Tutorials on the process of making a graphic novel?

February 8, 2009 12:35 PM

I would like to read graphic artists' accounts of their work process, like Kazu Kibuishi's walk-through of the making of Copper. Discussions of favorite pens or art supplies or studio setup also very welcome.

Really, I would appreciate any guide to the making of a graphic novel. I own Scott McCloud's Making Comics.

posted by Tufa to Media & Arts (3 answers total)

Not graphic-novel specific, but mefite woodblock100, a woodblock printmaker in Japan, has an awesome site that lays out how he does what he does. I've gotten lost there for hours, and I'm not even a graphic arts person (I can appreciate, but not create).
posted by rtha at 2:56 PM on February 8, 2009

Hopefully it's not too late to chime in. To start, here's a short little tutorial by the Rice Boy webcomic guy. For layout and stylistic ideas I'd recommend 99 ways to tell a story. Drawing Words and Writing Pictures and What it Is are two more excellent books on creating graphic novels, the former about more nuts and bolts creation and the latter more about the creative comic-making process. I would also recommend Will Eisner's Sequential Art Principles as a good classic.

Lastly, a few books on more technical side of things: Japanese Comickers has a good range of tutorials/overviews on things like what supplies various artists use, and in general examples of how it can be done (layout and such.) (Don't be scared off by the title, it's also very applicable to general comics) and in the same vein I also liked Pen & Ink, which is about, well, pen and inking.
posted by tachikoma_robot at 9:54 AM on February 12, 2009

Just saw this now... hopefully you're still following this thread.

I'd second "Making Comics," but if you'd be interested in reading my techniques for making comics (more like my take on time-honored techniques), please take a look here, where you'll find a series of tutorials I wrote.
posted by jpburns at 8:54 AM on February 22, 2009