How to Make a Comic With Indesign

Create your own complete comic book in InDesign

Adobe InDesign is a powerful desktop publishing and layout tool, and many of the world's foremost publishers use it for projects ranging from brochures to novels. Its integration with graphic-editing programs also makes it ideal for layout out comic books. Using some of the program's most basic functions, such as text and image frames, even beginning InDesign users can put together a professional looking comic book using original or borrowed art and words.

Things You'll Need

• Computer
• Adobe InDesign software
• Digital images of comic book cells

Instructions

1. Open InDesign and create a new "Document" from the welcome screen. Set your page size in the indicated fields of the "New Document" dialogue box and set a desired figure for margins. You can also set the number of pages for your comic, but you can always add or subtract later if you're as yet unsure of how many you will need.

2. Select the "Pages" palette to the right of your layout and click on "A-Master" which is where you can insert page elements that you will want on each and every page of your comic, such as page numbers, chapter titles, etc. Use the "Type Tool," one of the "Frame" tools, or one of the shape tools in the Tools Panel to the left of your layout to add elements to your master page. You can add page numbers by dragging out a text box using the "Type Tool" and then selecting "Type > Insert Special Character > Markers > Current Page Number."

3. Click on page 1 in the "Pages" palette. Create your image and text frames using the "Rectangle Frame" and "Type" tools respectively. Click and drag diagonally using these tools to set the frames. You can select and move frames around by selecting the "Selection Tool" from the Tools Panel and clicking on them and dragging them.

4. Insert your comic art and text into your laid out frames by selecting them with the "Selection Tool" and selecting "File > Place" from the application menu. Select the file containing the image or text you want to place from the resulting directory and click "Open" to place the file. You can resize the image within the frame using the "Direct Selection Tool" or resize the frame to the image by right-clicking on it ("Ctrl + click" for Mac) and selecting "Fitting > Fit Frame To Content."

5. Change font, size and other settings for your text by highlighting it using the "Type Tool" and adjusting the properties in the "Character" palette.

6. Add pages by clicking the "Create new page" icon at the bottom of the "Pages" palette and repeat steps 3 and 4 until your comic is complete. Save your comic by selecting "File > Save As" from the application menu, entering a name and location and clicking "Save."

References

• Adobe InDesign: Add basic page numbering
• Adobe InDesign: Create text frames
• Adobe InDesign: Place (import) graphics