Creating a Graphic Novel

Creating Wangang Legends was the first novel that I had produced. The closest that I had come to this was producing a mini-comic in 2024 called Silent Rain, which was based around mental health, although this was only a three-page short comic that was part of a mini-project series. So Wangang Legends was my first time producing something of commercial size. I just wanted to discuss and reflect on a few of the elements that really brought this comic together to become a real professional piece. One thing that I cannot stress the importance of is research when creating a story, especially one that is set in the real world in a real location. Everything has to be correct from place names to the technology of the time to the cars in the area that people would buy; locations needed to be correct and drawn accurately. It was really interesting as this was something I never even thought about when planning the idea of my story. It was only when I came to the illustrative work of my comic that I knew I needed everything to be perfect to really bring this story together in the way I wanted to. Another element that became super important when creating a graphic novel was the consistency of the artwork. This was something I really struggled with!  I think I started the comic around five or six times before deciding on the style, I liked it had to be something that I could easily replicate. Something not too detailed that my panels would struggle to look the same but also something not too boring and uncomplex. It had to draw the eyes of the reader as the reader is always the most important person to think about as this is who you are marketing your graphic novel towards. Finally, time and pacing this is something I’ve really struggled with in the past, but I decided I wanted to take the time and really give my all into this novel and rather produce a shorter comic that was more consistent and higher quality than a comic that looked more rushed. And the art style was not consistent, and there were mistakes. This project definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone before this year I did not think I was capable of producing a novel of this size, especially one of this quality but I think one of the most important things is trial and error. If something doesn’t work out you try again going back to the experience I had when beginning their novel until I got the art style right I decided not to settle. My man takeaway really is just because you don’t like a piece of art. It doesn’t mean that the next thing that you draw isn’t gonna be the thing that leads you into the compilation of your project.