Do I Need Electronics to be an Artist?

It is easy to get carried away with electronics especially in the arts. The problem is that people use different systems for different things. As technology grows you may feel if you aren’t using the latest software then you aren’t a true artist. The fact is whatever you use is the best-for you! I still ink with a pen and still colour with markers and pencil crayons. I use programs like Photoshop to resize, colour, and adjust images more than anything else. If you talk with a photographer they will use the program totally different to the way I use it. The best way to focus on your art is to produce your art at the best level for you with the tools you know best. The rest will come when your ready.

About the Author

Bruce Outridge is an art instructor and illustrator from Canada. He is the creator of the Pride Junkie Comic Series for kids and the Drawing with Bruce Video Series. More information about Bruce can be found on his websites at www.bruceoutridgeproductions.com, www.pridejunkie.ca, and www.drawingwithbruce.com

January 24, 2012
Categories: art lessons and tips, art, comics,, kids . Tags: , , , , , , . Author: Bruce . Comments: Leave a Comment

Do you See the Beauty for the Trees?

I walk every morning as a regular routine. I enjoy the fresh air, the morning dew, it gives me time to think and clear my head. Even though I do it for health reasons to get exercise each day it is also the time when I come up with new ideas for articles, cartoons, and so on. Exercising is a great way of unleashing your creativity. The other morning I was on a walk enjoying the fresh air and was noticing the beauty of nature. A couple trees had some unique shapes, and some of the knots in the wood looked interesting. I just wondered how many people actually take the time to really look at nature. As creative people those same trees can become homes for unique creatures, the centre piece for a beautiful landscape painting and more. Next time you are out for a walk look a little harder at nature, you may be surprised at what you see. Feel free to take your sketchbook with you, it may be the start of a new adventure.

About the Author

Bruce Outridge is an art instructor and illustrator from Canada. He is the creator of the Pride Junkie Comic Series and the Drawing with Bruce Video Series. For more information visit his websites at www.drawingwithbruce.com, www.pridejunkie.ca, and www.bruceoutridgeproductions.com

January 18, 2012
Categories: art lessons and tips, art, comics,, kids . Tags: , , , , , , . Author: Bruce . Comments: Leave a Comment

Finding Your Style through a Mentor

Do you have a certain type of art style that you just love? A certain artist that you like to draw like but doubt you will ever meet? I have many artists that I admire and look for them wherever they may be published. Many have become my mentors and don’t even know it. So how can someone mentor you that has never met you?

Simple, they mentor from afar. Here is how I do it. Artist Tom Richmond is famous in the cartoon and caricature world as an artist for Mad Magazine. I have always admired his style from earlier days, so I follow his blog posts, I visit his website regularly to see new work, I buy Mad Magazine, and study his illustrations to see how he handles different subject matter. I met Tom at a convention a few years ago, and he recently released a book on caricature which I bought for my library. I had it signed and am in the process of reading it and going through the lessons. I have a number of artists that mentor me such as Norman Rockwell, Frank Frazetta, and Jack Kirby. They don’t know me but they have been teaching me their whole lives. Create your mentorship by studying from afar, the connection will show up through your art.

About the Author

Bruce Outridge is an illustrator and cartoonist from Canada. He is the creator of the Pride Junkie Comic Series, the Drawing with Bruce Video Series. More information can be found on his websiteI at www.bruceoutridgeproductions.com, www.pridejunkie.ca, and www.drawingwithbruce.com

December 27, 2011
Categories: art lessons and tips, art, comics,, kids . Tags: , , , , , , , , , . Author: Bruce . Comments: Leave a Comment

Creating Colour using Black and White

The title sounds confusing doesn’t it? It was meant to be but isn’t if you read the rest of this blog post. I love black and white and would do all my work that way if I could but people like colour for some reason. One of the ways that I like to inject colour in a drawing without using colour is to create it in black and white, but use a coloured paper as the base. The paper adds some colour to the picture while the ink gives the black and white feel for the drawing. If you’re looking for coloured paper try buying a pad of pastel paper in different colours. I have found the cream, yellow, and blue papers give off the nicest touch. Try it and see for yourself.

About the Author

Bruce Outridge is an illustrator and cartoonist from Canada. He is the creator of the Pride Junkie Comic Series and the Drawing with Bruce Art Series. You can learn more on his websites at www.bruceoutridgeproductions.com , www.pridejunkie.ca, and www.drawingwithbruce.com

December 20, 2011
Categories: art lessons and tips, art, comics, . Tags: , , , , , , . Author: Bruce . Comments: Leave a Comment

Process Equals Speed

As you improve in your art you will find that your speed increases naturally. As you move into creating art for clients it is even more important to know how long it roughly takes to produce a picture and what steps need to be done or you will be quickly out of business.

One way to increase your speed while increasing your quality is to get a process that works for you. Working on client work is not the time to try out a new technique. Create a fool proof way of doing things that you don’t have to think so hard about so you can concentrate on the picture itself. That comes with practice and knowing the tools that you are working with.

An example of this is when I do my cartooning work. If I use a dip pen my process is a bit slower but I like the way it feels. However if I am in a hurry with a tight timeline I use my Micron pen which I can work very quickly with. Find out what works for you and use that technique on a regular basis. You will be surprised how fast you can increase your speed.

About the Author

Bruce Outridge is a cartoonist and illustrator from Canada, He is the creator of the Drawing with Bruce art series and the Pride Junkie Comic book series. More information can be found on his websites at www.bruceoutridgeproductions.com, www.drawingwithbruce.com, and www.pridejunkie.ca

November 15, 2011
Categories: art lessons and tips, art, comics,, kids . Tags: , , , , , , , . Author: Bruce . Comments: Leave a Comment

Creating Your Studio Space

I always believe that creating your own space for your art is the best way to go if possible. It can be a corner, a room, or a full blown out warehouse, but a place to leave unfinished pieces around is something everyone should strive for. Along with an area try to have a place to put work that is completed so that you see it on a constant basis. Put up some of your best pieces, articles about you and your favourite pictures. It will help you grow in your career and help you see how you improve on a regular basis. The space should be filled with things you love and memories of your achievements, your best art and more. You will find by doing that alone you will improve your art rapidly.

About the Author

Bruce Outridge is a cartoonist, illustrator, and caricature artist from Canada. He is the creator of the Pride Junkie Comic Book Series, and the Drawing With Bruce Video Series. You can find more of his work on his websites www.drawingwithbruce.com, www.pridejunkie.ca and www.bruceoutridgeproductions.com .

November 9, 2011
Categories: art lessons and tips, art, comics,, kids . Tags: , , , , , , , , . Author: Bruce . Comments: Leave a Comment

Creating a Layout for your Work

When starting on anew drawing project it can be very scary looking at the piece of white paper worrying if you will screw up the first stroke. A way around this is to use a piece of tracing paper to do your initial drawing on. This way you can have the freedom to make mistakes without ruining an expensive piece of paper. Once you have your drawing the way you want it, get a piece of transfer paper (available at your local art store) and then go over your drawing and transfer it on to a good piece of paper where you can finish the inking to completion. If you make a mistake with the ink then you can reuse the original drawing on the tracing paper without having to redraw everything from scratch.

About the Author

Bruce Outridge is a cartoonist, instructor, and illustrator from Canada. He has created the Drawing with Bruce Series and the Pride Junkie Comic Series. His work can be seen on his websites www.bruceoutridgeproductions.com, www.drawingwithbruce.com, and www.pridejunkie.ca

November 1, 2011
Categories: art lessons and tips, art, comics, . Tags: , , , , , , . Author: Bruce . Comments: Leave a Comment

Sketching on the Move

There is nothing better than sitting outside on a beautiful day, with no agenda, nothing to think about but your art. Unfortunately that doesn’t come around as much as I would like, but when it does I like to take full advantage of it. With my own business many times I don’t have time to pack up a kit so I keep one always ready to go. So what is the best way to set up a sketch kit. This will change depending on the mediums you use for your art so I will just let you know what I have in mine and you can adjust yours as you see fit.

First you will need paper or a book, as mentioned in earlier posts I prefer a hardbound sketch book so I have a solid backing to draw on. I usually bring a small stool to sit on or I just sit on a rock. You can get art backpacks that have a small stool attached, that’s what I have. In my sketch box I keep a few micron pens which I like to use, a black marker, a set of crayons, and a set of art sticks. The art sticks are pencil crayons and I break them in half to suit the length I want. You can add pencils and stuff if you want. I prefer to just sketch with the markers or pen and colour in with crayons, I know what your thinking, crayons? Crayons are great to sketch with, They blend well and look great with marker or pen. So create your own sketch box and have it ready to go at a moments notice, you’ll be glad you did.

About the Author

Bruce Outridge is an illustrator, cartoonist, and instructor from Ontario Canada. he is the creator of the Drawing with Bruce art series and the Pride Junkie comic book series. Form ore information visit his websites at www.drawingwithbruce.com or www.pridejunkie.ca

October 26, 2011
Categories: art lessons and tips, art, comics,, kids . Tags: , , , , , . Author: Bruce . Comments: Leave a Comment

Designing a Character

As with anything the best place to start designing a character is in your sketchbook. Let’s say you want to design a dragon for your comic book series. In your sketchbook you will draw sketches of what the dragon will have on it and look like. Once you know what you want it is time to go and get reference pictures. The internet is a good place to start here. Maybe you will get a picture of a dinosaur that is similar in shape to your drawing. Then maybe you will find a picture of another animal that has horns or whatever it is that you are trying to put on the character. Once you have all your reference pictures you can now get started on the main design. Take out a clean piece of paper and start putting all the pieces together creating the image that you drew in your sketchbook. A great way of creating something to use later is to create a character sheet. Check out my earlier posts for information on character sheets. Follow this method for all your characters and you will find you have well thought out characters for your comics.

About the Author

Bruce Outridge is a cartoonist and illustrator from Canada. He is the creator of the Pride Junkie Comic Series. To view the series and learn more about Bruce please visit www.pridejunkie.ca

October 19, 2011
Categories: art lessons and tips, art, comics,, kids . Tags: , , , , , , , , , . Author: Bruce . Comments: Leave a Comment

What Materials to Use Where in Your Comics

Many artists work in many different ways and use different materials and programs based on their work flow. Many are using computer programs for much of their work and may use one program from start to finish. I use several programs with my work starting with the very basic, my sketchbook. I begin in my book with the layout, then move onto a piece of comic book art board for the actual drawing. Once I have penciled and inked the drawing I photograph it and colour it with Photoshop. Once coloured it is taken into a program called Illustrator for the lettering and final layout. There are other programs that probably let you do everything in one program but over time I have gotten a decent workflow from the programs I use. Find what works for you and create the work flow that best suits your budget and creativity.

About the Author

Bruce Outridge is a cartoonist and comic book artist from Canada. He created the Pride Junkie Comic book series and is a well known illustrator in the Southern Ontario area. For more information visit his websites www.bruceoutridgeproductions.com or www.pridejunkie.ca

October 12, 2011
Categories: art lessons and tips, art, comics,, kids . Tags: , , , , , , , , . Author: Bruce . Comments: Leave a Comment

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