So, you want to make comics? Part 1: Stick Figures are Fun

Make friends with the stick figure and Cylinder Man.  I picked that tip up from Learn How to Draw Comics The Marvel Way and an artist named Scott McDaniel.  Learning to draw quick stick figures with proper proportion is a great confidence builder and a fantastic warm up!  Do them by the dozen when you start drawing everyday.

Cylinder Man is a beefed up version of the stick figure.  After the stick, draw cylinders around them, joint to joint, to match areas of the body. This will help you draw muscle groups and begin your journey into foreshortening.  It also forces you to build your figures from the inside out.  Your drawings aren't outlines of shapes, they are layers and layers of line to create shape.

Keep it loose and sloppy.  Make mistakes.  Stop using your eraser and start over.  Learn to draw from your elbow, not just your wrist.  Every now and then, look at what you've done and say, "Damn! I'm good!"

Adventure Time "Something Big"

For some reason, Psycho Drive-In continues to let me review Adventure Time.  Click below to see my review of "Something Big"

http://psychodrivein.com/adventure-time-6-10-something-big/

Desktop v Mobile

Just testing a post.  

I brought this blog under the heading dvdhearn.com and, got some reason, can't edit my previous posts on my mobile.  Not sure why.  Maybe it's because I did that on my desktop.

While I figure it out here's a photo of a minifig my son calls, "Stabby the Clown"

Wha' the Hey?

I drew this today.  Just blue pencil.  Gonna say it's done and do something new tomorrow.  I tend to draw on one thing too long and it becomes a project,  not a sketch.

I do dig this Moleskine book.  Getting used to the surface.  Man, it's slick!!  If I had any skill at inking it could look really fluid on this paper.  I just don't have the hand for inking.  Or the knowledge.

Still writing for Psycho Drive-In.  I was made Managing Editor!  How cool is that?

Super secret plans going on.

Linky Linky

Someday I might link this blog to my various web-sites and the reviews on Psycho Drive-In.

Someday.

I wish I could express how much better I feel now that I am writing everyday.  Sadly, I'm still a hack but I think I'm improving little by little.  I've taken on a new assignment so in addition to Adventure Time and Game of Thrones I'll begin reviewing Penny Dreadful this Sunday.

Here's something exciting, I'm gathering material for a future column (not review) for Psycho Drive-In that may lead to a book!  Whoohoooo!!

Psycho Drive-In

An old friend of mine, Paul Brian McCoy, was generous enough to let me write a few reviews for his website, Psycho Drive-In. Sent in two last week (right at the deadline) and they were both ok.

I can build on ok:)

A real reason to write everyday.  I feel like there's a weight off my chest.  I can breathe! 

Here they are

http://psychodrivein.com/adventure-time-7-01-02-wake-up-escape-from-the-citadel/

http://psychodrivein.com/game-of-thrones-4-03-breaker-of-chains/

Heck, yeah!

Indecisive

Yeah.  Now I want to draw.

I need to focus but, by golly, I'm just so darned talented.

Kidding.  I suck.

Self portrait from back in '08

Am I too old?

Feeling out of my depth today.  Between my ultra-horrible job and my two boys, I have about an hour of free time everyday.  Writing has been difficult.  I'm behind and that's making me depressed.

I've been a "writer" for as long as I can remember but my training is in art.  I have studied comics all of my life but I've always been too slow at my craft to realize my stories.  At this point in my life, pure prose is a faster way to get my ideas out into the world.

Am I too old to begin?  I'm 42 and this feels like a young person's game.  I don't know.  I'll let that take care of itself.

An old sketch of an old dude to celebrate my doubts.

Working Slowly

Jumping in with both feet!

I really only have a half-formed idea of the novel.  It's horror.  The main character is a 10 year old girl named Aggie.  It's the summer of 1974 and a classmate of Aggie's drowned at the local reservoir.

Nearly finished with the first chapter.  I'm enjoying the story so far but I wonder whether my narrative is too colloquial and if I'm just serving myself.  I suppose we'll see after the first draft is finished.

Here's a chubby chicken for you to ponder.

Need a Win

No one is reading this blog.  Why would you?  I haven't done anything to merit your attention.  So, I've decided on a bold proclamation.

I'm writing a novel.

Started it yesterday.

See you again in one week.

Oh, and here's a fat guy I drew.

Sketchy sketch sketch