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How to Draw Comic Panels in Photoshop

By Kelly | November 9, 2009

The most common question I recieve about making comics is, “How to you draw the panels in Photoshop?”
There are actually several ways to do it, depending on the look you want. My examples are made in Photoshop CS2, but any recent version works almost the same way.

Use the Line tool

It’s probably the simplest way to make a panel border- drawing a straight line.
Select the Line tool from the Shape button on the toolbar, or press ‘u’ and choose it from the icons at the top. Make sure arrows are turned off on the dropdown. Set the weight however you like- for the Roza comic, I’ve been using 4 px for all panel borders. Click and drag to create the line you want- holding shift forces a horizontal or vertical line. Disable ‘anti-alias’ if your lines look too blurry. I tend to leave it enabled, especially for diagonal lines.

Use Stroke on Selections

Another handy way to create a panel border is to use ‘Stroke’ on a selected area.
Make a selection using the Marquee tool (shortcut- m) or lasso tool, any shape of selection will work. From the top menus choose Edit, Stroke – and adjust the settings as need. I always set location to ‘inside’ because it results in neat, square corners – center and outside create a rounded corner effect. You can use this method to outline odd shapes, circles, and characters that pop out of panel frames.

Use Stroke on a Path

Similar to the selection method, but paths allow you to use custom brushes to stroke the edge.
Use the Pen tool (p) to create a path around the area you want to outline. Click on each corner of the box you want to create. Holding shift will create straight lines here as well. If you need to edit the path, hold ‘a’ and select the point to move it around. Once you’re done with the path, hold ‘a’ and drag over the path to make sure all points are selected. Then from the Paths palette menu, choose the empty circle option to Stroke Path with Brush. Whichever brush and color you’ve got set currently will draw along the path you’ve selected. A square brush will create a box with neat corners. Use other brushes to create different effects – rounded, wobbly, grungey, dashed or dotted lines. You can use Edit > Stroke the same way as with a selection (see previous tip). Convert paths into a selection by pressing CTRL-ENTER.

Use Stroke as a Layer Style

A little trickier, but this method works if you’re already making your panels as separate layers.
Select your layer and choose the layer styles button from the Layers palette (it looks like a cursive f). Choose the ’stroke’ option and configure it how you like – as with the first tip, an Inside stroke is the only way to get sharp corners. A handy trick – if your comic art is flattened and you just want easy panels, create a new layer with a white square. Add the stroke effect outline, then set the layer to ‘multiply’ mode. Only the stroke is visible!

I’ve used a combination of all of the above methods in my comics, so it’s simply a matter of choosing the one that’s right for you. The important thing is to keep your style consistent – use the same line weight, and save your layer styles or brushes for stroking. Good luck and happy comicking!

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Topics: Comic tutorials | 2 Comments »

2 Responses to “How to Draw Comic Panels in Photoshop”

1. 2
   Strawberry Says:
   December 26th, 2009 at 11:16 am

   does it also work in gimp 2?
   just wondering

2. 1
   Denece-the-sylcoe Says:
   November 14th, 2009 at 9:27 pm

   I have a DA accont to if you want to see it. http://denece-the-sylcoe.deviantart.com/ Thanks! (I have photoshop elements 7 but this looks fimilir!) I like this site! It answeres most of my questions! :-D