How to write a comic book scene. Adapting novel scenes into comic format. CFE Levels 3 and 4 (ages 12-14)

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1 CFE Leves 3 and 4 (ages 12-14) How to write a comic book scene Adapting nove scenes into comic format Resource written by Metaphrog, comic writers and artists

2 Contents Comic adaptations: how faithfu shoud you be? 3 Introduction to a typica comic page 5 The techniques of comic writing 6 Bringing characters to ife in a comic 12 Bringing setting to ife in a comic 13 Writing a script 18 How to start off: some fina tips 20 Fina Artwork 21 Introduction Comics offer an exciting way to te a story, bringing words and pictures together in a ivey art form. When you are adapting a nove into a comic, you can exercise your imagination and come up with something unique and powerfu, bringing out the themes and ideas of the origina text. When adapting a book into a comic, it s not a case of simpy putting pictures to go aong with words: comics are not just iustrated texts. You can cut ots of the words of the origina nove, because the pictures can give the reader ots of different information about the setting as we as the characters and what they think and fee. You aso need to choose when best to eave out words entirey, and use ony the visuas to te the story or set the scene. Aims of this resource This resource wi hep you to earn about different techniques peope use when creating comics. It aso hep you to earn how to use these techniques yoursef. You earn about: what to think about when you re adapting a nove scene into a comic strip; the techniques of comic writing (incuding narrative boxes, speech bubbes and thought bubbes); how to draw a character; creating the setting of a comic; writing a script and choosing the ayout for a page. If you want to read some fantastic comics and graphic noves to get you started, here are a few recommendations: Shaun Tan: The Arriva 2

3 Kazu Kibuishi: Amuet (series) Raina Tegemeier: Smie; Drama; Sisters Nei Gaiman/P. Craig Russe: Coraine Charie Higson / Kev Waker: Siverfin We re going to tak about adapting a book into a comic, using Michae Morpurgo s fantastic book Private Peacefu as an exampe, but you can use these techniques when adapting any book! Eng 4-19a Decide on a scene you woud ike to adapt from Private Peacefu. There are severa scenes to choose from that woud work very we in comic form: have a think about your own choice and write down the reasons why you iked the scene. What do you think is its importance to the main themes and ideas of the book? Comic adaptations: how faithfu shoud you be? When you re adapting a nove scene into a comic strip, you need to make carefu decisions about how faithfuy you want to stick to the origina story! There are different options: You can try and recreate the setting, characters and pot of the origina story as faithfuy as possibe; You can take the origina story and characters but move it into a new setting. Lots of Shakespeare comic adaptations do this; You can choose to create a fresh work of art inspired by the origina. You might choose to use the origina characters but give them new characteristics, or change detais of the pot, or even write an entirey new story with the same characters. To show you the possibiities avaiabe, we briefy discuss three very distinct comic adaptations. Figure 1: Page from The Strange Case of Dr. Jeky and Mr. Hyde by Aan Grant and Cam Kennedy The Strange Case of Dr. Jeky and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson was pubished originay in The story tes of a character Dr. Jeky who has been experimenting with a serum that transforms him into the evi Mr. Hyde. The story is so we known that the expression Jeky and Hyde has entered our anguage, meaning a person who changes dramaticay from one situation to another. 3

4 There are three main comic adaptations of the story. Aan Grant and Cam Kennedy s fu coour version, keeps the anguage, form and chapter structure of the origina book. Andrzej Kimowski and Danusia Schejba s version keeps the structure and themes of the origina, but is drawn in back and white. By contrast, Lorenzo Mattotti and Jerry Kramsky s version not ony moves the ocation of the story s action to another time and pace, it aso uses the origina story as a sort of springboard to create a competey new story and expore fresh ideas as we as some of the origina s main themes. These three exampes show ceary just how diverse comic adaptations can be! When you re adapting your scene from Private Peacefu, you need to think about how faithfuy you want to stick to the origina text. How much of the diaogue do you want to keep, and do you want to change any of it? Do you need to show everything that happens in the scene, or are there parts you think you coud eave out? Even if you re sticking faithfuy to the story, you sti have to think about these things: in any adaptation to a different form, things wi be ost and added. Eng 4-19a, Lit 4-02a Consider the foowing questions: What is your opinion on adaptations? Shoud they keep to the origina story and characters? Discuss some adaptations you have seen or read, and whether you think they work we. For instance, The Hunger Games and Divergent have recenty been adapted for fim, the origina Ghostbusters fim has been remade with new characters, and the Road Dah cassic Charie and the Chocoate Factory was remade with a very different version of the main character Wiy Wonka. This video highights some of the key differences between The Hunger Games book and movie: Figure 2: Page from The Strange Case of Dr.Jeky and Mr. Hyde by Andrzej Kimowski and Danusia Schejba Figure 3: Page from The Strange Case of Dr. Jeky and Mr. Hyde by Lorenzo Mattotti and Jerry Kramsky 4

5 Introduction to a typica comic page Each page of a comic shoud hep te the story whie keeping things visuay interesting for the reader. You need to make actions on a page fow, and they shoud be cear and readabe. If the comic is unreadabe then a reader wi ose interest. A gance at the page shoud suggest the atmosphere and ideas of the story and the page itsef shoud attract the reader s eye. Exa 4-07a, Eng 4-31a Take some time to ook at Figure 4 from the comic book Louis: Night Saad. The main character Louis and his guiding heper are trying to make their way down a ciff. Try and adapt the scene into a few paragraphs of prose, describing what is happening and what the two companions are thinking and feeing. Figure 4: Page from Louis: Night Saad by Metaphrog 5

6 Now, think about the foowing questions: What do you fee when you ook at this page? How do you think the comic creators have tried to convey the companions thoughts and feeings? Is there anything on the page you find particuary interesting or eyecatching? What kind of atmosphere do you think is created on this page? What sort of story do you think Louis: Night Saad is? At the end of this resource on page 26 we wi discuss what we were trying to achieve with this particuar page. Everyone reacts to comics differenty and it s interesting to compare your reactions with others! It s not aways a good idea to over-anayse it risks taking the fun out of reading and writing comics! But it can be fun and interesting to find out some of the important techniques comic creators can use when working, so et s take a ook at some of these. The techniques of comic writing Comics can ook simpe and be compicated at the same time. Lots of different things can appear on the page but in genera the buiding bocks incude the foowing. Figure 5: Pages from The Inca by Moebius and Jodorowsky Panes Panes are used in comics to frame and pace the action. The way you choose to ay out the panes on the page is reay important, as it affects the rhythm and pace of the story. You can aso choose to do page-sized panes, as seen on the eft in Figure 5. 6

7 Lit 4-02a, Eng 4-19a Discuss the two comic pages in Figure 5. Do you notice a difference between the way you read each page? Figure 6: Panes from The Red Shoes and Other Taes by Metaphrog The pane borders can be removed to create a pause or suspend time, as shown in Figure 6. Larger panes, in genera, make it fee ike time is sowing down, whie smaer panes, in genera, speed up the action and make time pass more quicky. However, some comic creators use smaer panes to try and achieve just the opposite effect and sow time down. Have a ook at the page from Chris Ware (Figure 7). What does it make you fee? How do you think the artist intended you to read the page? How does time seem to pass on this page? Smaer panes can even be inserted into arger panes on the comic page to add detai, space action out, or even add or hide information, as you can see in Figure 8 on the next page. Whatever you decide to do, the art shoud serve the story, and the composition of each pane and how they ook together on the page shoud be carefuy panned and considered. Eng 4-31a, Exa 4-03a Read through your chosen scene from Private Peacefu. Are there any parts where you think you woud use a particuar size of pane? Note these down for your reference ater on. Figure 7: Page from The Acme Novety Library by Chris Ware 7

8 Figure 8: Page from We3 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quitey Gutters Gutters just means the spaces between the panes. Many comics have these spaces, and the reader imagines or accepts that time passes in these spaces. Cosure Sometimes it can actuay be important to think about what not to draw! Cosure means that a comic artist ony draws a sma part of something, and the reader s brain pictures the rest. For exampe, if you want to draw a gigantic monster you can often just draw a huge toe nai or funga nai infection and the reader wi picture the rest. Bear in mind that if you want to scare your reader, sometimes what we don t see is much more frightening. In the fim Aien directed by Ridey Scott in 1979 we scarcey see the aien and fear buids when our imaginations get to work on what itte gimpses we have of the creature in the fim. Exa 4-03a Try it for yoursef! Think about how you might appy this technique to the things beow, drawing ony part of the thing and etting the reader imagine the rest. What woud the reader need to see? An approaching tank or army A dangerous anima, for exampe a tiger An earthquake Aternativey, find something in your chosen scene from Private Peacefu which coud be iustrated in this way. After you ve given it some thought, draw a comic pane suggesting one of the above things. 8

9 Narrative Boxes When some exposition is required, or when the narrator is speaking, you can use a narrative box. Exposition means detais that the reader needs to know to make sense of the story. For exampe, in Figure 9 from The Litte Match Gir, we don t know from ooking at the iustrations that it s New Year s Eve, so the narrative box needs to te us this detai. Eng 4-19a Have a ook through your chosen scene from Private Peacefu. Do you think there is any exposition in your scene that you coud put in narrative boxes? Note this down for ater reference. Figure 9: Page from The Litte Match Gir by Metaphrog Speech Bubbes The characters in a comic can voice their diaogue through speech bubbes. If you want to show an inner voice, sometimes it is more practica to use a narrative box for the thoughts of a character. You can aso use a different font for different characters speech. Thought Bubbes There is no need for a specia effects budget in comics: dreams, imagination and thoughts can be shown in a separatey shaped, wobbyined bubbe. Lettering You can choose the type and size of font that you think is best for each character. Larger boder ettering can be used to show when characters are speaking with ouder voices. Hand ettering can be kept tidy and a the same height by ruing guiding tramines. Eng 4-19a, Eng 4-31a In Private Peacefu identify when different fonts have been used and expain why the author has chosen to do this. 9

10 Then, ook at the scene you have chosen to adapt from Private Peacefu. Do you think it woud be appropriate to use arger or boder ettering for a character at any point in this scene? Do you think that certain characters in the scene might require a certain type of font? Why? Visua Metaphors A simie is when we say that something is ike another thing. For exampe: He was ike a ion in batte. We do this to paint a picture in a reader s head it s a bit better than saying, He was extremey fierce and brave in batte. A metaphor is ike a simie, except it actuay caims that something is another thing. For exampe: He was a ion in batte. In Private Peacefu we earn that Tommo does not fee he ives in his big brother s shadow. On the contrary he says, I ive in his gow. This is a strong metaphor, suggesting that Tommo somehow has a gow. But how woud you show this in an iustration? Perhaps you coud draw Charie with a goden coour in the background, and Tommo standing in the distance. Or can you think of something better? As an exampe of visua metaphor: in this scene from Louis Night Saad the carefu reader can see that Louis is feeing green, a simpe metaphor which obviousy means he is feeing unwe. Exa 4-03a Chose a strong metaphor from Private Peacefu and expain how you woud make it visua. You coud choose the one above, or try one of these: Figure 10: Panes from Louis: Night Saad by Metaphrog Our greatest scourge is neither rats nor feas but the unending drenching rain, which runs ike a stream aong the bottom of our trench, turning it into nothing but a mud-fied ditch, a stinking gooey mud that seems to want to hod us and then suck us down and drown us. We're on the firestep ooking out into no-man's-and, and we see it roing towards us, this dreaded kier coud we have heard so much 10

11 about but have never seen for ourseves unti now. Its deady tendris are searching ahead, feeing their way forward in ong yeow wisps, scenting me, searching for me. Then finding me out, the gas turns and drifts straight for me. After this, try drawing your visua metaphor! Onomatopoeia Onomatopoeia are words that sound ike what they refer to. More than visua metaphors or even symbos, onomatopoeia are cosey associated (BIFF BANG POW!) with comics. The constant sheing in the war scenes in Private Peacefu gives you an exceent opportunity for creative use of onomatopoeia. The words can be used as pictures in the comic pane. You can choose carefuy which font is most appropriate to represent the sound. Emanata These are the symbos or ines that can emanate from a character or a thing to show their state of mind. Typicay emanata can show when someone or something is, for exampe, hot, frightened, smey or angry You can get reay creative with emanata there are no rues to how you can use them! Just remember that your comic sti needs to be readabe it needs to be cear what the emanata are suggesting. Figure 11: Panes from Louis: Night Saad by Metaphrog In Louis: Night Saad we wished to show how our character Louis was feeing and to do this we used emanata, itte squigges, as you can see in Figure 11 opposite (we aso removed the pane borders and backgrounds to focus more tighty on the character and on the fact they do not fee comfortabe in the word of the story at this point). Aso on this page we have used thought bubbes to indicate that Louis is having a nightmare. Eng 4-19a, Eng 4-31a Look through your chosen scene from Private Peacefu. Are there any parts where you coud try to use emanata, or any other technique you ve earned about, to show what the characters are feeing? Write some brief notes for ater reference. 11

12 Bringing characters to ife in a comic You can bring your characters aive in different ways, particuary by using facia expressions and body anguage. When teing a story visuay it is important to make the key characters stand out. Each character shoud be instanty recognisabe and aso easiy distinguishabe as this faciitates ease of reading. Various ideas can be used to achieve this, incuding: a strong shape, coour or outine; a prop or gimmick, ike an umbrea; a distinct physica feature, such as a moustache or pot bey; a custer of fies or even a coud of dust or sme. As an exampe: in our adaptation of Hans Christian Andersen s cassic tae The Red Shoes the main character, Karen, has been created so that she stands out with her red hair and red shoes. Figure 12: Page from The Red Shoes and Other Taes by Metaphrog Eng 4-19a, Eng 4-31a, Exa 4-03a Identify the main characters in Private Peacefu, and write a brief description for each. Note down some things you might use to make them stand out, based on the guidance above. Note: it is not necessary to draw the characters at this point but it can be great to sketch or doode initia impressions on the page. One of the many exceent things about comics is that they end themseves we to exaggeration. So if your character is unpeasant then don t hod back, don t be afraid to give them a nasty set of warts or even fetid haitosis. Sergeant Horribe Haney is a character who ikes to shout and is very unpopuar with the other sodiers. It is easy to imagine him spraying spitte and having an angry red face with fuming ines emanating from his rigid body. Now, choose a character and produce a finished version suitabe for a comic adaptation of a particuar scene. Bearing in mind what you ve earned about making characters stand out, write an expanation of why you have chosen to draw the character the way you have. In Private Peacefu it may be necessary to draw different versions of the main characters, to indicate at what point the story is being tod. For instance, the brothers wi ook very different during wartime than they do in peacetime, not ony in the way they dress but in their facia expressions and body anguage. 12

13 Character reationships In a comic, you need to be abe to show what the main characters are ike, but you aso need to show how they get on with each other. Eng 4-19a, Eng 4-31a, Exa 4-03a Think about the reationships between the main characters. Write a itte about how they interact. For exampe, how does Tommo fee about each of his brothers? How does he fee about Moy? How can you te from what he says and does? After this, seect two characters, e.g. Charie and Moy. Think about how you might show in a drawing how they fee about each other and how they get on with each other. Draw them together and write a short description of why you have chosen to depict them this way. Bringing setting to ife in a comic The setting is where a story or scene takes pace. You can draw your reader into the word of the story by making carefu choices about your iustrations. Figure 13: Peanuts by Chares Schuz Comic creators don t aways draw the setting in ots of detai! Remember we taked about cosure earier on? Some iustrators ony draw very sma detais, and essentiay rey on the imagination of a reader to fi in the rest in their own minds. Cartoonists don t need to draw every eaf on every tree much may be suggested and wi be fied in in the reader s brain. In Peanuts by Chares M. Schuz the word of the strips is instanty famiiar and recognisabe, and yet when you ook cosey at Figure 13, it s formed from a simpe horizon ine and a few drawings suggesting simpe trees or bushes. The rea word of Peanuts isn t just the word that appears on the page. It s a word that appears in the reader s head, and it grows arger and more compete as you read more strips. 13

14 Figure 14: Cavin and Hobbes by Bi Watterson Bi Watterson s Cavin and Hobbes is simiar and in many cases the strip eaves even more to the imagination of the reader. Exa 4-07a, Eng 4-19a Consider the foowing five pages (see next page), each taken from a different comic. For each page consider the foowing questions: Write down a few words to describe the setting. What techniques do you think the artist has used to make the setting ook and fee this way? Where and when do you think the story is set? What makes you think this? 14

15 Figure 15 (top eft): Page from From He by Aan Moore and Eddie Campbe Figure 16 (top right): Page from Back Hoe by Chares Burns Figure 14 (midde eft): Page from The Arriva by Shaun Tan. Figure 15 (midde right): Page from Ghost Word by Danie Cowes. Figure 16 (bottom): Page from Louis: Red Letter Day by Metaphrog 15

16 Researching your setting In order to make your comic adaptation of Private Peacefu beievabe you probaby need to do research and investigate Word War One. For instance, if your chosen scene takes pace in the battefieds, you need to be abe to recreate the sodiers uniforms, and you need to be abe to accuratey draw a trench. If the scene takes pace at home, you need to be abe to recreate peope s cothes from the time period, and any other things that were different back then. Over the years the subject of war has been tacked frequenty in iterature, fim and comic. Much of the avaiabe materia is extremey adut in nature and deas with much unpeasantness. In France, one of the most highy regarded comic creators, Jacques Tardi, wrote and iustrated C'était a Guerre des Tranchées, and it was transated into Engish and pubished by Fantagraphics as Goddamn This War! Figure 21 Page from Goddamn This War! by Jacques Tardi You can see how he has accuratey reproduced sodiers uniforms. Aso, note how he uses washed out bue grey coours to evoke the codness of war and khaki muddy browns to make the sodiers stand out. Lit 4-14a Carry out some research into the setting for your chosen scene. Many of the trench systems in Word War I were quite eaborate: you coud draw out and abe the different parts of a typica trench. Aternativey, you coud research different types of tanks used in Word War One, or find out what domestic ife was ike in the countryside in the eary 1900s. Eng 4-31a, Exa 4-03a Now, using everything you ve earned about depicting setting, it s time to try it for yoursef! Think about the foowing settings in Private Peacefu. In the right hand coumns of the tabe, write down what things you d ike to convey about each of the settings: what do you want the reader to know about the setting, and how do you want them to fee? Then write down some things you might do in your comic to create the atmosphere. 16

17 Setting What I want to convey How coud I convey these things? A Rura Chidhood The countryside The sma viage The happiness of Tommo and Charie s chidhood The countryside coud be represented in some panes by the robin s nest, the crows and a fied The sma viage coud be suggested in some panes by depicting its inn and church tower Bright coours coud be used to show the happiness of chidhood in the countryside First day at schoo No Man s Land The trenches 17

18 Writing a script Exampe script adapted from page 62 of private peacefu [Charie's mother answers the door. The Coone is standing there, scowing.] COLONEL: That boy of yours is a despicabe thief, Mrs. Peacefu! [A pane shows Charie in the haway, nervous but defensive.] CHARLIE: He was going to shoot her, mother. I had to do it. Script It is usefu and important to write a script for your comic. Writing the script heps with panning and aying out the story visuay. Even though you re working with an existing book, you sti have to write a script and decide what to incude, what text to eave out, and what anguage stye and tone to use. To keep the fee of the origina, you can use the same writing stye in the comic but you sti need to shorten sentences or scenes for concision. Scenes or text have to be condensed and reduced to what is stricty necessary, and the visuas can be used to repace parts of the origina text: For exampe, descriptions of a pace or person in the origina text can be repaced in the comic by using the drawings instead. In your script you shoud definitey incude diaogue and what the characters are doing, as you see in the script beow. If you re doing the script and someone ese is doing the drawing, it s up to you to decide how much to te them about what the characters and settings shoud ook ike you can give them ots of freedom to decide for themseves, or give them detaied instructions for what you think things shoud ook ike. Eng 4-31a It s time to write your script! But first, go through a printed or photocopied version of your scene from the book. Highight a of the narration and diaogue that you want to incude in your comic adaptation. After this, have a go at writing your script. As with any writing process, feedback is essentia and you might need to do severa drafts before your script is ready. Swap your script with another person and ask them to suggest any revisions, based on the foowing questions: 18

19 Has anything been incuded in the script which coud be shown in an iustration instead (for instance, descriptions of setting)? Is everything in the script important to hep the reader understand things about the characters and pot? Are any of the sentences overy ong, perhaps too ong to fit inside a comic pane whie eaving penty room for iustrations? Panning the ayout and writing your comic Once you ve got the script, it s a good idea to do a first draft of the actua comic. There is, of course, no recipe or right way to be creative, but the more carefuy a story has been panned and thought through the stronger and more appeaing it wi be. You have a choice of different shots: genera views, midde shots and cose-ups. Figure 24 Panes from The Red Shoes by Metaphrog Genera view Midde shot Cose-up Exa 4-07a Have a ook at each type of shot in Figure 24, above, and discuss what effect the artist is trying to achieve. When do you get cosest to the character s feeings? You can do panes in different ways: they can contain action; they can feature ess action and more narration, or even sient panes; with ony taking heads for diaogue scenes for exampe. Big panes can be used for scene setting (as you earn in the next section); for effect and emphasis (e.g. spash page). Panes can be cut off at anges to make the action more dynamic, as you saw back in Figure 1. 19

20 How to start off: some fina tips In any story, the structure usuay works as foows: the beginning introduces us to the setting and characters and ets us get a feeing for the type of story we are getting invoved in. The midde of the story usuay addresses the main probem or confict of the story, and the ending shows us what the characters do and how they fee after the probem or confict has been addressed. Scenes work ike this too: there s aways a beginning, midde and end of each scene. For the beginning, when you re trying to introduce your reader to your setting, one great technique you can use is visua shorthand. Fim makers, ike Afred Hitchcock, often speak of using visua shorthand: for exampe, starting a story with a andmark such as the Eiffe Tower ets the reader know that the story takes pace in France. Comics often start with a genera, wide view and then move in on the characters whie aso introducing the pot, ike in the page opposite by Jacques Tardi from The Boody Streets of Paris. Aternativey, the comic can start from a cose-up and zoom out to set the scene (Figure 26). And indeed comics may even start directy with action panes (Figure 27). In Private Peacefu each chapter begins with a time and then a progressivey onger narration before a fashback. Where do you think Tommo is seeing the time? What makes it so important to the story? What might be the best way to show this to a reader, visuay? Try writing a doube-spaced comic book script for this scene and et your partner(s) try working from it. Eng 4-31a, Exa 4-03a It s time to write and draw your comic. Read your script through to get a feeing for the rhythm and pacing of the scene, then draw some Figure 25 Page from The Boody Streets of Paris by Jacques Tardi Figure 26 Pages from City of Gass: The Graphic Nove by Pau Auster, Pau Karasik and David Mazuchei Figure 27 Page from Tintin: The Crab with the Goden Caws by Herge 20

21 rough panes and sketches to see if they work. The drawings do not need to be refined or finished in the first draft but the shapes of the main eements in the panes and on the pages shoud be cear enough to be readabe and recognisabe. Work through severa drafts ti you re happy with your finished product! Remember, here are the topics you ve covered: use your knowedge of a of them to produce the best possibe comic: How faithfuy shoud you stick to the source materia? The techniques of comic writing panes, cosure, narrative boxes, ettering, visua metaphors, onomatopoeia and emanata; Bringing characters to ife; Bringing the setting to ife; Pane sizes and ayout. Fina Artwork Finished comics can be created using pencis, pens and ink, brushes with ink, crayons, coage, gitter and gum. Indeed they can be made in an infinite number of ways. Combining words and pictures: the ony imit is your own imagination. Concusion: a sma insight into comic creators process There isn t a right or wrong way to appreciate a comic. Whatever you take from it is vauabe. But it can be interesting to know what writers and artists were trying to achieve, so we thought we d give you a itte insight into our thought process for Figure 4, a page from our book Louis: Night Saad. As comic creators, we are aways trying to improve, and get better at writing and drawing. We spent five years creating Louis: Night Saad and were deighted when the book received award nominations and commendations. The book is about the power books have to transport or even transform the reader and the story opens our minds to a word of stories incuding the idea of a quest. Louis friend FC, or Formuaic Companion, is unwe and Louis dreams of finding a cure. On his dream journey Louis has a guide and even with this guiding heper Louis encounters danger. With the page on the ciffs, Figure 1, in the introduction to this resource, we reay wanted the reader to fee for Louis: to fee what Louis is feeing. Frightened, excited, a itte dizzy, vertigo: unsure where to put his feet. Because the Louis books are sma square books it was, at first, difficut to imagine creating the sense of height for the high ciffs but Sandra bookended the page with two ta panes to do this. In between, we used fast cutting and different points of view as we as unusua pane shapes to create a sense of imbaance and of the danger Louis faced. 21