How to Make a Comic: A Step-by-Step Guide

To make a comic, sum up your idea in one line, write the story or a page-by-page outline, sketch small thumbnails to plan each page, then draw, ink, colour and letter at the size you will publish. Choose your format first, because print and web need different sizes.

Below is the whole route in order, with the figures you will need along the way, from page counts to resolution. Each step builds on the one before, so it is worth doing them in sequence.

How do I make a comic from scratch?

Begin with an idea you can say in a single line. That one-line pitch is your hook, the thing that tells a reader what the comic is about. Ex Machina, by Brian K Vaughan and Tony Harris, is a published example of a one-line hook.

Write the story before you draw anything. A useful checklist covers setting, characters, plot, narration and theme. For narration, the test is whether your point of view stays consistent. Ask who your characters are and where they live.

For a short comic, one approach splits the story into a beginning of up to two panels, a middle of about four to six, and an ending of about one to four. The beginning has plenty to do: establish the characters, hook the reader, define the problem and set up the inciting incident.

Pick your format early. Print, webcomic and social formats need different page sizes and resolutions, and it is much easier to choose now than to redraw later. If you are weighing a single issue against a book, graphic novel vs comic book explains the difference.

Should I write a script before drawing?

Mostly, yes, even if only in a light form. Many writers work panel by panel, describing each panel and its dialogue before it is drawn. Even if you draw your own comic, a page-by-page outline helps keep your pacing honest.

Cut the small talk. Comics are a visual medium, so let the pictures carry as much as they can and keep the words for what the pictures cannot say.

Write character profiles and decide how the plot unfolds. Character or model sheets then help you keep expressions, outfits and recurring details the same from page to page. Some creators script before making thumbnails, while others find the story through the thumbnails themselves. Both routes are fine.

How many pages should a comic be?

Single comic book issues are usually 32 pages long, but the story itself tends to run around 22 pages, leaving room for adverts and letters pages. Independent creators can be more flexible, but printers charge per page, so your page count affects the cost.

Modern comics are trimmed to roughly 6.625 by 10.25 inches, give or take. A magazine format is one recommended choice for print comics, according to one publisher's guidance.

Do the sums before you start drawing. Knowing your page count now means you will not have to cut or pad the story later.

Plan each page with thumbnails

Thumbnails are very rough sketches of each page layout, drawn small so you can test the composition quickly. This is where the page is really designed. Our heist storyboarding guide walks through thumbnails, panel size and gutters on a crime story.

Place your speech bubbles at this stage so they do not cover key artwork. Use an establishing shot when the scene changes so readers know where they are. Many small panels suit action, while one large panel creates a focal moment that lands with weight.

Thumbnails are also where you check how the eye moves across the page. If you are unsure how readers move through panels and gutters, our guide to reading a comic explains the grammar. For a first exercise, four-panel sequencing shows how to plan a short story as a run of beats, and punchline timing covers why the last panel gets the laugh.

What size and DPI should I draw at?

Common guidance for colour print work is 300 DPI or higher, and 600 DPI for black-and-white manga. For web pages, 72 DPI is the usual figure, with a 2:3 aspect ratio suggested for page formats. Some print-on-demand tools ask for images of at least 300 DPI.

Black-and-white manga commonly uses screen tones, which are patterned textures added to the art. Before exporting, check the platform's specifications. Common file types include PDF, EPUB, PSD and PNG.

Setting up a canvas can take a little practice the first time, so free tools for your first comic page is a good place to start for page setup and software that costs nothing.

Can I make a comic with just paper and crayons?

Yes. One beginner approach uses printer paper and crayons as the basic tools. Its starter exercise asks you to pick a word that sums up the story, list images, choose one scene and draw it, then draw the panel before and the panel after. That gives you a three-panel comic.

The exercise is adapted from the work of Lynda Barry and Ivan Brunetti. The same approach notes a gap between what a maker can make and what they want to make.

For further reading, Lynda Barry's Making Comics (Drawn and Quarterly, 2019) and Ivan Brunetti's Cartooning: Philosophy and Practice (Yale University Press, 2011) are the books suggested.

Drawing, lettering and publishing your comic

After layout, the usual stages are drawing in pencil or outline, inking, colouring and lettering. Keep your colour palette simple and reuse the same colours for recurring elements, so characters stay recognisable. As a rule of thumb, keep each speech bubble to no more than 25 words.

Think about how readers will see your pages. Most digital devices are not ideal for the traditional page grid, and vertical comics are hosted on platforms such as Webtoon and Tapas. This guide does not cover publishing routes in detail, so treat it as the route to a finished comic rather than a guide to getting it published.