Learning how to Draw a Line.

I've talked a lot about everything I've learned. The most important thing I think I've learned came from an innocent line in Penny Arcade's newest book. I had learned it before from The Behemoth's artist Dan Paladin, but I didn't quite get it.

It was as simple as this: Every stroke needs to matter.

Before I had read this, I would concentrate too much on getting the character shape right, and not erasing. I didn't like undo-ing or erasing. I was scared of it for some reason.

I had watched some videos by Dan Paladin of when he was doing art for their game Castle Crashers. He's a master at what he does, and I wanted to have the same mastery over a Wacom tablet as him. But I just didn't get it. I was still laying down stroke for stroke, trying to get that perfect shape on a curve, but it would still look messy.

It wasn't until I read the book, and Mike Krahulik (the artist for Penny Arcade) had pointed out that every stroke must have a purpose. If you look at their early strips as opposed to their more recent ones, Krahulik pointed out he had way too many lines that added nothing to the artwork.

I felt dumb. How had I not noticed it before? It was so obvious, and right in front of my eyes. So now, when you watch my video below, you'll notice how long I spend on a single stroke until I'm happy with it. You'll see more of this from me.

I definately no how I want to draw things now. My skills are honed, by focus it set, and I've got a lot of progress to make.

As for the comic, I hereby claim it was an experiment in drawing... Definately because nobody gets it. I really did it for the video.

Did they believe me? Are they gone? Okay. Good.