Making Comic Books

Nineteenth Post: Making Comic Books

Comic books are like science experiments and video games. Once you read or play with one, you want to make your own. With video games it is a simple decision. You play one then decide you want to make your own version. Comics are the same. You read one and see the art and story and then you start doing some drawings.

There are numerous ways to create the comic book. (Note, none that I am an expert with.) There is the original pencil drawings, the inking, and the coloring and printing. But let’s say the comic book is finished, how does someone distribute their comic. This is assuming this is a low budget, amateur attempt to capture some sort of audience.

You basically have three options: photocopy, computer website, or both. Photocopying comics is nothing new. Before the Internet, people use to print out their own comic books and magazines and then sell them for a low price through the mail. There is just something intriguing to see you hard work in print.

The web is another place to put your work. The only trouble is getting your target audience to your site and having them read your comic. If the work is discovered, people will come to the site. One example that I have seen of an online comic is www.alpha-shade.com. They have excellent art work and have published it to the web.

So it is possible to create and distribute your own comic. It is just a lot of work to get lots of people to see the value of your work. But if you goal is to have fun and experiment how far the comic book can go, it is just a fun and rewarding project.