The DC Comics Guide to Pencilling Comics

DC Comics Guides

by Klaus Janson

America’s leading comic book publisher brings its superstar creators and classic characters to the second in an authoritative series of books on how to create comics. The art of Klaus Janson has endured in the ever-changing comic book industry for over 30 years. Now this talented artist brings that experience to the most critical step of effective comic book pencilling.

Covering everything from anatomy to composition to page design, Janson details the methods for creating effective visual communication. Step by step, he analyzes and demonstrates surefire strategies for comic book pencilling that are informative and exciting. Using DC’s world-famous characters, he illustrates the importance of knowing the fundamentals of art and how best to use them.

The DC Comics Guide to Pencilling Comics is packed with a wealth of tested techniques, practical advice, and professional secrets for the aspiring artist. It is a valuable resource for comic book, graphic novel, and storyboard artists everywhere.

Genres: Art, Comics, Nonfiction, Graphic Novels, Drawing, Dc Comics

128 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2001

About the author

Klaus Janson was born in Coburg, Germany. He emigrated to the US in 1957 and settled in Connecticut, discovering comics very shortly thereafter. Janson made a professional debut for Marvel in 1973, inking the artwork of Rich Buckler for the series called 'The Black Panther', that were published in Jungle Action. During years he continued inking the diverse Marvel titles, like 'the Defenders', 'Deathlock', 'Battlestar Galactita' and 'Howard Duck'. But Janson main series was 'Daredevil'. In this period he inkted to Gene Colan, Gil Kane, Carmine Infantino and Frank Miller. Working with Miller, Janson changed his ink style.

Later on Janson decided also to take care of the pencils. With Miller, Janson worked on the influential mini-series 'The Dark Knight Returns'. After Janson ended his work on 'Daredevil', he had developed a constant work as a sketcher, were he devolped a Gothic like style. He also did a lot of work on 'The Punisher', 'Spawn' and an adventure of Batman in five episodes which was scripted by Grant Morrison.

Reviews

[Amanda · Rating 1 out of 5]

Only the last damn chapter is about pencilling comics; the rest is a basic drawing tutorial. The title is misleading.

[Serge Pierro · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although the material presented is somewhat useful to an aspiring Penciler, the lack of depth makes it more of an introduction to the skillset, than an actual book of instruction. Several topics are covered, but sadly rather shallowly, which has to be considered due to the length of the book. Make no mistake, there are still plenty of nuggets of wisdom scattered throughout. A serious student would be well advised to seek books that cover the topics within (Example: A book on Perspective would be a better use of resources than the few page devoted to the subject here.)

[Eric · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was fine in its way, but I felt it didn't go far enough in many aspects and too far in a few others.

The author spent too much time talking about what you must or must not do, rather than discussing the options and times to use them.

Personally, I think that Understanding Comics did a better job.

[James · Rating 2 out of 5]

The title is highly misleading, there is very little about the pencilling step of the process. It is more of a shallow review of the entire process from story conception, layout and basically drawing structure. Interesting, yes, but not what was advertised on the cover.

[Doug · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great

I had this book sitting undone. I picked it up and decided to finish it it’s great and straight forward. I recommend it to anyone wanting to make comics.

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I truly enjoyed the TD Comics Guide to Writing Comics by the Legendary Writer/Editor so I decided to give a whirl with the "Penciling" part of this series. First off, I would like to state this is a solid book (hence my 3 star rating) and I think it is very helpful on the "Do's and Don'ts" in the comic book world. I think one aspect I have only come to realize after reading and enjoying comics for decades is that a lot of rules are in place in the medium to make it better...but artists have their own unique set of skills and the most precious one...is distinction! I can look at a piece drawn by Jim Lee, Rob Liefeld, John Romita Jr, Todd McFarlane, Michael Turner (RIP), Erik Larsen, Humberto Ramos, Frank Miller, etc. just by looking at the art work. So even with the rules that are applied to drawing...the ability to distinguish yourself from others can be just as important. But back to the book review, I feel this is an excellent book for beginners...a Comic Art 101 if you will. I think that you may want a more advanced book discussing further details as you continue to try to grow in this art department. I actually found it very interesting that there was very little art that had not already been inked in this book. While I know that defines the details...since the book specifically talked about penciling I was just surprised by the lack of it. But, I think this is a great complementary book to How to Draw the Marvel Way, which I think is helpful in different aspects to the journey of an individual wanting to be a comic artist.

[Michael Scott · Rating 1 out of 5]

And so I continue my search for good materials for me to learn how to draw comics, for a larger personal project. I started checking out the DC Comics Guide series, and The DC Comics Guide to Pencilling Comics was up next. Not bad, but also not what I need.

The book struggles to find an identity, with much of the material very little about actual pencilling and much more about drawing anatomically correct figures, or even further away from the core mechanics of drawing and into page layout, composition, and pace. Nothing wrong with this, but there's much better material out there - - for drawing, Loomis and his modern version Christopher Hart (whom I prefer), and for the design of comics, Scott McCloud (whose teachings are masterful).

So, overall, I could not find much meaning in this book.

[Nicole · Rating 3 out of 5]

A great reference for basic drawing techniques, but there was only a small section on the actual penciling of comics. & it wasn’t quite as in-depth as I’d liked it to be.

A helpful companion for those unfamiliar with concepts like anatomy, perspective, and drawing dynamically. If you’re looking for tutorials specific to pencilling, you may not find what you’re looking for in this book.

[Anna Catherman · Rating 4 out of 5]

I don't have any aspirations of pencilling comics, and I've never picked up a DC comic in my life, but I very much enjoyed this peek behind the scenes of the comic making process. Is it the best book out there on the subject? Probably not. But it was the one that happened to catch my eye on the library shelf, and I'm glad it did.

[Lindsey.parks · Rating 5 out of 5]

I still suck, but now I know why.

[BoopDoop · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very Helpful

[Karl · Rating 2 out of 5]

A great book for drawing. You are not into drawing. I recommend you. Don't read this book.

[John Kirk · Rating 3 out of 5]

I learnt a few things from reading this book, and I definitely think that the author knows a lot more than me about both art and anatomy. However, I don't think he really had a specific target audience in mind, and the book suffers for that. If possible, I recommend borrowing this before you buy a copy, to see whether it's useful to you.

For instance, there's a section which talks about using basic shapes to approximate the human form. The first few pictures are very simple, and then the final version is significantly more detailed, so it reminded me of the Underpants Gnomes from South Park:
Step 1: Draw a triangle and a rectangle.
Step 2: ???
Step 3: Batman!

Another section talks about horizon lines, and asks the reader "Where is the horizon in these images?" That's a very good idea, but unfortunately he doesn't give an answer, so I don't know whether I guessed correctly. Looking at technical (IT) books, they often have a quiz at the end of each chapter, then you can turn to the back of the book to check your answers. I'd have liked to see something similar here, e.g. some smaller versions of the same pictures (more per page) with an extra line superimposed across them to show the horizon.

When it comes to anatomy, he lists various muscles, but I found it hard to distinguish them in his drawings. I realise that pencilling is inherently black and white, but I think the book would have benefitted from colour on those pages, so that it would be easier for the reader to tell the muscles apart.

There are other books that cover the individual topics in more detail, e.g. Perspective! for Comic Book Artists: How to Achieve a Professional Look in your Artwork or Ross and Wilson Anatomy and Physiology in Health and Illness, so I think that this book serves best as an overview: it makes me aware of various things that I might not otherwise have considered (e.g. how clothing hangs off joints) but I'll need to do further research to really understand those concepts.

The storytelling section talks about how to structure a page. Again, this has been covered elsewhere (notably by Scott McCloud) but this book does a decent job. I've also seen this covered in books about writing (e.g. Writing for Comics with Peter David), so I think it may depend on the individual creative team as to how specific the writer is and how much they leave up to the artist. However, if you have one person doing everything (as is the case for several webcomics) then that won't really be an issue. I am impressed that the author described the difference between Marvel and DC scripts, since DC published this book.

I did notice a couple of minor errors in the book:
* On page 96, pictures E and F are the wrong way around.
* On page 108, he says that the characters move from left to right. However, page 109 clearly shows them moving from right to left (at least from the reader's point of view).
On the final page of the book, Klaus Janson wrote: "my goal is to continue to update this book in some form as often as I can." However, he wrote that in November 2001 (12 years ago) and I can't find any updates.

[David · Rating 2 out of 5]

I picked up this book on a whim, expecting exactly what the title promises: the DC guide to pencilling comics. Instead, this book is part drawing instruction, part pencilling guide, and part industry guide. If you have an interest in drawing comics professionally, this is probably one of hundreds of books you ought to read, and probably one of the few actually dedicated to comics as a medium (the rest, I would presume, would be art manuals).

While the information presented in this book is interesting (to a degree) and somewhat entertaining, it's not what I, or probably most readers, expect. It's trying too hard to be too much, and in the process feels vapid and empty in its presentation. While I want to draw comics to entertain myself, and I want to appreciate the medium by understanding the work involved in producing comics. But I don't want a career drawing comics, and that's what this book is aimed at.

In the end, this book is a sometimes fun, sometimes tedious read that tries to cover all the bases and thus feels like it's glossing over too much, which it probably is. But no matter why you're interested in the art of pencilling comics, there's probably something worth reading in it. Forewarned is forearmed, meaning you won't be disappointed too much, so long as you know what to expect here. If you're looking for a book to teach you how to pencil comics, keep searching.

[Chip'sBookBinge · Rating 3 out of 5]

Look, the only reason why I even decided to read The DC Comics Guide to Pencilling Comics was because I wanted something....anything to read and this was the only book available that was on the rack that caught my attention. When it comes to "instructional" books purported to teach you how to draw and all that jazz, I know full well that there really isn't going to much in the way of "new" information. If you've read one book like this, you've read them all. This book really only serves the absolute beginner who is trying to break into the buisness. Klaus Janson does a great job of laying the foundation for all the things you need to know to get started. My peeve is that it's even a bit too 'basic' for the novice. Other than running down a check list of all that you need to know, there is very little in the way of actual 'instructions' or step by step projects within the book.

This is worth a Rent for the newbies out there. Other than that, this is a Skip for anyone that already has a basic understand of what entails the comic book artist life.



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[Samuel Snoek-Brown · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was looking for a book on scripting graphic fiction, and Janson--rightly--focuses on penciling, which is his forte. But he does include a few brief but interesting chapters on narrative structure and page layout that I found useful. His comments on the musical structure of his writing were particularly instructive. Even though some of his "instructional" bits get too bogged down in definition and explanation, with a tendancy toward repetition, if I was an artist looking for an art book, I'd probably have given this at least three stars (as it is, I'd like to give it two and a half, but Goodreads doesn't afford me that option). Still, this turned out to be a good book for beginners, and I'm glad I read it.

[Gazbot · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some nice storytelling tips, and good general comics building info, there was very little discussion of the craft of penciling and how it differs from inking though. Overall; good if you are interested in making comics, not so good if you are looking for a resource about penciling for an inker as part of a team process.

[Anthony · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written by the artist from the legendary batman book; very interesting book; i learned about horizon line, face to hand to ear proportions, etc.