How Are Comic Books Created?

Script Development

Every comic begins with a written script. This differs from a screenplay or short story in that information on a panel's look and sequence are included within a comic book script. Good comics scripts must be developed with the visual in mind. Sometimes a writer writes a loose outline of the plot and then gives a script to an artist to interpret into panels. Other times, the writer alone plans how the story will be told on the page and includes detailed instructions on panel breakdown, point of view and visual rhythm for the artist to follow.

Pencils & Inking

Once a script has been established, the story is penciled. An artist creates rough sketches of each page for later finalization in ink. The penciling stage is where issues of layout and visualization are decided. Traditionally, a non-photo blue pencil is used to eliminate the need to erase graphite and ease the reproduction process.

When all comic book pages are penciled, the art is then inked. This process involves tracing over and simplifying the rough pencil sketches to create distinct and easily reproduced line art. Although modern printing techniques and graphics software have made it possible for penciled pages to be reproduced without ink, there is often still a need to clarify sketched art. Digital enhancement of pencils is still referred to as inking. It is also common for the pencil and ink stages of comic book creation to be done by hand, with later stages saved for computer rendering.

Lettering

Traditionally, the text and dialogue in comic books were written by hand in a technique known as lettering. Today it is more common for this aspect to be handled almost exclusively in the computer, although artists must still plan for where the text will fit on the page and the visual look of speech bubbles. Because the lettering process was traditionally done in ink before color, it is often done sequentially after the inks are finished.

Coloring

As with most aspects of comic book production, jobs that used to be divided between several people can now be condensed in the computer. So it is with coloring. Most comic books are colored digitally after scanning in hand-drawn pencils or inked pages. Sometimes, this aspect of production is still handled by a separate colorist, although some comic book artists now handle all stages of development individually. In some cases, a colorist will create a mock-up of the colored page by hand to serve as a guide for digital coloring.

Printing & Distribution

Once a comic book is completed, the art must be interpreted for printing. Colors are separated into the four colors of cyan, magenta, yellow and black based on the printing technique. Hand-drawn pages are typically scaled down for reproduction according to the final book size. Once the comics are printed, the books are distributed and sold.

References

• Silver-Surfer: How Comics Are Made
• The Blurb: How Comics Are Made
• Bolt City's Copper Comic Step-by-Step

Resources

• Scott McCloud
• Blambot Comic Fonts and Lettering