Tips from Jesse Hamm

JESSE HAMM will not let his lack of fame or achievement stop him from tweeting advice to all and sundry! MORE TIPS AT or at my Patreon:

[Tips from Jesse Hamm @Hamm_Tips]

Somewhere out there are people who need to hear a story you're uniquely able to tell. Art by others, even better art, won't do; only yours.

[Tips from Jesse Hamm @Hamm_Tips]

@danleydon @andym1990 😊

[Tips from Jesse Hamm @Hamm_Tips]

If you need readers to remember a key detail or aspect of your story, consider placing it in the first scene. In JAWS, we don't see the town or meet the heroes in the first scene; we instead see Jaws attack a swimming girl. This permanently defines our memories of the film.

[Tips from Jesse Hamm @Hamm_Tips]

@jackolta “I used to hate the water.”

[Tips from Jesse Hamm @Hamm_Tips]

@danleydon Thanks Dan!

[Tips from Jesse Hamm @Hamm_Tips]

The Primacy Effect can be misused or overused. Many recent films begin during a key scene in the story's middle, followed by a title card: "Four days ago..." This can be frustrating and gimmicky. Avoid this by finding key moments that fit the story's *beginning*, as seen in JAWS.

[Tips from Jesse Hamm @Hamm_Tips]

You can see this effect in many popular films. We first meet Indiana Jones when he is raiding a temple and fleeing a boulder, not when he is teaching. We first meet James Bond when he is on a mission, not when he's receiving orders for the story at hand. Those first images stick.

[Tips from Jesse Hamm @Hamm_Tips]

Ssseeeecretsssss!

[o.o @LanoomAES]

oh no my secret, jesse noooooooo

[Tips from Jesse Hamm @Hamm_Tips]

@IAmTenmao Thanks!

[Tips from Jesse Hamm @Hamm_Tips]

Drawing a round object?
*add a new layer
*freehand the object quickly on the new layer
*use the transform tool to adjust the object into the desired shape
*erase the overlapping lines
*merge the layers.
(1/2)

[Tips from Jesse Hamm @Hamm_Tips]

@Aasthadraws Yup.

[Tips from Jesse Hamm @Hamm_Tips]

When using the perspective tool, lock your background layer (here: the "white fill" layer in Image 1).

Otherwise, when you delete the perspective tool, you may end up on the background layer (Image 2), and might resume inking there without realizing you've left your line layer.

[Tips from Jesse Hamm @Hamm_Tips]

(You can use this approach for full circles as well, but it may take more tries to get a fast circle whose ends meet nicely.)

[Tips from Jesse Hamm @Hamm_Tips]

Drawing it quickly gives you a smoother, more dynamic line than drawing it slowly/carefully.

Drawing on a new layer allows you to adjust it and erase the excess without interfering with your other lines.

Avoiding the ellipse/circle tool is faster and looks more organic.
(2/2)

[Tips from Jesse Hamm @Hamm_Tips]

How to establish the correct speaking order when the first speaker is on the right:

[Tips from Jesse Hamm @Hamm_Tips]

Finally, he returns to a low angle, emphasizing the bikers' dominance. Evidence of their murder (the boy's shoe and ball) tumbles into frame, bloodlessly revealing the boy's presumably bloody death. MAD MAX was condemned for its violence, but almost no gore appears onscreen.

[Tips from Jesse Hamm @Hamm_Tips]

A simple lesson in viewing angles, from George Miller's MAD MAX. In the first shot, the mother and infant son are shown from above, emphasizing their weakness. But when Miller cuts to their pursuers, he adopts a low angle, to make them loom up and appear more threatening.

[Tips from Jesse Hamm @Hamm_Tips]

Later, when showing both the hunters and their quarry in the same shot, he remains above her eye-level, but the bikers appear to loom over her because of their position in the frame. A higher angle would diminish both the woman and the bikers, but this angle diminishes her alone.

[Tips from Jesse Hamm @Hamm_Tips]

Remember that creases in clothing generally swing away from points where bones are most prominent: shoulders, elbows, hips, and knees. And here are a couple more tips:

https://t.co/uJeIuSLoIY

https://t.co/O5qItGjDTS

[Tips from Jesse Hamm @Hamm_Tips]

@getbant @HandyArtTool Are you using ClipStudio? Hold down the left button on the mouse and move the mouse back and forth while holding down the shift key and spacebar. Alternatively, hold down the shift key and spacebar while moving your stylus around on the screen.

[Tips from Jesse Hamm @Hamm_Tips]

If you need to draw ellipses freehand, it's harder to draw them horizontally (1) than it is to draw them at an angle (2). This is because your hand sweeps around more naturally at an angle. (To angle your image in CS, hold down the Shift key and spacebar, and mouse back & forth.)