What's that you say? You're a comic book artist and you're up against a deadline AND a terrible case of the "dunno what to do's?" Well, fret no more because we're here with some handy tips. Well okay, ONE handy tip. And that tip is SWIPE.
Let's say for instance that you're drawing a kid humor book for Atlas in the 50s. You could spend a lot of time coming up with original characters and concepts... or you could just, you know, borrow.
Sassy girl, gang of boys, one of whom is overweight, clubhouse... where have I seen that before... oh yeah.
Come on Howie Post, I know you can do better than that. Though at the page rates you were likely getting, I can see where you'd want to cut corners.
Hey, say you're drawing romance comics for Charlton! I don't know what heinous crime landed you in this precarious position, but that's not important now. What's key is HOW ARE YOU GOING TO MEET THOSE DEADLINES?
By swiping! Drawing a girl standing there with her arms folded is HARD. Save those precious five minutes you'd use finding photo reference or working it out on scratch paper and just swipe!
You might recognize this panel from an earlier STUPID COMICS in which we highlighted its cautiously innovative approach to the subject matter of girls who like girls. Who knew it would pay further STUPID COMICS dividends?
So it's like this: you are drawing a backup story in a black and white 80s comic, and you need a futuristic schoolroom full of futuristic students.
Where are you going to get reference for a class full of future-kids? Well, the answer is obvious; Japanese cartoons.
Simply fill your class with characters from the seminal 1979 anime series MOBILE SUIT GUNDAM! Sayla Mass, Bright Noah, even Kai Shiden are re-purposed for uses far beyond those envisoned by Nippon Sunrise.
Even GUNDAM enemies like Garma Zabi, scion of the Zeon ruling dynasty, get in on the swipe action here. Have some respect for the dead, black and white 80s comic!
Need a fat guy in your class? Well GUNDAM's Ryu Jose is ready to serve, sweaty though he may be!
And then there was the time that Lando Calrissian from STAR WARS dressed up like SPACE PIRATE CAPTAIN HARLOCK.
But the less said about that, the better.
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