HOW TO DRAW COMICS
by Stephen Nyberg
Section 1: bare bones beginning
So, you wanna draw comics, but need some help, eh? Well, you've come to the right place! with this how-to, you'll be makin' people laugh in no time at all!
Q: where do I start?
Answer:
To be frank, wherever you want. A very important element of catooning is FUN. Without fun, who'd read any comic strip? If you take cartooning too seriously, you won't have any fun, and that will be reflected in your cartoons.
so where to start? The best idea is drawing funny drawings. To develop your personal drawing style, you must just draw.
"But I can't even draw a straight line!" you might say. Well, try it, you might surprise yourself! Anyway, the bottom line is, anybody can draw, if they try, and nobody can draw without practice. If a drawing looks crappy, just keep going. that's the way I did it. See, way back in 2008 (or so) when I started drawing, every kid in our family was a pretty bad artist, because of how young we were, and thus the drawing we did were high quality enough, in comparison to each others. I never knew my drawing were bad at all, but now when I look back, I can tell. Anyway, my drawing skill kept getting better, and I never worried about how bad it was. so, now, on to some examples. here's some ways to draw basic objects.
so where to start? The best idea is drawing funny drawings. To develop your personal drawing style, you must just draw.
"But I can't even draw a straight line!" you might say. Well, try it, you might surprise yourself! Anyway, the bottom line is, anybody can draw, if they try, and nobody can draw without practice. If a drawing looks crappy, just keep going. that's the way I did it. See, way back in 2008 (or so) when I started drawing, every kid in our family was a pretty bad artist, because of how young we were, and thus the drawing we did were high quality enough, in comparison to each others. I never knew my drawing were bad at all, but now when I look back, I can tell. Anyway, my drawing skill kept getting better, and I never worried about how bad it was. so, now, on to some examples. here's some ways to draw basic objects.
as you can see, basic daily objects can be created from a collection of curves, lines, boxes, circles, and other shapes. continue to practice drawing, and you'll soon find, drawing is easier than it seems!
But you need to be able to draw a person doing more stuff, of course! just try to copy these till it's automatic to draw them right.
Q: Okay, now I can draw a pretty good person. What do I do next?
Answer:
Next up is ideas! thinking of ideas for cartoons can seem pretty hard, so for now, since this is just the beginning of this cartooning lesson, just use funny situations for your ideas. For example: real life situations (making dinner and your out of every ingredient, computer problems, no more coffee in the house, dropping a prized possession and breaking it, etc.) or they could be fanciful situations (a dinosaur wanting some cornflakes, but the prehistoric walmart is out of 'em, an alien with ufo engine trouble, living waffles that love to watch cartoons, etc) these Ideas, while not really good humor for cartoons, will give you a good basis to draw on while we continue the lesson in other areas.
Q: how do I set up my cartoons?
Answer:
There really is no "right" or "wrong" about this- you just do it in a way that pleases you. However, it's a good idea to learn some basics first.
practice what you've learned so far, then come back later to finish this tutorial.
Q: okay, I've practiced a lot. what's next, then?
Answer:
The job of every cartoonist is to make people laugh. So next to learn is how to come up with good, funny ideas. A great way to do this is to have dynamic characters. if your characters have strong, interesting personalities, then all you have to do is put them in a situation and they will react to it in a funny way. here are some examples using characters from Komix Theatre:
Comic Strips from personal experience
drawing comic strips about personal experiences is one of the best ways to get much hilarity. Here are a few comic strips I wrote about my own experiences.
now try it yourself! then, email me a picture of your comics so I can see how you did!