How to draw comics for beginners: a free 8-lesson course

The only tools you need

Expensive supplies won't make your comics better. Practice will. Start with a simple kit and upgrade only when a tool is clearly holding you back.

Draw characters with simple construction

Professional artists rarely draw a character outline straight away. They build it from simple shapes first, then refine. This is called construction, and it makes your character look the same from panel to panel.

1. Gesture line: one curved line for the spine shows the pose and energy.
2. Shapes: a circle for the head, an oval or bean for the chest and hips.
3. Stick limbs: lines for arms and legs, with dots for elbows and knees.
4. Flesh it out: wrap cylinders around the stick limbs and add hands and feet.
5. Details last: face, hair, clothing and accessories.

Measure height in "heads". Cartoon characters are often 3 to 5 heads tall; realistic adult characters are about 7 to 8 heads tall. Pick a proportion and keep it consistent.

Expressions and body language

Readers connect with characters through feelings. The eyebrows and mouth do most of the work on the face, while the whole body tells the rest of the story.

• Joy: raised cheeks, open smile, body leaning up and outward.
• Anger: eyebrows pushed down and together, clenched teeth, fists, leaning forward.
• Sadness: inner eyebrows lifted, mouth turned down, shoulders slumped.
• Fear: wide eyes, eyebrows raised, body pulling back and shrinking.
• Surprise: eyebrows high, mouth open, hands up.

Exaggerate. A little more emotion than real life reads clearly at small sizes in a panel.

Write a one-page comic story

A one-page comic is the perfect first project: short enough to finish, long enough to tell a real story. Use this simple structure:

• Setup: who is the character and what do they want?
• Problem: what gets in the way?
• Attempt: what do they try?
• Payoff: a twist, joke or emotional ending in the last panel.

Write a short script before drawing. List each panel, describe what we see in a sentence, and write any dialogue underneath. Keep it to 4 to 6 panels and no more than about 25 words per speech bubble.

Thumbnails and panel layouts

Thumbnails are tiny, rough sketches of a whole page, about the size of a playing card. They let you test layouts in minutes instead of redrawing full pages for hours.

• Read panels left to right, top to bottom (unless you're making manga, which reads right to left).
• Make the most important moment the biggest panel.
• Leave space at the top of each panel for speech bubbles.
• Keep gutters, the gaps between panels, roughly even.

See nine proven page structures in our guide to comic panel layouts.

From pencils to inks

Draw your page full size in light pencil, then trace the final lines in black ink. Inking turns a sketch into clean art that reads clearly in print and on screens.

• Pencil lightly. Dark pencil lines are hard to erase after inking.
• Vary line weight. Use thicker lines for outlines and closer objects, thinner lines for details and distant objects.
• Ink borders with a ruler. Clean panel borders make the whole page look professional.
• Let it dry. Wait several minutes before erasing pencils to avoid smudges.

Speech bubbles and lettering

Lettering is part of the art. Readers should never have to hunt for what to read next.

• Write the words first, then draw the bubble around them.
• Place the first speaker's bubble on the left and higher than the next one.
• Point the tail toward the speaker's mouth, but don't let it touch.
• Use pencil guidelines so your letters are the same height.

Learn thought bubbles, whispers, shouts and sound effects in our speech bubbles and lettering guide.

Finish and share your comic

Finishing is a skill. A completed simple comic teaches you more than a perfect half-finished one.

• Color (optional): start with flat colors, then add one shadow tone.
• Scan or photograph: scan at 600 dpi for black-and-white line art, or photograph in bright, even daylight.
• Share online: post it as a webcomic on social media or a comic hosting platform.
• Print a mini-comic: fold, copy and staple pages into a zine for friends.

Want personal feedback on your finished page? Get a written page critique from a working comic artist, or keep going with the guided video course Make Your First Comic in 30 Days.