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The Making of a Graphic Novel

You may know that The Mark of Athena comes out October 2, but that also marks the publication date for The Red Pyramid graphic novel! Ever wonder how a graphic novel is put together? The folks at Disney were kind enough to send some images that show the different stages.

First a script is developed, taking the book and condensing it like a screenplay. Since a graphic novel is much shorter than a regular novel, the adaption team has to figure out how to relay the story in words and pictures without losing anything!

Once that’s done, they make a layout of each page, roughly sketching out what each panel will show and say.

Here’s the layout for page 16 of The Red Pyramid:

After that, the artist does a pencil version of the artwork, which refines the look of each panel:

Then color is added to the art:

And finally, the text is lettered, making a complete page:

Pretty cool, huh? And just wait until you see the entire graphic novel. It looks spectacular. I’ll post another page next week, from layout to finished product, so stay tuned!

Rick Riordan