We’re getting closer to the release date for the book! So I figured it was about time to start giving you some idea of the cool stuff inside the volume.

This page is the initial version of the explanation of “sequential art.” It may seem fairly obvious, but for people, especially writers, coming to the craft of scripting a graphic novel, it’s something that they don’t always “get” right away.

“Sequential art” actually moves things along

Sequential art isn’t just a series of images that represent action happening. Each succeeding image needs to build on the information of the previous panel. The reader has to feel that something is progressing.

This is one of the reasons why it is important to see sequential work when the writer is hunting for the primary artist. Pin-up pictures on DeviantArt may be gorgeous. But if you haven’t seen sequential work – and several pages of it – you really won’t know if the artist can handle the storytelling.

There’s much more about this in the book, of course.

Pre-order now!

The page from the graphic novel shown is from Chuck Dixon’s Iron Ghost, art by Sergio Cariello, and used in Creating Graphic Novels by permission.