Apples in the Courtyard
Sep. 11th, 2023 09:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingI read something interesting the other day in an art book published by a (relatively) young female painter whose work I've been studying as I try to figure out how to draw faces. What she said is that she loves manga and always wanted to draw comics of her own, but that she never did. She says she told herself that she'd start drawing comics once she got "good enough at art," but drawing portraits just made her good at drawing portraits. She cautions the reader to not fall into the same trap. If you want to draw comics, she says, then you need to practice drawing comics.
And that's good advice. Of course I am greedy, and I want to draw portraits and comics, but maybe it's good to spend more time drawing longer comic stories. When it comes to comics, I think it's probably better to focus on line and gesture instead of obsessing over light and color, and the limited flat color I used for Seeded Ground worked fairly well for this, I think.
So this past weekend, I wrote a script for a sixteen-page comic called "Apples in the Courtyard," which is very loosely based on a Japanese short story by Atsuhiro Yoshida. This comic is going to need backgrounds, so I'll have to push myself to draw architecture and interiors. Thankfully (I guess?), I have no platform or audience or readers, so it's probably okay if my backgrounds aren't polished. I'd like to use this comic to practice the fundamentals, and from there I can work on refining details once I'm back to creating illustrations.
And that's good advice. Of course I am greedy, and I want to draw portraits and comics, but maybe it's good to spend more time drawing longer comic stories. When it comes to comics, I think it's probably better to focus on line and gesture instead of obsessing over light and color, and the limited flat color I used for Seeded Ground worked fairly well for this, I think.
So this past weekend, I wrote a script for a sixteen-page comic called "Apples in the Courtyard," which is very loosely based on a Japanese short story by Atsuhiro Yoshida. This comic is going to need backgrounds, so I'll have to push myself to draw architecture and interiors. Thankfully (I guess?), I have no platform or audience or readers, so it's probably okay if my backgrounds aren't polished. I'd like to use this comic to practice the fundamentals, and from there I can work on refining details once I'm back to creating illustrations.
