More Scores: February Comics

Stopped into one of my favorite comic book stores, here in Pittsburgh, (Copacetic Comics) and picked up a few things this past weekend.

The following two comics were by Mardou. I am writing reviews of comics and zines on my tumblr site.

When I went into the store, I was really looking for a book to help me learn more about the craft of creating comics. This past Thursday was the Fun-A-Day Art Show, where I displayed my comics from the month of January. (Thanks to those of you who came out!) Trying to create 31 short comics was sort of hard and I learned a lot about my lack of skills in that time. I have little to no formal art training, even though I have been doodling for years, and I want to teach myself as much as I can. (My Fun-A-Day comics are available for you to see on my other tumblr site: nervousindustry.tumblr.com.

A Few Things I Have Learned About Art (and Stuff) In the Past Six Months:
- Pencils intentionally come in different hardness ranges. That's why my art pencils from middle school aren't as crisp as my mechanical pencils. I always thought it primarily had to do with the lead thickness (like pens).
- Brush-tip pens are not a myth and are readily available!
- Those cross-hatching skills that were taught in grade-school art class DO come in handy!
- Quill-style calligraphy pens, not just for writing! Very good for comic drawing.
- Comics book artists and other people use this lettering tool to make their words uniform and beautiful Below is an example of an Ames. This literally blew my mind apart (I learned this in the DW+WP book).

Seeking the advice of people who know more than me, I asked the owner of Copacetic what he would recommend for someone with my current interest. After making a few suggestions, he pulled out this:

Drawing Words and Writing Pictures is a college textbook designed out of the classes that Jessica Abel and Matt Madden teach. It is very comprehensive and has a companion website that people working through the book can follow along with. Not only is it full of comics and tips, but it explains what tools are commonly used by comic book artists with specific brand recommendations and supplies lists. This book is exactly what I was looking for and I am working my way through some of the exercises.