Ethan Van Sciver colors his question with the derogatory phraseology “call it a comic book,” which in the end is neither here nor there, except that it shows an investment in emotion in the subject, good or bad.
The first thing I am saying is do not do as I say. No matter how good my point may be. I am not to be trusted.
Nothing said by anyone is good advice to you, as an individual striving to excel, unless (in my opinion, again) it makes sense to you. Opinions and facts are like different books in a library. Only when you absorb these facts and opinions and integrate or not integrate them into your thinking that you decide what is valuable to you alone. YOU ALONE.
Even less valuable than my thinking is opinions and prejudices from other people which limit your potential to do great work. And opinion that limits you is negative. Any opinion that sets you free to try, to learn, to experiment without fear of prejudicial criticism, is positive and will likely help you learn. A person is not born, nor does he live in a vacuum. He lives in the world. This is what he draws when he tries to become an artist.
If he “draws” his information from life, the world around him, he has the greatest potential. If he draws by imitating another artist, his limitations are doubled. First, his own limitations, piled on top of the other artist’s limitations.
“Why do you draw a phone like that? Or a hand like that?”
“Because so-and-so does.”
“So you do not have a phone near you or a hand at the end of your arm or a mirror on which to see that hand?”
Sound stupid? I’ve had this conversation happen a hundred times.
Here is a story. Norman Rockwell, perhaps the greatest American illustrator of the twentieth century, began his career drawing from models. He could take a couple of weeks on one illustration. And so he worked from drawing models.
Then he discovered that his work was very limited because his models could only stay in position for a limited time so he could purposely did ideas or compositions that did not require extreme or difficult positions. Without realizing it he had limited his ideas to those where the pose could be held for a long time.
Then he began to take pictures. What a revelation. He need only get the right pose for a few seconds and he had what he needed. He could, in fact, take several shots and pick and chose. His whole way of thinking changed. He was set free.
Now he drew from the photos… still, it was tedious.
It was hard to do it over, if he changed his mind. He would invest so much time in the drawing and its detail that if he didn’t like it…well, doing it over was truly painful.
He gridded the work so it was meticulously perfect. A lot of work.
Why not project the photos and trace them and then, as he always did, he modified them to suit his sensibilities. It cut his work in half. He could work twice as fast without hurting the quality.
Secondly… if I draw a tree, I will draw a type of tree. Many comic book artists draw one kind of tree. One kind of rock, one kind of hero, one kind of woman.
When you trace rocks or trees you quickly learn there are many kinds of each. Just as there are many kinds of heroes, people, women, old people, kids, babies and ah babies. How many comic book artists can draw babies… really? A handful (and maybe less). Why?
Don’t trace photos. Don’t carry a sketchbook. Don’t do life drawing.
Free yourself to learn, then do work! Most young comic book artists and artists in general are afraid of work. They draw what they LIKE TO DRAW but when it might take a little actual WORK TO LEARN something they flee in terror. They cherry pick habits that suit their lazy attitude, and reject learning.
And in the end, artists that are willing to make learning part of their process become better than the limited, un free, refusing-to-learn artist… and this advance in quality of the wise openminded artist can never be overcome. The openminded free from prejudice, hardworking hard-learning and yes, tracing artists will be the one who “duels with titans” in a manner of speaking. The self-limiting, available to prejudice, undisciplined, blinded by the opinions of others will be left in the dust and not to put too fine an edge on it, that’s just too damn bad. They chose to crumble to prejudice and it can’t really be pinned on anyone else. No. don’t follow my advice. Use your own brain to think, not someone else’s prejudices to terrify yourself away from a fruitful path… or not. Only a few can be the best… and they really did it on their own. YOU are your own best friend.