So, You Wanna Be a Comic Book Artist?: How to Break into Comics! The Ultimate Gide for Kids
by Philip Amara
illustrated by Pop Mhan
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Beyond Words (Hillsboro, Oregon): 20 September 2001. Trade Paperback: 139 pages. ISBN-10: 1-58270-058-3 ISBN-13: 978-1582700588 Suggested retail price: $9.95 (US) Tags: art; bibliography; comic books; Drawing; Publishing; Reference; sketching; studios Tactical strength: [5/10] |
I have read numerous books aimed at prospective writers. After you have read three to five of them, you generally feel like you keep getting the same advice packaged in different ways. In reading So, You Wanna Be a Comic Book Artist?, I got that same feeling that I had heard all this advice before, and I realized that the advice you give to a writer or an illustrator probably applies to just about any creative endeavor.
I'll just summarize the general advice Amara gives to kids:
- You don't have to have expensive equipment to get started, just a pencil and some paper, but you should set aside a special place as your "studio" so that the space will put you into a drawing frame of mind.
- Set aside a regular time every day to draw. Practice, practice, practice.
- Keep a sketchbook of ideas. Don't throw anything away. You never know when that idea you have today will become the basis of a great comic later.
- Good comics require more than just artwork. They require characters (both good and bad) and a story line. Practice coming up with characters and making story lines.
- Create self-published mini-comics that you sell or give to your friends and family. The project will force you to work through a complete project, and you will get valuable feedback on your work.
In general, I think Amara gives kids excellent advice on how to progress as an artist. He talks about the advantages and disadvantages of getting formal art training at the college level. He also talks about the numerous careers an illustrator can have beyond comic books from video game design to Hollywood feature film storyboard artist.
With the subtitle, "How to Break into Comics! The Ultimate Guide for Kids," Amara sort of compels himself to recommend submitting unsolicited work to comic publishers. I think that advice really doesn't apply to the book's audience of teenage kids. The book highlights several kids from 13 to 20 who plan on drawing comics for their careers, and only the oldest seemed even close to producing publishable material. Since the book promises to tell how to "Break into Comics," I guess Amara had to include submitting unsolicited work to the comic publishers, but most readers will need years of practice and training before they will have the skill necessary to even have an editor consider their work. Amara provides a list of comic book publishers as a place to submit art work. While I don't think most kids should submit their beginning work to publishers, the list does provide an excellent resource for finding a much broader selection of comic work beyond the big publishers DC and Marvel. He also provides a bibliography of books on comic technique and history.
