Process

A little while back, Brian Hibbs wrote a piece involving the place of Kickstarters in the comics world that still seems to be making the rounds online.  It comes at it from the retailer...

Yet another discussion of what happened to the artist being the big dogs of comics, and a chance to make your feelings known via a survey!

Comic-Con is said to be the biggest pop culture event in North America, and if you’re one of the more than 130,000 attendees, you’re likely to purchase and wear some of one-of-a-kind comics, art and action figures from the many vendors at the show. Whether it’s a Optimus Prime collectible or a Boba Fett action figure or even your vintage Star Wars costume, keeping your Comic-Con treasures safe and sound doesn’t have to be difficult or expensive. And tese FedEx coupons just for Beat readers will help!

by Harper W. Harris Certainly one of the busiest artists at HeroesCon 2015 was Tula Lotay, who has burst onto the mainstage of comic artists in the last year, working with Warren Ellis on Supreme:...

Photo by Abigail Huller, via Oakland Museum of California Q. Do you still work the same way you did 25 years ago, drawing by hand at a table? A. Yes. I was just at an antiquarian book...

[Editor's note: The release this week of March Book Two by Rep. John Lewis, Andrew Aydin and Nate Powell has already made headlines with its story of the fight for civil rights in the 60s, and the covers to both volumes have become iconic in their own right. The message of the courage to fight for equality for all in the face of violent opposition is as relevant and needed today as it was 50 years ago. But powerful images to cover powerful times don't always spring up fully formed. Here Powell and Top Shelf designer Chris Ross with an in-depth breakdown of how they created these covers and combined imagery to capture both history and ideals.] NATE: March was originally a single, massive volume, so the initial front and back covers were intended to house the entire narrative: the front introduced the basic visual theme of opposition, with two elements facing off against each other, though a contingent of riot-ready white supremacist police were prominently featured across the bottom. After some discussion with Chris Ross, Andrew Aydin, and Congressman Lewis, we all agreed that we should shift some of that focus to the folks on the front lines, and away from Jim Crow police forces. Around that time, we decided to release the saga as a trilogy, so Chris and I jumped in to further develop the oppositional themes, but playing with different angles and approaches to the cover’s division.

Wow speaking of comics crafts, coloring is definitely one of the key components of today's comics golden age, yet one of the least understood, and Nathan Fairbairn presents a fascinating process post on how...

Todd Klein is the dean of comics lettering in the US, with more awards than he can carry, and a portfolio of logos and classic lettering that would be hard to touch. And he's put it all together for a seven part series on the history of comics lettering:

The longest running stand alone school to teach cartoonist is having an open house tomorrow from 1-4. Prospective students will meet faculty and get a tour. Open houses at The Kubert School are a great way to...

by Zachary Clemente On the extremely busy Saturday of this past weekend's New York Comic-Con, I had the sublime honor of interviewing Frank Quitely (pen name for Scottish artist Vincent Deighan) about his visual narrative process, the...

by Bon Alimagno New York Comic-Con has arrived and hundreds of aspiring comic book artists are putting the final touches to their portfolios, eager to meet editors and wow them with their work. If you...

By: Nick Eskey The thing about fandom is that on some level, we all wish we be a part of what we love: We want to write a hit novel because we love to read;...