Making Comics - (Thread not by Scott McCloud)

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > Making Comics - (Thread not by Scott McCloud)

Humboldt squid: Jan 21, 2006

So anyway, I'm taking a course in Dadaism right now, and for one of my projects I want to make an anti-comic. Basically, the idea is that since comics are 'sequential images arranged in a manner as which to create the illusion of the passage of time', that I'd make a comic that's entirely un-sequential. A series of panes that lead nowhere, and you could start anywhere in the page and read for any amount of time and still get the same experience out of it.

I'm not sure how to actually, you know, make something like that though. I thought of maybe arranging them in a wheel.

# ¿ Feb 5, 2011 06:35

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# ¿ May 21, 2013 06:09

Humboldt squid: Jan 21, 2006

Kismet posted:

I know you probably won't end up using any of these ideas, but it's a fun thought exercise. What is a comic without sequence? As mentioned, the dice is a nice idea but seems a little more like a comic without order, as the reader would still read it in a sequence, even a nonsensical one.

Personally, I think the only way to remove sequence would be to remove panels/pages from the format. You could roughly draw out a standard comic as a starting point, maybe four pages long with a fairly simple panel sequence. For the piece itself, you could cut a continuous length of paper to the same dimensions as all four pages laid side by side, then draw out the images from the comic with no panel boundaries separating them - have the lines of one scene flow directly into the shapes or negative space that composes the next, and perhaps play with the angles, relative sizes and orientation of the images so that they occasionally overlap or flip along the vertical or horizontal axis. Dialogue from the original sequential comic could then be overlaid wherever it best fits the continuous image, and be visually played with in the same way. That way the only approach to reading would have to be exploratory rather than sequential, and you could manage the way the content is presented to keep it from reading as a time-governed scene.

E: Pretty much what Reiley said!

Yeah, this is more or less what I'm starting to realize. Entirely removing sequence is pretty difficult, since any hierarchy created within the images would create sequence as well. The best guess I can think of would be to compose it in a way that the entire thing would have to be taken in at once. I guess I've got five more weeks to figure this out though! (Surrealism is next quarter, that should be more straight forward at least.)

# ¿ Feb 6, 2011 06:06

Humboldt squid: Jan 21, 2006

Neeksy posted:

I guess something I'm worried about is that it can possibly get too obscure for general audiences, and then I wonder if I am speaking to a general audience with my comic.

This has been really helpful. Definitely going to re-write that scene. Would adding in some character throwing out off-topic statements be too much? IRC chats tend to have "that guy" who ignores the topic at hand.

I still wouldn't make them read like authentic IRC conversations, though. Chop them up a little bit more to give the 'flavor' of the conversations, but actually making them in the style will impact legibility negatively, especially if you're assuming that your audience doesn't read chatlogs regularly. For example, I eventually stopped reading MSPA because the 'pesterlogs' were a complete pain in the rear end to read.

# ¿ Feb 7, 2011 03:28

Humboldt squid: Jan 21, 2006

limaCAT posted:

Also, a question to tablet users: after how much time did you get accustomed to how the tablet/pen/ps handled instead of using pencil+paper/marker/brushes?

A couple months of everyday (or near everyday) use did it for me. Once you get over the disorientation of not being able to look where you draw it's not very hard.

# ¿ Feb 8, 2011 21:50

Humboldt squid: Jan 21, 2006

Tesseraction posted:

The joke on the frontpage (Grandpa's Treasure) made me chuckle but then I noticed two problems with your website that got in the way of enjoying your comic:

1) Your comic is tall format, but with that project wonderful ad at the top we have to scroll down to read the entirety of it, and that means the navigation links are hidden. This isn't so much of a problem on the current comic but later on with taller comics I go to click "next" and there's nothing but a newspost. This is easily fixable by copying the navigation to be on top and below the comic - it may look goofy to have it visible twice on screen but it's better than preventing readers from reading your comic.

Additionally, I'd recommend changing the style of the words so they don't look like part of the "Pandyland" logo.

2) Your comics are a hell of a lot better than your MSPaint scribbles. I recommend ditching those or putting them in an "Extras" section. I appreciate that you put them up because you like them but frankly I think you'll be dropping readers who click first and go "what is this poo poo?" and close the tab - even I was in danger of doing so. Even clicking "next" to skip ahead to the effort comics I realised they weren't forthcoming any time soon.

Anyhow, your comic has potential but as a gag-a-day comic it's imperative you make your archives smoothly navigable. Gag strip readers have a low tolerance for arsing about.

The MS paint ones seem to have better jokes though, so maybe it would be worth it to re-draw them.

# ¿ Mar 26, 2011 03:41

Humboldt squid: Jan 21, 2006

Dabbo posted:

Aaaa holy crap you people are awesome, at first I felt like I was being an ungrateful rear end in a top hat, but posting here has been extremely validating and cathartic. Thanks especially for the critique, it's really hard to find anyone willing to be blunt and honest without also being destructive!

Anyways he said that kyo didn't look like marge at all until I got all exasperated and sent him this. He went quiet for a while, then said if I couldn't take the project or the project seriously, he'd be happy to just ask for money back instead. He's actually getting a little scary mad so I'm going to stop arguing with him on this for now.

Also that's incredible, holy crap! I was thinking of going with this sort of pallette since pretty much every character is some combination of the worst colors and this loving comic's going to ruin my eyes before the first chapter's even over. Even his animes aren't this bad goddamn. (ps I didn't make the connection until Reiley's comment, aaaa he really wants this character to be furry Jin. I can't believe I just realized this.)

Man when he was first describing the character to me I drew something a lot like this. Then he gave me this reference and I wanted to die.
Oh and uh just because I know everyone wanted more lovely characters

This is Kaori, she's Kyo's baby sister he would do anything for. She refers to him as "Big Brother" because I refuse to write 'Anikiiiii~' even if she is in furry feudal Japan that has shaolin monks. I don't think she refers to him by name anywhere in the script so far. He linked me to an episode of Lucky Star to give me an idea for the 'feel' of her. If I stop posting it's because I've killed myself.

I want to read a comic about this whole ordeal. Something like KC green's "anime club" crossed with American Elf.

# ¿ Jun 16, 2011 10:13

Humboldt squid: Jan 21, 2006

Magnus Condomus posted:

On another note, I'm not sure how it is in Feudal Japan, but doesn't purple usually signify royalty?

Yeah, but he may be referencing the character of lady Murasaki (purple) from The Tale of Genji. Which would simultaneously be impressive and make things much, much more creepy.

Humboldt squid fucked around with this message at Jun 16, 2011 around 22:51

# ¿ Jun 16, 2011 22:45

Humboldt squid: Jan 21, 2006

neonnoodle posted:

Just wanted to share Anton Emdin's sweet inking tutorial (with videos!)
http://www.antonemdin.com/blog/2011...-1-traditional/

Awesome! I've been intimidated by inking for awhile (my brushes and nib pen just sit there, silently mocking me) and this helped a lot!

# ¿ Aug 23, 2011 02:44

Humboldt squid: Jan 21, 2006

gently caress it I'm down for 24 hr comics.

# ¿ Sep 1, 2011 22:00

Humboldt squid: Jan 21, 2006

Oh poo poo we're doing this already? I'll have to start mine tomorrow.

# ¿ Sep 5, 2011 00:29

Humboldt squid: Jan 21, 2006

So, I have a scanning question for those of you who use physical media - do you all generally draw a page on a fullisze sheet of Bristol and then cut the page up to scan, then paste it back together in PS or do yall draw panels on individual pages and then combine the panels in PS? I've done both, but I"m not really sure which is the better approach.

# ¿ Sep 19, 2011 01:44

Humboldt squid: Jan 21, 2006

If you need help with lettering, you could consider picking up an "ames lettering guide", a specialized tool for the job.

# ¿ Jan 10, 2012 06:24

Humboldt squid: Jan 21, 2006

Haledjian posted:

Anybody have experience with medium-sized Wacom tablets vs large? Is it a worthwhile investment for comics or are they just too big and unwieldy?

I have a medium sized intuos now, after using a smaller graphire for years (unfortunately I haven't had much practice with it after owning it for two years, due to focusing on building my traditional art skills). The higher DPS is great, and having to reposition your hand less is also nice, but honestly the biggest improvements just come from going for the higher end intuos (clickwheel etc) over graphire. You can accomplish the same thing for both if they're the same line - it's just a little more of a pain to do it with a smaller, so just go with the largest your budget\table space allows.

# ¿ Jul 10, 2012 09:22

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# ¿ May 21, 2013 06:09

Humboldt squid: Jan 21, 2006

So, does anyone have any resources (books, websites etc) on how to write comedy? I'm in the planning stages for a comic, which will probably be a gag strip, but I'm not sure of my ability to consistently come up with good jokes or anything like that.

# ¿ Sep 10, 2012 01:19

The Something Awful Forums > The Finer Arts > Creative Convention > Making Comics - (Thread not by Scott McCloud)