I've been meaning to start a web comic for quite some time, but I'm facing a few struggles:
>1. Writing
While I have over 12 stories and literally hundreds of OC characters, none of them are complete story-wise. I have beginnings, events during the stories, and endings, but I'm not that good of a writer so I can't seem to connect events or add interesting "meat and potatoes" and I want to avoid uninteresting filler. When I do write, things are too visual as I feel the need to explain every little detail about everything, and I can't seem to make dialogue flow together.
>2. Planning
Because of #1, I decided to do comics (and because I love to draw), but in the past when I've tried, I couldn't seem to plan panels, layout, etc.
Are there any resources that will help with writing dialogue or just writing in general that anyone would recommend as well as a guide or something that may help me to understand comic planning (or whatever it's called)?
>>2535117
>writing
go to /lit/ not /ic/
>layout and visual storytelling
Scott Mccloud
Eisner
>>2535123
>/lit/
>writing
Please, that's like telling someone to go to /ic/ for art.
>>2535143
no, it's like going to /ic/ for writing.
What you want to do first is think about how much "worthwhile" content you can deliver periodically, say in a week. Let that be your guide to all else. You want to provide your following with reason to keep coming back,and a timely delivery of strips will help. Strike a harmony between the size of the Strips and the complexity of the style you draw in.
Next,onto creating the content. Since you have no time constraints on you at this point,you have the freedom to experiment with telling the story you want. I would do a bunch of strips as storyboards,rough fast work where you focus more on the layouts of panels and characters,and where you can safely stuff speech balloons to explain it all. If you have a detail or image needing exploring,don't get hung up on it here,but write a note to yourself where it should go and use sketchbooks to flesh out these points more.
(I'll continue later...gotta run to work)
>While I have over 12 stories and literally hundreds of OC characters
That is an extremely bad sign. Only 1% of people like this can actually write well. If you're really serious about it, try partnering up with a writer, or go for something much simpler.
post art pls
>>2535117
Damn, Nigga is that Tenchi?
That's nostalgic.
It sounds like you're more occupied with coming up with story set pieces instead of an actual plot. It's probably safe to assume that your multiple characters have little to no direction/purpose to them as well, so of course you'll have trouble writing dialogue, connecting events, and most importantly DEVELOPING your characters.
Planning panel layouts is the least of your problems, really
>>2535117
I hope you get some good responses, OP. I'm facing a similar problem too. I've learned fairly well how to compose pages and have plenty practice doing that but writing is definitely not a strong suit for me. I might have an opportunity to launch a small IP coming up if only I could get a solid story but I don't know where to start. I thought maybe I should look for a writer to partner up with but that never works out in reverse so I don't have a lot of faith in that idea.
>>2535123
>Scott Mccloud
>Eisner
Downloaded. Reading it now.
>>2535181
Thanks for the tips. I'll stay tuned for more.
>>2535185
>partnering up with a writer
I'd love to do that, but I don't know any well enough to trust.
>>2535218
This is an older sketch of mine. I can post something newer in a bit.
>>2535229
Yeah. It was the most influential show for me growing up. It gave me the desire to create my own stories, characters, and heavily influenced my early drawing style.
>>2535257
Not really. I have a folder with at least 75 analyses of my characters. I WANT to develop them as unique individuals rather than being copies of known, established characters...as hard as that is.
(Continuing...)
On Storytelling:
Its good you have a grasp of your characters and the world they inhabit. An interesting environment will keep your readers coming back for more of its lore. However,there is only so much you can communicate with a handful of panels at a time. You don't want to force a reader to slog through paragraphs of explanations to every act they witness. Boring to read and boring to write as well. Better to present a scene or situation with NO direct explanation, but hint at the Bigger Picture with both dialogue and imagry. It may confuse a reader at first,as if they were flipping through channels on their TV and came across your story,but if done right,will prompt them to sit through the scene and discover what they can of it,and possibly return. Comics are a primarily visual medium, so you may want some practice in setting up a scene. I have been putting down stuff in my sketchbooks of situations my characters will someday explore,but not connected to my present storyline in any way,as Vignettes . These are notes to myself,but with enough craft to be worthy to put up at the website as supplementary material. You may want to try a few to get the hang of blocking out panels and getting a feel for the characters acting and interacting. Its part of the learning process, so don't worry about how "good" it is. Every Line a Lesson,Every Breath a Parable.
(more eventually)
Basically
>General idea
>Character design and design in general
>Script and storyboards and pay attention to the text bubbles and placement of panels on the page
>Make corrections
>Start doing the lineart
>Flat color the elements
>Color it
You need to know about script writing (mckee) and drawing obviously.
Well, there is this thread, they might be able to help you. They also have a chatroom, I think.
>>>/co/83177798
>>2535117
>I can't seem to connect events
Easy. Trey Parker, co-creator of South Park: "If the words 'and then' belong between [your] beats you're fucked. What should happen between every beat that you've written down is either the word 'therefore' or 'but'"
this happens
>therefore
this happens
>but
this happens
>and therefore
this happens
Also, +1 for Scott McCloud and Eisner.
>>2535185
Spoken like a guy who has never written seriously.
After I'd been writing seriously for 1 month I had (starting from 0) 50 viable ideas that I could work on, adding more faster than I could write the short stories.
Ideas are good. Ideas are your friend. Shitloads of ideas is even better, because the so-so ones tend to sink while the great ones keep coming up again and again, albeit in slightly varying guises.
>>2535117
OP, if you have little to no idea regarding writing structure and need some basic pointers, I'd recommend looking up Brandon Sanderson's BYU lectures on youtube. Like his writing style or not (Personally I don't) he's still a decent writing teacher, and what you learn will be applicable to the story arc of anything with a story.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YMEygwYGxtg&index=2&list=PLRO9W1Nmh6clZP-IAhMeMpMru7vJaW7KJ
>>2537080
I've written some in the past (nothing professional or published, mind you) but, like I stated before, I tend to get too wordy and too visual, for example, I tend to stop the narrative and feel the need to explain every aspect of a new character that is introduced (height, hair color, distinguishing features, etc.)
I understand that this is pretty much a non-issue with comics, since it's a visual medium so traits don't need to be written...I guess I'm stressing over nothing. I just need to make dialogue flow better, but I'll wait until I finish these books to see if I even need help on the matter then.
Anywho, I really appreciate you guys' tips and resources. The thread's been a little slow, but I've already gained some new insight, and McCloud's books are legit helping me a ton so far.
I know this is not a place for hugboxing and circlejerking, but this has been a long time overdue for me and I thank all of you for posting tips, material, and advice.
Here have the OP character in a bunny suit I drew a while back as a token of my appreciation.
Here's what I do.
Know your characters. Know literally everything about your characters. Get to the point where someone could ask you any question about them and what they would think, say, and do in any situation that could possibly (and impossibly) present itself and knowing the character is such a second nature that the answer comes immediately.
Once you've got all the characters in your story down to that second nature, make a document and compile all the scenes you do have. Write them out as best you can - not final drafts, but completed. They should be in order, but the order doesn't have to be finalized or set in stone.
Now that you have that down, you start up your script. Take one scene you know leads directly to another scene. How do your characters get to there?
If you know your characters, it'll be immediately obvious. Your mastery of them will lead you (and them) through the segue.
As for layout, read comics that you think have good layout, and study the fuck out of them. Not just the splashy stuff that you notice, because a lot of the skill is about keeping you from thinking about the layout. If a comic has excellent writing and you never notice badly organized or confusing pages, it has good layout.
>>2537110
This sounds like a great idea. What do you do if you want to write about something you're not all that familiar with? I have a couple of stories involving some sci-fi type things and I'm not familiar enough to get as inventive with it as I'd like but I'm not even sure where to start if I wanted to research some of the things I probably need to know to flesh it out.
>>2537253
Research.
As a writer, I can't tell you how many times I've had to stop writing to read whitepapers on AI or look up population densities or obscure train infrastructure laws. Write what you know, so if you want to write something you don't, get to know it.
>>2537263
I suppose that wasn't very helpful of me.
In all honesty, start with wikipedia. Most subjects have at least a rudimentary article to jump off from, and if it's any good the sources well be a goldmine.
Also, if it's something you can, try doing some of whatever you want to learn yourself. A writer's visual library is their experiences, so make some, even if they're really basic. You'll often find that a lot of subjects aren't as complex or as simple as you first thought, and even that little bit of insight will show through to a competent reader.
>>2537253
You just gotta do the time, dude. If you're not familiar, get familiar.
I'm a big nonfiction reader, and I tend to save and ferret away everything I find interesting - helluva lot easier to do now that browsers let you save webpages. I keep a document on my computer that is just a collection of interesting existences and facts and whatever random shit pops into my head, for example, because that might one day become the basis of an idea for a story or a piece. Since I've cultivated that sort of mile-wide-inch-deep breadth, it's pretty easy for me to narrow down what exactly I need to start poking at, since I've got a fairly broad-- uh, I guess you could call it idea vocabulary? for nebulous concepts.
If it's not actually integral to the story, you can semi-fake it. You don't need to know rocket science to make a story that has a spaceship, unless the story is legitimately about the spaceship. My usual goal is to know enough to both seem legit to the layman on the subject, while not stepping into any stupid and/or highly incorrect assumptions that would piss off an expert on the subject.
That said, while YOU should have a firm-enough grasp and confidence on how everything in your story's universe works, because it'll shape your story much more cohesively, if you don't got no reason to explain shit in story, don't. That's just verbal chaff.
As for the visual element, much the same. Use the more familiar shorthand for objects unless there's a specific reason not to, but make sure whatever you're drawing hasn't been scientifically discredited years ago and will make your look like a dumbass to people in the know.
If you're really, really serious, I'd recommend The Anatomy of Story by John Truby and The Writer's Journey by Christopher Vogler. They are somewhat geared towards screenplay writing, but most of the information is universal.
>>2537263
>>2537272
>>2537297
Makes sense, especially the part about not explaining further than you have to. I've definitely noticed over-explaining things bogs down stories sometimes. I don't have a whole lot of time or patience for reading though but maybe there are some good science related podcasts I could listen to while drawing that'd help with this. I don't suppose you guys would have some recommendations?
