Freddie E Williams IIThe DC Comics Guide to Digitally Drawing Comics

I'll withhold an in-depth review here until I've actually gotten past reading and done some work using these methods (see edit below), but having read the book I'm very happy with it. The tone is definitive, sidestepping the usual apologizing for personal idiosyncrasies in favour of explaining practical methods clearly. Much appreciated!The subject here is producing comic-book line art either completely or partially on the computer; there's no clutter about lettering or colouring or even the subject of sequential storytelling itself.For an old-fashioned illustrator who hasn't been so sure about that transition from conventional tools to digital, it was a relief to learn that the artist is actually working in RGB mode with anti-aliased brushes. I've done some work in pure vector because of the scaling issues of raster graphics and downright fear of anti-aliasing in line art for print. That was anything but a time-saver. Just having those foolish notions dispelled was worth the price of this book (and here I am spoiling it).But there is much more here. The book only begins with the bare bones of Freddie Williams II's workflow (with a few variations), and goes on to a number of specific techniques geared to actually saving time over conventional methods. That's a big concern. As I mentioned, I've found that digital methods can slow down production. For instance, if you are familiar with conventional brushes and pens, even the best Wacom tablets can feel sluggish and limiting. The author has methods here that clearly help to balance against that hindrance, and also provides a number of techniques that save buckets of time (his perspective line reference layers alone stand to save tons of time and make any illustrator less prone to faking or avoiding it).On the downside, I'm not buying that the methods outlined are applicable to just any graphics software. In fact, there are a lot of vector stroking techniques that have no viable equivalent in most paint programs. I'm somewhat familiar with most of these programs, and don't expect comparable results with anything short of Photoshop, or possibly Photopaint (I wish it weren't so).*update:Having really gotten into this I can verify that Freddie Williams' methods are highly geared to Photoshop. But I can also report that he is actually working to Photoshop's particular strengths. For example, as versatile as Photoshops brush system is, it's brushes are a bit fidgety compared to real ink on a brush (or pen) -- especially if you aren't working with the most high-end tablet on a very fast machine. Photoshop's lasso selection tool, however, is truly amazing in its speed and control. So Mr. Williams actually does much of his "inking" with the lasso tool. Unfortunately, because some lines are lines, he also relies on stamping methods to duplicate clean brush strokes for hatching/feathering and other repeatable instances. While I am sure these methods feel fast to someone who has done a lot of manual line work in Photoshop (fighting with the brush and hammering the undo key), I find it slow and tedious compared to inking such things naturally with a brush or pen.So I'm torn. Photoshop is awesome software and can do so much more, but it is not entirely the best choice for simulating comic-book style line art. Freddie Williams has developed a system that makes the best use of Photoshop for these tasks. He also works in the mode of a production artist, getting the most use out of everything generated. But if I didn't own the software already, it would be a hard sell. If you are looking at this and haven't already bought in on any software, it's worth grabbing the demo versions of Painter and Manga Studio as well for comparison. This book may still sell you on Photoshop, but if you're more inclined to going at every page fresh and 'inking' with your natural style than developing and arranging re-usable elements, it may not. Or you may want to take a bit from here and a bit from there and come up with your own "hybrid" digital workflow.In any case, buy this book.

Recently a friend had asked me my opinion on this book and to get back to him after I'd read it. I thought it would be much more productive to review/share my thoughts on this book here... also being as the holiday season is right around the corner, it would make a great gift.Now, I can pretty much sum it up in one word, DANGEROUS!Here's why, this book will pretty much walk you though creating comic pages digitally, from concept to final. It also provides some very helpful tips into creating elements you might find yourself using again and again...Which is why I find this book to be so Dangerous. You see, it opens allot of doors to information that could easily be abused by some less then honest/dedicated arts. However, I can safely say this book has complied information on creating comics that I myself have spend almost 20 years learning from the real world and by reading countless other books on digital art.Which is the other reason it's so Dangerous. Sometimes when people don't have to put forth any real effort to acquire knowledge, they act irresponsible with it... they don't respect it. Which is my biggest fear about this book. It really gives you every step, and compares the pros and cons to working traditionally as well as digital...However, with that being said, every comic artist working digitally or in a hybrid of traditional and digital should read this book... I found myself saying many times while reading it, "Yup, figured that out the hard way" or "i've come to that very same conclusion myself" and even "oh yeah, that would be faster wouldn't it".To be 100% honest, it's probably as important (if not more so) then Scott McCloud's "Understanding Comics" and it's a very productive read no matter how much you think you know about creating comics digitally, much less traditionally.THIS IS NOT A "HOW TO DRAW BOOK"! It's a production book, it mainly focuses on how to create a digital work flow and create comic pages from start to finish. It works on the assumption you know how to draw already and picks up from there. It does make some points about the pros and cons to drawing on paper then scanning, vs drawing completely on the computer. It doesn't cover anatomy or things like that. Some of what's shown could be misconstrued or taken the wrong way when it comes to creating art digitally, which is another reason I feel it's dangerous. Some of what's presented might cause people to take short cuts (like tracing reference) rather then dedicating the time to actually learning to draw, which is a HUGE issue in art today. I'm sorry, tracing isn't drawing no matter which famous artist do it, it's wrong. No debate, no discussion.That being said, if comics or manga is your passion, read this book, you won't be sorry and you will really learn something... if not many things ;)

This book is a must! Unless you want to keep doing every stage of a comic book in the old-fashioned/traditional way, you must have this book. Many books promising to reveal all the knowledge about this or that - but many times I find that "Yeah, I can take some knowledge out of it... like 15% or something... all the rest is just useless..." - but not this one: Freddie E. Williams II just opens a golden door to deep knowledge. From creating folder trees to comics templates, different workflows and how to incorporate them, tips on scanning, tips on rendering, tips on Photoshop ( the layer template for each comic page is great - I use it and works like charm for me ) . I even got the will to try a full digital workflow BECAUSE of this book. I love pencils, so I'm following the "Pencil hybrid workflow" but I'm trying to find a project that allows me to try the full digital. All its there, I think this is the best book on the subject. The title says what you will find inside - unlike  The DC Comics Guide to Pencilling Comics  (Freddie recommends this one at some point..) but I found that one really disappointing..."The DC Comics Guide to Digitally Drawing Comics" is by far the best book I've read (and continuously keep reading) on the subject! 10 start! Oh damit... only 5 allowed! The DC Comics Guide to Pencilling Comics

A great, succinct introduction to digital drawing. It's very much American professional comic industry oriented, with should come as no surprise, but keep in mind it doesn't go into detail on how to draw digitally. It does a great job of covering techniques for streamlining the process of comic drawing with a guide to some useful tools and techniques. Again, this is a very different process to digital painting, doing covers etc. This is for those interested in doing comics in the old pencils-inks kind of way. It doesn't cover colouring, but DC has released a very decent intro to that separately.

Good in parts, not as good in most parts. Google Sketchup is in common use in most comic books these days and while the author clearly uses it a lot, he only has one page on it (the last page of the book). Otherwise it is useful for telling you how to layout a bristol board page with guides and rulers so there are definitely good parts to this book

Not really a book about 'How to digitally draw', but 'How to setup your software and workflow to digitally draw'.

Very comprehensive, happy with this purchase.