Customer Reviews

How to Draw Noir Comics: The Art and Technique of Visual Storytelling

5 star:		(21)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Length:: 0:17 Mins

Everything in the book is explained simply and clearly with lots of personal examples. He tries to address the many approaches to creating noir comics and does them well. For example when explaining the tools he used, he would talk on the type of ink to buy (fade and erase-proof), how to maintain them and choosing the right tools for the job.

The main bulk of the book deals with comic creation specific to noir style. He explains the ways to create mood, lighting and texture to aid the story. And also touches the comic creation part like paneling, pacing, creating drama, choosing backgrounds, using references and more. All the examples included are well caption to emphasis the techniques reviewed.

At the end of the book is a 16-page noir style graphic novel to show readers the finished product.

This book is a great introduction to noir comics and serves as a great reference.

You can view more of Shawn Martinbrough's work at Verge Entertainment, which is a company he founded with his partners.

(More pictures are available on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for the link.)

hey, i have been a fan of martinbrough's since his days on Creeper, then his LEGENDARY run on BATMAN! way back, he did some inking on some MILESTONE comic books, and you could see, how much he IMPROVED the pencils, by adding his amazing inks to the art. and now, they finally got it right! Martinbrough, whose dark and moody inks have always intrigued, has made a 'HOW TO DRAW' book, and this is THE book to own! I love drawing in black and white, pen and ink, and now, i have the perfect reference book to work from. i HIGHLY recommend this book to everyone, who wishes not only to be a better comic book artist, but to be a better ILLUSTRATOR as well. tons of great art, tons of great ideas, this book is just hands down, a WINNER. buy it!

I'm a comics writer, not an artist, so I almost started this review by saying that I bought the book just to look at the pictures. And who could blame me? Shawn Martinbrough is one of the most original and distinctive stylists in modern mainstream comics. In a sea of imitators and variations on a house style, his artwork is instantly recognizable. His run on DETECTIVE COMICS with writer Greg Rucka (who writes the introduction to this book) is a landmark to me, in that it was one of the things that brought me back to reading comics after a long absence.

But Martinbrough's strengths lie far beyond his style - he has a true mastery of the *craft* of sequential storytelling, which is what makes this book such a valuable read, for aspiring artists and students of the medium in general. Reading about his process has given me much food for thought in how to evaluate and critique the work of other artists, as well as in how to better compose my scripts for artists to create the maximum impact in the collaboration. In short, HOW TO DRAW NOIR COMICS is a fine read for anyone interested in creating comics, whether one's work is done at the drawing board or at the keyboard.

Oh, and you get to look at the cool pictures, too.

I love Shawn Martinbourgh. I really really like his art work, his Detective Comics run in particular. His thick blacks are amazing to look at and there are a lot of great images in this book..

But the "Why's" behind the book are weak or non existent. This book just isn't in depth enough. If you know enough about making comics to be aware of this book then you are aware of all the "tricks" he shows you. He skims by the thought process for panel set up. He skims past framing the central action of a panel. It's mainly skim. Never any cream.

This is a comprehensive breakdown of the Noir comic style. It helps break down composing advanced shots, and helps with what to practice if you already have your drawing skills down. It assumes you know what your doing, and helps out as an advanced look, but its not for the folks that are just starting out. I can recommend this for artists that are looking for better control of light in their work, and how to inject those shadows that make the gritty mood. This text is also a great help for concept artists, that dig mobster character design.

Let's face it: there are a lot of how to books out there, many quite bad, many just middle of the road or simply not helpful. And it doesn't help that other books have had the term Noir in it.

But not like this. Shawn's book has the experience of an artist who understands the medium and explains it clearly. It builds realistic expectations for the aspiring artist, not the beginning one. It reads concisely and expresses the techniques in logical progression.

High contrast in this medium is tricky to do properly: if one doesn't apply light and dark properly or understand the many ways they're used, the result can confuse storytelling. Shawn's book guides the process with candor and doesn't appear to assume too much or too little from the reader.

A solid how-to noir book from an artist that understands the medium. What a refreshingly novel idea. Well done.

Martinbrough shows how to get various kinds of dramatic effects in the noir style using the simple tools of ink and pencils, pens, and brushes. Additional work of this foremost artist/illustrator can be seen at the website www.verge.tv. But his work is already familiar to many in DC Comics and Marvel Comics and also the films Batman, X-Men, and others. Starting with how to visual a script (or any text) to create noir illustrations for it, Martinbrough moves on to the fundamental of page layout and then the techniques of graphically portraying action and developing a series of illustrations generating drama. Panel design, backgrounds, and rhythm are among the specific topics covered with corresponding illustrations. While cautioning the illustrator should never forget text that is going to be inserted into many noir illustrations, in a series of three simple illustrations Martinbrough demonstrates choices that can be made in panel design or organization affecting the effects or prominence of elements of the noir illustration. In discussing "Designing the Covers," he notes, "Remember, the more detailed your cover, the harder it becomes to convey a clear message of what the story is about."

The reader benefits not only from Martinbrough's exceptional talent putting him at the top of his profession, but also from his experience in the field of comics and films working on projects involving various persons (e. g., writer, director) and thus various considerations. The expert instruction is capped off by a 16-page graphic novel titled "The Truce" combining all the considerations and techniques Martinbrough has covered in the earlier sections.

i read this book and thoroughly enjoyed it! it's an easy read and it teaches everyone, not just artists, to understand and create the stylized artform of noir. it's chockful of instructions and tells the reader what equipment to buy, how to create drama with shadow and lighting, and how to lay out pages. if that's not enough, there are dead-on noir pictures of celebrities like donald trump, rudy guiliani, kofi annan and biggie smalls. it's fun!

So here is the thing, comics are a very hard medium, its also subjective and seriously its HARD. What I like about this book. Its not some hand holding trite sketchbook full of cliches and half-thought out pablum being fed to the reader. What it does is it gives you theory and ideas on how to improve your art , how to look at your art and get the look you want. It makes you think on how to incorporate the skill of going noir. If you want a book to teach you to draw like great artist like Frank Miller and Mike Mignola--this isn't your thing. It you want a book to help you look at your art in a different way and make you a thinking artist, and bring something real to the table then, this is the shiznit!!!!

I have been working as a professional artist for roughly 11 years. I am also an Associate Professor of Graphic Design at a major public university. I focus mainly on imagemaking and visual culture studies. As a result, I have seen the gamut when it comes to "HOW-TO-DRAW" books and texts centered around the vocational aspects of the comics industry.

This book, HOW TO DRAW NOIR COMICS, stands out because it gets down to the core of the style of "noir" very effectively. It is smart, concise, well designed, and Shawn gives really great instruction through the beautiful examples. I used it to help strengthen my illustration and design on a current noir comic I am working on and it was ESSENTIAL to me.

It is NEVER on my bookshelf. It is on my work desk, on my drawing table, or travelling with me. It's a solid book and one of the best purchases I have made in recent years concerning my craft!

Congratulations on such an amazing achievement.

THIS BOOK IS A MUST HAVE!