From: isaac@cats.ucsc.edu (Isaac Truder)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
Subject: Re: learning to draw
Date: 20 Nov 1992 06:35:59 GMT
Organization: University of California; Santa Cruz
NNTP-Posting-Host: am.ucsc.edu


Someone on here mentioned the art books of Loomis; so I'll play devil's
advocate (not that you SHOULDN'T look for books by Loomis, mind you) and
suggest a possible alternative -- the books of Burne Hogarth.  Hogarth
is a one-time comics illustrator who now teaches art at some college
somewhere (don't remember offhand now).  The price of the latest editions
of his books in hardcover is (like every other book) steadily escalating;
but they seem to be putting out softcover editions of a few of them now
that are probably worth your while... I have one softcover, and it seems
to be a well-made book (not likely to fall apart on you or anything).

Burne Hogarth's books include:

"Dynamic Anatomy" -- teaches anatomy with the intent to familiarize the
student with anatomy, so that he will be able to invent it rather than
just understand it as he draws from life.  This is an old book that many
pros will credit.  I find the next book more valuable.

"Dynamic Figure Drawing" -- this expands from a discussion of pure
anatomy to a discussion of figure invention in deep space, with an
emphasis on understanding both the forms themselves, and how to 
represent them in a drawing.  Very useful, but if the student started
with "How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way" (what I did -- it's a much
easier book to approach) reading this book will involve a lot of 
forgetting what the other book told you and looking at it in a new way.
But of course, Marvel teaches how to draw like their comic books, and
Hogarth teaches how to really draw and understand what you're doing.

"Drawing the Human Head" -- like the title suggests.  Facial expressions,
the effects of aging, in general inventing believable and realistic
heads with their features.

"Drawing Dynamic Hands" -- in-depth study on hands and inventing them
for your drawings.  Discusses expression via the hands, aging and hands,
the various uses man has for his hands and how those uses look, etc.

"Dynamic Light and Shade" -- I'm studying this one right now.  It
discusses light and shadow, and how they are applied to drawings or
paintings to create the illusion of depth.  This book really involves
more than the title suggests, touching on the subjects of composition
and rendering of forms and not just the depiction of light and shadow.

"Drawing Dynamic Clothing (????)" -- I don't remember the title of
this one, though I have seen it in a store.  This one is brand new for
1992, and it is solely a discussion of inventing folds and creases in
clothing and drapery so that they look realistic.  Believe it or not,
this is one of the more vexing problems a lot of artists run into, and
here Hogarth shows a system for determining where wrinkles and folds are
likely to lie in a picture.

I've at least made a cursory reading of most of these, and I've studied
a few, and on the whole I find them to be pretty good reads.  I like
Hogarth because he makes sense to me, and also because he emphasizes
that the artist be able to invent his own figures and drawings, rather
than just draw from models and photos.  Comic artists will be called
upon to invent figures and compositions out of their heads constantly.
Again, don't discount Loomis, but Hogarth is an excellent alternative.