Assignment #2: Comic Book Page

To effectively create a comic book page that is both entertaining and informative, its important to have a solid grasp of good picture composition and design. Here's a short cut visual that will provide you with an excellent starting point: Wally Wood's "22 panels that always work!"



Step 1: The first stage in a typical comic book story is the story synopsis. Write a brief (approx. 25 word) summary of the story. This should only give us a general idea of the story and not any specific details of character or scenes.

Next, choose a scene within the story and write a (approx. 25 word) synopsis of just that scene. Since you'll only be illustrating one page of the comic, you won't have enough room to draw an entire scene. Choose only the amount of action you feel you can illustrate sequentially over 5 to 8 panels on a single page.

Take a sheet of regular printer paper (8.5" x 11") and draw quick thumbnails sketches of the action in each panel of the page you will illustrate.

Remember to leave room for word balloons/narrative boxes. You may want to jot down dialogue in rough form in the margins.

Remember: thumbnails are small rough sketches, usually not more than basic shapes that only you can really understand. They are a way for you to 'think on paper' as you figure out what will go where in each panel composition. DON'T spend a lot of time drawing detailed drawings at the thumbnail stage!

Here's an online resource you can use as reference of what your thumbnails should look like:

Thumbnails example

Bring your thumbnails, story synopsis and scene synopsis to class with you on Tuesday August 3rd.

Also bring your completed comic strip assignments and rough work (for those who have not yet handed that work in)>

Any questions or work you'd like me to look at ( send in jpeg format) to leifpeng@gmail.com or reply to the mocomotion email I sent you. You can also leave a comment here on the class blog if you think your question and my answer might be relevant to the other students.

Thanks guys - see you on the 3rd!

Leif :^)

P.S. Scroll down to see a couple of examples of successful student work for this assignment from last semester.

Tom Gnidziejko's Comic Page

Here are a couple pages from a comic I'm writing about a knight named Thadar. In this issue, Thadar's quest brings him to a temple in the mountains. These pages are from when he gets into a fight with one of the guardians of the ice fortress.


Most of the comic has very little dialogue. Since Thadar is alone, he has no reason to speak, therefore most of the writing would be in the form of a monologue said by Thadar, describing the creatures and environments he encounters.

As you can see, this is a rough thumbnail page. I didn't really know how I wanted the creature to look like, other than being quadruped and have a large tail.


This next page continues directly from the next. The creature pins Thadar against a pillar but he breaks free by sticking his sword in its neck. Thadar backs off then jumps onto the monster's back.


I decided to detail the second page a bit more, also adding more of what the creature looks like. I liked the idea of a chimera, but I only wanted to make it have one head instead of three. I also wanted to make it look more menacing, so I changed a lion's head to a kind of dog/goat hybrid.

In my final drafts, I want to change some of the blocking. I don't like how Thadar always seems to be facing the same way, with his right arm back and his left out or forward. Also, the creature changes sizes throughout the page.

Becca Vanderburgh's Comic Page

This page is the first page of a short story of mine. It follows the life of a boy, Jahn, who meets a little girl from another world (our world Earth) who reminds him about the real magic of life in his little world of magic.

Thumbnails



Final art