By the book

I'm copying illustrations out of the Simplified Anatomy for Comics book I bought. here is my first one.

Two Drawing Books

Well, I purchased the only drawing books I will purchase for this year. One is the book "How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way" the quintessential guide to drawing comics.
The other is a book by my favorite art instructor Christopher Hart. "Simplified Anatomy For the Comic Book Artist."

I will be using these books for my sketching and comic works.

For animation I have Richard Williams book (the only and best)
and the new book published by the guy to who animated the Genie in "Alladin" Eric Goldberg.

Just google their names for the books they published.

Distracted

OK. So I got distracted trying to get Manga Studio 3 to work in Vista.

So I decided to buy Manga Studio Debut 4. I downloaded it off their site. It is a big improvement over the previous version and it works under Vista and Windows 7.

Roughing the Thing

Well I'm finally back.
I had some software troubles. I was using Manga Studio at first, but then I started having trouble with precise drawing. It lags when I try drawing. So I went back to ArtRage 2.

Sketching in Manga Studio

OK. I did what I said I wasn't gonna do. I read some of the Manga studio manual while babysitting my son today. (I know, some babysitter, but I actually played with him until he fell asleep) Here is my first layer of my first sketch. I WILL FINISH THIS SKETCH!!!

Caught up in Software

My biggest problem is that I'm more obessesd with learning new software than actually using it. I try to learn everything about a graphics package before I do anything. That is really dumb.

For 3d software, I decided to use one and only one. That way I don't get distracted with playing with new software packages. So if you see any modeling or animation, it is in Softimage XSI 6. Nothing else.

Drawing is a different story. I draw on paper when away from the computer.
There are two packages I use or will use.

Foremost- ArtRage 2 It is simple. No learning curve. All of the tools are just like they are in real life. There is no shortcuts to drawing or painting in the program. So I can dive right in.

The other program I'm 'evaluating' is Manga Studio 3. It is complicated compared to ArtRage 2. It requires learning, which is a distraction from sketching and drawing. I will read about it by printing out the manuals and reading it on my long commute to work.