Change-Up on Saturday!

Important Announcement, you guys:

This Saturday, our regular Comics/Manga class is going to be REPLACED by our first LIVE FIGURE DRAWING CLASS--just this once. I'd strongly encourage you to come. Bring a big newsprint pad, some sticks of compressed artist's charcoal, a sandpaper pad, and no eraser! :)

Here's the email that Joseph, owner of Stevens Books, has released:

Figure Drawing Course with live models First class is FREE! 5pm - 7pm on Saturday - October 1st Get proficient in drawing figures with our highly qualified instructor John Heebink. Our sessions with live models (male & female) are extensive and fun. Through this class you will learn: - Ability to see and capture proportions - A drawing method that minimizes mistakes, erasing, wasted time - A feel for the dynamics of clothing folds - Increased knowledge of light on form - Comfort with the tools and practice of figure drawing Program Information: Age                         : 18+ Duration                  : 4 lessons/ month Subscription            : 4 months (payment monthly, credit card or cash) Schedule                 : 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm Tuesdays Fee                         : $100 /month * Artists should bring their own supplies. Seats are limited, so please sign up before September 30 at sf@stevensbooks.com or call (415) 859-5371 JH

NOTICE:

I have a pen that I don't believe is mine: a Kuretake Zig Managka Flexible. It's terrific! I'll bring it in Saturday. Speak up if it's yours, or leave a comment here.

Speaking of such things: A reminder that you can find all sorts of great Japanese inking and sketching tools at jetpens.com

Change-Up on Saturday!

Important Announcement, you guys:

This Saturday, our regular Comics/Manga class is going to be REPLACED by our first LIVE FIGURE DRAWING CLASS. I'd strongly encourage you to come. Bring a big newsprint pad, some sticks of compressed artist's charcoal, a sandpaper pad, and no eraser! :)

Here's the email that Joseph, owner of Stevens Books, has released:

Figure Drawing Course with live models First class is FREE! 5pm - 7pm on Saturday - October 1st Get proficient in drawing figures with our highly qualified instructor John Heebink. Our sessions with live models (male & female) are extensive and fun. Through this class you will learn: - Ability to see and capture proportions - A drawing method that minimizes mistakes, erasing, wasted time - A feel for the dynamics of clothing folds - Increased knowledge of light on form - Comfort with the tools and practice of figure drawing Program Information: Age                         : 18+ Duration                  : 4 lessons/ month Subscription            : 4 months (payment monthly, credit card or cash) Schedule                 : 5:30 pm - 7:00 pm Tuesdays Fee                         : $100 /month * Artists should bring their own supplies. Seats are limited, so please sign up before September 30 at sf@stevensbooks.com or call (415) 859-5371 Instructor Biography: Teacher John Heebink he has taught kids from all over the world. He taught for ten years in the Academy of Art Illustration Department, specializing in comics, figure and head structure and perspective, at graduate and undergraduate levels.Since 1991, he has worked as a professional comic-book artist, handling mainly penciling, also writing, inking, lettering and Photoshop coloring. His credits comprise Elvira Mistress of the Dark, Nick Fury Agent of SHIELD, Space Chicks and Businessmen, Power Rangers, Doll and Creature, Vampirella, and more. His work is characterized by lively expressions and body language. JH

I have a pen that I don't believe is mine: a Kuretake Zig Managka Flexible. It's terrific! I'll bring it in Saturday. Speak up if it's yours, or leave a comment here.

Speaking of such things: A reminder that you can find all sorts of great Japanese inking and sketching tools at jetpens.com

Some Style Experiments

Fellow learners:
You may be interested to see a couple examples of my current struggles--I'm trying to devise a "new" style of working that I can reasonably sustain through many pages, despite the fact that my hands are shakier than they used to be.

I'm striving to do that most impossible thing: keep it simple. I'm doing so-so on that score.

This is for a pet project that I want to present digitally. It's a futuristic story, but it starts in the past:

And this guy is a character I doodled in a sketch book. I'm gonna keep an eye out for an opportunity to put him into my project. I think he's got an interesting mug.

I've been practicing what I preached about grabbing Photoshop swatches from photos. The top two panels use a palette based on this photo of Aziz Ansar et al:

See you Saturday!

JH

P.S.:

I have a pen that I don't believe is mine: a Kuretake Zig Managka Flexible. It's terrific! I'll bring it in Saturday. Speak up if it's yours.

Inking drills!

Great way to warm up before inking on bristol. Get in touch with all your tool can do when you push it, and you'll ink more fearlessly, I promise.

P.S.: Check out jetpens.com for the best in Japanese inking tools!

JH

....BONUS TRACK! Another Palette Creation Trick!

For a modern, super-harmonious palette for your art:

• Save your current set of swatches if you want.
• In the Swatches palette dropdown, load a set of swatches from the list. This one below is called "ANPA Colors." Its virtue is its medium, manageable size.

• Do a screen capture. (Shift-cmd-3 in Mac, turn the top crank counter-clockwise on a PC)
• Open the resulting file in Photoshop. Add a new layer, in the Multiply blend mode.
• Fill (opt/alt-del) that top layer with any primary or secondary hue--pure and light, no browns or grays.
• Adjust layer opacity to your taste.

• Eyedropper the colors onto the Swatches palette and save, as detailed in the prior post!

COOL!

JH

PS: Yes, I monkeyed with the third row to make some nearly white hues. Good for highlights!

Custom Palettes

Hey, Picasso said art is theft. So when you see a pretty picture, steal its colors for use in Photoshop! Here's how I do it.

I feel like there's got to be a better way to do this, in either Photoshop or Manga Studio, so....
If you know one, PLEASE, PLEASE leave a comment.

Off we go---

• Start with a picture whose colors please you. Open it in Photoshop. (You may want to save your current palette via the Swatches palette's tiny drop-down menu in the upper right)

End of the season, Lake Michigan-- photo Tom Hollowell

•  Click on Filter>Filter Gallery>Mosaic  Voila!

•  The resulting mosaic titles contain only single flat hues. Using the Eyedropper Tool {I}, pick out a range of colors, clicking on the open part of the Swatches palette after each to enter them.

•  Holding down Option (alt)  as you enter your swatch saves you a 2nd click.

• Lastly, Save your new palette, as an .aco file, using that Swatches palette drop-down menu in the upper right.

If you know a better way, please share it with us in the Comments!
JH