This is the third post on how I made a comic book from sketchnotes.
After completing all 50 panels, 25 for each testament of the Bible, the result looked like this …
Comic book layout
I decided to explore a layout as a comic book to provide some variety to the panels. My first stop was at my local bookstore to get ideas from comic books. Specifically, I like the size of manga (5 x 7.5 inches), and that’s where I browsed.
I found a manga and purchased the ebook of Fly Me to the Moon, vol. 8.
I quickly flipped through the ebook and sketched different panel layouts I liked in my notebook. I then planned out all 50 panels. At the time of planning, I was tentatively using “Story of the Bible” (SOTB) as the title, but finally selected “Focus on Planet Earth.”
Redesign
Using Procreate, I copied each of the panels and rearranged the images and Bible verses based on the new dimensions. Several of the panels in the manga version had the same ratio as the original panel grid (3×4).
The result was 14 pages of content plus front and back covers (16 total pages). As with most traditionally published manga, I kept the inside pages monochrome. The cover consisted of outside and inside pages, so the first and last pages of content were color.
Printing
After some searching, I determined that Mixam met my requirement to print a small number (to hand out for review), manga size, and reasonable price per copy. Additionally, the ordering process was smooth. Below is the estimate of my project …
I placed my order on April 20, 2022 and received it on April 28. Looking back, I should have ordered 100 copies instead of 50, since the price per copy would have decreased.
Results
I am pleased with the quality of the printing and how Focus On Planet Earth came out. I have been sharing copies to get feedback.
The image below will open a flip-through of Focus on Planet Earth.
Notes For Learning 