7 Steps for Creating a Personal Comic/Graphic Novel
But first,
A story has to start somewhere. Endless fits of procrastination, maddening confusion, and overall inexperience can really hinder a creative process and lay waste to beautiful stories thought up by creative minds. Practice and familiarisation is key to improvement and creation, and certain guidelines need to be followed in order to create a creative process that works for you. Any creator can share the struggle of having characters and stories swirling around in their mind, new ideas being born at new experiences, new worlds being constructed and crumbling all at their mercy. For the beginner of storytelling, translating their fantasy worlds and beloved characters into reality might prove to be quite the challenge. Creating a graphic novel can be confusing and complicated, especially considering everything one has to keep in mind when spinning their tales. Here are 7 simple steps to follow when creating a graphic novel/comic for the first time.
STEP: 1 CONCEPTUALISATION
The beginning stage is always the easiest and consists of basic brainstorming. Sometimes the idea of creating an entire narrative is daunting, but the truth is that most stories start off as bits and pieces, such as small remarks or observations on life. Junji Ito, a horror manga artist from Japan, describes his way of conceptualising a story like so: “It really hasn't changed. I basically jot down ideas all the time and when I finally sit down to create a story, I look for ideas from my notebook that I can use and then try to see what kind of story I can write in order to bring out the full potential of that idea” (CBS Interactive). This process is different for everyone, and sometimes drawing out your ideas is a good replacement for the notebook method Ito mentions. It’s imperative that one finds a solid and personal creative process in order to create a good, well thought out narrative.
A story rarely gets developed in one sitting, and keeping a notebook of ideas is a good way to kickstart a creative process. Ask questions such as, what will this comic look like? What is the message I am trying to present? What is my setting? Who is my cast? These kinds of prompts will allow you to flesh out your world and plot just enough in order to proceed into the next stage, outlining.
STEP 2: OUTLINING
Outlining is a vital part of creating a story and involves creating a draft of the narrative, starting with the introduction and ending with the resolution. Each part of this “story mountain” is important when the actual writing of the script takes place, as it provides a solid foundation on which the comic will be built upon. Mark and explain these events in your diagram or notes. Why do these things happen? How do my characters react? Furthermore, make sure to delve into character/plot complexity, expanding upon your ideas from the conceptualisation step. Outlining also involves creating character designs and drawing rough thumbnails of scenes from your comic. Creating these thumbnails from excerpts of the brainstorming stage lets you get a feel for your characters and their personality and how they react with their environment. Drawing these little bits and pieces from your story also lets you think about artstyle and how it will compliment your narrative and characters. Think about linework techniques, colouring, and simplicity. Which style will better suit your ideas and characters? To summarise, a basic outline for a comic/graphic novel needs to include the plot, characters, and certain worldbuilding aspects of your story, as well as sketches of the various characters and backgrounds that will be presented in your final product.
Concept art from Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol
STEP 3: SCRIPTING
The script for your story is akin to that of a movie, in which the body describes the actions and setting of the characters as well as including their dialogue. The script doesn’t have to be too professional, but must include the following elements: mention of setting, lines of text describing each panel, and description of the “camera” angles and framing of the panel. Each scene starts with a brief description of where the reader is, as well as the characters involved in it. Each panel line and page must be numbered, and all the dialogue included in it has to begin with the speaker’s name. The purpose of a script is to organise and create a good basis to follow for the actual drawing process and create a detailed line of events for the narrative. It is one of the most valuable tools of a cartoonist.
STEP 4: THUMBNAILING
Thumbnailing from Drama by Raina Telgemier
Essentially, the main purpose of thumbnailing is to translate the written text from a script into a visual space. Raina Telgemeier, a creator of several popular graphic novels for teens shares her thumbnailing process like so: “Thumbnailing is just like writing with a pencil on paper. You’re just doodling too, and putting everything into boxes.” Like Raina said, thumbnails aren’t supposed to be incredibly detailed. Each panel in thumbnailing is meant to contribute to the feel of a full page, and the happenings inside it. This sort of composition is called a page flow. When thinking up the structure of a panel, certain things need to be considered. If a scene is tense, the angles need to portray that strained mood. If a character is livid, their speech bubble and linework could be jittered to show the turbulent state of their emotions.
Princess Kaguya running away from her home, very angry with the world vs....
...Princess Kaguya feeling at home under a cherry blossom tree.
STEP 5: DRAFTING/LAYOUT
Drafting from Drama by Raina Telgemier
Layouts of a comic are essentially a more refined and detailed version of the thumbnailing. Using your thumbnails as reference, begin to draw the panels with the style of the overall comic and mood of the scene in mind. Like mentioned before, different atmospheres call for different linework and style. Gutters and panel sizes are also included in that style, and contribute immensely in figuring out page flow and how different shapes can blend when looking at the whole picture. Even if this stage is more detailed than thumbnailing, remember that this isn’t the last step and that you still have more editing to do later on. So, do not go overboard with the refinements.
STEP 6: INKING
Inking is probably one of the most meticulous parts of the comic-making process. It requires great attention to detail and patience from the artist, something that a beginner could easily lack. Inking is going over your drafts/layouts with a black (or a more defined coloured) marker and tracing over your work. Everything on the page must be outlined with black to finalise all the details in the drawing. Some comic artists like to do this step digitally, like Raina Telgemier, but others like to do it all by hand, like Hajime Isayama, the creator and artist for the anime and manga, Attack on Titan. It all depends on your preferences and what you like about each way of inking. Digital inking provides a cleaner, sharper look, but traditional india ink or Micron pens can bring out a more distinct texture in your work.
Hajime Isayama's inking in Attack on Titan
STEP 7: COLOURING
This stage is completely optional depending on your style of comic creation, but can also help contribute a lot to the mood and feel of the comic. Colouring differs from artist to artist, but nowadays, most colouring is done digitally using a flat brush so that the colour doesn’t look textured. Alcohol based markers are also getting popular, seeing as they give off the same block of colour that digital colouring does. Screening your art and playing around with it in an illustrator program can be fun, but you may also want to consider other methods of colouring such as watercolour, pencil crayon, or oil pastel. Using a variety of materials to colour your comic can make it look interesting and unique, as well as help accommodate the mood and writing of your beloved piece of art.
Watercolour colouring from DC Comics Secret Society: Study Hall of Justice
And that about wraps it up; Those were the 7 steps to creating a comic book or graphic novel for the first time. Remember, when following a creative process it is imperative to create your own style of working and finding out what works best for you. Learning to develop a distinct style and way of writing is something that every comic artist has to learn. Happy comic making!
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Sources
Brosgol, Vera. Anya's Ghost. Square Fish, 2014.
“Comics Writing 101: Getting Started in Sequential Storytelling.” Nerdist, Nerdist , 2016, https://nerdist.com/article/comics-writing-101-getting-started-in-sequential-storytelling/.
Fridolfs, Derek, and Dustin Nguyen. DC Comics: Secret Hero Society: Study Hall of Justice. Scholastic Inc., 2016.
“How - Do You Make.” GoRaina!, Raina Telgemeier, https://goraina.com/how.
MasterClass. “How to Create a Comic Book: Neil Gaiman's Step-by-Step Guide for Making Comics - 2022.” MasterClass Articles, Masterclass, 2021, https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-create-a-comic-book-step-by-step-guide-for-making-your-own-comics#how-to-outline-a-comic-book-in-6-steps.
Telgemeier, Raina. Drama. SCHOLASTIC (US), 2021.
Valdez, Nick. “Junji Ito Reveals How His Creative Approach Has Changed over the Years.” Anime, Comicbook.com, 2019, https://comicbook.com/anime/news/junji-ito-creative-process-changes-revealed/#:~:text=As%20Ito%20explained%20about%20his,full%20potential%20of%20that%20idea.
Sources
Brosgol, Vera. Anya's Ghost. Square Fish, 2014.
“Comics Writing 101: Getting Started in Sequential Storytelling.” Nerdist, Nerdist , 2016, https://nerdist.com/article/comics-writing-101-getting-started-in-sequential-storytelling/.
Fridolfs, Derek, and Dustin Nguyen. DC Comics: Secret Hero Society: Study Hall of Justice. Scholastic Inc., 2016.
“How - Do You Make.” GoRaina!, Raina Telgemeier, https://goraina.com/how.
MasterClass. “How to Create a Comic Book: Neil Gaiman's Step-by-Step Guide for Making Comics - 2022.” MasterClass Articles, Masterclass, 2021, https://www.masterclass.com/articles/how-to-create-a-comic-book-step-by-step-guide-for-making-your-own-comics#how-to-outline-a-comic-book-in-6-steps.
Telgemeier, Raina. Drama. SCHOLASTIC (US), 2021.
Valdez, Nick. “Junji Ito Reveals How His Creative Approach Has Changed over the Years.” Anime, Comicbook.com, 2019, https://comicbook.com/anime/news/junji-ito-creative-process-changes-revealed/#:~:text=As%20Ito%20explained%20about%20his,full%20potential%20of%20that%20idea.
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