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Fun Stuff => MAKE => Topic started by: whitnelson on 19 Mar 2006, 22:16

Title: Terrible drawings
Post by: whitnelson on 19 Mar 2006, 22:16: Ok -

Couple questions for the comic drawers (strippers?) out there. I'm startin' up a webcomic, but my drawing is nothing short of awful. So my question is this: Does bad drawing turn you off to a comic? Can a poorly drawn strip survive on the strength of the jokes or plot? Can bad art perhaps be a plus? A sort of charm?

-- whit
http://www.comictheory.com
Title: Terrible drawings
Post by: Jira on 19 Mar 2006, 22:19: Agreed with this question, since my own art is absolute shite but I want to try a webcomic. :P So, just kinda wondering the same thing.
Title: Terrible drawings
Post by: M3gaBigh on 19 Mar 2006, 22:28: White Ninja!

I'd hardly say that the art at white ninja is cutting edge but I still loove that comic. The drawing style sort of goes with it. It really depends. If you have a great story line or great jokes I don't think the drawing matters so much. However it still needs to be somewhat recognisable or people will turn off. So it may or it may not, it depends on what your main point is i guess.
Title: Terrible drawings
Post by: Duchess Tapioca on 19 Mar 2006, 22:58: Your art needs to be pleasing to look at. It does not have to be anatomically correct or perfect, but if someone is going to go look at somthing every day, it has to be somthing they like to look at. Ryan North doesn't draw, but the dinosaurs are pretty to look at. (Plus whenever I see the videogame with those same dinosaurs at the arcade, I am happy.) Drew (from toothpaste for dinner) isn't the best artist ever, but his drawings appeal to his sense of astetics, and people like to look at them. There are lots of examples.

I think you need to make something that you like to look at. If you cannot make something that you like to look at, practice until you can and you are proud of your work. If you cannot do that, get someone else who can. If you like to look at things, then someone else somewhere will probably like to look at them too.

If your art is charming, then it is not bad.
Title: Terrible drawings
Post by: Inlander on 19 Mar 2006, 23:01: For your comic, which is obviously a one-off gag strip, I don't think "bad" art is a problem. If you were going to do something more story-based and maybe more serious then I think you'd want to work on the art.

However, you do need to improve your art just a little bit, perhaps put in a little bit more detail: it took me a second or two to work out what was being represented in some of those strips (such as the one with the toilet door and the rolls of toilet-paper). For a comic like this you really really want your reader's first response to be "Haha!" - not "Huh?"
Title: Terrible drawings
Post by: Trollstormur on 19 Mar 2006, 23:55: http://www.comictheory.com/index.php?comic=9

this one in particular wins very very hard.
Title: Terrible drawings
Post by: torg on 20 Mar 2006, 04:18: I like the one with the toilet paper....
Title: Terrible drawings
Post by: Kirbo on 20 Mar 2006, 05:28: http://www.kirbo.thejefffiles.com/twisb.html

I too know the pain of not being able to draw, but it's not hurting me that badly, I'm getting more and more readers now, which is pretty nice. Like most people said, if it fits with the style of the comic, then the art doesn't have to be good. In the case of your comic, it works. If you try for a serious character piece (QC, MT, PVP, ect...) then you need some art to really sell the characters.

IMO, the "bad" art you have, makes things better This one in particular. (http://www.comictheory.com/index.php?comic=7)

Keep it up.
Title: Thanks everybody
Post by: whitnelson on 20 Mar 2006, 15:50: You guys are really supportive, thanks. I will keep it up, and I'll put off the purchase of a wacom tablet. (I currently use my touchpad to draw these, HA!) Thanks again everybody.

-- whit
http://www.comictheory.com