Graphic novels are a lot of work! Mine took me 3 years to write, ink and color (with the help of flater Luke Healy) Now, this was also during a global pandemic while being pregnant with my first child so all in all I think I didn’t do too bad. Before going into this project, I had no idea how long it would take. When you see a book on a shelf it’s hard to imagine all the work that went into it. Let me share a bit of my process with you.
Writing was the hardest part. I had a lot of fear writing a longer story. I’ve had ideas for longer stories in the past but never finished them. I would always get scared I couldn’t do it so I would give up before I even tried. With lots of help from my editor and agent I was able to make it through that painful first draft. It was pretty bad but every time I revised it, it got better and better!
There was so much to learn about this new format. I read a lot of graphic novels to get an idea of how I wanted mine to feel. Some intimidated me but they all inspired me. The most important thing I learned was they were all so different. There wasn’t one right way make a graphic novel. You just had to tell your story the best way you can.
My editor did help me make sure it was easy to read and understand. The pacing is important if you want readers to follow your story and not be confused.
Sketching took me the longest because it’s like I’m writing again but visually. I could lose whole pieces of dialogue that could be communicated by a look or an eye roll. I learned so much about visual story telling in this process. The golden rule is show don’t tell.
When I finally got to inking, I got to add a lot more fun detail. These final decisions can be nerve-wracking, but you have to make so many you can’t harp on them all. Outfits, distinguishing facial features, setting designs, and of course outfits. These details are my favorite part.
Then I got to have a break while the flater did the initial color. This was great because I was getting burnt out working on something for so long.
Finally, when I got to tweak the final color palette, I could see it all coming together. Slowly. One step at a time all these layers became my book.
It was like giving birth again. I don’t know how my body knew to do it, but I managed to make a 299-page illustrated graphic novel baby!
I hope you love it and read it in one day! 🫣
And then read it again because it took me three years to make it!