| Level: | Advanced |
| Tone: | Industry Guide, Reference |
| Pages: | 128 |
| Published: | 2001 |
| Arbitrary Rating: | 4/5 |
| Plan to Reread: | Yes |
My Opinion
This week I'm going to be working through my Kindle version of Klaus Janson's"The DC Comics Guide to Pencilling Comics." After drawing a bajillion shaded circles it's nice to finally be seeing something that resembles a finished comic.
The guide provides a lot of interesting insight into the comic creation process and the underlying principles needed to be successful. Part one includes a handful of crash courses in fundamental art techniques like perspective, vanishing points, anatomy and so on. Part two has some meaty explanation of writing techniques, panel layout, and story flow. Part three covers penciling techniques and tips for breaking into the industry.
The only drawback is that this is primarily a theory crafting book. Janson uses a number of comic pages to illustrate story telling techniques but there is a ton of reading for a book that is advertised as a guide to penciling. That shouldn't be taken as a negative though. If you've already mastered the basics of drawing you don't really need tons of step by step illustrations to follow along.
This was a fun read even for a beginner, but it is better suited for a more advanced audience. I'll probably be reading through the whole DC series at least twice to get all of the useful nuggets of advice out.
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