Chapter 1 | POWERHOUSES

In this chapter, I’ll show you several examples of powerhouses. Use this lesson to draw some of them or create your own.

Anatomical drawings of muscles, Le Dr. Paul Richer, 1910, Anatomie artistique).

Many powerful characters in comics are deliberately disproportioned. Exaggeration is key! Look at the good-natured Obelix’s exaggerated belly and buttocks, and his short legs. When I was in elementary school, I loved drawing the also good-natured Jerommeke from Suske en Wiske. Typical is his enormous chest.

Perhaps the oldest and most famous example of a powerhouse is Popeye The Sailorman by the cartoonist Elzie Segar (1894-1938). Unlike Jerommeke, Popeye has a narrow torso but enormous forearms, hands and lower legs. Popeye constantly finds herself in sticky situations. In the first picture, for example, he is almost crushed by another powerhouse. Lying flat on the floor, Popeye says, “I’ll rest until he’s tired…”

Just when you think Popeye will lose the fight, he eats an entire can of spinach in one bite and suddenly he has superpowers as you can see in the following picture. Pay attention to all the extra lines that indicate the movements, effort and sounds.

Another famous example that you probably know and might like to draw is The Incredible Hulk from the Marvel comics, first appeared in 1962. The Hulk is actually a nuclear physicist / physicist in real life, but due to an experiment with radiation, something bad happened to his DNA; when he sees severe injustice and gets really angry, he turns into a raging muscle with superhuman powers. His skin turns green and his muscles, hands and feet become so swollen that he tears out of his clothes. Only his pants remain intact. His head remains small because his brain has not grown.

EXTRA: I’m a dull model figure, please give me muscles and something heavy to lift!