Notes from the John Byrne Art Seminar - Creation Con Boston - March 5, 1983 (PART 3 of 8)

John Byrne Drawing Art Seminar Class Notes, 1983

(PART 3)

note: these notes are recopied c.1983 notes from my messy notes in class (added blue in photoshop here to help see facts better)
See originals and Creation Con materials from JB Art Seminar in Additional Images area.


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Covered in notes:

• DRAWING HANDS & FEET in comics
• DRAWING MUSCLES in comics


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DRAWING HANDS & FEET - - - - -

Drawing Hands & Feet starting with the "wedge" shape
- Start with "wedge" shape . you can start building the form from geometrical shapes.
- Use geometric shapes to turn form of hands & feet .
- Easier to draw hands & feet that way—to start with geometrical shapes, especially when at they are at an angle, (see diagrams)


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Drawing HANDS

Hands — (Wedge shape)
- Use "wedge" shape to conceptualize hand form

Hands — (Side view of hand)
- draw middle 3 fingers for main direction and thrust, with thumb & pinky finger articulating off to side from that (*my interpretation of notes, not direct quote)
- ball of wrist behind wedge shape of hand


Hands — (Open Palm of hand)
- draw as if coming off a "ball" shape, articulate fingers as if off curve of a ball (*my interpretation of notes)


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Drawing FEET

Foot — (Wedge shape)
- Use "wedge" shape to conceptualize foot form

Foot — (Heel of foot = ball shape)
- draw "ball" at back of wedge shape. This will be heel of foot. (plugging into wedge shape as a ball in back)

Foot — (Geometric shapes)
- should be able to draw foot from any angle using these concepts, these geometric shapes together (wedge + ball, see diagrams)




DRAWING MUSCLES - - - - -


Muscles— (Teardrop shapes)
- Most muscles on body have a "teardrop" shape.
- Look for "teardrop" shapes on figure in regards to muscles.


Muscles— (drawing chest/breast muscle)
- Remember the "Breast" is muscle and moves too. (chest on man or woman)



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ABOUT THE CLASS NOTES & JOHN BYRNE ART SEMINAR

My class notes from master comic artist and storyteller John Byrne. maybe his only art seminar that I know of.

Recall that most people in my class were pretty young. It was from an 1 or 2 hour class that John gave in the Park Plaza hotel or Parker House Hotel (it's a while back)after that day's Creation Con. I was in high school and saved up for weeks from my newspaper delivery job to take this. This was a result of the meticulous and recopied notes habit that I used in high school to pass my classes to make up for my lack of natural smarts.

So I'm glad that I can share the benefits & timing of that process here on CAF (instead of Tumblr where they were before for many years) John was at his absolute peak as an artist during this time (Fantastic Four, Alpha Flight) and he shared some of his secrets, process & influences with us aspiring artists.