1. Write what you know.
2. Constantly be learning new things. This way you can write about more than you know right now. Listen to people. Ask questions. My best conversations I’ve ever had were with a friend that would constantly ask questions. Nothing was off limits. As a result, he has a data bank of the most interesting stories of any living person I know.
3. Stop trying to perfect it. It won’t be perfect. You’ll be able to draw or write it even better ten minutes from now, tomorrow, a year from now. Forever. What you create in this moment is just an artifact of who you were at that moment in time. Don’t hate your old work because it’s bad. Love it as proof that you’re improving. You’re better now than you were then.
4. Inking. If it even crosses your mind that a page or panel needs a darker or bigger shadow or more blacks spotted – it does. Don’t be lazy!
5. Don’t describe your story idea to someone. Let the finished story tell it.
6. Movement and production. The two words my printmaking instructor Leon Hicks, at Webster University, said over and over again. Keep making work. It’s how Jack Kirby made his career. Ideas and art spawn more ideas and art.
7. Get an honest critique. Find one person in your life that will give you the honest hard truth about everything you do. True honest feedback is like gold.
8. Be honest with yourself. Look at your own work critically. Don’t be down on yourself. Stay optimistic, but try to recognize your own weaknesses so you can address them. If you hate drawing hands, there’s probably a reason. Spend an entire sketchbook.
9. Amazing art can’t fix a bad story. But a good story can fix mediocre art.
10. Read, Research, and Refine. Read everything. Only good comes from reading comics and books. Constantly be studying the process of other artists, writers, directors – everyone. Always be looking at your process for ways to refine things. Adopt advice and try it out. Take some and leave some.
You can view Matt Kindt's work at: http://www.mattkindtshop.com/
2. Constantly be learning new things. This way you can write about more than you know right now. Listen to people. Ask questions. My best conversations I’ve ever had were with a friend that would constantly ask questions. Nothing was off limits. As a result, he has a data bank of the most interesting stories of any living person I know.
3. Stop trying to perfect it. It won’t be perfect. You’ll be able to draw or write it even better ten minutes from now, tomorrow, a year from now. Forever. What you create in this moment is just an artifact of who you were at that moment in time. Don’t hate your old work because it’s bad. Love it as proof that you’re improving. You’re better now than you were then.
4. Inking. If it even crosses your mind that a page or panel needs a darker or bigger shadow or more blacks spotted – it does. Don’t be lazy!
5. Don’t describe your story idea to someone. Let the finished story tell it.
6. Movement and production. The two words my printmaking instructor Leon Hicks, at Webster University, said over and over again. Keep making work. It’s how Jack Kirby made his career. Ideas and art spawn more ideas and art.
7. Get an honest critique. Find one person in your life that will give you the honest hard truth about everything you do. True honest feedback is like gold.
8. Be honest with yourself. Look at your own work critically. Don’t be down on yourself. Stay optimistic, but try to recognize your own weaknesses so you can address them. If you hate drawing hands, there’s probably a reason. Spend an entire sketchbook.
9. Amazing art can’t fix a bad story. But a good story can fix mediocre art.
10. Read, Research, and Refine. Read everything. Only good comes from reading comics and books. Constantly be studying the process of other artists, writers, directors – everyone. Always be looking at your process for ways to refine things. Adopt advice and try it out. Take some and leave some.
You can view Matt Kindt's work at: http://www.mattkindtshop.com/
