Let's Study — The Figure!

This is it, gang! This is what you've been waiting for! The preceding sections gave the basics you need—the cereals and vegetables. But here's where you get to the main course —and the dazzling desserts!

  • There might be something more important than figure drawing in comicbook artwork, but we sure don't know what it is! Everything is based on how you draw the characters: the heroes, villains, and the never-ending hordes of supporting stars. Superhero comicbooks are the stories of people, period! And we're going to try to teach you everything you ought to know about drawing those people and drawing them as dramatically and heroically as possible.
  • Let's start with an average Joe, like you or me. Most average guys are about six-and-a-half heads tall. But take a look at this sketch of Reed Richards. Notice that he's eight-and-three-quarters heads tall. If we draw a hero he's got to look like a hero—he should be of heroic proportions. Unfortunately, the normal six-and-a-half-head-tall proportions would make him seem somewhat dumpy when drawn in a Marvel mag.
  • Needless to say, we also make the shoulders good and wide, and the hips real narrow. Naturally, as we're soon about to see, the male is drawn much more angular than the female.
  • Another good point to remember is—the elbows fall just a little bit below the waist. This is true of both men and women.

  • And, speaking of women—where would Reed Richards be without his stunning Sue?
  • Notice that she too is eight-and-three-quarters heads tall, with her hips much wider in relation to her shoulders than they would be on a male.
  • Obviously, we do not emphasize muscles on a female. Though we assume she's not a weakling, a woman is drawn to look smooth and soft as opposed to the muscular, angular rendition of a man.
  • We've also found that it's preferable to draw a female's head slightly smaller than a male's. In fact, she's generally drawn somewhat smaller all over, except for the bosom.
  • As a guide, you might remember that the hand (on both male and female) always falls mid-thigh on the body when the figure is standing.

The main purpose of this illo (we'll save our publisher a fortune in typesetting by not spelling out the whole word "illustration"! Hope he appreciates it) is to show the difference between the way we might draw a normal, nice-looking male and a heroically proportioned superhero.

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Note that the superhero is larger, with broader shoulders, more muscular arms and legs, a heavier chest, and even a more impressive stance. There's nothing weak-looking about the fella next to Captain America, but a superhero simply has to look more impressive, more dramatic, more imposing than an average guy.

Perhaps the most important single point to remember is that you should always slightly exaggerate the heroic qualities of your hero, and attempt to ignore or omit any negative, undramatic qualities.

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But, what about the villains? Glad you asked. Next page, please ...

 

Wouldja believe that virtually the same rules apply to the villains as to the heroes? (When it comes to drawing them, at any rate!)

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On this page we've presented two shots of the dramatically demonical Dr. Doom. The one on top is a somewhat ordinary, pedestrian rendering of our Lord of Latveria, as any average, catchpenny non-Marvel artist might interpret him. The one below is dazzlin' Doc drawn in the dynamic Marvel style. See the difference? Well, just to play safe, let's go over some of the finer points.

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While there's nothing basically wrong with the top figure, you can see that the one below is more exag­gerated. Doc's arms and legs are heavier, more imposing. His feet are planted farther apart, giving more weight and majesty to his stance. His tunic is flaring a bit, denoting a feeling of action even though the character is standing still. His chest is larger, bulkier, and his hands are bigger and more powerful.

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The differences are somewhat subtle—but the one above is the way Marvel would do it. It's important that you train your eye to catch these elusive but essential variations. They can spell the difference between great artwork and adequate artwork. And we never wanna think of any Marvelite as being less than great!

 

Naturally, there are exceptions to every rule. Even though we told you that the average superhero is eight-and-three-quarters heads high, you can run into a cuddly character like The Thing who might be only six heads high. But then, you wouldn't want him to look like Mr. Fantastic, would you? (I just thought of something. For all you semantics students, here's something to mull over. The phrase "average superhero" just has to be a non sequitur, right? Funny, the things that pop into your head when you're pounding the keyboard!)

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One thing you must always remember. (Because there may be a test!) Learn the rules we give you. Make them part of your permanent memory bank, but always be flexible. Sometimes you'll want to stretch the rules a bit. The key point is this—you can only bend the rules successfully after you've learned them perfectly.

 

Just for fun, we thought we'd toss in The Kingpin also, to show you how to handle a character who's barely five heads high. The trick is to make him squat without making him look like a pantywaist. The larger you make the head in proportion to the body, the heavier and more bulky the character will seem.

And now that we've studied the figure.