Creating Comics!

Job:05-19413 Title:Creating Comics

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Creative Process

Before I begin drawing a comic strip, I start by writing a complete

script. Script ideas come from various places—things I’ve seen,

people I’ve talked to, thoughts that just randomly pop into my head. I

work through several drafts, honing the joke until it flows in a natural

way that acts to set up the punch line but is also, hopefully, fun to

read. I then break up the script into panels based on how much text

is contained and how I want the dialogue to flow. Sometimes I’ll even

do a few thumbnail sketches to try out various layouts in order to

help figure that out.

Once that’s decided, I start drawing the comic. I draw out all the

panels first. The panels are usually done in equal widths based on

a grid system—usually one, two, three, four, or five columns. Then, I

loosely sketch in approximately where I want the art to go so I know

where I’ll need to put my lettering. Using a ruler, I pencil in guides

so that my text can have even leading, and then I letter the comic in

pencil. Once I know where all the text is going to go, I begin the real

process of drawing and fleshing out the comic.

I start off loose, getting the basic shapes in and then refine, refine,

refine, until the drawing is very tight. When that’s completed, I look at

the entire comic and give it a read to see how it flows. Often at this

stage, I’ll tweak the dialogue further until it feels right. At this point,

the comic is essentially done and all I have left to do is ink it and

finalize the text. For some comics, I have repeating panels where the

art is exactly the same or only slightly altered. In those instances, I’ll

draw and ink the first panel unlettered and make photocopies of it,

which I then paste down on the page. Then I’ll letter the entire comic.

For drawing, I use mechanical pencils with 0.5 HB lead. For inking,

I use Micron pens and Zig Writer pens. The paper used is two-ply

Bristol board.

The Summer of Full Release started off as an assignment from

an editor at New York Press for its annual summer issue themed,

appropriately enough, “The Summer of Full Release.” I wrote and

edited a full script for this comic before thinking about how it would

Neil Swaab

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N

eil Swaab is a New York–based illustrator,

designer, cartoonist, writer, and animator. His

weekly alternative comic strip, Rehabilitating

Mr. Wiggles, has been published in newspapers and

magazines around the world for the past ten years and

has been published in books in America, Italy, and Rus-

sia. As a designer, he’s art directed many best-selling

children’s books and young adult novels for HarperCollins

Publishers, and as an animator, he’s created and drawn

characters and key frame art for the first season of the

show Superjail! for Adult Swim and the pilot of Ugly Amer-

icans for Comedy Central. Swaab is also an instructor at

Parsons The New School for Design, where he teaches in

the illustration department. The Society of Illustrators, Print

magazine, Communication Arts, and American Illustration

have recognized his work.

Job:05-19413 Title:Creating Comics

#175 P DTP:204 Page:152

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