Comic Book Quest
Week Two: Plan your story and drawings
You now know who your hero and your villain are. You know what they look like, what their superpowers are, where they live and so on! Now you'll need to begin to think through your story and the drawings that go along with your story. Comic book artists and movie makers both use a process called Storyboarding to bring their stories and drawings to life.
How do you "storyboard"? It's pretty easy, you make small boxes and add different scenes from your story to each box (also called thumbnail sketches). The drawings don't need to be perfect, you can draw quickly and sketch. You just want to get your ideas on the paper and organize your story. Here is an example below. Do you notice how loose and quick the drawings are?
How do you "storyboard"? It's pretty easy, you make small boxes and add different scenes from your story to each box (also called thumbnail sketches). The drawings don't need to be perfect, you can draw quickly and sketch. You just want to get your ideas on the paper and organize your story. Here is an example below. Do you notice how loose and quick the drawings are?
Did you also notice the notes below the pictures? The artist was making quick notes about the dialogue or what the characters would be saying to each other.
Today, take your ideas from last week and begin to layout your comic book through the storyboarding process. Print the pdf below to use to create your story boards. Ask Ms. Jamie if you have ANY questions! :)
Today, take your ideas from last week and begin to layout your comic book through the storyboarding process. Print the pdf below to use to create your story boards. Ask Ms. Jamie if you have ANY questions! :)
| blank_film_storyboard.pdf |
For fun, here are some story boards that I created for a friend who was making a short film! He and his friends quickly acted out each scene from the movie and I drew them and added the directions for how the camera would move around the shot. My friend and the other directors used the storyboards to remember all the different shots they needed to film with their actors. It was a lot of fun!
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Week One: Design Your Characters and Their World
Comic books are a lot of fun to read and to create but comic book artists need to do a little bit of planning first. This week spend time planning out not only what your character looks like but what his/her story is. The story is a very important part of the comic book. Think about what the hero's journey looks like for your character. Think about the villain and how he became the villain. Why do the hero and the villain not get a long?
In your sketchbook draw or write out the following:
If you need some inspiration for what comic book characters look like, click here.
Next week, we'll start working on drawing out each block of the story!
In your sketchbook draw or write out the following:
- What is your character's name?
- What does your character or hero look like? (Draw this and make it original, don't copy a Marvel or DC character!)
- Where does your character or hero live? What is it like where he or she lives?
- Does he/she have a secret identity like Clark Kent and Superman or Peter Parker and Spiderman?
- Does he/she have a superpower or just lots of cool gadgets like Batman?
- If he/she has superpowers, what are they?
- What is the hero's backstory? For example: Superman came from another planet but grew up here on Earth, Spiderman was bitten by a spider and gained his powers that way. What happened to your hero to make him or her
- Who is the villain?
- Why is he/she the villain? What is the history between your hero and your villain?
- What does your villain look like?
- What is the main conflict or problem to be solved between your hero and your villain?
- What part of the story will your comic book tell us?
If you need some inspiration for what comic book characters look like, click here.
Next week, we'll start working on drawing out each block of the story!