Book Review: Making Comics by Scott McCloud

Making Comics
by Scott McCloud
Harper Paperbacks
ISBN 00607809

I've previously reviewed Understanding Comics and Reinventing Comics by Scott McCloud. I thoroughly enjoyed both books. Naturally, I was pretty pumped when his book, Making Comics, came out recently. I was not disappointed. Where the previous two books focused on the past and future of comics, Making Comics focused on the actual craft. This fit in nicely with my current aspirations.

One might think that this would be a step-by-step, how-to-draw book but this is not the case. Really, the core is storytelling via comics. How do you tell a story with artwork? How do you make it not only readable and worthy of reading? H0w do you make you characters interesting and convincing?

Here are some of my big takeaways:

1. How does the artist balance clarity (simplicity, ease of reading) with intensity (the flash that catches reader's attentions). What to include/exclude. Framing. POV. Really, it's like directing a film...on Bristol Board.

2. Facial expressions. Seriously, Making Comics includes pages upon pages about expression, facial musculature, and the ever-so-slight variations on expressions. These pages, alone, might make it worth buying the book. It's really impressive. It prompted me to pull out my copy of Burne Hogarth's Drawing the Human Head.

3. Word use. Details about sound effects, bubbles, even fonts. How can they help/hurt the story.

4. Making the world of your comic feel real. It really is the little details that pulls the reader into this world. Taking a little time (i.e. space in a comic) to really show the world will go a long way.

5. Tools of the trade. Honestly, I was expecting a greater focus on art mediums, materials, techniques but was pleasantly surprised. Don't misunderstand. Having the right tools can make a task a lot easier and, if having something like a t-square means I can spend more time telling the story and less time making parallel lines, I'm all for it. I appreciated McCloud's documentation of what successful artists use...having a few guidelines make the art supply story feel a lot less intimidating. I also appreciated, though, the mentioning that great artists can make terrific artwork with just a few basic tools like printer paper and ballpoint pens. Ok, I wrote more about this, the smallest aspect of the book, than any of the other takeaways. Sorry.

There you have it. I really liked the book. I'd really like to own a copy but we'll see how that works out...I'm terribly cheap.