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by

Stan Lee
and

John Buscema

A FIRESIDE BOOK
Pub/ished by Simon & Sehuster, /ne.
NEWYORK
Dedicated to John Buscema, the Michelangelo of the comics.
Stan Lee

Dedicated to Stan Lee, who kno ws talent when he sees it.

John Buscema

Oh well, you win sorne, you lose sorne!

Stan

But seriously, folks -

Dedlcated lo every wide-eyed guy or gal who has ever held a penen.
pen, or cravc n and dreamed of lelling tantesttc stor ies thr ough pict ures ;
l o everyone who's ever I hrilled to the sighl of a dazzling drawing and
longed to be able lo copy lt, or better stil1 , lo creale an orig inal!

In short, to everyone and anyone who's ever wanted to be-a comlc-

book artistl You're our kin d of peopl e. We know just how you teel. You
see, we've been there curselvesl
 CONTENTS

Preface •.. . . . . . . . .... • • •... .. .. ... .. . . .. . . . .... 8

Qne The Tools- and the Talk- of the Trad e! 11

Two The Sec rets of-Form ! Making an Obje ct

Look Real 19

Three The Power af-Perspec tiva! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . • • . . . . 29

Four Let'e Study-The Figur e! ... • .... . .. ... . . . . .. ...... 41

Five Let' e Draw the Figurel . . . . . . • • . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 51

Six The Name 01 the Gama Ie-Actionl 59

Seven Foreshorte ning l Tne Knack 01 Drawing the

Figure in Per specñve! . . . . . . .••. . . . . . .. . . . 77

Eight Draw ing the Human Head l •••• •• . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 87

Nine Composition! ... . . • . • • • . . . . . . . . . . . ... . ... . . . . . . . 109

Ten Oraw Your Own Comic book Pagel . • •... .. . . ..... .. . 125

Eleven The Comicbook Cover ! 137

Twelve The Artof Inking l •.• •.. .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ..•... 145

Blbl iography 158

Acknowledg ments 160
 PREFACE

l've been pla nning to write this book ter years, but it took Big J ohn Busc ama to
Iight the fi re and gel the whcle thing started . Here's how it happened.

You know how lt ls. You intend to paint t he bam . or mow th e lawn, ti dy up your
room , or write a book-but you keep putli ng it off beca use there are a ztlflo n other
t hings you 'd rather do . We ll, th at's the way it was wit h me. I've spent so many
years as editor, art director and writer of so many superhe ro yarns tnat I jusi
could n't bring myself to wrlte the ene boo k that I knew would have lo be written
sooner or later-t he one book t hat Marvel fans everyw here always ask for when-
ever I deüver ene of my lilting ñttle lect ures on sorne campus or ot her. Namely,
th e boo k you 're now so gratefully graspi ng in your penci l-smudged Httle paws.

Why has lt been so eagerly requested? Simp le. You see, while t here's a veritab le
plethora 01 "How to Draw" manuals gallantly glorilyi ng any books etler's shelves,
up to now t here's been no book avallable to te ll a b udding young Buscema, or
Kirby, Colan or Kane how to draw comicbook superheroes, and-most impo rt antl y
-how to do it in t he mil dly mag nificent Marvel style. veo, I knew I'd have to writ e
it someday, ano it ail came together when Big J ohn organi zed his comicbook
workshop.

Early in '75 Joh nny tolo me he was g01 ng to tea ch a cou rse in dr awing for th e
co mics. My curiosity aroused , I visite d one 01 his classes and was absol ute ly
amazed at the quality ano dep t h 01 his lnet ructlcn. You kno w how rare it ls to find
the fo remost person in some field who can act ually teach as well as perlorm .
Well, take it I rom me, 1had certainly fou nd him that day-and I was dou bly
to rtunate in that he was a longtime I riend as well as a co-wc rker at Marvel Comics.

Atte r viewi ng the success 01 his popu lar art course, 1fi nally teto Johnny t hat I tett
it was a shame only a comparativa handfu l of students could leam what he had to
teac h abo ut comícbook artwork-a shame th at so few were able to sit at the teet
of the master . Th en I planteo the seed. If he were to ilIu stra te a book on the
subject, he cou ld reach thousands of aspiri ng artista all at t he same t ime.
Obviously, no one boo k can subst itute for an enti re art co urse, but at least we' d
be able te p resent a bread ove rvlew, illustr ating the most impo rt ant elem ents of
style, dram a, and des ign that go into the making ot a Marvel supe rhero teature.

Wit hout loo king up from his drawing board , he mumbl ed hts usual monosyl1 abic
grunt, whi ch long years ot f riendship had taugh t me to in terpret as a note ot
assent. Spurr ed on by his displ ay of unbridl ed enthusias m, I knew th e proj ect
could be delayed no long er. John Buscema wo uld org anize, pr epa re, and
ill ustrate ou r book- based on th e high ly successful course he teach es in his own
wo rkshop-and I wou ld do the writing and sneakily steal a di spr oportion ate share
of the credlt, as is my wont. 50, here we are l

Oka y, I wo n't keep you fr om th e go od stuff any longer. Ju st remember on e t hing.

The page s that follow we re crea ted to give yo u an inform ed in sight into th e way
the most popular co mic boo k super hero strips are design ed ano illu str ated.
They' lI bring yo u as many artlsñc t ips, trt ck s, sec rets, and suggestions as
po ssib le. They' U show yo u what we st rive for in doing our drawi ngs, ano how we
go about achlevlnq ou r unique obj ectives in art and design oWe've tri ed to
condense our own long yea rs ot trai ning, toil, and experien ce into thi s one valia nt
tlttte volume. And , in return, al! we ask of yo u is-

Don 't tel! our competition what yo u've learned l

Excelsior l

5tan Lee
New York 1977
[]
THETOOLS-
AND THE TALK- OF THE TRADE!
Since very tew of us dr aw with just our flngernails, let's start
off with what you'lI need. Then we've gol lo make sure we' re
all speaking the sama language. Thi s part's the easiest.
 Here we go l On lhese two pages yo u' ll find j ust abo ut everything
yo u' ll need to gel yo u sta rted . One ot Ihe ni ce Ihin gs abo ut being a
ccmlcbook artist is the faet I hat your eq uipment is no big deal.
Let's ju st give the various ilems a fas l once-over .. •

Pencll. Sorne artisls prefer a soft teec , sorne

llk e the lina r hard lead. lt's up to you.

Peno A simple drawi ng pen with a thln polnt,

l or inking ene bo rdering.

Brush. Also lo r inking. A sable hair #3 ls your

besl bet.

Erasers. One art gum ene

one smooth kneaded eraser
India ink. Any good brand 01 -which ts creener tc use.
black india lnk ls okay.

Whlte opaquing paint.

Invaluable te r covennc
errors ln inking.

....
A gla" jar. This holds the
water for creantnc your
brushes.

Pushpins. Handy ter kaeping your

illustration paper Iro m slipping
011 the drawing board.

1r 18ng19. A must for drawlng rlght

angles and working in
perspecti va.
 T square. lnvaluable fo r drawing
borders and keeping linea parener.

Ruler. For everyone who says " 1

can't draw a straight line wilhout
a rufer." Now you've no excuse!

lIIustration paperoWe use 2-ply

Bristol board, larg e enough to
N N
acco mmodale artwo rk 10 x 15 •

Drawing bo ard. Thls can be a

drawing tabte or merery a fl at
board whic h you hold on your lap.
Either way, you always need
some such thing upon which to
rest you r sheet of tnustreucn
pap er.

Rag. This plaln al' hunk of any kind of

crctn ts used lo wipe your pen poinl s,
bruebes, ene whateve r. The slcpple r
you are, the more you'lI need lt.

Ink cc mpaee.Well , how erse are you

gonna draw ci rcles? While you' re at it,
you might as wen gel a pencil co mpass,
too-even though Johnny forgot l o
draw one for you.

Of cc urse , th ere are so rne th íngs we omitt ed, ll ke a chatr to sir on

and a Iig ht so that you ca n see what yo u' re do ing in ca se you work
in t he dark . Ale o , it's a good i dea to have a room to work in-
otherwise yo ur pag es can get all messy in t he rain . But we fig ured
you' d kno w all t his.

A nd no w , onw ard l
 B
A

Just te make sure we en use tne same language and the re's no meuneer-
o
st anding when we reter tc thinqs, lel's review Ihe various names for many 01
E
Ihe elements th al make up a Iypical co mic book page.

K
L
A: The lir sl page of a story, with a larga int roductory ill usl rati on, is eeuee the M
aplash paga.

B: teners drawn in outtine. with scece fo r co lor l O be added . are called

open ' en ers.

e : Copy wh ich relates te a title ts callad a blurb.

O: The name of tha story te. 01course. tne une.

E: An ouUine around leltering done in this jagged shape is ca l1eda aplnh b.lloon.

F: A singla ilIuslra tion on a page rs call ad a panel .

G: The space between panels is call ad ee gulter.

H: You won 't be surprised te know tnat this " ZAT" is a sound eNacl,

1: Copy which rep resente whal a cn eracter is thinkíng ts a thou ght eaneen .

J: 'rne litl le conn ect ing erre las on thought beuoons are canee bubblea. (We'd
reer sitry calling them "squa res"!)
K: The regular eceeen inetcatc rs are call ed dia log ue balloona.

L: The co nnectin g "arrows" on d ialogue banoc ns. show!ng who is speaklng, a re 'C
. ::::.
'Ilt'o.:.~,.:I.:"'::~ 0::...':.' :='c:'.' '::o ,"'J:..;:o:.c:::::"-;..••t::~::=':..::

M:
c alle d poin l era.

The words in benoces which are reu erec neavrer trian th e other wo rd s are
-"'l'i iEi:.=7.-==- .rG;:'~;'¡:;:¡;:-=:¡';;;;:
._~::"" ,.;;;-..;. ~_.. ~ ' '¡'- .::. .';;'";:=-~~ ~ ~ ~-=

referred lO as bold word a, cr bo ld leUeri ng.

N O
N: This is my tevorrte ce rt-wneret re names are. We eeu ilthe credlta, JUSi li ke
In the movies.

o: A Il th!s utne techn lca l sluff, showing who publi shes tne mag and when and
wnere, usually loun d on me bott om 01ee ur st page, is the Indicia (p ronounce d
in-deé -shah).

P: Copy In wh ic h someone is talking te ttte reade r, but which is not wllhin dialogue
eeuoons. re eenee a capllon,

Chances are we tett out a tew ct ner

Ih ings, bul thls re au we ca n thin k ot right
now. However, nct l o worry ; we'lIlill you F
in on anything else that comes up as we
keep zoo ming along .
 WE A IN 'T GOT
A ~NAN~E.'
T,", e y'~e ~l..l.
4itOUND US.'

Movin' right along, we now

Intro duce you l o one ct
Marvel' s many widely heralded
clcse-ups , so ceuec because
the " camera" (meaning Ihe
reader's eye) has moved in
about as ciase as pcssibte.

8 eTTE ~ I 'VE BEEN

r..UCIC TA U(;HT SY
NEKT E XPE"I TS/
This Iype 01 panel, in which TIME.
Ih e reader 's vi ew 01 Ihe scene I(AI!U~AI(/

ls Irom larther away, enabl ing

him lo see the ligures Irom
head lo toe, is call ed a
mediu m shol.

And here we neve a long shol. In fael , sinee it

shows such an extreme wide -angle seene, you
migh t even eall it a panoramic long shol
wühcut anyone geUing ang ry al you.
.••SUT A S I'AR AS
r KNOW, !lE'S
S A¡:El..Y
SE l-lI NO
6A~S/

I WONDf lil
I ~ ~E
COULD ' VE
ES~A,PEI).~
JT 'S
HA P P E NEO
8EFONE··
LORD teNOWS,
IT 'S
HAPPENfO
SE&:ORE .

When you' re up above th e sce ne,

looking dcwn at it, as in t his panel ,
what else co uld yo u posstbty ca l! it
but a blrd's-eye view?

On the other hand , when yo u' re

below the scene ot actlcn, as in
this panel , where yo ur eye-levet is
so mew here near Spidey's heel,
we're incli ned to refer to it as a
wc rm's-eye view.

A drawi ng in whic h t he detaü s are

obsc urecí by salid black (or any
ot her sing le to ne o r co lor) is ca lle d
a silhouette. And now t hat we ag ree
upon the language, let 'a get back
to d raw ing the pictures ...
THE SECRETS Of- fORM!
MAKING AN OBJECT LOOK REAL.
Anyone, even you or 1, ca n draw sorne sort 01 ct rc te c r square. But how do
we make it look li ke the real thing? How do we make a reader feel as il he
can j ust reach out ano touc h it? How do we sto p lt trom [ust lyi ng there,
flat and one-di mensicnal, on the page ? How do we give lt fength (pre tty
easy) , width (n 01 hard), and depth (th is is the tough one)? In shor t, how do
we give lt the proper form?
Now that we've bot hered to ask, let's see ho w Big John can help us ñnd
the answe rs ...
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One 01the metn t hings Ihat can ruin a d rawi ng rs the appea rance of
FLAT NESS. Too many begi nning artista, and even sorne o ld-l ime rs,
tend to concentra te on helght and width, while neglect ing the vlta lly
Importanl di me nsio n of depth-which Is Jusi another name forthickness.
To eay 1Ianothe r w ay, wha tever you d rawsho uld seem l o haya
thlcknass. II shoul d have bu lk, body, weight. II should seem ecnc.u It
[ust Iooks ñat, It won'l make lt.
You've gol l o Ir ain yourself to th/nk of everyt hing you draw as being
soll d-as havln g bulk. Jctm ceus tbts " Ihinklng t hrough tne cbject."
Think all aroun d il-thlnk of tte sides as well as Its l op and bottom .
Incidenlall y, don ', gel rmpenent wilh Ihi s elemenlary stuff. We know
vcu're anxious to sta rt drawing Capta!n Americs battling Dr. Ocem , but
even Buscama had lo haya all thi s preliminary j azz down pal urst-.
honeet. Slay with it lar the next lew paga s and we pro misa you 'lI find
it much easier to do thedifli cu lt drawings when you cometo them.
End 01 commercial!
See the sketcnes on the cpp csite page? They serve lo Hlustrate that
mosl objecta can be reduced lo t hree simple qaomettic shapes- A) the
SPHERE (or ball) , B) the CUBE (or box), C) the CYU NDER (or pipe).
As we move along, you'lI see that mosl every dr awing is based on one
or more of these three key shapes.
Here we see a simple handgun, wíthout which t here could hardly be any
comicbo oks. or TV acti on shows, or movles. And, if you ever wanl l o
draw a'westem strip, you' d bett er take particular note 01the facl that
the bar rel is realJy a simple cyUnder, Ihe bulle t chamber ls a cyllnder
encased in a ccoe, and the butt is based upon Ih e baslc shape of a
cu be. Obviously, the outer shape is modi fied and altera d l o suu t he
destre 01I he arttet and th e purpose ct t he drawing, but t he thing to
remember ts the act ual spbere-cube-cyli nder constr uction beneath
a drawing .

Now let's consider th e automo bile . Notice how there's a

large cube representing the shape 01 the body, with a
smaHer cube denoting the window and roof area. As 10r
the wheels- cyli nders, 01 co urse.
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Th e pl ana Is eq ually easy. As y ou can

eee, It 's compasad 01a number of simple
cyllnders.

The purpose 01Ih is llttle exerci se Is to traln you l o " t hlnk th rough" Ih e
cblecte you see, the obje cts you want to dr aw. Don't jusi see them as thay
are, but rath er see them as med a up 01 sny combl natio n 01our three baste
shapes. "Sphere, cuba, and cylin der" may be the most Important wo rds we
o,
ca n teach you-next l o Make Mi ne Marvel, course l
 As promised, let'e see how what we've learned relates to
the human figure. In thls qulck sketch ot Oaredevll,
notice he has cubes for a rib cage and hlp area, while
cylfnders form the baslc construction of hls arms and
legs. Even the litlle band around his thlgh foliows the
form of a cylfnder.

The same goes for faces. Thls one 18

also based upon a cyJlnder-which has
been cut off al tbe sldes .
 NOW, LE1'S GET A LITTLE HEAVIER.
EVEN SPHERES, CUBES,AND CYLINDERSCAN
USE SOME EMBELLISHMENT. AND THIS 15 THE
WAY "'E ADD SHIlDING ( 6 LACK TONES) 10 _ -
REINFORCE THE FEELlNG OF DIMENSION.

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OKAY. OKAY! IT'5 TIME la START pUTTING

IT ALL lOGETHER IN A PICTURE . so WHA1'RE
YOU WAITING FOR? lURN THf'. PAGE,
o POTENTIAL PRDDUCEROF PHAN1ASMAGDRIC
P ICTURE PANELS !
Betcw. on the lett etee ot the page, yc u'ñ see two typical panels done in the
Marvel sly le. Next l o Ih em, on the righl , we've atte mpted lo demonstrale
what we' ve bee n savi ng ter t he past tew pages. The top drawing is obviously
composed of a sphere, plus a number of cvttnaers, with a cube on t he
bott om. The ol her panel cecrct s a lI ying car which , despite its unique and
oddball shape. ls nevertheless still based on our good 01' cuba, somawhat
modified to be sure.

The important thing about all ttus ls l o tratn you to t hink in terms of epheres,
cubes, and cvunoers whenever you see c r dr aw any object. Once it becomes
a habil with you, you'ü find your dr awings will begin lo assume Ihe proper
form which seems to make them come alive .

¡/
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 And now el
Tsquare: :nd ~rOlur ruler,
read " angle
y, cause 11'. ti
t or- me

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THE POWER Of- PERSPECTlVEI
Just as FORM is sll-impo rtant in making en oblect look real, so ls
PERSPECTlVE vital ly necessary in making a scene loo k accurate-in
making th ings appear to be correctly placad in the foreground,
background, and all the places in between.

lt Isn't en easy subject, but you 've gol to master it in arder to draw a comic
strip-and we promisa to make it as simple and as otear as we can . {And,
if it' s any consolation , lt's just as tough for us to explain as it is for you
lo leaml)
So, slnce we're all in this thing together, let'a gol
As usual, we' ll study tne pix on th e paqe opposite. And t his time there
are two new wo rds you've got lo make a par! of your conscious and
subco nsci ous voc abulary. The wo rc s are HOA1ZON U NE.

Basically, the horl zon li ne simply represe nts the viewer's eye level-
t hat ts, th e spot in the plc ture where your own eyes woul d be if you were
there observi ng th e sce ne.

Let's start with some IitUe examples. Notice the cube on the fir st line of
drawings (A). If you take it and turn it so that we're looking at it head-on
(B), you'lI sea that th e two side line s on top seem to be coming toget her,
the way tr ain tr ecks appea r to come together as they recede farther
into the distance. Okay t hen, let's co nti nue drawing those two lines until
they meet (C). The point at whi ch they meet is the natu ral horlzo n fine,
and is consequent ly our own eye level. This is c alled ONE-POINT
PERSPECTIVE because th e perspecttve lines co nverg e upon the one
si ngle polnt .

However, if we turn the cube and th en fo llow t he converging li nes to

thel r uttlm ate meeting place, we get a TWO-POINT PERSPECTIVE (0 )-
end I'm not gonna insult your inte ll ige nce by tell ing you why we've
changed it s name! Incidentally, you'l l notice that the cube is below the
horizon line and th erefore below your own eye level.

In figure (E) we 've mere ly red rawn the cube exactly at your eye level,
whi le In fig ure (F) we've drawn it a third way, showi ng how to put it
above eye level.

Study it awhile. lt's not as complicated as it may sound, honestl

 ' ,
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A ~~ B

E
Here, just because Johnny hates to let his nner go to waste, he's given you a
couple more examples showi ng how the princip ies 01 perspective apply to
any street sce ne.

í
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I

In this first drawing , despite the stze 01t he sce ne

and the number 01buil dings , you'lI notlce t hat
everything co nverges towards one poin t; t herefore
It's a ONE· P01NT PERSPECTIVE.

You can guess what we're about to tel1 you

about this drawing. The perspectlve lines are
convergi ng to two different corree (along th e
same horizon line, 01 coursej. Theretore, we
have an undenlable example 01- TA DAAAA-
a TWO-POINT PERSPECTIVE. And there's
more to come . . .
 ,,
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WE~L . I T HAP
TO HAPPEN. THESE
TWO Pies OFFER Yoo
exAMP~E5 OF SCENES
/ CONTAINING THREE-POINT
PERSPECTlVE. CAN YOU FINO
THE THREE VANISHING POINTS?
OOPS, WE FORGOT TOIIIENTION-
THE POINT AT WHICH THE CON-
VERGING L1NES COME TOGETHER
ANP FINA~LY MEET IS CA~~ED,
NATURA~~Y ENOUGH.THE
YA~fSHING POINr. BETIER
~TE THAN NEVER!

/
SPIDER-/llAN HATH FORGOTTEN
10 TaL THEE--THE THIRO VANISH-
ING POINT 0101 YON TOP ILLUSTRATlON DOTH
NOT GO10 THE HORIZON. WHILST THE FIRST
ANP SECOND VANISHING POINTS DO GO TO lHE
HORIZON. THE THIRD ONE RISES FAR ABOVE.
ANP 15 BUT AN ARBtTRARY POINT ;JUST
AS THE THIRD ONE IN THIS ~OWER
PANE~ DOTH FA~~ ElE~W lHE
HORIZON IN AN EQUAL ~Y ARBI-
TRARY MANNER. '30 ElE IT!
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• Let's say you want to draw th e inside of a room. Sounds simple,
huh ? But what about th e furniture ? You want it to look natu ral, to
look as if it belo nqs. and most impo rta nt of aü , to look as if some of
Ihe piec es aren 't floati ng in space . They have to seem acc urate
and realistic in retañc n to each ot her. Well, t hat's what perspective
is all about.

• In t he two ill ustration s on the facing page, notice how John makes
use c t his eye leve! (horizo n Une) and his vanishing pcin ts in orde r
l o nave everyt hing in the cor rect perspecttve. No matte r where the
vlewer's eye level may be, everyl hi ng talla into place pleasingly
because t he perspectiv e is cor recto

• And, did you not ice t he way the chair at the bott om of the lower
pic is angle d (turn ed) dif fere ntly than t he other pieces of furni t ure,
so that it goes to different vanishing poinls? This gives us a thi rd
and fourth vanishing point on tne same hori zon Hne.

• If lt seems awfully complicated to you, don 't worry. Johnny had to

explai n it to me about a half-dozen times-and I'm stHl wrest li ng
with most ot lt! Anyway, let 's go to the next page and tack le a
problem or two . . .
Ok ay. First we'll consider some explanatory diagrams, then we'lI see how t hey apply
to pictur es we might use in our magazines.

One of the main purposes 01 our study of perspectiv a is to allo w us to tilt obj ect s, to
twist them aro und and turn them without making them seem distorted or incorrect.
These diagrams demonstrate how lt's done in the very simp lest way. So, nere we go .. .

We eu know that a perfect circle w ill fi t perf ectly

within a pertect square.

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=-- -- j-

\
But, if we cha nge the angla [the positiOn) ofthe
sqvare. then see how the crrcre must change also.
see how lt becomes an oval.
I

Now then. if we draw acube (two squares In

/ perepecuve. side-by-side), and then d raw two
ovals within the squa res, and connect the ovals,
we ene up with a wheef--c rawn in perspectiva.
--- ~-

-
Just thought you 'd l ike to see how to
divide a squa re shape in two-in th e
proper perspecuve. Simply draw
slraight lines from co me r to comer, as
shown . The exact cente r point ls whe re
~ /
71
tbe two unes meet. Once you've found
your pert ec t center poi nt-in
perepecuve--yc u know wn ere to do
I /
~
the dividin g.
 "- -
-------
-----/1-- Suppose you want l o divide a wall lntc tive eque t
parts, but to compl icate the process the wa!l ls

- - - I draw n in perspective (wit h Unes conve rgi ng

towards a distant vanlshing poi nt). You merely

.---
use the same proce dure we demonsl rated in
exampre #2 above-mark off tlve equal divisions
on the slde of the wall ene then draw a straight une
from comer lo comer.

1-
1- -!---1
Your points ot drvtstcn wi ll be found exactly where
t he fines croes.

Erase the original guide Iines, and you ene up with

your five equal vertical divisions, en in the ccrrect
pe rspec tive .

Now then, we fust kn ow that you've been

wait ing all your üte ter a chance l o draw a
checkerboard floo r in pe rspectlve. Here's
how.

-Draw your baste square shape , al any

angle you wis h.
-on a Une per ener to the bottom of the
drawing, ma rk off as many squares as you
wish , equally divided.
- From those points, now draw Iines
extending towa rds the vanishing point.
- Add you rdiagonal IIne, and where lt
c rosses the lines you've originally drawn,
you have your exect división points fo r
perfect squares in perspectíve.

Since you've been such a good sport about the dull stuff , now let's go to the next page
and see what bearin g all this has on sorne zingy comicb ook drawings ...
 Now, when we menti on tha t this
drawing is based on THREE-POINT

-......----
PERSPECT1VE, you'lI know what we
mean, won't you? Also, lt's a WORM'S·
Wl-lo4T we HAVE Te ~ 16 EYE VIEW, right? Rightl
wrrl-lOUT IN VlT1N G A NY
_""ONAC
PROSl-EMS .

Her e'e a simple ONE-POINT

PERSPECTIVE, ju st a bit
bercw eye level. The eye
level is really the bottom of
the car's wheel s, because
that 's whe re your eye wou ld
be if ycu we re actually on
the scene. See how It en
begins to come together?

By now we don't even have

to tell you that this Is
cbvlcuslv a THREE·POINT
PERSPECTIVE btrd's-eye
view-butwe'll just menti on
It anyway because we need
the exerc lsel
 so 7HI S 15
~t";:;;;~ WIoIERé T'OIALl.A- '
.... ¿,UKE C'HA~tGS-­
T EACHES/

IT ' 5 J.lA~DL.Y
THE pL.A ce 1
WOULD HAv !:
CNDSIN t:OR
ON E WHO
WASA KIN G
IN H'S
NATlVE l.ANO!

We thought you'd enjoy

these particul ar pix-

eur W E'VE CAYS.' ¡ 'VE NO N EFD TO,

s rA4rEGY ro GOT TA ~OH N N Y.'
PLAN- -AN O 7EI.L )"ou- - 1 ,cOLl..OWED
EVERY SECONO Ir Al. L· · ON TM!
COUN TS/ '': ~ SCANNE.Il/
~':>:'"

- because they show

how we pul the figu res
l hemselves tntc the
proper perspecñve in
typical Ma rvel scenes .

Pay particular atte ntion to whe re tne eye

rever ts in each panel , as well as Ihe focat io n
of the vanous vanis hing po int s.

NOTwwrLE
TI-IE RE
15 A TY
TAANs-
M/7TE~
rN THE
NEK'T RODM!
LET'S STUDY- THE FIGURE!
This is lt, gang ! Th is 1$ what you 've been wa iting ter! The
preceding sections gaya the basics you need-th e ce reals
and vegetables . But here's where you gel to th e main co urse
- and the dazzli ng desserts!
 .-
I -
t-c' , ""
'
1_
• There might be somet hing more import ant t hen f igu re draw ing in
c omicb oo k artw or k, but we sure don'! know whal il ls! Everyt hi ng ls
basad on how yo u draw Ih e characters: the herc es, vtuatne, and tne
never-ending hordas 01 suppo rting sta rs. Supe rhero comicboo ks are
the sto nes 01 people, perlo d! An d we're 90109 lo t ry l o teac h yo u
eve ryth ing yo u ought l o know about d rawing tho se peop le and d rawi ng
them as drama t lca ll y andnercrcanv as possible.

• t et's st art wit h an average Joe. lika you or me. Mes! average guys are
ebcut stx-and -a-hatf heads tall . But take a tc ok al l his sketc h 01Reed
Richa rds. Noti ce that he's eight-and-three- quarte rs heads la l1. 1I we
rJ
dra w a hero be's gol to took Iike a hero-he sho uld be 01 hereie
prcpornons. Unlortunately, Ihe norm al stx-end-e-bert-neec-teu
proportions woul d make him seem somewhat dumpy when d raw n in a
Marvel mago

• Needtess to say , we atsc make Ihe snoutcers good anc wide, and me
hips real narrow. Naturally , as we're soon abo ut to see, th e mere is
draw n muc h mo re angular Ihan t he remare.
-j-.. ,-------+t--
• An ol hergood poinl l o remembe r is-the erbow s fall jusI a nttte bil betow
Ihe wals t. This retrue ct bot h men and women.

I
' .
•
• And, speaking 01 women-where would Reed Richards be without his
stunning Sue? I
.'
• Notice that she too ts eight-and-three-quarters heads ten, with her
hips muen wid er In relation to her shoulders than they would be on
a male.

• Obviously, we do not emphasize muscres on a temate. Though we

assume ene'e nct a weakl ing , a woman is drawnto look smooth and ecn
as opposed to the muscular , angula r rendltion ct aman. /

• We've also lo und that tt's prefe rable to d raw a te male's head slightly
\• /
I
smalle r then a mare's. tn tact. she's generally erewn somewhat smauer
I
- 1-\
eu cve r, except lo r the bosom.

• As a gulde, you mlg hl remember th at the hand (on both male and
female) alwaye la lls mid-thi gh on the body when the figure Is sta nding.

- \-.\ \
The main purpose cr this lito (we'lI save
our publteher a fort une in typesetti ng by
not spelli ng out th e whol e word
"iII ustrati on'" Hope he appreclates it) le
to show the ditference between the way
we might draw a normal, nice-looklng
male and a heroically proportioned
superhero.

Note that the superhero is largar,

with broader shoulders, more
muscular arms and legs, a heavier
-
chest, and even a more tmpresstve
stance. There's not hing weak-
looking about the tena next to
cectern America, but a superhero
simply has to look more impressive ,
more dr amatic, more imposing than
an average guy.

Perh aps the most import ant single

pctnt to rememb er ls that you " iJ
' ~I
shoul d alw ays sllg ht ly exagge rate
the heroic qualitie s 01your hero ,
and atte mpt to ignore or omlt any 'i l
negativa, undramatic qualit ies.

I I
But, what abo ut th e villalns? Glad I
you asked. Next page, please • ..

:-/1.
 Wouldj a bene ve th a! virt ually the same rules app ly to the víüatn s
as l o the herces? (When lt comes to d rawing them , al any ratel )

00 thi s page we've presentad t wo shots 01the d ramati cally

oe mcntcer Dr. Ooom. The one on to p is a somewhat o rd inary,
ped estrian rendering 01 our l ord 01 t .atve rta . as soy average,
calchpenny non-Marvel art ist mig ht int erprel him. The one
below ís dazzl in' Doc drawn in the dynamic Marvel style.
Seethe diff erence ? wen, just to play sale , ret'e 90 ove r sorne
01th e nn er potnte.

-b\
While there'e nol hing
baslcal ly wrong wl th
the top fig ure, you
c an see that the ene
below is more exaq-
ger ated. Doc 's ar ms
a nd le9s a re heavle r,
mor e Impos ing. His
teet are plantad
tert her apart, giving
more weight and
majesty to his stance.
His tunrc 1$ fla ri ng a
bit, denoting a leell09'
01 ecucn even thoug h
tbe cnaracter is
standi ng still. Hre
ches! is larga r,
bu lkier, ene hi s hand s
are b igge r and more The d ifl erences are somewhat subtle-but t he one
powerful. above is t he way Marvel wo uld d o ít. tt's írnpc rtent,
that you t rain you r eye to catch these el usive but

\ essentiat va ria tion s. They c an spell t he crt terence

between g reat artwo rk and ade quate art wo rk.
A nd we never wanna t hink of any Marveüte as
being less t han greatl
 Naturally, th ere are exc eptio ns to every
rule. Even though we told you t hat the
average superhero is eig ht-and-t hree-
quarters heads high , you can run int o a
cuddly character Hke The Thing who
might be onl y six heads high. But th en,
you wouldn 't want him to look like Mr.
Fantastic, would you? (1 just t hought of
something. For all you semantics
studente, here's something to mull over.
The phrase " average superhe ro" just
hasto be a non sequitur, right ? Funny,
th e thin gs that pop into your head when
you' re pounding th e keyboard l)

One thing you must alw ays

remember. (Because th ere
may be a test l) Learn the
ru les we give you. Make them
part of your perm anent
memory bank, but always be
fl exibl e. Sometimes you'lI want
to stretch t he rul es a bit. The
key point is this-you can only
bend the rule s success fully
atter vc u've learned them
perrecuy ,
 Just tor tuno we Ih oughl we' d tosa
in The Kingpin aleo, l o show you
how l o handle a characler who's
barety ñve heads high. The Ir ic k is
l o make him squat wit houl making
htm look like a panl ywaist. The
larger you make t he heac in pro-
portian to I he body, Ih e heavier and
mor e bul ky Ih e charact er will seem.

"
'.
'\
,r '.

And now Ihal we've

sludied Ihe ligure-

.- ,

---~K., "~~-
 ., ,"

~~---- ---- ---_......:--

LEl'S DRAW THE FIGUREI
This part is dynamite! 50 let's not waste a second-!
look, the first thing e fledgling artis t needs le self-confidence.
And here's the way to get it l

'Most anyone can draw a stlck fig ure. (Even Irvin g Forbush l)
They'r e simple, they're fun, and most important of eu, tney're
the eastest way for you to get the ecnc n and the posttion you
want for your cbarac ter.

Don't try to do a comp lete drawing 811 at once . Spend all the
time you can doodling with sti ck fig ures. Stay wit h them lor
hours, ceys, weeks if you lee lli ke lt, untll they become
second nature to you- until you can create virt ually any pose
you ca n think of.
 /
'1

Then as you gel mo re and more faclle wit h

your ~t¡ck fig ures. you can start " f1eshing
th em out ," as we show you en the next paga••.
Notlc e how yau ean add ovals far the rib eage and th e
hips. Then, for t he arms and legs, you ean start building
the fig ure by addi ng eylin ders.

For example, say you want to draw Iron Man

in a eroueh, about to spring at sorne mali eious
mlscr eant. First yc u get the prcper poaltlon
for him by means of a simple stiek fig ure.

Then you build his body (f lesh it out) by addi ng

eyli nders. Note : Always " draw thr ough " th e figu re.
That le, even if sorne portion ot t he bady wll l be
hid den by an arm cr a leg, draw it t hrough anyway.
You ean eliminate it later when yau add t he limb
whlc h'lI coneeal lt, but by drawi ng through, you
make certal n you' ve got every part of t he anato my
positioned in the right place .

Finally, havjng fi nlshed treshi ng out th e fig ure, you

erase the eonstr uetio n lines whic h have been
drawn t hraugh and get a result somewhat li ke this
fin al fig ure of 01' Shel l-head. (That ls, yau'lI get lt
lf you practlc e as long as Johnny di dl)
 Here, on th is page, th e same thing
hold s tru e ter Spldey. We decid e
t he pose we'd lik e to dr aw and sta rt
stick-fig uring lt. Notice th e way his
teft knee is bending towards you?
That' s called " foreshortening." lt'a
done a lot in comicbook artwo rk.

./
( .~?:z.
) ..<::.'
---
~
<>

(<i'~ - - "-.
): ' .,;
,,'
And here's where we
eta rt fl eshing him out
agai n. Just add th ose
clever Ilttle cyli nde rs as ./
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I Y
l"
~ -
~\--,. - .
V\.~ .
'J---'-.

\1 -'
yougo.Seewhywe _~ ~~
st ressed them
eartie r on?
iJ;
(y" ...L-\ . - 11
C-- ~j
/ /
We do n't want to pretend th at t he
treshing-out process Is as easy as
we've made it look here. lt lsn't . But
»:
, /
the mor e you work at thls , t he easier
it'1I become. The Important t hing Is
to tr ain your eye until the lin es
almost begln to t ake shape in your
im agin ation before you sta rt putt ing
th em down on t he paper.

,
Now then, tor those of
you who've mastered the
cubes and lts couslns,
and for those who really
und erstand the ccnet ruc-
tion of the human li gure,
ther e's another approach
to to rmlng th e body. lt's
as basic and obvious as
the simple process 01-
scrlb blingl So, if you're a
more advanced st ude nt,
you may get a kick out
of thi s . • •

iJ
v

Never underest lmate the im-

port ance 01scribbling. Alter
you've start ed with your stic k
figure, build it up by scribbllng
-as in the drawi ngs on this
page. As John explains lt, it'e
like being a scutptc r and
build ing a figur e with clay.
You just keep adding these
loose littl e Hnes until the
figure starts taking shape.

Another important thing about

scribbling ls th at it helps yo u
to loosen up and get a leel ing
01 movement and actlo n. Do
your scribbling lightly, and try
to tr ain your eye to spot the
lines that are correct and to
relec t the ones that aren't.
Then, as you co ntinue to mold
the fig ure wit h your penen. you
emphasize the impo rtant Iines
and eventually lose the others.
 ( ~

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As you can see, the sama

technlque applies for any
pose, any mood, and any
person, male or female, young
or old. Can you now easlly
recoqnlze the progress01the
sketches? Can you see how
we st art with a primitiva stick
l fi ,
figure and continue lo scribb le
over lt , Ihinking in terms 01 111 \\ Never never let yautself
imaginary cytlnders, until W8
end up with the pose we want?
/í
(
1
forget-you arways buJld
your drawing, starting
with a loose sketch and
fleshlng It out. Il's the
professionalway, the
besl way-the Marvel
wayl
l'
"
:¡
J 1
.~
 »<
/
..
THE NAME Uf THE GAME 18- ACTION!
Ac lion! A Marve l specialty! A Marvel Trademar k! 8 harpen
you r pencil, pi lgrim- here 's where we separa te the men
from the boys !
 WEAK

Jusi being ebre te draw Ihe figure ls on ly hall Ihe joboWhen you 're
draw ing com icbook superterc sagas, you've gol lo be acre lo mova li -
SEST
l a ani mate n-te pul tt In eettcn!

Using whal you've learned In sti ck·lig ure drawing, tak e a cnerecter
running, walking , playing ball , or l hrowing a punc hoOraw a series 01
/ \
._~

"
sti c k lig ures, as on lh e laclng page, depicting as many diflerenl sl ages
of Ih at aclion as posslble. Famili ariza your sell with moving the body;
wo rk tr om one Ilgure lntc another, slow ly , loosely, casually , using as
many scr ibble unes as you wish. Don't Iry lo do a li nlshed d rawi ng, j usi
toosen up , try t c teertne ecuo n.

Nctice how th e ñr st dr awing ene the test ene i n that parti cular sequence
seem te have Ihe rnost lmpact - l he mosl actton . In a Marvel story, I he
erust would use eilher of Ihose shots rathe r lh an Ihe lam er ones in
bel ween.

Remembe r, in these sketchee all you need ls Ihree or four Unes l o

est eensn the ecncn. Sea the Iwo sketches on the bottom of the page ?
Nol ice how Jo hnny ca ughl all Ih e acuo n he wantec in jusi the tewest 01 ,
\

lines- and sea how skillfully he was able lo build on 11. You 'lI be doing
trae, loo, once yo u've had enoug h practice.

Try lo exaggeral e your acli on-keep

the lig ure loose , sv ppte, always in
menen.
Nol ice how Ih ree or lo ur Unes
aSl ablis h l he actlcn for you. Once
yc uve got me swlng 01 It, the leel 01
¡I, Ihen build upon me figur e.
Pay part icul ar atte nti on l o Ihe center fine drawn Ih rough Iha fig ura Always remembar, avery pose has a certern " rhythm" l o n, Wll h
from l op lo bottom. Thls IIne is always d rawn firsl ; It glvas you the I hls one slmpla center li ne you can determine thal rhythm and Ihan
curva, or tbe swing. tnet you want your figure l o haya. stert buildin g yo ur entlr e figur e ercund il .
Now let' s study some figures in motion and see whic h we IIke and
which we don't-and why.

Figu res 1 and 1A are both rough sketches of somebody runnlng.

But nctlc e how much faster , how much more dramaticall y, how
much more herolcally figure 1A le moving. See how hls center line
has more swing to lt, impelling him forward wit h force and
urgency.
 2
• 2A

1ft
' '-I-'r'\
,
,..;' .
... ",...-" i!
~
i
V' ~\

Sama th ing g08S fo r figures 2 and 2A. Boíh dep ict a characte r
react ing to a punch in th e [aw . While 2 is a perfectl y cle er, under-
standab le sketc h, lt simply lsn't d one in th e Marvel styl e. 1I do esn't
have the vitality, the movement , th e sharply curva d cent er lin e 01
2A. Sea how much loo ser 2A ls-esee how the le9s are bent and
thrusting backwa rds as th e arms jut forward. Sea how the head
foll ows th e cente r lin e, completi ng a gr aceful , fluid cu rve. Now
that's Mar vell
Even when characters are ju st slandi ng, the same rules apply. Notlc e
the figures on Ih e facing page . . .

In each case, I he smalle r figure is okay. Bul jusi okay. Nol partic ularly
dramatic , not overly heroic, and certai nly not very lnleresti ng.

Now Ihen, see how Ih e larger fig ures, which Hlustrate I he same poses,
have more drama to them, more heroism, and far more interest.

The variatio ns may nol seem lo be major, and yel as simple a devlc e as
Ihrusl ing Ih e head farth er forward , or spreading the legs farther aparl,
can make all Ihe difference in Ih e world. Basically, Ihe smaller figures
are perfectl y adequate dr awings; but I he larger ones are Marvel-style
drawings!

On Ihe Iwo foltow ing pages (68 and 69) you' lI

fi nd a number of other action sketc hes whic h
are all pure Marvet. Study t hem carefully and
try l o duplicate t hem. They're simple , loase,
free-and-easy, and-although each was done
wtth jusi a tew sketc hy lines- Ihey'r e au
excel lent examples of how l o get that Marvel
feeling in even the simptest of drawing s.
... ".-
 ·
-~

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Well , we know you're anxtoue to
sta rt drawlng a co mpleta figure now,
so ret'e gel rlght lo lt. J ohn has
reducad t ne process to a malter of
uve sleps. 1) Draw th e basic cente r
Une lo deter mine yeur pose end 4) Valla! Aft er sl udylng en the IJttle sketch
aetlon curve . 2) Slart f1 eshlng out unes we've been doodling , we flnally seleet
the ske tc h (and remembe r yeu r the enes that pla ase us t he most and go over
spheres. cubes, and cy lln ders). th em o nce more, bearing down harder on t he
3) Beglo drawlng through, adding penen. At last t he fi nal drawlng beqln s to take
tb e details you're golog lo need. shape.
Remember, keep yc ur penen
sl rokes rccee, I1ghl , end graceful.
1I a une lsn't rlght , don'! wor ry
abo ut JI ; ju si go ovar II lIgh ll y unl il 5)ln Chapter Two, remember hcw we added
1I bag lns lo assume the prcoer formo black tones to our vancus spheres, cubes,
and cy tlndera In or der t o give the m form ?
Notice how we accomplis h th e same thing on
Steps 4) and 51-as 1I W9 haya to t he human figure. There'lI be more about t his
ten youl -are on the next paga • .• later-we just wanl ed to whet your appetlte!

3
 Now that you've become an expert
on drawing 5 pldey f rcm t he back,
try your own different dr awings in
varlc us other poses. But remember
- use the l ive-step method, buil ding
f rom an original center-Hne sketch.

,
I
I

On the loll owing pages, we've l aken

sorne drawlngs fr om Marvel panels
and reducad th em to baslc actlcn
sketc nee. Sl udy Ihem and then sea
If vc u can fl ash the m out until you
neve l inaUy duplicated the
\, completad drawing. lt's good
• practice, and u'n help make you
reenee the importance of the
origina l center -nne sketch .
Let's toüow thosa sama five sleps again, t his ti me
endi ng with a Ilgure of Splder· Man. Try to work
along wil h John, Imitating his sketches and his
lour additional follow·through steps. Virtually every
comicbook artist uses this const ruello n techmque,
or one which la very similar.
ANO AN OTJ.4 EQ
NAM E r:Of:l
~SCt.E I 5 -­
WEI1M4N:""

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---. ..
fORESHORTENING!
THE KNACK Of DRAWING THE FIGURE
IN PERSPECTIVEI
This cha pte r's a short c ne- but lt's vita lly important. Ta ke your time with it
and make sure yo u thoroughly understand all the main points. Without a
knowledge of tc reshc rte ntnq, sil your figures could end up looking Ii ke
the y we re draw n on pyramid s by the ancient Egyptians !
 A

Vou hardly ever look at another figure in a uet perspectiva. There's

usually some part 01Ihe body that's tutee towards you, or ben!
back away Irom you, or angled in some manner or other.

Every competenl comicbook arttst must know how to deal with

this maner 01 " foreshortening " the body-and you' re no exception. ..
Here, once again, our practice with spheres, cubas, and cylinders
will stand us in good stead. Using these geometric snapee ter the
body will make it easier to sctve the vit al problem of figure
loreshortening .
\ I )
\ l
As the pix on the faci ng page demcnst rate, when these shapes are
tilted away trom you r eye Ihey seem to f1 atten out-or to become -~-~
sborte r. (TIla!'s where the word " foreshorten" comes tro m. The
object seems to gel shorte r as lt's tuteo l owards the "tore.")

Here's a simple experiment ycu can try. Hold a drin king glass
sl raighl up i n trcn t of you. Now, til t tt slowly back. See how its body
seems to sho rte n as you do so. Tha!'s foreshort ening, righl ?

The same ru les app ly whether you're eecve the

figure and looking down al it (A), or below it and
looking up (B).
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• As you analyze the fig ures on the facing paga, nctíce how the ~~
cubas and cyli nders always sharten as they go away tr orn you.
As a metter 01 fact, lt might help you to th ink 01the entl re I lgure
as a bunch of connected building bloc ks. The ernet (you) has tne
task of stringing them out and arranging them in the prop er
posit ion-makl ng sure that they 're correct ly fo resho rtened as they
tilt away from tne viewe r's aye.
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• On the pages th at foll ow, you'Usee examp les 01 ver ícus problems
in perspec tiva taken from actual drawings whlch haya appeared
in Marvel Comics. Next lo eec h dra wing , John has sketc hed the
" buildi ng bloc ks" and perspectiva lines to iIl ustrate how each of
the problems was sa lvad by the erñet.

• By comparing Ihe finished d rawing wilh Ihe cor respondlng

building-block sketc h. yo u should be able l o see how th e rul es we
have given you apply lo almost any type 01 JIIuslration.
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Note the two lh ighs 01 our btack-

garbed bad guy eecve . Obviousty ,
in real lile Ihey'd bot h be Ihe same
ene . Yel, In this dramalically
fores hortened pose, see how hls
rig ht thigh seems lO have become
consl de rably sncner Ihan his left,
because it's uuee at such a severe
angle and pointed almost di reclly al
us-as revealed very creeny in Ihe
accompanying building-bloc k
sketch ,

The same goes for th e shot 01The

Thing, on the rlghl -hand side of th e
faci ng page. See how very much
shorte r hls teflleg seems l o be-
and hi9 rlghl erm. as wen-ecm
because 01Ihe extreme angles al
which I hey're drawn. tt's Ihl s skll lful
use 01foreshortening Ihat makes a
l igure seem lo really come l o lil e as
it scee Inlo acll on on the pri nled paga.

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DRAWlNG THE HUMAN HEADl
Or even the inhuman head- we' re not prejud icedl
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Mast everyo ne ca n dr aw faces and heads 01 sorne sott-ceven lt th e

head is jusi a simple circ le with two dai s te r eyes ano a straight Une for
th e mouth. (Someti mes 11you ornlt t he nose in such a sketch no cne will
even miss ¡tI)

However, th e time hath come te r us l o study heads dr awn in t he

Marvel manner. And, since we haya l o begin somewhere , let' s exami ne
th e sketc hes on th ese pagas.

Notice t hat t he head dr awn in profile should general ly tit into a square
(as show n), wit h th e nose and part 01 the ehin prot ruding.

Also not e t hat t he eyes usual ly come mi dway in the skull, between t he
top 01 th e dome and t he bott om 01 th e chino

11 you divid e th e skull int o tou r even qu art ers, trom top lo bottom, th e
nose will usuall y be in th e second quarte r up fro m t ne chin-wit h the
ears falling in about t he same level.

As you ca n also see, in t he full view the head lsn't a pertect oval beca use
th e j aw has a stc pe which makes th e bott om of the skull co nside rab ly
narr ower th an t he topo
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he skull in different anctee.

dr~~;;for ex~rclS~~~1I la; ~~,~
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Keep Ihese th e be ableto 90 lo lhe
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wr 01 head imagina
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next page . . .
For starte re, let' e draw a typical hero-type head. Since everyt hlng le eaeler
when you' ve got a few rules lo fol low, here are sorne tlp s you oughl lo
remember:

The head is generally five eyes wíde.

There la one eye's distance between the two eyes.

To dete rmine the width of the mouth, draw an equilateral triang le,
starting at the top (bridge) of the nose. The triangle goes down ,
touching the nostrils et the outside of the noee, right? Of coursel
Well , the width of the mouth is dete rmined by where the two Unes
cross the mout h ltne! The same shortcut applies to the ehin.

Slmply start your trlang le underneath the nose, th rough the lower
IIp (where It starts to turn up) and, when tt touches the bottom of
the head-Eurekal That's the wldt h of the ehinl

At this stage, keep your faces simp le. Notice the re are no extra
lin es In the forehead or around the nose or chin o

Keep the nose somewhat small and make the chtn strong and flrm.

Glve the hal r body and ttrlck ness. Don't Just ret lt lie flal on the head.

Keep the mouth simple. Nctrce the cu rve 01 the upper Iip-and just
a emeu simp le une for the lcwe r tipo

.,
There are, 01 course, thousands of varlations on these litt le rules. However,
rememberin g these baste principies will make it easier to draw the many
diff erent types of faces that await us . . .
 AL L r ASI< I S - - PON ' T
PASS .TUOGEM ENT
ON TI-/E 5 1/8-

MY
PA~T NERS
AN O 1 · -
""AV E A
P lAN.'

As you can see, there are many

different types of good-Iooking
males, be they human, amphibia n,
or whatever. However, the
importan t point to remernber is-if
you generally toüow the rules we've
given you, you'll be able te make
any character heroic-lcckl nq, no
malte r what his origin or his facial
expression.
Drawing th e good guy is, as you can prob abty tett, a somewhat
formularized task. But drawing t he bad guy- ah, th at's where the t un
ls! That' s where you can let your im agin ation run rlot and reall y do
your thi ngl

As you know, your average vile and vlclous villai n co mes in all sizes,
shapes. and categ ories . So, when crea ti ng his head, you can use any
shape tha t gr abs you-square, reune, wld e, narrow , pear-sbapeo,
whatever. 0 1 course, you have to be sure th at his looks comp lement his
characte r and personali ty. The types 01 villai ns available to you are
virtually limitless. There are th e st rong enes, the sty ones, the nutt y
enes. the paranoid enes, the ruthl ess ones, th e grotesque ones, the
decepttve ones, the alien ones, and too many ot hers ter us t o mentlo n
slnce we have to pay for our own ty pewrtte r ribbons!

So, if you' Hc ourage ously t urn the page , we' lI give you a selectio n of
sample types, wit h various differ ent head sizes and head shapes. You
pays your money and you ta kes your choice !
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 JUST A:;;' IT 1$ MAGNETO
AN O ~ 1S' IHVTAN7:S WHO
WIl..L. ONE OAY RUi,E TH E
WORLD/

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 Now we co me to almost everybody's lavorite part- drawl ng the l ace of a
pretly glrl-and l ew people are as well-qualili ed as Big John himsell to give
you all the Info yo u need. Nol only is John one 01 the all- time gre ats In the
f¡eld 01super hero strtps, but he siso ls almost wltbout peer whe n 11co mes
to portraying beautilul remares. And. lt you need any l urther prcct, read on •••

NOTE: We're going t o devote quite a bit 01 space to t his eectlon , because
Ihe semblance 01 a beautlt ul heroine ts usually more diff icult to prod uce
Ihan a drawing 01 a hero.

As usual, let's start with five baslc steps-the profile l irst:

-1 _

.. Draw the head w llhln an Imaglnary squere,

! 10cati ng the eye Une halfway down the l ace.
f

Place eye and nose. Nctlce how the nose

tIIts out and up I rom the skull-and is rather
short. Uslng a soft curved une, place the
chee k Irom the ear lo me front 01the skuil,
haltway between bott om ct nose and bottom
01 chln .
 /
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Place the mouth well forward from the skult.
Note Ihal Ihe lowe r lip ls fulle r than the
upper Hp, wnüe the upper lip j uts out farther
(
forward. See the angle Une John drew to
ehow the extenstcn of IIps in retenc n to nose
and chln ?

Place the eyebrcw, but nct too low-and

employ a graceful curve. Br ing chln tc rwerd
and find proper positl onrng of nostr il by
drawing a st raight line from mouth l o eye
IIne.

Notlce that the forehead is always rounded

and never flat. Keep the eyetaehes a solid
mass-don't try to dr aw eech Httte lash. And,
as ever, keep the hair full and fluffy, not flat
on the damsel's dome.
Tel1 you what. We'lI operate on Ihe honor system. John and I will take your
word te r Ih e tact t hat you've been failhfull y pracl icing drawing Ih e female
profil e. We'lI assume that you've gol lt down pat now and are ready l o tack!e
Ih e fr ont-view drawing. See how we t rust you?

This time, jusi so you don't take I hings l oo much for granled , we'lI hil you
with a total 01slx-step s. But don't worry about lt . . • Ihey're each adorable!

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Draw a well -proportioned egg eheoe. Draw lhe usual eye une, mldway 00 the
(See? Told you not lo worry l) skuu. remember? A good rule of thumb tor
you- the head ls five eyes wi de.

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Draw ao equil ate ral lriaogle (all the ardes
being exaclly the same leng l h, natchl) from
tbe oulsi de ot tbe eyes to the cenler li ne 01
the tace. Place your cheek unes and
lndt cete l he area for the mouth.
Aboul ooe-l hird 01lhe way up Irom lhe toe
of the lip to the eye Ilne tnetcete the nose.
Add graceful eyebrows well above l he eyes,
and sketch in the ears-one al each side 01
the head, preferably.
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Here's where the real drawing beg ins. No shortc ut for th is. Vou've gol
to raally draw the gal's nose. In the beg inning, eopy il as best ycu ca n
I rom the one John ny has shown here f()( you. Alway s make ji a üttte
narrower than the wi dth 01one eye, ene make sure tha t il til ts upwa rd.
Find the width 01the mouth by drawing lin es Irom the top 01the nose
peet the ncet rns. The uppe r ene rcw er lip are posltioned by co ntinul ng
tne che ek l ine through the mout h area.

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All that remalns Is to add a head 01 hair and erase you r guldellnes.
Notice 8galn th at the eyelashes are a salid mass, and the eyes are
sll ghtly highe r al the outside than the fnsfde corners.
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Natur ally, being able to draw a head is only part of lt . The big thlng Is l o be
able l o animale I he head, l o put inl eresli ng expressions on th e tace. So, here
we go again.

The faces on I hese pages were all const ructed exactl y like Ihe one ycu've
Iust been sl udyi ng. Noli ce how Jc hn ls able l o change Ih e expression as
oft en as he likes simply by maklng slighl alteratto ns in Ihe mcutb, Ihe eyes,
and Ih e eyebrows. Each expressio n is obvious. Each expression is differenl .
And each expression can be maslered by you if you'll merely study I hem
carefully and follow I hese few simple t ips:

Keep your remate faces simple. Use no ext ra expression lines on th e

torehead, or around the mouth or nose.

We repeat, you don't need a lot of lines to show expression, or to change an

expr essio n. Keep it cl ean and open.

Study your own face in the mirrcr. Practice making dlfferenl expressions
yourself and see whal happens to your face when you do. Most artist s are
thelr own best models- and Ihe onty equipment you need ls a mirror.

Virtuall y Ihe same rules apply lo male faces as t o f emale face s (regarding
expressions). So st udy Ih is secñcn carefull y, and apply Ih e same formulae
l o the vario us male characters you may wish l o draw.
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Nevar fargel - once you leam the basic rules,
lt's fun l o changa t hem and come up with your
own verslo ns. Bul you must know t he rule s
e ,\ a-
perfec t ly befare you can begin editi ng or ,;
revising them. " '" !
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 But how about a ltttle vartety? Suppose we
wanl lo draw a more sopblstt cate d type , or an
older woman? Well, t hat's why we to ld you lo
leam the ru les fi rst, and Ihen have fun editi ng
them. Here's whal we mean .. .

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 Let' s saya story caüs for a sop histicated villainess type. Okay, we make the
jaw llne a bit more angular, and then give t he eyebrows more of an arch.
Also, let's ralee the outside co rners of the eyes and straighten th e nose a bit.
See t he difference? Still a great-Iooking temate. Still abidi ng by an t he rules
we gave you. But, wit h just t he slightest tlttle changes, we've made her a
somewhat di fferent type. On the seco nd Une we did t he same thing to t he
gal in pr ofi le, to show you how she'd look if you were standi ng to t he side
of her.

By t he way, those two swing y earrings whic h Joh n lightly sketched help to
give the impression of sophistication, atso. Natur afty, jewe lry , clot hes,
hal rdos, and everyt hing else about a woman (or a man) help to create th e
prop er look and mood.

Now, te r a somewhat older woman, simply round out t he jawline a bit, add a
very slight doubl e-chin effect, and with just one curved line under each
eye, see how you give a feeling of puffin ess (hence, additional age). And, as
yo u ca n see, her earring s are smaller and more conventio nal, also
suggesting maturity.

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 Just lo make sure we haven't missed anythi ng,
let's give Ihe se tmportant potnts l o remember
a fi nal once-over . • . and let'e see whal Ihey'd
look li ke If t ney happened l o be done wro ng.

DO draw eyerashee as a mass. DON'T try to draw individual DON'T let eyes droop.
DO tllt the ave upward on eyetesnee. DON'T draw eye too DON'T dra w eyebrcwe as a
outside. long and narrow. simple curve.

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DO draw nose tilted DON'T draw nose tilted up DON'T draw bumps on DON'T let tlp 01 nose dlp.
upward : DO draw smal! too muc hoDON'T draw nose. (l t's always one
nostr il s. large nostr lls. simple smooth line.)
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DO learn lo dr aw a mouth with a DON 'T try lo d raw bow l ips. DON 'T dr aw angu lar ücs .
pleas ing sha pe.

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DO always place upper lip f arther
forward th an tower one .
OON' T pul upper IIp too far OON'T make lips too Ih ic k.
tcrwerc. cr make it too thin. OON'T let lower lip j ut too far
OON 'T make ehin too weak. tcrwerd. DON'T make ehin too
prominent.

On paga 106 we pr esent a series 01beautiful-girl heads in different

positions, to allow you to see how th e beauty ramains no matter what the
angla. Notice how the nose ls alway s tiltad upward. regard less 01 th e
haad's positi on.

O n pag a 107 w e've lncluded females' heads drawn by difIeren! artis ta,
t o enable yc u to familia rize yourself with different sty les and techniques.
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COMPOSITIONI
Putt ing the picture together l
 CJ.#VER O F 'ttXJ, R'CHA ~$ •••
5TRlI<ING IN TIllO P1R &"CT1ON OF
MY VO ICE.'

• Call lt compositi on, call u layout, ceu it deslgn - it atl adds up to one
vi tally i mporta nt polnt : you've got lo pul your plctur e tccetner so that
tt's pleasing to Ihe eye and u gets lts message across clearly and
int eresting ly. The one cruci al rule you shoufd never lorget is- the
simple r the desig n, the easie r it will be for the reader to und erstand
and enjoy ít. Make your desig ns exclting , sla rt!ing, powerful-but keep
them simple.

• l et 's con side r the faci ng page. Next l o three ty pical Marvel panel s
we've used shaded diag rams to tnotc ate the simple, direct flow of
me designo

• In eaeh example, notiee how the most im portant erements 01eecn

panel ten wilhi n the shaded ate as. Though these areas seem to be
abstraet tcrmeuc ns. they creete unified preteres. The Importan¡
elements are gr ouped toge ther rat her than scat terec. These shaded
arees. tneee pr ime enapes. are aetually sensed by the artist as he
draws. The shape is never dra wn ñrst , wit h the elements the n squeezed
inside of 11. Rather, the crcture is originally sketehed out with Ihe shaded
areas taking form in the erus t's mind. Sometlm es, alter a prcture Is
dr awn , t oo many im porta nl erements tan outsroe the ees¡c shade d
áreas. In such rnstences. tne ar nst changes his dr awlng untü everythlng
fall s wilh in a pleasanl , unilied mass.

• Once you Ira in your eye lo li nd such cettems, Ihe rnost complic al ed
picture will lend nsert te simi lar enaiysrs as socn as you look al tt. As a
maller 01 la ct, let's tu rn the paqe and sludy some additional examples,
bearin g in mind that no two shapes are apt to be alike .. .
 YOU M Usr L.ET Mé DO 4S YOU
8ATTL E 4T YOUR W/S..v,
S IOE/ M AG N Ero/

_ Y'CU TALK t'rG, YA F'HOH EY,

, 9UT I 'l..L. •• • _ _ -"iI!
 Anothe r vitally lmportant element of deslgn 15 the ec-ceñe d
" camera angle." Obviously you, as the artlet, can draw a scene
from whatever angle you destre. vou can look at a sce ne head-on ;
you can tllt the " camera" (the viewer's eye) upward, or down, or
sideways, or any way you wis h, j ust as a movle di rect or can
arrange hls camera ehots te suit his own teste.

As you can imagi ne, sorne camera angles are more dramatlc,
more lnteresting than othe rs. lt's your job to fin d the angle that
wlll make t he most of t ne píct ure you want to present, and t hen to
iIIustrate it tor your read er.

Here are three examples of different ca mera ang les dep icting
three different scenes . let's study th em tog ether ter a moment.

Dr. Strange 18 entering 8 room. lI's a

tlat, simple, obvious camera angle. Sama siluation, but by changlng the
NOlhlng really dramatic or unusuat camera angle sea how me ecene has a
about 11. sansa o, ur gency , of Impending drama.

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seems to be lettl n~n~~e~rNpOW

Different came ra
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New
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menacin g e, new Dr. Doom
Dr. Doom b .
It tells the s~~n~~is usual rctt en eeu better layout! g, more compel ling,-
nolhing more. .
• t et's playa game. Let's take a typicat MaN el Comics situation- somethlng
that mlght happen in an AVENGERS slory-and draw It i n two difleren t ways.
The li rst set o, drawings will be fair, the way any comicbook company mlght
do ít. The second set of drawing s will be done in the mighty MaNel style.
The fun wi ll come as we compare the two versio ns and study the
differences.

• On the la clng page we present our fir st verslon- the way any average
cc mtcbcck might present such a story . Let's take a good look ene sea what' s
happening • • •

• As you can see, the page begi ns with sorne sort ot nutty monster breaking
into Avengers headqu arters. Panel 2 ehowe the reecncn of three 01our
heroes. Panel 3 shows Cap. Iron Man, and The Vision rushing to do battle
with the Intruder. Panel 4 has 01' Shell·head swinging al l he blg bad
behemoth. In panel 5 the monster has grabbed and Iifted Iron Man, about to
do hlm Irreparable bod ily harm. And linaUy, panel 6 shows Cap and The
vtetcn ponde ring their next move. Got the pictu re? Good l

• Now then, the set of drawings obviously te11s Ihe story well enough. We can
see wt ret'e happening , and the characl ers are certainly recog nlzable. But ·
tney're lacking i n heroism, in raw drama , in sheer excrtement. Most 01 the
layouts are l oo vertic al (too straghl-up-and -down). The figur es of the heroes
are somewhat stiff and lacking in power and dynamlsm. Too many of the
panels neve all l he main erements placed l oo neeny In the center.

• Well , we could go on and on. But it 'lI be eeerer just lo tu rn the page and see
how II 's done Ihe Marvet wayl
2

• Now th is is mor e li ke lt ! Look al panel 1- loo k al thls c lose-up 01 t he

monster break ing i n. He tooss tike a mcn ster- fie lock s dangerous,
menac ing, super-stro ng ene deadly. And we oc n't sea our th ree héroes
sta nding around in a co rne r ollhe panel like tnree simpleto ns. In panel 2,
aven Ihoug h the actton neen't yet ste rted. we gel a fee ling 01mcvement. due
lo the placement 01th e fig ures, wilh Iron Man in f ront, fo llo wed by the
cth ers. lt's no! a simple , rookrna -stratcnt-cn panel. How about t hat panel 3!
Sea l he action , the drama, t he feeli ng 01 power generated by our herc es!
JusI co mpa re tt wtth the cne on Ihe prec eding paga and we wc n't have l o
sa y another wo rd. Panel 4, 01 co urse, shows Iron Man hitling our mi rthful
litt le mcnster the way a bero's supposed to- as if he means it ! It doesn't
took lik e he's a ballet da ncer, as in the ot her versio n! As to r panel 5, Iron
Man is now far less sUff; he really looks like he's strugg li ng to break f ree-
and he sti lllooks powerful enoug h to nave a cha nce 01 doi ng it! Finally, in
panel 6 the two Avengers are much more g racef ullooking, and the tilt of
t heir bod ies gives a feeli ng of far mo re urgency and exci tement.

• Yo u might elsc haya not iced th at the elements in each ct the se panels are
not as evenly cente red as on th e preceding paqe. This gives a fee li ng ct
.~' more movement and bett er oeslq n. And you must be aware t hat t here
is more variety lnsctar as t he stze of the fi gur es is cc ncernee. A panel is
much more imp ressive when the fig ures are d rawn different sizes. It gets dull
for a reader to sea c ttaracters who are pretty much th e same size t hroughout
th e paga.

• Now, we'n give yo u another two pages of t he same type ot t hing. Wil hout
any co mments from us, see if yo u can tell why the seco nd versio n is
infinile ly better t han the f irst. If you need a tew crees. yo u'lI ncnc e more
i nte resti ng and varled perspectiva shots , more variety in the size ot t he
fi gures, and less empnasis en pulling everyt hing di rect ly in the ce nte r of the
paners. See how many ot her poi nts ot jrnprcvement you can find in th e
second verslo n. It'll be good pract ice fo r yo u in tra ining your eye to ten a
Iai r layout f rom a really good one .
 • - .. - n;."

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DRAW YOUR OWN
COMICOOOK PAGEl
If we can do it- so can you !
 "
1

'1

As far as we know, this ls Ihe ttrstttme th ts teehn ique has ever been oltered
lo anyone cutsroe the halc yon hans ct Marve! ' en Ihe pages that tcuow .
we're going lo show yo u, etep by step , exaelly how a page mighl be pene ile d
for a cc mrcbcck.

Aelually, the page you 're abou t lo stuov was originally done for a strip
c alled CAPTAIN BRITAIN, pubusned by Marvet Com ics tor distribuficn ene
sale i n Greal Brttatn. The artist was given a ctot dese ription ralher than a
complete sc rlpt containing dialogue , Therefo re, we won't coneern o urselves
wilh captions or dialogue balloons, bul merely with drawing Ihe panels
aeeo rdi ng to Ihe plct. 3 4 ~
Now, here's whal we have lo draw. In pane l 1, Captai n Ameriea, followed by
Captaln Britaln, raees down a eorridor on a resc ue mission. Panel 2 depicts
'\
Ihe vi llaino us Red Skull aiming a gun al tus enemy, Nick Fury, who hove rs \
aboye him , held aloft by Iwin jet-paeks, whie h he wea rs on his back. Fury
reacts in surpri se as he beers hls name caneo by cepta¡n Améric a. Panel 3 -' /f
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ts a shot of Ihe Skull fir ing poi nt-b lank at poor 01' Fury! In panel 4, Fury
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drops lo the f100r as Cap rust res l o help him. Panel 5 shows the Skull abo ul
to zap the star-spangled Avenger. And we wrap it up with panel 6, in whtc n
captatn Britain, holding hts uniq ue armored etett, charges lo the rescue. l
Alth ough yo u've already seen the finished prod uct on the ehapter head on ~-
page 124, the imporl anl l hing fo r yo u now ls lo see just how the wnole thi ng I
was pul together. Bul before you b reathlessly tu m the page, remember to -,
always lay oul Ihe enlire page before you finish any individual d rawing.
Also, always draw the enli re fig ure in each panel , even jf it wo n't all show
in the fi nal arlwork .

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This ts tbe first d raft, do ne pure ly te r layout
ene ecucn-qust lo posrtrco the ctreracters.
Basiea lly , it ccnststs of a set of ettck figu res,
giving the arttst an idea of what tus page may
look Iike and how the actton will fJow from
panel to panel .
This is where Ih e artisl starts bui lding his figu res, using Ih e spheres, cubes, and
cylinders we studi ed eartler. Noti ce how he will draw Ihrough a figure wherever
necessary. And see how Ih e origi nal stick-figure line now becomes his acl ion
center llne.

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Thls ls lt-the " fleshlng-out" proc ess, whic h we discussed In Chapter Flve. As you
can see, fr om spheres, cubee, ene cylinders it's not a very blg step lo Ihe ccmpleted
figure-at least not once you've learned how l o draw the tace, the body , and all the
other Ihings we've been so bri lliantly explainingl

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~~==:::_ - _ .-
Okay ! Since you did such a c rear job on that one, tet's
try anot her!

<----_: '1
This time let's see you draw your own page- in 1he
sama stages as you've j ust observad-before you look
at the pages that follo w. Then you can compare your
own handiwork with ours-and there's always the
chanca that yours will be better ! .~J
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Here's the ptct :

Spld er-Man, out to ge1 revenge against the Silver Surfer, finds him on a
roct tcp. The Surter warns our frien dly neighborhood web-head to stay back .
In order to show Spidey that he means busi ness, 01 ' SS mil dly zings him with
a teensy cosmtc bolt. Spidey , having been knocked off his teet. decides to ~--

fight back. Spider -Man quickly zi ps sorne webbing at the Surfer, catching it
erouno his ankles. Finally, the Surfer, wrapped in Spidey 's webbi ng, loses
his balance end topples off the rooltop. ~-

rhrs scena rtc was wri tten so that each sentence describes a sepa-ate panel,
ter a tota l ot slx panels 10 tne page.

That' s tt. You're on your own. Sketc h out a page as best you can , following
tbe scena rto, and then compa re it wit h our verelon. Ramember now, do the
stick fig ures ñrst : then the spheree, cubas, and cylindars; and finally the
fleshing out. You can compare each process with ours as you go. Enjoy!

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• How did you do? Better than you exp ected , eh? II so, congratulations.
1I nct . ocn't wo rry about it. Try sorne more, making up the sftuatrcne
- - -- 1/ ! .t\- --
yourself. That's the way most of the pros in the comicbook field got
th eir star t, by creating and drawing their own sto ries and strips, and

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the n using them as samples te shcw the edito r al a comicbook / // .' 1 ," .
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publishing company.
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• But now , before we go on to the next chapter, let's ju st take a minute

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to revlew the " design" of the panel s you've just been studyi ng.
Aemember that tne design ts as important as tne basic drawing - in ' , ',"
,
I
tect, the design is pan ot the basic drawing, Note Ihe design pattern s
in the panels on the facing paqe. Try to tra in yourself to spot such
pattern s in every panel you rook et, and especi ally in every panel you
i ntend te draw.

• Okay, summary time 's overoOn to the next good ie we have in atore
ter you . , .

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MARVE~ COMICS GROUP ~
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NOVA

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THE COMICOOOK COVER!
Without whic h you cannot te1l a book by!

As you can imagine, l he cover ts prob ably Ihe si ngle mosl lmportanl
pag e In any comlcbook. If It catches your eye and intrigues you, there's
a chance yo u may buy the maga zine. If u does n't cause you to plc k lt
uP, 1tmeans o ne test sale.
Con sequen tty, more though t and mor e wor k go int o t ne cover t han any
othe r page. Usually the editor will cre ate an Idea ter a cove r with tn e
artis l who Is about to do the ill ustration. Then, if lime eucw e. the artist
may do a number of simple layouts which he'U erscu es with tne editor
until one fi nal versió n ts agreed upon. On t he l acing page we sncw
what we mean • . •
Since we tho ught you'd be curious about t he comments and criticisms 01
these layouts, bere's a samp le for you to mull over:
I
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1 2
1 The l igures 01Nova and Spider-Man are lOO small. They don't
have enough punen,
2 Not bad, but Nova is me star o, the magazine and the edilor
didn'tlike lO neve nolhing showing bul Nova's back.
3 Too muen wasted acece on rlghl side o, ccver. Arso, even
Ihough Splder· Man Is just a guest star in Ihi s issue, we'e tike
lo see more 01 hlm.
4 This is me one Ihal was setecteo. We gel a good vtew o. bolh
Nova and Spidey, and they're muen targer than in layout 1.
Alac, me perspecnve 115 more lnleresling because the reader's
aye rever is up high wil h me two ne-cee.
One polnt to remember-ctneee are all matrera o, opin ion . Act ually,
cover sketc h 2 is reall y quite interesti ng, even if we ecn't sea mor e of
Nova, and 3 has a rot ct lmpa ct becau se the figures are even larg er
than in 4. Unl ike mathematics, no opinlo n is ever 100% correctoWe just
t ry to show you how we lee l about tnese things, to help you formulate
yo ur own decision s and opi nion s.
3 4
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e ec ause 01th e impo rl ance 01 Ihe ccver, ene bec ause it serves as a t uü-colo r
eove rtrseme nt lor t he magazine rtsert, all the elemenls 01 Ihe tnustra tro n
mus t be very ca rel ully cut t oget her. Here are sorne of the Ihings w hich t he
artlst must alw ays remember :
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Always leave enough room al the top 01the illustration lor the
logo (tille ot the magazine).
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Nothing important must be drawn at the outside edge 01 the

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bottom or the right srce ot the cover. because sorne 01 that papar , I
ls trimmed olf al the prinling plant. This atea, approximately a hall ,
inch in wtdth , ts relerred lo as Ihe " bleed." , '-
There musl be a number 01 " dead ereee'' on Ihe ccver-eareas
which, allhough exciting-Iookin g lo Ihe reader, are unimportant
..., \":
enough lo be coverec cver by dialogue bauooos. cecucne. and/or
-,
blurbs il the editor so destres. / ' "
Since the coloran a cavar le vitally important, the artfst mcsm't
use loo many heavy black areas in his illusl ralion. The expresslon
emptcyed in Ihe Bullpen is: "teave the drawing open lar color."

r ne drawing must be provocative enough to make the reader want

to gel the magazine and read the slory, but it mustn't give the '1
ending away, or lip the reader 011 te any surprises.
¡

Well, that's eno ugh te r yo u t o cope w ith al presen!. Now , once aaatn, let's
t race Ihe prog ress ot our d raw ing I rom t he tr utta t ro ugh sl age l o t he
com plet ed pencil versron. The fi nal inked cove r can be sean, 01 co urse. on
paqe 136, w here it was used l o Introd uce th is unl orgettabl a ch apter.

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H'!AG ••• 'T1U!' SNRt/LL
$VPRIME ••• HAS }-_ ,
OfWERE" EART'H THAT
OFF "I./MI'IS "'O 15 ONE
OUR CONQU ERING ORt'ER
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MU9T 510F' M E FROo\
CAPn/RING HIM· . ·
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8
THE ART Of INKINGI
No matter how beautifully a paga may be drawn in pencil , it cannat be
prlnted in a c omíc book unless bl ack ind ia lnk is appl ied lo the or iginal
peneil dra wing . That means someone has to tr ace over the lnitial penc iled
artwork with eith er a paintbrush or drawing pen, tran sforming each
illustration into a carefu lly "i nked" final producto

However, always remember tha t an ínker is not merel y a person who

traces a penci led drawing. The tnker has lo be an artlst himself . (Or
herself. No chauvinists we!) A gifted ínker can make medio cre penc ili ng
loo k qreat; while a mediocre Inker can make grest penciling look dull !

Inking is vil ally important. The more you know about lt, the better. And
here's where we begin .. .
 Inking can tend to be tiresome, and it requires
relentless concentratio n. Tberetore, you should
make sure your posture ls corre ct. Whatever you
do, co n't slou ch over your drawing board. Sit up
straight-slouching will make you weary and
llstless .

TIP: The ink in your pen point s and brushes will

become hard and stiff if you dcn't keep them olean.
Always keep ajar of cl ear water at hand and soak
both brushes and pen points when they're not
in use.

Even though India ink is more permanent than pencil , don't get uptigh t
if you make a mistake. You ca n always paint over your erro r with opaque
white palnt, and-as soon as the pai nt dri es-you can ink rig ht
over lt .

For ruling li nes (whic h ink ers are co ntinually ca lled upon to do) you
can use a rulin g pen. No need to dip it into the ink, though. You merely
load a brush with ink, and then run it over the pen untll the pen ls f11l ed.

Later en, when you feal more adventurous, you can act ually rule fines
with your brush. It's ter more difficult, but It often pays off because
your ti nished Hnes will have more character, more interest. They won't
be as stitt and totally uniform as lin es rul ed with a pen. Merely hold a
ruter at about a 45-degree angle , and by varyi ng the pressure of your
brush, you can make lines ot virt ually any thickness.
Your best bet is to becom e equally taclle with both pen and brush. The pen ls eesrest when
you're just Inking black lines, but you'll need a brush for filling in soli d black areas. 0 1course,
you ca n also use your bru sh ter drawing lin es, but lt'e more diff icul t than the pen-it requi res
greater control on your part oThe lin es must be elean, sharp, and decisive-not ragged or
sc ratc hy. Stl ll, we suggest you learn to use a brush-Iearn to vl rtually draw with your brush
inst ead of merely tracing the pencillines. You should teel you'r e creating tnem anew with the
brush-feel that you're drawing them-otherwise the fini shed drawing may seem stiff and Hteless.

Notice the patches of design below. They were all done with a Windsor Newton #3 sable hair
brush. Patches 1 th rough 4 are ca lled " feathering." This is when your brush " feathers" a numb er
of roughly parall el lines. Notice how sorne strokes go from thin to thick-all do ne with the same
brush , by merely varying the pressure you place upon the brush. Patches 5 through 8 were done
using the sideof the brush. This technique is handy for inking hair on a characte r's head. ln case
you'r e wond ering, 12 was done by dragglng the point of a razor bl ade along the edge of a ruter.

Try dupli cating these various strokes and, even better, see how many of your own you can create.

And now, let 's tak e a few t ypical examples of inking and study them. We'lI see if we can tett
what' s good about them-and what needs improving .. .

2 3 4

5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12

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Here's a well-inked panel, shcwn the size it was originally worke d on,
and then reduced to the size it would appea r in a comicbook, so that
you can see how well it reprodu ces even when sca ted down to
comicboo k panel slze. Notlce how the lines vary in thickness, and how
they' re heavie r on the underslde of the bod ies-away f rom the light-
givi ng solidity to the fig ures. Note atsc how clear the picture is. even
lhough there are many figu res and a wealth o! detall. One of the most
important tasks the inker faces ls t o tnsure that the drawi ng will be
understend abte to the reader, no matter how com pli cated it may be.
One way to achieve this is to use heavy bl acks to make t he figures
stand out from the backgr ound , as in this example .
Here we've taken th e same panel ene overwo rked it- used too many
blacks and too many Hnes. Not ice how complicated lt looks in lts
or iginal etze. and how much less cl ear lt is-how muen more difficult
to understand-after it' s been redu ced to com icbook panel size .
Add ing too many detail s and too much textu re in the inki ng has made
the ligures blend with the bac kground instead 01 standing out in sharp
reliet as the pencil er íntendec . In ehort, the plctu re has become much
harder to read , less pleasa nt to look at , and will also be more difficu lt
to c olor.
 u srnc the same penciled drawi ng once agai n, we go to another ext reme .
This ti me the inker did n't get neerty enough variety in his unes. or in
his black areas. As you can see, his Unes are almost all th e same
weig ht , wít h no teennq 01 " thick and Ih in." Hls soli d black areas are
too skimpy and too spotty : they're scattered all over th e panel in no
deñnlte pattern, and seemingly for no particular reason. The figures
don 't stand apart fro m each other ano tney all seem to blend in wit h
the background. As you can see, lt's just as bad to keep a panel too
lig ht as it ls to overwork the drawi ng.

ASSEM8~E JUST A S r P¿ANNEP/

YOU,Il ,IlANKS/ NAM OR 15 ,.,08/UZ/NG
T~E S/GNA~ ~I5 FORCE5/
HA S eeeN
S OUNDED.'
-L-- o o o
Sometimes a penciler indicates in his pencil ed drawing s wnere t he black areas should
go. Ot her times he leaves it l o I he inke r. However, no matter how Ih e decisl on is
arrtved al , the important I hing te l o know when and where l o pl ace your sl rong black
areae, for too IitUe or too much black can weaken c r totatl y dest roy a penclled drawing.

While Ih e black masses of course give a drawi ng soli dily, they also help focus
important elements in a pict ure by attracting the eye towa rd any desired area. Equally
impo rta nt ts tne use of soli d and strong black masses to cr eate dramatic moods within
the drawing. Now, Iet's study some exampl es l o help us cla rify these points • • .

N".,
I KEEI' ITACK,
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5TAYAWAY
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Notice how the heavy black areas here are

co ncent rated on just one side ot the figure.
There are atmost no b tacks in the lig hl area on the
other side. This technique serves to accomplish
Iwo things: 1) It gives t he fig ure a feeli ng of
dimension, ct roundn ess. 2) It directs t he reader's
att enti on l o the charac ter's head by frami ng th e
head wit h messlve black áreas. directing t he
reaoer's eye to the all-i mportant fearful face.

In t his panel we have simil ar Iighli ng,

with one brig hl lig ht source iIIuminating
one side of I he body and casti ng t he
ot her side in deep shadow. Even though
the figures are dr awn qu ite realisticall y,
note how bold ly and simply Ih e heavy
black shadows are applie d. For th e most
dramatic effe cts, keep your inking
simple, wítn just one definite Iight
source i n each panel.
Now let's analyze two more typical panels
th rough the use of simp lified diag rams. In t he
to p panel, the artist's matn pur pose was to
create a mood of fear and menace. Once
again, notice how boldly and simply he
app lie d his black masses. The heavy ehaoow
seems to totall y engulf t he smaller white
fig ure, which ls sharp ly highli ghted ter
maximum emphaels. In the co rrespo ndi ng
panel on t he right we 've reduced the entire
design to its simplest torm , so th at you can
easily discern t he crlsp co ntrast between th e
sta rk black and white vel ues.

Always remember-eth e placement ot your

blac k areas creates a defi nite patte rn in every
píct ure . This patte rn must never be too
compucateo. or too busy, lest it conf use the
reader. Whenever an tüust ratlon causes
confusion in a reader's mind, lt alsc causes
t he reader's attention to be diverted, thu s
breaki ng the dramatic moo d that each
preceding panel has attem pted to create.
In other wcrce. Charlie , keep it simple-and
keep it clea rt

,.
W E VE L.EARN ED
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....
"H''''G F~

E}(f'E~IENGE '-

Here we have an ext remely complicated scene. Yet , despite th e weatth of detail, note how th e
placement of th e black areas creates a pattern which seems to draw the reade r's eye smoot hly
across t he plctu re. Ncttc e also how the t hree fig ures in the center have been given [ust enough
black dabs-especiall y around their heads-to allow them to sta nd out from the backqround .

Next time you stu dy a panel in order to analyze the inki ng tec hnique, t rain yoursell to squint
your eye and tr y to recog nize t he way the black areas are massed te r design, in t he same way
as we've attem pted to show you by use of the two simplified panels on th is page.
Here's a diff erent appli cation 01bla cks. On th e previous paga we saw the bla ck areas used in a
very reatlstl c way; here we have an example 01 blac ks being used decor atively. Notice now t he
black highlight unes on tne ship seem l o be aimed directl y at Ihe li gures, locusing the reader's
attention on Reed, Sue, and Ihe baby. Nctlce etsc how Ihe blacke in the upper areas 01Ihei r
bod ies enctrcte Ihe three heade, directing your eye right l o the clusler of laces.

Next we have wbat seems lo be a complicated arra ngement 01blacks but is actually a simple,
very di rect patte rn. In thi s case, the use 01 black s directs th e reader's eye around the panel in a
smoot h, harmoniou s rhythm . See how th e black shapes al t he right slde 01 tn e panel are large
and bold, whil e t hose at tha left are lar smalle r. The purpose 01these smalle r bl ack areas ls to
co unterbalance the larg er bl ack masses at the right. To preve this lor yourselt, slmply ccver the
small er, lett-hano black areas wit h a ple ce ot white paper and notice how the panel seems
locelded and off- balance wlthout them.

Never add bla cks mer ety beca use

you've got some extra ink in your
pen or brush. Always have a
eeunue reason- either to enhance
the desig n 01 th e panel, or to help
clarily a compli cated layout. Of
equal lmportance, of course, ts the
use of black to emphastze a certaln
mood. And, speaking 01 mood . . .
Hey, how lucky can we be! Here's a pertec t example of the use of black s l o cr éete a certain mood !
By squinti ng our eyes, or observ ing the simplified panel en the right, we ca n Instantly see that
all the black areas aro in crisp, simple vertical or horizontal forms, thereb y creati ng a calm,
moti onless scene-with the dramatic exc eptio n of the larg e, slanti ng black masses on the
winged gargoyle, which add a sudden feeling ct shoc k, of uneastness, of impending danger
and menace !
The large, vertic al btack desig ns within the fence bars are also t remendously importa nl in Ihis
iIIustration, for Ihey serve l o unify Ihe entire plct ure . Wit hout Ihem, the whcte design would
seem to tal! aparto

I 'M GL.AD íHAT we

J'?EA CHEt:' ~eFle 1 PON 'T
eel'"ORE HIGNTFA ll ! I'iNOW HOW
r ,T i MIS? HARI<NESG
C AN L.J\lE ~EJ¡!E
A tONE/

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In the panel below we have an enti rely different feeling , Here, in orde r lo dramatize the mood of
the panel, the black designs seem to be jumping all over Ihe place, creati ng a scene of chaos
and action . Bul even here, note that the patte rn-Ihough seemlngly jumpy- is also quit e unifi ed
and consistent, helping to rlvet Ih e reader's eye on t he act lon withi n the plc ture. From the
standpoint of abst ract design, the black areas are arranged to creare a pleasin g, exciti ng
circula r movement.

As you once agai n squi nt your eye to study the scene, notice how the two slashes of bl ack
across the bcttom of the picture, from righ t to lett, add l o the ectlcn and also act as a
unifying force,

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For our fin al Iwo examples,
notice how Ih ls ñrst pic ture is
handled with ext reme realismo
The lig ht is obviously coming
fro m the left, casti ng every-
I hing on I he riqht in deep
shadow. See how the heavy
black shadow areas emphasize
Ihe feeling ct a honor sto ry.
You know it ls n't a humor
st rtp or a romance, just by
looking at Ihe des ign of Ih e
panel. Also, observe the way
the black areas in Ih e back-
grou nd give a feeling ot
authentic ity and detel l witho ul
detrac ti ng fro m t he two
lmport ant figures themselves.
The panel is heavy, it' s lush,
lt 's melodramatic ; ano yet lt'e

..( »
otear and co mpe lllng . In a
wor d, it'e Marvel!

Okay, let's consider the bott om ( ..' .;;~

panel. Notl ce how the large black
areas on I he buil ding seem l o poi ni o;, ~
di rectly l o I he mosl important S"lOUlO'VE
KNCWN ló E'O
element of this picture, the leapi ng BE B E~ IN O ~
figure of Spider-Man above the T~ IS " JONA¡'¡
J AM ESON
'"AH"
~ ~
roof. Of course you've already A LWAY5 fJ
SAID ~E
cbse rved how Ih e black designs in .vAS A
the figures of Ih e poli ce at Ihe PVBtlC
MENACE/
lower left serve to counte rbala nce
the large black masses on the
buildi ng. A nother interest ing point :
the agitate d staccatc pattern of
black and white on th e officers
seems to emphasize thel r acttcn
and I ruetraticn.

,"
,:$
?; I ~ WE LET 111M
6 ET A'WAY, T"'E
COMM 1SS l0N ER
WILL "lAVE OUl?
N INS.'

In summation , the penciler dr aws his panels in penci l, and th en t hey must be finis hed by the
Inker. A nd, as you ca n see, it te up to the inker to dec ide where, and how boldly, l o apply tus
black ink. The inker fig ures very importantly in determi ning the mood, Ih e design , and the cla rity
of eac h panel. Thus, when you study a comicbook's artwo rk , you musl always be conscious
of two elements-t he basic penclfed drawi ng, and the inked versión. Together, t hey add up to
a complete d iil ustratio n whic h Ie proudl y presented to Marveldo m Assembled!
Well , t hat wraps it up ter now , gang. Naturally, we'v e only been able to
scratch t ne surface 01 thls tasc inati ng, almost Iimitl ess subject.
Hc wever, we hope tha t in these aü-toc-briet pages we've been able to
give yo u a valuabl e and informative overview of what il take s to draw for
the c omicbooks. AII anyone can reeuy do ls point the way-give you a
Iew ttps. a few suggestions. The hard work, alas, must be done by you.

And yet . t ne bea utiful thing about being a comi cbook artis t-even about
strivi ng to be one-is that you have to lave it in ord er lo want to do tt.
Nobody gets into this ñeld because someone else advlsed it, or because
it seemed like a practical th ing lo do . No, being a comicbook Htustra to r
ls being engaged in a labor 01love, and when you really enjoy wnat
you're doing , that's almost reward enough.

At any tate, we've to ld you all we can-al least ter now, in Ihis, the
fi rst vol ume 01 its ty pe ever pub tisned . You've gai ned some insight into
what's recutree 01 t he ccmtcboo k artt st, and you've leamed t he types
01 things you must masl er in arder to make tb e gra de. The rest ls up
to you.

One taet wo rd befor e we t urn you loose to unleash your tale nt upon a
breat hlessly waiti ng wo rld. To be a great singer, you've got to sing .
To be a great pianist , you've got to pl ay piano. And to be a great artist
(and Marvel ten't interested in any ot her kind), ycu've got to dra w !
Draw ! Draw! Wherever you go , whatever you do, wheneve r you have a
spare minu te-draw! Sketch everything you see around you; sketc h
your t rie nds, your enemies, relatives, strangers, anyone and everyone.
Become as taclle with a pencil, pen, or br ush as you are wit h a knite
and fork. The mor e you dr aw , th e better you'll be. And we want you to
b e-the best!

Excelsior l
 BIBLlOGRAPHY

Suggested books l o study ter mor e det ailed Inst ruction

on the various subjects touched upon in thls ...clume.

Analomy Books

Br idgeman, George, Bridgeman's Guide to Drawin g Irom Lile (Sterli ng).

- - -oBridgeman's Lit e Drawln g (Oover) .
Hogarth, Bume, Drawing the Human Head (Watson-Guptill).
- - - -, Dynamic Anatomy (Watso n-Gupti ll) .
Vande rpoel , John, The Human Figure (Oover).

Books on Composition

Fabri , Ralph, Artist' s Gulde to Composition (Watson-Guptill) .

Graha m. Donald W., Composing Pictur es (Van Nost ra nd Reinhold ).
Watson, Ernesl , Composition Jn Landscape and Stifl Lile (wetson-
Gupti ll) .
Perspective

Cale, Rex , Perspectlve for Artlsts (Dover).

Animal Drawing

Hamm, Jack, How to Draw AnimaJs (Grosset & Dunl ap).

Laidm an, Hugh, Anima Js: How to Draw Them (Dutto n).

Mood and Philosophy Behind Comics

Lee, Stan , Bring on the Bad Guys (Simon and Schuster}.

- - -, Origins of MarveJ Comics (Simon and Schuster).
- - - " Son ot Or¡glns of Marv eJ Comics (Simon and Schuster).
- - , The Superhero Women (Simon and Scbuster).
 ACKNOWlEDGMENTS

The iIIustrations used in this book we re draw n by t he following artists,

w ho are among th e g reatest and most respectad names in t he
co micbook ñeld . We thank them, ene and ell.

(In al pha be tical arder)

Pencilers: Neal Ad am s Gen e Co lan

Ross Andru Jack Kirby
John Buscema John Ramit a

Inkers: Mike Esposito Paul Reinman

Frank Giac oia Joe Sinnott
Jim Mooney George Tuska
Tony Mortellaro John Verpoorten
Tom Palmer AIWeiss
 HERE'SSOME
PANDEMONIOUS PUFJ=ERY
FROM 'THE PUBLlSHER ...

S tan Lee, Ih .., :\Iil{ht), :\lan Irom :\lan' l' l. a nd .Iohn Buwe ma ,
a d in' a nd ad venturesom e a rf ist behind th e S tlver S urfN. Cuna
t he Barhari an . thc :\Ii~h t )' Thor a mi S pide T. ) llIn , han' coltnbo-
r ut ed 0 1\ th¡ s comics com pcndiu m: a n e ncye lupedin uf in for ma-
t inn fOT l'n'atinKJOUTo w n su perhc ro co rnil' strips. Usinl{ a rt w ork
(ro m :\Ian"cl eomics as pri mar)' examplcs. Busce ma graphical ly
illust ra tes t he hith erto myst erious mct hod s uf en mir- art. Stan
Lt·(·'s pit hy p rose ¡.::"h-('s a hle asslstanee a mi ad vicc to t he appre n-
tin' urti st , HUTst inK ..... it h Busce ma's masnlñcent iIIust ra ti on s
nnd J.ee 's laudahl e w o rd-maeic, IImI' lo D ra u: Cfllllil:H th l' .llarf'el
n ,.,.'I belo ngs in the libra r)' uf every k ili wh o has ever wa nted In
illu st ra tc his or her own com ¡c st r ip.

lE . \ Ffreside Uook
Publlshed bJ' S imo n &: Se h uste r
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