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The Complete Idiot's Guide to Creating a Graphic Novel
Tools for creating the next great graphic novel!
What do the movies Men In Black , Road to Perdition , Ghost World , and X-Men all have in common? Each started out as a graphic novel-one of the fastest growing segments of the book publishing industry. Now, here is the first book to provide a comprehensive and detailed look at the process involved in creating a successful graphic novel.
What do the movies Men In Black , Road to Perdition , Ghost World , and X-Men all have in common? Each started out as a graphic novel-one of the fastest growing segments of the book publishing industry. Now, here is the first book to provide a comprehensive and detailed look at the process involved in creating a successful graphic novel.
352 pages, Paperback
First published July 6, 2004
7 people are currently reading
173 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 6, 2010
Nat Gertler and Steve Lieber's "Idiot's Guide to Creating a Graphic Novel" starts off with a fantastic essay explaining that "Graphic Novel" is the new way to say "Comic Book" so that it doesn't scare off potential readers who think comics are for kids. It's utterly fantastic.
From there, the book tries to cover every aspect of putting together a comic without going into the depth that one might like. We touch on plotting here, scripting there, dialog over here, and penciling, inking, and colors over yonder. The main takeaway from this book is that comics are time consuming to make.
Do not be dissuaded though -- if you're really interested writing (or handling artistic duties) for comics, I mean, Graphic Novels, then you should welcome thoughts, tips, opinions, and suggestions from anyone currently succeeding in the industry. One person's road to success may not be your own, so take all that you've learned and become a Super-Solider (ala Captain America) by combining the skills of others.
The high point of this big old book is that throughout Nat and Steve's explanations, they are building a comic with you. When they talk about plot, you see the rough outlines of their ideas. When we get to the scripting, you see the script that comes out of that plot, when they get to dialog we investigate the characters from the script and their motivations, and the pencils, inks, letters, and colors all come together to form the complete short story at the end. From a practicality standpoint, there's no better way to learn how comics are constructed than to watch it happen in front of you, and that's exactly what this Idiot's Guide provides.
While I would love to see these authors tackle a book on just the writing portion of comics, the one-stop-shop gives you great basic info.
They assume you have the talent and desire to make it in the comics industry, and in essence prepare you for what's to come. They'll open up a creative door for you, but you'll need to walk through it on your own.
From there, the book tries to cover every aspect of putting together a comic without going into the depth that one might like. We touch on plotting here, scripting there, dialog over here, and penciling, inking, and colors over yonder. The main takeaway from this book is that comics are time consuming to make.
Do not be dissuaded though -- if you're really interested writing (or handling artistic duties) for comics, I mean, Graphic Novels, then you should welcome thoughts, tips, opinions, and suggestions from anyone currently succeeding in the industry. One person's road to success may not be your own, so take all that you've learned and become a Super-Solider (ala Captain America) by combining the skills of others.
The high point of this big old book is that throughout Nat and Steve's explanations, they are building a comic with you. When they talk about plot, you see the rough outlines of their ideas. When we get to the scripting, you see the script that comes out of that plot, when they get to dialog we investigate the characters from the script and their motivations, and the pencils, inks, letters, and colors all come together to form the complete short story at the end. From a practicality standpoint, there's no better way to learn how comics are constructed than to watch it happen in front of you, and that's exactly what this Idiot's Guide provides.
While I would love to see these authors tackle a book on just the writing portion of comics, the one-stop-shop gives you great basic info.
They assume you have the talent and desire to make it in the comics industry, and in essence prepare you for what's to come. They'll open up a creative door for you, but you'll need to walk through it on your own.
October 30, 2017
I marked this as "not interested" for the simple reason that I don't consider myself an idiot, complete, incomplete, or otherwise.
December 31, 2013
I absolutely loved this book. As someone not at all linked to this field, I was looking at it mostly out of curiosity. I had on obsession with drawing, cartooning, and animating at a very young age, and then for some reason stopped after my sophomore year in high school.
Maybe it was my guilt over all the wasted money on art supplies my parents spent on me, the many autographed comics I accumulated from conventions, or the countless hours in art classes and on converting serious school assignments into satirical comics. Maybe it was the angst of having an incomplete version of a humorous Lord of the Flies rendition at the height of my youthful attempts.
Whatever the reason was, I was drawn to not only check this book out, but I couldn't put it down!
It is a great overview of the entire graphic novel process, from soup to nuts, with the feeling of a good college survey course. It was exactly what I needed to determine if I want to do a graphic novel and devote the time to completing something of value to me and perhaps the market. It is the perfect spring board to the graphic novel world, so that I can determine what to research next.
If you are curious about the industry and need a place to start your journey as an artist, writer, or just an enthusiast, this is an informative overview of the major components needed from two (plus) guys that are in the trenches. Two thumbs up.
Maybe it was my guilt over all the wasted money on art supplies my parents spent on me, the many autographed comics I accumulated from conventions, or the countless hours in art classes and on converting serious school assignments into satirical comics. Maybe it was the angst of having an incomplete version of a humorous Lord of the Flies rendition at the height of my youthful attempts.
Whatever the reason was, I was drawn to not only check this book out, but I couldn't put it down!
It is a great overview of the entire graphic novel process, from soup to nuts, with the feeling of a good college survey course. It was exactly what I needed to determine if I want to do a graphic novel and devote the time to completing something of value to me and perhaps the market. It is the perfect spring board to the graphic novel world, so that I can determine what to research next.
If you are curious about the industry and need a place to start your journey as an artist, writer, or just an enthusiast, this is an informative overview of the major components needed from two (plus) guys that are in the trenches. Two thumbs up.
August 7, 2009
Like I said, I didn't read this from cover to cover. I mainly read this because I have a few ideas for some graphic novels, and I was curious how I would go about writing. them. I would classify this as a kind of a text book. You read what you need to know and discard the rest. Since I don't have a drawing bone in my body, I didn't read the other half of the book that dealt with art work. I also didn't read the publishing section of the book because I have a tendiousy to freak out after I read anything about publishing. I develop self doubts and other emotions that don't help my writing. What I did get out of the book was good. It has some decent information, but nothing that I didn't already know.
September 9, 2010
Lieber's one of the nicest guys in comics. And he knows his stuff. And other stuff. Like art and design and Charcoal and Vegetarianism.
Gertler's got a decent head on his shoulders.
The two make a good pair on a How-To Do Comics book and it's good that they're on the easiest to find book in the genre. This is the 3rd book I recommend on creating comics. It ranks behind Lurene Haines' awesome book and the dark Horse Submissions guide.
If this book was out before I got into comics I wouldn't've felt ripped off like I felt after reading most How-To_Do-Comics books. Well worth time and money.
Gertler's got a decent head on his shoulders.
The two make a good pair on a How-To Do Comics book and it's good that they're on the easiest to find book in the genre. This is the 3rd book I recommend on creating comics. It ranks behind Lurene Haines' awesome book and the dark Horse Submissions guide.
If this book was out before I got into comics I wouldn't've felt ripped off like I felt after reading most How-To_Do-Comics books. Well worth time and money.
October 6, 2011
I think it's true that you never know all the parts involved in the creative process until you try to create something. For those of you that would like to be a little more prepared as you set out to create your Graphic Novel, this is the book for you. This was recommended to me by a comic book creator and now I'm paying it forward by telling you how useful this book is. Great for anyone starting out in the comic world, or even those that may have hit a roadblock along the way.
August 29, 2007
The book isn't as complete as it should be. There are helpful web links and valuable information in it. However, I feel it would have been more effective if it was laid like a graphic novel instead of a bunch of written words. Worth reading though.
January 13, 2015
I wrote 5 graphic novels in the last 2 years and consider this book indispensable for the process. It works well as a beginner resource and for an expert who wants to occasionally look back through resources.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews