As a professional illustrator I find it's very important to put a lot of time into developing my skills, especially as their is a higher standard required when you plan on making money out of your art. Apart from just practicing, I read as much as I can on the subject to try and close the gaps in my knowledge a little. This article is about a few books that have helped me a lot in my journey as a comic book artist, and I'm certain that they will be very helpful to you too.
Figure Drawing without a Model by Ron Tiner
Published by David & Charles
Ron Tiner is a very talented illustrator who has worked on quite a few comic book titles including Hellblazer. He's probably more famous for this particular book though. Of all the books I have on the subject, this is probably the one I've read the most. It honestly won't turn you into a great illustrator after one read, and doesn't even try to do that. It doesn't have step-by-step exercises or any of that sort of stuff. It doesn't even go into great detail about technique or style. What it does do though, is give you practical and useful advice on how to practice drawing. It tells you how to get better. How to spot where you're going wrong. It teaches you to observe. I honestly wouldn't be where I am today if I had not read this book, and I think a few years after you have read it, you will probably say the same.
Drawing Cutting Edge Anatomy by Chris Hart
Published by Watson-Guptill Publications
If you are going to draw comics you need to know anatomy. While it's certainly true that you can break the rules of anatomical accuracy when drawing comic books, you still need a solid foundation and deep knowledge of the rules before you go deciding what to ignore in favour of your style. When it comes to anatomy there are many, many books on the subject, and honestly, there are many books far better than this if you are interested in realism and accuracy. This book is, however, absolutely great for those interested in drawing superheroes in a dramatic and interesting way that takes anatomy into account.
This book is the one I'd recommend to younger comic book artists who want to make their characters a little anatomically realistic, but it has been an invaluable reference to me when I need a quick reminder of where muscles need to be, or what they should look like.
People and Poses by Buddy Scalera
Published by Impact Books
This is not really an educational book per se, though it does contain a few short pages dedicated to instruction and advice on drawing. It is primarily a collection of photographs of various models.
Like most artists I have built up a large library of reference photographs gleaned from all manner of places over the years. I have literally hundreds of images of people doing all sorts of mundane things like sitting and sleeping and walking, but I don't really have many photos of people flying or fighting or any of the stuff that heroes typically do in comics. That is what makes this book great! It's full of those kinds of images. There are additional volumes to this expanding on the themes in here, but I have not included them here as they are far more specific, and this one is very general, but it is certainly worth looking at if you are planning on drawing comics seriously.
Vanishing Point by John Cheeseman-Mayer
Published by Impact Books
Perspective is by far one of the most tricky things to get your head around in drawing, even when you have been doing it for a long time. Vanishing Point is one of the most useful books on the subject that I have ever come across. It's not that it's the most explicitly detailed treatise on the various techniques out there, but rather that it has the right information to get the job done, presented in a practical and easy to understand way that makes very helpful to any comic book artist out there, new or experienced.
It deals with the standard 1, 2 and 3 point perspective in enough depth to get you drawing your scenes to a really high standard, and then ups the ante by introducing some more dramatic ideas like 4 point perspective, which you would use to represent multiple viewing angles within a single drawing, and 5 point curvilinear perspective, which resembles the world viewed through a fisheye lens. All of this would be enough to make this book perfect on its own, but they take it further with practical advice on fixing your mistakes, and improving your drawing.
100 Ways to Create Fantasy Figures by Francis Tsai
Published by Impact Books
This book is not really anything to do with drawing comics, but it is packed with useful advice for any illustrator. It doesn't have much to say on technique or style and won't teach you how to draw. It does teach you how to approach creation of characters and ideas though, and it does it well. it covers though processes and idea development, and gives a lot of useful suggestions on how to up your game and create more vivid and exciting pieces of artwork.I'd be very interested to hear which books you have found interesting and useful in your drawing careers. Please comment with any books that you'd recommend!
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