The following blather is highly distilled information that I elaborate on at greater length during my presentations. I’ll admit the formatting on this page is sloppy! I’m in a hurry, hope to fix it later…
Maybe you’d like me to custom-tailor a presentation for your event or school? I can do that.
No doubt you will have questions! Do not hesitate to email me. If I don’t have the answer you need, I’ll try to point you in the right direction.
I love helping people! Maybe you have a software question, maybe you need help finding an artist or a printer. Whatever it is, I’ll do my best.
EMAIL: rick@overwater.ca
There are SO many different types of comic out there! And there’s no single way to make them. But there’s a lot of common steps and hurdles that all comic-makers share. You won’t learn everything you need to know from this page alone. But hopefully I can get you started and at least point out what you’re going to need to know.
But I don’t want to make indie comics. I want to work for Marvel or DC or Dark Horse!
In the comics industry, they fully expect you to have made your own comics from scratch and published them before they will even look at you. I know exceptional artists with killer portfolios who have jumped the queue but that’s rare. And if you’re an aspiring writer who’s never worked with letterers, artists, production teams etc… good luck.
Overview: What you’ll need to know
Each one of these bullets has countless sub-bullets we won’t get into right away.
- Types/approaches to comic making
- Writing a story and/or a scripts– the beginning
- Getting it drawn
- Producing it
- Resources
There are different types of comics, different approaches to making one.
Superhero comics -uh, you’ve heard of Marvel and DC, Spiderman and Batman, etc., right?
Marvel Comics | Marvel Comic Books | Marvel
DC.com – The Official Home of DC
Biographical/autobiographical – these come in many types, my favorites are ones that teach you about something lese while they are at it.
A few good examples are Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton. My Friend Dahmer by Derf Backderf The Fixer by Joe Sacco and Louis Riel by Chester Brown
Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands (Hardcover) – Drawn & Quarterly (drawnandquarterly.com)
Louis Riel (comics) – Wikipedia
The Fixer (comics) – Wikipedia
Graphic Novels
You could argue that my distinction between these and the other types is false. Yeah maybe, but you can generalize a little. Some are full-fledged, standalone stories, Like V for Vendetta by Alan Moore, some are reprints of shorter serialized comics like Marvel’s Age of Ultron or The Goon that capture a complete story arc (often called trades). Some people do both of those, like the standalone Goon story Chinatown.
The Goon Vol. 6: Chinatown HC :: Profile :: Dark Horse Comics
Serial and strip comics
Often, this is where you find the funny stuff, web and print. Good examples include Cyanide and Happiness, XKCD and collections of traditional strips like Bill Waterson’s (RIP) Calvin and Hobbes
Crafty, zine-y comics, professionally printed or homemade
Some people like using the home printer (or like the price of using it vs. a pro-print shop) and scissors as much as they like drawing, some want it to be slick and pro but different, e.g., tinier, than what you find on the average comic store shelf. Here’s a pic of some from my own collection:
If you make a comic what would it be in the vein of?
- Focus on personal comic-making goal
- Study examples of the kind you like
Are you an artist planning on drawing it, or a writer that will need an artist?
My two cents, and I know I’m overgeneralizing a bit here: If you draw, you have a leg up because sourcing (and paying) artists who can get your vision onto paper or web page is the biggest challenge. But I have seen so many artists fall into the same trap: they have not devoted the time to the craft of writing that they have to their art and their nice-looking completed comic falls flat in the story aspect. In my opinion, you don’t have don’t have a good comic without a good story. That means knowing a bit about character arc, conflict, pacing and overall story shape.
Learn a bit about:
What about the other way around? Good writing but the drawing is less developed? There’s plenty of that out there too, and IMO, it works just fine if the panels are laid out well and the lettering is good. Especially in humorous comics where the main thing is just to get the joke across, or autobiographical comics where the off-kilter drawing is part of the charm and style of the creator. I mean, in my favourite web comic, the guy draws stickmen most of the time!
But give it shot! Check these for a start:
Cyanide & Happiness (Explosm.net)
Woman World | WEBTOON (webtoons.com)
PROCESS OVERVIEW – THE STEPS YOU’LL TAKE FROM CONCEPT TO SOMETHING YOU CAN HOLD IN YOUR HAND.
Begin with the most compact example, the one-person homemade comic.
- Think of a story with a beginning, middle and end
- Finished format: web comics? Standard size floppy? Big book? All these choices will influence how you write and make it. Definitely think of the format you are creating. Among other things, it will affect how you organize the content on your page, how many panels you will have, what size they’ll be, how many pages it will be in length.
- Create on paper, or digital?
- Illustrating it
- Lettering it
- Outputting it for best-possible quality and deciding on printing options. Photocopies? Four-colour offset press at a big print house? Everything in between.
- Breaking these tasks out to different players in a team.
VERY BRIEFLY, THE COMPONENTS OF A BASIC COMIC SCRIPT
- Artist direction
- Dialogue
- Sound effects
- Special notes for colourist, letterer (all these people might be you!
- Many writer’s have different scriptwriting approaches: Moore, Gaiman, the more sparse Fred van Lente. Examples below.
GETTING DOWN TO IT. FLESHING OUT YOUR STORY IDEA AND WRITING A SCRIPT
- Again, learn a bit about:
- Three Act Structure
- The Hero’s Journey
- Dan Harmon’s Story Circle
- Learning to think visually, depicting information through sequential art
- The advantages of thumbnailing (sketch a crappy stickman version first to see what fits on the page, how much room you need for balloons)
- Borrowing instructions from TV and film e,g, “zoom in”
GETTING YOUR COMIC ILLUSTRATED AND PRINTED
Pitching to a publisher is not off the table!
- Production plan –Think about the first comic you are most likely to make and decide what the finished product will be.
- Colour? Black and white?
- Make a list: the steps from beginning to end, writing, illustration, lettering, coloring etc., file output, delivery to printer.
- Note who you envision doing each step (you? A partner? Someone you’ll hire?) What elements you will need you don’t have.
- Will you need it for your first convention? If you can, set a date for having it in hand and work timing back from there. Have you checked with a printer on how long this takes?
- Illustration -Trying your hand at drawing? Resources to help find artists below.
- Artist, pencils, inks and colorist. Could be one person, could be three
- Software and programs you’ll likely end up needing. And why.
- Drawing programs e.g., Concepts and ProCreate, Photoshop for files, Illustrator for lettering
- Getting to print
- This is where so many projects that have been looking great so far fall down, simply because the person (you who wanted to make a comic, learned how to get t written and drawn) didn’t know a few things.
- Thinking through to the final format right from the beginning. What size page do I see? What kind of paper? Web only? Where is it getting printed?
- Output specs. What information do I need for big-job printers, what’s a “bleed,” etc.? If I’m doing a small run at a copy center or Staples, what do I need to tell the part-time staff so they don’t print to less-than-optimum standards?
BASICS OF WRITING AND SCRIPTING
http://channel101.wikia.com/wiki/Story_Structure_101:_Super_Basic_Shit
https://www.studiobinder.com/blog/downloads/story-circle-template/
Glossary of comic terms: http://www.balloontales.com/articles/glossary/index.html
Sample scripts from brand-name writers (also has a downloadable template):
http://www.comicsexperience.com/scripts/
Fred VanLente script templates: http://www.fredvanlente.com/comix.html
Strongly consider purchasing: Drawing Words and Writing Pictures by Jessica Abel and Matt Madden. Everything you’ll ever need to know is in here. Their website is also full of resources: http://dw-wp.com
Also: Stan Lee’s How to Write Comics
GETTING IT ILLUSTRATED
Local community orgs like Panel One (Alberta). “Drink and Draws.” Social media, Facebook
http://www.remindblog.com/2010/05/20/finding-comic-artists/
http://www.davescheidt.com/blog/2015/5/28/my-experience-with-the-finding-comic-colloborators
https://www.bleedingcool.com/2017/06/24/10-rules-for-hiring-indie-comics-artists/
Panel One (Albertan comic creator organization): http://panelone.ca
Facebook:
Connecting Comic Book Writers and Artists –https://www.facebook.com/groups/Connecting.Comic.Book.Writers.and.Artists/
Comic book writers, artists, animators, and film-makers. Worldwide — Comic book writers,artists,animators, and film makers. Worldwide.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/107148826036210/
Artist Alley Network Canada – https://www.facebook.com/groups/AANCanada/
LETTERING
Handy tips: http://www.balloontales.com/index.html
BlamBot Articles (lettering tips and much more): http://www.blambot.com
Jim Campbell’s lettering guide: http://clintflickerlettering.blogspot.com/
Consider buying (the best guide IMO): Comic Book Lettering the Comic Craft Way: by Richard Starkings
ONLINE COURSES: