Welcome to Krash Course, sil you future comic oes. My ‘name is Grey Capuilla, one- half af the dynamic dus — ‘analy Ted McFarlane and ‘mysel!-wha comprise the Spawn art team. I have iesigrad this course to give you all the weapans you'll ‘naed in arder te draw your wn bombastic comic boaks Te do that we must start with the basics, Repeal after ‘mg; “Basics. The better ya ‘know ‘om, the better youl tbe.’ The best way to learn the basics is to get your sketch pads aut and start drawing from life and/or photos. Maw I now thare ara 4 Jot of hotshots out thare who say, “I don't need to | Jearn the basics or draw | fram life because 1 draw {rom imagination and have « stylized approach “That's capital BLS! Ws just a cop- cut the ightweights use who ain't got what it takes to got | ‘am down. Sa all you hat- shots, pay att teh closely gonna make your drawings — more powerful no matter — what your drawing style is, For tho firet Inssom, 1 chose ta discuss the human Imad and its faatures, boing ‘that its the first thing you soa whan you look at per st Now don! wat bors ou with rules and regula: Hions bacause drawing ‘should always be fu. Wwe sn | TN Eb i|* LBL | S| 1 1 the ideal head Sa, ketosis lotrotin, This i ariel eon- structed head. sd at of gi nt to ha yu. het set peda aur own. Notice inthe rant view, i yn te lf ino oun ou th tye line Five ey longi the wth ol the heed Take 2 da hoki epee ta ak gd bere andthe datanca from each ee to tha adge ofeach ear is ‘ao one eye length. Naw, id we divide the space irom the eyes tothe chin in halt sigh aboetha! ne oul the base atthe nose Dividing the spare from the bottom ofthe nse te the chin in thirds wall show you where the manth paes. Place i tthe base line an the fre third fem tho noes, ‘Note the front view of tha vertical Fines that Ive draven ‘They damanstreie haw the faahures relate to eachother The cide view af the head fits rough within a square. Notice ‘ow the vertical line | dropped from the inside camer al they sais equal to the horizontal line that rune from the out side corner ofthe eye ta the hack ofthe ear. Use this quide- | insta properly place the ee, : C J@or(( A wow Lanies nee? 2 eyekalls aren't round ‘Now let's take a look at the individual features beginning vith thay bt you ithe eal spiny ‘round, right? WRONG) Let's try an experiment. Glase your Spaiipos Se ca pa ct ye Man able to feel a slightly raised spot if you move your yes: sraand, What yours feeling isthe eye lns, See how I cut away a ection ofthe eyeball indicated by the broken line? ‘Ths isthe lat spt where you plop the laos. The pul he black dat of your sys is located on that fat area. That's ‘why the pupil appears as an elipse wien viewing the eye fram any angle other than straight on& now hear, this, ‘oeearisa Hck Ka made of taf carte lage that interlock with each other, some pieces san bide bohind others. The basic averall shape ia ‘that af a kidney. To help you understand the cam- ‘acy of or at oo tough ence ya pet ha hang oft tag you ger desing t nny drawing and locating on your own gar what you're looking at, (CAUTION! Be careful not to ‘wanda too daplyin your sar bacause you wouldnt ‘want to get sticky Brown ear wax all ver your ‘brand new Wizard) That eonehudes our look atthe features, Hopefully ll you lightweights managed. ‘ta‘hang im thane withthe tough guy. SPIRAL. PRTTERN SIMPUFIED (3) (1) ay eS eA ee — ects Ne Ne Ay 7. changing features ‘Now lets play @ little game. Well start with an ideal head and move ‘the features around ta see what happens. Head #1 is prapor- ‘tionad correctly. With Head #2, the nose has boen raised slightly. On Head #3 the mouth was lowered slightly. Notice how very _| fret al hos face lok ith aly ight changes bing mada You en also move the ayes closer together or farther sparta well es up ar dows. In fact, move tha features in any combina- San and detion tha! you ie. In usatons A end BI pro- portioned the features correctly, but altered the shape ofthe head. ‘Seo again how differently the heads look? Just imagine haw many (Adforent characters you can get by altering head shapes ‘and fa ‘ure placements together!give the lid thickness and you! be al et FP aae 3. pacman , 5 ‘The easiest way fo understand the eyelid isto | Gs ‘imagine « PacMan jremember that video game?) © ‘galing up an eyeball. Thaugh the eyelid is | ‘shaped a bit differently, the idea is the sama So | Sao f waka we si } = aS es: a } TMIS PLANE OF ERISTENCT, 16 HUMAN FORM, ANB UNOCH GU ONSERUATION. You canals say meting about \What nd of people your charactors a by the props you tse, A per son who's deeply devoted to reli gion may have bibles, rosary beads, ‘candles, crosses and statues filling tho room. Every picture sould tll 2 story, All of your key elements should he preset inthe esttsh ing shot Notice the bulletin board ‘with all the Spawn clippings on it in tho ample to the nt This a ‘kay element in the story.JOU THINK WE, AN JUST EA) OU! EVERY DAY? &. dirty dishes are key In another wang we see «family kitchen scene above) where ‘everything is in disarray. Dirty dishes fill the sink the exbineis are filthy, food is lft out. Now notice some nar points | included in this picture, Lika the battle of boozs an the counter behind the ‘abusive father: Also, his gun carelessly left on the kitchen chair, ‘within reach ofthe kids. Both the booze and the gun were inte: ‘gral parts of the story. Sometimes these key elements need to be ‘included in exterior shots as well. Z bes fun. , it rar tose Sh wile sip kd eae ple A It was important to inchade it in the first picture, in order for the following panel to be understood Or the tenement build ing window in example B, with a man in silhouette holding a phone. This was used as set-up for the following page, where the tng tw ads ers ww it rth Pi shot Remember without a ses of place your story wil seem flu, ar worse, contsing. Also remember that a great deal of interest can be created trough clever use of proms Soditbeamang the ks who ty to sreskby witha sing ‘solid establishing shots. “Guys with no background” is what I call ‘em. Anyway, | hope I've given you inspiration to make your comics betor than the other guys. Alf this is impartnt stuf ye learning herein “Krash Coaren” Remember, there's mare te drawing comic books that ust malaman in tights smashin’ ch cena Ne, Ml Ttavenrrpo Sun WOT 700, a Je6. didja pass or fail? ~ you follawed last month's clue, you would've found the ELL (Eye Level Lins) ta be just under the noses of the standing figures, and this i ‘would allow you to uncover the multitude of perspective erpars in the drawing. ' MW you said the buildings were wrong, give yoursel{ 1 point, If you said the filing cabinets and books were out ol parspectve, give your- t ‘self 1 paint. I you said the desk, deduct 1 paint. you said tha seated man, deduct 1 point If you eaid the ashtray and ohot glass, give your- : ‘sel points Ifyou noticed the fing cabinets ware exremely out of propartion (not just parspacive, give yourself § bons points. Tally up ; "your scares to see haw well you did. } a total hack } 12 udaing stud ' $5 tough guy ' 63 McFarlane, move over 10 future comie youd Thope you al did woll But someone seared zero, don't give up hape yet: Usioetunatnly, Ive seen stuf ike this see print Not that that's Somatiuing to be proud af By the way, those of you wha won the bomus paints will have « head start on the othars when f address propar- ¢ ‘Han and scale met time! Till thin. keep the lead burnin’, tough guys! i hl Grog Copullo ean be seem doing his fair sharo of the art an Spam, published by lmage Comics. a SS SiDRAWING OUT THE MONSTER WITHIN Hagpy Hallowoon, lade! Pe trick oe treat tie ca agate, This lasso trea wl be learning the tick to ceating your very cn ghastly nage ht this ne of year seams to inspice. Together we wil ‘embrace murfsars delight in aur revalsin, and reve! in the utter serch of mr oom putrid demars come ‘ole within ust We wal draw the things that maka ws sick oral Ima jk coal! This wart bes much, 2 dewrng ler as itil be uidaline aa you in crating, ¢ First off, lets think of some things that make our skin crew], Things that we fear. These are the thangs we shall guther imo our cauldron and tir ogethe e frm our maneter. Every cai mon- a ster you tara te name was crested this wey. Dracula, Prenkenstein, The Mummy, The Ply en Tha "er ‘Woltman. You wil find that man’s fears and aversians weer called together to farm each of thar ~ B00! GUESS WHO? for tect Sharp spiny things that could piarce your och pevirude from the manster slang with course hair just uke thaws found oa 12 y ar spiders body, Rows of shark-ke tath dora the saliva fled jaws ready to chomp of Limb Large ctaws with muluple hooks | and spikes present the danger of ripping and tearing away at your las, Hingod enimal-tike lege were given to provide the crasture “hue in which to capture you forthe KL. And warts were town in to prods gotssqua ttre tothe baasts skin Forbin being filed with thick, sticky puss the tasty kind “ry raving te following weap you ik. ve shown the basic construction use fr wach Mowever, draw many your own Thats \whara tha rel fan i iat “ x. {In my first litle creature, {combined insect-ske appendages with a form that’s almost human and some other icky elements adled in a3. Next we heve the walking dead! What Hallowoan would be complete with cut zombies? A corpse is « wander- fully gruesome site to behold. Especially if it's still capable of laco- ‘motion! Everything you learned in Wizard $48 will really be ‘halptal in randaring something like this (ar any ofthese realy) ‘Decay is the name of the game bare. Singy leh cgi othe shale tom beneath, sunken vacant eyes and long wispy hair ara the prerequisite for any good zombie, But entrails-| Now we're adding some charm. Swollen intestines cascading from tha creature's belly were a joy to draw. (Thay also served quite nicely in con- Cealing his naughty bite) ‘For final touches [odd fies basing around to cuggest the, eee ‘the untied boots to i Sinner we fnaion the thing CSO probably has, afo NN \ 5. gross - ‘Finally, a recant portrait of Kurt Cabsin (Rel Nirvana fans, Just kidding) know] just got done drawing a corpo, but Ieauldn racist a close-up deal of ering head Tom, this isthe scariest because its eal Nol the drawing, but ha fac that some dy we wil all look ke this Death is real. Death s inescapable. Death is com. tng to gel you And when it does, we too can lock farard o our sh roting 7 olf our shall and revealing the horrible sme that wall remain ven asthe worms and maggots Kast on ou reins. .BOD!! anpy Halloween, everybody. Now get busy drew ing your own monsters te adorn your refrigerator with Whether or nat you make your aren proud, youll atlas ba & Talping them withthe diet! fog So tll newt manth, Reap the lad ‘buni,tugh guys w Greg Eapulla can be seen doing ‘Bie fai are af the at an Span, \ published by image ComicsPOWERFUL PAGES FAST | rants dust eer ‘toce? Mt ae, = — | tant ry Talay) egg om ee yoo Whon you frst start out drawing cori, is ‘sometimes hard to make your pages appear interesting. Sure t's bit ensier hen there are se ripping each other's faces ll panel aftr panel, but when the quiet scenes come that's when tear ses inl “How do make t look cao?” you ask witha tremble in your voice, Fear not future comic gol Uncle Greggy is gonna show yu the way, 1. shock value, Onw ofthe main problems is that there's too much ‘sumenéds' in amateur pages, So what will do is give you some recipes for varny. Fira off we'll talk about the close-up. Although it’s not possible 100 percent ofthe tine, ite good rule to include a close-up on every page. It's one of the simplest things you can do to instantly add some dynam- jes to your page: For instance close-up tht fo Jaws a far shot will shock the reader by suddenly bringing them in close, You ean use varying degrees in your close-ups such a8 minimal head and shoulders closa-op as shown in examples 1 and 2 oF one that's 80 tight in you must uso cthor preceding or proceeding panels to explain exactly what yav're showing in that clasa-up lke exam- ple 3 Close-ups ean be wsed with people or things depending on whather you're frying to eanvey & particular emotion ar focus the reader in on a speciic action or object shawn in examples 4 and 5. Dne thing is for sure. .yow'l have bagun cre ating a mare powertul page!though known to'be actually smaller, sppears larger than the larger abject in the background Your focal point {what you want the reader ‘Avothar camman techniqus is ‘shooting’ pasts large object inthe fore tg Inoke at} ean be either in the faregrotnd ar the background. Its round, Whon you do this; you immediately create vigual interest your cll as te how you want to play it or what yau fel tells your story through dynamic renge, (Basically, the objeet in the foreground, best Gohl think I feel your musclas grawing already| Lats sep going. Next we have what's called the fram@ (not to be confused with thn infamous 0. Simpson defense), This is where the foreground funnels the eye directly to your focal point by smeans of surrounding t Your foroground framing device cen sither be inconsequential or @ sec ondary focal point. You can also use the frame to invoke emotions like feelings of being trapped, ‘mmprisonad, claustrophobic, et. 'm sure you could fvoke some nicer emotions as wel, dopending an what you use as yaur framepp NOW YOU TWO ‘Ascther clove relative tothe large object inthe foreground is the dark object in the foreground. Whon you use this tech alque you now hava two types af com trast going on simultaneously. Very powerfull Once again you can ad some | SEs aS sort of emotional impact to the panel Sonos eae ene” |e 5 eponding on what you use as your BECKET SURRONDINGS. foreground object, Or you ean simply tase the object fr visual diversity. Tho abject or objects can be partially ht ar totaly sthoustied, Your eal But sithar way, eal it powell 5. ‘two s e Speaking of sthoustes, when used judiciously they can help pump up an otherwise lat page. You cin use the slhou- site to create maod, obscure graphic vielence, etc. One thing is sure, though. It has to be ousy to rend, There can bs absolutely no question as to What the abjecte are or what ‘ston i taking plas. It vers sf highlight are needed, sa be A. Gtherwlaa suake sare thy ‘outlines are distinct and rec- agnizable to all.“weve feces! witoucss tig gerone, + Your guste Grotto OUPLE OF KIDS THERE, AND THEY NEED A FATHER. 115 Time YOU STARTED ACTING LIKE ONE. A LOT OF PEOPLE HAVE GOOD FEELINGS IT'S TIME THE TWO MOST IMPORTANT ONES: FELT THE SAME WAY, END OF SERMON. HOW, I WANT TO LEAVE ‘A Little REMINDER FoR You-- A MESSAGE FOR EVERYONE WHO TALKS ABOUT WHAT A SGREAT GUY” YOU ARE Landy, or raw the downshot I you ask me, along with tha close ‘up you should also try to ined & downs on avery page. Lika the close-up, thera are varying degroos af the downshot. You can tse slight werhoad chot or on extreme dawnehat where yo view your subject fram davely ovebasd Sometimes an verve vill help convoy nocossary story information better than ema othr shot would. her tia, tmay be ust ts adel a bizare ea ‘ng te your sney Ether way, the dynamic valua i there because vn masty see things from narmal eye lvl When. yu sucderty tak tha rode up above he gots to sae things from an angie that hf les aout to That adds interet ad intrest ds power ReGthedare vour ). HERS Acer aisle) SHOE RE Rows = ‘Try adding cast shadows in your downshot alen In fae, bbe eventivel Combine the tachriques I've shawn you here to hybrids, Thor aren't any restrictions! Explore, don’t Bore! Vall, det concludes 2is month's ‘Krash Caurse hope you got 4 vantastic pump! Nast month Il give you some mare steraids to inject your pages vith No mare vil you be srudgad araund and forced ta eat pencil shavings aftr Im done vith you. Til ned month, /koep the lead burnin; ough guys! w Greg Capulle can be seen every month penciling Spawn, pub ished by mage CorniesPOWERFUL PAGES FAST PART 2 Hello, everybody. - + Are ve ready our vork- |/{ ut? Today ve'll pound our pai some more ideas and force them to graw! No gitly-men here! 1. the shadows know For our frst set, we'll ute shadaves to help us. This along information to the reader without showing him all the goods. Shadows can be used to show impending danger, superiority above others (ie. the shadows dwarf the onlookers) ar simply to keep someone's identity a mystery(ov Ove's appearance f | TAT THESE SESSIONS. 2. mirror, mirror Reflections can ereate a Jot af interest, whether they're in a pool of water, an actual mirror or what have you. They can show someone “reflecting” on their own thoughts or, as in ‘this example, can show ‘the reader what a char- acters eeeing Explore for yourself other coo! ways of conveying info with reflections. It's sometimes tricky bul atesya fal 3. come together ‘Heads in profile with no background is another common exercise. This type of jntapositioning can effectively con- vey either a coming tagether of indi- viduals or & collision betwoen them ‘That will depend on the emotions con- veyed on their mugs YOUR TIME IS COMING.sshot adds drama, babe! ‘When you use an upshot ‘you place the reader's wyos Jaw sa that he has to look ‘upward at what you're showing him. This has ‘psychological implications. ‘Things that are bigger than ‘you ran cause you to feel afraid, weaker, in awe of, dominated over. .you get ‘the picture, As long as we've got our sights set low, Tilak about the ground level shat, As I said belore, placing the reader's eye lovel where it's not accustomed will create interest, Sa unless ha's realy really relly, really short, this shot wall work. You can either show same ground tr crop everybodys foot abit as though you'ra actually below ground level Thaugh Ivo soon people dit, Ive heard strong reasoning why you shouldn't use the bottom of the panel as the ground plane. If you have peaple actu. ally standing on the panel border it sort of disrupts the illusion that the panal is actually window into another reality ie, the story) Decide for yaurself HE iv RaERTEN Fines eeeD. SPAWN SAYS NOTHING. YeT OY Hen AGAIN HE'S BEEN REMINDED HE SAY? ., SOMETHING WHO THE TRUE ENEMY 15.7. border check shadows can be used to reinforce the ground plane and add ‘The opposite of this would be the open panel. No borders, Just interest. Again, cutting out tha background focuses your atten. ‘an imaginary ground plane and your people and/or objects Cast tion on a particular character or object, giving it importance Big Has Nowe WHAT HES RACKING ING en 8. 3-D made ‘Lastly, we have breaking panels. A couple of ways ta da this is having the closest and most ‘important character jut out of the panel while still being contained, or to actually be stand- ‘ng outside ofthe panel as if walking aff the page. I gives sort of a3-D effect which is cool if you dost averplay it ‘There! That vas the last set. You made it through your vorkout Naw dont lose your purnp! Kop vorking out with the exercises I'va showm you. That vay even the quietest pages of your story vill have power. Till next month. .keep the lead burnin’, tough guys! w (Grog Gapalla can be seem every month penciting Sparm, published by Jmage Comics dabckinew) Shen 2ALOOF SURPRISE Gone asf @s& ap aAcal we SS AS | BS CONTEMPLATIVE OUTRAGE —S CONFUSION ‘To me, the eyes are particularly expressive, They alone can reveal lot about what we feel. However, the eyes can be deceiving if ‘viewed apart from the rest of the faca. For example, take @ pair of sorrowful eyes. It you were to stick them in a microwawo, they could pop within seconds, spreading all this cuol goop around inside that's really tough to clean off! Just kidding, parents!) Viewed alane, a pair of sorrowful eyes would of course indicate sorrow. However, if you ware tn combine those eyes with a very slight smile, you would be changing the expression to one of sympathy or campas- sion, Let ma demonstrate 3. facelift 1m example A on tho Int, we have a mean, angry tace. Now, without changing any fea tuees other than his mouth, we gata fiendish somewhat diabolical Tooking fsee.Inciden- tally ure then gave him floating iiss, we oad bai a anki i: ppehitic pre sion But I digress In example B, our man ie lacghtg wet But jst charge is mouth, and he's ering as if he's just been tanned fom the all-you-can-eat bot abe! (Oh, the power! I am drunk with power! Example C has our boy looking a tt aloot— indifferent and uninterested in the events around him. Change just his mouth and he ‘gins to exhibit the look of pleasant sats faction from having just fart inthe bath {ub As you can see, how you make the fatal features ralata to each othor is vary impor- tant Combinations are endless. Each elight modification brings out new expressions, icin som Bi by experimenting this wey Dave as many combinations as you can con tp with and many secrets willbe unlocked for you ee ES ERS A RE EEE4, show of hands Being Hata, | tak with my hands lt. Te hands possess a lata persanalty and can help convey several emotions quite nicely. They can work together to accentuate the emotion being portrayed. Even the positioning ofthe hand matters! Notice hw the samme hand held ina different positon changes what hat hana proon-te saying! Kinds neat when you think about it BING! | HAVE AN IDEA! f wey LISTEN TO we 4 YOU #@°%!!! I'M GONNA KICK 4 YOUR @$$!!! uw || YAHOO! WAY TA GO!5. bodies in motion al sd eee is Whale ody aah ta tions. Take look at this collection of gestural sesledabatees pet tpt ed vero being partrayed In conveying ecnotion, its umpor- tant thet you be able to reduce-to its simplest farm the movement of the body. The posture needs ta be as easily recognizable as any facial expres- sion you may tse. A terrified person fr instance, wouldnt be leaning toward the percaved danger he wnald be leaning vray romit.A proud or arro- gant person wouldn't be slumping forward when ‘talking with gomeone, he'd be standing very erect. (Lonk at how | placed some arrows by the figures ta help you out with this.) Try to use the types of lines that best describe the particular emation or tego ony: 6. mirror, mirror on the wall... When you're first starting out without much experience under your belt, the task of por- traying emotion gan be very dificult. Don't be ‘ashamed to recruit the sid of a mirror and pose for yourself. Grab a sketch pad and da quick gestural drawings while watching movies. Draw from real life and phatographs too, I used to War & pair of sunglassos go people didnt know | was watching them. Then I'd head downtown, vith a sketch pad in hand to render my unsus pecting models, Above all, try to feel what your character would be feeling. Whst would your Stes. face look Like? til catch myself wearing expres SKI sions that Im giving my characters as I draw them, you can try this as well. In fact, you can \ J, ably catch many artists with this habit N ‘When it comes to comic books, remem- Sy bur this axiom: “Ws batter to havo your AAV? eerie te fat cos Er ft Sear | drawing faces with teeth clenched in anger fro oye uy ead ar tough guyal w Shey Copullo can be sven every seanth penciling. Spawn published by dmage Garis aySTOR YrELLiwa AND PACING, PART 1 ‘This month, wre gonna tackle ana of the mast important alemants in drawing comic books. cling a story with the use of pictures “But, Uncla Greggy,‘ you say. ‘What do you mean, ane of the most impor tant elements? Aren't storytelling and pacing fwo elements?" Im s0 sled you asked! ‘Tha reason [sad one instead of two is because see them as insep- srable, However, im going to attempt to separate them as best can, for you, so youl fully understand the whole idea clearly. (Fist, let me apologize to Frank Miller for ry having the andacity to instruct a lass on storytelling whan a master Ike Frank is out thers. But, due 4 the fact that Frank dossn’t give lessons, i's up to ma ta shave you ‘he ropes! End of Frank Miller butt-smaoching segrnant) Lets bogin our lesson by dining toryaling and pacing, Stoxy- ‘telling gives the reader visual information that, when strung together, ‘tells a tale (Bren though well cover pacing nent month Fl el yau naw ‘that itis ths rata of speed at which you give them that information!) place your order For the first part of this lesson, wo'll deal only with storytling, Pst on the list isthe ordar of the informa ‘ion given. You can tell the same story ‘many different ways by the arder in which you string together the infor- ration. Bach way wil have a difer- ‘ent feel, so it's up to you to decide which approach will best serve the tale being told. Bac that docison on ‘how you want your reader to feel. For instance, you may bogin a scone with long shot allowing the ‘reader to familiarize himself with the uneindogs thin bog Bisa hmm ina comfortable manner, you can th jk the opposite. Ep zing is close, you create some mystery because the radar doe have much ‘nformation at that point. This canbe ‘4 great set-up for some big shocker when you finally do pull back and show whatever you wish. Sa dws TD5. resemblance to the last picture ofthe previous scene. Take this fan- . fan out ‘to-propoller sequence, for instance, with three panels, Iva switched I yours looking for a way to offer @ transition from one scene ta fram one setting to enother, but ve connected the two in an inter another, You might want to think of ereative ways to segue (pro- esting way. For a transition between twa scenes featuring people, nounced “seg-way’). This is where you would draw (quite literally} you can use anything from coffee mugs to patterns an a person's a parallel between two separate seanes. You do this by beginning shirt, or evan chow the two people in different locations watching the next scone with something (whatever you'd like) that bears a the same TV program. 6. good shape ‘Format is something else at your disposal, Unlike a movie or TV screen, where you're lim- sted by its unchanging dimensions, camic panels can be modified to suit your needs. “Tharefore, you can use a panal's shape to accentuate the faoling you're trying to put across: to the reader.9. POV. ‘Lastly, we have the P.O, [point of view) eppraach. The POV. shot is ‘as cloze to subjective as you can get wile remaining objective. You ‘san make a landscape (or whatever} subjective by first showing ‘slose-up ofthe charactarlaoking at sornething. The readar will under stand this tobe his POLV. Likswise, when you stand the reader close to one ofthe characters inthe scena, he becomes more invelved. Hs zooms up close and personal So, when yeu eut to your next shot af the other character's close-up, it bacames a POV. shot. just make sure the character doesn't look directly atthe reader. 6. the subective way you take the next example, the shot would become subjective, because the big quy is now looking directly at the reader. You can do this sparingly for a jarring affect or, like a “Friday the ‘13th’ movie, you can show much of the story as if seen through the eyes of the character. To sum up the subjective shot, when you ‘establish character-to-reader eye contact, you're subjecting the reader by placing him diractly in the scene. ‘These ara some ofthe basic approaches to storytelhing. Tha mixing ‘and matching of thesa tachniquas, and when you decide to use wach type of particular epproach will become your very own storytelling style. Next month, when I discuss pacing, you'l have even mors possibilities to play around with. It's as endless as your imagina- tion! So lock forward ta next month, and till then. .keep the lead ‘burnin, tough guys! w Greg Cepullo can be seen every month penciling Spawn, published by dmage Comics.1. mmm...cookies This first example is extremely fast-paced ‘Amost immediatly following the set-up shot (Granny with the cookie jar’ we get the cimax of oF Corey geting capped, Na indication was (given that Granny would pull @ gun instead ot 2 coukia So without any tension building, the payat! (Corey's mechanical head getting blown off has a jarring elfect on the reader. The readar was unable to propara himself, so he gets shocked! The eact opposite approach is used inthe flowing example2. you want one? ‘Here, a much slower pace is used ta reach the payoff. Taking our time, we is powerless to stop it A quick side nate: Notice how even the panels seem z | I i i i 4 a covered last manth) has warked for you to commy a certain fling. a ‘This exarople is bit ecrame in its pacing, while the next example ‘is mare middle-of-the-road. |3. can’t run from granny ‘our litle story with Corey, as I demonstrate what I mean.5. the killer revealed! ‘Te-da! By pacing it out this way, we again spring a surprise on the reader. As you can see, there's not much mystery involvad hora 2 Yo ia at seats a aittnen caring styling td paring. New rough practice and eperiment- sy yu men arte emer taeeide aa a given scene wl make you spel You ca gv th bun ery Ko Ce tlre pag tad pl acd ra eras tu tat en. otras your ets aod bth Your imagination ‘and your style. And one day you won't became the nex whaaver, but You bth kyu! Kep the ed brs, ough gue! PS. I don't advocate real-life violence on any level. The part sf Carey was actually played by a synthetic robat knawn as 2 FLUDO Fully Lifelike-Utre-Destructible-Droid), ‘WF ‘Greg Gapulla can be seen every manth penciling Spavm, published by image Comics, and baking s