So you want to make a comic book? But you’re not sure where to begin? Well don’t worry; I have some experience in the topic, as my company is currently in the stages of developing two comics. The first being a web serial to be released for free on my website, while the second is a more adult, mature comic, to be released as an eComic via PDF. I currently have three artists working on my books, and I serve as both the editor and the author, which often means I do all the framing and plot-work as well.
Okay, enough of that. You want to make a comic. The first thing you need to do is develop your concept. You want to make sure that not only does your concept fit your vision, but it is modified to apply to the industry standard and is marketable to your audience. See my other article on developing a book concept for more information on how to develop your concept.
After you’re satisfied with the concept for your new project, you should then begin laying out, in a notebook, a general plot outline for the first volume, also known as the first run. Consider it as if it is an outline for a book, before you move on to the story-board process. Make sure to divide the outline into “Issues” which should be akin to chapters in a book.
Now, you must develop your storyboard for your first issue. Do it by hand, draw out the actual boxes you want to appear on each page of the comic book. Determine how many pages it will take to tell the story of that issue, try to make every issue about 20 to 22 pages. Also, at this point, you should decide where advertisements for the book should go. At this point, you should make sure to include in your storyboard, a general sketch and outline of each frame, and be able to explain what is happening in each frame.
Next, you do an initial consultation with your artists and development team. You should scan a copy of your storyboard, and if need be, type up a guide to explain the individual frames. At this point, you need to be very, very firm with your development team. If they don’t deliver, you miss your deadline, and the project is bombed. So make sure everyone is clear on what their parts in this are, what their compensation is, and when deadlines are.
The first step is to do framing and story. Literally use drawing software to flesh out your frames, and insert text into them. Do this for every page that is going into the next issue, and establish any inks or colors that are involved with the frame. Also make sure to do any dialogue boxes or text boxes for your book.
Next, your initial artist does his character sketches, and concept sketches. Tell him or her to keep as much of these initial sketches as possible, so that you can use those as promotional materials. After he feels comfortable, he should immediately begin work on the interior art, so that way as to not lose the concept he developed in the sketch. After he is finished, apply inks.
After inking is done, if you are having a full-color comic, you should apply the color, and apply all final touches to frames, assuming you can afford to hire a colorer and other support artists. By this time, the final edit should be seemingly somewhat professional. By this point you should be working on a cover illustration, and deciding on secondary things such as ad placement and credits page.
After you’ve finished all that, you are ready for publication! All you need to do is either self publish, or find a company from which you can publish! I hope this guide has been helpful, and I hope you have success!
