How Do I Create a Comic Book? A Brief Guide

Do you have an idea for a comic book but don’t know where to start? This brief guide gives you the steps you need to take to create your first strip, book, or graphic novel. It’s easier than you think. You can realize your dream of capturing your imagination on paper with the right resources and assistance.

Comics offer readers a visual form of storytelling, pairing text and images in self-contained frames. Understanding how to effectively utilize the real estate on each page is the key to creating an impressive, engaging, and visually-compelling comic book.

Let’s unpack everything you need to know to make your first comic book project a reality.

 

What are the Core Elements of Comic Book Artistry and Design?

Comic books consist of several synchronized elements collaborating to form a visual storytelling experience for the reader. Here are the basics you need to understand the design process.

Panels

The panel is the illustration on the page surrounded by a border. Comic book pages contain one or more image panels progressing the storyline using visual elements like characters and speech bubbles that move the story along for the reader.

Gutters

The gutters are the empty space between the panels. The gutters can have wide or narrow spacing, depending on the layout and the artist’s style.

Tiers

A tier is a single row of panels laid horizontally or vertically.

Splashes

The splash is a full-page panel. It functions as an introduction at the beginning to introduce the storyline and theme of the issue.

Spreads

The spread is an illustration spread over two pages for a larger, dramatic effect.

Speech Bubbles or Balloons

These elements contain the text or narration. Speech balloons with tails or bubbles point to the character verbalizing the words.

Captions

Captions are boxes containing text providing the reader with information regarding the storyline or scene.

 

What Do You Need to Make a Comic Book?

While some people have the talent to create a comic book alone, it’s rarely the case. Professional comic creators utilize a team with specialized skills covering several production areas.

Artist

The comic book artist follows the writer’s instructions, visually bringing the storyline and characters to life. The artist builds the panel illustrations, adding dimension and direction to the storyline while enhancing the script with creative interpretation.

Finding comic book artists for hire requires the publisher to source talent suitable for the style of the book. Different artists have different artistic formats. For instance, Jim Davis, the artist behind “Garfield,” has a very different style to Todd McFarlane, the artist responsible for the “spawn” comic books.

Writer

The writer is the brains of the project. They develop the storyline and plot. The writer is responsible for coordinating story elements such as the characters, setting, dialogue, and conflict. They’ll draft an outline of the script, acting as a roadmap for coordinating the other elements of the creative process.

Colorist

After the artist completes the draft, the colorists fill in the color in the panels. In the past, the colorist would complete this task using physical tools like paints and brushes. Some of them still follow this process, but it’s rare. Most colorists utilize modern technology to handle this task in a virtual environment using digital toolkits.

Letterer

The letterer conveys the story through the typeface. They use visual elements like italics and size to express the characters’ words and conversations. The letterer may also have the task of inking the artist’s pencil lines.

Editor

The editor collaborates with the writer offering ideas to ensure the storyline flows and makes sense to the reader.

 

Tips for Structuring a Comic Book

Comic books, like movies, follow a three-act structure as follows.

Act 1 – Character and storyline introduction.

Act 2 – Story arcs and character development, challenges, the moral of the story, and climax.

Act 3 – The resolution after the climax and character transformation after realization.

The artist and writer are central to the success of the comic book. While all the above elements of the creation process are important, the artwork and story are the most critical to the reader’s experience. A boring storyline or poor artwork fails to engage the reader, losing their attention and readership.

The artist runs through the following creative process when drawing the comic book.

Gathering Materials

A comic strip could take a single page, while you’ll need up to 15 sheets of paper to create a book and even more for a graphic novel.

Create Numbered Pages

Jot down the beginning and end to give you an idea of how to fill the pages in between.

Determine the Story Beats

Allocate one page to a beat as a good starting point. Some may occupy additional pages. Draft the story beats on their corresponding page numbers.

Turn the Beats into Panels

Start at the beginning and determine how you’ll use each of the panels to unfold the story. It’s important to remember the type and quantity of beats you’ll need to present on each page. 

Try to allocate space and play with the panel size to create more room for establishing shots and less room for those beats that don’t require as much detail.

Sketch the Action and Note the Dialogue

Sketch the character’s actions and note the dialogue boxes or speech bubbles. This task requires a quick draft, and you don’t need to go into detail. 

The purpose is to give a general idea of how the pages appear to the reader and flow the storyline from panel to panel. Drawing stick figures is acceptable if you can tell how the storyline presents.

Write the Script

Using thumbnails as references, draft the script. Work through it panel by panel and communicate the point-of-view, framing, character description, dialogue, and scene.

 

In Closing – Study the Pros

It pays to study the professionals. Look at how great comic book artists present their work. If you’re creating a visually in-depth book, study artists like Neil Gaiman and Todd McFarlane. If you’re drawing cartoon-style comics, look at artists like Jim Davis and John Kricfalusi.