Working Methods: Comic Creators Detail Their Storytelling And Artistic Processes

by John Lowe, Mark Schultz, Scott Hampton

Professional comic artists interpret scripts every day as they successfully transform the written word into the visual form. However, rarely do we get to examine the process that is unique to each artist. Unlike any other "how-to" book, Working Methods puts the minds of comic artists under the microscope, highlighting the intricacies of the creative process step by step. For this book, three short scripts are each interpreted in different ways by professional comic artists to illustrate the varied ways in which they "see" and "solve" the problem of making a script succeed in comic form. Working Methods documents the creative and technical choices Mark Schultz, Tim Levins, Jim Mahfood, Scott Hampton, Kelsey Shannon, Chris Brunner, Sean Murphy and Pat Quinn make as they tell a story, thus allowing comic fans, artists, instructors, and students into a world rarely explored. Hundreds of illustrated examples document the artists' processes, and interviews clarify their individual approaches regarding storytelling and layout choices. In Working Methods, the exercise may be simple, but the results are profoundly complex.

Genres: Comics, Art, Nonfiction

176 pages, Paperback

First published June 20, 2007

Reviews

[Kathleen · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is founded on a really good idea: take a comic script, have some pro comics artists each interpret the script in their own way, and then interview them about their process. It's really interesting hearing how artists like Jim MaFood and others tackle the project and its *especially* interesting seeing multiple different interpretations of the same script. I feel like I've been learning alot from this book.

The 2 things I would like if I could improve this book would be 1) to have more of an instructional format instilled: treat the reader a little more like a student and frame the script like an assignment for the student to try tackling, *before* we see how the pro handles it. This book was originally developed as the result of a curriculum so I feel like it may as well ride that wave. And 2) I'd have liked to see fewer scripts and more artists per script: some scripts have 2 and some have 3 different artists drawing it, I feel like if it were 4 or 5 artists drawing each, then the variety of different ways to interpret each script, and also the areas where there's not as much space for interpretation.

But overall, this book is really unique and worthwhile and I'm really glad to have stumbled across it. I'd recommend this to any students of comics or anyone interested in the industry: it really gives some insights into the artists' process and other practical concerns within the industry.

[Parka · Rating 4 out of 5]

(More pictures at parkablogs.com)

The same script, when in the hands of different comic artists, are interpreted differently. With Working methods, author John Lowe has invited artists to interpret 3 scripts in this book, with an Q&A interview to look at their creative process.

The artists are Mark Schultz, Tim Levins, Jim Mahfood, Scott Hampton, Kelsey Shannon, Chris Brunner, Sean Murphy and Pat Quinn.

The artists talk about how they do compositions with respect to the script, finding and building reference materials, penciling, inking, lettering, and sometimes a little bit about their career in drawing. There's always something interesting to read about each artist. Such as Scott Hampton preference for printed reference over Internet reference because of resolution differences (but hey, there are lots of high res stuff out there today).

This book is recommended for comic artists looking to refine their storytelling techniques or searching for inspiration.

[Lindy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love that this book takes examples of short scripts and then has several different comic artists interpret and produce their own comic from that script. Interviews with the artists help the reader understand their creative process from start to finish. I not only enjoyed this book, but learned a lot from it.