False Positive Tips:

Favorite Comic Artists & Best Comic Art Books  –

 

I’ve been fortunate enough to collect some useful and beautiful books.

 

Here’s a list of some of my favorite books about making comics, comic art, and comic art reproduction. 

 

Top Books About Comic Art + Some Favorite Comic Artists

 

Books About Making Comics

 

Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud

Hands-down, the best book about sequential art and storytelling.

 

Comics and Sequential Art: Principles and Practices from the Legendary Cartoonist by Will Eisner

Will Eisner was a master cartoonist.  This is part of an excellent series of instructional books on the craft.

 

Working Methods: Comic Creators Detail Their Storytelling And Artistic Processes by John Lowe

This book shows how different artists translate a script into comic art. 

 

The DC Comics Guide to Pencilling Comics By Klaus Janson

From one of the biggest comics publishers, a comics veteran lays out the fundamentals of comics penciling. 

 

Foundations in Comic Book Art: SCAD Creative Essentials by John Paul Lowe

It’s an alternative to a few of The DC Comics Guide series. As described, this volume presents an overview of the fundamentals of comic art. It includes a bit at the end about using digital tools to help with perspective, etc.

 

Framed Ink: Drawing and Composition for Visual Storytellers by Marcos Mateu-Mestre

This book focuses on inking, but it offers valuable insights about lighting and composition in comic storytelling.

 

Comic Art Reproduction Books

 

Four Color Fear: Forgotten Horror Comics of the 1950s 

A great collection of reprinted pulp horror from the golden age of comics.

 

Marvel Covers – Artist’s Edition

Reproducing some iconic Marvel cover art at original size: ~12×17 inches

 

EC Covers Artist’s Edition

This thing is massive and I love it. 17.58 x 2.48 x 25.33 inches. 

 

 

 

Comic Artist Books

 

The Art of Hellboy by Mike Mignola

 

Modern Masters Volume 6: Arthur Adams 

 

Modern Masters Volume 1: Alan Davis 

 

Berni Wrightson: A Look Back

 

Pulphope: The Art of Paul Pope

 

And to top it off, here’s a list of some of my favorite comic artists.

 

Art Adams

Gabriel Bá

John Byrne

John Cassaday

Becky Cloonan

Alan Davis

Geoff Darrow

Max Fiumara 

Rafael Grampá

James Harren

Bryan Hitch

Junji Ito

Jason Latour

Andrew MacLean

Steve McNiven

Joshua Middleton

Mike Mignola

Fábio Moon

Katsuhiro Otomo

Sara Pichelli

Paul Pope

Frank Quitely

Esad Ribić

Chris Samne

Naoki Urasawa

Barry Windsor-Smith

Bernie Wrightson

And many more.

 

Do you have some favorite comic art books? Or books on making comics?

 

Who are some of your favorite comic artists?