For Jon · from Marcos Mateu-Mestre’s Framed Ink 1 and 2
Composition practice book
Standalone exercises rebuilt from the demos in both books, filed by what they train. There’s no order. Pick one up and you know what it’s for and how to check it alone.
Read the booksThis is a practice companion, not a replacement. It’s highly advised to buy and read both books in full. The exercises lean on his explanations, and most of what makes them work is in the pages around each demo.
The books set no exercises. In a 2010 interview (Animaholic) he says he avoided giving recipes or formulas on purpose, so readers find their own answers. Each practice here is rebuilt from a worked demo, and where he printed his own solution, it’s hidden as an answer key so you can check yourself against it.
Mateu-Mestre · FI1 p.14
“the image is the vehicle and not the end in itself”
Plan in his order (FI1 p.11). First the emotional intensity the moment needs, then the specific action and its cause, then execution and style.
Mateu-Mestre · FI1 p.11
“first we need to be clear about the general level of intensity”
Shapes first, then the elements (FI1 p.34). Start from clear, readable light and dark shapes and fit the characters and setting into them. Nearly every example in FI1 chapter 3 has two little thumbnails beside it: one of the light/dark masses, one of the lines of tension.
Mateu-Mestre · FI1 p.34
“stick to it and use it as a clear visual statement”
Feeling first, structure second (FI2 p.11). Start simple and abstract, with lines, volumes and proportions for the energy. The frame is the “game field”, and the subject is the physical support for the emotional moment.
The session check
Every exercise closes the same way, alone, in the session.
Intent first. One line before you draw: what should this frame make you feel? (His FI1 p.14 questions; Legaspi does the same in his draw-along.)
Two thumbnails. Value masses and lines of tension, before any detail.
Shrink it and flip it. Does it still read as the intent? (He pulls back regularly in his 2024 video; Leonardo and Gurney use the mirror and reduction.)
Open the key where there is one, and compare.
My noteThe check is assembled from his methods plus well-documented solo checks. It’s our framing. Optional extra: glance at it tomorrow for two seconds before looking properly. Never required.
Labels
AuthorFrom demoKeyPractitionerMine
AuthorHe sets it or demonstrates it as his own method. Rare.
From demoRebuilt from one of his worked demos. Most exercises.
KeyHis version is printed in the book. It sits in a closed box: open it after you’ve done yours.
PractitionerAnother artist’s documented method, not his.
MineOur framing. Blue boxes and blue tags are ours, never the author’s.
Bigger pieces that can run across sessions. Each session still ends on a step you can check alone.
Author · KeyKey frames from a premise (the marina)
From demo · KeyAmbush sequence
From demo · KeyApproach to a threatening place
From demo · KeyLocked-camera scene
AuthorOne finished panel, his way (2024 video)
PractitionerRetro-board a film clip
Picking what to do
No order. Each exercise stands alone.
30–60 minutes each, apart from the long assignments.
Don’t narrow to his subject. His cowboys, soldiers and bikers are demos. The exercise is the method, so use your own characters and settings.
My noteAny day, pick any exercise. If a page or panel of your own bugged you, pick from the area that names the problem. Overlap with the Krenz book: area A here is light as story, Krenz area 5 is light as rendering, so they sit side by side.
Where this came from
Both books were read page by page for this, and every exercise cites printed page numbers. The online sources below supplied his working process outside the books and other artists’ ways of practising from them.