The Comic Book Lesson: A Graphic Novel That Shows You How to Make Comics

by Mark Crilley

An aspiring young creator learns the fundamentals of visual storytelling from three comic book mentors in this charming illustrated tale—a graphic novel that teaches you how to turn your stories into comics!

Acclaimed illustrator and graphic novelist Mark Crilley returns with a new approach to learning the essential elements of making comics. His easy-to-follow instruction about comic book art, design, and storytelling provides aspiring creators a one-of-a-kind how-to experience.

In The Comic Book Lesson, you’ll meet Emily—an enthusiastic young comics fan who has a story she needs to tell. On her quest to turn that story into a comic book, Emily meets three helpful mentors who share their knowledge. Trudy, a high school student who works at the local comics shop, teaches Emily how to create expressive characters and how art can convey action and suspense. Madeline, a self-published manga artist, teaches Emily how to use panel composition and layout to tell a story visually and how to develop a comic from script to sketch to finished pages. Sophie, a professional graphic novelist, guides Emily through fine-tuning the details of dialogue, sequence, and pacing to lead readers through the story.

Page by page, you’ll discover more about the events that drive Emily to create her comic book as her mentors teach her (and you!) about the fundamentals of visual narrative and comic book art. Each lesson builds on the previous one, guiding you through the steps of planning and creating your comic, with accompanying exercises you can try for yourself. Are you ready to start your comic book lesson today?

Genres: Graphic Novels, Comics, Art, Writing, Young Adult, Fiction

160 pages, ebook

First published July 26, 2022

About the author

Mark Crilley is an American comic book creator and children's book author/illustrator. He is the creator of Miki Falls, Akiko, and Brody's Ghost. He is also noted for his instructional videos for drawing in the manga-style. Crilley distributes drawing advice to artists via YouTube videos and his DeviantArt account. In August 2010, he starred in some how to draw videos for Funimation on demand. Mark Crilley's wife is Miki Crilley who he named Miki Falls after. The two have a daughter, Mio, and a son, Matthew.
Link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Cri...

Reviews

[Rod Brown · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mark Crilley very effectively integrates lessons about creating comic books in a narrative about a girl who wants to make comics and gets advice from three women at three different points in their own comic book careers. It gets a little meta as you compare the sample pages and critiques made by characters in the story with the manner in which Crilley is drawing the graphic novel.

More than just a how-to guide, it is a cleverly and skillfully executed story that is surprisingly moving toward the end.

[Leslie Patricelli · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a great idea: A story about how to write comic books in a graphic novel format. We follow the main character, Emily, a teen who has an idea and wants to make a comic book but doesn’t know where to start, as she meets a series of female comic book artists willing to teach her. Emily learns, practices and revises her comic under the guidance of these women. I loved learning key lessons about story telling, character design, setting, decision making and procedure as the story progressed. The key points of the lessons are demonstrated within the frames of the novel. Super clever. I would have loved this book as a kid who loved to draw and loved comics. As an adult and a professional illustrator, I loved it, too! I gained useful insight into how to create a graphic novel.

[Siriyah Champlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Not only was this story interesting to read, not only were the characters likable. Not only was the art beautiful, this was extremely helpful! Thank you so much Mark Crilley! I’m ready to begin my comic journey.

[Rodney · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely clever and effective. There’s a moment in which a character is explaining how to pace a moment on the page for emotional effect, and then use the exact same strategy we just learned to devastating effect. Highly recommended!!

[Alina Voinea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I wish I had this when I was 10 and making comic books with my friend. It's a beautiful, entertaining, and educational story. I loved it, and I'd recommend it to all kids who want to start drawing stories.

[CraftyChara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I wished that Emily published her own comic instead of somebody else paying for it, and giving her own table at a Con.

[Am Y · Rating 5 out of 5]

This title does everything so well. It's not just a comic that teaches you to make comics, it also at the same time tells a really touching story that climaxes at just the right moment. Well worth the read, regardless of whether you would like to learn how to start your own comic or not!

[Tobias · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspirational and entertaining

I read Markm Crilley's "The Drawing Lesson", and thought it impressive, but I am more interested in making comics. I was delighted to discover this book. It covers most of the behind the scenes processes, although I wish there was more in it on how to script and outline a story first, however, that does not reduce its effectiveness.

The flow of the story educates you in a simple but critical thinking approach, never taking anything for granted.

I'm a 62 year old comic-creator newbie, and I found Emily's (the protagonist) progress extremely educational, inspirational, and satisfying.

I fully recommend this for any aspiring comic creator.

[Morgan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really liked both the story and the lessens. I especially like how a character would sometimes mention a particular way of doing something and it would happen to the book as your reading it.

(Spoiler)
An example being, where one or the characters mentions that flipping character positions during dialogue sequences can be confusing to the reader. Then on the vary next panel it’s flipped to demonstrate the confusion.

Really my only complaint is that the cover was published on this weird material that feels almost like rubber and leaves some kind of residue on your hands. (If your familiar with No Starch Press’s paper back books It’s simmer to that. {This particular book wasn’t published by No Starch Press.}) I found this quite annoying. I would have preferred a more normal material used for the cover.

Overall I’d recommend this book. It has some vary useful information in it and has an interesting story.

[Bailey · Rating 5 out of 5]

For the record, I actually read this earlier in the year, but for some reason, goodreads hasn't shown it as being published until recently.
Mark Crilley waltzed into my life when I was a dumb little 10 year old who was convinced that I could draw manga style drawings and bring my Gi Joe super spy fanfiction to life with the proper tutelage. My parents disapproved of many of the how to draw manga books with all the inappropriately dressed Shoja girls until they came across Crilleys' book. It was parent approved, and I eagerly took it home and began on the fine art of manga. I did not learn how to draw manga. However, I learned a great deal about drawing and discovered a wonderful artist with an efficient, easygoing teaching style. Crilley is very detailed in his teaching, but he addresses everything in an easy to understand manner. He has a gentle charm to his style that almost makes me think, if Bob Ross taught comics and manga. Highly recommended for artists off all ages

[Royalle · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really appreciated how seamlessly the lessons were worked into the narrative. You can read it as a story on its own or take in the lessons alongside it. The characters were also fun and interesting and felt organic. It was hard for me to put down at times, but wanting to digest the advice (as well as just having my attention needed elsewhere) hardened my discipline to read in multiple sittings.
I am certainly going to have to reread it again. I know I didn’t take note of a lot of details. But that is a testament to how much I was enjoying the story as it was told

[Squishy_Vulpix · Rating 5 out of 5]

This graphic novel was such a great idea. I appreciated it all. I enjoyed looking at each panel so you catch a visual of what he is saying, just to make sure we all understand. There is definitely a few tricks in here that someone may not have thought of on their own, or it took a bit to learn it themselves. I wish I could put it down, because I regret not drawing along with Emily and her lessons, but I guess it means I will be reading it again.

[Ulee ☄︎ · Rating 5 out of 5]

Cute and informative. The book gives a general overview about creating comics by using a story about a girl that wants to make her own comic. I'm guessing the book is targeted to a younger audience. It's very basic and not as thorough & detailed as Scott McCloud's books on creating comics. I follow the author on youtube and wanted to support his work.

[Cosmos · Rating 5 out of 5]

I think I learned more from this book than I've learned from so many online art tutorials like combined. This is a great book if you have any interest at all in drawing comics, or even just for expressive characters. I will probably buy this one, since I had checked it out from the library, and I'm gonna give his youtube channel a look later, too.

[Matthias Hernandez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was looking for books to learn about writing comic books and, like Emily, I couldn’t really find one until I stumbled upon this one.
The book is a great idea, pretty to look at and full of valuable advice and exercises. Worth rereading to really absorb all the information.

[Mariana · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a fun read. I don't know if I'll ever make a comic book - never say never, right? - but this has some great insights presented in an easy to understand format at the same time providing example after example as you read.

[Katra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Excellent tips told in story form for anyone wanting to create their own graphic novels.

[Marilyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good information presented in a fun way.

[Electra Cox · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a really good book and made me want to start writing and drawing comics!
Amazing book and every educational though

[Andrew Glenn Hansen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really straight forward book about beginning a comic and an enjoyable story.

[Kathy Brown]

I don't do stars, but a charming story and engaging tutorial in comic storytelling.

[norah melden (death by tbr) · Rating 4 out of 5]

a really cute book with an interesting format!!

this isn't like a HUGE spoiler but her dog ends up dying and it's a really emotional scene that i was not prepared forrrr 🥲👌

[Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Brilliant! A must read for anyone who wants to create comics of their own.

[wildct2003 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book!

[Hunter · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m giving this a five because I really think it will be helpful for those students who really want to draw comics. This is less of a “How to Draw” book and more of a “How to create comics” book.

[🎠🌈💗 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a wonderful way of presenting an instructional book, and made me feel like I was really participating alongside the characters. I thought it was a perfect format for giving real concrete visual examples on what to do and what not to do. SO many times throughout I found myself agreeing with the characters when they’d give a critique— critiques that I probably wouldn’t have been able to identify on my own until they explained WHY certain things didn’t work, or what made certain things work better. My only critique is that the bold white and black lettering and speech bubble style did not match the sketchy, soft-colored artwork. Either way; lovely book, fun and helpful read.

[Jace L · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book offers solid tips for people who want to improve their comic drawings and storytelling. My only critics are that this doesn't cover the publishing business and how the publishing process works