fbpx
ComicsMagazinesSuperheroes

Draw! # 33 Spring 2017 (magazine review)

It shouldn’t come as a surprise from ‘Draw!’s cover that the first 40 pages are devoted to an interview with Bill Sienkiewicz and editor Mike Manley which is mostly shop talk about techniques and equipment. On the latter, it’s interesting to discover that’s been a drop in quality standards for pens and paper in America. I just hope that’s not world-wide. Based on one of their comments, although I don’t use Macs, there are the cables out there that should enable him to transfer from a SCSI to USB without too many problems. This interview is an education in itself and lots of sample sof Sienkitwicz’ work. I also got an insight into why he changed his art style over the years.

Jerry Ordway takes us through how he designs and draws a comicbook page and I had a wry smile at him referencing an old Walter Foster publication on ‘How To Draw Trees’ by Frederick J. Garner because I own the same book. You just never know when these books come in handy.

The interview with Jeffrey Watts is something out of the ordinary here as he runs and teaches art. He also has an art studio on YouTube that you can also look up and watch him and other tutors demonstrate on www.youtube.com/user/wattsatelier that I urge you to look up. His discussion with Mike Manley is very informative, if not a little scary. I didn’t know that art wasn’t being taught at high school in the USA anymore. It looks like America is going to miss a generation of taught pupils with natural talent. Granted the naturals are likely to make their own way but it also means an absence of art teachers as well. I do hope that you people reading this in the USA will react and complain to the various authority figures who are relevant to education and stir things up. Private schools like Watts runs is for those past 18 years of age and even he says as one of the cheapest, isn’t cheap hence the education links on YouTube. I should point out that his interview isn’t just about this and is well worth a read.

Mike Manley with Bret Blevins takes a look at using Clip Studio (the replacement name for Manga Studio by the way) and drawing and inking digitally. Looking at the sample from the ‘Judge Parker’ comic strip, I can’t see much difference between using a Wacom Bamboo digital tablet and the much more expensive Cintiq digital tablet. I’m doing well with the former now myself but it’s long overdue for Wacom to drop the price of the Cintiq to make it more accessible to starters. It’s rather interesting seeing a photo swipe done digitally than the old trace as done in the old days.

‘Draw!’ is very much orientated to the artistically inclined and if you want tips to improve your drawing and painting skills and comicbook technique then this should be on your buying list. It’s certainly stirred me up to get back into the practice.

GF Willmetts

May 2017

ISSN: 1932-6882. Direct from them, you can get it for $ 7.61 (US))

check out websites: www.TwoMorrows.com and http://twomorrows.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=98_59&products_id=1258

UncleGeoff

Geoff Willmetts has been editor at SFCrowsnest for some 21 plus years now, showing a versatility and knowledge in not only Science Fiction, but also the sciences and arts, all of which has been displayed here through editorials, reviews, articles and stories. With the latter, he has been running a short story series under the title of ‘Psi-Kicks’ If you want to contribute to SFCrowsnest, read the guidelines and show him what you can do. If it isn’t usable, he spends as much time telling you what the problems is as he would with material he accepts. This is largely how he got called an Uncle, as in Dutch Uncle. He’s not actually Dutch but hails from the west country in the UK.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.