How to Make a Comic Book in Photoshop
Making your own comic book in Photoshop can be a rewarding endeavor, intellectually and (in some cases) financially. Comics come in all shapes, sizes and varieties, and thanks to modern technology, the medium is more accessible than ever. If you have a story to tell or an opinion to share, a comic book may be the ideal way to attract an audience disinterested in more traditional media. Creating your own comic is easier than you think; simply follow the instructions below.
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Instructions
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Write the story. Every comic has a story, whether it's a tale of epic adventure or a recollection of teenage romance. The story is the most important part of the comic creation process because it determines what your characters will look like, what scenes you have to draw and the length of your finished work.
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Plan the layout. Before you begin drawing your comic, it's important to plan out each page in a process known as "thumbnailing." Thumbnails are small sketches, often hastily drawn, used to experiment with page layouts and ensure that the reader will be able to parse the page without difficulty. This process can be done within Photoshop or on a separate piece of paper.
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Draw the artwork. Create a new document in Photoshop. The size of a standard comic book page is 6.625 by 10.25 inches; set the dpi to 300 and choose CYMK color. Choose a default brush type. Create a new layer and begin sketching out the comic pages, following the designs from your thumbnails. The artwork can be rough at this stage; you'll clean it up later.
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Ink the artwork. Reduce the opacity of the sketched artwork layer to 40 percent and create a new layer above it; select the new layer. Use the brush tool to trace over your artwork, ignoring stray lines. Use long, steady strokes when tracing; to avoid shaky lines, pull the stylus or mouse toward you rather than pushing away.
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Color the artwork. Create a layer beneath the inked artwork. Choose a part of your art that you want to color, select the magic wand tool and click inside the white space. Open the "Select" menu, scroll down to "Modify" and choose "Expand"; expand the selection by 2 pixels. Select your desired color from the color palette and use the "Fill" command (Control+F in Windows, Command+F in OS X). Repeat as necessary. Use the Lasso tool to add shading by selecting smaller areas to fill. Save the page when complete and begin work on a new one.
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Publish the finished comic. You have a number of options for publishing your work. You can print, bind and distribute them on your own, seek the services of a local print shop or scan and upload them to a website. If you want a physical copy of your finished work, the simplest solution is to use a print-on-demand service, such as Lulu (see Resources below).
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Tips & Warnings
Some artists prefer to complete the sketching, inking and/or coloring processes on traditional media and scan their artwork into Photoshop for further editing. Experiment with different procedures to find one that works best for you.
Experiment with different line widths; a good rule of thumb is to use thicker widths for outlines and thin lines for detail.
