How to draw a comic layout tutorial

For all those wanting to know how to draw a comic layout, here is how I do it.  I am a professional comic book artist with years of experience.  Check it out to see how I layout an X-men page.  Plenty of trade secrets from greats like David Mazzucchelli and the like.  This is Part 1 of a video tutorial explaining my process of drawing comics.  Here I cover thumbnails and layouts.  Next will be roughs and finished pencils. Bonus points to anyone who can identify the opening music.

Uncanny X-Men #500 comic page 18

Uncanny X-Men comic page 18 pencils by Lee Oaks script by Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction
This is Wolverine's page.  Wolverine is always cool to draw.  I tried to give it a slightly unique spin in the way I did his eyes.  Here I used a technique for shading in the bricks black with white joints.  I know Ed Brubaker is not a fan of the outer white lines but I like how it looks.

Uncanny X-Men comic page 19 pencils by Lee Oaks script by Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction

X-Men comic page 19 pencils by Lee Oaks script by Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction.
This is Colossus' page.  Colossus is fun too because of the reflective surface.  The X-men are just cool all around.  I also enjoying drawing cars.  I'm not a car guy, but it is fun drawing them.  Their beauty is more visible when simplified in a drawing.  I used to love drawing cars from how to draw car books.

X-Men comic page 20 pencils by Lee Oaks script by Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction

X-Men comic page 20 pencils by Lee Oaks script by Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction.
Drawing Nightcrawler's Bamf is as fun as it looks.  I thought it would be more challenging to draw cyclops, but it went smothly.  Magneto not so much.  Beast took a little getting into also.

X-Men comic page 21 pencils

X-Men comic page 21pencils by Lee Oaks script by Ed Brubaker and Matt Fraction.
Drawing Storm is always a pleasure.  Her eyes light up everything. I wanted cyclop's blast to have this certain effect on Magneto's magnetic field, but it will make more sense with color.

X-Men comic page 22 pencils

X-Men comic page 22 pencils that I'll be using for an upcoming tutorial.
It took me awhile to get Angel's pose.  I didn't want it to be a pose that you see all the time but when I got too original it didn't hold as well...  The White Queen came out of my pencil in one stroke.

Saturnist page 9 pencils

Saturnist #1 Page 9 script by Mike Baron pencils by Lee Oaks.

ESCAPE FROM TERRA Vol.2 Release Signing Mile High Denver

So it looks like Scott Bieser and I will be doing a signing for the biggest comic book store in the world, Mile High Comics (Jason Street Mega-store) in Denver!  I grew up in a rural place that didn't have comic book stores.  But in the books I read I remember seeing the ads for Mile High Comics.  Little did I know it was only like a 3 hour drive away from where I lived!  Since then Mile High has become a ginormous warehouse of comics making it the biggest in the world.  I have shopped at BD world in Belgium (and still do when I'm there) the previous largest store and now live not far from Mile High.  The last two guests at Mile High were Jim Shooter and Chris Claremont, so we're pretty excited to be a part of it.

Hope to see you there.  I will have sketches.
Saturday March 17 10am-3pm

Saturnist page 22 pencils Lee Oaks

Saturnist comic page 22 pencils sketch Lee Oaks

Ghost page 1 by LEE OAKS

Ghost page 1 by LEE OAKS

Ghost page 2 by LEE OAKS

Ghost page 2 by LEE OAKS

Ghost page 3 by LEE OAKS

Ghost page 3 by LEE OAKS

Ghost page 4 by LEE OAKS

Ghost page 4 by LEE OAKS

Ghost page 5 by LEE OAKS

FREE ComicBook Day

On May 7th I will be at Gryphon's Games and Comics located at:

2020 South College Avenue
Fort Collins, CO 80525
(970) 224-3599

If you've never been to Free ComicBook Day, then you're missing out.

Denver ComicFest April 15-17

I will be at the Denver ComicFest April 15-17th.  Come and say hi.  It's a nice show where the lines are short and the talent is top notch.

http://www.denvercomicfest.com/

Graphic Novel Seminar by... um Me

Location:	Council Tree Library, 2733 Council Tree Avenue
Date:	Saturday, March 26, 2011
Time:	3:00PM - 6:00PM
Details:	What makes a graphic novel successful? Join graphic novelist and illustrator Lee Oaks for this seminar and find out. Learn how to do both the artistic work and scripting of your own graphic novel. Mr. Oaks’ works include Confessions of a Cereal Eater, Tales of Tralodren: The Beginning, Black Ice, Idris and his own creation, Thunder Monkey. Space is limited so call 970-221-6380 and reserve your spot today. Teens and adults are welcome to attend.
Contact:	Norman Fitzpatrick Phone: 970-224-6122 nfitzpatrick@poudrelibraries.org

THOR official costume LEE OAKS

Thor or Aquaman?...  Both have blond hair and grow the beard from time to time.  Both sport a large iconic weapon related to a natural element.  Both have drawn on Arthurian lore.  Finally both hold a similar status in their respective universes...

Popeyes #1 p8 Lee Oaks

If you get a happy meal at Popeyes you recieve a comic book for a prize!  

Written by Eisner award winner Mike Baron!

Popeyes #3 p4 inks by Mark Stegbauer

 

Pencils above inks below

I think Marks inks give a nice effective style not to mention fast, 

this guy can chew 'em up before I can spit 'em out.

Near Future LEE OAKS

Hi-Roller #3 p8 pencils Lee Oaks

Hi-Roller #3 p8 inks by Mark Stegbauer

By issue #3 Mark and my styles start to resonate.

Lee Oaks loves to draw Animals

Secretly jealous of Artists like Frank Cho who get to draw tigers on a regular basis (Marvel's New Ultimates), finally I got my chance to depict some of my favorite animals.  I even got in a badger for Mike Baron and the state of Wisconsin, a gator for Florida, an armadillo for Texas and a ram for Colorado.  Sorry Wyoming, no jackalopes or bison this time...

Hi-Roller #2 Cover by Lee Oaks

When Mike Baron told me about the script, I was excited to get to draw animals, I don't know why but they're so fun to draw, I think it might be because their anatomy offers a rewarding challenge.  I love going to the zoo with my sketchbook to observe and attempt to capture their presence.  Unfortunately no animals appeared in the actual pages, so I had to get in as many animals as I could on the cover.