Bryan Hitch is a name I am very familiar with, but I’ll admit, I had to Bing his name, just to be sure it was the same guy. Who knew he’d go from writing and pencilling my beloved Action Force and Transformers comics that were released in the UK in the ’80s, to being the marquee artist on many of Marvel’s hottest titles and a household name in both American and British comics?
He comes across as very honest. He’s not telling you the secrets of how to break into comics, or giving you a key to the back-door of the industry. He’s simply telling you how he does it, and what he considers important. In some areas, his honesty is brutal: “whatever you draw always have to be servicing the story and telling it in the way in which it needs to be told, rather than limiting the representation of the story to your drawing abilities”, in others it is blindingly obvious (but easily overlooked): “It is vital, as a comic artist, that you are able to draw anybody doing anything. This doesn’t just mean figures in heroic action poses – you have to be able to draw everyday figures doing everyday things”.
It’s quite the counter-point to the other comic-related books I have (Draw Comic Book Action and Superheroes and Beyond). Whereas they focus on action and super-heroics, this book really gets the point across that a comic artists job is to convey the story that the writer wants to tell. While there are portions of the book that cover the technical aspect, such as what pencils to use and how inking is done, most of it focuses on how various things impact on the storytelling. Things such as visualising scripts, panel layout, composition and how eyes flow around images, where to put the camera, how to leave space for word balloons, it’s all really good stuff. He even goes as far as covering best practices once you are in the industry, how to put a portfolio together, and getting your foot in the door.
The overall impression I get is that he is a humble man, and he is overjoyed to be working in a job he loves. As I said earlier, he’s honest too: In the section where he describes having to create a cover for this tome which is “iconically Hitch”, he admits that he has no idea what “iconically Hitch” actually is, and is candid in his remarks that he was incredibly perplexed by the idea that he was required to have an idea all of his own, and that no one would be interested in a bunch of characters that no one knew. It’s good to know that even seasoned professionals have moments of sheer and utter panic!
I consider this book invaluable, and a fascinating insight into the creative mind of a personal hero.
