Comic Book Creation Kit Bundle

Authors:

A comic book is a powerful medium of expression that speaks to a wide variety of ideas and emotions across all genres. DAZ Studio is a great tool to generate renders for your creating comic book artwork!

However, it can take a great deal of time in building and rendering those scenes. The Comic Book Creation kit (bundle version) saves you time and energy in providing you with over a hundred renders ready to select from and build your own comic book. This kit includes an extensive video course of over 13 hours of instruction and insights on composing your comic by Drew Spence, a professional comic book artist.

The artwork in this kit is royalty-free - so you are free to create and publish your own stories with this kit. Over 1250 PNG renders of various characters are included across contemporary, sci-fi, and fantasy scenes. The renders come in a selection of styles ready to select, sequence, and compose into your own story.

Drew teaches you how to use and arrange the elements of a comic book:

Panels
Lettering
Word/Thought balloons
Captions
Sound effects
Panels
Borders
Gutters

He shows you how to...

Map a story structure onto a comic book layout
Show, rather than tell a dynamic story
Progress and express characters through their story arcs
Create strong visual appeal
Gain a comic book style that fits your story
Comprehend comic book elements and use them to your advantage
Compose comic book elements with confidence
Master composition of characters in a shot (for a panel)

This course is for you if you are...

Overwhelmed with the prospect of creating a comic book
Wanting to add extra impact or emotion to your visual story,
Needing a comprehensive understanding of comic book elements in all their varieties and how to use them effectively.
Having challenges in using composition for comic book elements
Wanting to experiment with comic book creation without having to render scenes yourself.

This is Part 1 of a 3 part Course. There's also a bundle version available.

Searchable Tutorials

This product includes MP4 videos and hosted searchable tutorials allowing you to jump to points in the tutorials on any keyword/phrase spoken during the sessions. Here's a sample:

Software Recommended for this Course

Comic Life 3 - inexpensive software for MAC/PC to assemble and compose your comic
Photoshop (or GIMP) - for styling and/or for assembling your comic book
DAZ Studio - many references are made to DAZ Studio throughout the course since all the assets included are rendered with this.

Content

Session 1: Constructing a narrative

Introduction
What is sequential art? What makes outstanding sequential art?
How is story structure mapped onto a comic book layout?
Explained: expression and exaggeration for character arcs

Session 2: Visual Appeal and Comic Language

How do we use expression effectively?
The hidden hurdle: Translation from 3D to 2D
About fast movement: upping the stakes
Camera lens effects for additional visual appeal
Using foreshortening

Session 3: Comic Book Looks

Get the looks: pick your prime post-work
Photoshop Filters to fit your styling
Photoshop Actions for faster workflow
Software supporting line art, hand-drawn looks, and other styles

Session 4: Panels and Pages

Layouts and logic
Composition within panels
Thumbnails, scripting, and scribbling
Notes, ideas, and pre-planning
Drew's top 10 tips on layout and design
Flow as we know it
How are your hooks? Leading the reader
Composites

Session 5: Shooting your Shots

More on panel and page planning
The "information dump" problem and how to overcome
Camera shot types: Establishing, wide, low, high, level, eye level
Single shot, two shot, close up, close in, zooming in/out, full body
Aerial, worm's eye, leaning eye angle, leading frames, over the shoulder
First-person POV, fourth wall breaks, multi-shot, animated action panels
Partial panels, in-panel overlaps, out panel, no panel
Mixed media, motion blur, 4th wall special effects
Gutter effects

Session 6: Fights, Fury, Frenzy and Friends

Relationships changing throughout the scene
Character arcs: what not to do
Relations vs Information
SHOW but don't tell
Style vs substance
Three types of conflict in stories

Session 7: Style and Convention for your Comic Book

Your style guide
Genre, layout, world-building
Insights from interviews with Comic Book artist veterans
Ed LaRoche, Pam Harrison, John McClellan, and John Byrne (X-men)
Analysis of styling from pro comic artists
Lettering and balloon placement
Balloon shapes, borders, and bad-ass styling

Session 8: The Big Review

The arc of the course
Comic books created by class members - reviews
How color tells a story
When text or speech is not needed for panels
Question posed to pro artists: What is your responsibility as storytellers?
Summation of course

About Drew Spence

Drew Spence is a graphic comic writer and illustrator from the United States. He creates under the title of The Dynamic Universe, which published the digital comics Force Six, The Annihilators, and Killer Butterfly. He has combined his music and video into several works including Mark of the Griffin, which is both a graphic novel and web series. These comics are available in digital format on ComiXology and in print from Indy Planet. He is part of the instrumental group Fallout Shelter which provides the soundtrack.

Drew is a graduate of Stony Brook University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Art and holds various certificates – from graphic arts to web design. He currently lives on Long Island, New York and produces his work from the aptly named Fallout Shelter Studios, where he crafts crafty and clever comics using CGI and photorealistic image manipulation.

Please see each product's page for details.