Foreword comic book designin my experience, good design and creativity usually stem from limitation and constraint. once the boundaries are set, it becomes easier to focus on and resolve specific problems
As the saying goes-it's harder to park in an empty parking lot.
For a medium that deals primarily in expansive, larger-than-life scenarios and vistas, it's ironic that the comics medium has always been constrained by limitations of space like few others.
Pushed by the economics of publishing to a marginal status on the newsstand or magazine shelf, comics have traditionally enjoyed scant real estate from which to tout their wares; their covers becoming-of necessity-miniature masterpieces of attention-grabbing design. There's no time for subtlety when you're the runt of the litter.
And even once the reader has been persuaded to buy the comic and open its cover, space is still at a premium, its scarcity now dictated by the nature of the medium. Each panel of a comics narrative competes with its neighbor for space and impact and ti is the successful resolution of this conflict that makes for a good comic book page.
Furthermore, within each individual panel, elements are in contention and need to be carefully resolved and related. It's always seemed to me that where and what size you draw something is more important than how you draw it, as far as narrative is concerned.
It's also surprisingly easy to lose sight of the fact that narrative is what comics are all about. Anything that impedes the flow of the story or unnecessarily calls attention to itself should be excised or adjusted. Great draftsmanship is wonderful until you notice it, or-put another way- the effect is always more important than the means.
which is fortunate, because the means have usually been pretty elementary when it comes to comics. simple line-cut printing technology using crudely applied color separations has been the norm for much of the history of the medium, with text elements usually added by hand rather than typesetting. paradoxically, this has given comics much of their appeal; the sense of informality that connects so directly with the reader.
Even today, when the computer has become as ubiquitous a tool as the sable brush, the dip pen, and the scalpel in the production of comics, the challenge is still the same; grab the reader's attention and then keep it.
This book should go a long way in identifying the problems and solutions inherent in doing just that. Happily, it is, in itself, an example of good publication design. The fact that you're reading this introduction means that this book's grabbed you attention the content you're about to encounter should have no problem in keeping it.
as a lifelong student of the medium, I can tell you that in a crowded field of instructional books, this volume is unique and indispensable in addressing an aspect of comics previously only mentioned in passing.
May all your creative parking lots have one perfect space left for you.
Dave GibbonsKeywords
As what the brief said re-imagine your favorite film into a form of comic, within six frame panel.
so I try to list some keywords, which might be related to the brief such as pretty, weapon, villain, human, hero,
danger, female and so on. Then I will choose some of them and find a film, which is related to the words.
