps to pull the story together as one unit ( I have seen comics where The Hulk was 10 different shades of green throughout).

It isn’t much discussed, but surely the badly, rendered pseudo-CGI coloring that saps all drama from the art by removing the artist’s pencilled intentions is as responsible as anything for the gradual erosion of support for mainstream comics.

Piskor links to a piece by Gene Fama that covers this same topic.

It’s a busy week for cartooning events here in NYC, with so many you can’t even get to them all. One we didn’t want to miss took place last night, DRAWING THE LINE at the Society of Illustrators, a group chat about the cartooning craft by Joe Quesada, Walt Simonson, and Jim Steranko. The panel was organized and moderated by artist Dennis Calero (X-MEN NOIR) as part of a move for the SI to get more involved in covering the graphic literature world. In this regard it was a total success, allowing three important artists to talk about their work and approaches devoid of the promotional efforts that color most convention and bookstore appearances. Calero did a great job moderating as well, keeping the talk circling around various aspects of the cartoonist’s life, including dealing with “shortcuts”, deadlines and the rewards of artwork, and showing a great knowledge of the trio’s careers.

The talk went on for over two hours, and it was videotaped, so hopefully you’ll be able to watch the whole thing. That sounds long, but there was a lot to cover and some very talkative people. The evening definitely didn’t drag. I can only summarize a few points here — all three artists are great speakers and storytellers, their personality quirks entwined with their success and artistry. Simonson, of course, is the person for whom the word avuncular was invented, with a booming voice and teaching approach. Quesada is one of the smartest people in the business, the first Marvel Editor-in-Chief since Stan to go out on his own terms, no mean feat; and Steranko is just Steranko — no one talks or thinks quite like him.

One of the most interesting topics that came up was attitude towards past work. Simonson has held onto most of his artwork, and since he has a bad memory, often looks at it and thinks “That wasn’t so bad.” Asked about the moment he knew he could do this, he recalled a single drawing of a hand in one of his earliest stories. “I would be hard pressed to improve on the way I drew that hand today,” he said. Looking at it, he knew he had the ability to get his vision on paper.

Quesada and Steranko were more critical of their own efforts and don’t like looking at their old art. Quesada said at some point in his career he realized that just sitting at the drawing board for hours wasn’t getting the work done. “The eight hours I took to fix one panel when I wasn’t “on” was too disruptive to the next day.” He said taking time away from the board to recharge was a key. He also looks at his old work and only sees the flaws.

Steranko was even harsher in his own assessment. “There is not one piece of artwork I have ever done that lived up to the vision I had for it in my head,” he said. “That’s why I keep on trying. Maybe someday I’ll do it. I don’t want to be in the past. I want to get to the next thing.”

They also offered some advice. I tweeted these, but I’ll put them here. Simonson said his SVA class boiled down to three things:

1. You need to like to draw because as a cartoonist you’ll be called on to draw so many things.

2. Use reference — it makes things go much faster and better.

3. Everything needs to serve the story, line work, panels, details.

Steranko offered his own key advice: “Draw like John Buscema,” — by which he didn’t mean just draw people in loincloths, but rather the need to draw so much that you develop a facility for it. He compared it to music — a musician has to learn how to play an instrument, and a cartoonist needs to command his or her tools.

As I said, there was a LOT more advice and insight from the three — and hopefully it will go online at some point. Props to SI and Calero for putting together a memorable evening with three amazing creators.

A bit of an interesting experiment going on over at the Drawing Words Writing Pictures blog, as two young cartoonists are learning how to make their way in the world — without even drawing cartoons:

We’re Matt and Jessica’s interns, 21-year-old tenderfoots, and we’re embarking on a summer-long study of social media for cartoonists… not just how to use it, but how to use it effectively to launch or boost a career. Each week we’ll share our progress, our theories, and our discoveries in navigating the vast sea of this World Wide Web.

Allison is the auteur behind the searing nib-holder expose that ripped through the comics industry recently, so she would seem to have the upper hand, but so far it’s pretty even.

The exercise is a good one to follow for anyone seeking to get their name out there — and not just for the cute cartoons accompanying it, such as the above. Allison and Kim are pretty much unknowns, but they’ve made a checklist of things to do, like putting up a website and joining Twitter, which are the basics of crafting an online presence. We’ll be sure to check in on them and see how it’s progressing — the title of this Beat post alone has just upped the Google rankings.