Customer Reviews

The DC Comics Guide to Digitally Drawing Comics

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I was excited when I first learned about this book coming out because it's difficult for me to set up a normal artist's station in my house. Not knowing who this Freddie Williams guy was, I ended up going to his website and checking him out. It was here that I first became dismayed.

His website has a section labeled "DigiArt Quick Tools," in which one can find several Photoshop tools Freddie has available. These include several variations of his MasterPage file, which tend to cost a little bit of money (the bundle pack that gives you all the Master Pages runs I think about $125). I also noticed a blurb in which Freddie mentions that an entire section of the upcoming book is devoted to the Master Page. I immediately started thinking that the book was going to end up being a $15 commercial for the various tools he has to offer.

Never have I been so glad to be so dead wrong.

The section on Master Pages walks you through the process of making your own Master Page, and while he mentions his website, he never tells the reader to go buy anything. Instead, he teaches you how to do it yourself. In fact, there's only one thing that Freddie tells the reader to download, and that's the perspective tool that he created... and its free (as is a generic version of the Master Page, if you don't want to make your own or pay money for a company-specific Page).

As far as the rest of the book goes, it was a massive wake-up call in regards to realizing how powerful and how fast creating sequential artwork on the computer is. In fact, it seems that Freddie's main goal is to get the reader to create better artwork, faster, and he constantly discusses ways to make your work faster and more streamlined.

Be warned, though... this is NOT a "how to draw" book. If you don't know how to draw, this book won't be that helpful to you. This book is more accurately described as a "how to use the computer to draw" book. Additionally, if you don't know how to do any basic drawing in Photoshop, you might want to learn, quick. I have a very basic understanding of how to draw and paint with Photoshop, and this book has my mind racing with all the possibilities I have available to me now. Be prepared to think and imagine when you read the book.

Not every aspect of Freddie's work method will work for everyone, and he acknowledges fact. He describes his methods to the reader, and for key areas offers alternative paths for the reader to take that may be more comfortable for the reader.

Did I enjoy this book? Yes, I did. Did I learn anything from this book? Almost every step of the way. Would I recommend this book to the serious hobbyist or the artist getting into the comics field? Without a doubt and with no reservations, yes!!!!

This is an excellent, excellent book, truly..
But with that said I felt it would be helpful for you guys to know whether you really are ready for this book. This is an advanced book for generally competent comic book artists who are aspiring to move into a digital work flow. This book will not teach you how to draw. If you have never used Photoshop or are just getting started with it and aren't familiar with a Wacom tablet, this book is probably a solid two years away from being really helpful to you. I've been a graphic designer for more than ten years and I actually found a couple of challenges with new tricks I gleaned from using this book.

Something else I'm going to mention that might seem obvious but you might not be thinking about when purchasing this book is that in order to follow through with setting up your digital work station, there is a good chance you'll need to spend some bucks, possibly a lot of bucks depending on what kind of system you have and whether you already own Photoshop and a Wacom tablet etc. Oh, and you'll need your RAM to be up to snuff.

For newer and intermediate guys I would give some added advice: If you are still really working on your drawing and anatomy skills, you will learn to draw better and faster by pouring through sketchbooks than by trying to learn how to draw strictly through the use of a Wacom tablet. A tablet will help you to be much more efficient in the production end of your drawing, but its not ideal as an art learning tool to really tighten skills. Some people might disagree, but most artists I've talked to, and from my own experience, the learning part really works best with a sketchbook.

All that aside, this is an almost perfect book for moving into digital drawing and comic book illustration. Freddie does a stellar job of really mapping out the process and helping you to set up your files and templates. It has excellent explanations and for the most part is very clear. In it's category, I couldn't recommend it more.

I am reviewing this as a working comics creator who has read almost every comics how-to book under the sun...
Buzzboy Trouble in ParadiseBuzzboy Volume 2: Monsters, Dreams, & Milkshakes

I've grown up reading how-to books for comics since the age old "How To Draw Comics the Marvel Way"-- whichas a twelve year old, blew my mind. "Understanding Comics" by Scott McCloud brought the unique concepts behind comics to the forefront, and as I prepared to launch my professional career in comics, it helped give me a set of mental tools to focus on storytelling that I still use to this day. But Freddie E Williams II has written and illustrated The DC Comics Guide to Digitally Drawing Comics as a book that focuses on the draftsmanship and technical tools that will help define comics through the 21st century.

Written in a friendly, easy-to-understand style, Mr. Williams leaves the basic discussions on HOW TO DRAW, and assumes the reader already has enough books on that. This book really focuses on creating comics in either a completely digital way, or (addressing most traditional artists' fears) creating comics as a hybrid between the computer and the hand drawn comics in a variety of ways that can cater to one's strengths. I have always been a writer/penciller, and can only describe my own inking as though I inked with a chocolate bar instead of a brush. When I picked up the book, I immediately went to the Inking section, and immediately found the methods to be completely within my technical abilities in Photoshop (a must have, along with a wacom or cintiq tablet for the methods described). And while I have over 15 years experience with Photoshop, Williams really makes this a doable thing for anyone who takes the time to learn just a few of the tools in Photoshop.

Other topics that surprised me for their ease and flexibility include the sections on creating backgrounds, working from a library of art for warping to fit perspective and placement, and other items that caused a few "Why didn't I think of that?" moments.

Whether you draw funny animals, super heroes, or manga, I highly recommend this book to anyone that is ready to delve into the process of creating comics in what can ultimately be a more efficient, flexible, and ultimately more creative way.

As someone who's been creating comics digitally for a few years now, I'm always curious to see how my peers do it. It's nice to have means of comparison and new reference.

Freddie's DC Comics-endorsed book presumes a few things: 1. That you have a kick-ass computer with a big monitor and 2. That you have a full, newer version of Adobe Photoshop. He addresses this, of course, but the fact is, this book won't do you much good if you don't have the means to drop a few thousand $ on good digital production gear. Oh, it also presumes YOU CAN DRAW. This is not an art instruction book, kids. It's really designed for the working or hobbyist illustrator who wants to step up their game to the next (digital) level.

That being said, his obsessively detailed workflow -- from filing schemes to Photoshop layering to making backups of backups -- is covered in very clear and concise detail, setting somewhat of a high bar from which the reader can scale back to their preference.

Freddie covers a lot of ground on all aspects of creating comic book line art, and even as a journeyman myself, I found myself having a lot of lightbulb-turning-on moments. The book even addresses hybrid digital-traditional workflows for penciling and inking.

The point at which it stops is coloring, so if that's something you're into, I'm guessing there's a DC Guide to Digitally Coloring Comics as well. If not, there should be.

This book is a must read if you've never drawn comics digitally. I've been drawing them digitally for years now and I've developed a lot of my own techniques. For me this book was only partially helpful. It did give me some good tips to improve my current way of doing things and some insight into the way it's done by a professional working for one of the biggest comic companies. It's a better source of information on the subject than most websites so I DO NOT regret the purchase. Just be aware that if you've been doing comics this way for a while you may not be learning a whole lot of new information. If you've never done comics digitally before this is the book for you.

The DC Guide to Digitally Drawing Comics is one of the best if not the best Guide out there to creating comics. What makes the book so good is Freddie's ability to convey information so clearly and in simple, straight-forward, easy to understand terms.

This book is mainly aimed at people with some knowledge of various design software such as Adobe Photoshop which was the main tool the author uses. That in itself is my only warning to anyone thinking about buying this book. Don't expect to be taught Photoshop inside and out. If you know photoshop pretty well then this will be a Gem for you. I've been working on my own comic book project mainly in Corel Painter however most design software is at its core kind of the same. Freddie explains things so well that I could actually apply his Photoshop techniques to Corel, so even if you don't use Photoshop the ideas presented here cross software boundaries. Seeing how well presented and coherent Freddie explains his workflow I am strongly considering drawing everything in Photoshop then using Corel Painter for color only.

Freddie will carry you from beginning to end, from the digital sketch to the digital inks. He will give you hints, tips and so much useful ideas for creating a speedy workflow. I got the book this evening and sat down just to flip through some pages. Before I knew it I had read through more than half of the book, it was that interesting! I feel like I've just been sitting down with a friend who for hours was patiently helping me to understand the proper way to go about creating the comic book of my dreams.

Finally I was so happy to see a proper section on creating backgrounds using perspective grids digitally. This is what I've been looking for everywhere for a couple years. This guy has covered all the obstacles that you will encounter, the only thing left is to pick up the Wacom pen and draw. Thank you so much Freddie for an excellent Guide or rather a BIBLE in my opinion. This book is priceless.

Recently a friend had asked me my opinion on this book and to get back to him after I'd read it. I thought it would be much more productive to review/share my thoughts on this book here... also being as the holiday season is right around the corner, it would make a great gift.

Now, I can pretty much sum it up in one word, DANGEROUS!

Here's why, this book will pretty much walk you though creating comic pages digitally, from concept to final. It also provides some very helpful tips into creating elements you might find yourself using again and again...

Which is why I find this book to be so Dangerous. You see, it opens allot of doors to information that could easily be abused by some less then honest/dedicated arts. However, I can safely say this book has complied information on creating comics that I myself have spend almost 20 years learning from the real world and by reading countless other books on digital art.

Which is the other reason it's so Dangerous. Sometimes when people don't have to put forth any real effort to acquire knowledge, they act irresponsible with it... they don't respect it. Which is my biggest fear about this book. It really gives you every step, and compares the pros and cons to working traditionally as well as digital...

However, with that being said, every comic artist working digitally or in a hybrid of traditional and digital should read this book... I found myself saying many times while reading it, "Yup, figured that out the hard way" or "i've come to that very same conclusion myself" and even "oh yeah, that would be faster wouldn't it".

To be 100% honest, it's probably as important (if not more so) then Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics" and it's a very productive read no matter how much you think you know about creating comics digitally, much less traditionally.

THIS IS NOT A "HOW TO DRAW BOOK"! It's a production book, it mainly focuses on how to create a digital work flow and create comic pages from start to finish. It works on the assumption you know how to draw already and picks up from there. It does make some points about the pros and cons to drawing on paper then scanning, vs drawing completely on the computer. It doesn't cover anatomy or things like that. Some of what's shown could be misconstrued or taken the wrong way when it comes to creating art digitally, which is another reason I feel it's dangerous. Some of what's presented might cause people to take short cuts (like tracing reference) rather then dedicating the time to actually learning to draw, which is a HUGE issue in art today. I'm sorry, tracing isn't drawing no matter which famous artist do it, it's wrong. No debate, no discussion.

That being said, if comics or manga is your passion, read this book, you won't be sorry and you will really learn something... if not many things ;)

Finally, in the long list of lackluster DC How to Books for comics, they hit one out of the park with the help of Mr. Williams. If you've asked, tried, and begged comic book insiders to give up some of their secrets about drawing comics in photoshop to no avail, then this book is for you. This isn't some half-baked gnomon video tutorial where they skip 5 steps between clips and the instructor is rushing through the process without
explaining what they're doing. Freddie breaks down his entire process and goes step by step. If he skipped a step in this book, then at least he fooled me. The multiple times steps are skipped in other tutorials are
far easier to spot.

Definitely an important book for anyone still using traditional or hybrid (tradigital) techniques. Case in point: Williams claims it used to take him 17 hours to finish a page, from roughs to inks. With an all-digital workflow, it takes him 8 to 9 hours. His workflow is logical, efficient, and leaves plenty of room for discovery and improvement as technology changes. Some bits you already know: layers, brushes, saving frequently, maybe even Photoshop Actions. But he has tons more to say on every step of the process and how best to do it, how to organize your data, how to automate some steps, and how to iteratively explore layouts using page templates, panels, and in-file documents such as script, reference images, etc.

I am finding this book to be indespensible to my illustration and animation work, and it absolutely fills the gaps left from my own questions asked of other illustrators who have their own, less efficient digital workflows.

I'm a freelance illustrator and designer who has been drawing digitally with vector-based programs and a mouse for a long time (well over a decade). I've been wanting to try using Photoshop or Painter with a tablet/pen for awhile, to get a more organic-looking result (and, admittedly, just because I like learning new things). I have the tools, but just need a bit of a kick start.

For those who have purchased your share of how-to design and art books in the past, you know that very few of them end up being all that helpful. They either spend too much time on rudimentary aspects, or they aren't clear and skip important details, or the authors simply aren't transparent enough about their own methods. Williams really shows his cards here, and the result is a book that truly feels like spending a day with him in his studio.

The focus is on comics, but most of the info is completely relevant to any illustrator. Hopefully there will be another book from this author as his process evolves.