I’m in no good mood, so you can take or leave the rest of what I’m going to say as you wish, but I have met all sorts of people who are really, really great fans of comics and sequential art and they love to show off their sketchbooks and want me to comment on everything.
In particular, they want me to notice how they got This Hand just right: “See? Look - look at my hand - see how I did that?” Or how they actually knew that girl and her eyes really did cross - just like they do in that picture they drew! It’s always something.
But the main thing that always gets me is when I have to ask, “Why is that there?” - like a picture of all these zombies in the foreground of a dried, cracked Earth, with a perfectly healthy bald eagle soaring in the background - and they go into this novel-length explanation for why this and how that and what happens next and what happened before and how the eagle is a central character in the 19th Act...
Sequential art means art that happens in sequence. It is different from illustration and it is different from all other forms of art. See, if I write an entire paragraph, describing an action that is taking place - let’s say a piratical fight scene - and you draw a couple of pirates fighting, then that illustrates the scene. In sequential art, each panel furthers the story; in really good sequential art, no words are needed. Bob and Dave yell; Dave rares back; Bob scowls; Dave swings; Bob blocks and draws his fist; Bob knocks Dave smooth-out. Continued on page following.
And, just so you know, your hand does that. The girl you knew? - her eyes crossed. Not all hands or eyes do that, so if you’re going to use that as a cornerstone of a portfolio showing off how well you do hands and eyes, those should be the only pictures in there that do something different; if all your hands look that weird and all your models' eyes cross, you need more work.
I'm in a bad mood and all, but I'm trying to be honest.
In particular, they want me to notice how they got This Hand just right: “See? Look - look at my hand - see how I did that?” Or how they actually knew that girl and her eyes really did cross - just like they do in that picture they drew! It’s always something.
But the main thing that always gets me is when I have to ask, “Why is that there?” - like a picture of all these zombies in the foreground of a dried, cracked Earth, with a perfectly healthy bald eagle soaring in the background - and they go into this novel-length explanation for why this and how that and what happens next and what happened before and how the eagle is a central character in the 19th Act...
Sequential art means art that happens in sequence. It is different from illustration and it is different from all other forms of art. See, if I write an entire paragraph, describing an action that is taking place - let’s say a piratical fight scene - and you draw a couple of pirates fighting, then that illustrates the scene. In sequential art, each panel furthers the story; in really good sequential art, no words are needed. Bob and Dave yell; Dave rares back; Bob scowls; Dave swings; Bob blocks and draws his fist; Bob knocks Dave smooth-out. Continued on page following.
And, just so you know, your hand does that. The girl you knew? - her eyes crossed. Not all hands or eyes do that, so if you’re going to use that as a cornerstone of a portfolio showing off how well you do hands and eyes, those should be the only pictures in there that do something different; if all your hands look that weird and all your models' eyes cross, you need more work.
I'm in a bad mood and all, but I'm trying to be honest.
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