In compiling the Third Edition of How to Draw and Sell Comic Strips, it quickly became apparent that it would not be possible to find space for all the picture material I wanted to include. This was made worse because the space allocated to History had been reduced from the First and Second Editions of the book, perhaps fairly. There had been some comment at Amazon.com that in the earlier editions perhaps too much energy had been expended on the History of the artform. I, of course, disagree with that view. It's essential to have at least some understanding of the history of comics if it's a field you want to make a living in, if only to learn from the past mistakes of others. However, these days we have an Internet and it's now much easier to make available material that has been squeezed out of a print publication by offering it on a supporting web site. Which is what I'm doing here. So enjoy the material we didn't have room for in How to Draw and Sell Comic Strips, material that should help illustrate my points more fully.
     

Contents
Chapter 1 - The History of Comics
The Newspaper
The Golden Age of Comics
The Silver Age of Comics
The Bronze Age of Comics
The Modern Age of Comics

Chapter 2 - Basic Elements
Comic Covers
The Figure
The Figure in Motion
Perspective
Lighting

Chapter 3 - Storytelling
Understanding the Story
The Panel
Laying Out the Page
Putting it on Paper

Chapter 4 - Drawing the Story
What is Pencilling?
What to Draw
The Characters

  Illustration of the book cover  

Facial Expressions and Body Language
Props
Backgrounds and Composition
What is Inking?
Mastering Textures

Chapter 5 - Lettering and Colouring
Hand Lettering
Balloons
Display Lettering
Traditional Colouring Techniques
Digital Colouring

Chapter 6 - Selling Your Work
Commercial Considerations
Your First Professional Job
Staying Creative
Self-publishing
Publishing Online

 

 
     
 
Click on image to see unpublished version of cover
 
     
 
Copyright © 2006 The Story Works | Contact | Other sites hosted by TheStoryWorks