From: [m c mahan] at [canton.cs.unca.edu] (Scott McMahan -- Genesis mailing list owner)
Newsgroups: rec.arts.comics.misc
Subject: How Comics Are Made -- peliminary!
Date: 20 Jun 1993 22:45:45 GMT

Here's the peliminary How Comics Are Made, a look at what people
do to get a comic made. It's a start. If this is of interest, 
I'd consider re-posting it every once in a while.

I hope this will answer everyone's questions of what each step in
the process is. Those types of questions come up a lot here, and I think
a document of this sort would be valuable to a new reader who
is curious.

Comments welcomed! How can this be made better? (Comics 
personalities on the net who are actually a part of this
process might be able to give us some serious insight. 
Who knows?)

I would even consider submitting this to Wizard or Hero or
something. Seems like this would be of universal interest.
Everything here I learned through years of reading
stuff, Marvel Age, comics magazines, Lee & Buscema's book,
etc. I even have a script that Paul levitz wLote.


			 How Comics Are Made


Frequent questions people ask on rec.arts.comics.misc concern the
different stages in how a comic book gets made, so this document
attempts to explain that.

First of all, there is a wide, wide variation in the exact steps of
the process. Probably everyone has a slightly different method. This
is the *general* way that things are done. Some people combine steps
(like John Byrne, who writes, pencils, and inks his books). 

WRITING:

Before anything happens, there needs to be a story to tell. The writer
does just that -- comes up with the story. This can be very overt,
such as a writer typing up a script, or it can be subtle, an artist
writing the story by laying out pages.

Generally there is a plot, which is what will occur in the particular
issue being made. And there is a script, the words the characters say.
Marvel comics has historically separated the two, with the plot being
developed, the artist laying out the story, and the writer then
scripting it.  Other comics, like the Legion Of Superheroes when Paul
Levitz was writing it, have a full blown script detailing the panels
on the page and the action and dialogue for each panel. The artist
uses this script for a guideline as the issue's pages are drawn.

A script might look like:

   Foobar Comics/ Page 1
   
   Panel One: Foobar struts out of a bar, chest puffed up and liquor
   bottle in hand.
   
   Foobar: Man, I showed *him*!
   
   Panel Two: Looking over Foobar's shoulder at the door of the bar, a
   sinister figure emerges.
   
   Sinister figure: Showed *WHO*?
   
   Panel Three: Closeup on Foobar, with a look of surprise and shock.
   
   Foobar: Wait a minute, I thought I showed him!?
   
   Panel Four: Big panel where the sinister figure kicks Foobar square in
   the ass.
   
   Sinister figure: In your dreams, fanboy!!!

(text copyright 1993 Scott McMahan, all rights reserved. The character
'Foobar' and all likenesses thereof are copyright 1993 Scott McMahan
and my no be used without written consent.)

PENCIL ART:

Comics are generally drawn in pencil, then the pencil is gone over in
ink in order to make it dark enough to show up for printing. The
pencil artist has the responsibility of telling the story, deciding
where the panels go, and what camera angles are used in which panels.

Layouts are quick sketches that show where people and things are, and
how the action flows, but aren't detailed. (Some artists go from
layouts to ink art and do not finish the pencils.)

Pencils range from hard lead to soft lead. Hard lead is hard,
therefore it does not easily come off of the pencil onto the page,
producing a light, very durable line. Soft pencils have lead that
easily comes off the pencil onto the page, and they produce dark,
heavy lines. Hard lead pencils keep a point forever, soft lead pencils
need sharpening often.

6H	4H	2H	F	HB	2B	4B	6B

HARD			MEDUIM					SOFT

(I may have F and HB reversed, so sue me!)

Comic art is drawn 10" x 15", so it can be reduced somewhat to the
size of a comics page. Artists use a slightly larger page than that to
allow for borders.

LETTERING:

The letterer puts in all the words. Sounds easy enough, but you have
to be very, very, very neat. It's amazing so many people have readable
handwriting. A good knowlege of calligraphy and pens is essential to
the letterer. It's hard for a letter to stand out, but some manage to
do so with the flourishes and special touches they put into the words.

INKING:

The inker uses india ink to go over all the pencil art and make it
black, so it can easily be printed. The inker has a profound effect on
the look of the book, especially with weak pencil artists. (For
example, Danny Miki overpowers all of Extreme Studio's artists, giving
their books a similar feel.) Sometimes a lot is lost in the art if a
bad inker gets his hands on good pencils.

A "finisher" is an inker who adds detail and literally finishes the
art where the pencil artist left off.

Inkers use all kinds of pens and brushes to apply the ink.

What is zip-o-tone? It's a type of art paper where if you expose it to
a certain chemical, a cross-hatched pattern appears. This is a general
shortcut to inking.

COLORING: (skip this step for b&w comics! :))

The colorist is a very important person in the comic book process,
especially now with the high quality papers and high quality
processes used to make the books. The colorist paints the books, and
adds everything that is not black and white.

COLOR SEPARATIONS:

Before a comic book can be printed, the colors have to be "separated",
that is broken down into the red, blue, and yellow components. When a
book is printed, the page has all the red laid down, all the yellow,
all the blue, one after the other. This is now done with computers --
the colored art is scanned into the computer, and the computer breaks
each page down into the right colors.

Required reading:

How To Draw Comics The Marvel Way explains this process in great
detail, and gives a wonderful explanation of the elements of art and
how they relate to comics. The best tome on comics ever written, even
for the non-artist. By Stan Lee and John Buscema, one of the greatest
artists ever!

Walter Foster Publishing has an excellent series of art books covering
the various media (pencils, colors, etc) with explanation of art
basics and things specific to each media. (This series is non-comics,
and would be great reading for a comic artist!)

Wizard magazine has Bart Sears' monthly column on drawing comics,
Brutes and Babes.  It's gotten a lot of acclaim.

Hero magazine will be having Mark A. Nelson's From Pencils to Inks
monthly column. 

Glossary of comics terms:

forthcoming, if anyone is interested in one