Drawing Action Comics: Easel-Does-It

The artwork is very good. I haven't come across any examples with, for example, bad foreshortening or parts of a face that don't fit, the kind of thing that frustrates a student. The first exercise is on drawing the figure of a male superhero, and it's very easy to follow. After only three or four attempts I had made a pretty darn good drawing. Now after a dozen attempts I can do it without the book, and consistently.

I also liked the fact that the book starts with the figure (in fairly basic poses) rather than the face, recognizing that drawing the human face well is *much* more difficult than drawing the figure (again, the figure in a basic standing pose). I'm not about to be deterred by a few failures myself, but if this is a book for beginning art students, you want to hit them early with stuff that they can do well so that they feel motivated to continue. It makes sense to start with a figure rather than a face.

I also love the easel format. Yes there are other ways to prop up a book, but the fact that you can prop this one up on its own makes it very convenient.

This is the first book of it's type to give artists drawing assignments and explain what proper materials to use to get those professional looking lines. I like the photos that show you step by step to making special effects and textures with ink. Collen Doran, an independently published comics artist adds a few pieces of her own art in this book. At face value you may think it's a childrens book; however it's very helpful to anyone wanting to illustrate comic book art.