How does producing a comic-book work?

[Nouw]

Lately I've found myself trying to get into comic-books. I've started with Watchmen and some of the Aliens Darkhorse ones. Now I got quite a shock when I realized that often there was a separate artist and writer. I always assumed that one person did both. So my question is, how do they do it? Do they live together? Does the artist send a storyboard? Does the writer have any influence over the art at all and vice-versa?

Many thanks! All recommendations for comics welcome too.

 

[GiantRaven]

The most common way comics are made (especially in the mainstream/superhero realm) is with the following people:

- Writer
- Artist (Pencils)
- Inker
- Colourist
- Letterer

I don't know the specifics of how work gets transferred around, but I doubt that many creative teams go so far as to live with each other. I know that, for example, Green Arrow has a Writer/Artist team that don't even reside in the same continent.

There can be some combination of the above jobs though, since a lot of Artist will ink their own work as well as penciling it. A few also colour their own work, such as Frazer Irving.

Creators who both write and draw are more common in the indie world but there are a lot more artists at DC/Marvel who are also trying their hand at writing, to various degrees of success.

The amount of control the writer has over the art varies depending on the writer. Some (like Alan Moore) will send detailed scripts with very specific instructions of what each panel should show, whilst others will send basic descriptions and allow the artist more free reign over what they draw.

What kind of stories/genres are you interested in?

 

[Nouw]

snip

Thanks for your reply, clears up quite a bit . I'm tempted to say any genre but I really don't like it when someone tells me that when they ask for a recommendation so I'll say sci-fi, specifically cyber-punk if that matters. Anything dark, gritty, noir-esque will do as well. I'm not too familiar with genres in comic books sorry.

Oh and what's an inker?

 

[GiantRaven]

Oh and what's an inker?

An Inker is somebody who goes over the pencils in ink, adding definition and shadows (as well as other things I'm probably not aware of). It's a more interesting job than it sounds. Good inking can make or break comic art. Different inkers can completely change how the pencils look, seen here [http://kevinmellon.blogspot.co.uk/2011/02/dracula-inks-over-gene-colan.html].

Sci-fi and Noir aren't really genres I know well in comics. The best Sci-fi series I've been reading though is Saga [http://www.comixology.com/Saga/comics-series/7587] which has all kinds of fun alien craziness.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

Oh and what's an inker?

An inker is the person who "Inks" the art.

That probably doesn't help much so...

When you draw an image, you draw it with pencils (So you can erase), the inker, takes those pencil drawings and traces over them with pen, so they're now inked. This usually took a lot of precision and was a job for people with steady hands in yee old days. These days, because we have technology like tablets, the art is mostly done on computers, so there's no more need for inkers.
Although some studios are old school and hand inked art produces a better look in my opinion.

Captcha: Goody goody gumdrops.

Edit: Ninjaed, but I think I added to it at least.

 

[Jacques le Page]

The most common way comics are made (especially in the mainstream/superhero realm) is with the following people:

- Writer
- Artist (Pencils)
- Inker
- Colourist
- Letterer

also depending on the way you make it there are a few other titals but have varying roles

-editor -a guy who often oversees the project making sure it makes sence or folows the continuity of previous storys ,alternitavly he is somone who puts the pannals and text boxes into a page in a cohesive manner (this role varies but there normaly is an editor of some kind in a comic)
-prouducer-somone who makes sure the team fuctions and stays on track making sure the team has a clear understanding of whats going on,they usualy tend to be somone who is an executive on the company and has to pay the team (smaller indie teams somtimes dont have a prouducer or just call the writer the producer)

 

[Nouw]

ink snip

Indeed you did, thanks for your answer ^^.

ink snip2

Aaah thanks for clearing that up. Your pictures provided really helped, showing how big an affect it can have on how a drawing looks. And I will check out Saga. Thanks again for your help .

snip

Hmmm, I never an editor also put panels and text boxes into a page. Thanks for your reply too .

 

[Owyn_Merrilin]

For a bit more detail on how the writer and the other artists work together, the writer does a script, a lot like a movie script, actually. They have stage directions and everything.

 

[Vault101]

Lately I've found myself trying to get into comic-books. I've started with Watchmen and some of the Aliens Darkhorse ones. Now I got quite a shock when I realized that often there was a separate artist and writer. I always assumed that one person did both. So my question is, how do they do it? Do they live together? Does the artist send a storyboard? Does the writer have any influence over the art at all and vice-versa?

Many thanks! All recommendations for comics welcome too.

my brother also foudn thsi surprsing...but really it makes sense...if your talking stuff liek marvel and that could you imagien the workload in tyring to do both?

and as somone already said, its not just the artist..but the pencils, the coluring and all that is different

 

[StylinBones]

According to that 90's television sitcom "Caroline in the City", you don't have to live with the writer to be the illustrator.

 

[Vault101]

Sci-fi and Noir aren't really genres I know well in comics. The best Sci-fi series I've been reading though is Saga [http://www.comixology.com/Saga/comics-series/7587] which has all kinds of fun alien craziness.

I'm loving saga even after just 1 issue...in this case though isn't it more "creator owned"? so that the artist is doing more of it?

anyway, I love the outlandish creatures and worlds....why do people say sci fi is bad? its awsome