Draw Out the Story: Ten Secrets to Creating Your Own Comics

by Brian McLachlan (Illustrator)

Overview

From single-panel comics to full-blown graphic novels, there are dozens of ways to use comics to tell a story. And whether kids want to write or draw something funny or scary, long or short, made-up or true-to-life, cartoonist and author Brian McLachlan maintains there are just ten crucial things they need to know to get started. Using colloquial text, images, and examples, each chapter hones in on a different secret to creating great comics. Budding comic artists will learn how to make text and illustrations work together, how to give characters personality, how to choose the right tool for each project, and much more.

A worthy addition to the how-to comics canon, Draw Out the Story simplifies advanced concepts for younger readers, providing invaluable lessons and pointers for kids who want to learn to write and draw — and imagine — great stories.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781771470032
Publisher:	Owlkids Books
Publication date:	09/10/2013
Pages:	144
Sales rank:	1,069,063
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 7.90(h) x 0.40(d)
Lexile:	800L (what's this?)
Age Range:	8 - 12 Years

About the Author

Brian McLachlan is a regular contributor to OWL Magazine, has numerous freelance clients, and is the comic artist behind the series Princess Planet. His sense of humor puts the "comic" back in "comic book." He lives in Toronto.

Editorial Reviews

"If a picture is worth a thousand words, save those thousand words for things a picture can’t show. Play with how words and pictures add and subtract from each other. Trust in your art and your words that you don’t need both to say the same thing."
— from the book



IRA Children's and Young Adults’ Book Award Winner, Intermediate Nonfiction Category, 2014
Maine Student Book Award Nominee, 2014-15
A Junior Library Guild selection, 2014

From the Publisher

"The first seven 'secrets' lay a solid groundwork for aspiring creators but what really makes Draw Out the Story exceptional, moving beyond your typical 'how-to-create-comics' guidebook, are the final three chapters that focus on creating meaningful and fun stories through exploration, imagination and "what if?" play.

Canadian Children's Book News

"... although aimed at young adults, its solid advice will benefit aspiring cartoonists and comic makers of all ages and backgrounds."

Children's Bookwatch

Comics creator McLachlan outlines 10 secrets, from “Comics let you show and tell” to “Go beyond the normal,” as he encourages readers to try their hand at graphic storytelling. He opens with a discussion of “comics grammar” (explaining conventions like speech balloons, panels, and caption boxes), then moves into discussions of styles and genres, the use of details and color, how to give drawings personality, and developing one’s ideas. McLachlan’s comics appear throughout to, well, illustrate his points; in a section about telling “complex or deep stories with simple art,” a yellow circle with black lines for rays appears near an ornately rendered sun (“Again, that doesn’t mean the story with the second kind of sun will be better”). It’s a useful and accessible primer for the next generation of comics artists and writers. Ages 8–12. (Sept.)

Publishers Weekly

People are always asking writers, "Where do you get your ideas?" This book actually answers the question. Everyone knows that the best way to get a child to do something is to say it's forbidden. McLachlan has given this book the subtitle "Ten Secrets to Creating Your Own Comics," so that readers think they're gaining forbidden knowledge. Some of the information isn't much of a secret. The first tip is: "Comics marry pictures and words…." But the author's really talking about much bigger ideas, like the different ways that words and pictures show the passage of time. He talks about the way a word or a picture can inspire readers, telling them that "the comic panels invite the reader to imagine what has happened between them." None of this is hidden knowledge (Scott McCloud discussed most of the same topics in Understanding Comics, 1994), but it's valuable information. The sections about generating ideas give very practical advice, especially the pages on "brainstorm doodles." The sample comics that appear throughout the book aren't quite so impressive (ROBIN HOOD: "Marian, would you like to join us in our forest?" MARIAN: "Sure wood!"), but the techniques they demonstrate are worth learning. Advanced cartoonists may prefer a longer book, like McCloud's, but this book has all the secrets beginners might need. (Nonfiction. 8-12)

Kirkus Reviews