How to Become a Comic Book Artist

Series Summary

Illustrations and drawing are visual arts that makes use of any number of instruments to mark a two-dimensional medium. Design elements are central, and artists attempt to find balance in line, values and contrast. Common instruments for drawing and illustrating include graphite pencils, pen and ink, inked brushes, wax color pencils, crayons, charcoals, chalk, pastels, and markers. An artist or animator traditionally sketches pictures out roughly in pencil before going over them in black ink or giving them to a colorist. In this free video series, learn about illustrating and drawing from a professional cartoonist and illustrator. Discover how to become a comic book artist, make a graphic novel and draw various pictures like a rose, bubbles, flames, cars, airplanes, angels, fairies and hearts. Find out how to draw faces, sketch a crowd and draw graffiti. Finally, get instructions on creating a cartoon character, superheroes, drawing manga, Japanese cartoons and celebrities.

Video Transcript

"If you want to become a comic book artist, there's really only a few things you need right off the bat if you really want to get started and become serious about pursuing your career. You will need, obviously art supplies, art work to be able to show people, and then finally a professional binder or portfolio. One thing to keep in mind when you're applying for a job is most comic book publishers and distributors look for three major things when they're hiring new creative talent. First of all they look for the ability to tell a story visually. To be able to capture people with your images. That's one of the biggest things. To be able to tell a sequential story. Number two, they look for your ability to create interesting visual landscapes and panels. And number three, they look for you to able to draw a wide variety of movement and expression within the characters and objects that fill up your panels. Those are the three major things. Learn how to get those down and you're well on your way. So the first thing I propose to do is first of all know what your skills are. Know kind of where you fit into the comic book or comical artist family. Whether it be the person who comes up with the conceptual designs, just a free thinker who know how to get ideas down on page. A sketcher, someone who takes someone else's ideas and gives very different variations to one central idea. An inker, someone who comes in and meticulously goes over the sketches in black permanent ink and is ultimately the one who's job is, you know, probably the most stressful I would say. Or, you know, doesn't even have to be art related. You could be the person who writes the, the scripts, and the panels, and the story line. Someone who's involved in more of the creative writing process. Basically, pick what it is you think you'd be best at and then really strive to get up a big amount of material to show what exactly you can do in that area. So obviously the next step then would be to create a portfolio. And in doing so what you're going to want to do is take the very best examples of your work. Whatever that particular work may be. Whether it be sketching, inking, writing, whatever. Take the very best of the best of the best. And take your time to accumulate enough material to fill up this catalog of your best work. Really work hard to get a good example of what you can do and then finally what you're going to want to do is get a binder. Obviously this is a smaller one, but they come in all shapes and sizes and levels of quality. And you're going to want to fill this up with all of the different ideas and best examples of your work that you have. They're professional. They have clear plastic for each individual page. And that's the best way to showcase your work. Especially when you're going to interviews. You're going to want to take this with you everywhere. So, when you're actually applying for a job, here's the steps that you're going to want to take beforehand. First and foremost, find out everything you can about the publisher that you're applying to. And then submit a letter or an email asking if they have any specific requirements for the candidates and artists that apply for the different positions. Find out as much as you can beforehand. Do your homework, be prepared. The next step would be to create a cover letter, specific cover letter for that particular comp, particular company and the, and the, and the person you're going to interviewing for. Put together your resume and portfolio and send that in with your cover letter. And, you know, they will most likely at that point take time to review your work, contact you back and set up an interview. I'll tell you right now, it would be very, very helpful to see if you can find anyone that you might know personally, or that knows of you on any capacity who works for these companies already and that can maybe get your foot in the door for you. It helps to be able to have those types of references. People that can vouch for your talent. And then lastly what you're going to want to do is just listen to any feedback that they offer you and accept their criticism whether it be, you know, good or, or bad. If it happens to be not what you were hoping for, then just take it as a lesson. Go back to the drawing board as they say and, you know, move on. Find that next job. If they say they love you, then hey there you. You're on your way to becoming a comic book artist."