Graham Nolan: My Creative Process

Comic book artist Graham Nolan posted this to his Facebook page and I asked if I could rerun it here. He said yes. Thank you, Graham! Here are some fascinating insights into his comic book making process:

GRAHAM NOLAN: THE CREATIVE PROCESS:

I started in on RETURN TO MONSTER ISLAND yesterday so I thought I’d share my process along the way.

When I’m working on creator owned projects I tend to work in what’s called “the Marvel method”. This was developed so that Stan could churn out more books on a monthly schedule, but it put a lot of the heavy lifting on the artist (without compensation or co-writing credits). If the writer and artist are a one man show, however, then it’s an excellent way to work because it allows for the fluidity of change at various steps along the way.

I start with a plot that I type out that basically brakes down key story points, character bits, and where I need to end up. Then I break the story down visually with loose thumbnails. I add and subtract panels as needed to make the visual narrative flow neatly and dynamically (because it’s comics, people!).

As this process is going on, I rough in basic dialogue to remind me what I want them to say. This part is heavily edited along the way because different ideas on how to turn a phrase may be thought of, or I might decide there is a great opportunity to go back and have a character’s dialogue foreshadow something to happen later.

This is really where the heavy lifting is done. The story now exists visually. Everything from here on out is polishing.



THE CREATIVE PROCESS: Part 2

LAYOUTS/PENCILS


This is where everything gets tightened up and falls into place. This part I do digitally so that I can import any reference I may need or move elements around. This is still a “layout” but it has everything where I want it. Some small details still need to be refined and I will do that after it is printed out on the board in blue line. Sometimes it’s easier to add small details at full size. I don’t need tight pencils because I am inking it and I like to be able keep an organic feel by doing some drawing in the ink.

Compare the tight layout to the thumbnail and you can see I made changes that help enhance the page and storytelling.

Part 2, Inking, is here.