Imagine sitting down with pencil and paper to create a colorful, captivating graphic novel that might one day become a box-office hit, like Watchman or The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen. Whether age six or 96, anyone can create a graphic novel and get a piece of the $395 + million graphic novel market with help from the new book You Can Do a Graphic Novel (ISBN: 9781592579556, Alpha Books, January 2010, $19.95).
Veteran graphic novelist and graphic novel instructor Barbara Slate guides readers through the same process she learned in her early days working for Marvel and DC Comics—a process she has simplified for the classes she teaches and for the syndicated column she writes.
Alpha Books would like to offer your blog a complimentary copy of You Can Do a Graphic Novel
for a book giveaway promotion for your readers.The book teaches readers how to:
• Uncover the components of a good graphic novel
• Find a drawing style regardless of artistic ability
• Navigate the creative process and create memorable characters
• Develop the plot and subplots and come up with compelling dialogues
• Understand the ins and outs of graphic-novel layout
• Traverse the graphic-novel business
About the Author:
Barbara Slate has done it all. Her first character, Ms. Liz, appeared on millions of greeting cards, in a regular comic strip for Cosmopolitan magazine, as a spokesperson for Dupont’s Lycra and as the star in a series of animated segments on NBC’s Today Show. Her big break in comics came when she created Angel Love for DC Comics. From there, she created, wrote and drew Yuppies from Hell, and Sweet XVI for Marvel and put her own spin on the Disney classics Beauty and the Beast, Pocahontas, Archie’s Betty and Veronica, and Mattel’s Barbie. Barbara’s art has been exhibited in many galleries and reviewed by The New York Times. She is profiled in the seminal work A Century of Women Cartoonists. Stan Lee, Chairman, POW! Entertainment and Chairman Emeritus, Marvel Entertainment, calls Barbara “titanically talented.” She is currently busy being a mom, doing a graphic novel titled, I Got Married and Other Mistakes, and teaching. Her website is barbaraslate.com.
My Take on the BookI have been amazed to find that graphic novels are becoming more and more popular with young adults today. It reminds me a lot of how popular comics were when I was a child. Now though these graphic novels are taking the place of some novels in the literature of choice of the younger generation.
With this in mind, this book did a great job at opening the door to any aspiring artist to be able to realize their dream if writing their own graphic novel. The most poignant part of the book, in my opinion, is the amazing background and experiences that the author brings to her readers. As the author has been a successful comic book artist and graphic novel artist/author, she uses her experiences to truly show future artists with ideas and perspectives about what they need to do to make good choices about their art and their future career.
The author is quite motivational and she makes it seem like anyone can do this. She covers all of the basics in this and she has written this book with the young adult in mind. Filled with manageable chapters, lots of colors and fonts, the author uses tons of variety which allows the young reader to stay engaged. This was a great book that I would highly recommend to others!Who knows, you might be the next artistic author to come on the scene!
All opinions expressed in this review are my own and not influenced in any way by the company. Any product claim, statistic, quote or other representation about a product or service should be verified with the manufacturer or provider. Please refer to this site's Disclaimer for more information. I have been compensated or given a product free of charge, but that does not impact my views or opinions.
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