How do you make the most of the medium of Graphic novels?

>>3022189
bump.

File: Action_Comics_1.jpg (50KB, 300x416px) Image search: [Google]

50KB, 300x416px

>>3022189
im sort of in the same boat as you. id love to be able to at least draw like those old golden age comics or something similar to that style. i do read a shit load of comics and i suggest you do as well.
make sure you learn how to draw people in every single pose you can think of and make sure they're dynamic.
this is a good series of videos by stan lee about it
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f3y6k_vk_Vg&list=PL0DDE1A8DCCD9882C

this is just a sample of the kinds of videos Strip Panel Naked does. he does a lot of good breakdowns of comics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbMj9f0mcBA

this one is just about panel layout
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WVXqbteiflY

computers and whatnot have streamlined the process greatly but that's mostly for the inkers and colorists. professional comic artists should be able to draw a page a day.

oh and make sure you read watchmen. it's basically essential to anything related to comics.

>>3022211
I am actually more interested in manga storytelling, the aspect to aspect technique...it really helps to set the tone and gives readers an instant feel of atmosphere but I am way too creatively bankrupt to do that I guess.

>>3022189
i have one piece of advice: utilize the page turn. it acts as your opportunity to insert your big reveals. for example, if you are doing horror, what you can do is show the characters reactions on the last panel of the page before the big reveal to really build up tension.

File: 1490804282256.jpg (25KB, 303x321px) Image search: [Google]

25KB, 303x321px

>>3022189
Bumping this thread, I really want to how I am supposed to do a proper dream sequence If I had to use graphic novels as a medium....like in a movie if there are repeated flashes of objects thrown at you, how can you possibly translate that well into a graphic novel? if I show each frame of the objects shown at the flashes then it will ruin the effect I am trying to go for in the first place, what do

>>3022215
OP here, that's what I meant with basic tricks and its something Junji Ito repeatedly uses in his mangas, good stuff to keep readers engaged.

>>3022214
i dont know much about manga but mark crilley does a bunch of videos relating to drawing manga.
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLBiW8y5LSHK4ajygBf6GBYC5KLBenvkaI

>>3022222
Junji Ito is my insperation to write, draw, and even animate horror. also nice quints

>>3022189
Please just call them comic books.

>>3022189
The books of Scott McCloud are a good introduction.

File: 1406628244683.jpg (63KB, 948x712px) Image search: [Google]

63KB, 948x712px

Read Moore's Watchmen and then reread it with these notes:
http://www.capnwacky.com/rj/watchmen.html
https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~sjblatt/watchmen/o.html
http://www.readingwatchmen.com/
It'll blow your mind the amount of details that go under each panel and the language unique to comics that Moor uses.

>I really want to tell a story and graphic novel is the only medium I can work on

Graphic novel isn't a medium. Comics is a medium. Graphic novel is the upmarket name given to a publishing format.

Read this: https://manuelamalasanya.wordpress.com/effort-series/

File: 1497030159936.jpg (101KB, 1500x1500px) Image search: [Google]

101KB, 1500x1500px

>>3022189
My first advice is that you should read the comic once, then re-read it to find out what worked and didn't. Now you may be wondering "what am I suppose to look for?"
Well, if you've got no fundamentals on paneling, composition, framing, flow and such, go read some Scott McCloud (Making Comics first, then the others after).
If you're interested in style, notice how the design and area around is utilized for the page where Watchmen's fifth chapter "Fearful Symmetry" is a shining example for how the artist and author convey the story centering around Rorschach. Beforementioned McCloud has a book central to this too (Reinventing Comics)

With regular comics and manga, there is a techinque and formula (see Hirohiko Araki's book on Manga and Theory in Practice for latter), but with graphic novels you've got more room for experimentation. If you've seen any Denis Villeneuve film, you can see his work lines out like a comic book by putting emphasis on details to suggest audiences to guess the meaning even with minimal dialogue. Same thing has sorta been tried in the manga BLAME.

>>3022217
Frantic frames/glass shards/background pictures surrounding the character in the middle could work. The latter I picked from Naruto and Mob Psycho 100.

>>3022215
>>3022222
>>3022230
> Junji Ito
my niggas.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63-SxK2ItS4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIIA6QDgl2M
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bwA-eVV4zk4

>>3022189
>How do you make the most of the medium of Graphic novels?

Learn how to create motion comics
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B4zc2ox3DSo

>>3022189
I would start by avoiding pseud trash like Persepolis, Black Hole and V for Vendetta.

>>3022189
Everyone here has given you great advice. I would also consider picking a style of comic and study what makes it successful. Do you want to do manga, super hero type stuff, comic strips, webtoons, etc.? All of these have common attributes which make the sources given to you useful, but each have their own distinct attributes too.

Also remember that different genres of comics/manga will have different story telling techniques, and different things that make them successful. You will notice that a lot, not all, but a lot of successful authors have read extensively in the genre they're writing in. When you read what you want to write/draw, you'll notice that you start to internalize story structure, layouts, characters, etc. So going back and studying the graphic novels you like while studying other resources will help a lot.

>>3022189
+1 Understanding Comics by McCloud. Really easy read, talks about how to best utilize comics as a medium. Not like that Loomis shit where people say to read it but they really mean to practice drawing circles for 80 fuckn hours. It'll get you real fuckin pumped to start making shit

File: 1495966598658.jpg (38KB, 575x960px) Image search: [Google]

38KB, 575x960px

>>3022638
Yeah I have been reading Moore's "Writing for comics" lately, great stuff
>>3022809
thanks for the book suggestions and advises anon
>f you've seen any Denis Villeneuve film, you can see his work lines out like a comic book by putting emphasis on details to suggest audiences to guess the meaning even with minimal dialogue.
yeah that's exactly what I am trying to master, the specific sort of technique used in mangas which renders time unimportant or non-existent all together...its more focused on letting the atmosphere and environment seep in and complement the character and finally set a tone...Villenueuve does that a lot also Super eyepatch wolf is great.
>>3022978
thanks for the advice anon, I have been studying Oyasumi Punpun lately, it's use of text during "dream" sequences were something exclusive to its medium itself.
>>3022989
I have been reading McCloud's books lately, Reinventing comics is the only one I havent started reading yet
currently I am reading
>Understanding comics
>framed Inks
>writing for comics
also there's another book called "how to draw noir comics: the art and technique of visual storytelling", does anyone have a download link for that? I cant seem to find it anywhere.

instant sticky thread

File: 1493241012259.jpg (109KB, 614x1055px) Image search: [Google]

109KB, 614x1055px

>>3023358
>Punpun
That author is fantastic at getting you to feel a certain mood.

>>3023358
1/2
I wanna quote on McCloud on the process of learning for good mesure, spite telling there are no established rules. This is from his notes though.

1. Learn from everyone
2. Follow no one
3. Watch for patterns
4. Work like hell

Since you're delving into Punpun, I'd recommend you pick up A Girl on the Shore and Solanin too for variation. Can't wait for Dx8's english release.
Here's a treat. A Manben episode w/ Asano: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x3vtvdy

File: 1496976205339.png (1MB, 1600x1600px) Image search: [Google]

1MB, 1600x1600px

>>3023358
>>3023573
2/2

I'd point out that if you go for dramatic atmoshpere, a great way to convey the emotion is to focus on light sources and how you frame the individuals interacting with one another. Asano shows that by letting the reader see his characters instead of blocking them.
He blocks characters however when they're about to or engage an act out upon one another physically (see Chapter 35-36 in Punpun). He's also very fond of using FX work when he tells the viewer the state of mind of the character in suspended or tense scenes, including the dreamy stuff (Poo-Buudah, God, the abstract kaleidoscope-like art), but what I digg are his two page spread "moments", when the character is gripped slightly by what I'll call beauty in reality before succumbing back to their mental degredation (end of Chapter 62, beginning of 63, 39 p. 6-7).

Time and setting doesn't occupy the limits of atmosphere. It is harder to flesh out and illustrate stories if you feel restricted as such. Few cruches that indeed liberates the mangaka as from what I've seen is that they'll draw if in the past familiar settings like schools, interior scenes at the homes of the characters or regular looking streets with minimum attention to things that will date the work, or if they desire to apply that, they'll add material inside the homes and whatnot to hint which year it is, like the size or format of a television screen, computers and game consoles (you'll see that all through Punpun).

Indeed, some artists in the west does it differently by putting the emphasis on aesthetics although there are hints to when the story takes place (Persepolis, Sin City).

>>3022241
In my experience if you mention only the word "comics" people start sperging about batmen and supermen even if you did nothing to indicate you're interested in that shit at all

So if you're talking about "serious", artistic comics it's just better to use the term graphic novel even if it sounds pretentious, at least everyone knows what you're talking about

File: 9a609fe2eb47df292bd1468378f4b2db-1.jpg (319KB, 630x923px) Image search: [Google]

319KB, 630x923px

And also consider doing a "Super Rough " of the comic. Cheap paper,ballpoint pens and the goal being plotting a whole chapter,or sequence all at once very quickly. I have read Cerebus the Aardvark since issue 11,and as Dave Sim realized the final form of his story was to be the phonebook sized collections,he got less hung up on the convention of squeezing a complete story in the 20 pages per month he sold as the single issues. The Camera viewpoint of the reader was dragged across pages of landscapes,lush with details provided by his background artist partner Gerhard, something you can't consider with limited page space. So let your hand fly,and dance the slightest of impressions on the Super Rough,maybe some snatches of dialogue here and there,possibly a nuance of aspect dwelled upon for your own consideration. Get a feel of the story,and how you wish it to move over the pages. And after you finish a bunch,go back and look at it,and don't feel obligated to keep every line,but whip out a sketchbook and work out the details of the elements that need such work. Then compose the final version,take the time you need to get it right,and GET it right. Long form storytelling is difficult,so I recommend this skeletal-built-up method of executing it. If you want to attempt encapsulating your tale in 20 page chunks for publication monthly,do it only if it serves the story. There was no internet when Cerebus started,so there was no choice but to have a monthly presence to keep money rolling in. You have more options. Good luck!

>>3023623
Yeah I actually do that a lot, helps me note down cool ideas
>>3023573
>>3023575
I already finished reading punpun back in 2016 but this time around I am trying to "find the pattern" and deeply analyse Asano's artistic choices and stuff, the problem I am having essentially is using framing,composition paneling in way that makes it exclusive to the medium and the comic itself(...basically I am a dumb guy who is asking to get spoonfed with ideas). like I have a proper script for my comic but I have no idea how to start, as in how to make a effective first page.

As everyone is talking about Scott Mccloud in this thread, can anyone spoonfeed Scott Mccloud's Reinventing Comics book? I can't seem to find it anywhere for download, not even torrents.

File: 1497057508625.png (12KB, 321x339px) Image search: [Google]

12KB, 321x339px

>>3023676
I mentioned about Araki's book earlier in the thread, and he went into detail on the imporance of making a good first page.
In short, it basically sets the tone of your work as of whole (assuming you know what the work is suppose to be about).

If you got some physical copies of the first tankobon laying around, read them with the onset as to what the first chapter is introducing to the reader.
I'll use Punpun as an example.
You got three things straight out of the first page of the first chapter:

- Punpun's design (he's presented like a birdlike doodle, and so is his family. A charicature portrayal than your average protagonist.)
- Punpun's monologue narration (in the third person than using though bubbles)
- Punpun's state of mind (depressed cus his crush is leaving)

The rest of the chapter is spent on introducing the other cast members (Aiko, Mama & Papa, Uncle, his buddies), God, and Asano's artistic styles, ending with the microwave incident as suspence to the possible next chapter.


For the usage of framing, composition, paneling etc. you gotta learn the basics of flow and placement. A rought storyboard is a must-process to match the script, so get a bunch of paper and pen (or tablet) and doodle the compositions and speech bubbles.
Read this blog too if you wanna practice one-shot comic styles, since they're sort of "mini-novels": http://one-shotstructure.blogspot.com/

>>3023710
by the first tankobon, I mean out of any series.

>>3023701
I'm still waiting for my order. Seems to be out of print where ever I go.

Good thread anon

>>3023676
I would put whatever story you have on hold, and focus on making a short story that is a one off. It shouldn't be that long, and it will help you practice. At this point in time you'll never feel comfortable with the medium if you don't start drawing.

Also, have you checked out the "How's your Webcomic?" threads on /co/? Lots of inspiring people in there that can help you too. >>>/co/93195859

File: copra09.jpg (202KB, 864x1312px) Image search: [Google]

202KB, 864x1312px

>>3023358
take a look at michel fiffe's Copra for some mind-bending layouts while you're at it. i think he really puts the medium to good use. think about things that can only be accomplished in comics, or things that work better for telling stories in comics

File: the_spirits_came_forth_and_sang_life_into_the_land_by_artmoloch-dbcuqhd.jpg (160KB, 1024x768px) Image search: [Google]

160KB, 1024x768px

>>3022189
With my work, I did a practive project where I mashed up Charles Schulz and Moebius, and it was one panel per page and the entire book was silent. I loved doing it.

I'm currently working on a book called Xerocole that is the same way, only on bigger paper.

https://www.patreon.com/artmoloch
https://www.patreon.com/artmoloch for more examples.

>>3022189
McCloud's books "understanding comics" and "making comics" are probably the best and easiest way to gain a lot of knowledge quickly.
Framed ink is great for composition.