Today, I dug into something I’ve been meaning to get my hands dirty with for a while—GI Joe comic art. I’ve always been a big fan of those action-packed scenes and the whole military vibe, so I figured, why not try to recreate some of that magic myself?
First off, I started by gathering a bunch of references. I spent a good chunk of the morning scrolling through Pinterest. There are tons of boards dedicated to GI Joe art, like this one dude, Tyrone Weedon’s, and another by David C Tallman. These guys have curated some seriously cool collections. I mean, we’re talking about everything from classic comic book covers to fan art sketches. I was like a kid in a candy store, just soaking it all in. I found all sorts of stuff, from old-school comic panels to some more modern interpretations. Really got my creative juices flowing, you know?
After I felt like I had a good grasp of the style, I started sketching. Nothing fancy, just some rough outlines to get a feel for the characters. I focused on the main crew—Hawk, Stalker, Scarlett, Snake Eyes. These guys are icons! I did a few warm-up sketches, trying to capture their basic poses and features. I also tried to draw some Cobra characters as well. I don’t know who those guys are but I think they are the enemies. Trying to make them look like they are fighting each other was the most fun part.
Then, I moved on to trying out different action poses. The thing about GI Joe is that it’s all about dynamic action, right? So, I spent some time drawing figures in various combat stances, running, jumping, shooting. It was tougher than I thought it would be! Getting the anatomy right while making sure the pose looked natural and energetic was a real challenge. But hey, practice makes perfect, or so they say.
Once I had some decent sketches, I tried inking a few of them. I wanted to see how they’d look with more defined lines. Inking is a whole other beast. It’s way too easy to mess up, and there’s no undo button in real life, sadly. But I managed to ink a couple of drawings without making too much of a mess. I’m still a total noob at it and probably won’t be trying to ink my art anymore.
I also browsed around to see if there were any art books or sketchbooks I could learn from. Found a few that looked promising, like the Hasbro Design Sketchbooks. These seem like they could be goldmines for understanding the design process behind the characters. I might check those out later. They have different volumes so I guess they were released in different years.
What I Learned
- Pinterest is a Treasure Trove: Seriously, there’s so much fan art and inspiration on there. It’s a great place to start if you’re looking to get into a particular style. I did not realize there were this many GI Joe fans around the world.
- Action Poses are Hard: Drawing people in static poses is one thing, but getting dynamic movement right is a whole different ball game. But like I said earlier, it was the most fun part.
- Inking Takes Practice: I already knew this, but it’s worth repeating. Inking is an art in itself and I will probably never try it again.
Overall, it was a fun and educational day. I didn’t create any masterpieces, but I definitely learned a lot. I’ve got a newfound respect for comic artists, that’s for sure. There’s a lot more to this than meets the eye, and I’m excited to keep practicing and see where it takes me. Maybe one day I’ll even come up with my own original GI Joe story. Who knows?
I will try to practice more often. Hopefully I can get better. But today was a good start.
Anyway, that’s all I’ve got for now. I need to rest my aching wrist.
