Emulating the Style you want to be able to do

Whenever people like something that someone does whether it is dressing a certain way, behaving in a certain way or draw with a certain style, they tend to copy what that person does. If they like the way someone dresses they wear similar clothes, if they think someone has a great way of living life they try to live that way themselves and if they like the way someone draws they will copy their drawings and try to draw their own things in that style.
This is a very common thing and everybody has role models, people they look up to and as a result trying to be like that person is a natural response.

Often people try to copy what someone does exactly and in the way that person does it, but when they do this they stop being themselves. In time, hopefully, they stop copying exactly and rather implement the traits they find desirable.

It is the same thing with drawing, start off by drawing, painting etc. the works of people you like or a style you like. This is one of the best ways to be able to draw a certain way but you then need to move on and draw your own original images/paintings and so on in the style you like.

You will never get better at drawing in a certain way if you do not try and copying the works of other people as an exercise for learning to draw in that style is excellent because you have to look at how they did it, not just simply what they did. As long as you don't try to pass off these copies as your own original work, it's fine. Fans of comics and cartoons all over world create fan art which are images of characters that they have drawn completely form scratch, there's nothing wrong with this as long as you don't claim that it is an 'official' image of said character.

Take a look at the pictures below, one is the original image from an Avengers comic by Marvel and the other one is my attempt at recreating that image. Obvious to see which is which isn't it? I only did the second panel (the one on the top right) as doing all of it would have been too much for me right now.

At present the drawing is only a pencil outline which you have probably noticed, this is because I am going to do a colour version using Photoshop in addition to doing either a pencil shaded version or use a different colouring technique.

All I have done is emulate the style of the original artist by trying to recreate their work, as this is the style of artwork I would like to be able to do well. Once I am able to make (moderately) successful copies I can then start applying this style of artwork to my own comic book images.

12/07/2013- Update

Here is the Photoshop version I said I would do. The adavantage to using Photoshop over paint etc. is the ability to create layers. By using layers you can draw an outline on one layer and then place a layer underneath it and then add colour to the lower layer. This removes the need to follow edges perfectly because if the brush crosses the line of the outline it will go under it instead of over. You can use multiple layers for building up layers of texture and shadow as well.

In my image I have 4 layers; The outline, the solid colours, a white background and a layer for shading.

The white background layer was there so I didn't need to individually colour all of the white areas, of which there are several large areas, which saved a bunch of time. The shading layer was for adding the black shading over the colour layer so that I didn't have to worry about ruining all my hard work.

The picture was made like this:
- Draw outline ( first and topmost layer)
- Add colour (third layer)
- Add shading (second layer)
- White Background (fourth and the bottom layer)

When compared to the original you can see that this is not perfect, but it is a damn good job- even if I do say so myself. Bear in mind that this is the first time I have ever tried to copy a piece of work like this.

The colours for this image were chosen by eye from the colour selector in Photoshop I did not just bring up the original image and use the pipette which allows you to get the exact colour from the image.

Coming back to the title of this post then 'Emulating the Style you want to be able to do' you can see that I have done just that by first of all trying to copy a piece of work in the style I like. This makes you look more at how something is done rather than blindly trying to do it yourself by forcing you to look at the way someone else works, see how they draw and how they colour etc. The picture above is still my picture and not a copy because it contains elements of my own drawing style in there. You can never draw exactly like someone else, you might produce the same results but you will go about it differently.

Have a go at doing a drawing like this yourself and show me the original and your attempt and as always put it up on your own Wall of Progression.