Get To Know Your Textures!
Your FREE mini course that takes you all the way from your fundamental hatching textures to destroyed cinderblock and so much more in between!
Watch Promo
How does an old brick building look versus a new one? How does mortar age and change? What's the difference between cinder block and brick and how do I render that convincingly? How does a brick fall apart? What is a 'tension fold' in fabric versus a 'drop fold' and how can I visually show that difference with my texturing? How do I create 'aged wood' versus a fresh cut new piece of wood? And where do I even begin??
You can begin right here and right now.
Every comic artist/illustrator needs to know their textures.
In this FREE mini course, I am going to walk you through the fundamentals of hatching, cross hatching, and stippling. Once you have those texture techniques down, you can apply them to anything, anywhere.
And those questions above? I am going to take you through fabrics, brick, cinder blocks, vegetation, and more, and we won't be stopping at the surface of those things. Knowing how to create a good texture involves not only knowing what something looks like but understanding how and why it got to be that way. If you know how a brick building ages, you'll know how to create an 'old, mysterious, worn-out' type of city/street versus a 'new, fresh, bright and inviting' type of city/street, by simply changing the texturing of the buildings themselves.
As a visual artist/storyteller, the details matter. Those small details, when done right, will build a solid foundation for your character, action, scene, and/or story to stand upon.
So sign up, get your first free course, and let's start creating those amazing, awesome, gorgeous, detailed, smart (or whatever other descriptor you wanna use) textures and blow people's minds!
Your Instructor
Hey guys! My name is Colin. I graduated from the Savannah College of Art and Design with a BFA in Sequential Art. I am a professional comic book artist and illustrator, with a wide range of art experience. I've done tons of different art styles for videos, storyboarding for commercials for large companies, art exhibits (basically a giant walk through comic book) for a newer museum/attraction, and I am currently working on a Vietnam memoir in the form of a 143-page graphic novel, as well as a creator-owned science fiction comic with a co-worker/writer who is also an amazing artist in his own right.
Slingin' Ink Studio was born out of my passion for comic art and illustration, or in other words, the art of visual storytelling. Comic books and illustrations have the power to take us to previously unexplored worlds and heights and depths we wouldn't be able to reach otherwise. But it also has the power to teach to us something about ourselves, or to help us connect with a complete stranger, or break down communication barriers that otherwise would have kept two people apart. To that end I have spent years exploring, researching, learning, discovering, experimenting, and developing my own personal art style. Over the years I have had so many people ask me about my art. "What did you use to create that?", "Where did you get that pen/pencil/brush?", "What is that technique?", "How can I improve my own style?", "How should I break this story down?", and my personal favorite, the usual, "How the heck did you do that!?" Cause honestly how do you answer that question without launching into a 5-hour detailed description?!
Not only that, but I personally have been frustrated with the lack of education available online for artists who want to take their art to the professional level. There are a million and one tutorials for the hobbyist and those who do art occasionally on the weekends, but there seems to be this mystical divide between the hobbyist and the professional artist specifically in the comic and illustration world.
Slingin' Ink Studio is the answer to that frustration for me, as well as those questions I always get. A place where the art I love, and the knowledge and skills that I have spent years refining can be brought together and passed on to others.
So that's me, Colin Dyer in a nutshell, helping you take your art to the professional level.