IS COMIC ILLUSTRATION? WHAT
HAFIZAH RAFIDAH mohd HAKIMI
Assoc Prof. Dr. Husniza Binti Husni (UUM) Mohd Hakimi Bin Raseli Rohayu Binti Zulkapli (Ketua Program) Anis Safinaz Binti Ramli (Ketua Jabatan) Edition 2021 All right reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the written permission of the copyright owner and written and displayed in reference page. ISBN XXXXXXX Published by: Jabatan Rekabentuk dan Komunikasi Visual, Politeknik Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin, 02600 Pauh Putra, Arau, Perlis writer editor Designer & Illustrator reviewer content content Hafizah Binti Abdullah @ Ali Rafidah Binti Ja’afar Mohd Hakimi Bin Raseli eISBN 978-967-2258-49-0
First and Foremost, we would like to express our sincere gratitude to our family, friends and supporter for their kind, support, and motivation. We would like to thank the rest of our reviewer and supporter: Puan Anis Safinaz (KJ JRKV), Puan Rohayu (KP DDS), and Assoc Prof. Dr. Husniza (Universiti Utara Malaysia) as our external reviewer for this eBook content. Our sincere thanks also goes to commitee member of Unit Pembelajaran Digital, Bahagian Instruksional dan Pembelajaran Digital (BIPD) for offering us the eBOOK guidelines and opportunities in their digital learning project and leading us working on diverse exciting eBooks for Comic Illustration. Last but not the least, we would like to thank our fellow offlcemate in JRKV and PTSS in general. Thank you. acknoledgement
abstract In modern times the comic book provides the major outlet for sequential art. As the form potential has become more apparent, better quality and more production have been introduced. The comic can stimulate student interests and can be used in multiliteracies and support to employ multimodality in teaching and learning. Children of the new generation have different meta-cognitive and reffiections towards learning and environment. Visual representations in the comic illustration can help readers especially children who do not understand a textual concept commonly used in conventional education. In Malaysia, local content if available is far from appealing to children. In this e-Book, we introduce the reader to the ideas and how to make a comic illustration. The comic illustration presents a montage of words and pictures, the comic illustrator needs to study on comic genre, style and create a fun and meaningful plot or narrative to attract readers. This e-Book also contains exercises to enable readers to practice their respective comic illustrations. Reading a Comic? What is comic illustration? type of comic Plot Character Design Panel and Speech Balloon Words and Pictures Making a Comic Glossary Reference
TABLE OF CONTENT Reading a Comic? What is comic illustration? type of comic Plot Character Design Panel and Speech Balloon Words and Pictures Making a Comic Glossary Reference 8 10 12 20 24 28 30 33 46 47
READING A COMIC? In a picture book, the illustrations for each picture will tell a story rather than words. Comics are a form of art that combines words and pictures (Thompson, 2018; Freedman, 2019). Comics also one of popular storytelling medium that is read in a specific are order (Arianti, 2019). When we read comics, we will always focus on the illustrations to get an idea of the story and continue reading on the words spoken by the character. In comic strips, the person on the left always speaks first. ~ George Carlin 8
Comic is one of medium to convey an interesting ideas. Many previous studies have shown that comics are very interesting to share knowledge. Find some pictures books in your bookshelves. Look at the illustration, spot the information in the pictures and words? Can you imagine how can you design your own? Image in comic can encourage a reader to read Comic can improve critical thinking New dimension of learning method Give positive values in learning Build visual interpretation GET AN IDEA? HOW I Benefits of Comic: 9
WHAT IS COMIC ILLUSTRATION? Comics are stories that are accompanied by pictures (Guillain, 2016), and the content is usually funny and easy to understand. Comics illustration al sso define as a type of reading that combines words and pictures in specific sequences (Kunzle, 2017). Comics are also referred to as sequential art (Laakso, 2020). “I feel that when I’ve done my job correctly, my contribution should be invisible. Hopefully, unless there’s a return to check the credit box, the reader should have forgotten I’ve ever been there” - Terry Austin (American Comic Artist) 10
WHAT IS COMIC EXERCISE (E01) PLOTTING STORY Getting an IDEA! First thing to do is THINK! Look at some of your favorite comic books, what are they about? Is it something about SUPERHEROES? SCIENCE FICTION? TEEN COMICS? FUNNY? Write down your story ideas. Block out the story and try to decide on its length, but you don’t have to be exact with the number of pages. 11
TYPES OF comic comedy mattagainsttheworld.com 12
drama reddit.com reddit.com slj.com fanpop.com 13
Fantasy SCiFiSuperhero popularmechanics.com Planetes, Vol. 1 A Stardust Sky comicbookrevolution.com 14
Horror Fatale Fatale The Beast and the Woodman imgur.com Wanabe Press 15
NON FICTION shondaland.com theatlantic.com theatlantic.com shondaland.com 16
Romance Manga aa elite Animate Nekotoo 13th-Musician MangaFreak JK’sWing 17
THRILLER ACTION ADVENTURE mystery t r i b u n e . com behance.net behance.net dftaylor.art 18
EXERCISE (E02) THUMBNAILS / ROUGH SKETCHES Plan and develop your ideas through a variety of resources (internet, books, magazines etc). Do some sketches as you write. The thumbnail is just an initial idea of the story. 19
PLOT Plot will keep the reader turning the page and like the stories. Plot or “narrative” is a context and it is presented in the form of pictures and text, either of which are quite satisfactory without the other. Comic books act as a bridge between the media we watch and the media we read by combining visuals and text. It assists readers in putting a human face on a given subject and creating an emotional connection between readers and characters in a comic book. 20
The plot of a comic book is shorter than that of a traditional storybook. It’s because the images will tell so much of the narrative, take up so much space, and show detailed scenes on each spread. 21
EXERCISE (E03) COMIC SCRIPT Outlining Your Comic Script A good way to plan your story is to think of an interesting beginning and an exciting ending. Outline a clear story and script for the beginning, middle and end of your story. It’s a lot easier to draw your story when you work from a script. Follow the guidelines below to start working with your script. 22
TITLE PAGE PANEL DESCRIPTION DIALOGUE CAPTION SOUND EFFECTS TITLE PAGE PANEL DESCRIPTION DIALOGUE CAPTION SOUND EFFECTS NAME OF STORY PAGE OF STORY PANEL ON THE DESCRIPTION OF CHARACTERS AND PICTURE IN THE PANEL WHAT AND WHERE IT’S HAPPENING. WHAT EVER TALK THAT IS GOING ON IN THE PANEL AND WHO IS TALKING ADDITIONAL TEXT DESCRIPTION NOT INCULDED IN THE DIALOGUE NOISE IN GENERAL. KNOCK! BANG! RING! 23
DESIGN CHARACTER Characters are the people we get to know as a narrative progresses. The characters must be well-described so that we know what they look like and how they behave. A main hero or protagonist is usually present in a comic book. This character usually desires something and must overcome obstacles in order to achieve their goal. The part of your character that readers will most identify with is your character’s face. Facial expression give your readers insight into your character’s inner being; they’re a nonverbal shorthand into your character’s makeup. 24
Round head shapes are often best suited for characters who have small bodies. Kids fall into this category. Example characters: Mickey Mouse and the Powerpuff Girls. Oval head shape can give the impression that your character is really goofy or nerdy; a wide oval shape suggests that the character is heavy. A square head is best suited for characters that have boxy body types or who are big, muscle body types like sports jocks. The triangle head is well suited for a character who’s large or one who has a big jaw or neck area. In contrast, if turned upside down, the triangle can give a character a nerdy look. 25
EXERCISE (E04) CHARACTER AND BACKGROUND DESIGN Now it’s time to make Character Sheets. You have to draw characters head front, side, three quarter, and rear angles. You also need to draw character full figure. Will it be short, tall, fat or skinny? Do a character sheet for each character in your story. Your character sheet must include character’s facial expression. Background is important to tell the readers where the story is happening. Draw some background based on your story. 26
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Speech balloons or “speech bubbles” or “voice bubbles” are a graphic convention commonly used in comic books, comics, and cartoons to allow words to be understood as representing speech. Speech Balloon is divided into several types according to the situation: SPEECH BALLOON PANEL AND SPEECH BALLOON 28
Rounded Balloon Normal speech for character. The “tail” of bubble generally point towards the character. Normal speech panel consists of twotypes: speaking inside the panel andoutside the panel. Represent screaming or a message out loud but the screams may have a positive or negative meanings. Each speech balloon has a three shape to convey a message , “smooth (less)”, “wavy (medium)” and “zigzag (heavy)”. To express an idea, or that one is daydreaming, the bubble with a cloud shape or oval like the basic one. Its “tail” is formed by a group of circles in 2 or 3 circles. To convey a secret or just whisper some words, this speech bubble have dotted line. Caption explains where and/or when the action is taking place is usually placed at or near the top of the frame. Rounded Balloon Rectangular straight balloon Jagged contour balloon Serrated contour balloon Thought Balloon Captions Interrupted contour balloon 29
PICTURES WORDS AND Placing your lettering Word narrative can brought into sharper focus. To give your cartoon characters a voice, you want to use the appropriate cartoon lettering. The look and feel of the lettering can convey just as much as the words themselves. We have two options when creating lettering: handwritten or computergenerated fonts. Pictures can illustrate the ideas where pictures can show all sorts of information that there wouldn’t be space to describe in words. An illustration have a greater impact than words. • Place the text inside the cartoon’s composition. • Place the text outside the cartoon’s composition. Fairrington, B. (2009). Drawing cartoons and comics for dummies. 30
LAYOUT PICTURE AND Improving your cartoons with the proper layout. - Using various drawing strategies to create visual interest. - Adding details to spice up your backgrounds. Foreground is the main action takes place; objects in the foreground where appear more dramatic because of their larger scale. Background allows readers to view an object more completely, depending on how far back the object is placed. Images in the foreground can add drama to your cartoons, and images in the background can add detail and texture. Experimenting with difierent perspectives, angles, and background details can help improve your story line and increase your cartoon’s visual impact The basic layout of the art and the placement of the characters and scenes are dependent on the story line. 31
EXERCISE (E05) DRAW YOUR COMIC From the thumbnails that has been drawn before, you are about to start to sketch your comic. Plan your drawing based on the script. Draw the panel as in the script. Make sure to vary your panel with close-ups, long shots, overheads, worm’s-eye views and so on. It makes the page more interesting and gives the page movement. Use your thumbnail drawings to plan your panels on every page of your comic book.Don’t forget to clean up the drawing. You have to erase all pencil marks and inking the outline using permanent pen. 32
COMIC MAKING A THE TOOLS The most important tools that comic artist needs are: a pieces of paper a ruler a pencil an eraser a thin black drawing pen colouring pencils/inks Knowledge in digital software (for digital comic illustrator) Making a comic requires more than just drawing a couple of characters and having them interact on the page. Most people read comics to be entertained, so you must create an interesting story that readers will want to read. Fairrington, B. (2009). Drawing cartoons and comics for dummies. 33
EXERCISE (E06) COLOURING, LETTERING & COVER DESIGN Coloring is the last phase in the completion of your comic book. You have to color your comic using digital software. Study your drawings carefully before using the color pencils. You must scan each page of your drawing then you can start coloring it. Make sure to modify your line stroke if needed. Lettering is a vital part of telling your comic book story. Make sure to check your spelling. You also need to design your own title lettering. Looks at advertisements in newspapers and magazines for different styles you can use. Design your comic cover based on you comic book story. Do several thumbnails to try various cover treatments. Then decide on your final cover illustration. Don’t forget to feature your main character on the cover. 34
RUBRIC: E01 PLOTTING STORY The idea of the story makes complete sense. Writing is clear and easy to understand. EXCELLENT! The story contains many creative details and/or descriptions that contribute to the reader’s comprehension and enjoyment of the story and the project. The beginning creates interest, the middle is well-developed, and the end is satisfying. All parts of the assignment are completed and turned in on time. IDEAS CREATIVITY ORGANIZATION TIMELINE CRITERIA EXCELLENT (4) GOOD (3) SATISFACTORY (2) NEEDS WORK (1) SCORE TOTAL 16 The idea is pretty understandable. GOOD! The story contains a few creative details and/or descriptions that contribute to the reader’s comprehension and enjoyment of the project. The story has a clear and interesting beginning, middle, and end. Student refused to perform and submit all requirement on dateline given. (24 hours after dateline) The idea of the story is hard to follow and somewhat confusing. DEVELOPING! The story contains a few creative details and/or descriptions, but they distract from the story making it somewhat difflcult to understand. The story has a clear beginning, middle, and end but needs details to make it interesting. Student refused to perform and submit all requirement on dateline given. (48 hours after dateline) The reader will not be able to understand this writing. The ideas do not make sense. POOR! There is little evidence of creativity in the story. Story is difflcult to understand. The story does not have a clear beginning, middle, or end. The story is hard to follow. Late Submission. 35
RUBRIC: E02 THUMBNAILS AND ROUGH SKETCHES The thumbnail makes complete sense. Thumbnails is clear and easy to understand. EXCELLENT! Thumbnails show a visual plan for assembling the final comic and are crystal clear. The beginning creates interest, the middle is well-developed, and the end is satisfying. All parts of the assignment are completed and turned in on time. IDEAS CREATIVITY ORGANIZATION TIMELINE CRITERIA EXCELLENT (4) GOOD (3) SATISFACTORY (2) NEEDS WORK (1) SCORE TOTAL 16 The thumbnail is pretty understandable. GOOD! Thumbnails show a visual plan for assembling the final comic but are not as clear as they could be. The story has a clear and interesting beginning, middle, and end. Student refused to perform and submit all requirement on dateline given. (24 hours after deadline) The thumbnail is hard to follow and somewhat confusing. DEVELOPING! Thumbnails show a visual plan for assembling the final comic but are not clear, and are scattered. The story has a clear beginning, middle, and end but needs details to make it interesting. Student refused to perform and submit all requirement on dateline given. (48 hours after deadline) The thumbnail is hard to be understand. The thumbnail does not make sense. POOR! Thumbnails are not clear, scattered, and do not show a visual plan for assembling the final comic. The story does not have a clear beginning, middle, or end. The story is hard to follow. Late Submission. 36
RUBRIC: E03 COMIC SCRIPT Title is creative, sparks interest and is related to the story and topic. The story makes complete sense. Writing is clear and easy to understand. EXCELLENT! The story contains many creative details and/or descriptions that contribute to the reader’s comprehension and enjoyment of the story and the project. The beginning creates interest, the middle is well-developed, and the end is satisfying. The writing has a lot of powerful and exciting words to enhance the meaning. No spelling error. No grammar error. Meets all guidelines as given in class. All parts of the assignment are completed and turned in on time. TITLE IDEAS CREATIVITY ORGANIZATION WORDS/ LANGUAGES CHOICE SPELLING AND GRAMMAR FORMAT TIMELINE CRITERIA EXCELLENT (4) GOOD (3) SATISFACTORY (2) NEEDS WORK (1) SCORE Title is related to the story and topic. The writing is pretty understandable. GOOD! The story contains a few creative details and/or descriptions that contribute to the reader’s comprehension and enjoyment of the project. The story has a clear and interesting beginning, middle, and end. The writing has some powerful and exciting words. 1-2 spelling errors. 1-2 grammar errors. Meets all guidelines except one guidelines. Student refused to perform and submit all requirement on dateline given. (24 hours after deadline) Title is present, but does not appear to be related to the story and topic. The story is hard to follow and somewhat confusing. DEVELOPING! The story contains a few creative details and/or descriptions, but they distract from the story making it somewhat difflcult to understand. The story has a clear beginning, middle, and end but needs details to make it interesting. The writing has a few powerful and exciting words. 3-4 spelling errors. 3-4 grammar errors. Does not meets more than 2 guidelines. Student refused to perform and submit all requirement on dateline given. (48 hours after deadline) No title. The reader will not be able to understand this writing. The ideas do not make sense. POOR! There is little evidence of creativity in the story. Story is difflcult to understand. The story does not have a clear beginning, middle, or end. The story is hard to follow. The writing has no powerful and exciting words. It is boring to read. Repeated errors in spelling and grammar. Does not meets guidelines. Late Submission. TOTAL 32 37
RUBRIC: E03 RUBRIC: E04 CHARACTER AND BACKGROUND DESIGN The artwork is planned carefully; understanding of all concepts and instructions is clearly shown. The main character is named and clearly described in text as well as pictures. Most readers could describe the characters accurately. Characters is Unique, well designed and painted and is not copied from another source Extensive detailing is done. The overall affect supports and enhances the story. There are 3 or more well done backgrounds created for the final product. The background shows excellent effort and quality. Careful selection was given to the color and pattern choices. There is much creativity and construction is excellent quality. CHARACTERS DESIGN & FACE EXPRESSIONS CHARACTERS DESCRIPTION ORIGINALITY DETAILING NUMBER OF BACKGROUNDS DESIGN CRITERIA EXCELLENT (4) GOOD (3) SATISFACTORY (2) NEEDS WORK (1) SCORE The artwork is planned carefully; understanding of most concepts and instructions is shown. The main character is named and described. Most readers would have some idea of what the character looked and acted like. Characters is Unique, but may be a little roughly painted, and is not copied from another source. Moderate detailing is done to the background. A bit more would have helped complete the overall effect to the finished product. There are 3 basic backgrounds created. The background has good effort given to the colors and patterns selected. There is creativity present and construction is good. The art work is planned adequately; understanding of some concepts and instructions shown. The main character is named. The reader knows very little about the character. Characters is common, but may be a little roughly painted, and is not copied from another source. Some detailing done in the background - but it is not complete. There are 2 backgrounds created. The background has minimal effort given to color, pattern, creativity, or construction. The artwork shows no understanding of the concepts and instructions. It is hard to tell who the main character is. Characters is unattractive, is roughly painted, and is not copied from another source. Minimal detail provided in the background. There is only one background created. The background has no design qualities - color, patterns, creativity, or construction. CHARACTER BACKGROUND 38
The artwork shows outstanding craftsmanship, with clear attention to detail. The student put forth extraordinary effort to complete the project well as possible; used class time extremely well. The finishing is very good in quality. Meets all guidelines as given in class. All parts of the assignment are completed and turned in on time. SKILLS EFFORT FINISHING FORMAT TIMELINE CRITERIA EXCELLENT (4) GOOD (3) SATISFACTORY (2) NEEDS WORK (1) SCORE TOTAL 44 The artwork shows good craftsmanship, with some attention to detail. The student put forth the effort required to complete the project well; used class time well. The finishing is good in quality. Meets all guidelines except one guideline. Student refused to perform and submit all requirement on dateline given. (24 hours after dateline) The artwork shows average craftsmanship and attention to detail. The student put forth the effort required to finish the project; used class time adequately. The finishing quality is acceptable. Does not meets more than 2 guidelines. Student refused to perform and submit all requirement on dateline given. (48 hours after dateline) The artwork shows poor craftsmanship and no attention to detail. The student put forth no effort or the project was not completed; class time was not used well. The finishing quality is not very good. Does not meets guidelines. Late Submission. 39
RUBRIC: E05 DRAW YOUR COMIC The artwork shows more than the required amount of original thought. Ideas are creative. Lists all the most important events that occur in the book without revealing the conclusion Student demonstrates excessive and applicable planning. Student is able to communicate sophisticated ideas visually or otherwise. Drawing is expressive and detailed. The artwork is outstanding and finished with a great deal of patience and pride. IDEA AND ORIGINALITY CHOICES OF SCENE PLANNING AND COMMUNICATION OF IDEAS DRAWING SKILLS CRITERIA EXCELLENT (4) GOOD (3) SATISFACTORY (2) NEEDS WORK (1) SCORE The artwork shows more than the required amount of original thought. Ideas are creative. Lists all the most important events that occur in the book without revealing the conclusion Student demonstrates excessive and applicable planning. Student is able to communicate sophisticated ideas visually or otherwise. Drawing is expressive and detailed. The artwork is outstanding and finished with a great deal of patience and pride. The artwork shows a little evidence of original thinking. Lists most of the important events in the book, but either highlight unimportant points or reveals the conclusion Student demonstrates limited planning. Student is able to communicate simple ideas visually or by other means. Drawing has few details. The student showed average craftsmanship and understanding. The artwork shows no evidence of original thinking. Lists some events in the book, but information is incomplete or focused on less important points Student demonstrates insufflcient planning. Student is unable to communicate simple ideas visually or otherwise. The drawing lacks almost all detail OR it is unclear what the drawing is intended to be. Student needs to works on control. The student showed poor craftsmanship or lack of understanding. 40
Student has taken the technique being studied and applied it in a way that is totally his/ her own. The student put forth extraordinary effort to complete the project well as possible; used class time extremely well. The finishing is very good in quality. Meets all guidelines as given in class. All parts of the assignment are completed and turned in on time. CREATIVITY EFFORT FINISHING FORMAT TIMELINE CRITERIA EXCELLENT (4) GOOD (3) SATISFACTORY (2) NEEDS WORK (1) SCORE TOTAL 40 Student has taken the technique being studied and has used source material as a starting place. The student put forth the effort required to complete the project well; used class time well. The finishing is good in quality. Meets all guidelines except one guideline. Student refused to perform and submit all requirement on dateline given. (24 hours after dateline) Student has copied some material to complete the task. There is little evidence of creativity, but the student has done the assignment. The student put forth the effort required to finish the project; used class time adequately. The finishing quality is acceptable. Does not meets more than 2 guidelines. Student refused to perform and submit all requirement on dateline given. (48 hours after dateline) Student has not made much attempt to meet the requirements of the assignment. The student put forth no effort or the project was not completed; class time was not used well. The finishing quality is not very good. Does not meets guidelines. Late Submission. 41
RUBRIC: E06 COLOURING, LETTERING & COVER DESIGN Coloring is neat. Strokes are all going in one direction. All of the picture is colored realistically. All white areas are minimized and colored white. Colors often enhance picture details. Characters are colored with more than three colors. All of the picture is colored including areas outside of the requirements. There is an appropriate amount of dialogue and text to bring the characters to life and it is always clear which character is speaking. No spelling or grammar errors. Title page has a graphic or fancy lettering, has the title, author’s name, illustrator’s name, and the year. Cover is outstanding! Illustration is neat and creatively depicting elements of the authors stories, is very colorful and has no white space. The cover is creative and vividly depicts the story. NEATNESS REALISTIC COLORING CHARACTER COLORS FULLY COLORED DIALOGUE/TEXT SPELLING AND GRAMMAR TITLE PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS DESIGN CRITERIA EXCELLENT (4) GOOD (3) SATISFACTORY (2) NEEDS WORK (1) SCORE Coloring is generally neat. Strokes are often going in one direction. The picture is colored realistically. White areas are minimized and colored white. characters are colored with three colors All of the picture is colored. There is too much dialogue and text in this story, but it is always clear which character is speaking. 1-2 spelling or grammar errors. Title page has the title, author’s name, illustrator’s name, and the year. Cover shows effort. Illustration is neat, colorful, some detail little or no white space. The cover depicts the story. Coloring is neat in some areas. Strokes vary some in direction. Coloring is often realistic. White areas are often minimized. Some white areas are left uncolored. characters are colored with two colors. Most of the picture is uncolored. There is not quite enough dialogue or text in this story, but it is always clear which character is speaking. 3-5 spelling or grammar errors. Title page has the 3 of the 4 required elements. Cover shows some effort. There was an illustration included, but it is not colorful or neat. Still quite a lot of white space. The cover barely depicts the story. The back cover is barely related to the story. Coloring is messy. Strokes are going in different directions. Coloring shows no realism. White areas are extensive and left uncolored. characters are colored with one color Some of the picture is uncolored. It is not clear which character is speaking. It is not clear which character is speaking. Repeated errors in spelling and grammar. Title page has fewer than 3 of the required elements. Cover shows very little effort. There may be a lot of white space. The cover does not depict the story. The back cover does not relate to the story. COLORING LETTERING COVER 42
Student has taken the technique being studied and applied it in a way that is totally his/ her own. The artwork is outstanding and finished with a great deal of patience and pride. The artwork is exceptionally attractive in terms of design, layout, and neatness. The product shows that much time and effort were used. Student demonstrates a true understanding or prior skill, knowledge, and has taken risks; or shows tremendous exploration of media. Comic shows considerable originality and inventiveness. The content and ideas are presented in a unique and interesting way. The finishing is very good in quality. All parts of the assignment are completed and turned in on time. CREATIVITY SKILLS ATTRACTIVENESS EFFORT MEDIA EXPLORATION ORIGINALITY FINISHING TIMELINE CRITERIA EXCELLENT (4) GOOD (3) SATISFACTORY (2) NEEDS WORK (1) SCORE TOTAL 68 Student has taken the technique being studied and has used source material as a starting place. The student showed above average craftsmanship and understanding. The artwork is attractive in terms of design, layout, and neatness. The product is average work. Student shown significant exploration of media and the pages show evidence of risk taking and connections to previous learning. Comic shows some originality and inventiveness. The content and ideas are presented in an interesting way. The finishing is good in quality. Student refused to perform and submit all requirement on dateline given. (24 hours after dateline) Student has copied some material to complete the task. There is little evidence of creativity, but the student has done the assignment. The student showed average craftsmanship and understanding. The artwork is acceptable attractive though it may be a bit messy. The product is barely average work. Student has not shown exploration beyond basic uses of media. Comic shows an attempt at originality and inventiveness in part of the presentation. The finishing quality is acceptable. Student refused to perform and submit all requirement on dateline given. (48 hours after dateline) Student has not made much attempt to meet the requirements of the assignment. The student showed poor craftsmanship or lack of understanding. The artwork is distractingly messy or very poorly designed. It is not attractive. The product is below an average work. Student shown little or no exploration of media. Comic is a rehash of other people’s ideas and/or images and shows very little attempt at original thought. The finishing quality is not very good. Late Submission. 43
HOW THEY STARTED? eff Weigel, Comic Book Artist, jeffweigel.com says: “My advice to aspiring comics artist is this: save time by planning your story out with thumbnail sketches rather than launching right into fullsized pages right away. My thumbnails are quickly scribbled plans for each page’s design. They are a way to resolve all the storytelling issues of a comic book story—how much of the story to tell on each page, how many panels to use and how they fit together on the page, resolving decisions on whether to use an establishing shot, a close-up, a medium shot, and what to include in each panel and how to compose it. Making these decisions in small thumbnail sketches allows me to resolve all the storytelling and pacing issues upfront before I put energy into drawing and rendering, where bad decisions can be time-consuming to fix. When I work on a graphic novel I will thumbnail every page of the book, from first to last, before I ever start a penciled page.” Howie Noel, Comic Book Artist, HC Noel Comics says: “For my comic series “Tara Normal”, my personal goal is to make each character unique and different from other members of the cast. In addition to being a writer and comic artist, I’m also a professional caricaturist so I want the faces I draw to be expressive. When creating an original character, I do several rough sketches before creating a final version. In my imagination, the character’s alive, and their personality inffiuences details like their wardrobe and hair. You also want to make sure you’re creating something that’s fun for you to draw because you’ll have to draw these characters over and over again throughout the story. I highly recommend doing a lot of research when it comes to illustrating clothing and accessories. It helps add reality to your story.” 44
Andy Schmidt, Founder & Instructor Comics Experience “Developing characters from a macro standpoint is fairly simple. You just need to understand the ba-sic and essential elements. Everything beyond that starts to fall into place fairly easily. Those elements are rather simple, too. The first thing your character needs is a GOAL. They must be trying to achieve something. It can be big or small, but it has to be something I can understand clearly. Often, simpler is better. Indiana Jones wants to acquire the ark of the covenant. That’s his goal. It’s motivated by his love of history and archaeology—not by the government asking him to go get it. But that motivation exists to justify the goal. His traits, what make him really interesting, is his methodology which is unconven-tional even by the standards of the 1930s. So when I create a character I start with his or her goal. And then everything else is built around that—in support of it, in contradiction to it. Often we have cross-purposes in our own lives. This is where the complexity of character comes in. Is this how I make characters for comics? Yes. But it’s really just how we make great characters in any medium.” 45
GLOSSARY Comics are an artistic medium that combines words and pictures which typically tells a single story or a gag (joke) in a few panels or else a segment of a continuous story. Genre is a distinctive type or category of literary composition, such as the epic, tragedy, comedy, novel, and short story. Plot is a structure of interrelated actions, consciously selected and arranged by the author and involves a considerably higher level of narrative organization than normally occurs in a story. Panel is a small picture designed for specific sacred or secular purposes or as part of a functional object. Character that represents a type and that is recognizable as belonging to a certain genre. Protagonist is the first leading actor in comic design. Foreground contains the applications the user is working on. Background contains the applications that are behind the scenes. Comics Genre Plot Panel Character Protagonist Foreground Background 46
REFERENCES Arianti, A. S. (2019). Drawing Styles Visual Analysis of Indonesian Action Comics. ARTic, 2(1), 93-101. Eisner, W. (1991). Comics & Sequential Art. Expanded Edition. Poorhouse Press. Freedman, K. (2019). Viewing Comics as education through art. Lessons Drawn: Essays on the Pedagogy of Comics and Graphic Novels. Guillain, C. (2016). What Is a Graphic Novel? (Raintree Perspectives: Connect with Text) (UK ed.). Raintree. Kunzle, D. M. (2017, April 21). Comic strip. Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved from https://www.britannica.com/art/comic-strip Laakso, O. M. (2020). Animation in sequential art: efiects of animated elements on comics through Will Eisner’s theory of narrative process. Martin, G., & V. (2005). The Art of Comic-Book Inking (2nd ed.). Dark Horse. Thompson, R. (2018). Writing through comics. In Teaching Graphic Novels in the English Classroom (pp. 43-65). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. 47
ABOUT THE AUTHOR Haffzah Abdullah @ Ali worked as Senior Lecturer at JRKV, Politeknik Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin. She has written an academic article and previously working at IT department for 11 years. She involved in comic and graphic novel design since 2019. She studies Bachelor Degree in Computer Science at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and start her career as Graphic Designer and Programmer in 2006-2009. Currently she involved in Interaction Design research specifically in Digital Graphic Novel design. She loves reading motivation and designing books especially in Web Design and Visual Design. You can get in her blog by typing the word “P2E for Students” into Google. No, seriously try it! Raffdah Ja’afar start her career as Lecturer at JRKV, Politeknik Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin. She has teaching Comic Illustration since 2009. She start her higher level education and get her Diploma in Information Technology and Bachelor Degree in Computer Science (Interactive Media), Universiti Teknikal Malaysia Melaka (UTeM). She have 12 years experiences teaching multimedia courses at JRKV. She likes Cooking and Travelling. Her experience in comic illustration became an inspiration to her to produce a guide book related to comic for students and comic lovers. Mohd Hakimi Raseli is a digital artist and Lecturer at JRKV, Politeknik Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin almost 13 years experience in teaching art design, animation, digital drawing, and illustration. He started his career in advertising and graphic design from 2002 - 2006. He studies Bachelor Degree in Art and Design (Graphic) at UiTM Melaka. Photography and Design is the most passionate and he was heavily involved in design throughout his services at polytechnic. There are three responses to a piece of design - Yes, No and Wow. Wow is is the one to aim for! WHAT IS COMIC ILLUSTRATION? All references and content used in this book are intended to help students learn more about comic design. The content of this book is a sharing of knowledge to help renders to express ideas though text. Why character, plot, panel, speech balloon, word and pictures is most important thing in comic design? What comes first between words and pictures? Using a simple delivery method and great examples from previous study, this book explains what is meant by Comic Illustration before you start with your own. 48
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