A comic book is a powerful medium of expression that speaks to a wide variety of ideas and emotions across all genres. DAZ Studio is a great tool to generate renders for your creating comic book artwork!

However, it can take a great deal of time in building and rendering those scenes. The Comic Book Creation kit (bundle version) saves you time and energy in providing you with over a hundred renders ready to select from and build your own comic book. This kit includes an extensive video course of over 13 hours of instruction and insights on composing your comic by Drew Spence, a professional comic book artist.

The artwork in this kit is royalty-free - so you are free to create and publish your own stories with this kit. Over 1250 PNG renders of various characters are included across contemporary, sci-fi, and fantasy scenes. The renders come in a selection of styles ready to select, sequence, and compose into your own story.

Drew teaches you how to use and arrange the elements of a comic book:

• Panels
• Lettering
• Word/Thought balloons
• Captions
• Sound effects
• Panels
• Borders
• Gutters

He shows you how to...

• Map a story structure onto a comic book layout
• Show, rather than tell a dynamic story
• Progress and express characters through their story arcs
• Create strong visual appeal
• Gain a comic book style that fits your story
• Comprehend comic book elements and use them to your advantage
• Compose comic book elements with confidence
• Master composition of characters in a shot (for a panel)

This course is for you if you are...

• Overwhelmed with the prospect of creating a comic book
• Wanting to add extra impact or emotion to your visual story,
• Needing a comprehensive understanding of comic book elements in all their varieties and how to use them effectively.
• Having challenges in using composition for comic book elements
• Wanting to experiment with comic book creation without having to render scenes yourself.

This is Part 1 of a 3 part Course. There's also a bundle version available.

Searchable Tutorials

This product includes MP4 videos and hosted searchable tutorials allowing you to jump to points in the tutorials on any keyword/phrase spoken during the sessions. Here's a sample:

Software Recommended for this Course

• Comic Life 3 - inexpensive software for MAC/PC to assemble and compose your comic
• Photoshop (or GIMP) - for styling and/or for assembling your comic book
• DAZ Studio - many references are made to DAZ Studio throughout the course since all the assets included are rendered with this.

Content

Session 1: Constructing a narrative

• Introduction
• What is sequential art? What makes outstanding sequential art?
• How is story structure mapped onto a comic book layout?
• Explained: expression and exaggeration for character arcs

Session 2: Visual Appeal and Comic Language

• How do we use expression effectively?
• The hidden hurdle: Translation from 3D to 2D
• About fast movement: upping the stakes
• Camera lens effects for additional visual appeal
• Using foreshortening

Session 3: Comic Book Looks

• Get the looks: pick your prime post-work
• Photoshop Filters to fit your styling
• Photoshop Actions for faster workflow
• Software supporting line art, hand-drawn looks, and other styles

Session 4: Panels and Pages

• Layouts and logic
• Composition within panels
• Thumbnails, scripting, and scribbling
• Notes, ideas, and pre-planning
• Drew's top 10 tips on layout and design
• Flow as we know it
• How are your hooks? Leading the reader
• Composites

Session 5: Shooting your Shots

• More on panel and page planning
• The "information dump" problem and how to overcome
• Camera shot types: Establishing, wide, low, high, level, eye level
• Single shot, two shot, close up, close in, zooming in/out, full body
• Aerial, worm's eye, leaning eye angle, leading frames, over the shoulder
• First-person POV, fourth wall breaks, multi-shot, animated action panels
• Partial panels, in-panel overlaps, out panel, no panel
• Mixed media, motion blur, 4th wall special effects
• Gutter effects

Session 6: Fights, Fury, Frenzy and Friends

• Relationships changing throughout the scene
• Character arcs: what not to do
• Relations vs Information
• SHOW but don't tell
• Style vs substance
• Three types of conflict in stories

Session 7: Style and Convention for your Comic Book

• Your style guide
• Genre, layout, world-building
• Insights from interviews with Comic Book artist veterans
• Ed LaRoche, Pam Harrison, John McClellan, and John Byrne (X-men)
• Analysis of styling from pro comic artists
• Lettering and balloon placement
• Balloon shapes, borders, and bad-ass styling

Session 8: The Big Review

• The arc of the course
• Comic books created by class members - reviews
• How color tells a story
• When text or speech is not needed for panels
• Question posed to pro artists: What is your responsibility as storytellers?
• Summation of course

About Drew Spence

Drew Spence is a graphic comic writer and illustrator from the United States. He creates under the title of The Dynamic Universe, which published the digital comics Force Six, The Annihilators, and Killer Butterfly. He has combined his music and video into several works including Mark of the Griffin, which is both a graphic novel and web series. These comics are available in digital format on ComiXology and in print from Indy Planet. He is part of the instrumental group Fallout Shelter which provides the soundtrack.

Drew is a graduate of Stony Brook University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Fine Art and holds various certificates – from graphic arts to web design. He currently lives on Long Island, New York and produces his work from the aptly named Fallout Shelter Studios, where he crafts crafty and clever comics using CGI and photorealistic image manipulation.

Please see each product's page for details.