(W) Mark Crilley (A/CA) Mark Crilley

On her quest to turn her story into a comic book, Emily visits her comic book shop and local comics convention, where she meets three mentors. Trudy, a high school student working on comics of her own, teaches Emily how to create expressive characters and how art can convey action and suspense. Madeline, a self-published manga artist, teaches Emily how to use panel composition and layout to tell a story visually and how to develop a comic from script to sketch to finished pages. Sophie, a professional graphic novelist, guides Emily through fine-tuning the details of dialogue, sequence, and pacing to lead readers through the story. Each lesson builds off the previous information and skills presented, and the sequential art format provides the perfect vehicle for step-by-step instruction.