I hung out with Scott Kurtz today and tried to show him my technique for drawing comics in Illustrator. He showed me how he drew his comic first and I went in and showed what I did. We came to the realization that what works for me does not necessarily work the same for him, nor for Kris Straub of Starslip Crisis.
Some of the things Scott really needed was an accurate brush design similar to what he had already, and the eraser function to work without distorting his clean line art. The methods we came up with to do that added a lot of time to each page. He draws his webcomic very fast and does not need an added couple of hours correcting lines that could be fixed easier in Photoshop.
When I complete a page there is a lot of extra details I put in with an added layer on top of the layers stack where I go in and add white highlights or random extra details or highlights or correct ink lines. He does not need to do any of that because he works in very clean ink lines. Photoshop delivers clean lines for him quickly and easily that is just too time-consuming in Illustrator where the remedy might be using the pen tool which takes a lot of finese.
So Kris, Scott and I learned that what each of us uses individually is the right program for each of us. Simple. Except Scott needs his line art in vector format. So he posted this video on PVPonline.com today hoping that someone may be out there in internet land with the idea or ability to help. I know enough about Illustrator to do what I do, but I don’t know enough to help him achieve the things he needs.
Maybe someone out there can help. If you have any ideas send them to Scott at his www.pvponline.com strip. Or post suggestions here in this thread.
Who needs fleshbag comic artists when you can get a droid to do the same thing in half the time. Plus they get even less money than real comic artists.
I have recorded a new 20 minute video of me drawing in illustrator. There is sound and you can hear me talk about what I am doing.
This video is very basic and just a test. I should have turned my monitor sideways to create a bigger video. The sound is at times hard to hear and my voice sounds like Bobby Brady singing about “Changes”. LOL
Here is the link to the video download. It’s a whopping 60 Meg and it’s 20 minutes of your life you will never get back. All for a crappy head sketch of Spider-Man. LOL
But this is ONLY A TEST! You’ve been warned!
If you do download this sucker PLEASE comment here and tell me what you think. I’m going to get these more professional and the next time I post one it will be brilliant!
I’m also going to collect a bunch of them on a DVD and have them at conventions. But that is down the road a ways.
You know the Denham clan has a long history with the cinema. My great grandfather Carl Denham captured a giant 40 ft. gorilla back in the 1930′s. From what my family has told me it escaped it’s cage and climbed up a builing in New York. Crazy huh? I think his story has been made into a couple of films over the years.
For now…
Brian Denham
vector drawing
Spidey 60 Meg avi file
This is a link to the download. It does not automatically start downloading. There are 2 options through Rapidshare. You can join the premium account or just download the video for free. Hope you enjoy.
Here is a Camtasia recording I made of me using Adobe Illustrator. Camtasia records just the image of my monitor so you don’t have to look at my ugly mug while I’m drawing. Plus I don’t have to get dressed. see! it’s a win/win situation for us all.
If this sucker posts ok I’ll go ahead and buy Camtasia and do more of these. Now If I can use my new mic to record my voice and Camtasia to record what I’m doing this site will be a lot better. It’s so much easier to draw and tell you what I did than to write words. Stupid words!
