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[Victory]

Hi there! Like maaaanymanymany people on this forum, it seems, I have aspirations toward making my own comic. I actually did start a while back and managed to get ten pages done before I realized that I needed to stop and seriously work on my drawing skills, so as to distinguish myself from the throng of godawful comics out there.
So! Here's some drawings. Please examine them with your eyeballs. Any and all feedback would be extremely incredibly appreciated--the harsher the criticism, the better. I know I need to work on anatomy, line quality, shading, etc. but it'd be nice to have someone else's opinions.


Harley Quinn.


Ariel the mermaid because who doesn't need more Disney princesses in their life.


A (minor) character from that comic I'm working on. Yes she is a catgirl, shut up.


Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Wonky Background.


I didn't realize how phallic that tower looked until after I'd inked it.


Another character from the comic. He's a robot.


And another one.


Starfire from Teen Titans.

[Eris]

References are your friends. Especially now, where you are obviously still learning the basics of anatomy and perspective and all that shit, references will help with everything.

Don't know how to draw a person in a certain pose? Look for a photo of someone doing a similar pose! Get a friend to pose how you want, and take a photo to use!  Unsure how fabrics drape on a person? A reference will show you that! it will also help with how, when colouring, you can differentiate between shiny metal and the clothes the metal robot is wearing.

References!

[JD]

Posemaniacs is pretty dang useful for general poses

Also just go to the park sometime and just draw your surroundings, get a grasp of perspective. For all we know that phallitower erupted out of the water.

[Eris]

Character Designs has a lot of photosets (note, the link goes straight to one of the photosets that may be NSFW) of a variety of subjects, which is pretty good for references! There are a lot of nudes in there, if that is a problem for you, but it states which ones are nudes and which are clothes, so that should clear up any confusion with those.

[David_Dovey]

Don't be a furry

[Buttfranklin]

I didn't realize how phallic that tower looked until after I'd inked it.

Sigmund Freud

Anyway, I could have been an excellent drawer except I got bored as hell with it.  Technically I was pretty darn good, though.

Here's a tip for general practice: although you may want a hard-lines style for yr web comic, good practice comes from drawing without hard lines.  Look around you.  Do you see any object that has a distinct, thick black line separating it from other objects?  Nope!  So to differentiate objects in a true-to-reality drawing you have to really practice yr shading skills.  It'll make you a good drawer in the long run.

Before you can draw cartoony stuff well, you have to be able to draw realistically.

[JD]

Don't be a furry

I dunno I've seen some pretty talented furries

[Snuffletrout]

I guess it really depends on what you're going for. If you're going to start up a comic which is suppose to update rather frequently then I'd say go simple and don't try to overcompensate with the drawings in the beginning.
Get a feel for the characters facial expressions before you start thinking about background, coloring and shading. Practice lots with pen and paper.

And learn how to use illustrator instead of Photoshop. It'll be easier to color and to put together comics later. Some prefer it, including me. (Although I dont actually make comics..!) There's plenty of easy tutorials out there about it, here's one:
http://danidraws.com/2007/08/10/the-complete-digital-comic-part-2-inking-in-illustrator/

This one's pretty simple and neat:
http://vector.tutsplus.com/illustration/inking-and-coloring-the-comic-strip-the-brads/
GL!

[The Seldom Killer]

You should draw comics as well as improve your drawing.

If you spend time just working on your drawing then you won't develop your storytelling skills. Storytelling is, in my oh so bloody humble opinion, more important than drawing skills.

Let us consider, as a completely random example, the work of the artist Jeph Jacques. If you look at a comic strip he has been publishing to the interwebs, you will see that at the beginning his drawing wasn't eye-stabbingly horrible but also not at the standard we enjoy today. However, the strip worked because the content and storytelling was good. It isn't just Mr. Jacques either. XKCD, Toothpaste for Dinner, Paranoid Dreams and many others all succeed because the quality of content and storytelling more than balance any shortfall in the quality of drawing.

You are a good artist in as much as what you draw (presumably) looks like the object that you want to draw and fairly pleasingly so. I've been to comic conventions and paid cold hard cash for publications with worse drawing than yours because I liked the content and storytelling and I wasn't the only one. If you have a good story then tell it now. You can always redraw it later, you may not get the chance to tell it later.

[edwinalink]

I don't know how well this will work for a cartoonist. but many illustrators find it better to lay down gesture lines, and then go back and lay out the basic form of the whole page/panel first.

all very lightly.

then when they get that loose drawing where they want it, they come back in and put down the more exacting fine lines, then erase the rest.

its helped me. but I tend to draw a lot slower and more realistically then a web comic or even a traditional comic would accept.

[Allybee]

in my opinion...

1. art is as important as storytelling. a really great comic should have great art and great writing and they should work in tandem.
2. draw from life, not from references. it'll help you understand how anatomy actually works so you'll be able to figure it out rather than having to copy a picture. take a life drawing class. it'll benefit your artwork immensely.

[GroovyKinda]

All good advice, and some great reference links.
I think The Seldom Killer said it best. If you want to draw comics, draw comics. Yes, learn to draw, and draw what you see. But the most important thing is the storytelling. If the art supports the story; if it adds to the story, then it's good, even if it's stick figures.
You're good enough to draw comics. And you'll be surprised how fast your art improves when you draw panel after panel.

[pwhodges]

You realise that you're talking to someone who isn't here...?

[Carl-E]

...anymore. 

It's still good advice, though.