Creating Comics!

Job:05-19413 Title:Creating Comics

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Creative Process

This project was done in collaboration with

writer Shannon O’Leary, whose script provided

a rough page layout with a detailed description

of each individual panel. This particular story is

an historical account, so research was done in

order to properly represent the party members

and their dress, landscapes, props, etc. There

were a number of discussions between writer

and illustrator that led to certain creative deci-

sions; for example, this story originally featured

two main protagonists whom the creators later

decided to composite. Given that this story

is very emotionally driven, the compositions

were designed to describe the feelings of the

characters. Large empty spaces and sparse text

give the reader a sense of solitude, emptiness,

silence, and desperation.

Ryan Alexander-Tanner

Creating Comics

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Title: Forlorn Hope

Client: The Bridge Project

Anthologys (Scraped Knee, 2009)

Media: Brush, pen, and ink on Bristol (2007)

R

yan Alexander-Tanner has worked as a com-

ics journalist, created instructional comics for

big companies, designed logos and advertise-

ments, taught children, created gallery exhibitions, and

collaborated with some real characters.

He received a 2008 Xeric grant to publish his solo

comics project, Television. He is currently completing a

book of theory and practice for teachers in comics form

with acclaimed educator William Ayers.

Job:05-19413 Title:Creating Comics

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001-059_19413.indd 10 5/25/10 6:46:40 PM

Job:05-19413 Title:Creating Comics

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Title: To Teach Page 14

Client: William Ayers and Ryan Alexander-Tanner (Teacher’s College Press, 2010)

Media: Brush, Pen and Ink on Bristol (2009)

Because this work is an adaptation of a book of theory and

practice, it was first necessary to develop an outline for each

chapter with author William Ayers that described what ideas

from the original text were most crucial. Once our priorities were

established, I was able to develop a loose outline of the chap-

ter’s narrative, as well as key images, icons, and sequences.

Each page was given a job to do in order to describe the ideas

from the original text. This page is the opening of the second

chapter, a section focused on developing a full relationship

and understanding of each of your students rather than mire

them with simple labels and clinical generalizations. I wanted

to open with a simple exchange between teacher and student

for several reasons. The stage is set, the reader is given a sense

of the characters’ relationship, a precedent for speaking with

students is established, and the idea of the student’s percep-

tion of himself through drawing is created. In order to develop

this page I drew a mock-up for Bill, showing him how many

panels are on the page, what each panel is meant to do, and

outlining how many words can fit into each one. Bill then did a

free write, which the two of us edited and then cut and pasted

into the sequence. At this stage I was free to make suggestions

and insert my own ideas, sometimes leading to big changes or

new approaches. The page was roughed out with the dialogue

inserted, all in pencil. When the chapter was more developed

we return to these pencil roughs and revisited and reevaluated

what we’d made before I went over it with a ballpoint pen,

making changes where necessary. These pen-drawn pages

made a script (shown here) that was submitted to our editors

before any final drawings were done. This script page is unusu-

ally similar to the final, as many of the pages of the book were

reworked between these two stages (some entire sections were

completely redone).

Ryan Alexander-Tanner

Ryan Alexander-Tanner

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Job:05-19413 Title:Creating Comics

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