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Nov 7, 2017 23:29
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Finally done with page 6, I think I'm now starting to get a comfortable balance between just colour and lineart.
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Nov 9, 2017 00:35
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Well it was pretty rude of her to die without paying.
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Nov 9, 2017 02:01
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Folks what's a main good way to advertise your comic in a post-adblock world? Project wonderful seems to be dead and I'm considering sending out press releases but all the comics news sites i visit are equally dead or reporting Avengers Movies Content type stuff.
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Nov 13, 2017 21:05
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Is it a webcomic or a dead-tree book? If it's a webcomic, good luck, but if it's a printed product you can always find a podcast or blogger to talk about it. People are desperate for content.
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Nov 13, 2017 21:38
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And I'm done!
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Nov 16, 2017 01:20
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FunkyAl posted:Folks what's a main good way to advertise your comic in a post-adblock world? Project wonderful seems to be dead and I'm considering sending out press releases but all the comics news sites i visit are equally dead or reporting Avengers Movies Content type stuff. Dipped if I know! I have often used PW in the past, but the comics I read I have discovered through word of mouth. I actually think SA is a great way to get discovered, if you can find people to love you. Meanwhile, here's the latest installment my own horrible work, marking Beepo's continuing descent down the rabbit hole. I think if you make comics that are the opposite of mine you will be lightyears ahead of me in gaining fans!
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Nov 23, 2017 01:13
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Nov 29, 2017 18:26
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Nice!
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Nov 29, 2017 19:48
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Dope as gently caress! It looks real nice.
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Dec 1, 2017 14:05
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I would like to make comic scripts. Are there any references or online courses for that? I'm more of a prose writer who writes short stories and the occasional novella.
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Dec 5, 2017 09:41
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Schneider Heim posted:I would like to make comic scripts. Are there any references or online courses for that? I'm more of a prose writer who writes short stories and the occasional novella. Don’t know about comics specifically but I’m sure there’s a ton of material (a lot of it probably free) on writing screenplays for TV and film. I’m sure a lot of the same rules would apply.
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Dec 5, 2017 22:31
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readingatwork posted:Don't know about comics specifically but I'm sure there's a ton of material (a lot of it probably free) on writing screenplays for TV and film. I'm sure a lot of the same rules would apply. Comic scripts and screenplays follow most of the same rules, since they're both visual mediums, so learning the latter lends itself well to the former. Format-wise, the biggest difference is that the script is laid out page-by-page and panel-by-panel, rather than scene-by-scene. How much detail you want to cram into each panel description depends on the level of creative control you want over the final product and how willing the artist is to follow your guidelines. The only other big difference compared to screenplays is the consideration of size when it comes to dialogue. Comics are unique in this: you can hold a shot as long as you want in a film to get all the dialogue out, but if you write too much dialogue in a panel that isn't large enough to hold it, it can really start to gently caress with the layout.
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Dec 6, 2017 01:43
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I've done a few jobs translating text scripts into thumbnails for artists who aren't native comic creators and one of the most important skills a writer needs to understand is how many words you can fit in a comic panel. As a rule of thumb the more action-heavy a page is the more panels you can use to convey motion, but the fewer words you can fit in each panel. Conversational pages can have fewer, larger panels with more space for  since you don't need as many beats to convey the meat of the page. Be economical with your dialogue. People speak in short bursts, and each burst of a thought is roughly its own word balloon. This takes time to get a feel for but it's good to be aware of starting out.
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Dec 6, 2017 07:02
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Reiley posted:I've done a few jobs translating text scripts into thumbnails for artists who aren't native comic creators and one of the most important skills a writer needs to understand is how many words you can fit in a comic panel. As a rule of thumb the more action-heavy a page is the more panels you can use to convey motion, but the fewer words you can fit in each panel. Conversational pages can have fewer, larger panels with more space for
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Dec 6, 2017 12:02
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As far as I can tell getting into writing comics is super loving difficult. There's a few specific places that look for pitches on comic scripts for example: http://2000ad.com/submissions/ These will typically have their own specific formats they want, and that site has example scripts. Otherwise you'd probably have better luck learning to draw.
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Dec 6, 2017 12:24
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Been a while but absolutewrite's forum has a section on comic writing full of resources: http://absolutewrite.com/forums/forum.php Doesn't look like that section gets much traffic but some of the stickies will probably still have useful information. I think what might help you, is getting some books on comic making. Stuff like Scott McCloud's understanding comics or maybe some of Wil Eisner's instructional books. Even if you won't be drawing them, understanding the basics of what makes a good panel composition wise and stuff like pacing is going to make it much easier for you to write good comic scripts. Also, if you plan on shopping your work around at some point, most people won't look at a comic writer's stuff without art attached to it. (Though there's the occasional exception). So if you do decide to try to sell your stuff, a good thing to do would be to hire an artist and work with them to make a short comic. Then you'll have something concrete to actually show people to garner interest in what you are doing. It will cost a bit but it's really worth it.
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Dec 6, 2017 14:33
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My advice: comics are language where the images are also language, so draw em like thumbs or make little illustrations yourself. its semiotics bitch!!!!
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Dec 6, 2017 23:23
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FunkyAl posted:My advice: comics are language where the images are also language, so draw em like thumbs or make little illustrations yourself. its semiotics bitch!!!! Thumbnails are important for the artist, but I think they're less so for the writer. The writer wants to concern themselves with the importance of what's going on in the panel: the emotions that will be on display, the action that will be taking place, etc. Unless you're already a reasonably competent artist, you'll just end up spending more time trying to get the drat thumbnail to look like something compared to rewriting a panel sequence if you're dissatisfied with how it flows.
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Dec 6, 2017 23:49
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Vermain posted:Thumbnails are important for the artist, but I think they're less so for the writer. The writer wants to concern themselves with the importance of what's going on in the panel: the emotions that will be on display, the action that will be taking place, etc. Unless you're already a reasonably competent artist, you'll just end up spending more time trying to get the drat thumbnail to look like something compared to rewriting a panel sequence if you're dissatisfied with how it flows. Counterpoint: comics being a visual medium means the writer should know how they flow. You don't have to be a competent artist to thumbnail, it can be done completely with stick figures.
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Dec 7, 2017 00:07
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The art in a comic is everything in prose outside of quotation marks. A writer should understand how that part works and fits around the "she said"s. It's remarkably easy to blind write a comic script that the artist needs to spend time trimming and fitting to size that they could have spent drawing. Thumbnails are good for this and require minimal art skill.
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Dec 7, 2017 00:17
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A good rule I stick by is no more than 25 words per bubble and no more than 125 words per page. Of course I draw a comic with no pages. So it's real helpful for me. Also Ive switched over to line webtoons to publish because making websites is hard. Read it here! http://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/fight-city/list?title_no=126188
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Dec 7, 2017 00:24
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There really isn't an universal format for comic scripts outside of what big publishers demand. What works for some people is not gonna work for others. Some appreciate super detailed Alan Moore type things that specify every tiny detail. Others consider that a horrible intrusion on their creative efforts. If you are pitching at a big publisher look at their house style. Otherwise talk to your artist. If you don't have an artist in mind and you aren't pitching to a publisher then...
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Dec 7, 2017 00:46
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Also maybe only tangentially related, but I'm deciding to be a strong advocate of hand lettering comics lately!! It helps connect the prose language to the cartoons language and i think it only seems like a daunting thing because it is hard to do on computers or with brushes. pens and nibs are nice tools, that are not also bleeding your eyes out 100% of the time
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Dec 7, 2017 02:02
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realtalk i have never been able to just sit down and write a comic script on ms word like a story. dialogue in novels is very different to dialogue in comics, and i find i can't get into the latter mode unless i'm thumbnailing and thinking visually at the same time - because the dialogue becomes part of the artwork, a massive block of text is basically like spilling ink on the picture, but if i don't have the picture there with me to remind me not to spill ink on it, suddenly i'm writing thousand-word soliloquies for every character. and tbh my characters are assholes and they don't deserve ten words, let alone a thousand
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Dec 7, 2017 07:41
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I'll write out a script as a first pass to get my ideas out, then use the thumbnail stage as a chance to edit it down to the important parts. But I've written enough pages by now to have a rough idea of how the story will flow as I'm doing the script so it doesn't get too out of hand.
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Dec 7, 2017 12:34
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Yeah, any script I write for my stuff winds up getting massively chopped up and reworked once I get to thumbnailing and actually have to think about where the words are going to live spatially on the page - often one page gets split into 2-3 pages, is reshuffled to flow better, etc. Still useful as a starting point.
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Dec 7, 2017 17:43
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So work on my comic project is going nice and slow. I can actually tie the current discussion into this- I'm working with an artist who I know very well and communicate constantly with. Every single step of the way he gets my advice and we talk about this that and the other. So I am going to walk you guys through what I hope is kind of fascinating- the birth of a page from Thumbnail to (nearly) finished. This is a big two page spread, pages 2 and 3. My script page for this is effectively "Okay just do your thing here, big show off page with these two facing off against one another. Have fun with it." For context here is an in progress look at page 1, which I've shared an earlier iteration of in this thread! But first, to really drive the point home about the difference between scripting and actual artistry, here is my script for the first page: PAGE ONE (3 Panels) Panel 1. We can see, from the point of view of NAVY BATTLE SHIPS, the huge energy dome created by crystal spires lining its perimeter. The dome is massive, dwarfing the ships, and obscuring almost everything inside. 1. CAP. April 30th, 1956 Panel 2. A wide shot, super stylized, showing the town of POINT HOPE in ruins, buildings burning and crumbling. In the distance, through the smoke and fire, we can see the silhouettes of the GREY EXECUTIONER and CHARRED. 2. CAP. Point Hope, Alaska. Panel 3. A close up of Charred, only his head and part of his shoulder exposed, the rest obscured by smoke from a mysterious source. Charred should look like he’s lumbering through the smoke towards his foes, the smoke working to hide the damage his rocky armor has taken up to this point. 3. PAUL (CAP). Hope is a funny thing. Jako took this, and after talking with me about it every step of the way, transformed it into this:  Flat colors are fun as hell to look at, let me tell you. This is very much a work in progress, some perspective things are going to be tweaked- placement of the boats and some general reworking, like the entire third panel being redrawn, but the final panel is finished. It also shows just how much things can change from the written word to the page itself, because as a writer I could not envision the dynamic stuff Jako could, and wasn't sure how much he could fit on a single page. Though I will say with some pride, after we settled on this more grandiose first page, the final panel was my idea entirely. Seeing the two in stark, minimalist styles to set up for the big splash page that follows. This brings us to the journey of that Big Splash Page that follows Thumbnail:  Sketch Version:  Sketch Version 2.0:  Version 3.0:   Line Art:  Line Art 2.0:  Flat Colors:  Shading:  Almost There:  (Mostly) Final Page!:  Still some things to tweak and change, but there you have it. From thumbnail to completion, the journey my kickass artist has taken to bring my dumb ideas to life. So yeah my advice for writers seeking to get into the business- find a good goddamn artist who can blow your scripts out of the water and make them look better than you could ever have dreamed. Also, absolutely always work with your artist on every single level of the story if you can. The artist is the one telling the final, true version of the story, they're the one bringing it to life. However they shouldn't work alone, collaboration is absolutely the key. I left out about three or four coloring steps just because it amounted to not a LOT changing, but a lot of discussion about how the lighting and the tone should look and what the final thing would be. Charred's metal bits kept changing shades and hues, Grey's body went from blue to bright white to what you see now Whole bunch of stuff like that. Obviously not everyone is going to want to do this but it's the way I handle my stuff because I am not an artist. I am a word person who words at things. I have pretty decent ideas that other people can make amazing.
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Dec 7, 2017 18:37
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Thank you for all the helpful responses. I am looking for an artist to make a comic with, but before I look for one I should have a script. I'm willing to pay them for what they're worth, I just want to make something cool. I'll look into the references, and learn by doing. Also, in manga they do a thing called a "name", which is basically a rough storyboard of sorts. Would this be useful for someone who cannot (and does not want to) draw?
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Dec 14, 2017 09:45
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Schneider Heim posted:Also, in manga they do a thing called a "name", which is basically a rough storyboard of sorts. Would this be useful for someone who cannot (and does not want to) draw? Yes, absolutely.
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Dec 14, 2017 09:49
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I've been giving serious thought to making my own comic series. I had three ideas and I decided to write-up a script for one. The idea was for a street justice kind of punisher-esque hero who goes for criminals who are above the law like racist cops. My other two ideas involved a story that would essentialy Superman but only focusing on Clark Kent and dealing with isolation and alienation and the other was a pulp spy series in the 70s. I wrote up a script for the first idea and sent it around to a few people. I won't repost it because...it was poorly received for being up its own rear end in a top hat, taking itself too seriously, and reading like a college student who just took politics 101's live journal. So, I'm thinking of re-inventing things. Here is the idea now. I've always been very scatter-brained, wanting to jump from idea-to-idea. From me even mentioning the 3 ideas in this very post, it's obvious I'm currently having that problem. What if I make my brain falling from a flaw to a feature? My idea is to work re-work the series into an anthology of tales. Like Journey Into Mystery or Amazing Fantasy or Action Comics. I don't have a good name for it, but something like "Strange Tales of the Multiverse" or something. It would jump from story to story and focus on one-shot 22 (maybe just 16 pages to save on resources) stories, with the super-rare two parter. It was a point when I started this to go for one-shot, semi-self-contained stories to make it easier on auidences to follow. That's the big picture change. I have a lot of smaller picture changes to fix the script, which would be the first issue in this series: less up its own rear end, expand on the victim so he's not just a plot device, try to sound less like an insane reddit post, etc. But I'm working out when I can and plan to have a revised script soon, but I wanted to throw the general revision, big-picture out. Do I sound like I'm setting myself up for failure? I want to make comics because I've always wanted to entertain people and tell stories. It also seems like a good outlet for my depression and suicidal and nihilistic thoughts. This has lead me to, for example, start a game business where I sold some games, run a blog where I interviewed game developers, and some other weird projects that I did for some reason. I want to give this a whirl, see what I can create, and see if I can entertain people. But I'm worried, since this has a higher barrier to entry, that I'm not properly pre-planning all of this.
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Dec 17, 2017 22:19
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Covok posted:Do I sound like I'm setting myself up for failure? I want to make comics because I've always wanted to entertain people and tell stories. It also seems like a good outlet for my depression and suicidal and nihilistic thoughts. This has lead me to, for example, start a game business where I sold some games, run a blog where I interviewed game developers, and some other weird projects that I did for some reason. I want to give this a whirl, see what I can create, and see if I can entertain people. But I'm worried, since this has a higher barrier to entry, that I'm not properly pre-planning all of this. A lot of these questions depend on how you, personally, define some terms. What does failure mean? What is the "higher barrier to entry" that you're talking about? If we have a better idea of your expectations you can get some better advice. Whether you're expecting to break into the big time with Marvel or just host your own updated-weekly webcomic makes a big difference.
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Dec 18, 2017 00:00
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gmc9987 posted:A lot of these questions depend on how you, personally, define some terms. What does failure mean? What is the "higher barrier to entry" that you're talking about? If we have a better idea of your expectations you can get some better advice. Whether you're expecting to break into the big time with Marvel or just host your own updated-weekly webcomic makes a big difference. That's fair. I define success in this manner:
By high barrier entry, I mean this: with trpg games I made, I could use free art asset and mostly just write and design and playtest (all free). A.K.A. I could make a product without spending too much money, which is a finite resource for me. Comic art costs money and can be expensive. I think I estimated a book's worth of art might cost, well, like what? I mean, I saw some estimates suggesting like over 1000. I don't know if that's true, but it might be. I'm still looking into costs. Been busy with work because someone's on vacation and I had to take up their slack. Well, also, I do have a number I think is right, but I'm afraid of sounding like an uninformed idiot by saying it and it being way too high. That's a common problem I suffer from since I'm deeply affected by how people perceive me...I don't know why I'm being this honest. To clarify, the plan is each story would either be 16 or 22 pages long. Thinking 16 is more realistic, budget-wise. Covok fucked around with this message at 00:21 on Dec 18, 2017 |
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Dec 18, 2017 00:08
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You're setting yourself up for failure by not doing anything. You can plan the finished product, building an audience, investment, and work involved all you want but until you put pen to paper you got a resounding nothing. I'll say this, as someone who has published TRPG material, the barrier for art in general is indeed higher. There are some dedicated forums to find an audience but they are very scrutinizing and selective. The pervasive opinion for art posted online is that it should be free and if you put up some kind of barrier up front it'll be ignored until you've established something people are willing to contribute to. You'll have to work hard to build that audience, investing a lot of money. That said there's crossover potential. If people from the TRPG world know your name you can spin off from what you've established. That's how Rich Burlew launched Order of the Stick, he was a finalist in a D&D competition with some writing credits then created a successful webcomic from it.
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Dec 18, 2017 03:11
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Covok posted:Here is the idea now. I've always been very scatter-brained, wanting to jump from idea-to-idea. From me even mentioning the 3 ideas in this very post, it's obvious I'm currently having that problem. What if I make my brain falling from a flaw to a feature? I think it would be a lot better if you focused on one story and getting it published. Then you can use the experience to publish another, until you have enough to repackage into an anthology. The rationale here is that one short comic would take less time and effort to put out than an entire anthology, and it lets you get a finished product out of the door faster (which should make you and your audience happier sooner).
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Dec 18, 2017 10:36
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Covok posted:That's fair. Like al-azad said, the only way to really fail at this is to never start. But I've found that you can be more likely to achieve success if you give yourself a list of quantifiable goals. What I mean is, "Entertain an audience" isn't really a thing you can measure or attach a numerical value to, so it's very subjective. Say you receive 20 fan emails and 2 hate emails from your project - on some days, when you're feeling good, you may feel you've succeeded. Other days, when you're not doing so great (you mentioned suicidal thoughts), those two hate mails will make you feel like a total failure. If you change that goal to something like "gain 20 followers on [insert webcomics hosting platform here]" that's easier to measure and offers concrete evidence that you're succeeding, and minimizes using the negative responses to count against your successes. If this were me, I would write up my goals like this:
All of those goals are easy to quantify, and also easy to break down into further goals. Once they're done, you can look at what you have and figure out another list - do you want to focus on gaining visibility for your finished comic? Or do you want to go right into the creation of the next in the series? It's up to you, but as long as you keep your goals quantifiable and realistic it's easier to get where you want to go.
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Dec 18, 2017 11:32
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Since we're slightly touched the topic of commissions, how does ownership work? Should a contract be signed to prevent any legal problems? My rough understanding is: 1. I commission artist to do the art for my comic and pay them 2. I publish the comic in my own site (and own all publishing rights) 3. Artist is free to repost the art they did for the comic or include it in their portfolio Is this how things would work?
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Dec 19, 2017 07:43
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Schneider Heim posted:Since we're slightly touched the topic of commissions, how does ownership work? Should a contract be signed to prevent any legal problems? You want a contract if money is exchanging hands, it's just smart. Here's an example by Tim Larsen. You stipulate who owns what, what kind of reproduction is allowed (you might have first publishing rights while the artist can reproduce their original work afterward), payment, deadline for delivery, terms of fulfillment and termination.
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Dec 19, 2017 08:04
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al-azad posted:You want a contract if money is exchanging hands, it's just smart. Here's an example by Tim Larsen. You stipulate who owns what, what kind of reproduction is allowed (you might have first publishing rights while the artist can reproduce their original work afterward), payment, deadline for delivery, terms of fulfillment and termination. How can the terms in the sample contract be enforced if the artist and client live in different countries?
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Dec 19, 2017 08:40
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Schneider Heim posted:How can the terms in the sample contract be enforced if the artist and client live in different countries? You can't really. The contract is there mainly to protect yourself in your country, but also to clearly establish terms.
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Dec 19, 2017 08:54
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