How to Make Comic Books

King Con 2015:
How To Make
Comic Books
By: Brendan Montgomery
Founder & President of Queen’s Comic Book Legion

Overview
 Story
 Character Design
 Script Writing
 Storyboarding
 Pencils
 Inking
 Colouring
 Lettering
 Publishing / Printing / Digital
How to Make Comic Books (C) Queen's Comic Book Legion 2015 2

Story
 Every comic starts with a story
 Get inspiration from wherever you like
 If you don’t know where to start, choose a genre then
read stories in that genre (not necessarily just comics)
 Perhaps start with an interesting character, conflict,
location, etc.
 You can tell any type of story in comics so don’t limit
your thinking!

Character Design
 Start with their personality. Decide who they are and
how they think.
 Once you are in their head then you can decide how
they dress and look to reflect their personality
 You can also decide their backstory and how they got to
the point in their life of your story
 Multiple characters means that you must also design
their feelings towards one another and possibly
coordinate costumes

Example: Persephone
 Personality: Outgoing, social, intelligent, confident,
bossy and demanding

Script Writing
 Begin with an overall outline
 Then break down the story page by page
 Then write the dialogue and break it up into panels
 The number of panels in a page varies and can be
modified in storyboarding later
 Written like a movie script or play

Example Format
Page 3
Panel 1 [Subtitle: 1 Week Later]
(Wide shot of Persephone sitting in a lab with undergrads though many seats are empty)
Persephone [thought]
Where is everyone? They know this lab is crucial for passing.
Panel 2 (Persephone is walking down a hallway towards Dr. Hiddleston’s office. She is holding a lab
report in her hands)
Persephone [thought]
Finally got this lab report done! Hope my other group members have handed their parts in.
Panel 3 (Persephone is standing outside Dr. Hiddleston’s office)
Persephone (thought)
Maybe Dr. Hiddleston can tell me why the students haven’t shown up to class lately.
Panel 4 (Close of Dr. Hiddleston going over piles of notes, cellphone held up to his ear)
Dr. Hiddleston
This is impossible! All my research, everything I’ve worked for, it’s not supposed to work this way, not
like…
Panel 5 (Knocking at the door and Hiddleston turns around to the door)
Dr. Hiddleston
I…I’m sorry but I have to go, someone’s at the door.

Storyboarding
 Take panels from script and plan out page layout
 Just simple outlines of characters and objects is enough
 Purpose is to plan out panel design and see overall flow
of the comic
 Number of panels per page varies from 1 to 8 generally
 Smaller panels used for close shots of faces, objects
while larger panels used for actions, settings and key
moments

Example:

Pencils
 Generally drawn on special comic book paper. This
paper has the correct ratio and guide lines
 Artist can then draw the page based off of the script
and storyboards where storyboard shows layout while
script describes the scenes in more detail
 Style and technique can be decided by artist can vary
widely. Generally pencils do not need to be the cleanest
since inking will touch up the lines
 Could also be done digitally using a tablet and drawing
program

Examples

Inking
 Traditionally lines are then polished using ink on the
pages
 We do this digitally by scanning in the pencil page and
tracing it over using a tablet and drawing program
 Inking can add even more detail and correct mistakes in
pencils
 Silhouettes are also filled in at this stage
 Important in creating visual mood
 Common programs include Manga Studio, Illustrator,
Photoshop

Examples

Colouring
 Traditionally done with actual paint
 Most commonly done digitally now
 Able to get a wide variety of styles and visuals
 Common programs used are Photoshop, Manga Studio,
Paint Tool SAI

Examples

Lettering
 Once art is finalized then add text balloons and sound
effects
 Need to be careful not to cover up good parts of art
 Free fonts available online
 Can vary font with character voice
 Don’t forget to add emphasis to key words

Examples

Publishing - Print
 Once pages are complete then need to export for
publishing
 Check requirements with printer but generally need
CMYK colour, 300DPI, PDF
 Many printers to choose from: local , RA Comics, Print
Ninja, etc.
 Choose based on volume, price and quality

Publishing - Digital
 Many options to choose from, many formats and will
constantly be changing
 For top tier comics there is Comixology which allows
indie submissions but is very competitive
 There is Inkblazers which is a comic community built
around regular episodic updates and popular comics can
earn revenue
 Tapastic is good for short webcomics that you produce
more frequently
 Comicsfix is a subscription digital comic service like
Netflix where publishers share total revenue based on
views
 Many more options of all kinds

Thank You For
Listening
Feel free to ask questions now or contact me through
the club at qcbl.exec@gmail.com

How to Make Comic Books

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