KATIE’S FIRST DRAWING TUTORIAL! Dilettante 007: Navigating Artists’ Alley Comic-Con will be here soon. (For you guys, that is. Not for me. I’ll be at my drawing board in Portland at work on another issue of Superior Foes of Spider-Man, the first issue of which just arrived in stores.) I’ve been asked to write a bit more […]

IT’S THAT TIME OF THE YEAR! Dilettante 006: Convention Season I’ve been attending conventions as a professional for over 20 years, and my first as a fan was over 35 years ago. That was Pittcon, or the Pittsburgh ComiCon, or something like that. The convention was held at a shopping mall in Monroeville, the same […]

WORKING SMARTER Dilettante 004: Using Photo Reference When I was in art school, I was an ignorant fool. Somehow, I’d gotten the idea in my head that real artists don’t use photo reference. I put a lot of energy into crafting bulletproof arguments that looking at photos when you draw would compromise your true vision, […]

GET YOUR PORTFOLIO READY FOR WONDERCON ANAHEIM! Dilettante 003: Showing Your Portfolio at Conventions WonderCon Anaheim is right around the corner—click here for details!—and many artists are interested in showing their portfolios. For a look at the Portfolio Reviews scheduled for this year’s show, please click here. Our “resident artist” Steve Lieber offer some tips to everyone […]

STEVE LIEBER JOINS TOUCAN! Dilettante 001: Why I Love Comics It was 1978, I was 11 years old, and I had a growing sense that my time was not my own. I was already a comics fanatic, lured in by nifty pictures and cliffhanger endings and a thrilling sense that some of the stories were […]