For the Love of Comics Art Bootcamp Wk2

Jan. 29, 2026

• Big 3 in concert  •  In-class Exercise 1 •  PET SHOW  •  

 •  In-class 2   •  Your Next Assignment  •  Next Time •

Here We Go... Have you selected a couple of favorite inking tools (your "pets") to let your mates try out at tonight's Pet Show?? I'm bringing a ton, mostly as backup. 

Big 3 in Concert With some art examples on screen, I'll try to suggest all that the Big 3, that is...

1. Line of Action
2. Silhouette 
3. and Acting (pose & gesture) 

...can do for your art, and thus for your readers' experiences in the imagined world or worlds you may already be bringing to life.

THIS WEEK'S ASSIGNMENT "Twisted Nursery Rhyme" 

Take your (ideally) loose, soft layout of last week and realize the pencils more completely: Add in shading, texture, pattern to the degree you looks good. Try to err on the side of economy: Better to under-do than over-do. But make sure characters' eyes are accurately drawn and pointed to where you want them look. Probably don't add areas of solid black other than shadows under things now, unless they feel essential to the story.

And if any of the above seems challenging, please remember this class made up of 1) bedrock comics essentials, 2) your topic requests. So, no stressing.

JH

NEXT TIME More on the Big 3: Line of Action, Silhouette, Pose and Gesture! 

…and Serious Inking! 

Housekeeping Revisited....

“GRADING” RUBRIC

No letter grades. I’ll rate each assignment on a seven-factor checklist that I'll hand back. 

Because I want this course to work well for all, including students who can't make it to every meeting, I will grade only individual assignments, and not overall performance during the course.

Work will be rated on how well it demonstrates these concepts and skills: 

1. Line of Action  

2. Physical Acting  — Use of pose and gesture to reveal a character's intent or emotional state.

3. Facial expressions that are clear.

4. Basic Perspective

5. Separation of Planes: Differentiating foreground, middleground, background planes, using pro tricks

6. Telling details/“The Reality Principle”: Boosting realism, sense of place by adding characteristic objects and details to the setting

7. Attention to Attention: This includes both the reader’s attention —(leading it where you want it) and the characters’ attention!

Your results  For each assignment, I'll give you one of these three ratings of how well the work demonstrates each of the above seven factors:

• Needs extra effort / Not quite there yet
• Intermediate  / Basic level  / Intermediate level attained.
• Ready to teach!

• MATERIALS LIST

• Pencils, mechanical or not, of your preferred lead hardness, likely H to F to HB or #2 to 2B.
• Copy paper, 8 ½ x 11in, for sketching out ideas.
• A sketchbook of pencil-friendly paper, of a size you like.
• Light blue or non-photo pencils, Col-erase or Prismacolor brand.
• Erasers, both white or black and kneaded
• Good 2-ply, smooth-surface drawing paper, ideally Bristol board, 11x14 or 11x17 in. Paper with preprinted comic-book or manga formatting, if desired. 
• A mid-sized triangle(s) or ruler(s), at least one that has an inking edge. I’ll explain, or ask at your favorite art supply store. Riley Street, in both Santa Rosa and San Rafael, is good. Michael’s, in a pinch…
• More advanced students may wish to bring markers, favorite brushpens or non-bleedy, non-permanent markers…
• … from the excellent site jetpens.com , 
• … or Japanese bookstores (e.g., Kinokuniya, in San Francisco or at https://usa.kinokuniya.com/) 
• or Japanese discount chains like Daiso, (SF and El Cerrito) can be a good source. Michael’s is a passable backup option.