More Buscema

I should vary things up, but sticking to Buscema sketches at the moment. 

Buscema Artist studies

Trying to draw a bit looser, been drawing a bit too tight as of late.

INK STUDY #15 BRUSH

 I want to practice more Brush inking, and I keep forgetting that I shouldn't draw on textured paper..the ink really doesn't flow well, and then you can't get nice lines without running out of ink. SO note to self, practice on BRISTOL board!

This is the same image btw, I just blew up the contract on the above to make it look white.

INK STUDY #14 Buscema

Drew this on the crappy paper and filled blacks with a sharpie. 

HEADS challenge : COMPLETE

I finished the 50 pages of heads studies! Although, at the moment I am really enjoying it, so I may continue beyond the challenge. Especially going back to the basics always pays off. 

From memory the "how to draw the marvel way" head shapes, and then studies of the next pass.

Hands + Artist study

Learning how to ink : Brush

This is proving really hard for me, learning how to ink. I am not too bad with a pen, but with brush I am terrible :P Part of it, I think is that I work on crappy, textured paper. They always recommend Bristol board, so I'll try and get a Bristol pad specifically for ink.

I started by doing these marks from the book: How to draw the Marvel Way. This is where I noticed the ink doesn't come out very well on this paper...that, and I suck :P

I then did a practice page on a figure (Loki drawn by Buscema)

INK STUDY : Brush Practice

 I think of all the tools I'll probably enjoy the brush the most, but just need to get some practice with it. Shaky line control and I often don't have enough ink or too much. I like the thicker line weight though.

This is a study of a panel by Gene Colan (inked by Dick Ayers)

Ink Practice #2

 I really should've picked a better image to draw from, but practice is practice, it's about putting in the mileage sometimes :)

Original image from Jack Kirby - Captain America

Buscema Heads

Still figuring this artist out, so I thought of focussing on heads for a while.

INK STUDY #1

 So something I may try and do is to copy a panel from a comic and ink it. It's a good way to learn how to use the ink tools (which I still suck at :P). Using a pen and brush for this Captain America panel by Gene Colan.

1. The Sketch

2. Ink with pen

3. Brush to fill blacks and try some feathering.

Artist Study : Buscema

Always fun drawing from Conan, these are from Buscema pencils but inked by Tony DeZuniga.

Artist Studies

So why do I study the work by John Buscema?

Because I think he's an absolute master of figure drawing, he draws figure with believable weight, great anatomy and great expressions. The hard thing however is that he was often inked by people who interpreted his work in their own way, so you often loose the beauty of his figures, or they get stiffened up. 

It's also a fun excuse for me to read through some of those old comics, which is a lot of fun. I will say that he is a bit classic when it comes to compositions and panel layout. There are far better comic artists out there to study for that. 

So why study Gene Colan? 

Not that you can tell from my horrible sketch attempt below, but Gene Colan is moody, his characters swim in dark shadows, and he is also great at drawing cards, environments. And on top of that his figure work is absolutely amazing. It's just a shame that the writing wasn't on par with his work. I'm reading daredevil

Loomis Anatomy

Starting a new sketchbook challenge, I call it Anatomy1. It covers the pages in the Loomis book that deal with Anatomy, going through the skeleton / bones, and muscles. It's only a few pages but good basic material to study.

Still continuing with artist studies too, below a page copied from Buscema drawings on the Black Widow.  

Pencil studies : Gene Colan

Throwing the work of Gene Colan in the mix, another one of the classic comic illustrators from the 70s. Doing them in pencil, so that if I want to ink something for practice, I can ink over these. Of course my drawings are terrible, but I highly recommend the art by Colan, these are form some Daredevil issues. He's one of the few artists from that time that bathes his figures and scenes in black, it's quite atmospheric.