Artist of the Day: James Stokoe

Found another artist to study. So, for this week, I heard about James Stokoe and his exquisite detail work- he doesn't use 3D assets (not faulting anyone who does, they're a huge timesaver and great for deadlines), and most importantly:

He. Loves. Drawing.

I know this sounds weird, but I heard that most comic book pros don't really "like" drawing (not that they hate drawing, that's completely different), that drawing is hard because you're always having to think about, "Does this look right? Is the perspective okay?" It's so easy to try to get everything "right" that you just get frustrated. When I heard this, I realized I was feeling the same way. Now, I've kept to a consistent deadline for nearly a year now, I have a good system going, but sometimes I just kind of want the drawing part to be over. 

I saw this mesmerizing video of what looks like James Stokoe doodling/signing a comic for a fan, and he's legit getting lost in the little drawing and it's just wonderful. You can tell he's enjoying it. 

Yes, Treat Your Webcomic Like a Job, but Don't Forget to Love It!

So, for this week, I decided to try a little experiment. Rather than worrying so much if the drawing looked good enough, I instead thought, I love this. I decided to focus more on having fun rather than "Eh, does this look okay?" or "Oh lord, I have this get this done before the deadline!" 

I was much less hard on myself, and the drawing just looked better. I was just trusting my hands to do what they've been trained to do all these years. I feel like most the comic for this week looks more organic- rather than stiff and uncertain, and I love it.