Total Beginner

[Hugh_Jazz]

Hello there

I use to draw comic book characters in elementary school and high school, Drawing being looking at a picture (splash/cover page) and try to duplicate it without sketching, shapes or anything. God.... I open up my ten year old sketchbook and the anatomy of the characters were god awful.

I went to a comic book convention in Toronto this past year and it has fired up my passion for drawing. I have been slowing collecting comic books and have bought reference material and how to draw books from various sources.

I bought the necessary pencils and equipment. I have a couple of questions and I am hoping that somebody can help me out with this.

To start, I drew this picture of the joker with non photo blue pencils. (Scanned picture). After I did the initial sketching/anatomy of the picture, I read from my books to use my regular pencils to tightening my picture.

Am I suppose to use a light box or can I just use my pencil over the blue sketch??

Do I put a new piece of paper underneath the light box. The Book I am using is Bryan Hitch Ultimate Comic Studio. It mentions the light box but it does not give specific instruction on the process.

BTW-this is my first time drawing properly, I am not in a rush, I want to practice, practice and practice some more. So PLEASE critique my work so I can understand what is wrong with how I initially draw my characters.

[FourTonMantis]

First of all, this should probably be in the Critique forum or maybe even sketchbooks. Secondly, at this point, don't worry about things like lightboxes and non-photo pencils. Get this Loomis pdf. It will help you more with anatomy than any comic art book will. Stick to basic pencil and paper for now. Take it slow and focus on getting angles right, even if the musculature isn't exactly like it is in the picture. Thirdly, don't post such huge pics.

[Hugh_Jazz]

Started to draw more human form anatomy.

I usually sketch using a stick figure with joints being represented by circles. Please advise any weaknesses you see at my initial sketching. Remember total noob!!

I want to first master the overall body before I start doing hands/feet/eyes.

[Hugh_Jazz]

Here is the initial sketchs, sorry for not putting them on in the early reply, thought I did

[Wingal]

You should start a sketchbook here http://www.conceptart.org/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=41 and post your art there and people will comment and help you out. Dont forget to return the favor and checkout other peoples sketchbooks aswell, alot of inspiration and learning can be found there =)