4 Quick Ways to Make Drawing Comics Simpler
- Silhouettes are your friend.
Yes, they're a slight cop-out, but if enough of a figure is showing that we can still make them out, you're good to go. You still have to sketch enough to know where to add detail to the edges, but done right you can limit your lineart and avoid coloring more figures than necessary to get the point across. - Tell the Story.
Stupid, but if you don't need to show off your character's Gucci Purse in every single panel, why do so when just her face will do? In fact, if you don't need to have all her face in a panel for that matter . . . - Pull your 'Mental Camera' in and out of the shot.
Pulling either really tight in or very far out can send two different dramatic messages to the story, and both of them mean less work for you if you know your world well. Close-ups alert the reader to key emotions and other intimate details, allowing the reader to feel as if they're channeling a given character and experiencing the moment. Distant shots add drama and give us a bystander's view of the events at hand, as though we were watching in real life. - Don't make every panel the same size.
Readers tend to look from top to bottom, left to right. Have your Panels reinforce this idea; using different sizes and widths simply keeps things interesting and tends to help the reader's eye maintain focus. Also, when you're drawing out expansive scenes that attempt to have a background, being able to use different sizes lets you devote more time and space to the 'showoff' panel.
Hey, if you're going for broke when you draw anyway, nobody ever said you had to break your hand while doing it...
