Working Methods

Once in a while someone comes up with a book with such a great but simple idea, you wonder why it hadn't been done a long time ago. John Lowe's "Working Methods" is one such book. Although it is one of many "How to draw comics" books that have been written, the twist here is that he compares and contrasts the working methods and styles of some very different professional comic artists by having them work from the same sample scripts. Actually, three different scripts in three different genres, by eight different artists--including Scott Hampton, Tim Levins, Jim Mahfood, Pat Quinn, Sean Murphy, Mark Schultz, Chris Brunner, Kelsey Shannon. It's interesting to see how different artists tackle the same material. I've provided examples of two different artist's take on "Paddy", a gangster story written by Scott Hampton. I got so jazzed at the idea of this that I started a version of "Paddy" on my own ( I will post these here in a couple of days ). Lowe is chair of the Sequential Art Department at Savannah College of Art and Design. This book should be a great little textbook for his students and will make a great addition to any prospective comic artist's library.