Comic Book

Hey there, creative souls! Today, I’m excited to share the ups and downs of making my very first comic book—a journey that started as a college assignment but quickly became something so much more. Our task was to either create a colored comic book or a storyboard, but if we chose the storyboard route, we had to make an animatic for it (even if it was rough). Since I love coloring and bringing characters to life, I went with the comic book.

Starting with the Story: 

The hardest part was to come up with a solid story! I had help from my professor, who guided me through structuring the narrative. To be honest, writing doesn’t come naturally to me, and this was my first attempt at crafting a full story. I questioned myself a lot along the way. But once the story finally took shape, I felt a huge sense of accomplishment. You’ll be the judge of whether it holds up—I'll link the full story below!

Storyboard and Character Design: 

Next, it was time to storyboard. I had to figure out how many frames would fit on each page and what my characters would be doing in each scene. This part was incredibly time-consuming because I needed my characters to stay consistent throughout the entire comic. I spent countless hours sketching different poses and facial expressions in my sketchbook. When I started to feel burnt out, I switched to work on the backgrounds. To keep things flexible, I drew the backgrounds on larger art boards, so I could resize them without losing quality.

In addition, I looked through some AI-generated references for my characters and backgrounds. Here are a few of the outputs that I utilized as a guide for my comic book.

Art Style Challenges: 

A major tip for anyone starting a project: decide on your art style early! I learned this the hard way after redoing the backgrounds twice because I didn’t choose my style upfront. It was frustrating at the time, but a valuable lesson. Now, I always make sure to lock in the art style before diving into any big projects.

Bringing It All Together Digitally: 

For the digital phase, I used Photoshop and my trusty Wacom pen tablet. Even though I was familiar with these tools, bringing a whole comic to life was no small task. I used layers extensively, grouping elements to add effects and organizing dialogue into its own groups. My file got so large that my laptop struggled to handle it, so I had to split it into two files to keep things running smoothly. And yes, I had a lot of "Oh no!" moments when I forgot to save my progress, so remember: Ctrl+S is your lifesaver!

Navigating Self-Doubt and Finding My Path: 

One of the toughest parts of this project was battling my own self-doubt. Early on, I looked at a comic made by an old student and discovered it was copied straight from the internet. It was discouraging because I saw many of my classmates considering the same shortcut. But I stuck to my guns and decided to create something original, even if it meant taking the harder route. My advice to don’t cut corners. Real growth happens when you push yourself beyond your comfort zone, even when others around you are taking the easy way out.

Final Reflection: 

Looking back, I’m really proud of what I created. This project wasn’t just about fulfilling an assignment—it was about challenging myself and learning along the way. I learned a lot about storytelling, digital art, and most importantly, perseverance. I hope you’ll enjoy reading my comic as much as I enjoyed creating it.

What’s Next? I’m excited to keep pushing my artistic boundaries, and I’m already brainstorming new projects. Thanks for joining me on this journey, and be sure to check out the full comic through the link below. Let’s keep creating, and remember: it’s all about the process.