Comic Art Festival

Comic Art Festival

I went to a comic art festival in the lake district. I really enjoyed it and bought lots of comic books and books of illustrators work. I also got to watch artist draw and listen to them speak about there work and there careers.

Ian McQue:

(pictures i took of the sketches I watched him draw)

Im a big fan of Ian McQues work, I got to see him do a live drawing session where there is a camera above him whilst he draws. It was really inspirational, seeing how he constructs his character and the gestures he uses to describe shapes. It really made me realise how developing a unique way of produce line is vital for an illustrator. I think an illustrator should have a unique hand style that they should develop until they feel fully comfortable drawing in that way.

Afterwards I got a chance to go and speak to him and ask him about his practice. He mentioned about the importance of keeping a sketch book and developing the way that we communicate with a pen. He did me a quick sketch that took him seconds - but I love it, he has mastered a way of making lines that as totally unique to him. This has made me think deeply about what I want to achieve in my practice, and developing a unique hand style that is recognisably mine is what I to aim to do.

Im a fan of the walking dead and was reading the comics at the time. I got a chance to meet Charlie Adlar, the artist from the walking dead comics. He also had mastered a consistent way of drawing. I don't like his work as much as Ian McQues I feel it is more generic but never the less he has been a really successful illustrator. I asked him to draw me a zombie face and watching him produce it was really inspirational. How he understood the structure of the face and marked the shadowed areas so quickly with a thick black pen. It made me realise that I need to keep sketching and be repetitive in order to understand what I'm creating.

Books:

I bought a book of sketches by Ian McQue that is filled with concept ideas and character designs. I really like the book and it will be good inspiration for me throughout the coarse.

I bought a book by Mattias Adolfsson that is some of his best sketch book pages. Its really interesting and he has a consistent process that he uses for all of his drawings. It looks like watercolour or ink that he uses to colour his work. His designs have really soft and friendly appearance to them. His work is really characterful and he has developed a unique way of illustrating things.