New! On sale now · Issue #1
Comic Art Mastery #1 · (W/A/CA) Mike Van Orden
You can see the character in your head. Getting it onto the page is another story. Pro comic artist Mike Van Orden (Marvel · Upper Deck · Aspen Comics) shows you exactly what to build first, so you stop guessing, stop restarting, and start drawing with confidence.
“Mike is a helluva art coach. He's your guy, he's my guy.”
The part nobody tells you
So you wonder if you just don't have “it.”
You do. What you don't have yet is a repeatable process: what to build first, what to look for, and how to get from a rough idea to a drawing you're proud to post.
Krak!The Pattern-Based Drawing System
Course 02 · Gestures & dynamic poses
Good poses don't just stand there. They leap off the page. Mike's gesture drills break the stiff, mannequin look so your figures twist, balance and move like they mean it.
Course 04 · Expressive faces
Every face Mike draws starts as construction: a skull, a center line, an eye line. Then it gets personality. Flip the cards to see what the construction turns into.
Collect all 6! Tap any card.
A four-issue limited series
Pick your nemesis:
Every hero needs a villain. Pick yours and Mike will point you to the right issue.
Structure, proportion and power, without drawing every muscle fiber like you're prepping for surgery.
Movement, personality and storytelling in your lines. Poses that leap off the page.
Grace, power and flow, without falling into the “same face, different wig” trap.
If your characters look emotionally unavailable, this one's for you. One brow raise at a time.
Or collect the whole run: all four for $79 in the Comic Creator's Crash Course.
See the full setStraight off Mike's drawing table
Every piece on this wall came off Mike's drawing table: graphite, paper, eraser crumbs, and the same hand you'll watch work through every lesson. Tap a variant to take a closer look.
Reader spotlight · Brian
One of Brian's pieces, flipped stage by stage: pencils, inks, then full color. Then look at where he started.
Student work shown as a creative progression. Every artist's pace and results are different.
Mail from the 4,000+ artists who've picked up the pencil with Mike.
“This course finally made everything click. My poses, anatomy, and confidence leveled up fast.”
“I went from lost and stuck to drawing every day. This course gave me real momentum.”
If you're serious about learning how to draw superheroes, then this course is a must-take. Mike is a helluva art coach. He's your guy, he's my guy.
Mike Van Orden is a crazy talented dude and a hell of an art coach!
Meet your art coach
Self-taught. Years of practice. And still…
“No matter how much I learned and practiced, there was always something in my art that just seemed a bit off. I was frustrated… almost to the point of giving up.”
What finally worked: patterns, not memorization. Repeatable shapes and construction patterns instead of memorizing every muscle. That became the Pattern-Based Drawing System.
10+ years in the industry: Marvel · Upper Deck · Aspen Comics.
Today Mike teaches from Bangkok: live workshops (including the Bangkok Art & Culture Centre), guest spots at comic conventions, and a global community of 4,000+ students.
Influences: Michael Turner, Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, Marc Silvestri, Rob Liefeld, John Buscema and J. Scott Campbell.
Comic books changed my life. They made me believe I could be something more. Now I'm here to pass that gift forward, one student, one sketch, one story at a time.
Mike Van Orden
Power grid
Amazing offer! Collect the whole set!
The Comic Creator's Crash Course: one price, yours for life.
Yes! Rush me the Comic Creator's Crash Course!
Combined value $499
Your price$79
One-time payment · Lifetime access · 25+ hours · 65+ video lessons
Secure checkout by Comic Art Mastery. Learn on the web and in the CAM app (iOS & Android).
Try it for 30 days, risk-free. Go through the lessons and practice the methods. If it's not for you, email within 30 days for a full refund.
Before you sharpen your pencil
Tap a balloon for the answer.
Yes, if you want a clearer way to build comic characters. The lessons work for beginners, returning artists, and intermediate artists who feel stuck with anatomy, poses, faces, or drawing from imagination.
YouTube has plenty of useful information, scattered across hundreds of unrelated videos. The Crash Course gives you one structured path, in the order you need it, with repeatable methods you can return to whenever a drawing goes wrong.
No. It's built around comic art, but the fundamentals transfer directly to character design, storyboarding, animation, concept art, game art and illustration.
Pencil and paper are enough. You can also work digitally with any tablet or app you like. The real requirement is a willingness to practice the methods as you learn them.
For life. Learn at your own pace and revisit any lesson whenever you need it, on the web or in the Comic Art Mastery app.
You're covered by a 30-day money-back guarantee. If you're not satisfied, email within 30 days of purchase for a full refund.