My older work

**Johnathan Static** · March 17th, 2012, 05:52 AM

Johnathan Static here...

I am new here, and as a matter of fact this is my very first post. (so I do hope that I put all this in the proper place, if not please forgive me.)

A lil' about myself...
1) I am a 44 yr old frustrated comic book artist, who never quite made it.

2) I have never taken a formal art class. (except for a 3 day 3 hour cartooning course when I was younger, Does that count? I don't count it heh) This is NOT a source of pride but a source of frustration because I have always wanted to attend.

3) Made the switch from comic book art to comic strip art after a 2 and a half year layoff because of a heinously harsh critique / rebuke from one of my heroes in the field at a comic book convention.

4) I once worked for a small news paper in Texas doing both single panel political, 5 panel humor, and single panel humor strips. (most were well received) but it was a very short stint.

5) I have been drawing since I have been old enough to hold a pencil, I love art and drawing, and I desperately want to improve.

I haven't drawn seriously in about 8 years, But I really want to start again, get better at it and illustrate somewhere for a living. I must say though that looking at all of the sketchbooks here I have been rather hesitant to show my work, because you guys are just brilliant at what you do and I know that I don't hold a candle in comparison.

In any case any comments and suggestions are very welcome.

The following are scans of some of my older sketches.

**arc41** · March 19th, 2012, 05:41 PM

Hey man, great to see you signed up!

I'll keep dropping by to see how you're doing.

Try to draw for a few hours everyday working on the stuff you know you're weak at and upload them on here daily to get some advice. It's really good to draw from life plenty of times too.

From our chat you said your anatomy's a bit stiff so make sure you do plenty of gestures to get that part of your game down. Here's a really good site to practice your gestures on:

www.pixelovely.com/gesture/figuredrawing.php

A good goal to set yourself is to do about 60 1 minute gestures a day. And if you can, try to do gesture drawings of people in real life. So maybe you could go to a cafe or a library where people are more likely to be still long enough for you to draw them. And wear sunglasses so people don't think you're staring at them.

Try to get those Loomis & Bridgman books to practice as well. There's a wealth of knowledge in them.

**iamkennstan** · March 19th, 2012, 05:46 PM

pretty good man! you should really sign up for some drawing and life drawing classes! I want to see your stuff after you have gotten a good grip on shading, energy and dimensions!

**Johnathan Static** · March 20th, 2012, 12:03 AM

Thank you for the encouragement and advice, much appreciated.

I started this last night and finished it this afternoon... and I must say that I am grossly out of practice, but I am still cranking.

It's the only way to get better.

**Johnathan Static** · March 20th, 2012, 12:22 AM

I tend to see things I have drawn differently now, and the mistakes i have made.

For instance take a look at this, I am sure you already noticed it and cringed, I know... I know I saw it before I posted it, but I posted it anyway, honesty is how you get better right?

See the one on the right is the original piece and the space between her nose and mouth is not correct, they are much to close together. as compared to the corrected one on the left.

It looks much better (the corrected one on the left) doesn't it?