What’s the difference from a really good engaging comic and an so-so just okay comic? We’ve all been there, we read a comic and we think to ourselves, this just isn’t doing it for me. Something is missing. Maybe it was the writing, but most often I find that it’s the art that is just falling flat. This is something I see all to often in indie comics. It’s failing at the flare game, not really selling the excitement. It’s just “meh.” In today’s blog, I write with artists in mind, and maybe even writers (Drama can be written as well!). Good writing can be torpedoed by bad art and story-telling. How do you stop from falling flat, and from loosing some of the power from this medium of sequential art that we call comics? Well…Read on my friend!
I think often times it’s easy to forget the dramatic nature of the arts. When I say arts, I’m speaking generally about theater, movies and television, and comics by extension as well, as it is a drama that is played out on the page. The characters, the backgrounds, the scenes, the lighting, it’s all there, it just finds itself played out by flat “paper puppets” rather than actual actors. We tend to forget that all these things find their history and roots in artistic expression that goes all the way back the very first theater performances. Think back with me to a time before comics, before movies! Before all that, there was theater. Sure there was art, but illustration was not sequential.
So again, think with me if you will to those theater performances. You’re sitting out in the audience and you might be grasping to hear what’s being said, but you’re keenly honed in on the characters acting out their roles. Macbeth or King Lear is there before you, and what is striking to you is the expression of these actors, everything becomes more enhanced as they stretch out toward their counterparts, or as the blade is plunged into the chest of King Duncan by Macbeth. It’s not just that he’s stabbing this man with a blade, it’s how it’s done that is so gripping. It’s exaggerated. It’s powerful. There is drama in the performance. It is a “drama” after-all but I want to focus on the dramatic aspect of it all. Drama enhances. If you’re in the back row and everything that you see is done is all in a very slow mundane form, there is really no reason for excitement, you’ll probably just leave, but introduce some over the top drama, and all of a sudden you’re glued to the stage. A smile cracks across your face as a joke is told by a silly flipping harlequin dressed in a dramatic flamboyant outfit. Today we just get “Stand-up” comedy. Ha! There used to be jesters! Jim Carrey is an actor and comedian that you can easily look to that has a flare for the dramatic. Everything he does is fueled by energy and drama. Sometimes over the top and wild, but is he not easily the one actor/comedian you want to watch just to see what crazy thing he does next? (You younger guys might not know the true genius of this man I speak of… but do yourself a favor and watch Ace Ventura, or Dumb and Dumber to see what I mean!)
What does your art bring to the table? Do your gestures instill drama to the characters? Are you drawing dull mundane action sequences? No changes in perspective or the viewers eye? How about lighting? Introduce a little lightning, or add a little rain and all of a sudden your fun action sequence becomes even more exhilarating. Are all your characters the same size? Do they all look the same with their costumes– is there any variety? Now granted, these things will be based on the story you’re telling. Is it a superhero book or a crime drama? That may limit your ability to implement some of these next ideas. But get this…
BIGGER IS BETTER
Consider how everything has gotten bigger. Giant robots the size of Skyscrapers. Swords that are now as large as a person! Over the years in comics, and in manga (which probably was the driving factor the change in American comics), things have gotten bigger, more massive! Even in comics in the 90’s it wasn’t enough that the guy had big muscles, they had to be exaggerated to the point that they were physically impossible (well Arnold was pretty big and perhaps that was part of the inspiration!) but if his biceps weren’t bigger than his head they just weren’t big enough! Massive thighs, enormous guns, giant shoulder pads to make the big bigger, and the more veins the better! Everything was exaggerated. It became more exciting, more fun, more gripping. I mean who’s more fun to look at? The incredible Hulk or some normal guy? Put the Hulk next to Captain America, and it’s almost still no comparison, you’d much rather see the Hulk smash a guy than Cap. Where am I going with this? Things tend to be much more interesting, more captivating when they enter the realm of the impossible. When they are more dramatic. When they are exaggerated. That doesn’t mean every character you draw needs to be Hulkish, but just don’t be afraid to go big. The images above of Berserk, and Cloud, they aren’t enormous characters but the sword alone is dramatic! It’s cool! How about making a hand enormous in the foreground, do some dramatic foreshortening! Do one panel with a character taking up the whole page length. Implement some BIG factors to your pages and art and you’ll see some dramatic effects!
Take a look at a series of images from comics starting with John Byrne in the 80’s who was arguably the most influential comic artist of his time with his run on the X-Men… Then take a trip to the 90’s and see how that period transforms our favorite heroes into gigantic massive dramatic amalgamations!
- Dynamic shading/ Dramatic lighting – Check
- Giant over the top muscles – Check
- Dynamic layouts/ pages – Check
- Dynamic colors – Check
- Exaggeration to the Max! – Check
Everything is oozing and dripping with over the top drama and notice the size of the heroes only gets bigger! This is only a small sampling but think about any of the big name creators during the 90’s and see what they were doing! Giant splash pages with guys flying out of the panels! That’s not to say that was a new invention but it was done in a new dynamic way that was just immense in it’s proportions. In going back and taking a look at some pages from Dave Cockrum and John Byrne in the 70’s and 80s, the pages have a very similar format. If it wasn’t a splash page or a Double Page Spread, the panels stayed in their lane. Characters rarely if ever broke into the gutters. That’s not to say the comics weren’t great, it was just how it was done and the characters stayed in their boxes, but the pages taken in full, tended to look similar, crowded, and busy with no real standouts. That all changed in the late 80’s early 90’s. Panels got bigger. There were less panels on a page to make room for more dynamic fuller figures and bigger shots.
TAKEN TO THE EXTREME!
Take Image comics Extreme studios, everything was dynamic and in your face! Where do you think the name came from?! Is Extreme a dynamic and dramatic name or what!? Image comics was famous for this. Jim Lee in his WildCATS issue #5 even went big on the pages, showcasing not just one, but two double gate-fold pages! Eric Larsen had the Savage Dragon which blew me away with the over the top action and buckets of blood. Dale Keown, with Pitt, where the dynamic action was only surpassed by the enormous size and strength of Pitt himself. Rob Liefeld took not only his art and creations to a new level but reformed how the comic was made, giving us better paper quality, and bringing in computer colors! It was big, it was bold, and it was beautiful! Everything about the 90’s pushed the boundaries and sought to out due everything that came before it. They took risks like no other! When it came to Image comics, they bet on themselves and they won!
INSPIRATION INSPIRES
This was the time I grew up in, and I was consuming every book I found on the shelf at the local comic shop that bore the title “Image Comics” — for that very reason. It was new, it was different, and it was awesome! Say what you will about the 90’s and Image Comics but it was a transformative period in the the comics industry. For everyone! Me included! It’s what got me drawing, it’s what inspired me. Now think if everything just stayed the same, and Marvel kept being Marvel, and DC kept doing DC, and the needle never moved!? Where’s the fun in that! What if the early founders of Image just decided they were fine just where they were and never aspired for more? Granted all those guys were still great artists putting out great art, fun characters and the rest. But at Image Comics they had a new passion, fueled by the will to succeed and show everyone they could do it. The guys at Marvel were betting on them failing and falling hard. But the magnificent seven were inspired, and they succeeded, and they succeeded big! In the process they influenced and inspired so many young artists of today’s generation!
Okay, that was a detour but inspiration is great for fueling your passion. Find inspiration! Don’t let that go—you’ll need it! To circle back around and finish this off, it’s easy to forget that what we do as artists flows from this long history and long line of dramatic arts. Drama adds flare, so if you want your art, your pages, your stories to rise above the mundane, to really take it up a notch, go big, and be dramatic! That’s not to say EVERYTHING has to be dramatic, but look at it this way, a “dramatic entrance” without drama is just an entrance and where’s the fun in that!? Do something that seeks to grip and grab the attention of the reader. Exaggerate and be dramatic in your expressions, in your gestures. There are so many great artists out there, what is going to set you apart? What’s going to get you noticed? Find that flare. Find it, but don’t discount the dramatic!
