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Making Comics: Storytelling Secrets of Comics, Manga and Graphic Novels | 
| Author: Scott Mccloud
Publisher: Harper Paperbacks
Category: Book
List Price: $22.99
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Seller: BRILANTI BOOKS
Rating:  45 reviews
Sales Rank: 14823
Media: Paperback
Pages: 272
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 10.2 x 6.7 x 0.7
ISBN: 0060780940
Dewey Decimal Number: 741.5
EAN: 9780060780944
ASIN: 0060780940
Publication Date: September 1, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Amazon.com Review
Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics was published in 1993, just as "Comics Aren't Just for Kids Anymore!" articles were starting to appear and graphic novels were making their way into the mainstream, and it quickly gave the newly respectable medium the theoretical and practical manifesto it needed. With his clear-eyed and approachable analysis--done using the same comics tools he was describing--McCloud quickly gave "sequential art" a language to understand itself. McCloud made the simplest of drawing decisions seem deep with artistic potential. Thirteen years later, following the Internet evangelizing of Reinventing Comics, McCloud has returned with Making Comics. Designed as a craftsperson's overview of the drawing and storytelling decisions and possibilities available to comics artists, covering everything from facial expressions and page layout to the choice of tools and story construction, Making Comics, like its predecessors, is also an eye-opening trip behind the scenes of art-making, fascinating for anyone reading comics as well as those making them. Get a sense of the range of his lessons by clicking through to the opening pages of his book, including his (illustrated, of course) table of contents (warning: large file, recommended for high-bandwidth users):
Product Description
Scott McCloud tore down the wall between high and low culture in 1993 with Understanding Comics, a massive comic book about comics, linking the medium to such diverse fields as media theory, movie criticism, and web design. In Reinventing Comics, McCloud took this to the next level, charting twelve different revolutions in how comics are generated, read, and perceived today. Now, in Making Comics, McCloud focuses his analysis on the art form itself, exploring the creation of comics, from the broadest principles to the sharpest details (like how to accentuate a character's facial muscles in order to form the emotion of disgust rather than the emotion of surprise.) And he does all of it in his inimitable voice and through his cartoon stand–in narrator, mixing dry humor and legitimate instruction. McCloud shows his reader how to master the human condition through word and image in a brilliantly minimalistic way. Comic book devotees as well as the most uninitiated will marvel at this journey into a once–underappreciated art form.
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 45
Great for learning the craft of comics (and for classroom use) September 8, 2006
C. Hill
45 out of 47 found this review helpful
"Making Comics" is true to its title -- it's very well suited for folks eager to learn the craft of "making comics." I teach a Sequential Art class at California State University, Fullerton and I have made it a required reading book, because it so solidly articulates the elements of comic art from the perspective of the artist. McCloud has been teaching comics at workshops and guest speaking engagements across the country. His having been in the teacher's seat manifestly helps make his points all the more applicable and meaningful. For instance, McCloud uses examples from comics from around the world (Asian mangas, Eurocomics or BD, Western superheroes and alternative comics) that will resonate with modern audiences who perceive comics as more than the "mainstream" superhero comics. "Making Comics" casts the same clarity and passion that made "Understanding Comics" so compelling, and it is not as speculative as "Reinventing Comics." Readers of "Understanding Comics" may find that "Making Comics" covers a lot of the same ground, and that is inevitable (so if you are more into analyzing comics rather than making your own, "Understanding Comics" is for you). In a nutshell, Making Comics is a solid starting point for budding and eager comic artists!
The Great McCloud Comics Trilogy- 3 of the Best-Ever December 12, 2006
"extreme_dig_cm" (Chicago, Il USA, Amazon.com Fan!)
36 out of 37 found this review helpful
Want 3 of the best-ever books on the general topic of comics? Here they are! (each generally sold separately)
1.*Understanding Comics- A *landmark* & bestselling examination of the medium. A comicbook on comics! While I try not to use the "genius" label *too* liberally, with Understanding Comics it really seems to fit(!). 5 Stars!
2.*Reinventing Comics- Maybe his best *looking* book (in my opinion), it's basically split into 2 sections: The 12 Revolutions in comics; and then basic Internet/Computer/Web Comics. It's the least popular & practical in the Trilogy, yet I still really like it! 4-1/2 Stars.
3.*Making Comics- It's like Understanding Comics refined, as well as a "hands-on" introduction to the medium. It's the thickest book of the three, dealing with the most critical questions involved in the comics creating process. Since making comics basically means writing with pictures, McCloud begins with this. How many panels do we need? What should they contain? What's the clearest way to communicate our ideas? He first helps us with these things, and then moves to our real center of interest: characters! How to create and illustrate interesting characters is a central theme throughout. Once we establish our pictures & characters, words can be added to complete our ideas. He explains various ways to do this, basically refining his ideas in Understanding Comics. Perspective is only barely touched upon here; most books similarly briefly mention it. He explains that it's a difficult yet necessary part of the picturemaking process, and that it can actually be quite fun(!). He also touches on eastern/western differences in comics, explaining how & why Japanese methods are still gaining in influence. Common materials & equipment professionals use, as well as common philosophical approaches are included. It's basically Understanding Comics made even more practical & clear- with many added hints, tips, and tricks along the way. It competes with that 1st title for most popular in the Trilogy, and it's highly recommended to anyone who wants to make comics! ! I like it! 5 Stars.
In conclusion: The 1st is genius; the 2nd is fascinating; the 3rd is highly refined- get this great McCloud comics trilogy today!
For any fan of comics (even if you can't draw) November 24, 2006
mrliteral
33 out of 38 found this review helpful
When it comes to artwork, I am at the stick figure level. My talents for making visual art, whether painter, comic book artist or whatever, are, at best minimal. At first glance, therefore, it might seem that I am not the right audience for a book like Scott McCloud's Making Comics. I am, however, a long-time comic book fan. The advantage to Making Comics for a drawing layman like myself is the same as watching a "making of" documentary of a movie (or listening to a DVD commentary). You gain a better understanding of what you are looking at.
Unlike a painting, comic strip writing is a sequential art, a depiction of a series of pictures that, typically with text, tell a story. McCloud gets into the narrative aspects of comics writing immediately with a chapter on writing with pictures in which he discusses how the sequence of pictures (or panels) typically relate to each other. For example, panels can go from moment-to-moment, depicting a single action as a series of moments (like showing a baseball player swinging a bat. A different panel transition is action-to-action, showing a subject doing a series of actions (panel one shows the player hitting the ball, two shows him running, three shows his sliding, etc.). Besides these choices of moment, there are also choices of frame (essentially, point of view), choice of image, choice of word and choice of flow.
McCloud also goes into how to draw people, how to blend word and picture, how to build worlds, and, in the only chapter that is really specific to actual artists, what the tools of the trade are. There is a lot in this book, and it's all told with McCloud's easy going narrative where a depiction of himself guides us through all the ideas.
Part of the magic of comics is the way the reader's mind fills in the gaps, an idea that McCloud first introduced in Understanding Comics. With a couple dots and a line, we can see a face. When we see two panels, one showing a player swinging at a ball, the next with him making contact, we "see" the motion even if it's not really there. Similarly, we feel like it is actually McCloud talking to us, even if it's really just a picture of him (and making is nothing like what he really looks like).
In short, this is a brilliant book. I am not a huge fan of Reinventing Comics, but Understanding Comics is a classic and this book follows right in its footsteps. If you enjoy comic books (or comic strips), this book is a must-read, even if you can't draw.
LIBRO OBLIGATORIO January 13, 2007
Jesus Aburto (Monterrey, NL Mx)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Si hacer comics fuera una religion, Scott seria el profeta.
Este, junto a sus otro 2 libros, es uno de los indispensables en la biblioteca del artista del comic. No importa el nivel en el que te encuentres, tanto para novatos y expertos, la lectura de making comics te lleva mas alla de lo que tipicamente un libro de "como hace comics" enseña.
Este no es un tutorial de como dibujar de cierta manera o de hacer guiones, sino una guia de como aplicar tu estilo y recursos de la mejor manera... y seguir descubriendo tu propio arte.
Muy inspirador.
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If "comics" were a religion, Scott would be the prophet.
This, with his other 2 books, is one of indispensable in the comic artist's library. It does not matter the level in which you are, for novices and experts, the reading of Making Comics takes you beyond which typically a "how to" book teaches.
This it is not a tutorial to draw certain style or to write scripts, but a guide to apply your style and resources at your best... and keep discovering your own art.
Very inspirating.
Decent work in an under-served field April 3, 2007
Michael D. Sweeney (Berkeley, CA United States)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
This book has two audiences.
Many people will have come to this book through Scott's earlier "Understanding Comics," and read it to further their understandings of comic book history and the evolution of the comic-book language. I do not come from that direction and can not offer a review on those grounds.
Where I come from is as a long-time scribbler trying to learn how to tell a story in comic-book format. I learned of this book through mention in the blogs of practicing story-board artists, and as I understand it, it is one of a very small number of books to deal in detail with that part of comic book are that is larger than a single panel (Will Eisner's book is one of, perhaps the one, standout.)
There are a lot of "how to draw comics/manga" books out there. The vast majority of them deal with what is inside the panel. (The vast majority of them, particularly the Americanized Manga ones, tend to be less "Here's how to draw" than "Here's something I drew. Now just draw like that!")
(Ben Edlund drew a marvellous satire of this in a filler strip titled "How to draw The Tick."; "First draw a sphere. Now draw a horizontal line bisecting the sphere. Now draw The Tick, holding a bisected sphere.")
Scott is dealing with the interaction between the panels. How you break a story into parts, how you organize, how to develop moods and settings, how to pace. I could only wish for more. Perhaps the format is a bit at fault. The illustrations are lovely but too often serve more as a supporting visual for what is basically talking-head commentary. And the commentary, the meat of what he is saying, is crammed into balloons and margins and perhaps ends up being less complete than it could be.
In many cases, though, the integration of text and picture is useful and elegant.
There are odd surprises in what he chooses to cover with what depth. The treatment of various panel arrangements that work (and don't work) is surprisingly brief (perhaps there wasn't much more to say?) But there is an absolutely wonderful section on drawing facial emotion that is almost long and detailed enough to be a book on its own.
Perhaps my greatest quibble with this book is Scott can not quite step away from a larger perspective of the evolution and purpose of sequential art. He ends too many thoughts with "But who knows what the future will bring?" How about a few more didactic pronouncements on good storytelling methods, and save the musings on Art with the leading capitalization for his other books.
Scott, wisely, spends very little time on tools and perspective, and essentially no time at all on basic anatomy and drawing. However, the pages on drawing backgrounds and character design -- among others -- are great little refresher courses. But you need to know how to draw before you go into this book. You need to look elsewhere for human anatomy -- even elsewhere to find out how to lay out that perspective grid Scott shows off to good effect in several drawings. In fact, that old standby "How to Draw Comics the Marvel Way" makes a pretty good companion piece to this book as it give a good basic orientation to comic book page terminology, simple linear perspective, comic-book anatomy, pencilling and inking.
All in all, not the best book there could be on figuring out how to go from a script to fifteen pages of little boxes -- but one of the best books you can find that goes into any detail on the subject.
And, of course, it is a delight to read. Marvelously illustrated, cleverly scripted -- and one of those books that will send you scurrying to your own drawing pad, eager to try out some of the things he suggests.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 45
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