The Comic Book Lesson: A Graphic Novel That Shows You How to Make Comics

An aspiring young creator learns the fundamentals of visual storytelling from three comic book mentors in this charming illustrated tale--a graphic novel that teaches you how to turn your stories into comics!

Acclaimed illustrator and graphic novelist Mark Crilley returns with a new approach to learning the essential elements of making comics. His easy-to-follow instruction about comic book art, design, and storytelling provides aspiring creators a one-of-a-kind how-to experience.

In The Comic Book Lesson, you’ll meet Emily--an enthusiastic young comics fan who has a story she needs to tell. On her quest to turn that story into a comic book, Emily meets three helpful mentors who share their knowledge. Trudy, a high school student who works at the local comics shop, teaches Emily how to create expressive characters and how art can convey action and suspense. Madeline, a self-published manga artist, teaches Emily how to use panel composition and layout to tell a story visually and how to develop a comic from script to sketch to finished pages. Sophie, a professional graphic novelist, guides Emily through fine-tuning the details of dialogue, sequence, and pacing to lead readers through the story.

Page by page, you’ll discover more about the events that drive Emily to create her comic book as her mentors teach her (and you!) about the fundamentals of visual narrative and comic book art. Each lesson builds on the previous one, guiding you through the steps of planning and creating your comic, with accompanying exercises you can try for yourself. Are you ready to start your comic book lesson today?

Mark Crilley is the author of the Eisner-nominated The Drawing Lesson, Mastering Manga, Mastering Manga 2, The Realism Challenge, and Manga Art, as well as several manga novels, including the Akiko, Miki Falls, Billy Clikk, and Brody’s Ghost series. Since being selected for Entertainment Weekly’s It List, Crilley has published nearly twenty books and developed a massive YouTube following for his drawing demonstration videos. His books have been featured in USA Today, the New York Daily News, and Disney Adventures magazine, as well as on CNN Headline News.