how to make comic books

The 8-step guide to creating and publishing your own comic book

Regular contributor Tammy Coron has made a comic book - here are her tips.

I grew up surrounded by some of the most powerful superheroes. Characters like The Amazing Spider-Man, Iron Man, and The Incredible Hulk to name a few.

Creating a (believable) alternate reality through the art of visual storytelling has always fascinated me. But it wasn't until recently that I decided to write my own comic book.

Truth be told... it happened somewhat accidentally.

Need some great typography? See our roundup of the best free fonts .

01. Start with an idea

All things start with an idea; and your comic book or graphic novel is no different.

As a storyteller, your best tool is a notebook (whether it be electronic or paper). My advice: keep it with you at all times. That way, when an idea pops into your head, you can jot it down.

Don't worry if your idea isn't fully realized yet. Go with it. You never know where it'll take you.

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For example, when I interviewed Maya Posch on Roundabout: Creative Chaos , I never intended that conversation would be the catalyst for a new comic book. During the interview, we talked about having super powers. She made an off-handed comment about a "super cat" and almost a year later, G.E.N.T.S. was released.

02. Write a script

One of the most common mistakes is to start drawing your comic book before working out your story. While you may feel like grabbing a blank sheet of paper – or launching your favorite drawing app – and just diving in, by doing so, you're likely setting yourself up for failure.

Take the time to write a script. It doesn't need to be fancy and you don't need an expensive app to get it done. A simple text editor will do. However, if you're looking for a more robust app for writing, my preference is Scrivener .

When it's time to write your script, there are four main points to keep in mind:

• Know your genre
• Understand your main character's goals/challenges
• Create a believable setting
• Include a beginning, a middle, and an end

03. Plan the layout

Once your script is complete, it's time to start drawing. Well... it's almost time to start drawing.

When working on the layout, your goal is to keep the reader interested. One way to do this is to end each page (maybe not all, but some) with a cliffhanger. Draw the reader in! Let them know something interesting is about to happen, but don't reveal what that is until they turn the page.

I find the most efficient way to 'work out a layout' is by using thumbnails. Thumbnails, which are similar to storyboards, help work out any composition problems before you invest time into inking and coloring your drawings. Think of them as a very (VERY!) rough draft of your drawings, and of course, your layout.

Note: Don't forget to leave room for the dialogue!

04. Draw the comic

Whether you're working traditionally or digitally, drawing the comic can feel like a daunting task. But at this stage of the process, your work doesn't need to be perfect. Focus on getting your comic drawn; you can work on perfecting it later during the inking stage.

Choosing the right tool (personal preference)

I'm a digital artist, and my application of choice (for comics) is Manga Studio Ex . Because it's specifically designed for making comics, this seems like the obvious choice. But it's more than just that... the tools feel natural.

If you're interested in learning more about Manga Studio, check out this review .

05. Time for inking and coloring

Now that you have your comic drawn (penciled), it's time for inking and coloring; two tasks that don't necessarily need to be done by the same person.

It is at this stage where you clean-up your drawings and add depth to your illustrations. If you're inking/coloring illustrations from another artist, don't be afraid to ask questions if things aren't clear.

Choosing the colours can make or break a scene. In addition to proper color selection, not keeping your colours consistent can break things too.

Imagine how confusing it would have been to see Superman's cape colored red in one page and green in another. While this silly example is just that – silly – the point is, keep things consistent or your readers may be confused.

06. Lettering

An often overlooked task when creating a comic is lettering. You may have a great story. You may fantastic illustrations. But if your lettering is messed up, people won't read your story!

I won't lie. I don't hand-letter my comics. Granted, I may hand-letter a few 'sound effect' words here and there, but generally speaking, all of my lettering is done using installed fonts.

But not just any fonts!

I like to use fonts that fit the comic. The biggest collection of comic book fonts can be found at Blambot . They have both free fonts and paid fonts. Be sure to check the font license before using any font in your work.

07. Selling and marketing

Congratulations! You made a comic. Now what?

Selling and marketing your comic isn't easy. The best thing you can do is tell people. Tell your friends. Tell your family. Tell the world!

Luckily, social media sites like Facebook and Twitter make this relatively easy. Your best best is to create a daily post telling everyone about your new venture. Let them know what it is and how they can get it. Just don't be a pest; don't flood their feed with your sales pitch. Keep it to once (maybe twice) a day.

08. Wrap Up

Creating a comic book or graphic novel takes a lot of work. If you have the skills and the time to tackle this task on your own, great! If not, don't be afraid to collaborate with another artist. And don't be afraid to ask questions.

There are a lot of places on the web to help get you started. One of my all time favorites is Comics For Beginners .

Now, if you'd like to take a look at my new comic book here's a special offer just for Creative Bloq readers: receive a discount when purchasing G.E.N.T.S . issue #01 using coupon code: CB-READER

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Tammy is an independent creative professional, author of  Apple Game Frameworks and Technologies , and the maker behind the  AdventureGameKit – a custom SpriteKit framework for building point and click adventure games. As an innovative problem solver and industry leader, Tammy enjoys working on projects from content creation – including books, tutorials, videos, and podcasts – to the design and development of cross-platform applications and games. For Creative Bloq, she has written about an array of subjects, including animation, web design and character design.

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• Making Comics

How to Make a Comic

Last Updated: May 6, 2024 Approved

This article was co-authored by Lydia Stevens . Lydia Stevens is the author of the Hellfire Series and the Ginger Davenport Escapades. She is a Developmental Editor and Writing Coach through her company "Creative Content Critiquing and Consulting." She also co-hosts a writing podcast on the craft of writing called "The REDink Writers." With over ten years of experience, she specializes in writing fantasy fiction, paranormal fiction, memoirs, and inspirational novels. Lydia holds a BA and MA in Creative Writing and English from Southern New Hampshire University. wikiHow marks an article as reader-approved once it receives enough positive feedback. This article received 14 testimonials and 84% of readers who voted found it helpful, earning it our reader-approved status. This article has been viewed 1,051,625 times.

Comics have a way of making us feel. Whether that be laughter, sadness, intrigue, excitement, or any other emotion, the power of a visual story cannot be denied. Creating your own comic book can be a rewarding experience, and easier than you might think. To make a great comic, you'll need a great story, a style all your own, and a format that suits both. From there, create a rough draft before drawing, inking, and coloring the final comic itself, and publish your final masterpiece online or in print.

Sample Comics

Developing the Comic

• Setting. Every story is set somewhere. Even if the background is just plain white, that’s still a setting. The setting is the backdrop for the actions of your characters, and depending on your story can be an integral part of the narrative.
• Characters. You need actors for your story. Your characters move the action, they speak the dialogue, and they are who the reader connects with. Develop your characters over time; this is especially important for strips that form longer narratives.
• Conflict. Every story needs a conflict to drive it. This is the basis of the story, the “why” of what your characters are doing. This can be as simple as checking the mail or as complex as saving the universe.
• Themes. The theme of your comic is what drives the day to day creation. Your theme will also dictate your audience. If you’re writing a comedy strip, what are the nature of the jokes? If you’re writing a love story, what are the lessons of love learned?
• Tone. This is the vibe of your comic. Are you writing a comedy? Is your story more of a drama? Maybe you’re looking at doing political cartoons. Your possibilities are endless. Combine comedy with drama, make it dark, or light-hearted. Write a romance, or a gripping political thriller.
• Your tone will be expressed through dialogue, narrative text, and visuals.

• Anime/Manga
• American Superhero
• Sprites/Clip art
• Stick figures
• Sunday funnies
• Dramas usually necessitate a more elaborate visual style than a comedy. There are exceptions to this, however, as with every rule when it comes to creating something.

• A single frame comic is typically reserved for comedy. These comics do not require much setup, and rely on visual gags and one or two lines of dialogue. It can be difficult to form a narrative using single frames, so most can be read in any order. Political comics are also typically one or two frames.
• A comic strip is a sequence of frames. There is no set length for a strip, though most are usually one or two lines of 2-4 frames each. This is one of the most popular formats for many webcomics and daily funnies, as they allow for narrative development but are still short enough to produce regularly.
• A comic page is a larger undertaking than a strip. Having the whole page to work with provides more freedom to manipulate frames, but also means you need more content per page. Creating full pages is typically the result of making a comic book or graphic novel, where you are telling a longer, more cohesive story.

Creating the Rough Draft

• Write your script as a sequence of frames. Treat each frame as a separate scene to help you manage the flow of the story.
• Make sure that the dialogue does not dominate the frame. Comics are a visual medium, and so a lot of your action and implied meaning will be coming through in the illustrations. Don’t let the text overpower the images. [1] X Research source

• Focus on how characters will be placed in the frame, where the action is occurring, and how the dialogue will fit in the drawing.
• Once your thumbnails are drawn, you can try swapping their order or making adjustments to change the impact of the strip.

• Thought bubbles for a character’s inner thoughts
• Narration boxes allow a narrator to set up a scene or describe some aspect of the story.
• Sound can be displayed through the use of sound effect words.
• Exclamations can occur outside of regular speech bubbles to add extra impact.

Drawing the Comic

• If you are looking to create a comic to be published in a newspaper, the standard size is 13” x 4” for the entire comic, with four 3” frames. Newspaper strips are drawn at double the actual printed size, so the finished comic would be 6” x 1.84”. Working at double size makes it easier to draw details. [2] X Research source
• Many viewers will not enjoy scrolling left and right in a web page to view a comic. Keep this in mind when laying out the comic. Scrolling up and down is typically much more acceptable.

• Make sure to take the space needed for your dialogue into account. Leave blank space to include dialogue bubbles, thought bubbles, narration boxes, exclamations, and sound effect words.

• If writing dialogues by hand, add them now. Make any final revisions to the dialogue and text as you add it to the page. Chances are things will change as they make the transition from script to comic.

• Scan your picture in at 600 DPI (dots per inch). This resolution will keep your drawn lines intact and crisp looking. [3] X Research source
• If your comic is too large to scan at once, scan sections of it and use the lasso tool in Photoshop to move and combine the frames back together.
• When scanning black and white images, make sure to choose the grayscale options. This is especially important for pictures with lots of shading.

• Create a font that complements the tone of the writing as well as the visual style. You can also use different fonts for different characters, though too many variations can become distracting.

• Your text layer should be on top, followed by the bubble layer, followed by the original drawing on the bottom.
• Size to 2px
• Position to Inside
• Blend Mode to Normal
• Opacity to 100%
• Fill Type to Color
• Color to Black
• Enter your text on the Text layer. This is the text that will go inside the bubble. Use the font you created above or select a font appropriate for your visual style. Comic Sans is a popular font.
• Select the bubble layer. Use the Elliptical Marquee tool to create a selection bubble around the text that you wrote. Place the cursor in the center of the text, and hold the Alt key while dragging the mouse in order to create an elliptical selection bubble that is evenly placed over the text.
• Select the Polygonal Lasso tool, and hold the Shift key while clicking to create a sharp triangle tail in the selection.
• Select White as your foreground fill color.
• Press Alt + del to fill the selection on the bubble layer. The outline will automatically be created when this happens, and the speech bubble is complete.

• More and more comics are being colored through digital means. Programs like Illustrator and Photoshop make the coloring process much less tedious than in the past.
• Remember that the reader will see both the entire comic and individual frames at the same time. Try to keep a cohesive color palette throughout your comic to keep frames from being distracting.
• Colors opposite of each other on the color wheel are complementary. These colors are high contrast, and should be used in small amounts to avoid becoming overbearing.
• Analogous colors are located next to each other on the color wheel. These are typically very pleasing sets of colors to the eye.
• Triadic colors are three colors evenly spaced around the wheel. Typically you would use one color as the dominant color, and use the other two for accents. [4] X Research source

Publishing Your Comic

• Send the links to whoever you want, post them on your social network feeds, tweet the URL to anyone who will read it. Find comic enthusiast forums and post your links for people all over the world to see.

• Interacting with other artists on DeviantArt can give you new ideas and perspectives on your own creations.

• Create a website that looks good. If the website does not function properly and does not match the aesthetic of your comic, you will drive users away. Take some time and look at how successful web comics have integrated the style of the comic into the website design.
• Have your website designed professionally. This can be cheaper than you think, especially if you enlist the aid of up-and-coming designers. Use resources such as DeviantArt to find a like-minded person who will help you design your web comic page.
• Update often. The point of a web comic is to keep people coming back. Set a regular update schedule for yourself. If readers know when to expect the next release, they will often come back even without you advertising it.
• Interact with your readers. Beyond simply updating the page with new comics, take some time and write blog entries and respond to reader comments. This will help advertise you as the creator and form strong bonds between you and your audience.

• Creators Syndicate
• King Features Syndicate
• Washington Post Writers Group
• Tribune Media Services
• United Feature Syndicate

• Image Comics
• Beyond the major publishers, there are numerous independent publishers that are always looking for new submissions.

• If you want to improve your writing style or expand the type of styles you can write in, start with reading. It is important because it helps to know the styles of different people. For example, you can note what they did with their dialogue or setting. [6] X Research source
• Take writing classes and listen to podcasts. They will help to improve your writing style. [7] X Research source
• Attend workshops. There are countless workshops for writers. You can also join writing groups and associations. [8] X Research source

Community Q&A

Reader Videos

• Don't stress out if your first comic isn't as great as you had hoped, practice makes perfect! Thanks Helpful 1 Not Helpful 0
• Run your ideas by another person. Sometimes a second (or third, or fourth, etc.) outside opinion can shed light on problems you didn't see, or provide suggestions that can make your comic even better. Sometimes you can get so involved in making it, it is easy to miss even the simplest things. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0
• Stick to your audience, if you start out writing for teens don't end it like a child's comic or vice versa. Thanks Helpful 0 Not Helpful 0

Tips from our Readers

• Write down all the ideas you have for a comic, even if you don't think they're good. You might be able to tweak some and improve them later—and brainstorming can help you land on the idea that ultimately sticks.
• If you're stuck, try asking yourself a question like, “What’s my favorite food?” Then, turn your answer into a villain or hero by giving it legs, arms, and an evil (or heroic) expression.
• Adding text or text boxes before doing the drawing in a panel can be beneficial as you won't have to squeeze speech between characters or objects when there isn’t enough room.
• If you want to write the story but aren't as comfortable drawing (or vice versa), try asking a friend who can draw (or write) if they want to collaborate with you.
• WEBTOON is another great place to publish a comic, although the webcomic format is slightly different from the format of traditional comics.
• Always proofread your comic, and let somebody else proofread it for you, too, so it's the best comic a comic can be.

• Sometimes it will take a while until your comic gets noticed, don't give up too quickly! Thanks Helpful 159 Not Helpful 11
• Be careful not to copy another person's idea directly! It's one thing to be inspired by other comics, but those ideas belong to those who made it. Be creative, and come up with your own! Thanks Helpful 151 Not Helpful 13

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://www.creativecomicart.com/comic-panels--layout.html
• ↑ https://kingfeatures.com/contact-us/submission-guidelines/
• ↑ https://forums.questionablecontent.net/index.php?topic=18336.0
• ↑ https://www.tigercolor.com/color-lab/color-theory/color-theory-intro.htm
• ↑ https://www.comicsreporter.com/index.php/all_about_comics/all_about/76/
• ↑ https://www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2014/08/07/improve-writing-skills

About This Article

To make a comic, use a ruler to draw the frames that will contain the action. Lightly draw your characters into each frame with a pencil, leaving plenty of blank space for dialogue bubbles, narration boxes, exclamations, and background details. If you like, go over the pencil lines with ink once you are satisfied with the layout. If you’re writing in the text by hand, do it now, otherwise, scan in the comic at 600 DPI and add any typed text or image editing software to make final changes. To learn about popular comic styles and formats, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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• Oct 12, 2023
• 43 min read

Beginners Guide to Making Comics

Updated: Oct 15, 2023

Introduction

If you are reading this guide it’s probably because you like reading comics. I would even make a bet that you are one of the few who actually loves to read comics and that you've been inspired enough to start the journey of becoming a comic creator in some capacity.

Either you've picked up a pencil to write down ideas that have spawned from years of reading or started to draw characters from some of your favorite books; in some form or fashion you've taken the figurative and creative leap of faith.

Or even still, you may be like me and are several years deep into learning the comic craft, but still many years away from actually mastering its principles.

No matter from which perspective you are reading this guide, my goal remains the same. I want to make the idea of starting your own comic a less daunting one. In fact, this guide will streamline the process and become somewhat of a reference bible for not only how to make comics but how to believe in yourself and your ideas. So let's begin, shall we?

Table of Contents

Why draw comics, where do you begin, working within a theme, world building the right way.

Grounding Characters

Mood Boards

Script vs no script, designing everything.

Your Tool Set

Visual Storytelling

Artist life.

Discipline  

Drawing a Comic Book Page

Crowdfunding  

A Disclaimer About Disclaimers

This section is not too important in regards to the main content but it's more to rebut some of the disclaimers that I see brought up in just about every discussion or lecture about how to draw comics and how to break into the industry. “They” say something to the tune of: Don’t expect to make a living off of making comics.

While this warning, that I see many professionals make, is true, I believe there is an adverse detriment in making this disclaimer so bold and in-your-face to beginning creators. It's a disclaimer that applies to everything creative not just comics. It's not even that I believe it shouldn't be said, just that it shouldn't be accented as much as it is.

The warning is justified because, for some reason in the comic book industry, there are an exorbitant amount of amateur creators. And there are many of these creators that have gotten burned by lack of sales or lists of rejections.

The competition is tough in the comic industry and that has created what many would call a famine mentality among start-up artists and writers. When I say famine mentality, I mean it's the belief that for someone to succeed another has to fail.

But just like the human ego, this famine mentality is an illusion. With the reach that the internet has given us, every worthy creator has a strong chance against even the most mainstream comic publishers.

And for this reason, the emphasis on the many potential hardships ahead of young creators is not as helpful as one might think. I believe they cause fearful mental roadblocks and as Brian Johnson says, “Assumption Stacks” about the industry.

So let's not assume that every comic creator has a road of troubles and depression ahead of them because if they are true to themselves and delve deep in the craft with reckless abandon there is really nothing that can stop them.

Rather let's all agree that creating comics (if that is what you love) is amazing and only with the addition of more creators out there will the industry grow to proportions we all hope for.

This is the foundation of everything! Without the ”Why” to any behavior, the behavior becomes meaningless.

So before you draw comics or even consider pursuing the endeavor you must find your own ”Why” and never forget it. Why do you want to create comics? Since I can't find that answer for you, all I can do is present the reasons why you should draw comics if you are on the fence. First, a short description about the basics of how a comic is made.

Comics are usually a collaborative medium. Generally a book is created with the creativity of several people. Someone writes it, someone else draws it, someone else colors it and so on. Since these roles are historically split up, it is advised by many to get proficient at one of these areas and use your portfolio of samples to get work with a currently published book.

That process is a tried and true way to break into comics but I would also add a piece of advise that was passed on to me. This advise will lead to a plethora of reasons for the ”why” question. The advice is:

Create your own comic instead of just drawing samples of already famous intellectual properties.

So again, why draw your own comic book?

If you are drawing your own comic book it usually means that you are also writing it as well. And sometimes, like in my case, I've decided to have total control and be the sole creator of the book. This is what I would call a ”comic generalist” attitude. It is the essence of creating comics.

Most creatives would agree that one of the main reasons to get into comics in the first place is to have more creative control of the projects that you are apart of. Even if you are a part of a team, that team is relatively small compared to other types of collaborations. So to be the only creator allows for maximum creative flexibility.

This ”generalist” attitude really means that you are trying to understand the process from conception to completion.

And so, by gaining an understanding for all of the steps in making a comic, you, in turn, understand how to do each part with a better idea of how each step directly influences the other steps. You now will have more confidence that your decisions in each step are the right ones.

Another big reason to start your own book relates to one of these steps specifically: Writing. This is the other side of the creative coin when it comes to drawing comics. I mean, how do you expect to draw a story without a story itself?

You must first conceptualize, breakdown ideas, outline, and even write a full script before starting to draw. The art of writing an engaging story is arguably harder than drawing one and so the sooner you start to unravel the random ideas in your head and turn them into something coherent the better.

Finally, what I think is the most important reason to create your own comic: Getting invested in your art. Now, I know that when you draw something well, regardless of if it's another person’s concept or not, you gain a strong sense of pride and accomplishment.

But if you take months to plan and write and flesh out a story that you actually like, I guarantee that you will be exponentially more invested in the final look of your artwork.

You will have a better eye for design and consistency because you'll naturally want your characters and environments to appear as perfect as they appear in your mind. They, of course, won't end up perfect but they will be yours, story and all.

So let's just say I've convinced you with my fancy words...

I've inferred to it before but trying to draw a comic story without at least a clear outline to where the plot is going is a fool’s errand. And so, your first step should be...

To write a story, you must first be inspired to write a story. Because if the goal is to make a comic and one that you'd actually want to read, then the entirety of what you create needs to be from a place that you feel rooted in.

It's the only way you will continue to care about making the comic especially when the going gets tough and you are running low on motivation. Just follow along with these exercises and I'm sure that you will find a resonance in some of the ideas that are uncovered from within.

Let's begin with your heroes and heroines. No, I don't mean the ones in tights and armor. The one's that are behind the veil are the people you need to pay attention to. The writers and artists who have created your favorite characters are the true superheroes as far as we are concerned.

Dive deep into your comic book collection. Find the books that really stirred something inside you; the ones that made you the most excited; the stories that gripped you in a way that even movies haven't done.

Speaking of cinema, it's not a bad idea to also find classic movies that are among your personal favorites.

Start to build a list of inspirational stories and people to investigate. Once you have several entries start to list what drew you to these creations or artisans. Be as specific as possible.

For example, say you picked Batman: Year One by Frank Miller and David Mazzucchelli. You may list things like David’s simplicity and yet volumetric figures or Frank’s gritty tone throughout the story.

This list is what I call the Legends of Comic Storytelling. Make sure you are not picking these things based on the industry's consensus but rather because of actual connections from your experiences and taste to the subjects. If you love a particular indie comic that no one cares about and most people are not even aware of, don't waver. You are resonating with it for a reason.

Someone once said, ”Art is something that teaches you something about yourself that you didn't know before.” The subjects and artists that you love are a part of you; you just have to discover why.

So with this authentic list of inspirations, you essentially have the secrets to your next story. You just need to put some of the pieces together. The easiest way to find a theme and a basis for your plot is to prioritize the list you just made. Begin by marking the most important inspirations.

Next, think of things that you'd want to tell someone about your life and start a second list full of these memories.

Say for example, you were in a bad car accident and you recovered from your injuries through some heavy physical therapy.

You could take a message from that experience, like say, ”Everything heals in time” and tie that message to a concept from your list. In this example lets just say you also love the conspiratorial and secretive nature of V for Vendatta.

Combining that inspiration to your personal experience could produce several story ideas. In this case, the new idea could be something about keeping secrets causing harm but also healing over time. I know that is very vague but it's a just q basic example of how to start.

So from your past experiences and your most influential inspirations, you start to find small nuggets of a greater story. You will know when you found something good because you will feel a spark light inside you to write more on this idea.

From this point on, I will start pairing my guidance with an actual example from my personal life. I am currently in the process of making a comic book to be first released on the web and then if all goes well, be printed.

The book is called Star Circuit. As I give instruction on how to go about making your own comic, I will reference the process of the creation of Star Circuit (SC) to further guide you.

Here are the basic lists that inspired the story for Star Circuit.

From these lists, I naturally started to be pulled to certain ideas and inspirations more than others. From there, I brainstormed my prioritized concepts and started to combine ideas.

For example, here are the few concepts and experiences that I used to start from:

I kept coming back to ideas of replicants and A.I. from the likes of Bladerunner and mixed them with futuristic motorcycles and space from the likes of Akira and Green Lantern.

I realized I had a lot of family-related internal conflicts and even some external rivalries with my brother that I could draw from.

My artistic journey through my twenties was a roller coaster full of let downs and sacrifices but also was infused with moments of true bliss.

Then, I wrote out ideas in several brainstorms and eventually I ended up with something that vaguely resembled a cyberpunk story centered around racing.

To help you along, read these books, forums and blogs about creative writing. Use these resources as I have and begin to develop ideas in a notebook. Eventually you will start to see your own connections. Here are several that I found to be extremely helpful:

Save the Cat by Blake Synder

Invisible Ink by Brian McDonald

Story by Robert McKee

Jim Zub’s Tutorials

The Sense of Style by Steven Pinker

A Writer’s Guide to Characterization by Victoria Lynn Schmidt

Making comics by Scott McCloud

After you see the connections take shape and they begin to sprout potential characters with different motives, start to read in between the lines and see the underlying theme.

Star Circuit was actually written several times over, and each time it focused on a different theme. The theme was finally chosen because I felt I truly wanted its message to be spread. And that's how you should choose a theme as well; by wanting to teach others about its value.

For Star Circuit I chose ”Only through struggle can one find what's truly important” as my theme. Forming a plot based around that theme can be a struggle but in theory it’s a very straight forward process. Refer to Brian McDonald's book, Invisible Ink to really understand this concept of working from a theme.

Next, is creating a logline from your theme and brainstormed ideas. A logline is a story described in as few words as possible. They are usually one or two sentences with an ironic emphasis based on the great change that needs to take place within the story.

For example, Star Circuit’s logline is ”A complacent street racer, still scarred from family tragedy, unlocks the secrets of a long-dead racing hero and gets set on a path to not only win in an unparalleled racing league but also find a way to save what’s left of his disjointed family.”

As instructed in Save The Cat, you should write a few different versions of these loglines and share them with people you don't know too well. This will give you an honest read on how well the logline works since they won't care about hurting your feelings. After a while of sharing, pick one that works for you and that others are intrigued about, as well.

Now that you have a logline, you can start the process of branching out and forming a plot based on it. This is a good time to follow the advice of seasoned professionals. Refer to the books and resources previously listed and begin to work on the scenes you can most easily visualize. These scenes will be pillars in which you fill out the rest of the story.

Write these scenes on index cards or use programs like Scrivener to organize these ideas. The idea here is to write the scenes in a way where you can move them around in different orders and then be able to visually see the plot being formed.

This is about the right time for me to bring up a huge part of writing anything. Research. Remember when I had you write a clear list of inspirations and personal experiences. Well those notions are your bread and butter; the strongest parts of your story.

But what happens when you have to write about things you don't have such a personal tie to? The answer is research.

In order for anyone to write about things that they don't understand, they have to first research it.

For example, I am writing a story that is broadly based around motorcycle racing. I have barely ridden a motorcycle and don't plan on taking the risks of driving one right now. But what I figured I can do is get into the mechanics of how a motorcycle is designed and how real Moto GP races are operated.

I bought models, read articles, taken a large number of photos, watched a season of Moto racing, drew many motorcycles, broke down the design of tires and analyzed what about motorcycle racing was most appealing.

Combine that practical research with creative research like analysis of movies like Akira and you get a clearer picture of what the story needs to deal with in order to have the realism that will give your story believability.

Now, I am not going to breakdown everything that goes into writing a plot worth reading but I will touch on the key parts of writing one.

Start With the Bookends

What I mean here by bookends is the beginning and end of your story. In truth, the beginning and ending should resemble each other, just like bookends. The only difference between the two should be the change that happens to the main character.

What is the character left with after the main conflict is over? What has changed within the character to justify the story in the first place? Those are the things to figure out to make the plot worthwhile.

The Great Ocean

What stands in between the character and her goals is ”the great ocean”. The character’s story is, mostly in part, getting past this ocean. Your job is to make this obstacle mean something that is directly symbolic of the theme and also, the most daunting task to overcome.

Here, I advise you to use irony and logic to find your character’s ocean. If your character is a rich man that doesn't respect people, like in my story, force him to lose his fortune and deal with the people he so easily overlooked before.

Outline the Beats

A big utility for story building is breaking down your plot into 3 acts and then even further into story beats. The Three Act structure is a widely accepted setup for any story that's made to enthrall humans.

In other words it is the Before, the During and the After that is based on the theme. This is all dramatized by the main character’s change that takes place in these three acts. And like I said this can be also broken down into story beats or scenes.

The story beats are best summarized by Blake Snyder in Save the Cat. Blake gives a definitive 15 places the story needs to go for it to really be entertaining.

They include easy to remember titles like ”the setup”, the ”fun and games”, and the ”all is lost” story beats. If you put together these beats in an integrated way and also have them be directed from the theme, your story should have focus and be entertaining.

Plot It Out

Another cool way to organize and outline your story is by using a diagram timeline. Since I don't want to spoil what happens in Star Circuit, here is an example that I did of the movie Gattaca.

As you can see there are beginnings and endings for every major aspect in the story. These include the main plot, the character, the sub-plots and theme.

As Alan Moore describes in his book Writing for Comics, the process of describing your world in your comic needs to be an intuitive and a subtle one.

If you start forcefully injecting extra details about the world inside of average dialogue it will soon take over the plot and the audience will be so distracted from the unnatural verbiage that they will never become attached to the characters.

But if you subtly cue your audience to the setting by adding slight bits of detail in the background art and molding the behaviors of supporting characters, you will start to fool the reader into believing the setting is an actual place and time.

The best way to go about this is to get to know the setting by slowly inventing it and becoming familiar with the most intricate details. By elaborating on the world in your mind and not on paper you allow the details to intuitively show themselves.

I found that a great way to get involved in your story’s setting is to pretend that you are the setting’s tourist adviser and you are in a question and answer type forum.

Imagine all the questions people would have about this place and then write to yourself the accurate answers. Get as deep as possible.

For example, ask yourself, what do people do for work around here? Because the area is full of such and such occupation what does that do to the recreational activities?

What type of art is made because of the abundance of those jobs? Why did that job become so popular in the first place? And so on... This process will eventually lead you to know every minute detail of your setting.

Grounding Characters in the Universal

A great way to create dynamic relationships between characters is to form them from Jungian archetypes. Carl Jung was a Swiss psychoanalyst who through his study and psychiatrist practice discovered that people could be divided up into universal sets of behavior.

My suggestion is to allow your characters to be partially based on an archetype. Books like A Writer’s Guide to Characterization by Victoria Lynn Schmidt is a great resource to get familiar with the different archetypes and to also figure out what universal traits you can give your characters to really make them believable.

If you are unfamiliar with a mood board, it is just a bunch of pictures that are collected and placed on a board. The key is to get the right pictures. When it comes to mood, you will be ignoring the actual content and subjects of the pictures and instead focus on the feelings and emotions triggered when viewing them.

For example, if you want to make a mood board for a scene where your character is on the run you will want to find pictures that evoke anxiety, adrenaline, fear, physicality and danger. These could include a picture of a lit fireplace because even though the content is comforting, the colors and motion lines from the fire will match the emotions present in your scene.

Here is a part of my mood boards from making Star Circuit.

So you’ve outlined, mapped out, and world built until no end. It is time to write an actual script... Or not. You see there are two different camps when it comes to this subject. Some think that having a script will bring about a more focused and up front a clearer vision for the artist to elaborate on.

This script would include how many panels were assigned to each page, what's exactly happening in the panels and all of the small details to include. You can bet that it will be very specific. While the other camp thinks that using a more intuitive method of letting the artist decide the panels and how to draw them produces better results.

I think a happy medium is what's best. There is no need to have such a rigid script that the artist can't judge the details or to have an outline of the story so flexible that the artist loses focus of the global storytelling.

Obviously, there are artists and writers who are biased because of years of experience with either method. Neither are wrong. But what you need to do as a solo creator, is to figure out what works best for your mind. Don't think about it, just go with the flow and if you end up writing everything down you'll know which direction you lean.

In my case for Star Circuit, I wrote a pretty detailed script but at the same time I've not set it in stone. In my mind, anything can be altered to fit the art and the words, in turn, can be changed as well.

With the writing out of the way, we are free to move on to...

What most people don't realize when reading a comic is all of the preparation work that goes into figuring out the look and feel of the art even before the pages are drawn. Before even the first page is laid out, the artist will have to do a series of preliminary sketches and designs.

Designing the world and characters comes from the writing and the theme. Everything should point back to the focus of your story which is the theme. And this leads me to explain Design Anchors.

Design Anchors are like reference points in which you will tie everything in the story to. You can do this setup just like you would do any reference or mood board. In this case though, the pictures on the board will be focusing on the actual subjects in the images.

Here are the Anchors for Star Circuit.

As you can see, there are several here because I've put everything for the first chapter into one sheet. Like I said, you need to look deep into the theme of your story and find a way to represent it visually.

The actual interpretation is subjective but that’s all the fun. From these anchor points you will design everything else.

The basics to designing something is all about using the Anchors, your archetypes (for characters) and the needs of the story to dictate art direction. This subject is hugely complex and so I won't get very deep but I will give you a list of things to draw in order to fully realize your designs. I will also give examples for each category pulled from Star Circuit.

Model Sheets

-Full body Sketch

Head Turnaround

Expression Sheets

Environments

Top down, three quarter view sketch.

- Corresponding mood board

Weapons/Vehicles

-Side view sketch

- Three quarter view sketch

With the outline/script and the design work all figured out, you can get down to really creating this thing. But wait, what supplies do you need to even pull this off. Don't fret, I am going to explain all that you will need to create comics.

Your Toolset

So your tools used to draw comics is directly related to your chosen workflow. While many professionals are creating comics digitally, there are still many who prefer the old ways of traditional mediums.

Here I will show you what you will need to draw comics with either workflow. If you are interested in using what I use for making comics you can head to https://starcircuitcomic.com/ blog and use the links the “My Tools” section.

The Traditional Art Workflow

If you are unfamiliar with this term, ”traditional”, it means drawing with physical mediums; you know, pen and paper. So let's begin:

Pencils and Lead Holders

To create great art, you must be able to draw and erase to allow for multiple passes at the same subject. Pencils and lead come in a variety of hardness's.

The hardness or softness of the lead translate to how dark the lead appears on the page. Here's a guide to help you find a starting place when buying pencils and lead.

Your Options: Wood Pencils, lead holders, mechanical pencils

The Standard: 2mm lead holder.

My Choice: I use a combination as most pencilers do. I use a 4h or 5h wood pencil for my underdrawings and a combo of a 2mm 2h lead holder with a .4 or .5 HB mechanical pencil for finishes.

To make a pencil really useful you will need to buy a couple different types of erasers. Each eraser has a different purpose but you may be able to get by with just one, if you are careful.

Your Options: Stick erasers (for details), block plastic erasers (for the bulk), electric erasers, kneaded erasers

The Standard: Block Plastic Erasers

My Choice: Just like with pencils, I use a combination of erasers. I use a Tuff Stuff Eraser for my fine details and I use a Steadtler plastic eraser for the bulk of the work. I also like using what's called a Dry Cleaning Pad, which acts as a light eraser and is used to transition from the underdrawing to the finishes.

This section is actually one of the biggest factors in the outcome of your art. The paper will determine the finished look of the art because of the inherent properties of the art board. Some are rough, some are smooth, some take ink well, and with some kinds the ink bleeds. Through trial and error, you will find what paper works best for you and most likely your team.

Your Options: 11” x 17” Strathmore 200, 300, 400, or 500 series (the differences being how thick the board is; generally thicker is better), Canson Comic Book Art Board, proprietary art boards.

The Standard: Technically there is no standard, only what you are willing to pay for the best results possible. Use trial and error for finding the best paper for you.

My Choice: I've jumped between different boards before and really just used what's on sale. However, I still really do like what I started on: Canson Comic Book Art Board. It's found everywhere, and I like the feel of it better than the base Strathmore paper.

I generally don't ink my own work and with Star Circuit, I am not inking at all and just using software to darken my pencil work. However, this is the information I hear about inking in the industry.

Your Options: Brush, Technical Pens, Quill nibs

The Standard: When it comes to inking, it's well known that different tools produce different lines. The standard then would have to include one of each type of tool.

My Choice: I personally love the feel of quill type nibs. Using nibs and brush with an ink well can be way more difficult to master than pens but the results I think speak for themselves. Take time to learn the techniques with different inking tools.

A light box is really just a pane of glass with a light behind it. It is used to transfer an early drawing to a fresh sheet of paper. It's a great way to keep your final art board as clean as possible.

Your Options: DIY project ( build one yourself), a light pad, a window.

The Standard: I’d say most professionals with a traditional lightbox workflow have actually spent the few hundred dollars and bought a thin, light pad.

My Choice: If you are not working for the big 4 publishers or if you don't have the money (like me), I suggest you just use a window of your house. Midday there is usually plenty of light to transform your window into a lightbox. It really works well for us poor folk.

Scanner / Printer

This piece of technology is used quite often when utilizing this traditional workflow. Since the standard comic book format is 11” x 17” it is considered wide format and the printer / scanner has to be able to accommodate that size.

The Options: Separate Flatbed Scanner, separate wide format printer, wide format printer/scanner combination.

The Standard: The best sale. I don't think there is a standard here but what is useful to know is that technology comes and goes. Be on the look out for sales on well reviewed printers and scanners to find your best option.

My Choice: I am currently using the Epson WF-7710. It has a good quality, wireless capabilities, and a nice touch screen.

That covers just about everything in the artist’s traditional workflow. While I am on the subject of pencils and paper let me discuss some of the supplies that you can use for the writing process.

Spiral Notebooks

Great for writing large sections of ideas. I use a different notebook for each area of writing. For instance, I have one notebook just for world building, one just for each plot and theme, and one for character and environmental descriptions.

Pens, Highlighters, Index cards, and a Cork board

For writing quick ideas for story beats and scenes I suggest to use index cards. Color code your cards to what characters are involved in each scene.

With this method, you can easily see the global space in which a character takes up in a story when plotted across a timeline. This is where your cork board comes in. Pin your cards up in the order that best fits and when you need to rearrange or rewrite, it'll be a very simple process.

With all that said lets move on...

The Digital Workflow

This process involves using tablets, computers and software instead of traditional means. Let's start with the hardware.

This is the most important part of your setup. You will need to spend a decent sum of money and get a computer with enough memory and storage space to make the process of digitally creating a seamless one.

My Choice: I enjoy the seamless nature, superior quality and resilience of Apple products. I am not an Apple fanboy but just an artist that likes beautiful designs.

I am currently using a 27” all-in-one iMac from 2012. While the screen is not the cutting edge, the machine works well for my needs. I have upgraded the RAM and added an external hard drive but for the most part it is an out of the factory machine.

For comics, I do recommend something with a good amount of RAM and most importantly a good size screen. Buy extra monitors if need be to increase the real estate of your digital workspace.

Drawing Tablet

This is the other half of the artist’s main setup. A drawing tablet is essential to being able to draw digitally. And in the last few years the options have become numerous.

I'll talk about the few options I've had contact with and end with my favorite to date.

Wacom Intuos: This is a well-made tablet but is also limited because of its lack of a monitor. This means you must draw on the tablet while looking at another monitor. This workflow works but I would say it's clunky at best. While you can get used to this type of coordination over time, I would argue that it will never feel natural; at least it never did for me.

Yiynova MVP 19”: This one is a tablet monitor, meaning that it's a screen that you can draw on. Because of it being a slightly off brand monitor, the price is incredibly cheap for its size. The quality of the monitor is slightly worse than that of the industry standard for that size but it is still a fantastic option for an artist with a budget.

Wacom Cintiq: This tablet is also a monitor, which gives you the ability to draw directly on the screen. Wacom has been the industry standard for a long time and it’s no surprise. This option is a more expensive one than that of the Yiynova but you end up with an overall better package and a higher resolution screen.

iPad Pro (2018): The iPad that I used was only 10 inches making it the smallest tablet I've used but surprisingly its also the best. Let me tell you why.

First, the iPad has all of the capabilities of the other tablets with the added features of doing everything else that an iPad can do. And since it's an iPad it's also completely mobile; no more need to attach it to a computer. But the best reasons to get one is the mind-blowing resolution on the screen and the nearly seamless gap between the stylus and the screen.

(Make note that if you buy any other tablet monitor there will be a considerable amount of distance between the pen and the monitor).

I think you can guess that my favorite drawing experience has been with the iPad Pro. If you can spare the money for such a small screen, you won't be disappointed.

Let's run through the most popular and useful software to create comics digitally.

Writing Software: You won't need to get fancy but if you want to write scripts, buying a good writing software can be very helpful. Microsoft Word is helpful but Scrivener is a cheaper option that also allows you to organize your writings in several different ways including a visual cork board. Here is the link for Scrivener: https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener/overview

Drawing Software

Adobe Photoshop: This is an obvious choice because of its wide range of tools and its constant updates and support. In this program you can draw, color, and letter your comic.

Adobe Illustrator : This choice is slightly odd in my opinion. AI uses vector graphics which give an always crisp feeling to the art. It feels sterile and while some people use it to great effect, most comic artists stay far away from this option.

Clip Studio: This is the Photoshop alternative. It is insanely cheaper and can do almost everything PS can do and more (in the realm of illustration, that is). If you are making comics and not much else, this I think is the clear winner over Photoshop. And to top it off you can use Clip Studio on iPad Pro.

Procreate: This is a great piece of software used on iPad. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles like Photoshop but it does illustration amazingly well.

With the tools having been explained, we can get to the training of the most effective tool: yourself. These are the art skills that you must develop in order to have a world class comic book.

Draftsmanship

This breaks down into several categories in which you should study diligently.

Form / Proportion: The basis of everything is form and proportion. If something is in two dimensions it has form in the way of shapes and if it is in 3D it has form by the way of volume. As an artist, it is your primary objective to get the correct form and then the correct proportions of forms. Without this skill you will end up with bad art. It's the biggest problem with amateur art and I believe the number one thing to work on when learning how to draw.

I suggest you learn from one of the best: Peter Han. He has a book called Dynamic Bible that focuses on form and proportion when it comes to dynamic sketching. It is one of the biggest reasons that I have improved in this area of study.

Composition: This is essentially the process of arranging shapes, forms and values within a picture panel so to create the most visual interest. There are several ways to get good at composition but they all come with time. In his book Creative Illustration , Andrew Loomis explains how to use several tools and devices to create a science around using good compositions.

Mastered Tools: A lot of what makes an artist’s work so magical is the actual line work. In order to get pretty lines and strokes, you first must master the tools you are using. Whether it be a pencil, pen, nib or brush, having the muscle memory of years of experience is the only way to refine this. Mastery takes time; hours at the desk. So start to clock in with your job at tool mastery everyday.

Perspective: Perspective is seen by many to be one of the more boring parts of the artistic process. This is may be true but it shouldn't be because perspective is likely the most important part to understand if you'd like to create exciting art.

To learn these concepts I can recommend Perspective! For Comic Book Artists by David Chelsea . You can also find perspective tutorials that I've written in the How to Draw Comics. Net Tutorials page.

Anatomy: This subject is maybe the most obvious just because it's said so much. Most of what we draw as comic book artists are people. We like reading stories about people so naturally they appear in comics a whole lot.

Understanding the many complex systems and intertwining volumes is a must. Also, combining this understanding with the mastery of perspective will allow you to create dynamic figures that pop off the page.

Design Language: This language is not of words but of shapes and lines. Design language is the understanding of how different shapes and compositions evoke different emotions in the viewer. Even complex forms like human bodies have these basic shapes and so characters can be very useful when evoking different emotions.

And lastly, the curve or lack of curves with in your line work will also be thrown into this category and evoke different emotions from the viewer. If you can make the reader feel something without them even knowing the plot, you've done your job well.

Consistency: Last but not least, you must value consistency. Many artists outside of comics don't have to worry about this subject as much but for us, this is almost paramount.

If you draw something one way it better look the same in the next panel in the sequence. Even if you draw something inaccurately, as most of us do sometimes, as long as it has the same inaccuracies in the following panels, it will not break the flow of the story.

That's not to say that you don't need to be accurate but it's to show the importance and relevance to the main task as storytellers. Consistency is needed as much as possible, so start to train yourself now to pay attention to even the smallest details.

This also breaks down into several smaller sub sets. For all of these subjects I recommend the book Framed Ink: Drawing and Composition for Visual Storytellers

Staging: This skill is just the ability to arrange characters and objects in a shot. The way the characters are grouped and framed is very important. The reader not only needs to follow along but feel apart of the scene. Use elements in the foreground, mid-ground and background to make scenes more dynamic.

Film/Comics Language: This is a skill that takes into account two things: Techniques and Traditions. Over time audiences become accustomed to what's come before. The techniques in comics are sometimes similar to that of film but there are many others that are exclusive to comic storytelling.

Techniques like using speed lines for fast motion, panel border integration on a single environment to show the movement within a still camera, and collages of interconnected imagery for montages are all examples of comic book language.

Screen Direction Continuity: This is also called the 180-degree rule. Here's an image to help explain it.

The actors 1 and 2 are plotted next to the imaginary 180 rule boundary. The storyteller needs to not cross over that line when moving the camera, so to keep the two different subjects from being flipped from the left to the right side of the screen. If you do move the camera over that line make sure there is another new element to ground them to a new line or use a neutral shot right beforehand to make the move not as jarring.

Shot Choice: This refers to the types and angles of camera shots. There are basically nine kinds with an infinite number of variations.

Here they are:

Close Up High Angle

Close Up Low Angle

Medium High Angle

Medium Low Angle

Wide High Angle

Wide Low Angle

Each conveys a different emotion and should be used to push the story point, so learn their uses and implement them correctly in your story.

Comic Juxtaposition: This skill is a big one and my personal favorite. It is literally why I love comic storytelling above all others. While film has sound and motion and novels have a deep introspective experience, comics have juxtaposition.

This is mostly juxtaposition of images but also can be of words in their graphic forms.

With image juxtaposition you can create totally different stories with the same images, depending on how they are ordered and arranged.

For example, if you place a close up image of someone holding a weapon and the next image a picture of a grave, you automatically assume that person holding the weapon killed someone.

That's amazing to me that we can infer that much with a couple of images. Carl Potts explains this concept most brilliantly in the book DC Comics Guide to Creating Comics.

This part is all about the things you need to do that has no direct relation to actually drawing.

Visual Library

This is a huge one. A visual library is just a collection of mental images. Every time you see something in daily life your mind automatically remembers some details about that subject. This collection gets very big as you grow older and have more and more experiences. But not all memories have the same utility.

Everyone remembers things differently and we all will likely recall totally different aspects of the same objects. As an artist, you should actively force your mind to remember as much as you can about the world we live in.

Just be curious about the world around you and your mind will take care of the rest. Having a large visual library will aid in all of your artistic endeavors.

Take Your Own Reference

Taking photographs whenever you have a chance is a great way to slowly build up a hard drive of your own reference material. Remember to only keep the best pictures. A great way to do that is to delete about 90% of each days photos. Then when you back them up on the computer, remember to organize them into broad categories so to make finding them again an easier task.

So you want to learn how to draw comics? The best way to understand the medium is to read constantly. Read your favorites, read the stuff you probably won't like but people have recommended, read the bad and the good, read as much as you can.

Not only will this inspire you to elevate your work to the professional level but also remind you of how painful it is to read a clunky comic.

This is a subject that I won't break down too far but rather just give my suggestions to how and why you should be disciplined practitioners of the arts. As Jocko Willink so heavily emphasized "Discipline equals freedom".

And I think the majority of that is mental freedom. For me, after you work hard, it allows your brain to play hard or relax hard, rather.

I think the best analogy of how we should work and practice as artists goes as follows: As an artist you are like a shopkeeper. Every day you open up shop at the same time and do the same work.

Some days people come in the store by the masses and the day is incredibly productive, and some days the store is vacant and not much gets done but if you come to work consistently the store will be an overall success.

When you get down to work try to do it for the same time everyday, rain or shine; friends wanting to hang out or not. No matter what, your art time is sacred above all else. No one expects that it’s ok to steal people’s wealth of money but it somehow has become ok to steal their wealth of time.

You decide what is important. If you continually make this time to create, the world of successful art making will come.

Here's a couple of suggestions of how to protect your art time. One is to set up a reward for doing the work. Whether it is giving yourself some time to play video games or eating your favorite dessert, find a way to build a positive feedback loop for putting in the work.

I prefer just working for six days of the week pretty freaking hard and then having a whole day of guilt-free relaxation. My second suggestion is to set up a system of accountability.

It can be as simple as telling an art friend about your progress regularly or set up a public deadline that will be hard to move. I set up a live streaming time to do art a few days a week just so I am more motivated not to cancel and let down a viewer.

By the way, I am streaming Tuesday's and Wednesdays at 8 pm EST at https://youtube.com/c/JoeCatapano . Let's keep each other accountable!

Okay! We are finally to the point of real production. Here's where I really show you how to make a comic book. I can’t show you in this article but at least, I'll break down the process and give examples from my book.

So, if the design work is done then you are in the clear to actually start….

Make note that this is only my process and it can be added to and subtracted from to create a process that works for you. I am including the process for making page 1 of Star Circuit Ch.1 as an example.

Note: This is not Page 1, but this is the level of detail that I will tend to put into a thumbnail.

If all of the writing is done that means you will be able to take the words and start sketching ideas for shots and panel layouts.

Thumbnailing is just the process of drawing sketches of the pages in a very small form (it doesn't have to be as small as your thumb). This approach allows for a more global view of each page.

You see, there is a composition in everything. There’s one in each shot within the panels, there’s one that incorporates all the panels on the page, and there is even a global page order that can be considered a type of composition. In this part of comics, it is essential to focus on the story points, the page flow and making sure your figures read within the frames.

Here’s a video where I break down my thumbnailing process: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6wyU5tNJC8)

Layouts are the part two to the thumbnail stage. To start this step, I make a rectangle on half of a sheet of paper. This rectangle should the same proportions as 11” x 17” but just scaled down. It one will be a good amount bigger than the thumbnail sketch which is usually only a few inches big.

This stage focuses on tightening up the main elements and starting to add a grounded perspective. By the end of this stage, the storytelling should already be clear. Someone who has just walked up to you randomly should be able to tell what is going on within the story visually.

This means that humans should look like humans, mailboxes should look like mailboxes and expressions should match the characters emotion.

With this stage completed, it's time to scan in this half page and blow it up to the correct proportions of the comic art board. This is where having experience with drawing software comes into play.

In this same video I go into the layouts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6wyU5tNJC8

The penciling stage is, of course, the time to draw the final pencil work on the real artboard. I usually print out my layouts on an 11” x 17” sheet of paper and then use a lightbox or window to transfer the art to the artboard.

Now that the basic layouts are transferred to the board, I do a strong under drawing with heavy use of reference. I reference anatomy, my mood boards, the previously made model sheets and designs of environments. At this time, I place the right perspective grid for each of the panels.

Once I have a good under drawing done, it's time to erase away most of the work with the dry cleaning pad. It essentially doesn't erase all of the lines but leaves some of my previous under drawing on the page to be used as a guide.

Now, I use strong and confident lines to finish the page. I will shade in the dark black areas and used render lines and hash marks to give volume to objects in the scene. Lastly, I darken the panel borders to really clarify the lines.

This is the stage that I have the least experience in. I do not refer to myself as an inker and do not claim to have the best line work with a pen. That being said, I do understand the process. Many inkers will scan in the pencil work and then print out a separate artboard with blue line instead of gray.

They will then use their favorite tools to make the pencil lines as crisp and pretty as possible. The best inkers will also notice mistakes the penciler has made and correct them. Afterward, the inker will scan in the page to be sent to color.

In the case of Star Circuit, I am skipping the inking stage and going straight to color. I will, however, darken the pencil lines digitally to mimic the inked values.

The color phase is split up into a couple of different steps. In order for professional colorists to do their work quickly, they need an easy way to select the objects in the panels. In comes Flatters.

Flatters are specific people who color the page for the sole purpose of creating selection masks. These masks make it easy for the colorist to quickly select objects and render them the right color. I personally am using Clip Studio Paint for all my comic work, including color.

This is the stage where the letterer places in the word balloons and types all the verbiage. The person will also design the sound effects to help the action. In the old days, all the lettering would be done by hand, but today, to save time, software is used to place in the words.

This stage is the most tedious and also the most important. The job of the editor is to make sure the book is being made to the right specifications and by the deadline. The editor is usually also an artist or writer that can critique the level of quality being produced.

In my case, I am double checking to see of all of the elements in the art are clear and not missing key pieces. I will also heavily proofread the words and find ways to make the story flow better. It's the editor's job to see the book as a whole and make sure it's a sellable product.

Okay, let's say you just completed the interior pages of your book. An issue is usually 20 to 24 pages. On top of that, you finished a standout cover. Where do you go from here? How do you get people to read this gem of literature? No worries... lets walk through the ins and outs of....

Publishing is just a 10 dollar word for the act of releasing your book to the public. It's kind of a scary thing to do after putting months of hard work in, but fear not this process is a piece of cake when compared to actually making a best selling book.

Step one is getting as many people’s eyes on the book as possible. The easiest and least lucrative option here is the self, web publishing approach.

Simply make a website or blog account and post your comic all at once or in episodic weekly releases. The equivalent method to this in the physical medium is to print your book with cheap materials and hand them out at conventions and at comic shops.

You will need to have a clear way for your new fans to follow your future art and possibly buy your work so you'll need to create accounts on a few social media sites like Instagram, Artstation, and Facebook.

It's likely you already have an account at one or more of these sites but in the case of your book, you may want to create a new account especially for its release.

With your comic being viewed at least a bit on the web and possibly elsewhere, you are bound to gain some amount of fans. These first adopters of your book are the most important.

I would even think of them as best friends, because talking to them regularly online and hearing their comments are just as important as they would be with your real friends. With your fanbase already developing, it is important to do a few things to assist. And the first is making a mailing list.

Having a mailing list is essential for your future success as a comic creator. As your fanbase increases, you will need a way to contact them all simultaneously and notify them about new work and updates on your art. While social media sites are a good way to build a fanbase they are not a great way to store their contacts.

If one or more of those social media sites shut down or decide to reformat their structure you want to make sure that your fanbase will not be lost.

Having your fan’s emails is a much more secure way to hold on to their interest and business. I personally use an app called Mail Chimp to organize and send out mass emails to my fans. Using a similar app will be the best way to get your fanbase jumpstarted.

To continue to grow your fanbase you will need to be actively going to conventions and meeting people. I would suggest you start local and then branch out to other conventions where travel is required.

Another great way to grab people’s attention is to draw some fan art. Now, even I have some reservations about doing this type of art. But I think as long as you don't straight copy another artist’s version of a famous character then you can have a clear conscience as you have fun with this.

Simply draw your favorite characters from the work that inspires you and post it online. People will be drawn to because it will also have your unique style attached. And who knows maybe they will take a look at your other work and see the book you've just self-published.

Now, let's say you have a considerable number of people reading your new book on its blog website. You can look at the analytics of any website with a quick register with Google Analytics. Some website builders like Wix or Squarespace have these tools built right in.

So let's say you are starting to see some minor traffic coming to the webcomic site. This is the time to start thinking about...

Crowdfunding

This is one of the best and worst aspects of commerce on the internet. The way crowd funding works is like this: A private internet company creates a website specifically for people to try to get other people to give them money for creating products.

It's really simple and it actually works (sometimes). A couple of the biggest crowd funding resources are Kickstarter and IndieGoGo . With a quick search, you will immediately see the huge volume these kind of sites receive.

As a comic creator you may already know that Kickstarter has become a mainstay for getting indie comics off the ground. Some get funded but many still fail and I believe the difference between the two is having a foundational fanbase.

Even having 20 people that sign up to give you funding is a nice start that can be built on to have a successful campaign. The more people that you can contact from your mailing list the better so timing when you launch a crowdfund is huge.

Here's a few things to consider before you jump into this internet bazaar.

1. Start with a fanbase - I'm sure you are already sick of me saying this, but it is the #1 consideration for how well your campaign will go.

2. Have your book already made - This is something that will make your life very easy when the campaign builds steam. If you haven't released the book to the public you can still feel confident that the work is already done.

You did finish the project already, so there is nothing to worry about. If you've already released your comic on the web then you are essentially just funding the physical print of the book and it will only be easier because you may already have fans of the book.

3. Backup Plan - Now this sentiment is a bit controversial but hear me out. I would advise to have a bit of money set aside to help fund the book yourself.

Let's say all you need is 200 dollars to meet your funding goal with only a couple of days left. I am assuming in this scenario that you've already exhausted all of your favors from family, friends, and industry help. It is much better for your fanbase to see that you have a funded campaign, than them seeing the campaign has failed.

Yes, you are slightly misleading people here but it's in a way that won't affect or hurt anyone. The momentum of getting your book out there to the fans will most certainly lead you to more success down the road.

To really guide you on this crowdfunding journey, here is a great video on all the details done by the great comic creator Jason Brubaker: https://youtu.be/A3WF2naIrGQ

The last options you have for getting your comic into the consumers hands is with the help of Publishers and Grants. Let's start with grants.

A grant is just a sum of money awarded to you in which you don't have to pay back. All you have to do is find one and apply for it. For comic books, there honestly isn't many.

And some that could be considered grants are more likely called contests or competitions. Either way, it's money that you get because you have persuaded someone that you deserve it.

In order to persuade them, you will need a few things. Since you will likely need to do these same exact tasks when talking with comic publishers, I'm going to combine this information into one section called...

Pitching Your Book

To start, every panel of judges, no matter if they are with a publisher, a grant, or with an online format, will all be looking for just about the same things. These things should be presented cleanly and concisely.

After all a pitch is really just you trying to sell some people your wares. So, the simpler the presentation the better.

Each company that you pitch to will have their own proprietary rules and requirements for submitting. Read those rules several times over and make sure you are doing everything according to their specifications. That being said, here is the general list if items to include in your pitch.

Bio: This is a few paragraph blurb that should include your background, work experience, previous credits in the industry, and your experience with comics so far. You can also include your current projects.

Proposal / Pitch: This is a large portion of what you will be presenting. A pitch will resemble something like the following:

Start with the title, tagline, and/or the high concept. The tagline is just a catchy phrase that will intrigue the reviewer to learn more. The high concept is really just a short sentence to show how approachable and sellable the story is.

Here is my version of these for Star Circuit:

Star Circuit

High Concept: A cyberpunk racing adventure with a strong family element.

Tagline: ”A Race Mankind Has Never Won”

Next, include the hook of the pitch. It can be short (like a logline) or long but make sure it hooks the reader to know more. Again, here is mine from SC:

Logline: A complacent street racer, still scarred from family tragedy, unlocks the secrets of a long-dead racing hero and gets set on a path to not only win in an unparalleled racing league but also find a way to save what’s left of his disjointed family.

Pitch: In the future, people don’t need to work in order to survive. With huge advancements in science, absolutely everything in society has become automated. The implementation of various types of android workers has made human labor irrelevant for society to thrive. However, instead of using this freedom for the betterment, when left to their own devices, most people simply absorb the constant stream of entertainment directly into their skulls via a cerebral implant and live aimless, carefree lives.

And the protagonist is no different. He’s, in fact, worse.

He’s a lazy, wealthy, over-grown latchkey kid who poses as a slum dweller and secretly uses his over-powered tech to win street races, hook up with girls, and boost his ego. His once loving and wholesome family was torn apart by tragedy and he’s been skating by ever since.

Absolute freedom without guidance has left him truly lost. His dreams of becoming a racing legend with his family cheering him on are gone. But when he unlocks the secrets of a long-dead racing hero, he gets set on a path to not only win in an unparalleled racing league but also find a way to save what’s left of his disjointed family.

Next is the summary section. This section should describe what happens in the main plot. Don't include many of the small details just some of the big twists and turns that occur. Some companies will want to also hear the ending as well. Just be sure to include all that they request.

I am not going to give an example from my book here because of the obvious spoilers that would be present.

And lastly, the main piece should be about that theme we talked about in the writing section. The theme is the thing that is driving everything in the story and the reviewers want to make sure your work is grounded to something.

Here is the description of Star Circuit’s theme:

Theme: The plot focuses on the power of struggle and our ironic need for challenging situations even though no one likes going through them. Globally, the story is really about man’s struggle to stay relevant in the shadow of exponentially expanding technology and in the process proving the worth of the struggle itself. All the while highlighting the strength in man’s need for love and fellowship as the counter to pure objective based motives.

Samples from the Book-

Probably the most important piece of the presentation is the actual book. Some companies require a whole first issue to be presented while others only need to see a few pages accompanied with a complete outline of the story. Either way, this section is what will sway the majority of reviewers since it will take no amount of imagination to visualize the product further.

Release Agreement: This is just the legal contract that keeps both parties safe from stolen intellectual property. Still very important.

The biggest challenges will happen early on for your comic career since you are building it from nothing. People need to slowly start to know you and your work before they trust you with their stories and companies.

The road to finding your place in the storytelling collective is a long one but it isn't a bad one. The road is what makes you an individual in this business. The important thing is to have fun while on the road.

Sometimes, the road is uphill and sometimes it slopes down. Each section of the road comes with different challenges and rewards. Remember that everything passes in time. Your good days will pass just as fast as your bad ones.

With practice, determination, and a pleasant demeanor you will go far. I try to look at times of struggle and not being where you want to be, as very special times. Look at it as if you were watching your own movie. The most exciting parts are when the up-and-comer is improving fast and making great strides.

Without these moments of drama and suspense life would be dull. Imagine if you already knew that someday you would be a great storyteller with all the accolades and fame that come with it. That knowledge would take the life out of the experience.

The good games are the ones where you can lose, and the best games are the ones that stack the odds against you. This life and journey of creating comics is just a really great game.

It's one that you can win if you learn, practice, and never quit. Just like when you invest in the stock market, if your stocks lose value for a while, it doesn't mean you've lost anything. You only lose when you quit. The moral of the story is never quit.

Thanks for reading this guide into creating and drawing comics.

I hope you learned that making is a comic very straight forward and if you love coming up with art and stories, this will be really fun.

This guide was meant to be used as reference and not necessarily one that you read straight through in one sitting. When you feel lost or need guidance come back and read a section that you are currently dealing with.

Star Circuit is still in the making and currently it is being pitched to a couple outlets. And the fanbase is growing all the while. Please visit starcircuitcomic.com to see all the updates, art and extras. The comic will soon start releasing pages for free so please signup for email notifications about dates for that.

Feel free to contact me with any questions about this tutorial on my social media.

My Instagram and Twitter handle: @catapanoart

-Joe Catapano

Tutorial by Joe Catapano

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Guides • Perfecting your Craft

Last updated on Apr 16, 2022

How to Make a Comic Book in 5 Superheroic Steps

These days, almost any comic creator with talent and a strong vision can reach an audience. And with some luck, their creations might even join the ranks of the indie comics with screen adaptations (think I Kill Giants, Polar, and The End of the F****** World). In other words, there's no better time than today to be an indie comic creator.

If you have a passion for telling great graphic stories , here's how to make your own comic book in five steps: 

1. Focus your ideas into a hook that pops 

2. choose the format your story needs (or the one it deserves), 3. draft a punchy script, not a novel with pictures, 4. team up or go solo for the artwork, 5. drop issue #1 like it’s hot.

Ex Machina by Brian K Vaughan and Tony Harris — Iron Man meets The West Wing : The world’s only superhero becomes the mayor of New York City.

Maniac of New York by Elliott Kalan and Andrea Mutti — Jaws, but with a serial killer instead of a shark.

Crossover by Donny Cates, Geoff Shaw, Dee Cunniffe and John J. Hill — A rupture in reality sees every fictional comic book character dropped directly onto real-world Denver, throwing the world into disarray.

The Private Eye by Brian K Vaughan and Marcos Martín — A near-future world where the Cloud “bursting” has led to normal people becoming intensely guarded over their personal lives — even wearing masks day-do-day and assuming false identities to keep their secrets safe.

By establishing your “hook” before you delve into writing and inking your comic, you will remain laser-focused on what gives your story an edge.

How you choose to publish your book will affect how you write and illustrate it, so make sure you pick the right format. (We’ll talk more about how to publish your comic book in the next post of this guide).

Print comics

Whether you’re hoping to sell your comic to a publisher or go the indie route and publish it on your own, there are a few formatting issues to bear in mind.

Keep it under 30-40 pages. Comic issues are usually 32-pages long, but the stories tend to be around 22 page, to allow for ads and ‘letters from the editor’. If you’re going in the indie route, then you can be a lot more flexible, though keep in mind that printers will charge you by the page!

Black and white isn’t all bad. Color is hard to get right in comic art. This is why you’ll often see first-time comic creators working on books that lend themselves to the monochrome aesthetic, as going black and white can be both easier and cheaper to produce. (PS — You can always come back and add color later, like Fantasy Sports author Sam Bosma, whose indie B&W comic was picked up by a publisher and reimagined in color).

Don’t go too wild with your trim sizes. The trim size of modern comic books is 6.625 inches x 10.25 inches (or thereabouts). Most of the shelves in a comic store are for books this size, as are the clear plastic comic protectors that collectors use. Unless you have a truly revolutionary reason for printing a 9” x 9” title, you can save yourself a lot of hassle by sticking with a standard size.

Digital comics

If you’re planning to write an ebook comic, then you’ll obviously have a lot more freedom with how you format your artwork 一 which is why ever more artists are going down this route.

Most digital devices like phones, tablets, and computers aren’t ideal for reading comics in the traditional 9-panel grid. When it comes to handling short wide panels and double-page spreads, they can be even worse. However, with ‘guided view’ — a slideshow-style mode you can set up on Comixology using Amazon’s comic creator —  you can make it a fairly reasonable experience on many digital devices.

So when writing a traditionally-formatted comic for the digital market, consider keeping things simple — if only for the sake of your readers’ eyesight.

Services like Webtoon and Tapas host comics that are designed to be read on the phone, where the images are sequenced vertically. All the reader has to do is swipe up to see the next panel. Currently, these platforms mostly cater to fans of manhwa (an originally Korean style  of comic which is aesthetically similar to manga ) — but you can expect these outlets to diversify as time goes by.

Blogs, Tumblr, Instagram

Some artists choose to cut out the middleman and share their artwork directly with their social media followers. One example of an author doing this is The Eyes by Javi de Castro, a comic hosted entirely on the author’s blog. Even published comic book artists use their socials to share small comics, like Thomas Wellman’s Carmilla comics which he shares to Instagram.

The great part about this is that you have total creative control; provided your artwork is appropriately formatted for your platform of choice, you can create and share it instantly.

If you want more information on different formats for comic books and how to publish them, you can check out the other part of our guide here .

Comics are, above all, a visual medium and most comic scripts reflect this. They are blueprints written for an audience of one: the illustrator. As a result, the script must convey the writer’s vision in a way that facilitates collaboration.

Plot style scripts

In most writer-artist partnerships, the illustrator will have an incredible amount of input in the final product. If this were a movie, the artist would be the director, cinematographer production designer, and casting director — and the writer is, unsurprisingly, the writer.

In these situations, it’s best for the writer to describe the action of the scene along with the dialogue — and leave it to the illustrator to bring that scene to life however they feel best to do it. 

In plot-style scripts, the writer will describe the action of the scene in the present tense. They might present dialogue in quote marks, or in the style of a screenplay.This style of scripting is sometimes referred to as a “Marvel script” due to its longtime use by the publisher of Spider-Man and X-Men.

Total script

Oftentimes, a writer will want more influence over how the story visually develops across the page. If this is the case, you may want to take a panel-by-panel (or ‘total script’) approach. 

When working panel-by-panel, be specific: let your artist know your ideal panel size, and how you visualize the “shot” — like you would to a cinematographer. Alan Moore’s scripts are a great example of just how granular you can be when writing this way.

Most contemporary writers go with the panel-by-panel script, which is best if you have a clear, specific vision for your comic book. However, if you’re flexible on the details and would like some room to improvise, then the page-by-page option might be better.

Tailor your script to your artist’s needs

If you’re collaborating with an artist on making your comic book, you may need to tweak the way you’ve scripted to make sure they have everything they need. It’s good to bring an artist on board as early as possible (which we’ll discuss more in the next section) so that you can keep them in mind while scripting.

Since some artists may request more or less detail in your scripting, it’s important to agree on how much creative control your artist should have, or if they’re willing to follow more granular instructions. Generally, most artists will be happy to make creative decisions when illustrating, but don’t be afraid to get specific and make requests while collaborating!

Even if you’re your own artist, it is a good idea to have at least a page-by-page outline before you start drawing, so you can refer back to it and you’re never left wondering what’s supposed to happen next.

While there are a few different ways you could script your comic book, here are some hard and fast rules you should try and stick to:

Cut the small talk

Above all, comic books are a visual medium, so try and keep dialogue short and sweet. Remember when Twitter only allowed 140 characters per Tweet? According to comic book editor Rachel Gluckstern , this is also a good limit for each line of comic dialogue — and try to keep it to 10-12 total lines per page, captions, and speech bubbles included.

Pace your action

You’re working with still images, and what’s happening on each page needs to be understandable from a few frames alone. Any more than two or three distinct actions per page (say, a character climbing the stairs, opening a door, and locking it behind them) is too “busy” to show on a single page, and can really throw off the pacing of your comic.

Don’t forget that page count

As we mentioned, you can go longer or shorter, but 30-40 pages is about the expected length of a comic book, and a realistic scope for a first-time author — and of course, you can always create additional installments to your first issue.

These technical considerations can be a little overwhelming, but don’t forget that you can always consult a professional to make sure your script is production-ready. At Reedsy, we work with the best editors in the industry, who can advise on technical requirements and  help you create the right script to realize your vision.

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It's the moment you’ve been waiting for: bringing your comic book to life with illustrations! If you’re not an artist yourself, this is where you’ll want to call in a pro. If you don’t know where to find them, you could start with the brilliant comic book illustrators right here on Reedsy. Sign up for free to look through their portfolios and find the perfect style for your comic.

If you’re collaborating, team up early

Oftentimes, the way to get the most out of your comic book collaboration is to bring an illustrator onboard nice and early. By sharing your visions and getting on the same page, you’ll have the best chance of producing a comic book you’re both happy with, and with minimal friction.

Starting early will also give you the time to find an illustrator who really works with you. Don’t rush into choosing your artist, and take time to review any potential illustrator’s previous work, and see whether their style is the one you want for your work.  

Start with a storyboard

Whether you’re creating your own art or collaborating with an illustrator, this part should begin with storyboarding: sketching out your panels to get a rough idea of how they’ll look and “flow” together on the page.

You may have done a little storyboarding in the writing stage, but it’s good to sketch out your entire comic book before you proceed. Even if you’ve gone for a panel-by-panel script, storyboarding often reveals ways you can improve it — altering the pacing, adding or deleting captions, even transplanting entire panels that would work better elsewhere. 

If you’re working with an illustrator, having them storyboard first ensures the two of you are on the same page. Though there may be a few kinks to iron out, it will be worth it to know that your illustrator 100% understands your vision.

If you’re illustrating your comic solo, you should still consider storyboarding. A “rough draft” of your visuals will help you spot anything you may have misjudged while scripting, like too many dizzying POV shifts or awkward scene transitions. As tempting as it might be to just get started on the real deal, it’s better to sketch things out before sinking too much time into panels that may never get used.

You can lay out your panels the good old-fashioned way on a corkboard or whiteboard, or use storyboarding software like Storyboarder or Canva . 

Whether you’re storyboarding yourself or have professional help, take your time with this, and don’t move on to full illustrations until you’re happy with your storyboard. You’ll still need to adjust small things for the final product, but storyboarding should prevent mid-production disasters, potentially saving you a lot of time and money.

Time to illustrate

If you’re collaborating with a pro, then it’s time to hand over your files and let them do their thing! Be prepared to give some feedback on various iterations of the comic; your artist might want to consult you on certain decisions during the process, and ask you to give constructive feedback before you reach your final product. 

To see what a professionally drawn comic should look like at this stage, check out these examples from our illustrators:

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If you’re illustrating solo, then there are other things to keep in mind. You’ll want to establish a “house style” before you get started, including an idea of your color palette, and some character concept art, to make sure you achieve continuity throughout your work. You may find your ideas change over the course of illustrating, so be prepared to go back and make revisions.

You may think that adding text is the final step in your illustration process, but hold up! Before creating your illustrations, you’ll want to consider how much space your text will take up. Even if you haven’t decided on your final font yet, you should make sure you outline a space that each panel’s text can sit in comfortably, and then use the remaining space to draw.

Next will come penciling and then inking your images, followed by adding in any color. Finalizing lettering will be the final step in the process, which we’ll discuss in the next step.

If you’re going analog and illustrating using pen and paper, make sure you have access to a high-resolution scanner to digitize your artwork. If you want to go digital from the start, do your research and pick out a software that can support your needs (for example, a lot of pros swear by Clip Studio Paint Pro, but you’ll want to see what else is out there before committing). 

Maybe invest in an experienced letterer

Comic book lettering is a distinct art form of its own, and is very important in creating a polished final product. Conventionally, your lettering should be capitalized, and framed by balloons or boxes. There are some other conventions that are used to convey emotion, or as a shorthand for readers, which a professional letterer will be well versed in, so hiring one is well worth the investment.

If you’ve hired an experienced comic book illustrator, they may also be able to assist with lettering. If not, you have a couple more options: you can research fonts and lettering software to attempt it yourself, or you can hire a typographer who specializes in comic book lettering.

Lettering is a good investment, as working with a pro on a custom font is the best way to create the perfect typeface for your work, and one that you can then go on to use forever.

Create your perfect cover image

As much as the old saying suggests otherwise, people really do judge a book by its cover — and especially a comic book. You may want to collaborate with the same artist who created your interior design to make your cover, to ensure readers have a good idea of what they can expect from the art style. 

Having said this, some writers and publishers work with different artists to create their covers, so this isn’t outside of the realm of possibility. Some illustrators specialize in covers, because they understand the artistic “language” of creating a commercial cover. Using a second illustrator for cover art is especially common in the US market, although less so in Europe or Japan.

Either way, you’ll want to make your cover image attention-grabbing and representative of the tone of your work, and mark your title and issue number clearly so readers know what they’re looking at.

Comic book, assemble!

Now you’ve got all your elements, it’s time to pull them together, and assemble your comic book. Arrange your final panels into their final flow, and give everything a final review. Is the flow from panel to panel intuitive? Does the eye get drawn to the right places? Is the action comprehensible? If the answer to any of these is no, you’ll want to go back and make revisions until you’re completely satisfied.

Congrats, you’ve made your comic book! After you’ve assembled everything and finalized the artwork, it’s time to get publishing. We have a whole post on this, which also covers how to print and market your comic book, but here are some quick tips.

One of the best things about comic books is that when you find one you love, you can look forward to future installments of the story. Start with just your first issue, and incorporate feedback from readers into the rest of your run. If there’s an unexpected fan favorite that people want to see more of, or a common critique, you can use that information to shape the rest of your series.

Don’t let too much time pass in-between issues, though — you’ll want to be timely with your releases so that your story doesn’t lose momentum. Between editions, keep your fans engaged using social media, and share teasers from upcoming installments to keep your work fresh in readers’ minds.

For more tips on publishing your comic book, check out the next section of our guide to learn how to bring your creation to the masses!

4 responses

Dominique Wilson says:

11/05/2017 – 15:04

I have an artist I'm collaborating with for the illustrations and I am providing the story/script. I only commissioned the illustrator for the pictures. So who can I get to write the words in the captions and balloons? Is there software for this that I can do it myself? Obviously I am in the very beginning stages of the project but I would like to plan accordingly and create a great product.

↪️ Rachel Gluckstern replied:

11/05/2017 – 20:28

Great question! There is software you can use, but if you want it to be the best it can be, you should be looking for a Letterer. There are many, many talented freelance letterers out there who will probably be able to work out a reasonable rate depending on how long the project is and how wordy it is as well. A really good letterer will know how to place the captions and balloons so that they flow in the proper reading order and integrate well with the art. It's recommended that you have the manuscript that they'll be extracting the words from as clean and as well-edited as possible before they work on it, so that there's little need for revisions. Best of luck to you!

10/12/2017 – 06:40

I have had my first graphic novel in progress for quite a number of years. I've gone through chapter revision after chapter revision, and now I'm going to revise again. I'm currently faced with a problem, though: what is the best way to ensure that I can hire a good enough artist? Would I have to get funding from a publisher, or would I need to start a Kickstarter or Indiegogo page, or would I need to save up my own money to hire an artist?

↪️ Reedsy replied:

11/12/2017 – 10:02

Graphic novels work like a charm on Kickstarter, so this would be my advice. However, it's very important for a crowdfunding campaign to already have some art to display. Campaigns need to be highly visual if they are to reach their target. So I'd recommend first looking around for a talented illustrator who matches your style, then hiring them (with your own savings) to produce some artwork (cover + a few illustrations, maybe a double page spread) that you can showcase on the Kickstarter campaign. If you pursue that route, we have an indispensable (and free) course on crowdfunding here: https://blog.reedsy.com/learning/courses/publishing/crowdfunding-for-authors/

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How to Make a Digital Comic Book: Step-by-Step Comic Book Creation

Introduction

You must create both a story and artwork when producing digital comics. Although one artist may be responsible for the majority of the work, the most efficient comic creation is achieved by subdividing the production process. Let’s go through what kind of division of labor is standard in a step-by-step process.

Story Development and Scriptwriting

The first thing you need to do to make a digital comic is to organize your ideas. Before starting to draw, write out the character background and the plot of the comic, and then figure out how the characters will develop and how the story will unfold based on that. You can write out the comic in script form to express the characters’ dialog and monologues as balloons. Scriptwriting is the basis for all subsequent production steps.

Famous writers include Stan Lee, the creator of “Spider-Man”.

Character Design and Development

The character design is determined by the background you decided during the plotting phase. It is common practice to design orthographic drawings so that the character can be drawn from all angles. Character design involves giving distinctive facial features, hairstyles, clothing, and the like. Trial and error is also necessary to determine body proportions and how to unify the balance between the body and head in the comic. The design of the protagonist and the antagonist rival is particularly important. The plot and script serve as the backbone to characters so that they will be memorable to the readers. One way to do this is to reflect the relationship between the characters in the design, by means such as contrasting the colors of the protagonist and antagonist. Another way would be giving the supporting characters a more restrained design than the main characters. When character designs are specific and well-done, they allow the drawing team that does work later on to understand the characters. By working out the characters’ backgrounds early in the production process, they can be portrayed in an appealing manner during the panel layout and drawing production process. Good character design leads to character development.

Panel Layout and Composition

Once the script and character designs are finalized, decide your panel layout according to the comic format. It is important for the composition of a comic to portray the character’s setting in an easy-to-understand manner and to create a sense of realism. For example, a composition that allows the viewer to see all the details of the “stage” is called an establishing shot, which is used to prevent confusion about the location of the characters. It is effective when utilized at the beginning of a scene. Action sequences drawn without inverting the composition easily convey the flow without lines or monologue. Scenes that are mainly dialogue usually end up being many bust-up shots of characters, but you should keep in mind the overall format and flow, including the position of balloons. By keeping to these few compositional principles, good sequential art can be created.

Digital Inking and Coloring Techniques

Artists who draw preliminary sketches are called “pencillers” and those who ink over the sketches are called “inkers”. Nowadays digital apps such as Clip Studio Paint and Photoshop are used more and more in the field for line art and coloring.

Traditionally, multiliner pens that draw uniform lines, were often used for line art in comics. The basic techniques remain the same even with digital inking. For example, the “milli pen” digital brush pre-installed in Clip Studio Paint reproduces a similar drawing style to that of a multiliner pen.

The figure on the left shows line art drawn with a uniform digital brush, but you can see that the hand on the right is shaded with lighting in mind. Shading at the line art stage makes the coloring process easier. For details, see this article .

The artist who does the coloring is called a “colorist”. In analog, coloring was done with color inks. Currently the most common coloring method is using the “Fill” tool in apps like Clip Studio Paint or Photoshop to lay down flat colors and then adding shadows and highlights.

With black-and-white manga, light and dark tones are sometimes expressed using screen tones. Different numbers of lines, different densities, and gradations are used to give a crispness to the scene. In Clip Studio Paint, applying screen tones and gradations can be done in a single step.

Work can also be simplified by placing 3DCG objects in the background drawing. Not only can they be a drawing aid for a preliminary sketch, but you can also use them for rendering as-is, or do cel shading.

Lettering and Sound Effects

The process of writing character lines, narration, sound effects, etc. is called lettering. Digital fonts are used for the text of characters’ lines. For speech bubbles, the base coloring and layout are changed to suit the scene, and sound effects are colored and typographed to match the composition. In Clip Studio Paint, the Balloon pen sub tool can be used to create handwritten-style balloons, and a wide variety of speech balloon materials can be downloaded from Clip Studio ASSETS .

Exporting and Publishing Your Digital Comic Book

The process of exporting digital comics from software to digital formats such as PDF and EPUB is necessary in order to publish digital comics. Export formats vary on the web platform where the comic will be published, so be sure to check before exporting. Exporting can be done from Clip Studio Paint to a wide range of formats including PDF, EPUB, PSD, and PNG. The file formats will be different if you are uploading it to your social media or using a digital distribution platform.

Division of Labor in Overseas Comic Production Sites: Optimizing Workflow and Collaboration

The division of labor in comic production differs from country to country. Manga is normally printed for the Japanese market and is usually made by an artist responsible for story and drawing, supported by drawing assistants. For some manga, one person is focused on writing the story and the other on drawing. In Korean webtoons, it is common to have a separate scenario writer, layout artist, drawing artist, and coloring artist. In some cases, a single production company is responsible for the entire process, while others may specialize in coloring.

Division of Labor in Comic Production Outside Japan

The following is a description of the division of labor for major American comic books. Depending on the title, one person may handle multiple positions.

Understanding the Roles in Comic Production Teams

The greatest benefit of the division of labor in comic production is the increase in workflow optimization. Instead of having the artist personality personally producing everything, the publisher/production company directs the comic and characters, allowing for the smooth production of work with a unified setting.

Writers and Their Contributions

The original author’s ideas, which create the basis of the story, contribute to all aspects of the characters and story. Digital comics can be expanded into content such as animation and live-action films if the characters become popular. It is the author’s creation that lays the base for everything.

Artists and Their Creative Process

In order to transform the original creator’s ideas into a comic, it is essential for the artist to create visuals, such as designing characters and props, and for the writer to pursue the story through writing the script. Panels are considered based on both elements and then leads to how the entire page will flow. The artist who draws preliminary sketches based on the panel design is called a penciller.

Inkers and Adding Depth to Artwork

Inkers ink work based on a rough sketch. In addition to drawing uniform, clear lines, they shade based on the light source to streamline the flow later on.

Colorists and Enhancing Visual Appeal

The colorist colors based on the line art. They strive to apply base colors according to the line art and to apply shadows and highlights. Backgrounds may be realistic or comic-like and the visual appeal can be enhanced by variations in lines and touch.

Letterers and Typography

In American comics, there are letterers who hand-draw text in balloons and for onomatopoeia. Today, digital fonts are commonly used, but the tasks of directing or working on unique balloon shapes and drawn text continues.

Editors and Quality Control

The publishing company editor is in contact with the artists at all stages of the process and manages the progress. The presence of an editor enables consistent quality control without being biased toward one artist’s personality.

Workflow Optimization Techniques

These are tips on how to optimize the production of comics which are produced by a large number of staff members.

Efficient Project Management

Staff participating in mainstream comic production may work at offices for major comic production studios, but nowadays it is common for them to communicate remotely. Depending on the work, the tasks may be fluid, with inkers taking on colorist duties. The editor can monitor the progress of the work to ensure efficient production.

Utilizing Digital Tools for Collaboration

Digital tools are indispensable in today’s comic production. A single file may be edited online in parallel. Clip Studio Paint has a team production function that allows multiple people to collaborate on a single work in real time.

Streamlining Communication Channels

Communication channels such as chat rooms and video meetings are used by production companies in addition to e-mail to exchange manuscripts. Artists in charge of the latter production processes can share image boards and character designs from an early stage, leading to smooth production.

Benefits and Challenges of Working with Overseas Teams

It is now more common to bring together people from different countries to work on a project.

Access to Diverse Talent Pool

Publishers centrally manage promising talent pools and may commission overseas writers and artists if they are a good fit for the work.

Cost-Effectiveness and Flexibility

Managing a talent pool leads to cost reductions for publishers because they can place orders without having to hire and train directly. For overseas artists, it also eliminates the cost of relocation and allows them the flexibility to determine their own schedules.

Language and Cultural Barriers

As there are certainly more opportunities nowadays to participate in internationally produced works, it is advantageous to learn the native language of the publisher’s country. That is because it is important to understand feedback immediately in order to collaborate on a production. Production speed and rules also differ among regions and publishers, so it is necessary to understand those differences before accepting an order.

Time Zone Differences

Time zones become an issue when communicating between far away places, such as between Asia and Europe or the United States. While production tasks can be adjusted to fit the time in one’s own country, meetings and deadlines are generally adjusted to business hours in the publisher’s time zone.

Tips for Seamless Coordination and Quality Control

Digital comic production sites allow for a diverse team, but what are some things to keep in mind to ensure smoother participation in the production process? Here are some tips.

Establishing Clear Guidelines and Expectations

First, it is important to follow the publisher’s guidelines. You need to figure out in advance whether your abilities meet the quality required by the publisher and whether you can meet the deadlines.

Regular Communication and Feedback

Communicate frequently with team members. In addition to delivering the finished product, requesting a check at the draft stage and reflecting feedback will help reduce the workload.

Embracing Cultural Differences

When working on an overseas project, it is also necessary to follow the culture of the publisher’s country. You may want to adapt the pace of production to that of your team members, including flexibility of schedules and frequency of communication.

Implementing Quality Assurance Measures

How to maintain the quality of the work depends on the publisher, but there are some things you can check in advance to ensure a smooth process. Try to follow conventional methods of production by checking to see if there is any specified software or digital brushes or if basic color sets are shared.

Conclusion and Next Steps

We have provided information here about the production process of digital comics, including the division of labor and individual roles. In summary, we would like to convey an important point. It is important to understand each process that makes the overall flow, and not limit yourself to just understanding one task. The artist in charge of drawing needs to understand the intentions of the writer, and the writer also needs to create with the final output in mind.

As the next step, try to practice each process and find that which you can be passionate about. Clip Studio Paint can easily be used to create panel layouts and balloons, and it is a great way to challenge yourself to try. In addition to preinstalled brushes, additional materials can be downloaded from Clip Studio ASSETS to make drawing more efficient. Use these tools to start your comic creation journey!

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How To Create a Comic Book

Writing a comic book or graphic novel script is not the same as writing a novel. The most obvious difference is the incorporation of artwork with the story. Creating a comic book is a harmony of writing and art that demands a ton of work. 

How To Write a Comic Book

Like writing any other ‌book, you’ll start with an outline or brief snippets to frame the story. 

Planning your story is up to you, but one tried and true method is to do a short overview of the entire story. Almost like a short story version of your story. Maybe draft a statement or two with some backstory. Then bullet out or write in full sentences the major points of the story.

Once you have that outline established, you can start writing the rough draft script for your comic. 

Keep in mind that comic books are visual stories and you’ll need to think like a visual storyteller. You’ll follow the common act structure used in scripts and the writing will primarily be dialog. 

That’s not a rule set in stone by any means. Just look at this panel from Frank Miller’s famous graphic novel 300 :

A full spread with no dialog and a lot of narration. But there’s a lesson here too. Consider Rachel Gluckstern’s comment on using captions:

Essentially, the more you rely on captions, the more you’re telling, not showing.

A masterful storyteller like Frank Miller can break the rules and make it work. And you can too. Still, most of your comic book pages will be filled with action (artwork) and dialog.

Show, don’t tell. Speak, don’t explain.

Being a Comic Book Creator

With the first rough draft done, consider your comic book design. Are you a writer/artist or just a writer? If you don’t plan to illustrate the comic yourself, now is the time to find and start working with an artist.

Finding the right artist to work with is a major turning point for your story. Even if you thought up the idea and drafted the outline and script, your artist will play a huge role in creating this story. The roles take a 60/40 split on responsibility for the book’s success. And for some books, it might even be a down the middle split. 

Because the artist has the challenging job of not only interpreting and understanding the story, but then bringing it to life on the page through sequential art. Just like the dialog has to flow naturally, each panel in your comic book must work with those before and after it.

Comic Book Layout

This phase of the game comes in four segments; storyboarding, drawing, ink & color, and lettering. These pieces fit together similarly to laying out a novel: if you don’t do them in the right order, you’ll be making more work for yourself.

Storyboarding

In my own (limited) experience working on comic book projects, I have to say that the storyboarding part was far and away the most fun and exciting part. 

There are lots of tools out there for online storyboarding. HubSpot compiled a respectable list , so I won’t try to reinvent the wheel. I will say that their top pick, Storyboarder , is one I’ve used and enjoyed working with. 

Or you can go old school and storyboard on paper. 

Whatever method you choose, the goal is to lay out the panels you’ll include in the comic.

The actual art on the storyboards can be rough. It could even be stick figures and directions. You’re trying to imagine the sequential art and story.

Imagine this exchange:

Character #1: “What are we going to do?”

Character #2: “We’re going to jump in my spaceship and fly out of here.”

Ch#1: “That seems like a terrible idea.”

Ch#2: “Maybe, but it’s what we’re doing. Come on.”

<Ch#2 walks off>

Ch#1: <after a pause> “Hey, wait up.”

Simple exchange (sort of) between two characters. And relatively easy to imagine as images. Now imagine it as comic panels:

Very rough, but you can see how I imagine the action flowing. Would you do it the same?

I’m guessing not. This is why the storyboard is so important.

After you establish the storyboard and have a visual guide to the layout and design of the comic, it’s time for your artist (or you, if you’re taking both roles) to go to work.

Today, many artists will use computer-assisted design like Adobe Illustrator or similar tools to create comic book art. Alternatives like the open-source Inkscape or Affinity Designer are powerful, lower-cost options.

Create a Comic Book or Graphic Novel

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Color & Ink

This part of the process differs from years past. Historically, a hand-drawn comic or graphic novel would require an ‘inker’ to highlight the drawings with detailed ink work ( it’s not tracing ). Likewise, the inked drawings would need to be colored and any final touches to add depth, shading, and definition to get the panels looking pristine.

Today, software handles a lot of these complex tasks. The color & ink phase is more about tweaking the color palette to ensure that the images are vibrant and will render well when printed.

The last part of this phase involves controlling the negative space on each panel so the last step can be achieved.

Again, since we’re in the digital world here, it’s simple enough to select a font and drop text into bubbles over the finished images. And of course, it is more complex than that. Selecting a font is itself a job. And making distinctions about how characters will ‘speak’ to each other is important. 

Take Neil Gaiman’s Sandman for example:

These two characters each have distinct speech bubble styles and fonts. While your comic likely doesn’t need to be this unique, spend time considering how you’ll handle the dialog.

The Finished Product

Panels drawn. Check. Colored and inked. Check. Speech bubbles. Check. Cover designed. Check.

You’ve created a comic book!

Now you just need to publish it.

How Do You Publish a Comic Book?

For comic books, graphic novels, and manga, avoiding bigger publishing companies and using print-on-demand is the perfect solution. You avoid pitching your book to publishers without footing additional costs like stocking books. The cost of a full-color book can be steep, so keeping books in stock adds up. But print-on-demand means no inventory. And you can easily sell your books through your website with Lulu Direct .

Paul is the Senior Content Manager at Lulu.com . When he’s not entrenched in the publishing and print-on-demand world, he likes to hike the scenic North Carolina landscape, read, sample the fanciest micro-brewed beer, and collect fountain pens. Paul is a dog person but considers himself cat-tolerant.

I JUST WANT TO CREATE A HUMOROUS BOOK ABOUT PEOPLE. 28 ILLUSTRATIONS WITH NO MORE THAN 50 WORDS.

I did wonder, however; how does one go about putting a Double-Page Spread in a Graphic Novel Script when all the examples I’ve ever seen has it where you have to write Page One then list each panel on that page, then Page Two and list all the panels on that page and so on. It seems that the simple form that they show is only the box beside box “Bronze Era” of making comics method and not the “Out-of-Bounds” no borders art form it has become.

Hi Julius, Do you mean literally how do you create a comic book in spreads? That’s generally handled by the design software (like InDesign) and can easily handle exporting the file as a single page PDF. Design software is well suited to handle that operation. If rather you mean how do you go about laying out the story so it flows naturally from page to page, well that’s where the artistry of comic book making comes in!

Wow. I am both a writer and artist. I will create a graphic novel.

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Introducing Adobe Express, the latest and greatest way to design and publish your comic strips. Adobe Express helps you create stunning graphics that you can build from scratch or with stunning template designs to get you started. Easily resize your creation to share on any social platforms or printed format. It’s as easy as choosing a template, customizing, and sharing.

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Comics are an incredibly versatile art form. With Adobe Express, you can create a custom aesthetic for your comic strip that you can recreate again and again for consistency throughout your story. Or, turn a comic strip into a meme that you can share across your social platforms. There are endless creative opportunities to turn your comic strip idea into something magnificent.

Let Adobe Express be your comic strip design expert.

Hone your creativity with the power of Adobe Express. Explore professionally designed templates to get your wheels spinning or create your comic strip format from scratch. Establish a theme for your designs using photos, icons, logos, personalized fonts, and other customizable elements to make them feel entirely authentic. Duplicate designs and resize them to create consistency across multiple types of materials. With Adobe Express, it’s free and easy to make, save, and share your designs within minutes so you can add collaborators, get approval, and publish your comics for all to enjoy.

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Get ready to join a fan-powered community where users can write, create, and share their own Marvel stories. It’s called Marvel: Create Your Own, and it’s going to be a game changer for fledgling comic creators looking to do their own thing.

If you’ve got the burning desire to build your own intricate universes, you’ll want to act fast. Creative pursuits wait for no one, and the sooner you have a platform, the sooner you can get to work! So put down the paper and pencil and stay in the know by signing up for the platform by clicking here !

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What is a Comic Strip?

A comic strip is a sequential art form that tells a story through a series of illustrated panels. It typically combines images and text to convey narratives, humor, or messages in a visually engaging format. The panels are arranged in a specific order to guide readers through the storyline, and dialogue or captions are used to provide additional context or convey character thoughts and emotions.

They are often published in newspapers, magazines, and online platforms, providing entertainment and commentary on a wide range of subjects. Comic strips offer a unique and creative way to engage readers, express ideas, and explore storytelling through the power of visuals and words.

Comics in Education!

With a comic creator online, students create their own masterpiece to show they understand a process or concept:.

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Why Do People Like to Use Storyboard That to Create Comics?

Our comic strip creator is not only a fun and engaging tool, but it also offers great educational value. Teachers can use it to enhance their lessons and make learning more interactive. With our platform, students can express their ideas, showcase their understanding of a subject, or even become a comic character creator for a class project. The possibilities are endless!

Whether you're creating for entertainment, education, or personal expression, our free comic maker for kids provides you with the freedom to bring your ideas to life. So, don't wait any longer. Get started with our comic creator free and unlock a world of creativity today!

Creating captivating and impressive projects is a breeze with our comic book maker. Whether you're a seasoned artist or just starting out, Storyboard That will help you unleash your creativity and make something amazing.

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Are you ready to dive into the exciting world of comic strips? Our creator is the perfect tool to unleash your creativity and bring your ideas to life. Whether you're a student looking to create something educational, or you are a budding artist wanting to explore the art of storytelling, our free comic strip maker for students and adults is here to help you every step of the way.

With our user-friendly interface and a wide range of templates, you can easily create your own masterpiece in just a few clicks. Let your imagination run wild as you design captivating characters, craft compelling dialogue, and set the stage for your unique stories.

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Some of our favorite reasons to create comics.

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With our comic character maker and builder, and other powerful features, you have all the tools you need to create your own masterpiece. Unleash your imagination, experiment with different styles and techniques, and have fun expressing your creativity through art. Start creating amazing projects today with our comic strip maker and let your storytelling skills shine!

Take your skills to the next level by exploring other exciting features on our website. Our storyboard maker allows you to visually plan and organize your story ideas, while our book maker enables you to bring your ideas to life in a professionally designed book format. Dive into the world of storytelling with Storyboard That and unleash your creativity like never before.

How To Make a Comic Strip

Click on the “create a storyboard” button.

This will bring you to our state of the art, easy to use comic maker.

Give Your Masterpiece a Name

Be sure to call your project something specific so that you can easily find it in the future.

Choose a Layout

Use the comic generator to choose a layout. To do this, click on the “layout” button in the right hand menu. This is where you can add and delete cells, and add titles and descriptions if you would like.

Find the perfect scenes for the setting; all of our scenes are customizable! Simply drag the scene into the cell, and edit as you wish. Look for the "Edit Scene" button on the menu!

Add Characters and Items

Find and customize characters. We have TONS to choose from! Use our filter to help narrow your search. Next, choose from our thousands of items. Check out the "items" category, or search for anything in the search bar.

Add Dialogue

Add dialogue and thought bubbles by clicking on the “speech bubbles” categories. We have all kinds of styles to choose from.

Add Additional Text

Did you include a title and/or description box in your layout? Add your text in the boxes to make your comic even more exciting and unique!

Click "Save and Exit"

When you are finished with your work, click the button in the lower right hand corner to exit. From here you can print, download it as a PDF, share it digitally, and more. Well done!

Frequently Asked Questions about The Comic Maker

Why make comic strips.

They are a fun and engaging way for students to show what they know, and they are excellent visual tools. Our comic strip maker for students allows students to use characters, images, scenes, and speech bubbles to tell a story. When they create art rather than typing or writing out a summary or essay, students hardly feel like they are working!

Can I make a comic book online?

Yes, you can! Storyboard That makes it simple to create comic strips and make your own comic book! Check out our images, scenes, characters, and so much more today!

What is a graphic novel maker?

A graphic novel is often synonymous with a comic strip or book. Our comic maker online makes it simple to create either from scratch! Check out our graphic novel templates and comic strip templates to help you get started!

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'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean?

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When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers.

ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form .

How to create your own comic books with AI

You've dreamed of becoming a comic book artist but you lack one important skill, namely the ability to draw. Well, now AI can fulfill those dreams for you. Available as a space through Hugging Factory, the AI Comic Factory will design comic book pages for you based on your descriptions.

Also: We're not ready for the impact of generative AI on elections

Describe the scenario you envision, choose a style, and then select a layout. You can even opt to add captions. In response, the AI will create the necessary panels to form an entire page. You can then produce one page after another and save or print each page. Here's how it works.

How to use AI to generate comic book panels and pages

1. enter a description of the scene and story.

Fire up your favorite browser and head to the AI Comic Factory page . First, type a description of the scene and story you want to create. Think of the characters you'd like to appear in your story, whether that be people, animals, creatures, superheroes, or aliens. Then, come up with a scenario to describe their actions, such as fighting, eating, or dancing. You can also describe the location of the scene and have it take place in a restaurant, on top of a building, or even in outer space. 

Also: How to use DALL-E 2 to turn your ideas into AI-generated art

Furthermore, your description will likely vary depending on how many pages your comic book will contain. If you're generating just one page, you'll want to include all the elements in your description. If you're planning a multipage comic, describe the opening scene for the first page and then build upon it with subsequent pages.

Enter a description of the scene and story.

2. Choose the style

Next, choose the style. On the left, click the dropdown menu, which uses American (modern) as the default style. You can change the style to Japanese, Flying saucer, Humanoid, 3D, Medieval, and Egyptian, among others. Each style offers a unique look and aesthetic, so you might want to play around with different ones to see which will work best for your story.

Choose the style.

3. Choose the layout

Next, click the dropdown menu for Layout. Here, the site offers four unique layouts, each with a different number of panels of varying sizes. Experiment with each layout to see which one you like best. If you're creating multiple pages, you should also vary the layout from page to page.

Choose the layout.

4. Opt for captions

Next, you can choose to add captions that appear at the top of each panel. The captions serve to describe or define the scene taking place and can add to the flow and readability of each panel.

Also: How to use Stable Doodle AI to transform your doodles into artwork

By default, the AI may also add dialogue balloons in certain panels, though you have no control over this. The dialogue consists of just gibberish text, so it's more of a visual element to make the pages seem like they're from a real comic book.

Opt for captions.

5. Generate the page

When you're ready, click the Go button at the far right. You may need to wait a minute or two for all the panels to appear. You'll eventually see the entire page with all the panels in the layout you chose. Use the slider on the right if you wish to zoom in and out.

Generate the page.

6. Change the page

If you're happy with the page and layout, great. If not, take this opportunity to change any of the elements, such as the style or layout. If necessary, click the Go button after you've made your changes to regenerate the page.

Change the page.

7. Print the page

Click the Print button at the bottom to view a preview of the printed page. Set any specific options for your printer, such as two-sided printing. Then, print your page.

Print the page.

8. Save the page

Click the Save button to save your page as a JPG file. You can then open the file in any image editing software if you want to modify it. 

Also: How to get a perfect face swap using Midjourney AI

Here, you can also replace any gibberish text in a dialogue balloon with real text if you'd like your characters to speak within the context of the story.

Save the page.

9. Continue with your comic book

If you plan to create a multipage comic book, continue with the second page. Create the description using the same characters if you wish, but alter the scenario to move the story along. You'll probably want to keep the style the same but switch the layout to vary the look of it.

Continue with your comic book.

10. Create your comic book

When you're done, you can print all the pages and put them together to fashion your own printed comic.

To create a digital version instead, save each page as a JPG file. Then, convert each JPG to a PDF file using Adobe's free online conversion tool . Alternatively, click the Print button on the AI Comic Factory page, choose the destination, and then select the option for Save to PDF. You can then use another free tool from Adobe to merge each individual PDF into one large file.

Create your comic book.

Disclaimer:  You should consider the legal consequences (e.g. copyright) of using AI-generated images before implementing them into your work.    

How to use AI to create a logo for free

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Invoice Included with Returned Graded Comics 1 1

Started by Tazman4151 , Friday at 01:57 AM

2 posts in this topic

I recently sent in my first two submissions, really cool.  One of the boxes included an invoice, which is confusing to me as I believed everything had been paid for.  I am pretty sure if I owed any money then the books would not have been shipped back to me graded.  But as this is my first time, just want to make sure.  It looks to be for fees for insurance?  If I do owe, can it be paid online or do I have to mail it in.  Thank you for your consideration.

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Hello @Tazman4151 ,

These invoices are created at the beginning of the submission process before accounting has processed payment. This invoice goes through the entire submission process with the books as another one of the proceedures we follow so there is never a question of who the books belong to. Sorry for the confusion this may have caused.

Let us know if you have any other questions.

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Best Live Action Versions Of Comic Characters

• Movie adaptations sometimes need to make changes to comic book characters to fit into live-action films successfully.
• Characters like Vulture, Star-Lord, and Harley Quinn were transformed for the big screen with positive results and relatable stories.
• Heath Ledger's Joker performance in The Dark Knight was a defining portrayal that incorporated contemporary fears into the character.

Translating something from the printed page into live action is always a challenge. Comic book characters normally exist in a heightened reality, one where the laws of physics are different from the real world, and bringing them into live action requires filmmakers to adapt these characters in a particular way. Some of these transitions from page to screen are seamless, such as Iron Man, Batman, Captain America, and Loki. However, some comic book heroes require a few tweaks.

10 Marvel Games That Are The Most Faithful To The Comic Books

The fact that the characters that fans see on the screen are so different from those from the comic books doesn't always mean that the original character was bad. All it means is that the director and writers have had to alter the characters to help them transition into live action. Most of the time, it works out surprisingly well.

An Aging Villain With A Real World Goal

• Portrayed by Michael Keaton
• First Appearance: Spider-Man: Homecoming

It seems likely that there are very few people in the real world who can identify with the Spider-Man villain , The Vulture, as he appears in the comics. This version of Adrian Toomes is an elderly man who chooses to use his newfound superpowers to commit crime but is stopped by the teenage Peter Parker. His character rarely goes further than acting as a small-time crook who can fly, which is why the MCU decided to update his character in Spider-Man: Homecoming.

In this movie, Michael Keaton plays a version of Toomes, a working-class man who has his business shut down by Tony Stark. In response to this, he decides to use the technology he has found to start stealing in order to provide for his family. This change not only helps Vulture fit into this version of the Marvel universe, but it also makes him a relatable character to the audience. The translation into a man just trying to support his family is one that resonates with many people.

Peter Quill / Star-Lord

Marvel's cosmic goofball.

• Portrayed by Chris Pratt
• First Appearance: Guardians of the Galaxy

One of the biggest advantages afforded to Marvel when adapting the Guardians of the Galaxy into live-action, of course, was the fact that very few people knew who the Guardians were before the movie came out in 2014. Such a movie cost the studio brand recognition when promoting the movie, but it also allowed James Gunn and his creative team to translate the team from the comics in ways that they thought were best.

Guardians Of The Galaxy: 10 Things You Might Not Know About Star-Lord

As everyone now knows, this risk paid off, and Marvel now has access to a team of lovable space goofs in their universe. However, the team is far more serious in the comics. Many of the characters in this movie were tweaked slightly to transition into live-action, but Peter Quill was changed completely. The face of the movie was transformed from a blank slate of a hero into a highly relatable human with many flaws.

Malcolm Merlyn

A dark archer with a personal connection to oliver queen.

• Portrayed by John Barrowman
• First Appearance: Arrow (Season 1, Episode 4: "An Innocent Man")

CW's Arrow started out by giving DC's Green Arrow a much more grounded TV show. This made sense given how Oliver Queen is a vigilante with no superpowers, but the show would become more fantastical as it introduced spin-offs, including The Flash and Legends of Tomorrow . However, the villain the writers used for the first season had to be someone who could be grounded in reality.

The choice the showrunners made was to include Malcolm Merlyn as an evil business leader and the father of Oliver Queen's best friend. However, Merlyn would don his dark archer costume in secret to battle the Green Arrow before revealing his evil plan. Anyone who goes on to read the comics after watching the show may be in for a surprise, as Merlyn the Dark Archer on the page is nothing more than a crazed member of The League of Assassins with no personal connection to the titular hero. As a result, the change the showrunners went with makes Merlyn a much more realistic and interesting character.

Harley Quinn

The joker's cartoon girlfriend.

• Portrayed by Margot Robbie
• First Appearance: Suicide Squad

One of the most difficult things about bringing Harley Quinn into live action is the fact that the character originally debuted as a cartoon character in Batman: The Animated Series. This means that the acrobatic jester girlfriend of The Joker was already existing in a heightened reality. Regardless, Harley Quinn still made her way into the live-action Suicide Squad movie in 2016, and she has been played by Margot Robbie ever since.

The Harley Quinn that appears in the DC Universe is still very much like the one from the comics and animated shows. Everything from her look, voice, and origins are perfectly recaptured, but this new version is depicted as far more tragic. Her toxic relationship with the Joker is highlighted in a very negative way, and she is able to move on and stand as a vigilante in her own right as a result.

Heath Ledger Provides A Definitive Performance

• Portrayed by Heath Ledger
• First Appearance: The Dark Knight

The Joker is Batman's main nemesis, a character who has taken on many forms in various media since the 1940s. Sometimes, this villain will appear as a comical clown, and other times, he will be presented as a violent psychopath. However, the version that most people are familiar with is the one played by Heath Ledger in The Dark Knight.

Batman: All Live-Action Jokers, Ranked

This version of Joker still keeps his psychopathic and violent tendencies; he is obsessed with breaking Batman by making him kill. However, the creatives behind this movie decided to incorporate these traits with people's fears at the time. The result was a version of The Joker who was a mysterious terrorist with no true plan or origin. The writing and Ledger's performance as this character have helped this version transcend everything that came before.

A Character No One Knew

• Portrayed by John Cena
• First Appearance: The Suicide Squad

It is hard for anyone in the modern age to avoid Peacemaker . This highly patriotic DC character first appeared in live-action in The Suicide Squad and also received a spin-off solo TV series. As a result, audiences are now familiar with the gun-toting and brutish version of this anti-hero who only wants to do good. Both James Gunn's vision for this character and John Cena's performance have created something unique in the modern superhero landscape, but Peacemaker wasn't always this likable.

Peacemaker was originally a comic book character that was created by Charlton Comics before the company was bought out by DC. Many of the characters from this publisher eventually faded away, Peacemaker included, and the man with the silver helmet rarely had anything of note to do in his comic appearances. Therefore, Warner Bros. was free to create a completely new version of Peacemaker in live-action when the time came.

Hugh Jackman Is Synonymous With The Short Canadian

• Portrayed by Hugh Jackman
• First Appearance: X-Men

Wolverine has been a long-standing icon in both movies and comic books. The mutant with the claws and healing capabilities originally debuted in the comics as a Hulk villain but was eventually folded into the X-Men in the 70s when that series was rebooted. On the page, Logan is short, aggressive, and hairy, with little time for the more heroic members of the mutant team. This portrayal was even brought over into X-Men: The Animated Series in 1992. That is why many fans raised their eyebrows when Hugh Jackman was cast in the role for the movie.

Hugh Jackman originally had a musical background, and he is also over six feet tall. Such a look clashed with the source material, yet his performance made fans new and old love his take on the character. Jackman's Wolverine is still a gruff mutant, but he is closer in tone to a more traditional action hero. All of this makes him perfect in the role, and one of the best reworkings of a character from page to screen.

7 Best Comic Book Movies That Released In 2022, Ranked

Every Spider-Man Comic Currently Running

Exploring Spider-Man's latest adventures, Marvel treats the Web-slinger's fans to thrilling comics every week.

Quick Links

Current spider-man comics, new spider-man comics.

Branching off with Spectacular Spider-Man in 1968, Marvel began using multiple comic series to tell Spider-Man's story. Both the original comic, The Amazing Spider-Man , and the newer series followed Peter Parker's adventures — each offering a unique glimpse into the young hero's life.

By running multiple comic series a month, Marvel could deliver more Spider-Man content to eager fans and tell several adventures simultaneously. This trend continued over the decades, and soon Marvel created comic series for the Web-Slinger's allies and enemies. From Miles Morales: Spider-Man to Venom , Spidey's fans have tons of excellent comics to look forward to every month.

Updated on May 6, 2024 by John Dodge: This list has been updated with the latest Spider-Man comic issues from the various Spider-Man comic series, including upcoming comic books from Marvel Comics.

Spider-Man Knows His Own Strength and it is Terrifying

Amazing spider-man (vol. 6) #48 reunites one of marvel comics' most dangerous power couples.

While Spider-Man has spent the past few months dealing with some of the biggest names in New York City's criminal underworld thanks to the recently concluded Gang War crossover event, he hasn't had much time to worry about his more esoteric enemies. As such, Ben Reilly and Janine Godbe have finally reunited, and all under the auspices of an even worse villain.

Not only are the deadly duo of Chasm and Hallow's Eve back together again , the murderous Queen Goblin herself is the one who organized their reunion in the first place. Now, all the pieces have fallen into place for the next step of the Queen Goblin's plot to begin, and what she has in store will forever change the lives of more than one iconic Spider-Man villain.

Carnage (Vol. 4) #6 Sends Marvel's Serial Killer Symbiote for a Ride Through Space and Time

Ever since Cletus Kasady and the Carnage symbiote parted ways, the two have discovered previously untold power through their respective delves into the true depths of what Marvel's symbiotes are capable of. And, since their gruesome reunion during the last epic battle between the Marvel Universe's premier serial killer symbiotes, the two have only gotten even stronger, so much so that they have even managed to finally remove Dylan Brock from the equation entirely.

Now that one symbiote superhero is no longer standing in its way, Carnage has once again left Cletus Kasady behind to embark on yet another crusade to become the greatest God Butcher of all time. In doing so, Carnage has discovered the fantastical realms in which Eddie's own journey as the King in Black has brought him. While that may mean Carnage has been left stranded among an infinite expanse of endless darkness, it also means he has infinite opportunities to come to understand the ethereal nature of the situation he is in and, with any luck, use it to continue wreaking havoc across space and time.

What If... Venom #3 Reinvents the Sorcerer Supreme in Horrifying Fashion

Over the past few months, What If... Venom has given readers a glimpse into a world not all that unlike the Marvel Universe they are used to. Save for the fact that Eddie Brock never got the chance to bond to the Venom symbiote, that is.

Instead, the likes of Jessica Walters, aka She-Hulk, and even Wolverine have found themselves forcefully bonded to the Venom symbiote. Along the way, the oozing alien has been hounded by all manner of hero and villain alike. Now, Venom has happened across the one host who might be able to change all of that, assuming it can manage to cling to the Sorcerer Supreme long enough for their bond to become permanent.

Symbiote Spider-Man 2099 #2 Officially Introduces the Future of Marvel Comics to Spider-Man 2.0

15 best quotes in spider-man: across the spider-verse.

Things were bad enough for Miguel O'Hara when he had to contend with his old foe Kron Stone, who not only escaped from prison, but rebonded to the Venom symbiote before facing off with the futuristic Web-Slinger. Thankfully, the introduction of an all-new symbiote now bonded to Miguel himself has more than leveled the playing field, albeit not as the Spider-Man of 2099 would have hoped.

Gaining a whole new set of powers courtesy of this similarly new symbiote is one thing, but Miguel O'Hara is far from prepared to maintain control over his alien other when things get heated. Of course, that doesn't mean that Miguel is so far gone that he has lost control to the symbiote completely. This does call into question just how long this self-proclaimed Spider-Man 2.0 is going to last , however, especially when Venom is still waiting on a rematch.

Venom (Vol. 5) #32 Brings All-Out Carnage to the Realm of Marvel's Kings in Black

In Eddie Brock's time as the King in Black, he has encountered all manner of scenarios that have made him question everything he knows about himself and the symbiotes of the Marvel Universe. Chief among these is the Garden of Time and its numerous other Kings in Black , all of whom are alternate versions of himself.

Though these other Eddies have been fine fighting among themselves for untold years, the entire landscape of the Garden of Time has been demonstrably changed now that Carnage has set foot within its bounds. By cutting his way through Dylan Brock's chest, Carnage has gained access to everything that the Symbiote Hive and its associated realms has to offer, and there is nothing any King in Black can do to stop what the serial killer symbiote has planned for them.

Spider-Man: Shadow of the Green Goblin #1 Rewrites the History of Marvel Comics' Goblins

Sony’s spider-verse is better off without spider-man.

Spider-Man: Shadow of the Green Goblin brings readers back to one of the most iconic eras in the entirety of the Wall-Crawler's more than six-decade history. At only fifteen years old, Peter Parker was just beginning his career as a hero, all while the foundation of his future nemesis was being painfully built on another previously unseen Marvel villain's back.

This new character, Nels Van Adder, has been described as the "Proto-Goblin" compared to Norman Osborn's later transformation into the infamous Green Goblin. Though little is known about Van Adder at the series' outset, it is clear that he has disturbingly close ties to Oscorp which are sure to be revealed as the villain continues to come into conflict with the still budding young Spider-Man.

Spectacular Spider-Men #2 Only Leave More Questions Regarding Its Ongoing Mystery

10 best edge of spider-verse issues.

Although Peter Parker and Miles Morales have been a fan-favorite pairing for years, they haven't been nearly as close in recent months as they are now in the pages of Spectacular Spider-Men . After events such as the rise of Benjamin Rabin and Marvel's Gang War crossover drove a wedge between them, the two Spider-Men are finally back in action together.

Unfortunately, both Spider-Men already in over their heads. Despite their every intention to avoid trouble, Peter and Miles' unlikely relationship with the likes of Miles Warren, better known as the Jackal, has seen them embroiled in a mystery involving burnt corpses, street-level villains, and rabid clones alike. Worse still, neither of them is anywhere close to fully understanding the stakes at hand, nor the true threat lurking at the heart of it all.

Miles Morales: Spider-Man (Vol. 2) #19 Finishes His Fight Against His Worst Enemy

10 best spider-man comic series outside marvel’s 616.

Ever since Raneem Rashad began her murderous crusade as the technopathic villain known as Rabble , it was clear that she was willing to cross any necessary line if it meant getting closer to destroying Miles Morales. Now, the young Spider-Man has been put in a position where the only way to save himself is to be willing to cross those same lines, and he is done holding back.

Of course, it isn't just Miles Morales' whose life is on the line. Over the course of their ongoing battle, Rabble has taken control over Agent Gao and her team of government-sanctioned Cape Killers. She has also supercharged their powers to the point that a single misstep could be the difference between life and death, and the only thing any of them can do about it is hope they don't lose their lives in the crossfire before Miles can put Rabble down one last time.

Spider-Punk: Arms Race #3 is the Biggest Fight of Hobie Brown's Life

Spider-Punk: Arms Race kicked off with a bang when the titular hero and his fellow anarchist superheroes had to contend with a new model of Spider-Slayer Sentinel. Thankfully, Hobie and his allies were more than capable of holding their own against one giant robot, although that doesn't mean they are ready to similarly dismantle the man behind the machine.

Towering mechanized menaces and a rampaging Rhino may have been another day's work for Spider-Punk, but Doctor Otto Oktavius is another matter entirely. It isn't just that this Doc Ock is that much more powerful or cunning than the heroes, either. Instead, it is the fact that the Spider-Slayer Sentinel the heroes already defeated was only the beginning of what Doc Ock has in store, and his latest is far greater than anything Spider-Punk has seen before.

Ultimate Spider-Man (Vol. 3) #4 Sets the Tone for the New Peter Parker's Future

Spider-man: the animated series deserved a revival more than x-men.

The world of Earth-6160 has made major waves with readers and fans since its debut in the pages of Ultimate Invasion . Apart from the fact that this all new reality is effectively a blank slate unto itself, its heroes and villains are still figuring out exactly what their place in it means for them, let alone which side of that line they stand on.

This means that, in spite of a complete lack of action within the pages of Ultimate Spider-Man #4, its contents are still just as exciting as any explosive battle could be. Focused around a dinner date between Peter, Mary Jane, Harry Osborn, and the newly introduced Earth-6160 version of Gwen Stacy, Ultimate Spider-Man #4 sets the tone for what the relationships between these characters will look like going forward. More importantly, it sets the tone for what kind of hero this world's Peter Parker intends on becoming , and all without ever slinging a single web.

Edge of Spider-Verse (Vol. 4) #3 Brings a Future Cosmic Hero Into the Fold

Like so many other Spider-Verse stories before it, Edge of Spider-Verse #3 introduces a brand new hero to the Marvel Universe. And, just as fans have come to expect, the Star-Spider is just as capable as any of her predecessors when it comes to saving the world from superpowered invaders.

Persephone Parker isn't the only Spider-Totem to take center stage in the pages of Edge of Spider-Verse #3, however. Cooper Coen, better known as the fan-favorite Web-Weaver, is also back in action in a story that highlights just how extensive his short-lived career has already become in the time since he made his own debut in the previous volume of the very same anthology series.

Spider-Boy #6 Introduces New Layers to the Mystery of Madame Monstrosity

Bailey Briggs life certainly hasn't been easy, especially not after being relegated to abject obscurity on a near-universal basis thanks to the particularly peculiar circumstances surrounding his origin. To make matter worse, the young Spider-Boy has now fallen back into the clutches of the same villain who can't remember how she made him, and Madame Monstrosity will stop at nothing to rediscover her own secrets.

As bad as it is that Spider-Boy is once more at the mercy of his own worst enemy, his closest friend and only real confidant, Christina, has also been subjected to Madame Monstrosity's cruelty. Christina may not have any way of fighting back against her captor, but she does have a keen enough eye to begin putting together exactly how Madame Monstrosity's world workds, and that might just be the first step towards both unraveling the mystery surrounding the farm and escaping its bounds.

Spider-Woman (Vol. 8) #7 Continues Jessica Drew's West Coast Adventure

How harry osborn became an even more unsettling green goblin than his father.

Jessica Drew's life has been all but completely consumed by her search for her missing son, Gerry Drew. Upon discovering that he had been kidnapped and transformed into the villainous Green Mamba by Hydra, Jessica wasted no time in crossing the country in search of further answers as to what her enemies have next, although none of the villains she has faced along the way were the same ones she was expecting.

If a high-speed train battle with the Reality Stone empowered Star wasn't bad enough, Spider-Woman has unwittingly walked into the middle of yet another sprawling mystery. This time, the real estate firm known as Echidna is at the center of the Spider-Woman's questions, and their very own team of budding young corporate-sponsored superheroes don't make things look any better.

Superior Spider-Man (Vol. 3) #6 Forces Doctor Octopus to Confront His Own Harshest Truths

Otto Octavius and Peter Parker's uneasy partnership in the face of the wrath of Estrella Lopez, now known as Supernova, hasn't been made any easier by the former's attempts to once again claim control over the latter's physical form. Thankfully, Spider-Man has managed to keep his unlikely ally from doing any irreparable harm so far, though there is nothing he can do to keep Doctor Octopus from slipping back into his old habits.

Even with the fates of thousands of lives in the balance, including that of his beloved Anna Marcia Marconi, Doctor Octopus is utterly incapable of doing anything unless it directly benefits him in some way. As a result, it has once again fallen on Spider-Man to clean up one of his worst enemy's increasingly dire disasters. And, while Peter isn't alone in saving New York City from one of Otto Octavius' worst mistakes, another is already beginning to take hold in its stead.

Jackpot & Black Cat #2

While there is something to be said about Mary Jane Watson's relatively rocky transformation into a superpowered hero, there is no question as to how much she has proven herself in the short time since. Unfortunately, that doesn't mean she is ready to take on the kinds of threat that she and the Black Cat have been engulfed by, especially not when it might be pitting them against one another.

As Mary Jane continues to find her footing as the superhero Jackpot , Felicia Hardy is doing everything she can to keep her best friend distracted enough that she won't notice what the Black Cat is up to behind the scenes. Luckily, neither of them have come to any great harm because of that deception, although it is sure to be just a matter of time before the truth comes out to drive a wedge between the two.

April, 2024:

• Spider-Gwen: The Ghost-Spider #1 - April 10th, 2024
• Kid Venom #1 - April 17th, 2024

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9 places to nosh on bagels in southern Maine

From old-school spots to foodie favorites, there's a 'hole' lot to try.

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Bread and bagels at The Works Cafe in downtown Portland. Photo by Aimsel Ponti

From New York-style boiled bagels to Montreal-inspired wood-fired ones, there’s lots of great bagels in southern Maine and several shops have the accolades to back that up.

In 2023, Bon Appetit named bagels from Rose Foods and Rover Bagel among the best in the country.

Two years before that,  Food & Wine Magazine put Rover, Forage and Scratch Baking Co. on its list of best bagels in the U.S.

Whether you like yours toasted with cream cheese or as the bread for your breakfast sandwich, you can find plenty of styles and flavors from Biddeford to Brunswick.

BEACH BAGELS

The offerings at Beach Bagels include a French toast and marble bagel, and the cream cheese menu comprises spreads like strawberry, olive and honey walnut. Along with breakfast sandwiches, Beach Bagels has hearty breakfast options like omelets and pancakes. Best of all, you’re steps away from a beach stroll. Just don’t let the seagulls steal your bagel. Advertisement

WHEN: 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily WHERE: 34 Old Orchard St., Old Orchard Beach. beachbagels.yolasite.com ______________

Dutchman’s opened in 2022 as a pop-up housed at Nomad pizza in Brunswick’s Fort Andross building. It’s since become a permanent fixture there and uses the pizzeria’s wood-fired ovens to bake its bagels. The hand-shaped, honey-boiled bagels come in plain, roasted garlic, poppy and a bagel-of-the-day flavor.

WHEN: 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Thursday to Sunday WHERE: Fort Andross, 14 Maine St., Brunswick. dutchmans.me ______________

FORAGE MARKET

Making bagels at Forage Market involves a two-day aging process. The bagels are naturally leavened with wild yeast starter and baked next to a hardwood fire. There are usually five flavors available, including sesame and garlic. Breakfast sandwiches (including vegan options) are available. Forage also has a location in Lewiston. Advertisement

WHEN: 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Monday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday and Sunday WHERE: 123 Washington Ave., Portland. foragemarket.com _____________

MISTER BAGEL

There are 10 or so Mister Bagel locations in Maine, including South Portland and Falmouth. It all began with the Portland location, which was the first bagel shop to open in Maine. The late Rick Hartglass started Mister Bagel in 1977, and it is still a family business. Music fans will appreciate the breakfast sandwich menu, which includes The David Bowie (bacon, egg and American cheese), the Jimmy Buffett (egg with roast beef and cheddar) and The Lady Gaga (avocado, salt and pepper, with or without egg).

WHEN: 6:30 a.m. to noon Monday to Friday, 7 a.m. to noon Saturday and Sunday WHERE: 599 Forest Ave., Portland. misterbagelforestave.com ______________

At Rose Foods, the menu varies depending on the day, but there are usually six to eight flavors available. For example, should you pop in on a Friday, you’ll find a poppy and onion bialy (a cousin of the bagel that is not boiled). Rose Foods also makes a number of bagel sandwiches, including the Classic Nova with Nova lox and the Classic Whitefish. Advertisement

WHEN: 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. daily WHERE: 428 Forest Ave., Portland. rosefoods.me

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ROVER BAGEL

At Rover Bagel, you’ll find wood-fired plain, poppy, sea salt, sesame and everything bagels available most of the time, and the spread game here is strong with cream cheese options like lemon-thyme-honey cream and chili-garlic.

WHEN: 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday to Friday, 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday, 8 a.m. to noon Sunday WHERE: 10 West Point Lane Suite 10-204, Biddeford (Pepperell Mill). roverbagel.com

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SCRATCH BAKING CO.

You haven’t lived until you’ve experienced the line of devoted fans waiting for Scratch Baking Co. to open, especially on weekend mornings. Along with the popular Maine sea salt, plain and other everyday flavors, Scratch has a daily special bagel. There’s honeyed rosemary on Wednesday and jalapeno cheddar on Thursday. Scratch is also famous, at least to locals, for its P-Cheese spread. It’s a pimento cheese recipe made with cheddar, mayo, roasted red peppers and seasoning and was passed down to co-owner and head baker Allison Reid by her grandmother, Mern.

WHEN: 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday, 7 a.m. to noon Sunday WHERE: 416 Preble St., South Portland. scratchbakingco.com ___________

THE MAINE BAGEL

The Maine Bagel is a drive-thru with several breakfast and other kinds of sandwiches available. With a bagel list that features egg and bialy among the standards, the family-owned spot is the perfect place to stop on your way to Pine Point Beach. The Maine Bagel really shines with a dozen kinds of cream cheese spreads, including raisin-walnut, lox, strawberry, cranberry-nut and bacon-chive.

WHEN: 6:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. Tuesday to Friday, 7 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturday. WHERE: 117 Route 1, Scarborough. themainebagel.com Advertisement

THE WORKS CAFE

The Works Cafe is an institution on the edge of the Portland’s Old Port. It opened in 1990 as Bagel Works before it changed its name in 2002. The original shop in this regional chain opened in Manchester, Vermont, in 1988, and there are 11 locations around New England, though just the one in Maine. Gone are the ’90s-era banana-walnut bagels and cold pizza cream cheese, but The Works Cafe is still a reliable place to grab a salt, multigrain or cinnamon raisin bagel, among others. The menu also has bowls, sandwiches and smoothies.

WHEN: 6 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily WHERE: 15 Temple St., Portland. workscafe.com

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