Comic Book Story Development Process
3yr
Gannon Beck
Someone on Twitter asked about process for this of us that write and draw our stories. In my case, I co-write the Space Corps with Bryan Richmond, but the process is the same when I'm doing it on my own.
In this case, Bryan and I work out the outline together. This part can be on any scrap of paper. In this case the outline is from issue three, since I can't find what I wrote issue 5's outline on, but it would have looked the same. I then then type the outline into a photoshop document. From there, I start roughing in the comic page by page. I don't necessarily do them in order. I start with the ones I see in my imagination the clearest, and put off the ones I'm not sure about until last. I write the dialogue write into the document as I go.
Doing it in this way, I can see from a global view how the pace of the story is working or not working. It's easy to move scenes around or revamp altogether if they're not working.
I picked this up from Scott McCloud. He did a presentation on his process when he was doing his book tour for The Sculptor, have been using it ever since.
3yr
Super interesting, thanks for sharing !
Definitively Scott McCloud gave some of the best advises from his experience, the guy is not only an inspiration but a great teacher. I so hope he end up in proko as teacher, that would be so awesome :D But I'm probably dreaming...
Gannon Beck
3yr
I think that's a great idea and would be amazing.
3yr
He is such a great read! He despises his last book though which is hilarious. I think he thinks it's got no point, but neither did Franz Kafka and Metamorphosis still gives a meaning in some way. Glad he still published it anyway! ahaha
3yr
That's the truth. Every time I reread Understanding Comics, I pick up on some nuance that I missed before. It's packed with great information.
Show all replies (2)
3yr
I'm more of a chaotic guy, probably because I don't tend to create a story where there's actually "a story". I tend to seek for a feeling that best captures what I want the viewer to look. But that way I can't really make a longer form of a book. I need to learn something about writing in this form. Thanks for sharing your process!
