World Famous Comics: The DC Comics Guide to Pencilling Comics
The DC Comics Guide to Pencilling Comics
By: Klaus Janson Publisher: Watson-Guptill Average Rating: Binding: Paperback Label: Watson-Guptill Number of Items: 1 Number of Pages: 128 Publication Date: June 01, 2001
Want to know how - comic book guide This is good for beginner and intermediate level artist. It will show you in a very simple way all the how-to's of pencilling. Good price also. It's part of three book set, Penciling, IOnking And Coloring comics - from DC comics
Pencil Neck I was hoping that this book would be a more detailed guide to penciling. Most of the illustrations were inked, though. It also has a LOT of text, which makes it not so easy to sit and read while trying to actually draw. I would recommend the "How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way" over this book.
GREAT ADVICE FROM A PRO I just received this book and immediately went to chapter fourteen. After reading chapter fourteen first I have to say that it was worth the price of the book.
VERY Little Info on Penciling I can't recommend this book, which falls firmly in the category of works aimed at milking the purses of comics-artist wannabes. It also teeters right on the edge of the stuff that seems driven by an urge to discourage potential competition from entering the field. Plus it doesn't have any valuable info on penciling!!! Mitch Byrd's "Notes to Draw From" is a better resource.
Klaus Janson has worked on some major DC titles and apparently also teaches at the School of Visual Arts. Here he seems to be trying to pad out grudgingly little info on penciling with a sort of "why comics require super skills to draw" pedagogy that consumes more than 110 pages of an essentially 142-page book!
There's some good info in here I suppose, but the technical stuff always needs to be taken with a large block of salt. No one ever became a great artist by studying art. People become great artists by doing what they enjoy! The way to become an artist is by creating art. As you encounter challenges you look for solutions to problems and develop. In that sense this book might be useful. B-S- statements like "Drawing... requires study" etc etc do more harm than good IMHO.
The most important thing for would-be comics artists to remember is that the most successful guys in the field are Matt Groening and Scott Adams. They didn't get to the top through their knowledge of anatomy! Frank Cho is a brilliant draughtsman, but "Liberty Meadows" will never have the kind of circ "Doonesbury" had - back when Garry Trudeau was drawing little better than stick figures!
There are lots of books written from a viewpoint of encouraging young artists to learn while supporting them through their inevitable frustrations. Look for those books before wasting your time with this.
Useful This is a useful guide no doubt, as with many other how-to books, however it's not at all the best I've seen.
I'd still recommend getting this book if you are an aspiring artist, because it's always important to stock a library of information within your field(s).
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