Mastering Comics table of contents

PREFACE

How to use Mastering Comics:

Drawing Words & Writing Pictures, Continued…..x

Who is this book for?…..x

Do I need to have worked through Drawing Words & Writing Pictures

to use this book?…..x

Organization of the book…..xi

Special Features…..xi

Companion website for students and instructors, www.dw-wp.com…..xii

Acknowledgements for Mastering Comics…..xiii

ART CREDITS…..xvi

 

UNIT 1: BUILDING STORIES…..xiv

How can you develop ideas, and then build them into stories? We begin with drawing warmups, idea-generating strategies, and writing tools.

 

Chapter 1:   DRAWING PICTURES…..2


Doodling, freedrawing, and sketchbooking as warmups and essential stages in preparing to make comics.

1.1   Doodling as a warm-up …..4

Activity: Freedrawing…..4

Sidebar: Keeping a Sketchbook…..6

Homework: Sketchbook Comic…..7

Extra credit: Drawing prompts comic…..8

 

Chapter 2:   THE HORROR OF THE BLANK PAGE


Developing story ideas using a variety of strategies and tools.

2.1    Hey! Ho! Let’s go!…..12

2.2   Where do stories come from?…..12

Starting somewhere…..13

Character…..13

Personal History…..14

Theme…..15

Genre…..15

Creative constraints…..16

Start however you like—just start!…..18

Activity: Word ladder comics…..19

Sidebar: Narrative arc…..20

Homework: Brainstorm for a short story…..20

Sidebar: Comics short stories…..21

Extra Credit: Finish Word Ladder Comic…..21

 

Chapter 3:  WRITING WORDS…..22


Writing comics: working an idea into a framework for a story, understanding story atoms, and using script format

3.1   Getting a handle on things…..24

Mapping out your scenes…..24

Identifying the climax of your story…..24

Creating a page chart…..25

3.2   Scriptwriting 1…..26

Atoms: pacing, timing, and clarity…..26

How do you decide what to call an atom?…..26

Step 1: Think visually…..28

Step 2: Write a script…..29

Running into trouble adapting prose to comics…..30

Activity: Scriptwriting in the atomic age…..31

3.3   Fighting creative blocks…..32

The blank page strikes again…..32

Do research…..32

Keep moving…..33

Sidebar: How to be a pro…..34

3.4   Scriptwriting…..35

Script format…..35

Dialogue and quotation marks…..35

Basic format considerations…..36

Activity: Police questioning…..40

Homework: Begin thumbnails…..41

Extra credit: Police questioning: the deposition…..41

UNIT 2: SHARPENING FOCUS…..42

A closer look at aesthetic and formal considerations that come to bear on developing a comic, including perspective, composition, and drawing style.


Chapter 4:   GETTING SOME PERSPECTIVE…..44


An introduction to the use of and rationale for linear perspective.

4.1   Healthy relationships…..46

4.2   Definitions…..48

Perspective…..48

The station point…..49

The picture plane…..49

The horizon line, or eye line…..52

Vanishing point(s)…..54

4.3   Getting the point of linear perspective…..55

One-point perspective…..55

Two-point perspective…..55

Three-point perspective…..56

4.4   Linear perspective in action…..57

One-point perspective…..57

Two-point perspective…..59

Other two-point perspective considerations…..62

Distance between vanishing point(s)…..63

Angle of an object relative to the reader…..63

Placing VPs outside the image area…..63

Three-point perspectivev…..64

4.5   Finding centers and making series…..65

Finding centers in perspective…..65

Making series…..66

Activity: What’s wrong with this picture?…..67

Homework 1: A comic with no people…..70

Homework 2: Finish your thumbs…..72

Extra Credit…..72

 

Chapter 5:   COMICS IN BOOKS, COMICS ON SCREENS…..74


Visual composition as it works at the page-spread and whole-work level, as well as an introduction to the issues involved in choosing and preparing your work for different publication platforms.

5.1   Comics on screens, comics on paper…..76

The comics of today…..76

Comics in books…..76

Where to start?…..76

Size and shape…..77

Comics on screen…..78

Size and shape…..78

What to do…..81

5.2   To build a better comic…..82

Panels, pages, book…..82

Making your blueprint…..82

Architecture of the comic…..84

Reading rhythm…..84

Building from the page up…..85

Spreads…..87

The turn of the page…..90

Symmetries and contrasts…..91

Guiding the eye…..92

Motifs and repetition…..94

The architecture of a comic to be read on a screen…..95

Activity: Book-length attentive reading…..96

Sidebar: Film terminology and comics…..97

Editing…..97

Camera movements…..100

Homework 1: Take a book’s eye view of your story…..101

Homework 2: Revise your thumbs…..102

Extra credit: One minute, ten years…..102

 

Chapter 6:   STYLE TELLS A STORY…..104


A look at how style and visual choices work as storytelling tools.

6.1   Marks and lines…..106

Seduction of the innocent…..106

Refining your visual approach…..109

Doing it comics style…..110

Caricature and distortion in figure drawing…..112

Tone and texure…..114

What kind of meaning can tones and textures bring to your story?…..114

Style: homage, parody, sampling…..115

Style tells a story…..115

Activity: Exercise in style…..117

Sidebar: Methods of work 1: Penciling.….117

Out of your head, onto the paper…..117

Matt’s process…..117

Jessica’s process…..121

6.3    Alternate perspectives…..124

Different views of things in space…..124

Chinese scrolls and video games: parallel projections…..124

Variations on point perspective…..125

Curvilinear, or five-point, perspective: The fish-eye lens effect…..125

Theatrical: The proscenium effect…..125

Universal perspective…..126

Representing space without pulling your hair out…..127

Size…..127

Overlapping objects…..127

Diminishing detail…..127

Atmospheric perspective…..127

Putting your work in perspective…..128

Activity: Reconsider your perspective…..129

Homework: Lay out and begin penciling…..130

Extra credit: Drawing catalogs…..131

UNIT 3: BLACK & WHITE AND COLOR; ON PAPER AND ON SCREEN…..132

Hands-on considerations that go into making comics: using tone, color, and ink, and then getting it all seen online.


Chapter 7:    WEBCOMICS. BUT FIRST, A BIT OF LETTERING…..134


7.1    Lettering and ruling lines by hand…..136

Lettering comics by hand…..136

Why hand-letter?…..136

Lettering is not handwriting…..136

Setting the Ames guide…..137

Hand lettering and ruling lines with various tools…..137

Nib pen…..137

Brush…..138

Speedball nibs…..139

Ruling pen…..139

7.2    Lettering on the computer…..140

Computer lettering…..140

Choosing fonts for lettering…..140

Making a font of your own lettering…..140

Using an existing font…..140

Placing computer lettering in your comic…..142

Creating a document in a vector art program…..142

Step 1: Set up your document…..142

Step 2: Paste text into your lettering document…..143

Step 3: Select your font…..143

Step 4: Place text on the page…..144

Step 5: Adjust the placement of lettering…..144

Step 6: Fine tuning…..144

Sidebar: Positioning text on the page…..145

Making digital balloons and boxes…..146

Step 1: Make a balloon…..146

Step 2: Make a tail…..147

Step 3: Crop balloons along the panel border…..148

7.3   Webcomics…..150

What is a webcomic?…..150

Why make webcomics?…..150

Ingredients of a webcomic…..150

Common features of successful webcomics…..150

7.4   How to make webcomics…..152

Materials…..152

Process…..152

Digital Inking…..152

Content…..152

Activity: Make a webcomic, part 1…..153

Homework: Continue penciling long story…..154

Extra credit: Varieties of narrative: not my genre…..154

 

Chapter 8:   THINKING ABOUT INKING…..156


Approaches to inking and a bit about unusual inking tools.

8.1 Sinking deeper into inking…..158

Old-School Inking…..158

Approaches to inking pencils…..159

8.2   Inking tools: brushes and beyond…..161

The basics…..161

Other brushes…..161

Chisel brush…..161

Sumi brush…..162

Hog bristle brush…..162

Brush pen…..163

Other pens…..163

Reed, or bamboo, pen…..163

Neither pen nor brush…..164

Q-tip…..164

Cotton rag…..164

Toothbrush…..165

Pencils as ink…..165

Digital inking…..166

Digital inking with a graphics tablet…..166

Digital inking using vector art…..167

Activity: Trade pencils with a colleague to ink…..167

Sidebar: Methods of work II: Inking…..168

Into the inky black…..168

Matt’s Process…..168

Jessica’s Process…..171

Activity: Webcomics inking…..174

Sidebar: Penciling tips & troubleshooting…..175

Consistant eyeline…..175

Continuity…..175

Tangents…..175

Homework: Continue penciling long story…..176

Extra credit: Varieties of narrative: researched nonfiction…..176

 

Chapter 9:   GRAY AREAS…..178


A look at using hand-drawn graytones, including wash, and an introduction to digital toning—the basis of digital coloring.

9.1   Why use tones in comics?…..180

The middle area…..180

Sidebar: Print history I: offset printing and halftones…..181

Offset printing…..181

Halftones…..181

9.2 Using tone: noncontinuous tones…..182

More ways to add grays…..182

Soft pencil, Conté crayon, and other soft media…..182

Screentones…..182

Sidebar: Values—Shades of dark and light…..184

9.3   Continuous tone: ink washes…..185

What is an ink wash?…..185

Why use an ink wash?…..185

Materials…..186

Mixing grays…..186

Applying a flat tone…..186

Freeform…..187

Gouache, acrylic, and other materials…..187

9.4   Reproducing continuous tone…..188

How to get your handmade tone images into digital form…..188

Cleaning up your scans with Levels and the Clone tool…..188

Setting Levels…..188

Step 1: Make an adjustment layer…..188

Step 2: Set black and white points…..189

Step 3: Fine tuning…..189

Step 4: Finishing up…..189

Using Levels to clean up scans of straight linework…..190

Spot corrections with the Clone Stamp Tool…..191

Step 1: Identify an area that looks like the one you’re correcting should

look…..191

Step 2: Draw over the error…..191

Step 3: Fine-tuning…..191

9.5   Toning on the computer: set-up…..192

The whys and wherefores of digital toning…..192

Document set-up…..192

Step 1: Choose your method for digital toning or coloring…..192

Step 2: Decide your print size…..193

Step 3 (option 1): Setting up your art using the one-file method…..193

Step 3 (option 2): Setting up your art using the sandwich method…..193

Step 4: Finish preparing your working color/tone document…..193

Sidebar: Why use aliasing?…..194

9.6    Toning on the computer…..195

The first step in toning and coloring…..195

A few overall tips for toning or flatting…..195

Toning or Flatting…..195

Choose your tools and dive in…..196

Don’t use the Paint Bucket, Magic Wand, or Pencil Tools to flat (as a general rule)… …..196

…use the Polygonal Lasso…..197

Using other tools to flat…..197

9.7   Prepping for print and the web…..200

Going from a bunch of files to finished art…..200

Prepping toned art for print…..200

One-file…..200

Sandwich…..200

Sidebar: Image size and file formats for webcomics…..200

Image size…..200

Prepping for the web…..201

Webcomics activity: Tone…..202

Homework: Finish penciling long comic, ink lettering/panel borders…..202

Extra credit: Varieties of narrative: autobiography…..203

 

Chapter 10:   COLOR COMICS 1: COMPUTER COLORING…..204


The whys and wherefores of color, and the basics of computer coloring.

10.1   Color: what is it good for…..206
Thinking about color…..206
Uses of color…..206

“Realism”…..206

Symbolic color…..207

Color for readability…..207

Nonrealistic color…..208

Preparing to color…..208

Inking for color…..208

Coloring: order of work…..208

10.2   Basic color theory

Green = MC2…..209

Color wheel…..209

Hue/saturation/value…..209

Hue…..210

Saturation…..210

Value…..210

Warm/cool…..211

Sidebar: Print History II: Process color printing…..211

Registration…..212

Coloring comics the old-style way…..212

Color guide…..213

10.3   Computer color: prep and flatting…..214
Getting ready to color on the computer…..214

Making a palette…..214

Creating and picking colors…..215

Restrictios on pickig colors…..215

Document setup…..215

Coloring on the computer: flatting…..216

Final colors…..217

Hue, saturataion, and value…..217

Calibration and color matching…..217

10.4   Computer color: Modeling and effects…..218

From simple to elaborate…..218

Step 1: Shadows…..218

Step 2: Highlights…..219

Step 3: Gradients…..219

Step 4: Color hold…..220

10.5   Prepping for print and the web…..221

A few more steps to make your color perfect…..221

Color trapping…..221

Backing up your blacks…..221

Step 1: Add CMY to your black areas…..221

Step 2: Prepping for print and web…..222

 Activity: Webcomics computer color…..223

Extra credit: Varieties of narrative portrait comic:…..223

Homework: Begin inking long story…..223

 

Chapter 11:   COLOR COMICS 2: HAND COLORING…..224


A discussion of coloring by hand.

11.1    Coloring inside the lines…..226

Thin blue line: traditional European comics coloring…..227

Coleur direct…..229

Painted comics…..230

Individual hand-tinting…..230

Sidebar: A Closer look: Alex Ross’ painting method…..231

11.2   Spot colors and other traditional options…..232

Spot colors drawn by hand…..233

Dual spot colors…..234

Using digital spot colors…..235

11.3   Retouching hand color…..236

Calibration…..236

Scanner quality…..236

Retouching your scan in Photoshop®…..236

Levels and the Clone Tool review…..236

Using curves…..236

Activity: Webcomics hand color…..237

Activity: Post your webcomic online…..238

Homework: Continue inking long story…..238

Extra credit: Varieties of narrative: adaptation into comics…..239

 UNIT 4: SELF-PUBLISHING AND GETTING YOURSELF PUBLISHED

This last section of the book has fewer step-by-steps and how-tos. It is really more of a professional handbook embedded in our textbook, full of infor- mation and advice to help you find your way as a cartoonist.


Chapter 12:   A BOOK AND ITS COVER


The next steps. An introductions to cover and book design, and how to choose a next project. Also, a look at a comics-centric writing technique that doesn’t require drawing.

12.1   Pretty face…..244

Covers, websites, and book design…..244

Minicomics and professional printing…..244

Shape (ratio) and size…..244

Cover design and titles…..245

Interior book design…..247

Book design in action…..248

Web/screen design issues…..250

12.2   What exactly is a minicomic?…..253

Why make minicomics?…..253

What should you include in your minicomics?…..253

Activity: Decide your minicomic’s format …..254

Activity: Design your cover and interior…..256

12.3 The future: Setting your feet on the right path …..257

Where do you go from here?…..257

How to begin…..257

A checklist for starting a new work…..257

Getting going…..257

Tips for getting going…..257

Sidebar: Methods of work: Alison Bechdel’s approach to writing visually without drawing…..258

Collaboration…..264

Activity: All together now…..264

Homework: Finish inking long comic…..265

Extra credit: Varieties of narrative: Wordless…..265

 

Chapter 13:   MEASURE TWICE…..266


Proofing, preparing to go to print, and designing a plan that will help you meet your creative goals.

13.1   Check yourself, don’t wreck yourself…..268

Getting it right the first time…..268

Proofing is for everyone…..268

Proofing your minicomic…..268

Proofing your professionally-printed comic…..268

Your webcomic…..268

Activity: Make the final decisions on your mini…..269

Activity: Imposition guide for your minicomic…..270

13.2   The future: How to make it happen…..272

Set a schedule with clear goals…..272

How will you subsidize your creative work?…..272

Working in collaboration…..272

Serialization…..272

Sidebar: The professionals I…..274

The publisher…..274

The editor…..274

Marketing and publicity…..275

The graphic designer…..275

The printer…..275

Homework: Get ready to print…..276

Extra credit: Poetry comics…..277

 

Chapter 14:   CUT ONCE…..279


Print technologies, printing, and marketing your work to editors, publishers, agents, and the world.

14.1    Start the presses!…..280

We have the technology…..280

The photocopier…..280

POD: Print-on-Demand technology…..280

DocuTech…..280

Inkjet POD…..280

Why use POD?…..280

Offset…..280

Electronic publishing…..283

Activity: Master of the minis……283

14.2   The future: You’ve drawn it, now who’s going to read it? …..286

Getting your work seen…..286

Word-of-mouth, using social media…..286

Putting together a portfolio…..286

Serialization or excerpts as a portfolio…..286

Strategies for approaching publishers…..286

Sidebar: The professionals II…..288

The agent…..288

The lawyer…..288

The accountant…..288

Finding and working with an agent…..289

Self-publishing…..289

Grants and alternate forms of funding…..289

Homework: Printing and binding…..290

Extra credit: Bookbinding and innovative book design…..292

 

Chapter 15:   TAKING IT TO THE STREETS


A look at distribution, as well as contracts, copyrights, and career paths.

15.1   Follow through…..298

Once you find a publisher…..298

Negotiating a page rate, fee, or advance…..298

Contracts…..298

Sidebar: A few facts about copyright…..299

Distribution…..300

The “direct market”…..300

Bookstore distribution…..300

Finding a distributor…..300

DIY distribution……300

Marketing and publicity…..301

Conventions…..301

Career paths in comics…..301

15.2   Time to celebrate…..302

Things to do with your mini…..302

Activity: Hold a comics convention…..302

 

APPENDICES…..304


 

Appendix A: Supplies…..304

Appendix B: Homework critiques…..305

BIBLIOGRAPHY…..308


INDEX…..312