Comic Book & Booklet Planner

What it is for

Comic Book & Booklet Planner starts a comic as a sequence of editable pages. Choose a title, author credit, page count, panel grid and binding direction. The result provides a complete Panelcraft project, a contact-sheet SVG, full lettering CSV and a front/back sheet-order plan for a folded booklet.

Use it to plan a short zine, classroom comic, illustrated conversation or visual diary before producing final artwork. The tool uses the same bounded page and book engines as the interactive Panelcraft workspace. It requires no account and creates original empty layouts.

Worked example

Keep the default eight pages, two panel rows and two panel columns. The book contains eight portrait pages with four panels each, giving thirty-two panels overall. Each page is 1000 by 1400 pixels at 150 DPI.

Calculate and inspect the contact sheet. Download the editable book or choose its Open in app link. In Panelcraft, name each page, write planning notes and open the page editor to add images, speech balloons, captions and screentones. Individual full-size page art exports are available there.

The eight-page left-to-right booklet uses two physical sheets. The outer sheet front pairs page 8 with page 1; its back pairs page 2 with page 7. The inner sheet pairs 6 with 3, then 4 with 5. Now try the second example: six pages, one row of two panels and right-to-left binding. The report shows 6 pages and 12 panels, and the booklet still needs two sheets because it is padded to eight positions. Sheet 1 reads front 1 | blank, back blank | 2; sheet 2 reads front 3 | 6, back 5 | 4. Compare it with the same six pages left to right (front blank | 1, back 2 | blank, then 6 | 3 and 4 | 5) to see how each pair flips.

How to read the result

The report counts pages, panels and balloons and identifies any lettering warnings. A new grid has no dialogue, so its lettering CSV initially contains the header. As you edit a book, the workspace exports complete dialogue in page and panel reading order.

The contact sheet is a thumbnail overview. Columns affect its arrangement, not the comic page geometry. Each SVG page has unique definition IDs so its clipping and patterns do not collide with other pages.

The imposition result lists sheet numbers and front/back page pairs. Null entries are blank pages. Right-to-left binding reverses each pair. This setting also initializes each new page's panel reading direction, which can later be changed independently.

Tips and common mistakes

Books contain one to twelve pages. A grid supports one to twelve panels per page; a row/column product above twelve is rejected. Comic pages retain their standard pixel, artwork and lettering limits. Normalized book page data fits twenty-four million characters.

Contact sheets use 360-pixel-wide thumbnails, up to four columns and a maximum eight-megapixel area. They are overviews, rather than final print-size page exports. The sheet-order calculation rounds the count up to a multiple of four.

The tool does not produce a press-ready imposed PDF, add bleed, calculate folding creep or control printer duplex settings. Arrange final page art at the intended paper size and check your printer manual. Lettering uses approximate system-font widths, so review final art before printing.

FAQ

Can I edit the result after calculation?

Yes. Open the returned project in Panelcraft. Page layouts, artwork snapshots, balloons, tones, titles and notes remain editable in its documented project format.

Why does a six-page book show eight booklet positions?

A folded physical sheet contributes four page positions. The plan adds two blanks to complete the final sheet without inventing story pages.

Does the contact sheet replace full-size page exports?

No. It helps review the story as a whole. Export each page from the page editor for full-size PNG or physical-size SVG artwork.