FIGURE DRAWING FOR THE COMIC BOOK ARTIST

Ty really wanted to put together a blog post about his new class FIGURE DRAWING FOR THE COMIC BOOK ARTIST but he’s been too busy teaching his other classes (Writing for Comics Level One, Inking for Comics) writing a script, sketching, sleeping, and occasionally talking to his children. So, I’m here pinch-hitting…

Figure Drawing for the Comic Book Artist is a brand new class which starts tomorrow, Wednesday January 25, at TCW. The school has had Studio Life Drawing classes with Geordie Miller, and recently ran some Open Session Drop-In Life Drawing Classes. But Figure Drawing is being taught by a comic book artist with a focus on learning what other comic book artists need to know. Before this, Ty has taught Drawing the Human Figure from Memory–this obviously helps put those lessons to use! With a model in front of the class, students now have the ability to clearly see what Ty is teaching and the muscles and bones he’s trying to get them to pay attention to and learn.

As he was packing up for his Inking class tonight, I asked Ty to quickly tell me why he thought this was a good and worthwhile class. He said, “Most comic book artists learn anatomy, learn the human figure by imitating other comic book artists. While not a bad thing, it does mean that you end up making figures that look like Neal Adams drew them, or Ty Templeton or whomever you imitate. (Sometimes, depending on the artist, that means you learn to draw their mistakes!) What you need to learn is to draw from life, to draw the human figure as you see it in front of you. It helps you to know the figure, to be able to draw it out of your head, and to have your own style, your own way of drawing.”

(photo by Geordie Millar)

A couple weeks ago, Ty ran a Sneak Peek workshop for Figure Drawing for the Comic Book Artist. Every one who attended came out raving about it.

Ty Templeton teaches his Sneak Peek Workshop FIGURE DRAWING FOR THE COMIC BOOK ARTIST (photo by Geordie Millar)

Artist/animator Karly MacDonald was nice enough to send me scans of some of her drawings from the night. Ty was particularly impressed with the model, Rubie Laframboise, as she actually is eight heads high–although that’s always touted as the standard to follow in figure drawing, it’s unusual to see someone who actually fits that perfectly.

There’s still a couple of spots left in the class if you’re interested…check out the information on the Toronto Cartoonists Workshop site and reserve a space. This workshop probably won’t be offered again for several sessions after this.

(photo by Geordie Millar)

 

Keiren