Tao of Guerra

Comics has to be one of the toughest mediums on the artist, mainly because they have to be ready and able to draw just about anything. Understanding perspective is a must, and in my view, the most important skill because if things appear “off,” the reader instantly notices, even if they can’t put their finger on why.

Perspective! for Comic Book Artists is not your run of the mill book instructional book. It’s laid out entirely in a comic book format, so each panel on each page helps to get the point across. Chelsea uses a running dialogue between himself and the reader which I think works very well. If you’ve read Scott Macleod’s Understanding Comics, you know what I mean. Teaching perspective while doing it in the format in which it applies is a great idea. The entire book is an example of how to use perspective in ‘real life’ (real comic life) scenarios. I highly recommend this book as an essential in a comic artist’s library. Here's the link to the book on Amazon, http://tinyurl.com/cn98qg


Post by Miguel & Suzy

I remember many years ago waiting in line to get Will Eisner’s autograph at my local comic store. At the time I was studying film and debating whether I should pursue my dream of drawing comics. While I was dead last in line, I could hear the guy in front, who was getting his books signed by Will, say something about film and comics being the same. Will seemed to find the topic amusing. He chuckled and politely disagreed. He said they’re more like cousins than brothers. I understood exactly what he meant, although the guy in line didn’t seem to get it. Anyone who has read Eisner’s Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative would understand his point of view on the subject. Another good resource is Scott Macleod’s, Understanding Comics.

This memory popped back into my noggin when I read an MTV interview with Alan Moore about his thoughts on films and comics. He raised some very interesting points. Here’s an excerpt, “In comics the reader is in complete control of the experience. They can read it at their own pace, and if there's a piecalan moore, art, books, comics, digital, film, graphic, graphic novels, Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative, medium, miguel guerra,paintine of dialogue that seems to echo something a few pages back, they can flip back and check it out, whereas the audience for a film is being dragged through the experience at the speed of 24 frames per second. So even for a director like Terry Gilliam, who delights in cramming background details into his movies, there's no way he'd be able to duplicate what Dave Gibbons was able to do in Watchmen. We could place almost subliminal details in every panel, and we knew that the reader could take the time to spot everything. There's no way you could do that in a film.”

Since I studied film and have pursued art, I can appreciate the strengths of both mediums. A book has the advantage of limitless length (short, long, multiple volumes). It ignites the imagination since the reader is an active participant. The reader decides how the characters look, what they sound like, and fill in all the missing details. Have you ever read a comic, then looked at it again years later and said to yourself, “I thought this was more detailed.” Your mind filled in all the extras and made it seem more real.

Film on the other hand is recorded, edited and played back to a captive audience. The visual elements of film give motion pictures a universal power of communication. People can instantly be educated (or indoctrinated) by the recorded images that are whizzing past them. Film is powerful because the message of the film is instantly transmitted to the audience, who passively sits, watching and listening. That doesn’t mean no one thinks while they watch a movie. Some movies provoke though and discussion. But whether you think or not is up to you. The movie will continue, regardless of your brain wave activity.

Then there’s animation, which bridges the gap between film and comics. In my opinion, it’s closer to graphic storytelling; like detailed storyboards. Animation is like the crazy half-brother to comics. You want proof of the close relationship? Windsor McKay and Osamu Tezuka were pioneers of both comics/manga and animation. Hey, that’s a good topic for another post, but I digress.

What really makes movies fabulous is motion. Good old 24 frames per second. I’ve always thought this lack of motion in comics is a hurdle. Japanese manga artists are great at this, and can teach us a few things about a good speed chase or fight scene. Motion in comics is in itself a skill to be mastered. Movies can also pan in and out. Comics can do a good job of this, although it’s not quite the same. The reader has to fill in the motion between the key frames. The artist has to have superior page layouts to give the impression of motion. Music is the other huge difference. It can get you mad as hell or tug at your heart strings. I’m afraid comics can’t offer that (although animation can).

What are some of the limitations of film as a story telling method? Hollywood movies are almost always plot driven. One of the biggest drawbacks to movies is the time constraint. The entire movie is constructed not around the story or character development, but how it can all be told within a set time limit. The script, directing, cinematography, acting and editing are all done with a fixed boundary. Movies also have to deal with astronomical budgets. Even an independent film costs tens of thousands of dollars. It’s hard to afford anything.

Where do comics fit in? Comics are basically books with pictures (graphic novels, ah, now I get it!). They use the active and passive parts of your brain. A twilight medium if you will. They eliminate the need for both excessive text and excessive detail. They also have the strength of not being constrained by time (although comics are only 22 pages, while graphic novels end when the writer/artist decides). The reader gets to imagine voices and some details, but still gets to see what the characters look like. And let’s not forget that you need to be literate in order to enjoy them. My mother used to say if there are comics in the house, there will eventually be books.

So what else makes comics different than movies? You don’t need a massive budget to create a comic or graphic novel. There are no limits to the story or the character designs. The reader can start and stop whenever they have time and even take them wherever they go. While comics can be limited by a cliff hanger at the end of every comic, they can compensate by writing as many issues as they want…or as many as the publisher wants. My experience is with graphic novels, so I have the luxury of ending my book as the story dictates. I don’t have to worry about a fixed length and then work backwards from there. As my co-writer Suzy Dias says, “It ends when it ends.” A book (graphic novel) should dictate its own story and its length. This even allows you to meander away from the main plot, something you never have time to do with a movie. You can use this technique to impart the history of a place, delve into a side character, have a flashback, or anything else. That’s not to say that you forget good storytelling. There’s no point in veering from the main plot if it hurts the overall story, or worse yet, bores the reader. However, it can be a useful tool when used correctly.

A good comic artist and writer understands the strengths and limitations. Looking back, I agree with Eisner’s assessment. Today I understand more deeply what he meant. Know thy medium!

Post by Miguel & Suzy

Many people have asked about my workflow and what programs I use, so I thought I’d cover the workflow part this week and the programs on another day. The best example I can think of is taking you through a typical day when I was working on my graphic novel, Samurai Elf.

Post by Miguel & Suzy

I just received the latest issue of Image Fx and what did I find? An interview with and a tutorial by David Gibbons, artist of the Watchmen. In the tutorial he talks about using Manga Studio to ink. What a coincidence. It ties nicely into my current blog posting. Here's the link
http://www.imaginefx.com/

So what is digital inking? Until a few years ago, it sounded like a mythological creation like Medusa, the Hydra or Godzilla. By Great Zeus, Manga EX is no figment of someone’s imagination. It’s a fantastic inking program and I can’t say enough about it. It’s now a major part of my process.

Now let’s step into the present. The one thing I never got used to was inking over my pencils. I put a lot of work into those damn drawings and I don’t always want to part with them. Now I get to scan in my pencil illustrations and sketches and keep the originals. Most people don’t mention this, but when you scan in your inks, they’re messy! Even if you do a great job and the inks seem clean to your eye, once you scan them in you see dots and smears everywhere from both the pencils and the inks. The clean up time required when we did Samurai Elf (vol. 1): Set Apart was insane! Suzy Dias (my co-writer) and I had to use Photoshop to adjust the levels and the brightness/contrast. The catch is that the cleaner you get the white(paper), the more you lose on the black (inks). It added so much time to our process that I was desperate to find something more efficient for volume 2.

Manga EX was like manna from heaven. The precision is fantastic! Instead of using that old magnifying light over your drawing desk, just zoom in - as much as you like. The amount of detail you add is completely up to you. I can get the straightest lines, the curviest ellipses and the roundest French curves for precise perspective, which beats using rulers. Most artists hate using rulers because they’re a pain in the butt. It’s easier to draw freestyle, Manga EX makes inking everything from buildings to cars to high tech devices easy. Samurai Elf had so many architectural and tech elements that it allowed me to keep things looking more ‘real.’ It’s actually improved my drafting skills.

Here's a step by step look at the inking process, starting with my scanned in pencils through until my finished inks.





Undo
My hands down favorite, which beats traditional inking every time.

Layers
The ability to separate my perspective lines from the rest of my inks is a little piece of heaven.



Erase
Mistakes happen and being able to simply rub out an error is a big relief. Sometimes you simply change your mind about a line. Whatever the case, erase is a thing of beauty for any inker.

Zoom
Magnify as much as you want. I’ve been able to add so much detail that I sometimes surprise myself. Traditional inks would never allow for it, especially when you’re dealing with deadlines. Adding complexity to backgrounds and detail to clothing is now more accessible to everyone.

Pencil
I use often use the pencil tool when I feel a drawing needs to be reworked. If you combine this with the Zoom tool, you’re off to the races. A tip is to add a layer, decrease the opacity so you can see the original pencils beneath, then make your changes.

Speedlines
Everything from adding emotion to high speed chases is at your fingertips. Speedlines is what originally attracted me to Manga EX. When I did Samurai Elf (vol. 1): Set Apart, I wanted to use more speedlines, but didn’t have the tools or the time to learn. I added them using PhotoShop with limited success. I also had a big problem with the black not staying true black.

I did not want to have to deal with that on Bull’s Eye (vol. 2), especially since it was in colour and I wanted to try using different coloured speedlines. Not only did the speedlines work out, I also discovered how to turn focus lines into contours, which gives rounded objects, like a fist or a foot, that high speed feeling.

Easy to Use
I really enjoy the fuss-free and straight forward interface. Anyone at any skill level can easily use this program.

Time
The amount of time it takes me to ink is slashed in half. And I don’t have to worry about the expense of ink supplies and paper. Just one inexpensive software program does everything.

http://my.smithmicro.com/win/mangaex/

Now before your feathers start to get ruffled, allow me to share a bit about myself. I grew up with a computer engineer for a father. This was back in the day when no other kids’ families had computers. I still remember him coming home with rolls of that old dot matrix printer paper and he and my brother would go through it all and check the code. When I was the ripe old age of nine, my father said to me, “Anyone who doesn’t learn how to use computers will be left behind in the 20th century when the 21st century arrives.” How true. Flash forward to today. You’re reading my blog, surfing the net, maybe paying bills, shopping, joining clubs, networking, etc., all by digital means. A computer is a tool, like a really cool paint brush, hammer, fork, or pen. It’s just another thing that people invented in order to achieve a task.

To counter this computer mindset, I shall introduce my mother. She’s from Spain (as am I), a culture steeped in tradition. Spain has produced many great artists who revolutionized art and helped to push it forward (begrudgingly or otherwise). I have a healthy respect for both tradition and innovation. Whether it’s art, food, graphic design, or sweeping a sidewalk, everyone has an individual way of approaching what they do.

So, with that out of the way, I’ll add my two cents (as is my genetic predisposition) on the subject of whether digital is a lower form of art. I think it’s a waste of time. Maybe those who dislike digital have issues with change born out of fear or indignation of new forms of art. Maybe it’s based on the assumption that since digital techniques are relatively new, they must be hunted down and cast aside like some outcast Frankenstein (or a painting of Frankenstein). Since art has always been a representation of something else (a portrait, landscape, thoughts, emotions, dreams, etc), the way we create art is in itself artificial. Even if you smash berries to create just the right shade and then use your hands to smear it on a cave wall, you’re still creating tools in order to illustrate something. Unless someone can use telepathy to implant images in another person’s mind, we have to use tools that we create. And if you are telepathic and have mastered this technique, please start a blog so we can learn how.


I often think about the first poor sucker who had the inspirational idea to start painting on cave walls. His (insert her/she throughout if you like) fellow cave people probably thought he was crazy, maybe that he was bad luck, or was challenging the very forces of nature! Was he pissing off the guys that drew in the dirt with sticks, who before them aroused the ire of those that drew in the dirt with their fingers? In other words, are people angry about the method, or are they just annoyed that someone is challenging tradition…yet again. Everything traditional was new at some point.

I’m not saying to drop traditional. I like to roll up my sleeves and get my hands full of paints once in while too. I think it boils down to certain people who like to see the same thing over and over again. At some point, someone developed a technique that was proven to work and achieved a certain look that they like. Great. You can continue to like that style, but the rest of us can both enjoy it and move on. We’re complicated like that. Use the old; dabble in the new. Feel free to experiment. Follow your curiosity. This will make whatever method you come up with something that you’re comfortable with and something that’s (dare we say it) original.

Comparing which method is better is like comparing Hokusai to a Dali. It makes no sense. Ukyo-e prints are different than oil paintings, yet they’re beautiful. The birth of crosshatching came about when artists had to etch their art on blocks to make prints. There was no other way to achieving tone. They cleverly used lines to fool the eye. Were there people at the time that considered this a lesser form of art? You bet your ass there were. The more you study history, the more you learn that every time there was something new, the artists that came up with it were ridiculed and ostracized. Take the Impressionists. They didn’t look like the contemporary art of their time, so they were left in the cold until a time came when they didn’t mind the differences. They didn’t judge the technique, the appreciated the art.

Most of the people that I hear argue that ‘traditional is better’ aren’t even artists. They’re not painters or illustrators, but they seem to want to define what ‘art’ is. Let’s look at film and photography. Why is this art? Both methods capture images using a mechanical device. No one labored over the image (we’re not talking makeup and changing the lights, just the actual act of taking a picture). No one says photography is a lesser form of art than painting, but photographs are not hand made images…kind of like digital art (did you like the way I brought that around?). I put more effort into a digital painting than a photographer puts into a photograph. I can be trying to find the right skin shade for the blush on a woman’s cheek in the time it takes them to snap 100 photos. Should writers ditch their computers and use a crow quill? Is it the method or the end product what we admire and enjoy? Where is the line drawn? Who’s to judge?