New Book Alert! Terry Moore's How To Draw

If it wasn't for How To Draw books I wouldn't be here, with this website, blogging to you because you've read my illustrated stories. I wouldn't have made Strangers In Paradise or Echo or any of the other stories and cartoons I've drawn over the course of my life. How To Draw books are like meat and potatoes to anybody interested in art and how it's made. All my life I have read and studied these books for information and inspiration. My bookcase has two shelves filled with just some of the art instruction books I've consumed over the years, because I still read them. You never stop learning. There are many artists working in comics today that I wish would make a How To Draw book. I would be first in line to buy one. *cough! cough! Adam!*

I can't tell you how many times I've been asked to make such a book. I always took the request seriously because I know it's important. It's not about flattery or self-importance, it's about passing along what you've learned to the new employees. It's how we survive as an art community and grow better with each generation. Even if I didn't think my art was worth looking at, I would still have something to pass on due to the fact that I've been writing, drawing and publishing a comic through Diamond Distributors, every six weeks, since 1993. That's a mean feat in an industry known for its attrition, let alone do it to compliments.

So, how do I do it? How do I draw under that deadline, month after month, year after year, and not put out  24 pages of smiley faces and stick figures—or, as my wife once suggested during a deadline, "A polar bear in a snow storm"? What is my routine? What tools do I use for the best results? How do I draw women the way I do? Expressions? Body language? Hands and feet? Knees! How do you draw those confounded knees? Do I draw roughs? Use models? How long does a page take? Why do I still letter on the art? How do I draw people doing things there are no photo references for? What is the difference between amateur and pro art? How do you ink with a brush? With a quill pen? With markers? How can you take your art to the next level? How do I use Photoshop? What are my templates for page art and covers? Measurements? Computer tricks? Page layout programs? What do I give to the printer? How do you draw anything and everything?

That's what my series will be about. It's an art instruction book with running commentary on both the art and the reasons why. I find I learn better if I know why I'm doing something.

The plan is to write and publish this a chapter at a time (aka comic book), 3-4 times a year until I have all the chapters made, at which time I will put them together as a large book that, hopefully, will end up in a library somewhere and help some young artist. That would make the circle of life complete. In the meantime, you don't have to wait. You can read this stuff as it is made and published as comics. The first issue is in May, and I'll come out swinging with my favorite subject, How to Draw Women.

I am very excited about this project! It's a dream whose time has come. Even if you don't draw, I'm sure you will find it interesting because of all the extra information that will be in there, like one of those documentaries about how they made your favorite movie. Hell, if nothing else, buy it for the nudity. But look for this issue and many more, beginning in May. Help me pass the word among the comics community and to any aspiring artists you might know. I hope this will be a welcome addition to their lifelong search for information and inspiration.