How to Make a Comic Book

So you want to make comic books? Dont worry, its easy. If youre feeling confident, though, you need to let go of the idea that the first comic book you make is going to be a masterpiece. Every comic book-making genius has some ugly scrawlings in his/her closet, or in the hard drive of his/her oldest computer.
Maybe youre not feeling confident. Maybe you look at the credit line of a typical Superman comic book"which often lists a writer, pencil artist, inker, colorist, letterer, assistant editor and editor"and think, who are all these people? I cant compete with this! Its seven against one!
Relax. You dont need a squad to make a comic book. You just need the tools to draw pen and paper, or stylus and touchscreen"and an idea. In fact, theres a special day of the year dedicated to proving just that.
24 Hour Comic Day is just what the name implies a holiday (usually Saturday) where people sit down to make a comic book with 24 pages, in 24 hours or less. Of course, that means celebrations of the holiday usually extend right into the following day. Only a few brave souls get started right at midnight! But you can make a 24 Hour Comic any day of the year.
"You can't have any of it done beforehand," says Donald Parkhurst, a comic book store owner who hosted one of the 24 Hour Comic Day events. It forces the artists to be creative on the fly. They're having to make it up as they go; create the page, create the story.
A few artists do sit down and plan their comic book before making any marks on the paper. Others try to pace themselves by drawing one page per hour exactly. And still others just dive in and start drawing as fast as they can, knowing theyll probably be a bit slower and a bit less coherent once they hit their 23rd hour without any sleep.
24 Hour Comics dont need, and rarely get, color. The lettering doesnt have to be great either: just legible will do. And the standards for story and art are pretty relaxed: just make sure we can recognize your characters from one page to the next, and have them do something.
The pressure to be great can keep a lot of people from getting started. But the secret technique to make a great comic book as with a lot of things in life is to make a comic book. And then make a better one. And then a better one.