Visual Narrative for Comic Books: Illustrate Your Own Universe

Visual Narrative for Comic Books: Illustrate Your Own Universe

“At last, now it is time for you to begin drawing if you haven’t already. We learn by watching and doing. I’ve shown you the steps, it’s now your turn to show me, and your colleagues, what you can do. I hope the lessons will help with any doubts you find on the way and if you stumble, just remember what John Higgins, Watchmen colorist and one of my first mentors, used to say: “making comics is making your mistakes in public.” Here are the steps for your final project: • Start out by choosing a myth, religious story, fable, or fairy tale that speaks to you in some way, either because of the interesting characters, appealing scenery, or engaging action. • Sketch out the main characters and a few backgrounds, as many times and with as much variation as possible, even a few options of each, before settling on a design. You can also practice the medium (pencils, inks, different papers) and your chosen style for the project at this point, as consistency throughout your actual pages will also count in the eyes of the reader. • Do a few small sketch layouts for the pages, resolving most of the narrative issues, before lightly drawing onto the large pages. Keeping a light hand will be helpful, especially in these first steps, as changes are easier and often necessary. Don’t forget the page turn and add, swap, or eliminate panels as needed. • Finish your artwork in pencil, defining characters first, then backgrounds (such as I did), or each panel by panel, in order; however you feel more comfortable. Check for areas that can be used for the lettering, or could take more shadow and texture. This is what I wish to see in your Final Project: Sketch

Pencil Ink Pages Inked Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 To make your pages print-ready, I recommend you ink them traditionally with a brush and/or pens, as it is a great practice for your hand-eye coordination, and sometimes nerves. Although, if you prefer, you are welcome to render your final artwork in grayscale pencils, paints, or even digital inks. Finally, letter the pages, by hand or computer, and upload them to the course forum! I’ll have a look and give my best critique as soon as possible, and in the meantime do check out what your colleagues are up to. Artists are most often shy but any and all interaction, especially in these pandemic times, is welcome! You can comment on their work and they might comment on yours. I had a great time putting this course together, with information that I’ve gathered over the years, and I hope you had a good time watching, returning to it many times, even redoing the final project, as you advance in your practice. See you in the forum!”

Partial transcription of the video

“Final Project Well, that's a wrap, for the time being at least. Let's go over what I showed you in the course. In unit one, I introduced myself, my work, and some of my formative influences. Unit two was a good look at the basic building blocks of comic book narrative, such as the page, the panel, the gutter, and speech bubbles. Then we saw how these elements are used to build more complex narrative devices, such as the double page, the page turn, and forward movement. I showed you a story structure and full comic book script that can help you understand plot development and presentation. U...”

This transcript is automatically generated, so it may contain mistakes.

Course summary for: Visual Narrative for Comic Books: Illustrate Your Own Universe

• Level: Beginner
• 98% positive reviews (162)
• 5122 students
• 4 units
• 13 lessons (1h 59m)
• 8 downloads

• Category

  Illustration

• Software

  Adobe Photoshop

• Areas

  Comic, Narrative, Storyboard, Traditional illustration