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Someone had asked me a couple weeks ago how comics were made. I first thought they were asking how the physical book was printed and stapled and distributed. But it turns out they were asking how a book was made from concept, to writing, to the art. And I realized, unless you have been a life long comic fan, the answer isn't that obvious. So I'm going to show you step by step how a comic is made. I'll be using my comic Shadows of Oblivion as the example, however most comics are not a one man show like mine, most are team efforts, so keep that in mind as we go through this. Each stage is usually executed by one person who is an expert in his or her field, and rarely does one person do all the work.

so here we go!
Step 1: Plan Out The Story
This stage is usually executed by either an editorial staff at large companies, by licensors if it is a licensed property, or by the writer for small or independent companies.

This is when all the major plot points are written down. By no means is anything in this stage set in stone, but it gives you a starting point, and organizes the beats and pacing of the comic.

Everyone has their own process that works for them. And there is no right or wrong here, it's literally whatever works best for you. I personally like writing each plot point on a piece of paper and pinning it to a cork board. That allows me to move things around as needed, if i decide one certain plot point, works better in a different area of the story.

If you are a writer for a company, they may ask you for break downs. Which is sorta like this cork board here, but written in a way where the editor knows where you're going with the story.
Step 2: Script the Story
Since I do all the creative work on Shadows of Oblivion, I normally skip this stage. It's redundant to me to write it out, and then layout what i wrote. I normally combine this step with the next step. But for those of you who are writers and cannot draw, or writers working for a company you will need to script out exactly what you want to happen in the comic. There are many different ways you can write a script. There is no definitive right or wrong. As long as you are clearly conveying to the artist what images they need to draw to tell the story well.

The most typical way is a style that breaks down the page panel by panel. Describes what happens in each panel, and what is said in each panel. This is an example of a script I wrote for Brooke Clayton , who did the illustrations for the Chibi back up story in Shadows of Oblivion #1. Hopefully it gives you a good idea on what a script should look like.

Step 3: Layouts
Once the script is done, it gets passed the the Comic's penciler. As the name implies this is the person who will be drawing the comic... with a pencil....

But the penciler can't just jump right into drawing the book. They have to plan it out. Read the script, then figure out the best way to arrange the panels and use camera angles to tell the best story. For myself when drawing Shadows of Oblivion, I combine this stage with the scripting stage and get it all done at once. Everyone's style is different, but usually a page of layouts looks like a scribbled mess of random lines.... but the artist knows what they're looking at.... oh they know....

Step 4: Pencil the Comic
Once the penciler has layed out the book, they will start drawing it. They style the penciler will use often depends on the other artists they'll be working with. Whenever possible artists will play to the strengths of the other artists working on the book. I say "whenever possible" because sometimes the penciler doesn't know who they will be working with, so they just draw the best they can. In Shadows of Oblivion, I'm working with myself, and I'll be inking myself. So my pencils are a bit looser and sloppier. Not recomended if your working with an inker who needs nice clean lines.

Step 5: Inks
Once the penciler has penciled the page off to the inker it'll go. Like I said, I ink my own pages, so it stays with me. But when working on a book with a team you may have to email, or snail mail your artwork to the inker so they can ink it. Despite the popular joke, the inker is not just a tracer . Alot of subtle pencil details are lost in the scanning and printing process. The inker not only adds depth and shading, but provides a great drawing for reprinting.

Step 6: Colors or Tones
After the inker is done with it he sends it to the colorist. As the name suggests, that's the person who adds the color. Not all comics are in color though. Sometimes its toned gray, or sometimes not at all. Shadows of Oblivion is a black and white comic. So i add in screen and gray tones to complete the depth in the art.

Step 7: Letters
Once colored or toned the artwork now gets passed on to the letterist. This person will put in all the word balloons, captions, and sound effects in the comics. Just as the name suggests, anything involving letters this artist will take care of.

Step 8: The Editor
All the artists work as hard as they can, but we're only human. When we've been working too hard for too long we sometimes make mistakes. The editor is there to catch the mistakes. He or she will go through make sure the story makes sense, the artwork is consistent, and there are not spelling or grammar errors in the word balloons. Once he gives the all clear its time for the last step.
Step 9: Send to printer
Your comic is done. Send it to the printer and get it made!

I hope that helps all of you out there who want to start making comics, but had no idea how they're made.

Tomorrow will be page 2 of Shadows of Oblivion #2. But in the mean time check me out around the web!

Like me on Facebook

Follow me on Twitter

Re-blog me on tumblr

And if you love my artwork don't forget to pick up my comics !

And remember: Make Comics! Not Excuses!

Description
body div#devskin0 hr { }

Someone had asked me a couple weeks ago how comics were made. I first thought they were asking how the physical book was printed and stapled and distributed. But it turns out they were asking how a book was made from concept, to writing, to the art. And I realized, unless you have been a life long comic fan, the answer isn't that obvious. So I'm going to show you step by step how a comic is made. I'll be using my comic Shadows of Oblivion as the example, however most comics are not a one man show like mine, most are team efforts, so keep that in mind as we go through this. Each stage is usually executed by one person who is an expert in his or her field, and rarely does one person do all the work.

so here we go!
Step 1: Plan Out The Story
This stage is usually executed by either an editorial staff at large companies, by licensors if it is a licensed property, or by the writer for small or independent companies.

This is when all the major plot points are written down. By no means is anything in this stage set in stone, but it gives you a starting point, and organizes the beats and pacing of the comic.

Everyone has their own process that works for them. And there is no right or wrong here, it's literally whatever works best for you. I personally like writing each plot point on a piece of paper and pinning it to a cork board. That allows me to move things around as needed, if i decide one certain plot point, works better in a different area of the story.

If you are a writer for a company, they may ask you for break downs. Which is sorta like this cork board here, but written in a way where the editor knows where you're going with the story.
Step 2: Script the Story
Since I do all the creative work on Shadows of Oblivion, I normally skip this stage. It's redundant to me to write it out, and then layout what i wrote. I normally combine this step with the next step. But for those of you who are writers and cannot draw, or writers working for a company you will need to script out exactly what you want to happen in the comic. There are many different ways you can write a script. There is no definitive right or wrong. As long as you are clearly conveying to the artist what images they need to draw to tell the story well.

The most typical way is a style that breaks down the page panel by panel. Describes what happens in each panel, and what is said in each panel. This is an example of a script I wrote for Brooke Clayton , who did the illustrations for the Chibi back up story in Shadows of Oblivion #1. Hopefully it gives you a good idea on what a script should look like.

Step 3: Layouts
Once the script is done, it gets passed the the Comic's penciler. As the name implies this is the person who will be drawing the comic... with a pencil....

But the penciler can't just jump right into drawing the book. They have to plan it out. Read the script, then figure out the best way to arrange the panels and use camera angles to tell the best story. For myself when drawing Shadows of Oblivion, I combine this stage with the scripting stage and get it all done at once. Everyone's style is different, but usually a page of layouts looks like a scribbled mess of random lines.... but the artist knows what they're looking at.... oh they know....

Step 4: Pencil the Comic
Once the penciler has layed out the book, they will start drawing it. They style the penciler will use often depends on the other artists they'll be working with. Whenever possible artists will play to the strengths of the other artists working on the book. I say "whenever possible" because sometimes the penciler doesn't know who they will be working with, so they just draw the best they can. In Shadows of Oblivion, I'm working with myself, and I'll be inking myself. So my pencils are a bit looser and sloppier. Not recomended if your working with an inker who needs nice clean lines.

Step 5: Inks
Once the penciler has penciled the page off to the inker it'll go. Like I said, I ink my own pages, so it stays with me. But when working on a book with a team you may have to email, or snail mail your artwork to the inker so they can ink it. Despite the popular joke, the inker is not just a tracer . Alot of subtle pencil details are lost in the scanning and printing process. The inker not only adds depth and shading, but provides a great drawing for reprinting.

Step 6: Colors or Tones
After the inker is done with it he sends it to the colorist. As the name suggests, that's the person who adds the color. Not all comics are in color though. Sometimes its toned gray, or sometimes not at all. Shadows of Oblivion is a black and white comic. So i add in screen and gray tones to complete the depth in the art.

Step 7: Letters
Once colored or toned the artwork now gets passed on to the letterist. This person will put in all the word balloons, captions, and sound effects in the comics. Just as the name suggests, anything involving letters this artist will take care of.

Step 8: The Editor
All the artists work as hard as they can, but we're only human. When we've been working too hard for too long we sometimes make mistakes. The editor is there to catch the mistakes. He or she will go through make sure the story makes sense, the artwork is consistent, and there are not spelling or grammar errors in the word balloons. Once he gives the all clear its time for the last step.
Step 9: Send to printer
Your comic is done. Send it to the printer and get it made!

I hope that helps all of you out there who want to start making comics, but had no idea how they're made.

Tomorrow will be page 2 of Shadows of Oblivion #2. But in the mean time check me out around the web!

Like me on Facebook

Follow me on Twitter

Re-blog me on tumblr

And if you love my artwork don't forget to pick up my comics !

And remember: Make Comics! Not Excuses!