Hi y'all,
I am planning on self-publishing/adapting my fictional WWII screenplay into a graphic novel of some sort. Would love to know who you guys enjoy reading for fun since I'm not too familiar with the established "players" who do artwork & storyboarding for that visual medium :)
Thanks guys <3
-Alex
Posted Dec 9, 2019, 12:52 AM UTC
I enjoy the gritty style of Sean Gordon Murphy, the highly detailed work of Andrei Bressan, and the simple yet full of character art of Fiona Staples. But I assume they all are very busy and highly sought after these days.
How many pages are you aiming for? If this will be your first graphic novel you might want to search some new rising artists instead. Maybe even recent graduates from illustration schools if I understand your question correctly.
Thanks for the tip-off—Gordon Murphy's stuff is absolutely breathtaking. I wasn't even aware this level of detail was possible in comics..
The script clocks in at 225 scenes and is extremely dialogue-heavy on some beats. You might be right in that aiming for a more "independent" illustrator would be a more feasable approach. I think right now I need to just find the style I envision and then work backwards to find a graphic artist in that vein.
That sounds reasonable. Just one last tip I feel I should mention. Comic scripts tend to work a little bit different.
An artist would need to know how many pages they would need to illustrate before commiting, so most scripts are divided into pages that are divided into panels (though some writers let the artist decide on the number of panels while staying on mark with the pages). On average there should be about 5 panels per page depending on text. Action could require less page space while heavy text would need more.
This is just a guideline but try checking some comic scripts to get a better understanding of the format. Best of luck!
Hiring an illustrator for your comic is going to be about $100 a page on the cheaper end. A writer usually submits to a publisher and they connect them with an artist. An established illustrator is going to be much more than that. For example I know a few years ago Sean Gordon Murphy said he was making about $10k each issue of a comic he illustrated, which is about 24 pages.
Appreciate the heads up on the financial end. An independent illustrator is probably what I'd be looking for, and it certainly helps going in knowing what kind of numbers I should be working with.
I read a graphic memoir called The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui. In my opinion it’s the most beautiful graphic novel I’ve ever read, written and illustrated by Bui.
It's incredibly beautifully rendered, thank you for the tip. I think this has convinced me to scout out a more "indie" illustration style.
Some current artists from comics/graphic novels that I really enjoy:
But there's a ton of great stuff out there; also depends on the style you're looking for. Do you want it to be more realistically rendered, do you want it to hit the emotions of the story with a little more cartooning to the art, do you want it to be a little more surreal, etc. But I think these artists will show you a bit of a range of what's out there.
This post saved my butt, thank you! The script itself is pulpy and has a lot of intense beats and reversals that would probably work best when rendered on the non-cartoonish/non-anime side.