I Created a Comic Book with Zero Drawing Skills in Blender

A multi-stage time-lapse showing the process of creating multiple comic book panels, using premade rigged character models and environment assets.
The process involves first kitbashing several characters and then setting up a basic environment.
The next step involves duplicating, posing and lighting the characters individually, corresponding to each comic book panel, while setting up multiple camera angles to reflect the mood of each scene.
Finally, the individual scenes are rendered and imported into Photoshop where a line art filter is applied and artifacts are manually removed.
Credits
Artist: Armoured Avian - linktr.ee/ArmouredAvian
Editor: Force Quit - linktr.ee/ForceQuit
This comic book short was inspired by the Metro 2033 Book / Game series. Authored by Dmitry Glukhovsky.
▬▬ Process Stages ▬▬
00:00 Stage 1: Kitbashing
01:14 Stage 2: Posing
09:25 Final 3D Renders
09:51 Stage 3: Photoshop
12:39 Final Comic Panels

[@neototem4110]

Been drawing all my life, added digital in the 90's, still do traditional. What you've done here actually takes MORE WORK than if someone did pencils and ink by hand. Definitely legit. I love it.

[@kurodahyokazahuchi5344]

I was about to say the same. It has more work and it takes a lot more time. Hell, it even takes more resources from your pc. The final result is good, but the process is definitely not efficient.

[@naive3832]

@@kurodahyokazahuchi5344 Do you mean the photoshop side of his pipeline adds more to time? Once modelling, texturing and rigging is complete, they don't have to redraw characters, body proportions are always correct or consistent depending on the style you want (Also can always modify characters if need be). They're not animating, so poses are very quick (from my experience) and can be changed on the fly. Framing is easy cause you work in 3D. I am new to the photoshop art side not new on the photomanipulation side that's why I asked. I think is very efficient especially if you can't draw on that level or even if you can draw on that level the 3d assets can be used as a previz.

[@UnbeltedSundew]

@@naive3832 Because the modeling and texturing and rigging is never really complete. There is always new costumes, new sets, new characters. After a certain amount of work has been created there may be a break even point, where it starts paying off, but how long do most comics last? Is it long enough to reach that point? Etc. etc. there's lots of variables.

[@naive3832]

@@UnbeltedSundew i had typed a response but my phone went into power saved mode and wiped my response. I will get back to you in a good couple of hours.

[@UnbeltedSundew]

@@naive3832 I feel your pain. :)

[@arsonistnpc]

as soon as i saw "stage one: kitbashing" i knew this was gonna be _good_

[@xel_nave]

Bruh you're better than me at shading and lighting and I'm actually practicing drawing. Great job btw rly impressive

[@cheeseburgermayhem9726]

he obviously has some background in drawing, no ordinary person can shade like that or add lines.

[@AniMesuro]

This actually looks pretty dope for someone not so familiar with drawing. You've managed to use your 3d skills in a way one wouldn't even notice it's all cg. The black and white ink comic really sold the look imo.

[@kallupasvan4357]

Y

[@KaterynaM_UA]

any person who draws, wound in fact notice but it doesn't take away from a great work they did!

[@thelaw3536]

It's pretty obvious 3D. The computer draws in 2d pixels, but does so with such fine gradient and planes that it creates a very real looking 3d Object. The difference is often in how textures are applied and how 3 dimensional the object looks. His is too much like 3D.

[@arachnoman7421]

Thanks dude, you give Hope of making my proyect. I am studying 3D animation and at the same studying drawing,but i always feels that my abilities in drawings is not enough for making that task. But seeing your video, gives me inspiration to try things in this amazing work that you did ! Great work !!

[@ArmouredAvian]

Thank you, I'm glad I inspired you, don't be afraid to cut some corners if it helps keep you motivated, but also don't neglect learning your fundamentals as they do come in handy. The Photoshop Filters I used on my renders are Stamp for contrast and Photocopy for detail. Once applied and overlapped use masks to clear artefacts.

[@marshallwolff5966]

Stunning! The shader and lighting you used looks fantastic as well, I kind of wish some of the color was in the final product

[@ArmouredAvian]

I like the noir style for its contrast, plus it's easier. I will do more research into color grading though.

[@Obliviousness]

This is a process that is super cool to watch, awesome workflow!

[@ArmouredAvian]

Glad you enjoyed it. Stay tuned for more.

[@scottjohnnyhelgemoaune2951]

And now I’ve got a new favorite creator

[@AaronWeberGA]

You did an amazing job. I have to say that first panel is really incredible though and is my favorite, I feel like it tells the entire story in one image. Drama, fear, threat. Its really great.

[@daru25able]

that's crazy! keep up the good work, i am a fan now

[@DavidBrocekArt]

Not zero, you definitely have a great sense of light and shadow which is basically like 80% of all you need to be a good at drawing. Amazing work, I love the amount of work you put into this.

[@ogarga666]

I loved watching this, awesome process, congrats!

[@suckasstest123]

Yo. This is super inspiring! Thanks for sharing!

[@SapLow]

this is such a cool idea!

[@evansojuka1399]

I loved everything about this video and for that I just had to subscribe

[@saierwe]

OH GOD, I LOVE IT!!! THE MUSIC FITS PERFECTLY TOO, IT CREATES AN AMBIENT OF FOUND COMIC/VIDEO FOOTAGE, so original and fresh, incredible brother

[@MaangePeenge]

Very nice. Incredible amount for work, really paid off!!

[@atanthony6669]

Phenomenal.. this takes as much if not more talent and effort than drawing.

[@agyabcg983]

such a great techniques man👍

[@thewisebaker4185]

I always wondered how we can possibly use 3D software and apply it to something as a comic book. This is actually the first time I see a utilization like this. Seeing your work process definitely hooked me up and made me appreciating your results.

[@andr3wdurd3n84]

Solid work!

[@ericjeker]

Really cool! And I checked your Artstation, so many good things there too. Big fan! I hope you will upload more process video. Your workflow is really nice!

[@georgesupreeth239]

This is brilliant! Nicely done. Subscribed.

[@skomakarna2684]

Nice work!

[@TheBadBone23]

So cooool to watch!

[@KKOLL007]

Great job!

[@thk03]

This is the most innovative thing I've seen on the internet this week

[@sekenjonathan0]

Amazing truly! 🔥💯

[@myfork6342]

wow,! i would love to see yer work in print-- so good!

[@gregbeaudry]

Wow this is *amazing*

[@mohammaddh8655]

wow i was shocked by the result , well done

[@joesire2977]

I tried starting a comic years ago and got burnt out because of all the drawing. I thought about creating a 3D model of the main characters and just posing them and then using a 2D filter. similar to what you did here. But I suck at 3D lol. Gotta get back into it. This looks sick.

[@ArmouredAvian]

Don't model anything, just use kit-bash packs and character models.

[@joesire2977]

@@ArmouredAvian My style is a bit more stylized than this. with characters that I've created over the years. so I would need to model them in I think. But I'll look into kit bashing and see if I can use it for other stuff.

[@darkgenix]

There are so many hacks you could use to shortcut and get a desired result. Mash, bash and sprinkle your own salt.

[@royaltyartstudio7727]

​@@joesire2977 use CC3 to easily create stylised 3D characters...

[@joesire2977]

@@royaltyartstudio7727 never heard of CC3, but I just looked it up. That would be great. but thats a lot of money to spend for a beginner lol

[@buildfalcon8117]

Very cool idea, well done

[@aadiobooks]

Fabulous!

[@dario.brando]

amazing work! if you have the skills to draw on top of what you're doing right now, you could take this to a whole new level.

[@spaeseas.viz7]

Great content just subbed 🔥

[@LafeSpace]

The end result is dope

[@pv8685]

i really was stunned while watching this!

[@ArmouredAvian]

The second timelapse video I made shows more of the process and its also about expressions.

[@mattrek36]

Just pick my jaw off the floor. I've been using Blender for so long and have never thought of doing this, thank you for opening up another world for me to explore.

[@FaisalIqbalvfx]

I love This style of work

[@lotusfilm1]

Dude with Zero drawing skills but still drawing so smooth in photoshop

[@MrSkyviewer]

this is fire

[@j.9481]

just from those photoshop edits and touch-ups alone you clearly have SOME skills in drawing/traditional visual art, even if just theoretical. congrats looks fucking incredible

[@igeanimation]

This is so cool! I would buy that!

[@pilot-kfteamate5599]

Very impressive. I bet you put many hours learning about 3D modelling and render. Well, as much as someone put in learning drawing, but at least you can do both things (modelling and rendering good frames for a comic)

[@ArmouredAvian]

It's more about learning how to use Blender, which there are plenty of Tutorials online for, such as Blender Guru's Donut videos. You don't really need to learn how to 3D model because you're using premade character models. It's more important for you to learn posing and lighting which is quite simple to get the hang of.

[@CraftedModulation2]

Awesome!!!

[@JulesOtway]

Your posing is spectacular! You really get the emotion and momentum of each frame. Not to mention literally everything else

[@ArmouredAvian]

Thank bro, I got a tutorial on posing in my video pipeline. So stay tuned.

[@JulesOtway]

@@ArmouredAvian I really enjoyed the raw timelapse format of this video too. Just getting to watch pure proecess was super refreshing

[@dkurbis3089]

Ok, now this is epic

[@wvcarleton]

This is amazing.

[@Niyachelowick]

Oh bro, this is awesome. I'd like read that comic. It looks amazing

[@jameslovesart3408]

you're an artist there is no denying that

[@wereqryan]

This is brilliant. Need comic book companies to adopt this.

[@MrRoboticeyes]

what the hell? Why is this so good?!

[@abf9148]

very impressed

[@ForceQuitMusic]

Great time lapse!

[@ArmouredAvian]

Thanks Bro, your the best.

[@Kaapstad420]

Good result.

[@1107emma]

I would not say "zero drawing skills" this is amazing ! And you definitely know how to draw !

[@user-we8hh4wc8g]

Rather, not the "ability to draw", and composition skills and the basics of light and shadow, which necessarily appear with experience in 3d artist

[@adrient104]

Zero drawing skills but a whole lot of patience !

[@slamasnack7522]

that's a really clever way to use blender, nice work

[@PromptHorizon12]

My guy this looks AMAZING but when you said in blender i thought you meant JUST in blender, but I still gotta give a thumbs up for how good it looks.

[@dirty47]

Liked and subscribed! (Even though you say "Zero Drawing Skills", which is a crock! ;) ) Really, beautiful work!

[@CPToey06]

That is Amazing!!

[@nathanlaidler9606]

Super dope.

[@That_One_NPC_]

Been trying to find the SFM packs your using they're awesome!

[@ArmouredAvian]

They're the Ultranationalists and Krueger. With a bunch of Tarkov stuff.

[@orpheuscreativeco9236]

The glitchy stop motion effect from your edits is very entertaining 😁 You should consider releasing stories/ videos of this type with the music going the whole time and occasionally injecting a single cel with ink and/or story w/ dialogue bubbles and the like. It makes for a very compelling fever dream 👍 Great work! 🎉

[@ArmouredAvian]

I got something cooking for the end of this month. Next year I definitely want to make some short stories with all manner of effects.

[@rickardbengtsson]

Pretty sick

[@vikingzeppelin]

i need more of this. if you don't make more of these videos, i will.

[@caucasknsv7988]

Awesome work

[@ArmouredAvian]

Thank you, I'm ramping up to post more this year.

[@GregoryValentineAnimations]

This is an excellent work!! Iced Sub and follwing with that bell thingy

[@nurb2kea]

Well done! 🙂

[@ArmouredAvian]

Thank you, only 200 views away from 100,000 Pretty crazy.

[@Dougthecoal]

Loved your work looks amazing. Just wondering why didn’t you use a toon shader/ color ramp on your material in blender? Would have saved you shading them in gray tones.

[@tomsonpl123]

wow this is pretty dope, great effect 🍺🍺🍺

[@BAGINAZARD]

I saw lots of drawing skills here!

[@markokovacevic3225]

Amazing work! The characters look amazing! Where did you find them/purchased them?

[@vorrdegard2176]

Your Photoshop workflow is nice I have been looking for a way to make comic like art but too lazy to draw I wanted to use 3D characters for the lineart or possibly the whole result

[@ArmouredAvian]

I've just uploaded a follow-up video to this one with an extended Photoshop Section.

[@emmanuelzah]

Genius, thak for sharing

[@junk1000junk]

excellent

[@sealishproductions]

Title correction: "With SOME drawing skills"

[@timelineeditzktmwork3807]

🤩🤩🤩 superb

[@deathpwnkillx964]

Looks great. I use 3d models only for frequently reused Backgrounds or quickly posing a simplyfied mannequinn to get difficult poses or weird angles right but i can't argue with the result. I would imagine it taking a lot longer than simply drawing them though. At least for me, but maybe im just not proficient enough at using 3d software.

[@filipemecenas]

Insane

[@wardredd6394]

great use tools

[@AArmstrongC]

was expecting line art + toon shading inside blender. Nice result anyway! :)

[@VCRZone1992]

I'd love to see a more detailed tutorial on the photoshop process I couldn't keep up with it even fully slowed down and i have been looking for something like this for a long time! Subbed. Thanks.

[@ArmouredAvian]

It's quite simple, you have 3 renders, One has a Stamp filter applied to it and the second Photocopy filter. Use Levels to flatten out Photocopy render. Then you remove all the white backgrounds and use your third render as a base to trace over. All you got left to do is remove artefacts.

[@VCRZone1992]

@@ArmouredAvian thanks so much!

[@trunks10k]

awesome work! I'm currently learning digital painting. Wondering how long it took you to do all this

[@fujtkrisztian]

You should've made the blood red for dramatic effect. Would've looked really cool. Great work regardless man!

[@RayfieldA]

Beautiful work!! You may not have the drawing skills but I see that it really helps to have good knowledge of 3D usage, right? I mean, even though the models and environments are premade, doesn't still take a while to move the background and pose the characters? I ask because although I draw, I've never used 3D. And I rarely use Photoshop.

[@ArmouredAvian]

The No Drawing Skill thing is more of a joke, since an Art friend of mine likes to take piss out me, since he's a pen & paper guru and I'm more tech bro. I do know the fundamentals and would have to in order pull this off. The Kit-Bash and Posing section in real-time was about 8 hours long according to my real-time edit. There's lots of free software out there, to assist you, for example DAZ Studio is really useful for mocking up characters.

[@theAlphatron]

Well done. Curious. Did you try overlaying your black and white line work and shading over your colored renders? If so, how did it come out? Also, have you tried rendering out as just cell shading without textures? Once again, well done.

[@LeskiVFX]

this is an awesome display of skill and creativity. BUT I wish you used red for the blood in the panels. since its the main "event" persay that takes place in this sequence, using the vibrant red blood would make a great contrast to the sharp black and white style.

[@manusiajawa715]

feels like more work that traditional drawing, but the shading and lighting accuracy is better tho

[@ArmouredAvian]

The process is longer than traditional, but for people who want to make comics but struggle with drawing anatomy it won't matter.

really cool

[@otto1373]

Opinión mía cuando probé este método en mis trabajos: Creo que optimizas bastante el tiempo si creas un escenario o varios en donde se desarrollara tu historia y luego le aplicas el efecto en PS, y vas haciendo el encuadre de la cámara para tus composiciones, te ahorras bastante el tiempo a futuro, obvio teniendo en cuenta que sabes manejar programas 3d, ya sea blender u otros. Luego puedes reutilar esos escenarios haciéndole modificaciones.

[@egamaniHehe]

incredibly

[@ChristopherHemsworthCreative]

Seems like a lotta work.

[@WAM3R]

wooow this is insane. :D

[@TheKevphil]

Looks *_great!_* Now, how many *_years_* would it take you to draw a whole *_book?_* ;)

[@brotherlyelk7296]

Amazing!!!! What computer program is this???

[@312Rasta]

Lovely work my man, both the end result and the process where an enjoyable thing to experience. I am a bit curious tho, How long did all the individual steps took you? Where there any time loss that you could have cut out if you did such a thing again? Are you planning on doing anything else with this process or was this just a one of thing? Well either way you certainly earned yourself a follow there. Keep up the good work!

[@ArmouredAvian]

I've already left a more detailed comment on the time it took, but simply about 29 working hours. The real time uncut-video was about 9 hours long. Sometimes I run into a problem that needed to be fixed, for example at 3:04 I realised I forgot headlamps and had to spend time applying them. I am planning on more videos, I got another timelapse on expressions next. Have to capitalise on the sudden surge in viewership.

[@piyushgaikwad3354]

This looks sooo good!!!! Can you tell me why you decided to go with such a complex rig?

[@ArmouredAvian]

More I used what I could get, the models are from SFM taken from the new Call of Dutys, so the rigs are pretty advanced. I was more interested in the mesh density and texture detail then the rig itself.

[@sketsakafit3733]

Final results are so dope. Although he did have a drawing skills to finalize the photoshop phase.