How Comics Work

In Eisner Award–nominated How Comics Work, Dave Gibbons offers a class in creating comic books. Learn scriptwriting, page layouts, lettering, and more from the incredible artist behind Watchmen!

This “How It's Done” series reveals insider hints, tips, and tricks from one of the world’s greatest comic creators, all in his own words. The artist behind juggernauts like Watchmen and The Green Lantern, Dave Gibbons is here to teach you scriptwriting, page layouts, lettering, cover designs, and more, with scans of original artwork and rarely seen workings to illustrate his personal creative processes. 

How Comics Work covers both Gibbons' hand-drawn and digital design techniques in depth. An early adopter of computer design in comic creation, all his lettering is digital, and he even has his own “hand-lettered” font. This is your chance to gain insight to Gibbons' digital work, from his computer coloring and 3-D modelling with Angus McKie on Give Me Liberty, to his work on The Originals using digital grey tones. You’ll learn how he layers text for editing, creates effects such as flares and neon glows, and prepares artwork for print and online.
 
How Comics Work is everything you need to know to get started creating great comic books.

• Comic Book Lettering: The Comicraft Way
• The DC Comics Guide to Creating Comics: Inside the Art of Visual Storytelling
• The DC Comics Guide to Pencilling Comics
• Words for Pictures: The Art and Business of Writing Comics and Graphic Novels
• Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels
• Framed Perspective Vol. 1: Technical Perspective and Visual Storytelling
• Framed Drawing Techniques: Mastering Ballpoint Pen, Graphite Pencil, and Digital Tools for Visual Storytelling
• The Art of Comic Book Writing: The Definitive Guide to Outlining, Scripting, and Pitching Your Sequential Art Stories
• Graphic Storytelling and Visual Narrative (Will Eisner Instructional Books)
• Alan Moore's Writing For Comics Volume 1