Drawing Tutorials, Tips & Tricks, etc.

I think I should start this article off by letting everyone know this really isn’t an article about HOW to hand-letter your strips… that would be akin to writing an article on how to draw – and let’s face it, there isn’t one single article that will be able to ... Continue Reading

Hey kids! Today, I want to talk to you about sketch cards and show you how you can make your own custom cards that will, hopefully, help you stand out from the convention crowd. Sketch cards have recently taken off in popularity the last couple of years - and, as you ... Continue Reading

Crafting a Viewer's Perceptions What is the 180 degree rule? We see it in use the most in film. If a character enters from the right side of the screen, they stay on that side and face the same direction, even when the scene cuts from shot to shot. This helps ... Continue Reading

Here at the Alliance, a picture may be worth a thousand words, but a VIDEO.... well, that's just GOLD. So, while we have mastered the art of writing about drawing, how about we actually show you what we do. Once a month, we'll post a VIDEO of our process- drawing, ... Continue Reading

The Entries... By Pluto's revoked Planetary status, did we get some fantastic entries!  The creativity!  The color!  The occasionally bizarre!  You all delivered in spades!  In fact -- Dawn was so excited by the response that she decided to have not one, but TWO winners...A Webcomic Alliance Choice...and a READER'S CHOICE!  ... Continue Reading

Stephen Silver is a multi-talented artist and many of you may know him from his work on the Disney cartoon "Kim Possible" (one of my favs).  Here he's showing how he inks an illustration of the "Rocketeer" and explains his techniques.  Click the banner above to read the original post ... Continue Reading

BIG UPDATE FOLKS: Because I contacted Stephen about this article and asked his permission to use the photos in this article, I got a great e-mail response from him. Here is what he says: "Thanks so much. Just to let you know, because my programmer and I were excited about this, at ... Continue Reading

Lets see, so far we have challenged you to WRITE your own comic page, and LAYOUT a background or setting. Now it's time to test your character design skills, Alliance community! If you have your own comic, you probably have characters you have labored over and have evolved over time... ... Continue Reading

Only one of them gets the prize... ...but in my book, everyone that entered the backgrounds contest is a winner. Why? They all used different ways to create a story by making the setting a star! So today, we're going to make THEIR work the star, and demonstrate three things YOU ... Continue Reading

What's the big deal about Backgrounds? It's not just your characters that can have personality and moods -- your backgrounds do too! Are your backgrounds bringing out the best in your work, or are they missed opportunities? They matter to everyone This isn't just for long-form comics either -- It can be key ... Continue Reading

If you caught the reference in the title graphic, well, you're probably a product of an art school yourself or just love indie-films about art school. We're a different breed, we definitely didn't have the usual college experience... no frats or sororities, lots of "free-thinking" and unstructured projects, probably twice ... Continue Reading

Every other week, we accept a challenge from one of the Webcomic Alliance members as well as contributor Todd McElmurry. This weeks challenge is brought to you by Todd, and the character subject is: “Hobos” Hobos have been a part of our culture and our lives for many, many years.  We've seen ... Continue Reading

Every other week, we accept a challenge from one of the Webcomic Community’s biggest supporters – Todd McElmurry. Todd has brought us challenges such as BBQ Disaster, Christmas in July, Dummies for Dummies and a whole lot more. But change is upon us with the new year, so this week's Character ... Continue Reading

Every other week, we accept a challenge from one of the Webcomic Community’s biggest supporters – Todd McElmurry. Todd has brought us challenges such as BBQ Disaster, Christmas in July, Dummies for Dummies and a whole lot more. Today’s challenge is: “Mall Santa working” Well it's that time of year again.  The malls ... Continue Reading

"How did you get so good at drawing?" I get asked this question a lot. The answer is simple. I draw ALL the time. Sure there's some latent talent that I tapped into, but let's face it - EVERYONE can learn how to draw. It's imagining WHAT to draw that is ... Continue Reading

Every other week, we accept a challenge from one of the Webcomic Community’s biggest supporters – Todd McElmurry. Todd has brought us challenges such as BBQ Disaster, Christmas in July, Dummies for Dummies and a whole lot more. Today’s challenge is: "Grandpa may be losin' it...." We all have that person in our ... Continue Reading

Every other week, we accept a challenge from one of the Webcomic Community’s biggest supporters – Todd McElmurry. Todd has brought us challenges such as BBQ Disaster, Christmas in July, Dummies for Dummies and a whole lot more. Today’s challenge is “Turkey Hunt”….. Thanksgiving is fast approaching so I thought it would be ... Continue Reading

Every other week, we accept a challenge from one of the Webcomic Community’s biggest supporters – Todd McElmurry. Todd has brought us challenges such as BBQ Disaster, Christmas in July, Dummies for Dummies and a whole lot more. Today’s challenge is “Fairy Tale Fail”….. I'm sure somewhere among the Fair Tale characters there are a ... Continue Reading

Last week, I was showing off and I was telling you how I recently decided to start killing trees and went from inking digitally to inking the good ol' school way. That was in my article titled: Sketching & Inking the Drunken Way. Of course, Traditional Inking also means, a lot ... Continue Reading

Hey guys! I did me a little video which you could piggyback off of Dawn's great Digital Techniques series. I discuss some of the pros for drawing in Illustrator: clean lines, editability and the vector-based format, in addition to showing you some techniques such as layer effects, masking, shortcuts, and templates. ... Continue Reading