Draw Out the Story: Ten Secrets to Creating Your Own Comics [Paperback]

From single-panel comics to full-blown graphic novels, there are dozens of ways to use comics to tell a story. And whether kids want to write or draw something funny or scary, long or short, made-up or true-to-life, cartoonist and author Brian McLachlan maintains there are just ten crucial things they need to know to get started. Using colloquial text, images, and examples, each chapter hones in on a different secret to creating great comics. Budding comic artists will learn how to make text and illustrations work together, how to give characters personality, how to choose the right tool for each project, and much more.

A worthy addition to the how-to comics canon,Draw Out the Storysimplifies advanced concepts for younger readers, providing invaluable lessons and pointers for kids who want to learn to write and draw — and imagine — great stories.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, save those thousand words for things a picture can’t show. Play with how words and pictures add and subtract from each other. Trust in your art and your words that you don’t need both to say the same thing.
— from the book

IRA Children's and Young Adults’ Book Award Winner, Intermediate Nonfiction Category, 2014
Maine Student Book Award Nominee, 2014-15
A Junior Library Guild selection, 2014

Brian McLachlanis a regular contributor toOWL Magazine, has numerous freelance clients, and is the comic artist behind the seriesPrincess Planet.His sense of humor puts the comic back in comic book. He lives in Toronto.