I first encountered the comic book art of Dave Gibbons back in the mid-1980s.
He
was a part of DC Comics’ British Isles creative talent import program.
Having
established a good reputation as an artist in his native land, the DC editorial
staff took notice of said talent and asked him to use his talent for DC Comics.
The
first work I saw that he produced for DC was taking over the pencils chores of
DC’s Green Lantern series.
From
there he would go on to pencil a plethora of fill-in and one-shot titles for
DC.
Not
long after he teamed up with another British import: writer Alan Moore, and
they collaborated on what is considered the best superhero series ever created:
Watchmen.
Dave
would then go on to other projects for DC and other publishers: most notably
the Frank Miller Dark Horse series starring Martha Washington.
Gibbons
has expanded his creative venue by adding inking, plotting, scripting and every
other aspect of creating comic books.
Once
such project is his comic master class where he teaches about the creation of
comic books.
Gibbons
and comic book expert Tim Pilcher have combined their considerable talents to
publish the ultimate ‘how-to’ of comic book creation with ‘How Comics Work’ published by Wellfleet Press/Quarto.
I’ve
read and studied a huge amount of books on how to produce comic books and I have
to say that this is the best one so far.
Gibbons
has opened up his archive of original comic book art and using it he
demonstrates all facets of how to create comic books.
While
the book primarily consists of his work there are examples of other artists,
inkers, colorists, letterers and writers works included along with several
tributes.
For
a real ‘back to the basics’ and 'meat and bones’ approach to creating comic
books this book delivers.
From
story plots, scripts, sketches, designs for characters, vehicles, etc, inking,
word balloon placement, lettering, coloring, cover designs and so much more
this book goes into exhaustive detail.
It
is a visual treat that delves into the process by which comic books are
created.
I
suggest that anyone considering entering the comic book field read and study
this book from cover to cover.