How to Draw Dynamic Comic Books (Paperback)

by Rich Buckler (Author), Stan Lee (Introduction)
Key Phrases: comic hook artist, story pacing, compositional lines, Fantastic Four, Jack Kirby, Marvel Comics (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
Among the few comics artists to be featured on a US Postage Stamp, Rich Buckler is one of the best-known comic-book artists: He's drawn groundbreaking runs on Fantastic Four, Avengers, Spectacular Spider-Man, X-Men, Teen Titans, and more. Even Stan Lee says, "From the time he drew his first assignments for Marvel Comics, I've been one of his biggest fans. There are few people better qualified to write a book on the subject than Rich Buckler!" Now, after more than thirty-five years in comic books, Buckler reveals the secrets of drawing the heroic figure, the language of storytelling, narrative technique, building a better page, and much more, in focused chapters that build the reader's skills step by step. How to Draw Dynamic Comic Books is the authoritative guide to creating compelling comic books, packed with advice from a master.

About the Author
Rich Buckler has, in his four decade career, drawn nearly every major Marvel and DC comics character. He lives in New York City.

Product Details

• Paperback: 128 pages
• Publisher: Vanguard; 1st edition (July 10, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1887591958
• ISBN-13: 978-1887591959
• Product Dimensions: 10.1 x 6.6 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #82,253 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Don't Judge A Book By Its Cover..., October 20, 2007

By	James P. Williams Jr. (Romeoville, IL) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Of all the comic book drawing titles I've laid hands on, this had to be one of the fastest I returned to the bookshelf. The most interesting piece of this book visually is the front cover. The rest of the book is black and white with exception of the back cover.

The lack of color isn't a particular sore point mind you, a good number of manga drawing books are done in black and white. The problem here is that it's the poorest example of a book of this type I've ever seen. I would like to think it was just a copy from a bad print run as the black ink was far from crisp and overall very light throughout this book.

There's the standard basic information on how to draw this that and the other and what tools to use that can be found easily in a dozen other books. The manner in which all this information was put together, the book's design ...it's bland, uninviting and in places text just seems overly crammed onto the pages.

I doubt that much if any of the layout of the book was solely on the author and its unfortunate that Buckler's effort be given such shoddy treatment by the publisher. I'd think any publisher committing funds to such a project might check out the competition and not release a book that is just painful to look at.

As I've said in other book reviews don't take my word for it... but please go and look at it in your local bookstore or library before buying. Take a look at some other titles in this area to compare and contrast, you'll be glad you did.

5.0 out of 5 stars narrative technique, December 31, 2007

By	M. hsieh (michigan) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I thought this was a very useful manual. There is only ~7 pages devoted to drawing, and the rest is focused on graphic storytelling with a lot information and insights that I have not seen in other related books. He discusses how to use the camera to create dramatic flow, how and why to crop a panel, how to break down a script into pages and panels, plus other stuff.

In regards to the art work, there is a lot of visual information to illustrate his points. They also show the various stages of the process that goes into a finished copy.

I also liked how he showed how to create pages focused on action as well as pages focused on character.

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Great Book!, February 20, 2008

By	Larry - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This book is not just a book on how to draw comics it so mouch more then that, it give you insight on how to tell a story witch I found very usfull and Buckler dose a great job at that. The one draw back I found is
the printing of the book could have been better.