In theory, this book helps comic book writers, but I feel like it is much more geared toward artists. Even though I have no artistic talent, and therefore no chance of trying out anything McCloud suggests in this book, it was still a worthwhile read. Jan 17, Kellan Gibby rated it it was amazing Shelves: comics , reviews.
Honestly, I don't really know how to review a book like this, so all I'm gonna say is I absolutely loved it. It entertained me, it taught me something, and it inspired me. It also had some really great art by Scott McCloud here and there. I have nothing bad to say about it. Read this whether or not you actually have an interest in making your own comics. You'll learn a lot about how the medium works, and it'll make you appreciate your already favorite books even more.
Jul 20, Danielle Freeman rated it it was amazing Shelves: art , animation , storytelling , character-design , world-building , craft , creators. I picked up this book because, as a student of animation, I believe firmly that knowing how comics work and what makes them work is essential to being able to make a good animated film or series.
After all, animation as we know it was born of comics. What I discovered in this book was not just a guide to making great comics, but to telling great stories.
In Making Comics , McCloud lays down the fundamentals of storytelling through text and pictures--everything from character design to world buildi I picked up this book because, as a student of animation, I believe firmly that knowing how comics work and what makes them work is essential to being able to make a good animated film or series.
In Making Comics , McCloud lays down the fundamentals of storytelling through text and pictures--everything from character design to world building to formatting of text and word balloons. It's basically a crash course in comic book authorship from a master.
But, in breaking down how to make great comics, the author also teaches the reader how to make great visual art and tell a great story. Many of the lessons contained in this book as well as Understanding Comics can be applied to all forms of storytelling media, from animation to live action film and television to literature. So, if you are an artist or storyteller of any kind, I seriously recommend this book. No matter what style you write or draw in, no matter what your genre, no matter what your medium, this book holds valuable lessons for all creators and storytellers.
Apr 21, Bruce rated it really liked it Shelves: arts , graphic-novel. His first book, Understanding Comics , makes this an explicit theme and is essential reading. His follow-up, Reinventing Comics , tries to turn the idea on its head by suggesting a variety of experimental forms. As such, the book is a curious exploration of counterintuitive narrative and artistic approaches an artist might deploy while still using the basic comics tropes of sequenced illustrations and text arranged in and out of framed borders.
However, in lieu of a more traditional "draw Snoopy like a professional artist" approach, McCloud's subject matter is purposed to promote conscious, authorial decisions about story and style, subdividing what he regards as the most important-to-master aspects of the media in the service of communicating with emotional impact.
Over five sections he illustratively addresses: 1 coherence respectively achievable via appropriate pacing, shot selection, balance between realism and abstract representation, textual content, and page layout ; 2 figure drawing with a focus on Jungian emotional classification as interpreted by the muscles of the face and basic posture ; 3 the interplay of images, words, and words as images in showing vs.
Both illustrations from page 86 Strictly from a drawing standpoint, I'm not sure how practical the idea would be as against capturing your own face from a mirror or selfie, but you can play with the app someone built to animate the idea if you have an iPhone and a dollar. Making Comics reveals the author as a talented artist and master essayist in his element unpacking the ways and means of visual communication, replete with delicious examples.
Jan 28, Ashley rated it it was amazing. I really loved this book. I can't count the times that McCloud said, "A complete understanding of this topic is beyond the scope of this book, buuuut let me do all the hard work and give you the highlights.
I am a theory-minded person so his breakdown was particularly helpful to me and those who think in more abstract terms. But of course the entire book is one big comic so there are tons of illustrative pictures and comparisons for those who want to see a more concrete example! I highly recommend this book for those interested in creating comics, especially if you've had no formal training. I'm not sure how much of this ground gets covered in art classes, because as a writer, I am a complete novice to the art side.
I'm going to go find all McCloud's comics now. May 08, Tamahome rated it really liked it. I'm not going to make comics, but I still find it interesting to read about storytelling.
Remember, symmetry means life. All done. If you liked Understanding Comics , it's pretty much more of the same. Plus he references a ton of indie comics and they're indexed in the back. He also has Reinventing Comics , but that seems to be unpopular, heh. Jan 30, Erin added it. I don't do stars. Not an artist, not a cartoonist. I just love reading guides for creative activities that aren't my own. Making Comics concerns itself with decisions about the form that can happen organically or chosen deliberately.
As a "happen organically" type, I really appreciate anything I can soak up on the other side. The section on Stories for Humans should be required reading for anyone who tells them. The rest is excellent for any writer who wants to take on the challenge of thinking I don't do stars.
The rest is excellent for any writer who wants to take on the challenge of thinking MUCH more visually. View 2 comments. Oct 04, Paul rated it really liked it.
I once wrote a 6-page comic and was blessed to have someone illustrate it. I don't think I'll ever do get involved with such a thing again, but this book is very interesting regardless.
The information on emotion is influenced by Dr. Eckman's studies and worth a read all on its own. I can't wait to read Understanding Comics. Feb 28, Toby rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: Comic writers, comic artists.
Recommended to Toby by: Raquel. I got this book when I was really young, and it's what got me into comics. I have to get a new copy, because the one I have is falling apart from so much reading, re-reading, and referencing. Every time I read it I notice a new gold nugget of information or philosophy that inspires me to go and make more comics. Aug 24, Owen Townend rated it really liked it. Scott McCloud has become the go-to guy for comic book theory. This is a title well-deserved as he has proved in not one but three accessible books dedicated to showing and explaining this exciting and still relatively new artistic medium.
I was educated by his first nonfiction title Understanding Comics and Making Comics goes into even greater detail on how to apply what I learnt. The most creditable part of McCloud's teaching style here is his honesty.
He is not claiming that there is one perfec Scott McCloud has become the go-to guy for comic book theory. He is not claiming that there is one perfect approach; if there is one then he hasn't discovered it for himself yet. Instead he only aspires to show every method of characterisation, storytelling and world-building that he can think of so that both he and his readers can learn their own way.
There are no hard rules in this book but there are plenty of handy tips. While most of this is written with the artist's perspective in mind, McCloud does also have some invaluable suggestions for writers, especially when it comes to forming a healthy writer-artist relationship. The trick here is to avoid one-upmanship and instead make sure you do what is best for the comic book or graphic novel that you will eventually create.
I'm not sure if I will ever write a comic book myself I'm fairly certain I won't draw or ink one but I am very glad to have Making Comics in my home library just in case. As such I recommend it to those aspiring to the craft, preferably with an early draft of your own comic book ready for improvement. Jan 22, Cam added it. Making Comics continues McCloud's view of comic and its form. This time is playing how to use the techniques studied in Understanding Comics, all to create a comic and story that will deliver on the artists plan and interpretation.
Focusing mostly on the art form rather than literary merit he continues his peculiar form of teaching, educating the more open minded followers that Understanding Comics generated and teaching a form difficult to many, as it is a medium too different from any singular Making Comics continues McCloud's view of comic and its form.
Focusing mostly on the art form rather than literary merit he continues his peculiar form of teaching, educating the more open minded followers that Understanding Comics generated and teaching a form difficult to many, as it is a medium too different from any singular form known prior to most readers. It's education on the specifics and their ties to conveying information and familiarity with the images along with their ties to psychology and our brains form of recognition and how to manipulate and create for the purpose of conveying the right ideas.
Nov 11, Alicia rated it really liked it Shelves: male , sports-hobbies , nonfiction , historical , humor , biography-memoir , adult , artsy , graphic-novel , manga. So many notes! I kept either taking pictures of certain pages and balancing taking notes on paper to internalize and reflect on what he was sharing.
Truly a "storytelling secrets", he's like the magician giving away the secrets but we all benefit-- how else can you better discuss comics, manga, and graphic novels if you don't have some basic understanding and that's what he does with intelligence, humor, and aptitude.
I was blown away by this one. This has been extremely helpful in broadening my understanding of all the things that go into comics.
It's nuts. I have a much deeper appreciation for the comics, manga, and graphic novels I love. Hopefully it will give me a better foundation for future projects. Apr 20, Maya Dworsky-Rocha rated it really liked it. In past years, digital version of comic books gained quickly in popularity, because users can easily read them on their smart phones or tablets.
In this article we will show you one the easiest way how you can make your own digital version of comic books that you can share with others. The first thing you will need to do, is to scan every page from a comic book and save it to your computer.
Make sure auto-crop function on your scanner is active and you have optimal DPI and scan quality set. The better the quality of the scans, the larger will be the final ebook. This may not seem important to file made up from a few images, but in case of large ebooks it may easily stack up to very large file size. If you have some older scanner without an auto-crop function, you may need to open each file individually in some graphic editor and crop bad edges and fix any issues and errors that might have happened.
In any case, the most important thing to do, is to save the scans with filenames ending with , , , , etc. A reliable sequence of images is needed, so various viewers will be able to seamlessly open your comic ebook and show it in proper order. So the best way would be to name the pictures simply as Now, let's make the comic book. But none of them remain in print. Readers will discover the various methods of writing scripts full script vs. Also included are dozens of guidelines for writing proposals to editors that command attention and get results.
The master of comic book writing shares his thoughts on how to deliver a top-notch script. The main essay was originally written in and appeared in an obscure British fanzine, right as Moore was reshaping the landscape of modern comics, and had been lost.
Avatar brings it back in print, collected for the first time as one graphic novel. Comics writer and SCAD instructor Mark Kneece gives aspiring comic book writers the essential tools they need to write scripts for sequential art.
He provides a practical set of guidelines favored by many comic book publishers and uses a unique trial and error approach to show would-be scribes the potential pitfalls they might encounter when seeking a career in comics writing.
Original scripts by comics writers accompanied by the final art, taken from the pages of the world famous AD comic. Rebellion presents an extensive collection of AD scripts, featuring original script drafts and the final published artwork for comparison.
Additional Resources: Comic Writer Services is a resource for aspiring and experienced comic book writers. The aim of the website was to improve on, and update, a similar resource that Caleb Monroe had compiled many years ago for aspiring comic book writers.
The idea is to list every notable article and resource on the art and craft of comic book writing. With comics being a visual medium, there is no end of books on how to draw, ink, or digitally create pages.
Using his experiences from working in the comic book industry, movie studios and teaching, Marcos introduces the reader to a step-by-step system that will create the most successful storyboards and graphics for the best visual communication. Marcos introduces us to drawing and composing a single image, to composing steady shots to drawing to compose for continuity between all the shots.
These lessons are then applied to three diverse story lines — a train accident, a cowboy tale and bikers approaching a mysterious house. In addition to setting up the shots, he also explains and illustrates visual character development, emotive stances and expressions along with development of the environmental setting to fully develop the visual narrative. Framed Perspective 1 gives artists the technical knowledge needed to produce successful visual storytelling-related drawings: from understanding the basics of the space around us all the way to more sophisticated endeavors, like creating entire locations that will become the believable set ups our characters and stories will happen within.
The book includes extensive step-by-step practical explanations of how to build objects and environments, taking your first sketch to a fully rendered artwork with many illustrations as examples. Building on the foundation established with the first book in the series, Framed Perspective 2 guides artists through the challenging tasks of projecting shadows in proper perspective on a variety of environments and working with characters in perspective set in particular situation or setting.
Author and artist Marcos Mateu-Mestre reveals the many techniques and mechanics he employs, including using anatomy, shadows, and clothing folds to define the shape and volume of characters within an environment.
Author Freddie E Williams, in clear, step-by-step directions, guides readers through every part of the digital process, from turning on the computer to finishing a digital file of fully inked comic art, ready for print. Creating a template, sketching on the computer, penciling, and finally inking digitally are all covered in depth, along with timesaving shortcuts created by Williams, tested by years of trial and error.
Covering everything from anatomy to composition to page design, Janson details the methods for creating effective visual communication. Step by step, he analyzes and demonstrates surefire strategies for comic book pencilling. The DC Comics Guide to Pencilling Comics is packed with a wealth of tested techniques, practical advice, and professional secrets for the aspiring artist. A great how-to on everything from basic inking materials to storytelling techniques, this sourcebook is packed with a wealth of tested techniques, practical advice, and professional secrets for the aspiring comic artist.
The original! Stan Lee, and John Buscema, collaborated on this comics compendium: an encyclopedia of information for creating your own superhero comic strips. Using artwork from Marvel comics as primary examples, Buscema graphically illustrates various methods of comic art. Shawn Martinbrough tells you why he loves black and white, then shows you how to do it. Lots of examples and easy direction.
If you were never excited about black and white, you will be when you get this book in your hands. This clever book teaches artists the unique skill of drawing perspective for spectacular landscapes, fantastic interiors, and other wildly animated backgrounds to fit comic-strip panels.
Vanishing Point shows you how to conquer the fundamentals of perspective drawing and then equips you with technical tricks and tools to make dynamic and complex scenes.
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