GUEST BLOG: Nathaniel Allen, Art Professor, on our Figure Drawing course

In this guest blog, Nathaniel Allen, an Assistant Professor of Art at Alabama State University, discusses his recent experience taking the live, online Introduction to Figure Drawing course with instructor Robert Atkins. Nathaniel is also a member of our Creators Workshop community!

An open letter regarding the awesomeness of Robert Atkins' Figure Drawing course for Comics Experience by Nathaniel Allen

Please know that my recent experience in the Introduction to Figure Drawing course was hands down one of the most enjoyable, informative, and useful experiences that I have ever had in an online course.

The reasons were numerous (but I’ll sum it up):

1. THE TOPIC
Accurately drawing the figure is something that I (like many folks) have struggled with for years. I have been enrolled in numerous college level figure drawing courses where we just drew, and re-drew, figure models with rare and very basic explanations of artistic anatomy. In my experience, it has seemed like the majority of my figure drawing instructors were either unwilling or unable to actually teach anything useful about the figure beyond encouraging more practice.

The anatomical information is all "out there," available in books, websites etc., but it is difficult sorting the technical and purely anatomical info from what is most practical and useful without specific guidance and instruction. The figure is really complicated!

2. THE INSTRUCTION
Robert Atkins, in addition to apparently being one of the nicest guys on the planet, knows his "figurative" stuff and communicates it exceptionally well. In spite of the complexity of the subject matter I was consistently pleased with the clarity of his explanations / demonstrations and his willingness to go "overtime" to make sure he answered all questions and covered as much as possible.

Really, I cannot fully express how much I enjoyed AND learned from his lectures and felt encouraged that with guidance and "informed" practice things would become clearer and easier -- which they did. I would have been happy if the class could have been extended even longer -- and I’m sure I’m not alone in feeling that way.

3. THE CLASSMATES
The activity on the class sketch blogs from those enrolled was absolutely inspirational. I think having had the prerequisite course, we (the class) knew how things worked (posting, commenting, etc.) and really hit the ground running. I know I made some very definite progress in my own drawing ability fueled in large part by observing the work of my classmates and wanting to feel like I was keeping up. Again, I know I’m not alone in that feeling either.

Overall it was an absolutely great experience, worth every cent of the tuition.

Thanks Comics Experience, Robert Atkins, and classmates for an excellent class.

Until next time,

-- Nathaniel Allen

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If you want to make comics, write or draw comics, or improve as a comics creator, you'll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!

Posted by Rob Anderson
rob@ComicsExperience.com
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GUEST BLOG: Robert Atkins on the Figure Drawing and Construction course

In this guest blog, Robert Atkins, artist on Snake Eyes, GI JOE, Heroes for Hire, The Amazing Spider-Man, Ultimate Fantastic Four and Instructor of the Comics Experience Introduction to Figure Drawing & Figure Construction, shares his thoughts on the course. Classes will be held live, online, beginning Thursday November 1, 2012.

In nearly every form of entertainment available to the public, there is an artist contributing to its production. Starting with concept designs, storyboards, character designs or comic page layouts, an artist will bring a visual life to an idea.

In many industries and projects those ideas center on stories involving the human figure.

For artists to become successful in any of these industries, they MUST have a foundational understanding of how that figure is constructed and how it moves, then put that understanding into practice.

While I have used this foundational knowledge for figure construction in the comics field, this class is necessary to anyone looking to draw a figure for any entertainment industry.

Just to name a few: character design for video games or toys; fashion design for theater, costuming or the clothing industry; illustrations involving the figure for magazines, package art or websites; concept art for film and animation, and, of course, it is essential for telling stories in comics.

No matter what the finished style looks like, all great work involving the figure in art is based on a solid foundation of figure construction.

In animation, that figure is abstracted and stretched or contorted to show motion. To most effectively abstract from reality, you must first understand that reality. The best animators know how to draw a proportional human figure. They CHOOSE to manipulate those shapes when defining their characters.

It also guarantees for artists in any of the mentioned art fields that a figure they draw will look consistent, from frame to frame, design to design, or panel to panel.

How often have you been in an art portfolio review and heard the phrase, "It looks great, you just need to work on your anatomy", or some variation of that?

It's a universal critique because drawing the figure is a very hard thing to master. Weak figure drawing is also the first thing that will stand out in an amateur portfolio.

This is because everyone knows what a properly proportioned figure looks like. We look at it everyday.

Even though we all come in different shapes and sizes, it is typically within a range of proportion. If you can understand those proportions, and apply them to your art, your figures will start to look more consistent and that figure becomes believable.

So, how do you solve this problem?

Comics Experience is proudly expanding its art curriculum to include a new course in Figure Drawing and Construction starting November 1, 2012.

The course will run 6 weeks, with a 2-hour live, online class each of those weeks. Throughout the week you will be posting your assignments and sketches that I will critique on the dedicated course forum.

I will be using the instruction style I learned while receiving my M.F.A. from the Savannah College of Art and Design as the basis for this class. Building on that instruction, I will also incorporate what I have learned applying these figure drawing concepts over the last 8 years working for Marvel, DC, IDW, Dark Horse and other comic publishers.

For you to tell an effective story, the reader must be convinced of the character's reality. This will start with feeling that the figures look believable in the environments you place them in. If a character is going to look believable, it has to be constructed with a sure knowledge of figure anatomy.

Robert Atkins
Comics Experience Art Instructor

The first session of the live, online Introduction to Figure Drawing & Figure Construction course begins November 1, 2012. Enrollment is still open, but seats are limited, so sign up now!

New Course! Introduction to Figure Drawing & Figure Construction begins 11/1

In just one month -- on Thursday, November 1, 2012 -- the six-week online course Introduction to Figure Drawing & Figure Construction begins with instructor Robert Atkins!

This is our first public announcement about the course and it is already halfway full, so please sign up soon if you'd like to be a part of the class!

In this course, you'll gain a foundational understanding of how to draw the human figure without photo reference. You'll break down the basic formula of the "ideal" human form, and then go into the muscle groups throughout the body.

You'll also study range of motion, perspective and begin to explore figure dynamics.

An ability to draw the human figure is an essential skill in comic art, and this class will help bring more energy and dynamics to your work!

In addition to sketch assignments and feedback throughout the course, you will pencil, ink or color a final assignment for review by Robert!

As an added bonus, you'll receive access to the Human Anatomy for Artists resource website during the duration of the class -- a $75-$100 value, offering over 100,000 royalty-free anatomy photos!

Robert Atkins is a professional comic book artist who has worked on G.I. Joe, Snake Eyes, Amazing Spider-Man, Heroes for Hire, Ultimatum Fantastic Four: Requiem and many others.

The course is limited to keep the class intimate and ensure that every student gets the attention he or she deserves. Please note that all students must be 18 years or older.

Our courses are offered LIVE, online, so you can attend from wherever you live.

You'll be able to see your instructor and his desktop, interact with your classmates, and discuss your classwork in real time.

And you'll be able to communicate with your classmates all week long in a special, dedicated online forum for just you and your class.

We hope you'll join us!

Introduction to Figure Drawing & Figure Construction with Robert Atkins
Begins November 1, 2012!

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If you want to make comics, write, draw, letter, and color comics, or improve as a comics creator, you'll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!

Posted by Rob Anderson
rob@ComicsExperience.com
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