NUMBER 5 THE “HOW-TO” MAGAZINE ON COMICS AND CARTOONING $5. 95 WINTER IN THE U.S.A. 2003 G N I M E O E K I M D N A S I D N E B N A I R B 3 0 0 2 © D N A M T S I S R E W O P

AN INTERVIEW WITH MIKE WIERINGO BUILDING POWERS BY BENDIS, OEMING AND THE POWERS CREW DRAWING HANDS BY BRET BLEVINS DESIGN—THE DEPTH ILLUSION BY PAUL RIVOCHE THE MUST HAVE ART BOOKS FOR YOUR STUDIO BY TERRY BEATTY

THIS ISSUE CONTAINS NUDITY FOR THE PURPOSE OF FIGURE DRAWING. INTENDED FOR MATURE READERS. THE PROFESSIONAL “HOW-TO” MAGAZINE ON COMICS & CARTOONING

NOW ON-LINE AT: http://www.drawmagazine.com WINTER 2003 • VOL. 1, NO. 5

Editor & Designer • Michael Manley Publisher • John Morrow Logo Design • John Costanza Front Cover Illustration • Mike Oeming

Proofreader • Eric Nolen-Weathington FEATURES PENCILING A FANTASTIC INTERVIEW WITH CURRENT FANTASTIC FOUR PENCILER MIKE WIERINGO ...... 3 DESIGN DESIGNING FOR DEPTH BY PAUL RIVOCHE ...... 26 BUILDING POWERS A STEP-BY-STEP DEMO BY THE POWERS CREATIVE TEAM ...... 41 HITTING THE BOOKS REVIEWS OF VINTAGE ART BOOKS TO HAVE IN YOUR COLLECTION BY TERRY BEATTY ...... 54 FIGURE DRAWING DRAWING HANDS BY BRET BLEVINS ...... 69 LETTERS COMMENTS FROM READERS ON OUR FOURTH ISSUE ...... 82

SUBSCRIBE TO DRAW! Four quarterly issues for $20 US Standard Mail, $32 US First Class Mail ($40 Canada, Elsewhere: $44 Surface, $60 Airmail). We accept US check, money order, Visa and Mastercard at TwoMorrows, 1812 Park Dr., Raleigh, NC 27605, (919) 833-8092, E-mail: [email protected] ADVERTISE IN DRAW! See page 2 for ad rates and specifications.

DRAW! SPRING 2003, Vol. 1, No. 5 was produced by Action Planet Inc. and published by TwoMorrows Publishing. Michael Manley, Editor, John Morrow, Publisher. Editorial Address is PO Box 2129, Upper Darby, PA 19082. Subscription Address: TwoMorrows Publishing, 1812 Park Dr., Raleigh, NC 27605. DRAW! and its logo are trade - marks of Action Planet Inc. All contributions herein are copyright 2003 by their respective contributors. Action Planet Inc. and TwoMorrows Publishing accept no responsibility for unsolicited submissions. All artwork herein is copyright the year of production, its creator (if work-for-hire, the entity which contracted said artwork); the characters featured in said artwork are trademarks or registered trademarks of their respective owners; and said artwork or other trademarked material is printed in these pages with the consent of the copyright holder and/or for journalistic, educational and historical purposes with no infringement intended or implied. Static Shock, Bizarro, are TM and ©2003 DC COMICS • Tom Strong TM and ©2003 America’s Best Comics LLC. • The Human Torch,The Invisible Woman, The Thing, Dr. Octopus, Mr. Fantastic, Sleepwalker, Spider-Man, Modulus TM and ©2003 Marvel Characters, Inc. • Powers TM and ©2003 Brian Michael Bendis and Mike Oeming • MR. X is TM and ©2003 Vortex Comics.• Tarzan is TM and ©2003 The Edgar Rice Burroughs Estate • Tellos TM and ©2003 Todd Dezago and Mike Wieringo • This entire issue is ©2003 Action Planet Inc. and TwoMorrows Publishing and may not be reprinted or retransmitted without written permission of the copyright holders. Printed in Canada. FIRST PRINTING. FROM THE EDITOR We’re here, we’re here, we’re here! DRAW! is back from our long hiatus. In the time since we last met I attended the 2002 San Diego Comic Con and had a blast. It was great to meet so many of you DRAW! readers there who stopped by our booth to chat s n i with Bret and myself. The drawing demonstration that Bret and I gave was filled to the v e l rafters, which was a great surprise and lots of fun. I just let Bret do all the talking and B t

e most of the drawing. r

B The biggest news this time around is the official launch of DRAWMAGAZINE.COM! y b That’s right, DRAW! will now have an official online home, where you can surf in to n o i find the latest news and updates, back issues and links, peruse and post on our message t a t board, view our online tutorials on drawing, inking and more. You’ll also be able to get e r p in touch with regular DRAW! contributors Bret Blevins and Paul Rivoche as well as r e t Ande Parks. I also want to thank you all for your patience and support as we work to n i

e get the magazine v i t back on track a r u schedule-wise. g i

F Look for on-time quarterly shipping from now on! Once again a big thanks goes out to my regular contributors Paul and Bret for another series of great articles and making this job easi - er. I’d also like to thank the Powers team, (Brian, Mike, Ken, and Pete) for giving us a cool cover and a glimpse behind their working process on one of the most popular comics being published today. A big tip of the hat to Terry Beatty for his great and informative article on art and illustration books that all artists should try and acquire for their bookshelf (watch those eBay auctions fly), Mike Wieringo for opening his files and supplying ample copies of his amazing work and sketches (more than I was able to print unfortu - nately). So enjoy this issue, then surf onto our new website and drop us an e-mail, and look for DRAW! #6 to show up with the Easter Bunny in April. Best,

Mike Manley , Editor

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2 DRAW! • WINTER 2003 PENCILING MIKE WIERINGO THE FANTASTIC PENCILS OF

MIKE WIERINGO For over a decade Mike Wieringo’s animated and appealing artwork has graced some of the biggest icons in comics. From his break-out run on The Flash to his amazing work on Spider-Man to his creator-owned work on Tellos, to his current run on the first family of . C N I comics, The S R E T Fantastic Four. C A R A DRAW! editor Mike H C L E

V Manley conducted R A

M this interview over 3 0 0

2 the internet and by ©

D phone with the N A M

T easy-going, busy R U

O artist from his F C I T

S Artamus Studio in A T N

A Hillsborough, F E H T North Carolina. WIERINGO: This is a panel from FF #61 where Ben is on the track of someone who played a practical joke on him. It was fun to show the public’s reaction to this lumbering monster running down the street. I tried to give the guy in the foreground a Sam Jackson-kind-of look.

DRAW!: Let’s begin with a brief bio. Give me the specifics. WIERINGO: Well, these were the books being bought by my Where were you born? Did anyone introduce you into comics? father in Germany that I’m talking about. This was when I was between 8 and 10 years old. I didn’t start buying my own comics WIERINGO: Well, I was born in Vicenza, Italy in 1963. My until I was 11 years old and back in the O.S. I wasn’t allowed to father was in the Army when I was born and that’s where he and go to the PX myself because there was a lot of drug dealing and my mother were stationed.We left not long after I was born, and violence going on, on base (if you can believe that... but it hap - we moved all over the place for years. We lived in New York pened). But I remember my dad telling me about the comics he state for a while, Virginia, over to Germany for three years and bought when he was a kid—things like Airboy, The Heap (a pre - then back to Virginia in the U.S. in 1974. I’ve been in the U.S. decessor to Swamp Thing ), Blackhawk as well as Superman and ever since. My dad was actually the one who introduced me to Batman . I read what he bought, but when I got to buy my own comic books. He would buy comics from the base PX books, I was into the Marvel stuff. (Post Exchange) when we were living in Germany and he’d let me read them. They were mostly DC comics like Superman and DRAW!: So you were you into comics and cartoons as a kid? Batman , but he would occasionally buy the odd Marvel like X- Men or Spider-Man. But overwhelmingly, they were the DC WIERINGO: Yeah—I really took to comic books immediately. books. The first time my dad brought some home, I was hooked. It’s always been that way. I can very easily get drawn into the “reali - DRAW!: Why was that? Did you find DC just more appealing ty” of whichever comic book I’m reading/looking at. The comic for some reason? DC’s were certainly more accessible in other book medium has always affected me in that way. I can open a mediums like TV and cartoons. comic book and get sucked in from the first couple of pages— DRAW! • WINTER 2003 3 PENCILING MIKE WIERINGO even in the bad ones. It’s like my brain is tuned into the language of comics, so it’s very easy to get immersed in whichever book I’m looking at, and it’s been like that for me since childhood. I’ve always enjoyed cartoons and movies as well, but nothing connects with me as much as comic books.

DRAW!: When did you get started in the business?

WIERINGO: I got started in late 1991 drawing a Doc Savage mini-series for a small publisher called Millennium Publications. I was working on samples at the time and had a pretty friendly relationship with the artists of Gaijin Studios (guys like Cully Hamner, Brian Stelfreeze, Karl Story, Adam Hughes and others) and they hooked me up with the publisher at Millennium. It was quite a learning experience, I’ll tell ya. The difference between working on samples and trying to get them “perfect,” and work - ing on pages on deadline was a real eye-opener, no doubt.

DRAW!: What was the hardest part of this for you? The work - ing when you don’t want to, or get tired, or drawing things you don’t find interesting?

WIERINGO: All of that, yeah. But mainly it was, and remains to this day—drawing what someone else has written, as opposed . C N to drawing my own stories. I guess the thing I had the most trou - I S R E ble dealing with is the fact that I had been drawing my own sto - T C A R ries for many years before actually starting to work as a free - A H C L lancer for anyone. From around age 11 or 12 I had been creating E V R A my own little comics of varying length with stories either about M 3 0 0 my favorite existing characters from Marvel and DC or from my 2 © own knock-off characters. Every kid that likes to draw comics D N A M

had their own versions of their favorite existing super-hero (I T R U would assume; every kid I knew that drew did), and so I had O F C I T

years of my own storytelling and pacing habits in place. Not all S A T N of them were good, mind you, but it was very hard to go from A F E H creating and drawing my own stories to trying to get inside a T writer’s mind to try to convey what they’re looking for in a story. It has also been a challenge from day one to think some of these guys would love to be writing for draw things that I’m not used to drawing or episodic television instead of comics, because that’s really don’t have a lot of interest in drawing. how their scripts read at times. One of the big problems I have with some of the writers I’ve worked with is their pen - DRAW!: What or who were you studying at this time artistical - chant for writing long scenes that take ly? Who were you learning from? place with a couple of characters sitting and talking at a desk or in a WIERINGO: Well, I was a huge Brian Stelfreeze nut, small room or what have to be honest. Up to the point that I discovered his work you, that will go on for when visiting a Heroes Convention in Charlotte, 5, 6 or 7 pages at NC. I had been into the old fan favorites like John times. It’s difficult Byrne and George Pérez, but when I saw Brian’s work, to maintain it was so unique and from such a different point of enthusiasm view, it just blew me away. My mistake was in try - for ing to really emulate his work at the time. I’ve discovered over the years that personally, for me, trying to draw “like” someone else is a very frustrating and ultimately fruitless endeavor. When I was younger and just getting started doing some - samples and getting little nibbles from publishers, I was like a thing like that when you magpie and was trying to incorporate stuff from every new artist have to draw it. It’s great for I was exposed to that enthused me and it was getting me television, but not so hot for comics. I nowhere but confused and lost. It wasn’t until I let my own nat - 4 DRAW! • WINTER 2003 PENCILING MIKE WIERINGO his working methods and his own influences, so it was pretty much alien to me. I was just trying to emulate the surface stylis - tics without really understanding the mechanics of what he was doing—so it was kind of clashing with my own natural tenden - cies, which are much softer, rounder and bouncier lines, so it looked really weird, stiff and clunky. As far as studying art and artists outside of comics, I was exposed to a lot of work while in college that was eye-opening and really expanded my world- view of drawing and painting. But my personal goal was always to work in comics, so I kind of put those elements aside when I first graduated and spent most of my time taking in more comic book related influences. It’s not been until the last several years that I’ve begun to look outside the comic book world again for inspiration. Speaking of the animation and illustration stuff we were talking about earlier. Over that past several years, I’ve been buy - ing as many of the “Art of...” Disney books that they publish after each animated film comes out. I’ve also been buying things like the Society of Illustrator s award books and books like Spectrum . As far as feeling as though I had to conform to a house style, I don’t think I ever felt that early on. I guess as the comic book business has imploded over the years, and especially the “mainstream super-hero” aspect of it, I’ve felt some pressure to conform my work to what’s “expected” in the long-underwear . C

N books. A lot of that is probably self-imposed pressure. It comes I S R

E from reading too many critical posts on internet message boards, T C A R

A and that’s something that I need to stop doing. I really need to H C L

E learn to just draw for myself and enjoy what I’m doing for V R A myself instead of worrying about what others think of my work M 3 0

0 or would like me to do with my stuff. I think that if I make 2 ©

D myself happy with my own stuff, it’ll show in the work and thus N A

M people viewing it will enjoy it as well. T R U O F C I

T You mentioned when we talked earlier that you got

S DRAW!: A T N

A started later. You went to college later. Were you taking art class - F E H

T es? Did this add any seriousness to your approach to breaking in, to your work ethic? (ABOVE ) WIERINGO: This is the layout and pencils for a page from FF #60. I love the humor Mark Waid writes into his WIERINGO: Well, my parents couldn’t really afford to send scripts. This was a funny scene. LEFT: This is a sketch for an me to college right out of high school, so I went to work in the illustration an acquaintance who owns a plane asked me to do grocery business. For a while, I kind of lost interest in drawing for the side of his plane—kind of like a WWII “Good Girl” since I couldn’t go to art school like I wanted right out of high illustration. He wanted her topless and I didn’t want to do it, school, but after a couple of years of working my ass off, I real - so it didn’t go anywhere. It was fun, though. ized I could get stuck in the cycle of working and buying stuff and I didn’t want to get stuck in the small-town community my ural tendencies take over that I started to feel more comfortable folks lived near, so I set my sights on saving my own money and started to make headway. toward going to college. Drawing comics had always been my ultimate goal from childhood, so I was pretty driven after a DRAW!: How far along in your career would you say that was? while to get to art school and get some drawing classes to help Were you doing any study of artists and art outside of comics at my meager abilities at around 20. I think that working for six the same time? Did you feel you had to conform to a “house years before college (I started at VCU in Richmond, VA at 24 style” at all? years old and graduated at 27) helped me to build a real work ethic and drive to reach my goals. I really hated working in the WIERINGO: Well, this was fairly early on. It was after I had grocery biz, so I was very set on reaching for the “brass ring,” graduated from college (in 1991)—but before I started getting so to speak. work from the “majors.” On the Doc Savage mini-series the Gaijin guys lined up for me, I was trying to do a Brian DRAW!: So do you feel that since you had “real world” work - Stelfreeze riff, but it was so difficult for me to even “try” to ing experiences before getting into the comic biz, it helped you emulate his work. At the time, I didn’t really much understand be more “professional” in certain respects. More responsible? DRAW! • WINTER 2003 5 PENCILING MIKE WIERINGO Things like answer your phone? I know that sounds funny, but a DRAW!: I think it could be really funny, strong material. lot of artists get bad reps for just not answering their phones. Sounds like you have a real passion there even talking about it. Do you follow the indy side of the biz? Do you have any desire WIERINGO: It’s a combination of the “real world” working to do small press or mini comics? experience and the fact that I come from a very economically lower-class background. My folks live WIERINGO: Well, I have a strong in a very rural area and my negative passion about the father’s income was never whole situation. I suppose I very high. We had every - could create a comic that thing we needed, don’t would be funny by creating get me wrong, but we humorous situations and weren’t what you could characters within the frame - call middle-class by work of the grocery business, any stretch. So growing but in reality, the job was up never having much just incredibly monoto - money, it has made me nous and thankless and very fearful of return - that’s why I hated it so ing to that state of much. I buy many, existence. They say many more small that most folks are press and inde - only a few paychecks pendent comics away from being than I do any - broke, and I’m no thing else these days. exception to that. I Super-hero comics just had a few “fat” don’t interest me much any - years at the tail end more. I’ll buy certain super- of the comics boom hero books if it’s being when there was a lot of drawn by an artist whose merchandising art money to be work I really enjoy, but as far made from Marvel and DC’s creative as the cape stuff is con - services departments, doing stuff like Chef cerned, I think there’s not Boyardee can art and Cookie Crisp Spider-Man much new under the sun story- animated style trading cards made me a lot of wise, so they don’t do much money for a couple of years, but that all dried up for me. I’ve really gotta think fast. So it’s tough to keep head-above-water that the real, long-term life of these days. It keeps me working. comic books is in alternative work. So I always keep an eye DRAW!: Could you out for fun and interesting pull any experience stuff being done in indy and . C N from that time and I small press areas. I would , S R E use it in your work for T love to do work in the C A R characters and situa - A small press area myself. It H C L tions etc.? E would be a real blast to just V R A

M let go and create any kind of 3 0

0 story I wanted to and not WIERINGO: I could, I 2 ©

N have to worry about trying to

suppose, but it wouldn’t A M

O “market” something to the make for very exciting comics (talk - W E L

B majority of the audience reading ing about my time working in the grocery I S I V N business). It would make for the sort of I comics these days in an effort to E H depressing Joe Matt kind of auto-bio T really generate big profits. comic that was big a few years back, but I kind of doubt that people would enjoy reading about someone who DRAW!: You’ve had the chance to work on some of the biggest absolutely hated his job in the produce department of Food icons in the comics biz. When you start working on a character World and would wish that he’d get hit by a car and killed every like Spidey or like Superman, do you take time before you actu - morning on the way to work, which is how I felt most of the ally start working to try and “work out” your ideal or your time. It’s just too depressing. I guess if I could work in some “take” on the character? humor it would make for a good sort of sit-com comic, but I’m not sure I’m into that kind of thing right now. WIERINGO: I feel very, very fortunate to have had the oppor - tunities I’ve been given. Working on characters like Spidey and 6 DRAW! • WINTER 2003 DRAWING AND DESIGN PAUL RIVOCHE DREAMING DESIGN THE DEPTH ILLUSION

This article is meant to investigate how to create, and fascinating nuances of figure gestures, vehicles, backgrounds, ways of strengthening, the “Depth Illusion”—the illusion of and so on, it is easy to forget that, in the end, all of these three- three-dimensional space created on two-dimensional paper. The dimensional dreams end up flat: as flat lines and shapes on a focus will not primarily be on typical perspective rules and tech - flat, two-dimensional piece of paper. That piece of paper is like niques such as vanishing points, horizon lines and so on. Those a “bottleneck,” a gateway, which the artist must contend with in are very important, and should be studied, but they are not the the process of transmitting his images from himself to the view - main concern here. Instead I want to concentrate on other factors er. A picture starts as a visualization of three-dimensional form affecting whether or not an image has a sense of depth. in an artist’s mind, and ends, if the image communicates suc - Sometimes, despite employing perspective convergence, cessfully, as another three-dimensional image in the viewer’s studiously making all your lines obediently converge to a vanish - brain. But in between lies the transmission device: the decidedly ing point on a carefully placed horizon line and dutifully follow - two-dimensional flat piece of paper. It takes a while to realize ing all the “rules,” there’s still no “illusion of depth”! Let’s see if this piece of paper has entirely its own language, with its own we can discover the other factors which either add to or take grammar and syntax, and that what we see in our three-dimen - away from the creation of a sense of depth in a drawing... sional vision must be translated into a two-dimensional language of overlapping, spacings, scale, and many other factors. Since THE TWO-DIMENSIONAL LANGUAGE doing a drawing is all about making choices, we must realize The first thing to clearly realize when investigating the “Depth that some choices more clearly communicate three-dimensional Illusion” is that there really is such a thing as a “two-dimension - form, while others obscure and camouflage it. The artist who al language,” with its own, and sometimes complicated and draws has a chance to edit, to stage his lines, shapes, and forms, peculiar, set of rules, and its own psychology. In the eagerness to choosing the ones which will best explain what he is visualizing create a successful image, and to contemplate mentally all the to the viewer. Because that is exactly what the two-dimensional

26 DRAW! • WINTER 2003 DRAWING AND DESIGN PAUL RIVOCHE and eliminate accidental effects and placements—anything that does not communicate clearly. True cartooning is an art of intentional arrangement, using the two-dimensional language.

LANGUAGE So what is meant by “a two-dimensional language?” What is it exactly? Its components, its vocabulary, are lines and shapes— really all the various marks we draw on flat paper. We can call it a “language” because all the sorts of marks we can make, and all the various ways they can be arranged, will all communicate different things. Some will have more clarity, and some much less. The goal is to discover the order, the reason, behind what we do—then our expression will be more clear, more powerful, more intentional and less accidental. We strive to communicate form—which is three-dimensional—using a solely two-dimen - sional communication device, the flat surface of the paper. In the end that’s all the artist has: flat lines and shapes shuffled around on the flat two-dimensional surface of the paper—only two dimensions, height and width. Out of the realities and diffi - culties which arise from accommodating this simple reality aris - es “the two-dimensional language.” In many styles of drawing found in animation and comics we strive to suggest three-dimensional form and space. Those are the sort of drawings which this article concerns itself with. In other, purposely “flat” styles of work, and purely deco - rative drawings without any focal point or points, the goal is not to create “depth,” in which case some of these remarks may not apply. Furthermore, most of my comments here have to do with line drawing—plain lines without blacks or tones or color, the raw foundations of the structure of an image. There are many worthwhile things which could be added about the uses of blacks and tones to create depth, but for purposes of space I will have to leave those comments for another time.

DEPTH BY DIMINUTION First, consider “depth.” To the human eye, things appear to diminish in size the further away they are, which is one cue of many which help us decide the distance of an object, at least in the case of objects whose scale we know beforehand. Notice ABOVE: If I was to do this sketchbook drawing over, I think I’d that proportions—i.e., ratios such as the ratio of the width to the position the elephant’s trunk a little more to the right, so it would line height of an object—do not change as things diminish, as long as they are seen flat-on to the viewer/picture plane. When things up a bit less with the edge of the stall behind it. Composing a draw - tilt, and the object is no longer parallel to the picture plane, then ing is a constant juggling act, a series of compromises between dif - foreshortening occurs—the apparent narrowing of an object. ferent necessities. The subject has its needs, which can’t be forgot - ten, but neither can these sorts of staging problems be neglected either. Sometimes different demands compete with each other, which SENSING FORM AND SPACE In a picture, the scene portrayed can range from being fairly is why it’s a juggling act. shallow to deep space—infinity. People can’t “see” depth directly, because obviously empty air can’t be seen. That may sound silly, language involves: a lot of explaining and translating. We but it’s the first step to realizing that to “see” depth, people must explain three-dimensional forms to the viewer using rely on cues from objects—visible forms. To judge the intangi - two-dimensional shapes and one-dimensional lines and points; or ble, i.e., invisible space, people are used to seeing and focusing you could say we translate three dimensions into two. It’s not on tangible objects. We use the placement, relative sizes, angles, enough to just “trace” or “copy” reality literally, or the exact and so on, of visible things around us, to make spatial judg - shapes from a photo, to achieve depth; one soon discovers that ments. In short, visible objects are used as “markers.” So in a something is lacking if that approach is employed. What is lack - composition, if you want to achieve a sense of depth, you must ing is the editing process, the process of accommodating per - clearly mark and illuminate the progression of space into the ceived forms to the limitations of drawing. In the quest to distance for the viewer, using various signposts. It isn’t enough describe form and space, the cartoonist must distill things down to simply slap down a few converging perspective lines and DRAW! • WINTER 2003 27 DRAWING AND DESIGN PAUL RIVOCHE background, or when those elements are present but are obscured by each other, or tangled into each other.

SPACING The sort of spacing used in a drawing greatly affects whether or not it creates a feeling of depth. Evenly sized divisions and spacings of lines, shapes, and forms usually suggest flat planes, not ones receding in space. If there is too much equality across the picture surface, whether it is the too-even spacing of smaller individual lines or breakups, or the too-even spacing of various larger picture elements, the eye associates this regular division . S C

I with a flat surface. So it is good to get in the habit of using per - M O C spective spacings, as suggested by the diagram, even if you are X E T R

O not drawing the receding boards of a fence or similar subject. V 3

0 You can use perspective spacing, for example, in the positioning 0 2

© of figures in a crowd, clouds in the sky, and so on—the applica - X R

M tions are endless.

ABOVE : In this image of Mister X tracking down a wounded USING ALL THREE PLANES AND AXES robot, I was careful in my choice of where to place the horizon For depth and compositional interest it’s helpful to have forms line, setting it at about the level of Mister X’s gun, and on the moving in all three axes rather than only one or two. This cre - same level as the robot’s severed arm. This purposely focussed ates a three-dimensional feel by marking out each axis for the attention on the gun and the robot’s damage, and also split the viewer. It’s very important to convey information about all three difference between looking up at the robot and down at the rub - planes of the form you are depicting—you must explain the ble on the ground plane. Looking up at the robot made him look subject’s length, width, and height. If you draw in in a style that large and dramatic; and looking down allowed me to add to the solely consists of a staggered series of flat cutouts, in may seem depth effect by keeping the receding layers of rubble visible. Too to be “three dimensional,” but isn’t really. That’s fine if done low a vantage point would have meant that only the first row of rubble blocks would have been visible, which would have had BELOW: By sketching real objects around you, from different more of a “cutout” effect because none of the tops of the blocks angles, develop your “perspective sense”—the sense of how would have been visible. I was also careful to overlap the rubble much foreshortening is appropriate to a given angle, what sort of blocks and other picture elements clearly, aiming to stage the spacing is correct for the perspective you have chosen. After a shapes for clarity. To add to the depth effect, I included two levels while it becomes second nature—you get more of a sense of of windows: the nearer ones outside the broken wall, and much what works and what doesn’t. The best way to develop this sense more distant ones in the city. This gave the picture more “depth of accurately is to observe from life. field.”

think that is enough. In viewing daily reality in front of us, our two eyes give us stereoscopic vision. We judge depth by com - paring the small differences between the views from each of our eyes. The comparison of these two views helps us overcome any confusion which might come from odd overlappings or place - ments of the things we see—we simply move our heads and get more information about the three-dimensional forms in front of us, by gaining a new view. But in regarding a flat, still drawing, no such advantage is available to us. No amount of moving our head will help us to “read” and decipher a two-dimensional drawing. The artist must make up for this lack by employing the two-dimensional language, by artfully and intentionally arrang - ing his work to compensate. Everything about the three-dimen - sional forms and spaces of his scene must be explained by the artist with one view, with flat shapes and lines. If you have prop - erly drawn forms, clearly placed in space, “depth” will follow naturally. Problems often come when everything is habitually drawn too flat, in simplistic cutout shapes, and when everything “sticks” to each other and to the picture plane. Many times this happens when there is no evident foreground, middleground, and

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DRAW! • WINTER 2003 43 DRAWING HANDS BRET BLEVINS DRAWING HANDS BY BRET BLEVINS The human hand is a miracle of function explain a physical action—there is limited and design—an instrument of wonderful dexterity, emotional nuance to be gleaned from the strength and grace. Our opposable thumb is generally gripping of a hammer or the motion of credited with the rise of Homo Sapiens as the domi - unscrewing a jar lid—but even here you nant species of Earth—the hand’s sensitive flexibility can find opportunities to convey char - enabled and encouraged the human mind to create tech - acter and personality if you are atten - nology and reshape our environment, and continues to do tive. Watch someone eat leisurely, so. When drawing hands, you are engaged with a unique savoring the food, and compare their marvel of the natural world—approaching them with awe actions to someone on the run will help you understand their complexity. scarfing down a hurried meal— Although knowledge of anatomy is crucial, the subject is the difference in body language too deep to cover in this article—I suggest using the material is startling. For a more whimsical I’m presenting in conjunction with a good anatomy book contrast, compare the designed for artists. Our focus in these pages is the capacity demeanor of a child eating of the hand to express human emotion. The face and two vegetables to that of a child hands form a triad of visual expression that is capa - eating ice cream! ble of remarkably subtle communication—as Beginning with a every child quickly learns, interior sketch done from life, thought and emotion is often revealed I’ve made a second more clearly by these silent drawing that clarifies means than through speech. the forms by simpli - Indeed, the amazing struc - fying detail and tures that crown our arms accenting the can literally place lan - important con - guage in the hands tours, the third of mute or deaf drawing is a people who pure learn to talk by “rhythm signing. chart,” It’s useful and the to keep this fourth image of “speaking is an hands” in mind arrow when posing the hand diagram gestures in your fig - of the big ure drawings—what sweeping are the hands in your rhythms of image “saying”? Always each pose. remember their impor - Train your tance as expressors of vision to interior emotions, notice and thoughts, intentions and “feel” this attitudes, and compose the hands as condensed visual “dialogue” that underlying punctuates the charac - movement—think of it as visual ter’s body language. music—learn to hone in on the melody lines first, and worry Of course, in about flourishes and detail later. many cases the posi - As I mentioned above, the rhythms of the hand echo tion of the hands those of the entire body—everything is a flowing connection, as will be determined these two whimsical sketches illustrate. by the need to

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RIGHT: The essential means of achieving this clear communica - tion is, as always, an understanding of rhythm. Grasping the rhythm of the hand (which echoes the rhythms of the entire body) requires close, intuitive observation. Fortunately, the hands are almost always unclothed and exposed, so opportunity for study is everywhere—including the ends of your own arms! A small hinged cosmetic mirror is an invaluable aid for drawing your own hands. Here are a few studies of hand rhythms.

BELOW and RIGHT: Surprisingly, I often see figure drawings that haven’t integrated the hands with the body—take care that a character’s hands agree with the rest of his or her body. A gaunt person doesn’t usually have plump hands, and vice versa. A bricklayer’s hands don’t belong on a hairdresser, etc.

ABOVE: Watching (and sketching) as patrons eat and drink in a cafe, musicians play instruments, carpenters work, children play with toys—examples to study are endless. Especially instruc - tive for our purposes, though, is to watch people talking and thinking with their hands. You can often read a person’s thoughts by watching what their hands are doing. In these examples notice how the action of the hands immediately suggest an interi - or state of mind, and how shifting the hands changes the charac - ter’s attitudes and thoughts.

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LEFT: To strengthen the expressive clarity of a drawn hand, an awareness of our old friend silhouetting (see DRAW! #1-4) is crucial—though hands present challenges particular to their structure. From many viewpoints the fingers inevitably overlap, forming an indistinct “clumped” silhouette— care must be taken here to prevent confusion , or simple lack of drama (visual interest). Often this requires a strong accent on the gesture’s defining fingers within the shape of the entire hand.

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A second problem specific to the hands are the loose folds of thin or padded flesh that permit the fingers and palm their extreme range of movement—when the edges of these folds are intensified by the heightened contrast inherent to line drawing, the hands can easily appear withered, gnarled, or too old for the rest of the body they belong to. Here a kind of “interior silhouetting” of the forms is needed—we’ll use the term streamlining. In essence this means accenting the edges or directional lines that most succinctly convey the rhythm of the entire gesture, and minimizing or deleting those that don’t— notice how the angles of the forms have been sharpened by slightly exaggerating the change of direction—making the shapes easier to “read.” Even where the need for clarification is slight or subtle, careful streamlining and “sharpening” can strengthen a drawing.

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