Marco Finnegan - Garfields ® Guide to Creating Your Own Comic Strip

Marco Finnegan

Garfield created by

Lerner Publications Minneapolis

For my kids, Justin, Dylan, Colton, and Ashlyn

Copyright 2020 Paws, Incorporated. All Rights Reserved. GARFIELD and the GARFIELD Characters are trademarks of Paws, Incorporated.

Visit Garfield online at https://www.garfield.com

All rights reserved. International copyright secured. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any meanselectronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwisewithout the prior written permission of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc., except for the inclusion of brief quotations in an acknowledged review.

Lerner Publications Company

An imprint of Lerner Publishing Group, Inc.

First Avenue North

Minneapolis, MN 55401 USA

For reading levels and more information, look up this title at www.lernerbooks.com

Main body text set in Billy Infant regular 20/24.

Typeface provided by Sparky Type.

Design Elements: sonia.eps/Shutterstock.com; Vitaly Zorkin/Shutterstock.com, p.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Finnegan, Marco, author.

Title: Garfields guide to creating your own comic strip / Marco Finnegan.

Description: Minneapolis : Lerner Publications, [2020] | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Audience: Ages: | Audience: Grades:

Identifiers: LCCN 2018041204 (print) | LCCN 2019000342 (ebook) | ISBN 9781541562219 (eb pdf) | ISBN 9781541546424 (lb : alk. paper)

Subjects: LCSH: Comic books, strips, etc.TechniqueJuvenile literature. | Garfield (Fictitious character)Juvenile literature. | DrawingTechniqueJuvenile literature. | Cartooning TechniqueJuvenile literature.

Classification: LCC NC1764 (ebook) | LCC NC1764 .F56 2020 (print) | DDC 741.5/1dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018041204

Manufactured in the United States of America

1-45572-41280-3/1/2019

Contents

So youre ready to make your own comic? Great! The first thing you need is a pencil to draw with. Youll also need some paper and a ruler to help you draw straight lines.

That charming cat in the comic on page five started with only a pencil and some paper (just ignore the human)

G etting S tarted

Once you have your supplies, youre ready to make your comic. But youll need to decide who the star of your strip will be.

Before you ask, Im too busy to be your star... I have my own nightly show, you know

Garfield: Star of the Selfie (if not of the stage)

Always his own No. fan

No shortage of confidence here!

The main character in your strip will need some friends to hang out with. Youll need to draw them too. Think about their personality and try to have their shape match. For instance, cute characters might have a round shape. Other characters might have oval faces or droopy eyes.

No wonder Im so round

Try It!

Odie has wide eyes and a wide-open mouth to show that hes enthusiastic! Follow the steps on the right to draw Odie. Use a pencil with an eraser so you can erase any lines that you dont want to appear in your final drawing.

Practice drawing your characters in a variety of expressions and poses. Everyone makes different expressions depending on what mood theyre in.

Pepperoni pizza? instant good mood! And check out my other great expressions on page eleven

Try It!

Nermal is a very expressive character in the Garfield comics. He usually has a perky expression. Using a pencil with an eraser, follow the steps below to draw Nermal.

I deliver a pretty great punchline, if I do say so myself

Now that youve chosen characters for your comic, youll need to put them into a story. All stories have a beginning, a middle, and an end.

In the top strip on the right, the beginning is the setup: Garfield is asking Odie if he wants to go for a walk. The middle is Garfield getting Odie really excited about going for a walk. And the end is the punchline.

C reating a S tory

Can you identify the setup and the punchline in the other strips on this page?

The punchline in a strip is also sometimes called the gag. Sometimes gags can be visual. With visual gags, your characters dont have to say anything at all.

Silence can be golden... especially when youre reading a favorite book