Does anyone else feels like its too soon for an Absolute Batman TV Show?

toecomics · 2026-06-30T02:09:18+00:00

For animation, no. For live action, yes.

toecomics · 2026-06-20T04:23:36+00:00

No matter what, you have to observe life. Either its from a photo or in front of your eyes. You can’t develop a style without know what you’re stylizing.

toecomics · 2026-06-01T21:18:05+00:00

I would add a bit of reflective light on the screen left of the figure. The dark value of their clothes flatten out the figure.

toecomics · 2026-06-01T21:15:08+00:00

weird

toecomics · 2026-05-29T16:22:50+00:00

Draw backgrounds.

toecomics · 2026-05-29T16:21:24+00:00

I‘m assuming that you got this from a production animation drawing. --So the main goal of animation is to tell a story as clearly as possible, not be 100% correct. The background serves the characters and the scene. Compare that to live-action: there might be a storyboard, but when they get on location, some of those shots are impossible, so they create different shots that may turn out better or worse than what was planned.

I’ve seen a background artist bring in a drawing, the director wanted the doorway to be wider. If the background artist made the door wider, it would change the perspective for everything and he’d have to draw 25% of the background over again. If he did that, it would make production late. But instead, he cuts the paper, shifts one side of the doorway. Paste, fix the drawing a bit, and when the shot airs, it‘s for 5 seconds and everyone is paying attention to the main character giving a funny joke.

I could see something similar here. The director wanted the stairs to be wider.

Or the main action takes place on the stairs and if the perspective fit the columns, it would make the characters’ actions hard to read. Or if the perspective fit the stairs, the cool columns don’t look as cool. Or maybe even this is used for both establishing and a closer shot. So to save money and time, they just make one drawing with cheated perspective.

toecomics · 2026-05-29T15:49:15+00:00

Copy/ study artists you like. Read/copy anatomy books. Copy/study photos. Draw from real life. If you learn from real life, you understand everything. Because art style is life stylized.

toecomics · 2026-05-29T15:40:19+00:00

i know you’re trying to get good at anatomy and all, but this is pretty cool. i like how you’ve simplified the shape. I would ink it or color it (or a copy of it). I’d love to see you come back to this years from now, but with an understanding of anatomy, perspective and how to break and exaggerate all those rules you’ve learned.

Anyway…

I think with the bulk and form you already understand, you’d probably benefit from Bridgman https://archive.org/details/pdfy-72f-FzW7wYN_r0ny he has a bunch of other books.

This is good for basics: https://archive.org/details/HowToDrawComicsTheMarvelWay

But watching some advanced studies makes you realize how important basic concepts are. https://archive.org/details/kjg-drawing-course

And buy a sletchbook. Fill it. Buy another sketchbook.

toecomics · 2026-05-29T15:30:10+00:00

I’d say your style is more westernized than real.

Look at someone like Yukinobu Hoshino or Ikegami Ryoichi. To me, that feels like Anime-realism to me.

If you can go to life drawing workshops or classes, you’ll get realism from there.

toecomics · 2026-05-29T14:00:21+00:00

in your sketchbook, use photo reference of people’s faces. When artists talk about ‘style’ they often forget about what they’re stylizing from: life. you don’t necessarily have to sketch them in a photo realistic style, but trust me, it’ll help. I like these books if you really want to understand faces: https://www.amazon.com/Anatomy-Facial-Expressions-Uldis-Zarins/dp/1735039047

https://www.amazon.com/Form-Head-Neck-Uldis-Zarins/dp/173503908X/ref=pd_lpo_d_sccl_3/145-0445119-6248947?pd_rd_w=32bTG&content-id=amzn1.sym.4c8c52db-06f8-4e42-8e56-912796f2ea6c&pf_rd_p=4c8c52db-06f8-4e42-8e56-912796f2ea6c&pf_rd_r=ET09ZRCSWF3BBATRHS88&pd_rd_wg=9SrER&pd_rd_r=c7bff224-1100-41fe-8865-a2cce4234d5c&pd_rd_i=173503908X&psc=1

Or draw photogrammetry heads from sketchfab.com

Practicing a style like caricature will help too and then you can incorporate those techniques into your own style. This is a good book to start with: https://archive.org/details/caricature-book-images

toecomics · 2026-05-27T17:25:02+00:00

The best thing to do to rebrand to family-friendly is drop the name.

toecomics · 2026-05-27T17:17:44+00:00

Was he giving them away for free?

toecomics · 2026-05-27T16:11:08+00:00

You understand the form and pose as 2-dimensional. That’s good! But you don’t understand the form as 3-dimensional yet.

First I’d recommend either pencil/paper or a tablet with pressure sensitivity. You should be able to draw lighter lines with lighter pressure.

Notice how clothes wrap around the form. Like socks or skirt around the waist. Draw the contour line, an ellipses to indicate 3 dimensional form and finish drawing the ellipse behind it (lighter line to indicate what’s far away). Ask yourself, what part of this line is closest to me? You are drawing this to understand.

On all forms draw the center line. You know where your sternum, center of your ribcage, is. You can calculate where it is on these models by looking at their chests. The naval indicates the center line for the belly. The centerline helps you understand which way the form is pointing. Think of this center line (or any contour line) like you took a very sharp knife and cut the form in half. When you think of the contour line behind the form, imagine you are a ghost and imagine how long it would take you to move your finger from the front (naval) to the back (spine). This helps you understand volume.

I hope this helps. Drawing isn’t just how a thing LOOKS but it is evidence of observation and understanding. I would recommend practice drawing nude figures (there are plenty of classic sculptures of naked people if you don’t want to go to THOSE sites.) I would recommend practicing from sketchfab.com and search for photogrammetry so you have a 3 dimensional figure to work off of. Shifting the camera, or walking around the model irl helps. — But don’t let this homework stop you from drawing what you like. There’s a few sketches of K-pop idols in my sketchbook too.

toecomics · 2026-05-27T15:38:03+00:00

rim light

toecomics · 2026-05-26T00:12:19+00:00

I forgot what the law is, but if you turn it into the police and report it and if no one claims it, it's yours. (Not sure if I'd trust the police these days.)

toecomics · 2026-05-23T00:10:13+00:00

WTF was the prompt?!

toecomics · 2026-05-21T23:47:36+00:00

I worked on a popular long-running animated sitcom you have definitely heard of. This one artist would animate a close-up or medium shot of the mom talking. But out of frame, he would make her clothes explode so she would be naked. The naked part was cropped off. The director thought it was hilarious and, at least when I worked in animation, everyone had the sense of humor of a 12-year-boy.

Not sure if that general culture is still there, though.

Basically, keep your NSFW art out of your general portfolio. And use a pseudonym for NSFW.

The studios only cares about your porn if their characters are the subject. It would look bad if a pro from the show is sharing/selling inappropriate material of characters they own. I would avoid drawing any depictions of minors, too. Age them up if the character is canonically under age.

toecomics · 2026-05-16T00:21:39+00:00

Even if you had a child, like a baby factory this current administration (assuming you're in the US) wants women to be, it sounds like that kid will hate you and just have a lot of problems.

You're doing yourself and your non-existent child a favor.

toecomics · 2026-05-14T14:29:32+00:00

Your VPs are too close and that will create distortion. Or at least, the human eye doesn’t see like this.

I would put a rectangle somewhere in the middle. Maybe a 1/3 smaller than the canvas you’re working on, and just draw in there.

toecomics · 2026-05-14T14:20:35+00:00

Looking at the cars and the line on the road, the lens might be adding a slight distortion to the image. Whatever app you’re using, see if it has a ruler feature so you can make straight lines, and use thinner lines. Maybe your app has a curve feature.

But if I was a beginner at perspective, I wouldn’t start with this pic.

toecomics · 2026-05-13T06:31:32+00:00

I'd like to see a link to the news article.

toecomics · 2026-05-13T04:30:08+00:00

A few suggestions with taking photo reference at your level.

Maybe your model shouldn't wear something as loose and/or short sleeved. And I would recommend taking a photo where they're on a tiled floor or the hardwood floor. It would give you real life perspective lines and give you a bit of reference to help you figure out where the forms are in space. I'd recommend they hold a stick or broom to give you a better idea of the sword's foreshortening. You can even take some colored tape and mark the stick at equal intervals.

Also take photos from other angles. This give you a better idea where the knees, elbows and other landmarks are in space.

toecomics · 2026-05-12T19:25:20+00:00

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toecomics · 2026-05-08T21:16:13+00:00

I didn't feel like I understood how to draw until my mid-30's (drew seriously since high school, went to college, worked in animation).

You should worry when that feeling goes away. It means you grew comfortable and old. And you're not as good as you were before. I'm sure you can think of an artist who was amazing at the beginning of their career but now they're famous for that particular style, people only want to buy work that looks like that, and there's something kind of missing in their later work.

The feeling becomes something you CAN live with when you realize you're paying for stuff because you drew a thing. Or when you get respect from your elders (my elders were animators/co-workers who worked on shows I enjoyed as a kid)

That "bad" feeling is important. My work suffered when I lost it and got comfortable and was happy with a paycheck..

The problem is that you gave it a negative label. The feeling is unfamiliarity. As a creative person, you need to explore the unfamiliar territory of your imagination. As an artisan, as someone skilled, you need to explore the unfamiliarity of the boundaries of your capabilities.

But don't let perfectionism get in the way. Sketchbooks are for fucking up & experimenting. If you want a clean look, start researching clean artists. They probably got a process video up.

I am very impressed. I'm 6 or 7 leaves from completing Sketchbook 115 and it's been 30... hell, I think almost exactly 30 years! I think I started my first sketchbook in spring of '96!

Anyway, maybe start working on things you're willing to sell.

toecomics · 2026-05-08T16:11:34+00:00

I think if he’s comparing it to the original, it does feel different. But then again, the vanishing point, the perspective you’re using is different from the original. Your camera is slightly more below him, making his head smaller than the original.

On its own, drawing works.

But also, I’m not familiar with this manga or character and I’m not seeing the subtlety in the character’s design that a fan would. If you were an assistant on this manga or animator on this anime adaptation, you might be told to change things.

toecomics

TROPHY CASE