danbar said: Hey, I love your comic style! How I can learn to draw like that? What tools do you use/what is the process? Best, Daniel

Hey Daniel,

First off, sorry it took me so long to respond! I’m a big jerk! I just don’t get too many asks so I never think to check. But anyways, thanks! I really appreciate your compliment and questions. I barely even think of myself as a “real” illustrator, there are so many insanely talented people out there. I think for me, illustration is all about finding your style (something I am still trying to do) and once you begin to it’s just a matter of having fun and drawing things that make you happy. My recommendation would be to follow a bunch of artists that have a style you love, take it all in, and then try to create something similar.

As far as tools/process goes: Almost all of my linework is done on my iPad 2 (I want a Pro SO BAD). I use Autodesk SketchBook Pro and a Wacom Bamboo stylus. I almost always use a light pencil the entire time, with no inking phase. I do love an inked style but haven’t been too happy with my work when I’ve tried it. I’m still experimenting though, Types of Dates for example was all done with an ink brush. Anyway, once the linework is done, I export to Dropbox and open in Photoshop to clean up and color. Sometimes my linework is a little light because it’s all pencil, so one cool trick I use to darken it up is just duplicate the layer. It makes things darker without hurting any line dynamics. I use an Intuos Pro M for coloring and shading, although most of my flat colors are done with the Paint Bucket tool. Also, I’ve recently been doing all my lettering in Photoshop since there is more flexibility with layers. With the resolution I use, SketchBook only allows 4 layers, so it’s best to keep things simple on the iPad. When I first started years ago, I tried to do everything on the iPad and it was A NIGHTMARE.

Hope that helps a little and thanks again for asking!