Creativity Around You – Graphic Novels and Instagram

Terry Shay is back with another installation of Creativity Corner. The “insta-piration” this time: Creativity Around You – Graphic Novels and Instagram.

Graphic Novels

Victoria Jamieson, author of several acclaimed graphic novels, posted this photo. These stacks of paper will eventually create a graphic novel. I had never really thought about what goes into creating a graphic novel, so I asked for more information since I thought the Creativity Corner readers would also be interested.

Victoria said that the process was this:

She submitted sketches to her agent, who used those to sell the book. Victoria first turned in sketches for the first chapter or two, and a written manuscript for the rest of the book. After a publisher bought the book, Victoria started with this stack of paper and began creating each page.

I know that authors who write books have many edits, so at this stage, I asked if once the art was done, would she have to go back and recreate some of the drawings, like an author does with words when writing a book. Her answer was, “I’ve already submitted sketches for all the drawings, but inevitably there will be some edits and corrections. I can often sub in corrections via Photoshop; however, so it’s not often that I need to re-draw an entire page.

Sometimes a panel or two, or new expressions or missing details.I get many more edits on the text, which is much easier to change. I try to get the manuscript as polished as possible, then do the sketches for the rest of the book. There are more edits to come once words and pictures are together, of course. By the time I get to final art, I want the sketches to be approved and to have as few changes to make as possible, as it can get confusing to shuffle panels and pages around.”

Recently, she posted this photo with the caption, “150 pages down, 100 to go.”

Over the stack of drawings, you might notice that it says, “Already Scanned.” Once the artwork is complete and it has been scanned, Victoria will send it off to the publisher for potentially small revisions and finally it will be printed into a book. The title of this book is not public yet, but be sure to check out Victoria’s previous books, ALL’S FAIRE IN MIDDLE SCHOOL and the Newbery Honor Book, ROLLER GIRL

Creativity Around You - Graphic Novels and Instagram

Victoria graciously supplied these photos that show the progression from rough sketch to final book. These are from the award-winning ROLLER GIRL.

Download a (Free) E-Book on the making of ROLLER GIRL from Victoria’s website.

Teen LIbrarian Toolbox recently had a post from Jerry Craft, the author of NEW KID about being a reluctant reader and the power of graphic novels. Check it out HERE.

Finding INSTApiration

One great place to find inspiration and get a sneak peek at characters from future books is Instagram. I’ve found some people in my Instagram feed who share art and sketches that I find very inspirational. I chose people who mostly share art, although some may share an occasional child or animal picture.