Comic books and strips have been the prime sources of entertainment and fantasy in everyone’s childhood days. The popularity of these books has crossed the barriers of age and preferences in the long run. Packed with humor, thrill, emotion, and adventure, comic titles have always captured the hearts of countless readers.

Keeping everything aside, has the thought of creating your comic ever crossed your mind? If yes, you can read the following article to understand designing and publishing comics in enough detail.

How to Draw and Publish Comic Books?

Adhering to the following steps will help you in working towards the creation and publishing of comic books with enough suitability:

1. Develop an Exciting Idea

An exciting and unique idea is the root of all amazing creations, especially in the art industry. Moving along the line, you would also need an interesting thought to begin drawing a comic. As you sit to ponder on the same, a series of thoughts may run through your mind. A smart way to keep track of everything is by jotting down the ideas in a notebook.

As a storyteller, you should never be without your notebook. Following the habit, you can instantly scribble the amazing ideas popping up anytime and anywhere. When you have collected enough thoughts, analyze each of them to finalize your storytelling genre. You may select anything that suits your interest.

While some may prefer adventure and fantasy, others may want to write about humor and emotion. Deciding what to present is a question of expression skills and personal preference. If it’s your first attempt at drawing comics, choose an idea that fits your comfort zone. Don't ignore the ideas that appear sketchy at the first instant. You may get something relevant through the creation process from such snippets.

2. Pen Down Your Thoughts

When you have finalized the idea, it's time to pen down the scribbled thoughts into a detailed and well-organized script. While you won't require being overly expressive, a logical sequence among the different elements of your story is desired. Beginning to draw the comic without a script is a blunder you should avoid.

When penning down your ideas, taking care of some factors will result in a well-drafted story. Before you begin writing, be clear about the comic's genre. Having that decided, work on the challenges and aims of the lead characters. Next comes the setting of your story. Make sure your theme, location, and arrangement look believable. Last but not least, segment your story into a start, middle, and climax.

You can complete the writing task on a simple sheet of paper, or prefer any of the commonly available writing apps. Looking for a fancy or high-tech professional application is not required. A normal text editor app is sufficient.

3. Decide on the Presentation

When the script is ready, you will need to work on the arrangement of elements and layout of the comic. You are about to begin drawing, but a few aspects demand attention. Your comic's layout should focus on reader engagement throughout the story. There are several ways to ensure the same.

Using cliffhangers is a smart way to captivate your readers. You can gather their attention towards something exciting coming up while revealing the surprise on the next page. Thumbnails are another interesting means to plan your comic's layout. These are sketchy drawings, similar to storyboards, that can be used to sort out last-minute composition issues.

Thumbnails are the roughest snippets of your story that provide a deeper insight into the plot. These should be complemented with striking dialogues. The absence of dialogues can make the layout bland and confusing.

4. Let’s Get Drawing!

Here comes the most awaited step. You can start drawing the comic after the layout takes good shape. The drawing can be worked out with pen and paper, or with any digital tool available in the software market. Do not aim at being a perfectionist at this stage. A normal drawing with all principal elements is fine. The minute details can be added in the inking stage.

If you are creating the comic through digital drawing, selecting the correct tool is important. The software market extends a long list of options, but you should stick with personal preference and usage compatibility.

5. Add Inks and Colors

When the pencil sketch of your comic seems in good form, you can proceed with inking and adding colors. The task can be self-addressed, and you can also seek professional help. The inking and coloring tasks can be understood as follows:

Inking

Inking refers to the process of refining your drawing with clear-cut elements and in-depth detailing. Clarity is essential to provide your story with its needed flow. If someone else is doing the job for you, take care to finalize things only when you are completely satisfied with the concluding look.

Coloring

While adding vibrancy to the comic's elements may seem exciting, you should be very particular about your choice. Colors have the potential to attract and divert the audience's attention. Loss of color consistency in different appearances of the same element can confuse your readers. An accurate and consistent color selection, therefore, assumes great importance.

6.Take Care of Lettering

Lettering is mostly worked upon with the least attention. Inaccurate lettering in any form can, however, degrade the effects of fantastic storylines and catchy illustrations. Hand lettering can be a viable option if you are good at creative character styling. If you are not confident enough, choosing an installed font would be better.

When working with lettering fonts, take care of their consistency with the comic’s elements and presentation. You can choose from a host of paid and free fonts available across the web. Remember to check the font licenses before putting them to use.

7.Time for a Market Launch

Take pride in your work! You have created amazing content. Moving ahead, you can think about sharing it with your friends, family, and the world. In today's digitally upgraded era, there are limitless ways to launch your comic in the market. Social media handles are the most reliable in this regard.

Try hands at advertising your creation with attractive and inviting posts on media-sharing platforms. Talk about the utility and availability of the comic and the simplest ways to buy it. You need to be patient in receiving viewer responses. Creating a daily post is fine, but you should avoid flooding the platform's feed with a continuous sales pitch.

8.Wrapping Up

Designing a comic book demands considerable effort. If you have enough skills in line with the aforesaid criteria, it is safe to proceed with self-creation. On the contrary, there's nothing wrong with accepting that you are not confident to handle the task all by yourself.

You can always follow your desire by collaborating with skilled professionals. It is advisable to keep yourself updated and resolve queries with relevant questions when hiring a comic drawing expert.

The idea of drawing and publishing your comic is very fascinating in itself. You can work on the task to experiment with your creative excellence. Taking care of some specific aspects and following the correct procedure will furnish the desired results.