The best comic art resources can provide a wealth of inspiration for your work. Whether you're looking for comic art tutorials, tips on how to create an indie comic or ideas for what software or hardware might work best for your workflow, you'll find what you need here on Creative Bloq.
We regularly post articles featuring advice and workshops from professional comic book artists, as well as showcases of artists' work to provide creative comic art inspiration. Below, I've rounded up some of a collection of pieces all in one place with links to the original articles. I've included a list of comic art tutorials and advice from the site as well as suggested places to find more resources.
Comic art tutorials
How to make a comic page
In this comic art tutorial, Neil Edwards shows how to create a comic page using an example from his work on a Torchwood book that follows Captains Jack and John on a techno-jungle planet. He shows the process from reading the script, designing the initial thumbnails and using references to creating dynamism on the page with a variety of shots and bringing in texture rendering.
How to make perfect comic panels
In this tutorial on creating perfect comic panels, the Canadian Marvel and Disney illustrator and cartoonist Derek Laufman shares his personal tips for how to create interest in the layout of comic pages. He shows the importance of selecting the right shots, planning, varying the shape and pace of panels and making every element tell the story.
Simz tips for comic art
Simone Ferriero, or Simz, has worked with names as varied as Riot Games and Wacom. In this feature, he shared with us his 12 top comic art tips. These include finding references, trying different comic art styles, using colours and textures and making sure that your lettering and speech balloons are much more than just an afterthought.
How to colour comics
In this comic art tutorial, Dave McCaig, who was the colour supervisor on The Batman animated series, shares 14 techniques for how to colour comics. He show us how to build mood, tell stories with colour and shape and use value to create planes and silhouettes, among other techniques.
How to draw like Gorillaz artist Jamie Hewlett
Jamie Hewlett is known for the distinct punk and hip hop-inspired comic art style seen in Gorillaz and Tank Girl. In this tutorial, Mat Wakeham, who co-created Phoo Action, shows us how to draw like the Gorillaz artist. He breaks down Jamie's process, revealing the importance of whiteout and alcohol markers while also sharing some composition tricks for dynamic pages and combining digital and traditional work in a coherent way.
Comic art techniques to improve your game art
Comic art techniques are used in other mediums too. In this feature, the video game art director Matt Sanz shows us why he uses a comic inking and rendering style when creating concepts for video game or animation projects.
Speed is one benefit, while the high contrast in key areas can force you into the good habit of breaking down an image into value groups, creating strong key lighting, and crafting well-defined forms, which can be difficult for beginner artists.
Comic art inspiration
Superman artists
Superman is one of the most famous comics in the world, and there's a lot that aspiring artists can learn from studying the enduring franchise. We interviewed nine Superman comic artists about their work, inspiration and the challenges involved in depicting the Man of Steel over the years.
Fantastic Four artists
The Fantastic Four haven't been around for as long as Superman, but they've become a hugely successful comic book franchise, spawning movies and games. We spoke to Fantastic Four comics artists about the importance of capturing each character's personality to portray the foursome as a family, with all the love, tensions and squabbles that involves.
African comics
The comic scene has been growing rapidly in Africa, and distinct, often hyperstylised approaches have emerged from titles that seek to put their own stamp on the medium. We spoke to several African comic artists to learn more about a flourishing comic culture and movements like Afroblot and Afrofuturism.
Stanley 'Artgerm' Lau
Stanley 'Artgerm' Lau, co-founder of Imaginary Friends Studios, has worked with a huge number of brands and imprints, from DC and Marvel to Capcom and Square Enix, and he always puts his own spin on characters. In our interview, he told us about how his signature style emerged as a product of his diverse upbringing, and he likens the process of developing a unique style to cooking.
ImagineFX
Our sister magazine ImagineFX is essential monthly reading for all digital artists, including those working in comic art. Every edition comes packed with interviews, tutorials, reviews, project breakdowns and more, providing a ton of inspiration.
We publish a lot of ImagineFX articles and tutorials here on Creative Bloq, but nothing beats having a physical copy in your hand to be able to browse through the tips and features, so consider heading over to Magazines Direct, where you can buy a single print or digital issue, save some money on a subscription, and fill in the blanks in your collection with back issues.
Bleeding Cool
Away from Creative Bloq, the wider web is also brimming with comic art resources. BleedingCool is a longstanding comic book blog written by Rich Johnston, Brendon Connelly and friends for Avatar Press. As well as news, rumours and gossip, it features reviews, previews, features, interviews, videos, columns on a community-led site comic book readers and artists can call their own.
Comic art fans
If it's inspiring comic art you're after then, with over 450,000 pieces of original comic art in its gallery, Comic Art Fans is a fantastic place to start! It's not surprising that the each page of this site is very busy, considering the amount of work they have to fit in. But the gallery section is nicely organised in alphabetic order so you can easily search for different artists. Or, if you'd prefer, click at random and see which inspiring images pop up!
Creative Comic Art
For those looking to get started in the world of comic art, then you should definitely check out Creative Comic Art. This helpful website is full of tips, tricks and training for beginners to the medium. Features include a brilliant step-by-step section on various different disciplines, including comic lettering and pencil sketches. And as it doesn't have a dedicated gallery section, the site also points you in the direction of other comic art resources that do.
Comic Art Community
Comic Art Community contains thousands of original works from professional comic artists. So, if you're looking for sketches to inspire you, look no further. The site is organised by artist, in alphabetical order, so if you have a few favourites, you easily find them here. There is also an informative news section.
DeviantArt
The popular online creative community site DeviantArt is a huge resource for any kind of artwork, including comic art. If you just want look at page upon page of beautifully crafted images, then this is the site to visit. You can also give your opinion on the artwork here, as well as read others' tips and feedback. And if you're looking to showcase your own comic art, this is a good place for that too.
Web comics
Web comics like Wukrii (above) are entertaining, inspirational, and easily accessible on your phone or tablet, so you can read them anywhere. Many of them are free too. Check out our own pick of web comics to get started.
The best comic art tools
A traditional graphics tablet takes some getting used to because you have to look at a separate monitor, but this encourages good posture and can become second nature. This is our top-rated option, offering great value, solid build quality and two types of pen. We recommend the bundle with the Quick Keys for a convenient workflow.
Drawing on a pen display with a built-in screen can feel more intuitive and doesn't take time to adapt your hand-eye coordination. Again, Xencelabs provides brilliant value with this 16-inch tablet that provides comfortable ergonomics, a 4K OLED display, good colour coverage and an easy set up.
A larger drawing tablet makes it easier to draw from the shoulder with sweeping strokes. We think the Xencelabs Pen Display 24+ provides a great balance of price and features with 4K resolution and excellent colour accuracy, including in-built Calman calibration. We found the pen performance to be very good in our testing.
The best software for comic art
Clip Studio Paint is designed specifically with comic and manga artists in mind and provides optimised tools to meet their needs. There's a big community of users to share with and learn from. It works across a wide range of devices, including iPad and Android.
Read more
Although it's not designed with comic art in mind, the industry standard digital art tool can do almost everything, from digital painting to graphics work and image editing. Its versatile toolkit now boasts AI tools for image generation, editing, expanding and more.
Read more
Visit site
If you want to draw comic art on an iPad, Procreate is intuitive to use, great for working on the go, and there are lots of brushes available. It's also extremely good value with a very reasonable one-off cost.
What's the best software for comic art?
Choosing the best software for comic art might depend on your workflow and what style of comic art you want to make. We find Clip Studio Paint to be highly optimised specifically for comic art and manga work. It has lots of paper textures and halftones, which are great for manga, plus a built-in 3D engine for posing and composition, and a frame-by-frame animation engine in the 'Ex' version.
Many of the artists we spoke to recommend Clip Studio Paint if you only want to draw or paint comic book or manga art. It has a huge library of free assets, including brushes. There are vector line art tools that emulate pen and brush strokes and tools to fine tune those lines as well as page management for comics, frame tools for drawing and editing gutters.
But if you want more advanced digital painting tools or you also want to be able to edit images with filters, effects and blending options, Photoshop is the way to go. You can use it for layout and composition as well as drawing, plus colour work and more advanced image manipulation. The biggest downside of Photoshop is that it requires a subscription, while Clip Studio Paint has a one-off cost.
Meanwhile, if you use an iPad, you might want to start with Procreate, which is great value, has a thriving community and is great for drawing on the go.
FAQs
How do you make a comic book?
All things start with an idea; and a comic book is no different. Once you have an idea, make sure you think carefully about what genre it will be and what your characters' motivations are. You can then write a script – this should come before you start drawing not after. And it might sound tired, but include a beginning, a middle, and an end.
Once you have a script, you can start working on the layout using rough thumbnails, like storyboards. After you have your comic drawn in rough form, you can move on to the inking and colouring and then lettering (sometimes these tasks are done by different people).
But that's only part of the job of making a comic book. If you're doing it yourself, you also have to market the book. Also see our guide to creating and publishing your own comic book.
How can I publish my own comic book?
First you'll need to decide whether you want to publish your comic book digitally or in print.
Publishing digitally on a dedicated comic platform gives you access to a global audience, and it can be free. Each platform has its own way of doing things. Some popular options are:
Webtoon: a free app focusing on short comics and manga that can be read in under five minutes.
Tapas: mainly manga-style comics and books, plus a merch dropshipping platform.
Comix: offers crowdfunding, back catalogue sales and a marketplace for new launches.
GlobalComix: the place to rub shoulders with established publishers like Image Comics.
Blocktoons: is blockchain-linked comics platform in which readers are rewarded for engagement.
To publish an indie comic in print, dropshipping is usually the way to go. This involves using a third-party service to handle the printing, packing and delivery on demand. This saves you the risk of making a big investment in printing, but you earn less and have less control. Blurb and Lulu are two options.
The other option is to print the comics in bulk and take care of delivery yourself. The advantage of this is that you can find a nearby printing shop and check the paper options and samples in person. Considering looking for a company that will do a small run of 50 to 100 books first. See our full guide to how to make an indie comic for more tips.
How can I get work as a comic artist?
Many comic artists start out by practising lots and getting good at drawing some of their favorite characters. Once you're ready to start knocking on doors, building a portfolio with some variety of styles can help you. You include several groups of three to four sequential pages with a range of styles and actions.
Having a social media presence is also important these days. We've spoken to artists who were discovered via platforms like Instagram as well as more specialist art-focused sites like Cara and DeviantArt. Try posting your best work (and only your best work) on multiple platforms so there's more chance of people seeing it.
Finally, seek out people who you would like to work with. You can approach writers with proposals or ask if they would like to pitch you something. You might start with small stories to start to get known and build a network of collaborators.
Thank you for reading 5 articles this month* Join now for unlimited access
Enjoy your first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
*Read 5 free articles per month without a subscription
Join now for unlimited access
Try first month for just £1 / $1 / €1
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
