Graphic Design Breadth Assignment #5

Comic Book Panel Design

Focus: Unity, Balance, Variety, Emphasis, Repetition, Figure/ground relationship

Goal: Create an original comic book panel that includes a short story about a character that you develop.

2-D Design Sample 1: Lorelei Shannon, Spring Woods Senior High School, Houston, TX

AP Portfolio Score: 5

Process:

1. Design a page 8.5x11 inches at 300 resolution in Photoshop. Include a 1/4" bleed around the page.

2. Go to this website to learn about comic panel layout and much more. This is a great resource. Visit it often throughout this assignment.

3. Use a grid to layout your panels on the artboard.

4. Using pencil and paper, sketch out your character, background, and other imagery in the different positions needed for the various panels that you created on the computer. Use a light table when necessary.

5. Clean up your lines with a high quality pen. Cleaner lines makes it easier when coloring in on the computer.

6. Scan in your images.

7. Use Illustrator to create and alter paths for your scanned in drawings.

8. Utilize Adobe Photohop and Illustrator to create your comic panel. I suggest you work on all of the sections of the panel at the same time. Try not to focus on a single section for too long. You want each frame to be unified in color, style, and completeness. Overlapping can be good when trying to create emphasis and depth. See the example from a former AP student above.