Mini-Comic Book

Lesson Summary

In this lesson, students will be delve into the world of comic books. They will discuss their favorite comic book series and collaborate with peers to create their own comic book stories. They will learn the essential elements of comic creation, including picture panels, speech balloons, and sound effects, to better understand the process of making comics.

Lesson Objectives

Discuss favorite comic book series and create original stories.
Learn about character development and design.
Understand key elements of a comic, such as picture panels, speech balloons, and sound effects.
Gain a deeper understanding of the comic book creation process.

Anna Comic book

Discussion Questions

Comics tell stories through sequences of drawings organized in panels. Creating a comic book involves four distinct steps: writing, penciling, inking, and coloring. Traditionally, comics have been published in newspapers and magazines. With the rise of the internet, they are now also popular as webcomics, particularly in South Korea.

Do you read comics? What are some of your favorite comic book series?
Who are some of your favorite comic book characters, and why do you like them?
Did you know that Spider-Man, Hulk, Superman, and Iron Man were originally comic book characters? Can you name other movies or TV series based on comics?
What are picture panels, speech balloons, and sound effects in relation to comics?

Well-developed characters can help guide your story. Although many memorable characters from TV, movies, and video games may seem simple, they often result from hours of thoughtful development.

Character Development

Design and develop at least three characters for your comic book. Think about the scenarios they might encounter. If you're feeling stuck, you can draw inspiration from real people, cartoons, or video games.

Character Inspiration:

Is there someone you know in real life who would make an interesting character?
Do you have a favorite character from a cartoon, video game, movie, or book?
What does that character look like? What is their dominant color?
Why do you like this character? How does the character make you feel?

Questions to Develop Your Character:

Is your character male or female?
What kind of clothing do they wear?
Do they have long, curly hair, or short hair?
Is your character cheerful, sad, quiet, calm, or grumpy?
What are the colors of their clothing, eyes, and hair?
What name would you like to give your character?

Steps in Creating a Comic Book

Plot Development: Think about the setting, characters, main conflict, and resolution for your storyline.
Penciling: Sketch your comic with a pencil, planning out the scenes and leaving space for speech balloons.
Inking: Trace your pencil lines with black pens, including the text. Use a variety of black pens and markers for inking.
Coloring: Add color to your artwork using markers and pencil crayons.

Materials
Mini-Comic Book Paper
Pencil & Eraser
Variety of Black Pens
Color Markers
Pencil Crayons

Pens
Students can use different pens to ink their comic book pages. Each pen type has unique characteristics and is suitable for different aspects of the artwork.

Cover Illustration
A comic book cover should include a title design and an eye-catching illustration.

Are You Stuck?
If you're having trouble starting, don’t overthink it—just begin drawing. As you work, your characters will come to life, and the story will start to unfold naturally.

Here are some black-and-white inked comics created by my students. As you can see, there are many different approaches to illustrating a comic, depending on the artist's unique perspective, tastes, and influences.

Terminology

Sequential Art — Art that uses images in sequence to tell a story or convey information. Examples include comic books, illustrated storybooks, and storyboards.
Picture Panel — A square or rectangle containing an illustration, representing a single moment in the story.
Speech Balloon — A graphic that contains dialogue, representing a character's speech or thoughts.
Plot — The main idea or storyline.
Scene — The setting where an incident or event takes place.

Student Work: Comic Pages

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