Building Your Foundation for a Future in Illustration

Dear Friends,

Last week’s post I have since removed from this blog. The post was badly worded, poorly thought out, and hastily written. And, unfortunately, it completely missed the point I intended to make. It also created a discussion completely off of my intended subject, and one that I had no interest in debating or pursuing further. I appreciate all who dropped in to read the blog and those who took the time to post some very thought-provoking comments.  I apologize to all those who took offense, and for those who missed it, let’s move on to more creative topics. (Dave waves his hand in the air cryptically and says in a low voice, “These are not the words you are looking for. Move on…”)

Next Topic: Maximizing Your Success By Learning Illustration Basics

When I was 19 and just learning my craft, one of the main things I  did was to draw…all of the time. I would sketch in bed, sketch at breakfast, practice at the drawing table, at work on break, and after dinner in front of the TV.  I had set a goal for myself to become the best illustrator I could, and  I knew I needed to work at my craft and invest as much time and work as humanly possible.

Dave Dorman Student Sketches, Circa 1979

Most artists have sketchbooks filled with the work product to prove it. Oddly enough, I have very few “sketchbooks” from that time in my life. The bound drawing paper-style sketchbook was way too restricting for me. It never laid flat, it was usually not good paper–at least not the sketchbooks I could afford as a student and military kid— and I could only review one to two open pages at a time.

Dave Dorman Student Sketch Sample #2

My solution? I discovered it was better for me to purchase packages of 5″x7″ blank index cards and use those for my work sketches. The paper was good and stiffer than sketchbook paper. It held up well for pencil, ink and watercolor. Buying a 500-sheet package was way cheaper than buying a 500-sheet sketchbook. If I was working on a series of images or thoughts, I could do them individually and lay them out like panels in front of me rather than flipping pages in a book.

Dave Dorman Student Sketches #3

As a student,  I produced literally thousands of these little sketch cards. I used them to

• Rough out ideas
• Work on form and structure
• Copy other artists to see how they worked out anatomy, body structure, and the dynamic figure.

This was my ongoing training daily, practicing my craft. Without this groundwork, I could not and would not be the artist I am today. For all of you students and up-and-coming illustrators, I believe the work you put into learning the basics will pay off enormously as you build your career. There is no magic or shortcut to it. Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers summarizes it in two words: 10,000 hours. I sat down one day and calculated how many hours I would have put int before I reached my first professional sale. 10,000 hours seemed about right.

Thanks for reading,

Dave.

Which Comics Dave Dorman Bought On Comic Book Wednesday

Dear Friends,

As I write this, the TV is confirming the rumored death of Qaddafi and showing the graphic Al Jazeera footage. I congratulate the Libyan freedom fighters on this new chapter in their lives.

I feel it’s my personal responsibility as a comic book artist to help raise awareness for other amazing talent in the industry. Today I want to make you aware of Leinil Yu if you are not already. I bought  the comic “SUPERIOR” by Mark Millar and Leinil Yu yesterday (see image below) during my weekly trek to Dreamland Comics in Schaumburg, IL:

LEINIL YU ART ON COVER OF SUPERIOR COMIC

In my opinion as an artist and also an art director, I find Leinil Yu  to be one of the best comic book artists working in the industry today. His style is dynamic, he’s a great visual storyteller, and he renders every image with so much style. Other pieces he’s worked on (according to the back cover) include Secret Invasion, New Avengers and Superman: Birthright. I hope you check out his work and it brings you as much joy as it does me.

LEINIL YU COMIC - BACK SIDE

In other news, my good friend Charlie Athanas called me last night and invited me to join him for a really fun electronica concert tomorrow night – Amon Tobin – and I’m really looking forward to it. Here’s a link to Amon Tobin’s concert sampling, to give you a feel for his work: http://bit.ly/roDni4 

Below is an image from last Monday night during the fund-raiser for Chicago’s best horror theater group, WildClaw Theater, which was a lot of fun.

Charlie Athanas (artist), Doug Klauba (artist), Me, John Terendy (videographer)

And here’s a nice mini-review of my book “ROLLING THUNDER: THE ART OF DAVE DORMAN” (IDW Publishing/Desperado Publishing) by Alina Bradford: http://bit.ly/pmUNk6

If any of you reading has a young child, I recommend checking out the movie “Real Steel” with Hugh Jackman. I took my 6 year old this past weekend and we both really enjoyed it. Next up, we’re looking forward to getting the Captain America movie, coming out soon on DVD, to add to our collection because we both loved it in the theater.

Reminder: My Podcast through Michael Mennenga and Babylon 5 actor/producer Jeffrey Willerth’s Farpoint Media is http://itscomicbookday.com (there are a lot more episodes, but I’m waiting for the producer to catch up on edits) – it’s free on iTunes.

On Facebook, I’m Facebook.com/davedormanartist and on LinkedIn I’m an open networker: linkedin.com/in/thedavedorman

On Twitter I’m @DaveDorman

As always, I thank you for reading!

DAVE.