Hey guys, welcome back. Sorry about the weird timing this week. I'm changing my sleep schedule for a job so this week's post is a little later in the day than usual.
This week I'm going to discuss a topic that is going to upset a lot of folks and step on a ton of toes: Grit in Comics. I don't know how old a lot of you are, but I'm going to presume you guys remember mainstream comics in the 1990's. There were giant (and I mean giant) muscle-bound heroes with biceps the size of my torso, giant guns that only the Hulk could lift, feathered hair, and pouches everywhere. Wow... I just described ninety-nine percent of Rob Liefeld's male character designs. We were also subjected to massive increase in shocking violence, sex, and "extremes" in comics. Now I'm not saying all of these are bad. Some of the comics and characters that came out of that time are great. I'm still particularly fond of Erik Larsen's Savage Dragon, I like Cable and Bishop from X-Men, hell, Hellboy came out of the 90's, and that's my favorite series of all time! But for every excellent comic that came out we had twenty Youngbloods or WildC.A.T.s.
I find that nostalgia has been kinder to these comics than they ever deserved. And many comic writers look to these as though they were part of some Golden Age of comics. Ask Mark Millar, he's made a career out of "gritty" comics, which seems to involve turning every character into a jerk anti-hero who shoots every villain in the face.
We've also seen a recent resurgence in darker themes across all media thanks to Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight trilogy. Now, let me clarify, this absolutely, completely works for a character like Batman. Bats is the quintessential brooding, dark superhero. But not all comics heroes should have this treatment. Superman doesn't need a gritty re-telling, neither does Spider-man. These characters are and were essentially light-hearted characters who, at their core, have a more Gee-Whiz factor of fun with them.
Now, don't get me wrong, sometimes dark and gritty is exactly what a comic needs. Sin City and The Walking Dead are perfect examples of this. These tales by their nature are disturbing, dark, unsettling, and all that jazz. My series The Red Eye which is a serious sci-fi neo-noir comic was dark and gritty. But it fit the tone of the entire book and the themes. It's also not the only comic I've ever written. Igor: Occult Detective has some serious noir/detective elements in it too, but it's vastly more light-hearted than The Red Eye, because that's just the kind of book that it is. Things will get darker toward the end, but we plan on maintaining a sense of humor and fun right through to the last page.
I guess what I'm getting at is that not all comics need to be Kick-Ass or Wanted or Sin City. I feel like so many guys have gotten lost in their pursuit of grit that they've forgotten that comics should be fun too. More or less, I suppose this is a plea for some variety from your comics. Seeing a superhero punch his fist through a villain's head was shocking and crazy the first time, but now... well, now it's just getting old.
Finally, writers need to realize that sex, violence, and gore do not constitute story. Some guys are so focused on making their comics dark that they really forget that their story isn't very good. Focus on the story first, then decide what tone is appropriate. So many guy go in guns blazing say, "I'm gonna write the grittiest darkest comic ever," and just ignore the most important component of their story, the plot. Tone shouldn't dictate the story, story should dictate your tone.
Well, that's all for this week. See you next time!
Monday, March 18, 2013
Monday, March 11, 2013
Panel 14: Say What? Pt. 2
Hey guys,
Thanks for your patience last week. But I'm back in my full ego-crushing glory this week with a more in-depth post on dialogue. Dialogue is a tricky thing when it comes to all media. How often have you watched a film or read a comic and just groaned at the words coming out of the characters' mouths? I bet it's pretty frequent. Harrison Ford famously once said to George Lucas, "George, you can type this shit, but you sure as hell can't say it."
A frequent mistake we often make is looking to turn everything into a one-liner or make it overly theatrical. A lot of villains, in particular, tend to be written as overly dramatic, frequently "monologue-ing " as they famously called it in The Incredibles. And that works in certain cases. If you're going for the overtly pulpy vibe, it's great. But odds are you attempting to write something a little less tongue in cheek.
Heroes suffer from the same problems. We tend to think of everything they say as a clever one-liner like they're John McClane. (If you don't know who that is just... I don't even know. You make me sad inside.) But for every awesome quipping Han Solo, there's an Anakin Skywalker with his forced, awkward, groan-worth dialogue. Also, realize that not all characters are smart-asses. Some characters should be more serious, or dumb, or intelligent. Not every character should be sarcastic like Spider-man.
Mind you, I find myself making these mistakes too. It happens to all of us, no matter how long we've been writing. But write your dialogue to fit your characterizations. Is your character a socially awkward scientist that has trouble relating to common folk? Have them spout scientific lingo that confounds the other characters and then have them clarify. The key to naturalistic dialogue is to think of an actual person you know who kind of resembles the character. Then think of what that actual person would say. It can be difficult because we're frequently writing fantastic characters in fantastic situations but give it a try. It helps me immensely.
Most of my characters are loosely based on people I know. Elsa from Igor: Occult Detective is heavily based on my girlfriend, most of my villains are based on a high school English teacher I had who had a bit of a flair for the dramatic, others are based on friends, relatives, other comic creators, odds are, if I know you, I've probably based a character on you at one time or another. Or at the very least, thought of what you might say in a certain situation. Hell, Igor and Mr. Frank are different parts of my own personality. So even I'm subject to my own solution.
Well, hopefully, this helps you guys out. I'll see you next week!
Thanks for your patience last week. But I'm back in my full ego-crushing glory this week with a more in-depth post on dialogue. Dialogue is a tricky thing when it comes to all media. How often have you watched a film or read a comic and just groaned at the words coming out of the characters' mouths? I bet it's pretty frequent. Harrison Ford famously once said to George Lucas, "George, you can type this shit, but you sure as hell can't say it."
A frequent mistake we often make is looking to turn everything into a one-liner or make it overly theatrical. A lot of villains, in particular, tend to be written as overly dramatic, frequently "monologue-ing " as they famously called it in The Incredibles. And that works in certain cases. If you're going for the overtly pulpy vibe, it's great. But odds are you attempting to write something a little less tongue in cheek.
Heroes suffer from the same problems. We tend to think of everything they say as a clever one-liner like they're John McClane. (If you don't know who that is just... I don't even know. You make me sad inside.) But for every awesome quipping Han Solo, there's an Anakin Skywalker with his forced, awkward, groan-worth dialogue. Also, realize that not all characters are smart-asses. Some characters should be more serious, or dumb, or intelligent. Not every character should be sarcastic like Spider-man.
Mind you, I find myself making these mistakes too. It happens to all of us, no matter how long we've been writing. But write your dialogue to fit your characterizations. Is your character a socially awkward scientist that has trouble relating to common folk? Have them spout scientific lingo that confounds the other characters and then have them clarify. The key to naturalistic dialogue is to think of an actual person you know who kind of resembles the character. Then think of what that actual person would say. It can be difficult because we're frequently writing fantastic characters in fantastic situations but give it a try. It helps me immensely.
Most of my characters are loosely based on people I know. Elsa from Igor: Occult Detective is heavily based on my girlfriend, most of my villains are based on a high school English teacher I had who had a bit of a flair for the dramatic, others are based on friends, relatives, other comic creators, odds are, if I know you, I've probably based a character on you at one time or another. Or at the very least, thought of what you might say in a certain situation. Hell, Igor and Mr. Frank are different parts of my own personality. So even I'm subject to my own solution.
Well, hopefully, this helps you guys out. I'll see you next week!
Monday, March 4, 2013
Panel 13: Say What? Pt. 1
Hey guys,
This week is going to be really different because, honestly, I had a really messed up night/morning and didn't get much sleep. As a result I'm not in any shape to write a full on blog post today. However, I didn't want to leave you guys hanging completely so here's a little comic that H. Giles Crawford (Igor: Occult Detective, FUBAR, FAC: ABC, Atomic Robo: Last Stop) and I put together to hold you guys over until next week when I write a proper post on the topic of dialogue. Hope you guys enjoy our little comic and see you next week.
This week is going to be really different because, honestly, I had a really messed up night/morning and didn't get much sleep. As a result I'm not in any shape to write a full on blog post today. However, I didn't want to leave you guys hanging completely so here's a little comic that H. Giles Crawford (Igor: Occult Detective, FUBAR, FAC: ABC, Atomic Robo: Last Stop) and I put together to hold you guys over until next week when I write a proper post on the topic of dialogue. Hope you guys enjoy our little comic and see you next week.
Monday, February 25, 2013
Panel 12: Over-Directing
Hey guys! Welcome back to How NOT to Write Comics! This week I'm going to delve a little deep into something that I mentioned earlier on in Panel 8: R-E-S-P-E-C-T, and that's over-direction. I've already talked about trusting your artists (see the aforementioned post), but this is going to be a bit more specific as I'm going to talk about panel angles and perspective.
As writers, we tend to be control freaks, as I've mentioned before. And often that results in us over-directing the comic page. We tend to think, "Hey! The more information in the panel/page description the more awesome I look!" And, guess what? You're wrong. I know I step on a lot of toes and bruise a lot of egos with this blog but I'm just trying to be helpful here. Most of the time you can get away with simple panel descriptions that are just clear and concise. Establishing panels (panels where you're setting the scene) obviously tend to be more elaborate, but most of the time, you don't need to go nuts with panel descriptions. It's pretty rare that I write something beyond, "Hero uppercuts Villain, blood and spittle fly from the villain's mouth." BOOM! That was easy. Throw in a sound effect and a witty one-liner and you're done with that panel. You don't need to say, "Over the shoulder view of Villain as Hero uppercuts him in the jaw. Blood, spittle, teeth, and pieces of his gums fly forth from his open mouth as he falls backward."
Mind you, I'm not saying you should never put angles or perspective into your panel descriptions. Sometimes it can be important for plot or add a nice flourish to a panel. For example, in Igor: Occult Detective #1, we only show Mr. Frank from behind and in shadow for the first couple panels to make the reveal that he's Frankenstein's monster that much cooler. That was written into the script. Or in Issue #2, there's a panel where Mr. Frank shoots a severed zombie head on the floor with this pistol that it shown from ground level to achieve that Pulp Fiction/Reservoir Dogs bad-assery vibe. These make sense within the story and add something beyond stroking my own ego.
And for the love of god, please, please, please do not use obscure film terminology. I've run into that more than once while editing where I was like, "What does the hell does this even mean?!" Mind you, I'm a film buff, hell, I've even been in a couple films. If the artist has to research an angle term just to figure out what you're trying to convey, you're doing it wrong. You're not going to impress anyone, you're just going to make them annoyed and/or angry. Another point to be wary of is if you're describing a particular view, remember the limitations of that perspective. Don't go off describing a character's facial expressions if we're only seeing the back of their head or if you're describing a top-down angle (unless they're looking up at the sky/ceiling.) Use their body language to express whatever emotions you need to convey if you're going this route.
On a side note, it's also important to remember the reverse, make sure you give the artist everything he or she needs. A few years ago I story boarded a film script. When establishing the scene the writer did not include three of the characters in the scene. For three pages there was dialogue and action between two characters in a pickup truck. Until on page four, there was suddenly mentions of three other people who were in the bed of the truck! I ended up having to redraw quite a few boards to reflect this fact and I wanted to strangle the writer. It's also important to establish background elements that will play into your story later on. If a character is going to grab a sword off the wall to fight later in the story, make sure you establish the fact that the sword is on the wall in the first place.
Another place we tend to over-direct is during dialogue scenes. I know nobody wants pages upon pages of talking heads, but guess what? That "nobody" includes artists. Trust me, they don't want to draw six pages of just faces, so they'll find ways to keep the panel composition interesting. Hell, there's even a really great resource out there for when we fail as writers and stick them with multiple panels of dialogue called, "Wally Wood's 22 Panels That Always Work." Which you can see below.
So really, you don't need to go gonzo on these panels. Worry about your characters' expressions, motivations, and things you may want them to be conveying even without doing so intentionally, leave the layouts to the artist. I promise, you'll both be happier.
Well, that's about it for today. I'll see you next time.
As writers, we tend to be control freaks, as I've mentioned before. And often that results in us over-directing the comic page. We tend to think, "Hey! The more information in the panel/page description the more awesome I look!" And, guess what? You're wrong. I know I step on a lot of toes and bruise a lot of egos with this blog but I'm just trying to be helpful here. Most of the time you can get away with simple panel descriptions that are just clear and concise. Establishing panels (panels where you're setting the scene) obviously tend to be more elaborate, but most of the time, you don't need to go nuts with panel descriptions. It's pretty rare that I write something beyond, "Hero uppercuts Villain, blood and spittle fly from the villain's mouth." BOOM! That was easy. Throw in a sound effect and a witty one-liner and you're done with that panel. You don't need to say, "Over the shoulder view of Villain as Hero uppercuts him in the jaw. Blood, spittle, teeth, and pieces of his gums fly forth from his open mouth as he falls backward."
Mind you, I'm not saying you should never put angles or perspective into your panel descriptions. Sometimes it can be important for plot or add a nice flourish to a panel. For example, in Igor: Occult Detective #1, we only show Mr. Frank from behind and in shadow for the first couple panels to make the reveal that he's Frankenstein's monster that much cooler. That was written into the script. Or in Issue #2, there's a panel where Mr. Frank shoots a severed zombie head on the floor with this pistol that it shown from ground level to achieve that Pulp Fiction/Reservoir Dogs bad-assery vibe. These make sense within the story and add something beyond stroking my own ego.
And for the love of god, please, please, please do not use obscure film terminology. I've run into that more than once while editing where I was like, "What does the hell does this even mean?!" Mind you, I'm a film buff, hell, I've even been in a couple films. If the artist has to research an angle term just to figure out what you're trying to convey, you're doing it wrong. You're not going to impress anyone, you're just going to make them annoyed and/or angry. Another point to be wary of is if you're describing a particular view, remember the limitations of that perspective. Don't go off describing a character's facial expressions if we're only seeing the back of their head or if you're describing a top-down angle (unless they're looking up at the sky/ceiling.) Use their body language to express whatever emotions you need to convey if you're going this route.
On a side note, it's also important to remember the reverse, make sure you give the artist everything he or she needs. A few years ago I story boarded a film script. When establishing the scene the writer did not include three of the characters in the scene. For three pages there was dialogue and action between two characters in a pickup truck. Until on page four, there was suddenly mentions of three other people who were in the bed of the truck! I ended up having to redraw quite a few boards to reflect this fact and I wanted to strangle the writer. It's also important to establish background elements that will play into your story later on. If a character is going to grab a sword off the wall to fight later in the story, make sure you establish the fact that the sword is on the wall in the first place.
Another place we tend to over-direct is during dialogue scenes. I know nobody wants pages upon pages of talking heads, but guess what? That "nobody" includes artists. Trust me, they don't want to draw six pages of just faces, so they'll find ways to keep the panel composition interesting. Hell, there's even a really great resource out there for when we fail as writers and stick them with multiple panels of dialogue called, "Wally Wood's 22 Panels That Always Work." Which you can see below.
Well, that's about it for today. I'll see you next time.
Monday, February 18, 2013
Panel 11: Point A to Point B
Hello hello guys! A frequent question I get is about my process as a writer. So I figured I'd tackle that this week. I'm not terribly sure how long this is going to be so it may end up being super long or super super short. Well, here we go.
INCEPTION
The first step is obviously coming up with an initial idea. This can some from so many places whether it stems from the main character, the type of story you want to tell, a really cool ending you came up with, or something more specific like a nearly formed story. This isn't really something I can help you with. This is the "creative" part that you really need to come up with on your own.
CHARACTERS/WORLD-BUILDING
Now comes to time to develop your characters and the world they'll exist in. Characters are obviously important because they are the heart of your story. If readers don't care about your characters they're not going to care about your story. And do not assume people are going to like them purely because they're the protagonist. Give your characters a background, likes and dislikes, personality traits, and adhere to them. Seriously. Nothing ruins a character more than inconsistent characterization. For a more in-depth post on this read: Panel 4: So Says The Bible...
Here you'll also want to establish or create your geographical world. You also want to make sure you create rules for your world. What kind of science does or doesn't exist. What about magic? Who inhabits this world? I'm also a big fan of creating a faux history especially if it's a made up universe. I also like to make maps as a visual reference and give me a rough idea of travel time between locations if necessary.
PLOTTING
The next step for me is plotting out the tale. Essentially, I come up with the series of events that will tell the story I want to tell. This is where you need to start thinking about your story arc and your pacing. For a more in-depth post about this part check out Panel 7: The Long and the Short of It. This also where I tend to create issue/chapter breaks for my stories.
SCRIPTING
Well, the title more or less explains this one. Essentially this is where I script my story. Take all that information that you prepped and get writing!
EDITING
Next comes a pretty important part. I re-read my script at least three times to see what can be/should be cut, what does and doesn't work, what's interesting and what's not. If it it's solid, I send it off to my script editor who then gives me her input and double checks it for typos and grammar.
I guess that more or less covers it. Sorry that this one was so short, I'll try to make it up to you guys next week. Hope this information helped and I'll see you next week!
INCEPTION
The first step is obviously coming up with an initial idea. This can some from so many places whether it stems from the main character, the type of story you want to tell, a really cool ending you came up with, or something more specific like a nearly formed story. This isn't really something I can help you with. This is the "creative" part that you really need to come up with on your own.
CHARACTERS/WORLD-BUILDING
Now comes to time to develop your characters and the world they'll exist in. Characters are obviously important because they are the heart of your story. If readers don't care about your characters they're not going to care about your story. And do not assume people are going to like them purely because they're the protagonist. Give your characters a background, likes and dislikes, personality traits, and adhere to them. Seriously. Nothing ruins a character more than inconsistent characterization. For a more in-depth post on this read: Panel 4: So Says The Bible...
Here you'll also want to establish or create your geographical world. You also want to make sure you create rules for your world. What kind of science does or doesn't exist. What about magic? Who inhabits this world? I'm also a big fan of creating a faux history especially if it's a made up universe. I also like to make maps as a visual reference and give me a rough idea of travel time between locations if necessary.
PLOTTING
The next step for me is plotting out the tale. Essentially, I come up with the series of events that will tell the story I want to tell. This is where you need to start thinking about your story arc and your pacing. For a more in-depth post about this part check out Panel 7: The Long and the Short of It. This also where I tend to create issue/chapter breaks for my stories.
SCRIPTING
Well, the title more or less explains this one. Essentially this is where I script my story. Take all that information that you prepped and get writing!
EDITING
Next comes a pretty important part. I re-read my script at least three times to see what can be/should be cut, what does and doesn't work, what's interesting and what's not. If it it's solid, I send it off to my script editor who then gives me her input and double checks it for typos and grammar.
I guess that more or less covers it. Sorry that this one was so short, I'll try to make it up to you guys next week. Hope this information helped and I'll see you next week!
Monday, February 11, 2013
Panel 10: Science, History, and more!
Hey guys, we're back once again! This week I want to address something that I think is really important for both writers and artists... research. I can hear the indignant cries already, "But I'm not in high school/college anymore!" "I don't want to do research!" "That's why I'm writing fiction!" Sorry guys but to add authenticity to your comics, you've gotta do some research. There are so many ways that not researching your comic can jack up your story, from (unintentional) anachronisms, to poor use of slang, to just straight up inaccurate information.
Here are a few examples of where research became invaluable to me. While writing/drawing The Red Eye #1 the opening scene is set during World War II. I spent about a month just researching uniforms, weapons, and jargon that would be accurate. Once I reboot it, I also plan on consulting with an actual scientist to help with the science in my science fiction. For Igor: Occult Detective, research into folklore, mythology, witchcraft, occultism, Egyptology, 1920's/1930's fashion, architecture, history, and linguistics have all been crucial in creating the world the characters exist in. For all three FUBAR stories that I've written, immense amounts of research have been necessary because they take place during historical events. "Severed," in particular, took the most work because I spent a lot of time looking up British slang from the 1940s to keep the narration and dialogue authentic. Hell, last week I read a 140 page military report on artificial intelligence ethics for another comic I'm developing.
A good starting place is Wikipedia. It'll give you some basic information on what you need to know, but since it's Wikipedia (and anyone can edit it) it's not the most reliable source. I often look to their references and explore further there. Google, is, of course, a great resource, but again, you need to consider the source. Probably your most reliable source is going to be your local library or local book store. I suggest the library because, hey, it's free and they often will order in or transfer books to your branch if you request them! If you have science questions, I highly recommend the Modern Prometheus Tumblr: http://modernprometheusscience.tumblr.com/ which is run by my friend Michael Bruce Schubert, who I also use as my personal science consultant! You can also consult other individuals in your life. I constantly confer with my girlfriend (a make-up artist/hair stylist) when it comes to designs for female characters and their wardrobe... which has been particularly useful in designing Elsa (Mr. Frank's girlfriend) in Igor: Occult Detective. I'm also fortunate to have friends who are medical doctors, pharmacists, and neuro-scientists! Tons of information is often just a phone call, email, or text message away!
Well, that's actually all I've got for you guys. This one was surprisingly short. I know this isn't the most fun topic, but I'm here trying to be honest with you guys and guess what? Writing comics is work. It's not all superheros punching things. Have a good week and I'll see ya' next time!
Here are a few examples of where research became invaluable to me. While writing/drawing The Red Eye #1 the opening scene is set during World War II. I spent about a month just researching uniforms, weapons, and jargon that would be accurate. Once I reboot it, I also plan on consulting with an actual scientist to help with the science in my science fiction. For Igor: Occult Detective, research into folklore, mythology, witchcraft, occultism, Egyptology, 1920's/1930's fashion, architecture, history, and linguistics have all been crucial in creating the world the characters exist in. For all three FUBAR stories that I've written, immense amounts of research have been necessary because they take place during historical events. "Severed," in particular, took the most work because I spent a lot of time looking up British slang from the 1940s to keep the narration and dialogue authentic. Hell, last week I read a 140 page military report on artificial intelligence ethics for another comic I'm developing.
A good starting place is Wikipedia. It'll give you some basic information on what you need to know, but since it's Wikipedia (and anyone can edit it) it's not the most reliable source. I often look to their references and explore further there. Google, is, of course, a great resource, but again, you need to consider the source. Probably your most reliable source is going to be your local library or local book store. I suggest the library because, hey, it's free and they often will order in or transfer books to your branch if you request them! If you have science questions, I highly recommend the Modern Prometheus Tumblr: http://modernprometheusscience.tumblr.com/ which is run by my friend Michael Bruce Schubert, who I also use as my personal science consultant! You can also consult other individuals in your life. I constantly confer with my girlfriend (a make-up artist/hair stylist) when it comes to designs for female characters and their wardrobe... which has been particularly useful in designing Elsa (Mr. Frank's girlfriend) in Igor: Occult Detective. I'm also fortunate to have friends who are medical doctors, pharmacists, and neuro-scientists! Tons of information is often just a phone call, email, or text message away!
Well, that's actually all I've got for you guys. This one was surprisingly short. I know this isn't the most fun topic, but I'm here trying to be honest with you guys and guess what? Writing comics is work. It's not all superheros punching things. Have a good week and I'll see ya' next time!
Monday, February 4, 2013
Panel 9: Reaching Out
Hey guys! Welcome back to How NOT to Write Comics! This week we're not so much going to talk about actual writing but something else that you will inevitably have to deal with anyway... approaching an artist. I've seen some laughably bad proposals from mass messages to multiple artists to what more or less ends up being a demand to draw a book. And, no, that last one was not a joke.
Let me start off by saying this. Do your research on artists. Look for someone who fits your story... if you're telling a gritty crime noir tale you probably don't want someone with an overtly cartoony style and visa versa. If you're looking for good places to find artists, there are a variety of options... comic book message boards, Deviant Art (though it can be notoriously hard to navigate when looking for specific styles or people not doing just pin-ups), but my favorite and the one that has definitely worked best for me is comic conventions. It's a wonderful way to meet new artists... just take a trip down artist alley and you'll definitely find an artist, if not a great number of them, that you'll want to work with.
Now you've got to actually approach them. I do not recommend doing this at a con. Folks at a con have more than enough on their minds without having to worry about proposals from someone they've never met/never heard of. I know that sounds pretentious, but seriously, cons are insane for those of us behind the table and we may not even remember who you are if you do it this way. If you find an artist you dig at the con, I recommend getting their business card or buying one of their books so you can track them down later online. I recommend emailing them directly if it all possible, you can also get in touch via Facebook, but I find that way less reliable.
Now here's the fun part, you have to write to each artist your approaching individually... let me be perfectly, utterly, clear here... in the most polite, professional manner possible. I cannot stress this enough. I've seen so many poor emails that range from way too casual to down right rude. Here's a simple little letter should give you a rough idea of what you should be saying.
Dear xxx (You can use first names here. Most of us in the comics industry aren't that formal.)
My name is xxx (Use your full name here... they may decide to Google you to see if you've published something before or just to see if you're a creep. Don't be a creep.) I'm a comics writer seeking an artist for my book, xxx (your title here). It is a (put genre(s) here) comic and I think you'd be a wonderful fit for the series. I was curious to see if you'd be interested in working on this with me. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerest Regards,
(Your name again)
Okay, mind you, that's a super basic letter that you will want to tweak accordingly. Things you may want to mention include how you became aware of the artist, if you've read any of their work, things of that nature. You really want to make this as personal and professional as possible. You really don't want to make the artist feel like they're one of a hundred people you emailed.
Now, here's something that may surprise you (though it shouldn't... I say that a lot, don't I?) Most artists do not work for free or back-end deals (profit splitting) especially since you're probably a newbie and odds are, you aren't going to sell that many books. And don't you dare utter/type the words, "It'll be great for your portfolio!" Those are words that get writers killed by artists' psychic rage powers.
Page rates range widely depending on the artist, their skill, reputation, time in the business, etc. so have a rough idea of what you're getting yourself into. Most of us don't have $1000 up front to drop on an artist (unless you have a damn good job), but that's why things like Kickstarter and Indie Go Go exist. These are excellent tools to help you raise money not only to pay artists but also to cover printing costs.
Also, please, please, please have script samples available for the artist. Nobody is going to sign on with you if they can't read your writing before hand. I've heard horror stories about great pitches with terrible scripts. It happens way too often. So have a script ready!
Okay, so I lied earlier... this is the hardest part... you may get rejected. This could be for a great many reasons. The artist may be busy, your comic may not be their cup of tea, or, believe it or not, your script may just not be up to the same standard the artist is used to working on... aka your script isn't very good. This sucks, I know. I've been in this seat more than once, believe me. The key is to not take it personally... even if it's for that last reason. It's not that the artist things you're a bad person they just can't draw your comic. Accept it graciously and move on. Seriously. Turning into a self-righteous, whining jerk is not going to help your case and is going to hurt your reputation professionally.
Well, that's about all I have to say. Hope this helps you folks out and keeps you from embarrassing yourselves when it comes time to approach a writer. Have a nice week and we'll see you next time!
Let me start off by saying this. Do your research on artists. Look for someone who fits your story... if you're telling a gritty crime noir tale you probably don't want someone with an overtly cartoony style and visa versa. If you're looking for good places to find artists, there are a variety of options... comic book message boards, Deviant Art (though it can be notoriously hard to navigate when looking for specific styles or people not doing just pin-ups), but my favorite and the one that has definitely worked best for me is comic conventions. It's a wonderful way to meet new artists... just take a trip down artist alley and you'll definitely find an artist, if not a great number of them, that you'll want to work with.
Now you've got to actually approach them. I do not recommend doing this at a con. Folks at a con have more than enough on their minds without having to worry about proposals from someone they've never met/never heard of. I know that sounds pretentious, but seriously, cons are insane for those of us behind the table and we may not even remember who you are if you do it this way. If you find an artist you dig at the con, I recommend getting their business card or buying one of their books so you can track them down later online. I recommend emailing them directly if it all possible, you can also get in touch via Facebook, but I find that way less reliable.
Now here's the fun part, you have to write to each artist your approaching individually... let me be perfectly, utterly, clear here... in the most polite, professional manner possible. I cannot stress this enough. I've seen so many poor emails that range from way too casual to down right rude. Here's a simple little letter should give you a rough idea of what you should be saying.
Dear xxx (You can use first names here. Most of us in the comics industry aren't that formal.)
My name is xxx (Use your full name here... they may decide to Google you to see if you've published something before or just to see if you're a creep. Don't be a creep.) I'm a comics writer seeking an artist for my book, xxx (your title here). It is a (put genre(s) here) comic and I think you'd be a wonderful fit for the series. I was curious to see if you'd be interested in working on this with me. Thank you for your time and consideration.
Sincerest Regards,
(Your name again)
Okay, mind you, that's a super basic letter that you will want to tweak accordingly. Things you may want to mention include how you became aware of the artist, if you've read any of their work, things of that nature. You really want to make this as personal and professional as possible. You really don't want to make the artist feel like they're one of a hundred people you emailed.
Now, here's something that may surprise you (though it shouldn't... I say that a lot, don't I?) Most artists do not work for free or back-end deals (profit splitting) especially since you're probably a newbie and odds are, you aren't going to sell that many books. And don't you dare utter/type the words, "It'll be great for your portfolio!" Those are words that get writers killed by artists' psychic rage powers.
Page rates range widely depending on the artist, their skill, reputation, time in the business, etc. so have a rough idea of what you're getting yourself into. Most of us don't have $1000 up front to drop on an artist (unless you have a damn good job), but that's why things like Kickstarter and Indie Go Go exist. These are excellent tools to help you raise money not only to pay artists but also to cover printing costs.
Also, please, please, please have script samples available for the artist. Nobody is going to sign on with you if they can't read your writing before hand. I've heard horror stories about great pitches with terrible scripts. It happens way too often. So have a script ready!
Okay, so I lied earlier... this is the hardest part... you may get rejected. This could be for a great many reasons. The artist may be busy, your comic may not be their cup of tea, or, believe it or not, your script may just not be up to the same standard the artist is used to working on... aka your script isn't very good. This sucks, I know. I've been in this seat more than once, believe me. The key is to not take it personally... even if it's for that last reason. It's not that the artist things you're a bad person they just can't draw your comic. Accept it graciously and move on. Seriously. Turning into a self-righteous, whining jerk is not going to help your case and is going to hurt your reputation professionally.
Well, that's about all I have to say. Hope this helps you folks out and keeps you from embarrassing yourselves when it comes time to approach a writer. Have a nice week and we'll see you next time!
Tuesday, January 29, 2013
Panel 8: R-E-S-P-E-C-T
Hey guys! Due to some technical difficulties I couldn't get a blog post up yesterday, so here I am with my cup of coffee and cigarette punching one up for you now. If it seems a little disjointed or not up to my usual standard, I apologize. I'm still a little foggy at this hour. This week I want to discuss panel descriptions and the relationship with your artist which... this may surprise you... tie in pretty intensely.
I'm going to be a little frank here, some of us comic writers, well, we're jerks. Not all, but quite more than makes me comfortable. I realize that we often are the originators of stories, but we often forget that the artists are the people who bring bring life to and enhance them. I've been fortunate enough that every artist I've worked with, makes me look like a better writer than I am. Seriously. So many writers have the egos the size of Russia and forget, hey, it takes two of us (or more) to makes comics. And I'm writing because... dun dun dun... I can't draw them. Well, I can, but they wouldn't be very good. Trust me, I know, I used to draw comics too.
So honestly, it's important to trust your artists and have an open dialogue with them when it comes to panel composition, pacing, and, well, the entire process. Giles and I discuss character designs, location designs, panel and page composition, pacing, characterization, and pretty much every aspect of Igor. He and I know so many tiny bits of information about the series that will probably never even see the light of day. But this kind of dialogue is essential, particularly on a mini-series or long-running title.
Here are a couple examples of script versus pencils where Giles had an idea, discussed it with me, and ran with it. This is from Igor: Occult Detective #1 and reflects a pacing choice Giles made that seriously improves the issue.
PAGE 16 (5 Panels)
Panel 1: One of the tentacles knocks Mr. Frank back.
Panel 2: Close shot of Igor. He yells to Mr. Frank.
IGOR:
Mr. Frank, keep him distracted! I need to send it back!
Panel 3: Igor starts rifling through the books on the ground.
Panel 4: Mr. Frank clenches his teeth.
MR. FRANK:
Godamnit.
Panel 5: Mr. Frank stretches out and levitates into the air and electrical energy surges out of his body, striking the monster.
SFX: Kraka-THOOM!
MONSTER:
SKRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!
Giles decided that the electrical energy attack should be a full splash page because, frankly, it's a pretty bad-ass cool moment and deserved that kind of focus. So he took what was one page of script and made it into two comic pages. Obviously, we had to find a moment to trim back on and Giles easily found a moment to do that with. See the following.
PAGE 20 (6 Panels)
Panel 1: Shot of Igor and Mr. Frank’s townhouse. Lightning is crashing in the sky again. It is raining heavily. There is a silhouette on the roof.
CAPTION:
November 14, 1923 – Greenwich Village, NY
Panel 2: Igor is on the roof with Mr. Frank who is strapped to some sort of table, he is not wearing a shirt. There is a lightning rod near the table.
Panel 3: Igor attaches cables to the bolts on Mr. Frank’s neck.
Panel 4: Show that the cables connect to the lightning rod.
Panel 5: Lightning cracks in the sky.
Panel 6: Igor looks up at the sky.
IGOR:
I hate this crap.
PAGE 21 (1 Panels)
Panel 1: Splash page. Lightning strikes the rod and electricity flows through Mr. Frank’s body. He arches beneath the straps. Igor is in the foreground covering his eyes with his forearm.
How he crammed all of the necessary information into one page, utterly eludes me here, but he totally nails it. And Igor #1 is better for it! And it's not that we're incapable as writers, but sometimes artists just have ideas that are better. A lot of Giles' pages are exactly what I've written, down to panel size, angles, and everything but he always has that freedom to come to me and say, "Hey, can I tweak this? I think it'll improve the story for this reason." And you know often I've told him no? Never.
The other important bit I need to discuss is trusting your artist when it comes to panel composition. As writers we tend to think that we need to describe every last solitary detail of a panel. This could not be any less true. Give the artist what he or she needs to work with and that's it. As writers we tend to be control freaks... I know I am. But we have to kick those inclinations to the curb if we want to have a good relationship with our artists. I'm not saying we need to give bare-bones panel descriptions but don't go overboard. Here's an establishing panel from an Igor short. It has the essential bits and couple little things that I really wanted in there but I give the artist enough freedom to do what we he wants with it.
Panel 1: Large establishing interior panel of Grimm’s home. There ought to be piles of books, though they should be organized not just strewn about. On the walls there should be ghoulish paintings perhaps some references to Pickman’s paintings. The whole place ought to have the look of a well-kept library or study. There should be some furniture like plush couches or perhaps an arm chair. The guy does live there, but it should be very clear that he spends most of his time reading. Elsa stands near the doorway, still clutching her copy of the Pnakotic Manuscripts, as Grimm walks into an adjacent room.
Well, that pretty much covers this round, guys! See you next week!
I'm going to be a little frank here, some of us comic writers, well, we're jerks. Not all, but quite more than makes me comfortable. I realize that we often are the originators of stories, but we often forget that the artists are the people who bring bring life to and enhance them. I've been fortunate enough that every artist I've worked with, makes me look like a better writer than I am. Seriously. So many writers have the egos the size of Russia and forget, hey, it takes two of us (or more) to makes comics. And I'm writing because... dun dun dun... I can't draw them. Well, I can, but they wouldn't be very good. Trust me, I know, I used to draw comics too.
So honestly, it's important to trust your artists and have an open dialogue with them when it comes to panel composition, pacing, and, well, the entire process. Giles and I discuss character designs, location designs, panel and page composition, pacing, characterization, and pretty much every aspect of Igor. He and I know so many tiny bits of information about the series that will probably never even see the light of day. But this kind of dialogue is essential, particularly on a mini-series or long-running title.
Here are a couple examples of script versus pencils where Giles had an idea, discussed it with me, and ran with it. This is from Igor: Occult Detective #1 and reflects a pacing choice Giles made that seriously improves the issue.
PAGE 16 (5 Panels)
Panel 1: One of the tentacles knocks Mr. Frank back.
Panel 2: Close shot of Igor. He yells to Mr. Frank.
IGOR:
Mr. Frank, keep him distracted! I need to send it back!
Panel 3: Igor starts rifling through the books on the ground.
Panel 4: Mr. Frank clenches his teeth.
MR. FRANK:
Godamnit.
Panel 5: Mr. Frank stretches out and levitates into the air and electrical energy surges out of his body, striking the monster.
SFX: Kraka-THOOM!
MONSTER:
SKRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!
Giles decided that the electrical energy attack should be a full splash page because, frankly, it's a pretty bad-ass cool moment and deserved that kind of focus. So he took what was one page of script and made it into two comic pages. Obviously, we had to find a moment to trim back on and Giles easily found a moment to do that with. See the following.
PAGE 20 (6 Panels)
Panel 1: Shot of Igor and Mr. Frank’s townhouse. Lightning is crashing in the sky again. It is raining heavily. There is a silhouette on the roof.
CAPTION:
November 14, 1923 – Greenwich Village, NY
Panel 2: Igor is on the roof with Mr. Frank who is strapped to some sort of table, he is not wearing a shirt. There is a lightning rod near the table.
Panel 3: Igor attaches cables to the bolts on Mr. Frank’s neck.
Panel 4: Show that the cables connect to the lightning rod.
Panel 5: Lightning cracks in the sky.
Panel 6: Igor looks up at the sky.
IGOR:
I hate this crap.
PAGE 21 (1 Panels)
Panel 1: Splash page. Lightning strikes the rod and electricity flows through Mr. Frank’s body. He arches beneath the straps. Igor is in the foreground covering his eyes with his forearm.
How he crammed all of the necessary information into one page, utterly eludes me here, but he totally nails it. And Igor #1 is better for it! And it's not that we're incapable as writers, but sometimes artists just have ideas that are better. A lot of Giles' pages are exactly what I've written, down to panel size, angles, and everything but he always has that freedom to come to me and say, "Hey, can I tweak this? I think it'll improve the story for this reason." And you know often I've told him no? Never.
The other important bit I need to discuss is trusting your artist when it comes to panel composition. As writers we tend to think that we need to describe every last solitary detail of a panel. This could not be any less true. Give the artist what he or she needs to work with and that's it. As writers we tend to be control freaks... I know I am. But we have to kick those inclinations to the curb if we want to have a good relationship with our artists. I'm not saying we need to give bare-bones panel descriptions but don't go overboard. Here's an establishing panel from an Igor short. It has the essential bits and couple little things that I really wanted in there but I give the artist enough freedom to do what we he wants with it.
Panel 1: Large establishing interior panel of Grimm’s home. There ought to be piles of books, though they should be organized not just strewn about. On the walls there should be ghoulish paintings perhaps some references to Pickman’s paintings. The whole place ought to have the look of a well-kept library or study. There should be some furniture like plush couches or perhaps an arm chair. The guy does live there, but it should be very clear that he spends most of his time reading. Elsa stands near the doorway, still clutching her copy of the Pnakotic Manuscripts, as Grimm walks into an adjacent room.
Well, that pretty much covers this round, guys! See you next week!
Monday, January 21, 2013
Panel 7: The Long and Short of It
Hey, hey, welcome back! Today I'm going to discuss something a little less cut and dry than usual... Pacing. Because of that you guys are getting a particularly long post, so bear with me.
I've read a lot of comics that are just all over the place, or boring,
or everything is crammed into one issue or too few pages and these are
all pacing issues. Anyway... let's slow down a moment and really hash
this out.
The Basics
What is pacing you ask? Well, essentially, pacing is the rate and speed at which events occur in a story. And while some pacing does come down to preference, bad pacing can truly wreck an otherwise good comic. So here's a basic break down. Your story should have a set-up, a conflict, what I call the struggle, and then a resolution.
The set-up essentially sets the stage, introduces your characters, the setting, the world they exist in, all that jazz. This can be really boring sometimes because you're essentially throwing a lot of essential information at the reader with very little happening. However, it's also important to not gloss over this information because it's what helps develop your characters and really we're not going to care about a story if we don't have some sort of attachment to the characters or the world. Depending on the kind of story you're doing there are a few ways of doing this well.
If you're doing a short (something less than a single issue) I'm a big fan of the pulpy splash page with captions to catch the reader up. Essentially, have a one page panel that's right in the middle of the action with some short captions to explain how we got there. This was really common in a lot of war comics back in the 40's - 70's, and it still works great today! I employed this with great success on my first FUBAR story "Severed," and it's still one of my favorite pages I've written to this day.
If you're doing a one-shot story, it can be a bit trickier because you're limited to 22 - 24 pages and you've got a lot to tell in such a short time span. So, opposed to just throwing dialogue, captions, and what-have-you at the reader, I recommend having them in the middle of a situation that explains them. Are they a street level superhero? Have them stopping a mugger, showing off their powers or abilities. Are they an occult detective? Start the story with them finishing their previous case. Are they an intergalactic warrior? Show them winning (or losing) a cosmic battle! (This totally ties into the bit in my last post about showing over telling.)
Finally, if you're writing a mini-series or long-run series you have a lot more freedom to spell out your universe, usually across the first issue or two (depending on your proposed length.) But again, I recommend doing this via actual actions as opposed to dialogue and captions. Essentially, it's an expanded version of the solution in the previous paragraph.
Okay, on to the conflict. This is pretty self-explanatory. The conflict will present whatever problem the character or characters have to overcome. This is generally pretty easy to keep interesting because it's what piques our interest about the story. So if you're struggling with making this gripping, you probably need to come up with a better conflict. I know that's kind of mean, but people aren't going to buy in to a story with a boring conflict.
The struggle is essentially where the protagonist figures out how to overcome whatever they're facing. Whether it's through research, training, or past knowledge, this is the bit where the reader should be going, "Oh crap! How are they going to figure this out?" This one is kind of a grey area because there are so many ways this can be handled and it totally depends on your story. With Igor: Occult Detective I tend to lean toward research, past knowledge, or quick thinking due to the nature of the comic. Research is the toughest to make interesting because, generally, it boils down to someone reading. Heh. The best way to do this is to have time-lapses, keep the panels small, and generally emphasize the conclusion. Example:
PAGE 15 (4 Panels)
Panel 1: Igor is pouring over a tome, sitting at the desk in his study. He is smoking a cigarette. There ought to be a couple books, an empty ashtray, and a cup of steaming coffee on the table.
Panel 2: Igor is still at the desk, but reading a different book (different color cover/binding is a great way to distinguish this fact) there are a few books piled up next to him. The ashtray has a couple cigarette butts in it and his coffee is no longer steaming.
CAPTION:
An hour later...
Panel 3: Igor still at the desk but reading yet another book, his cigarette has burned down nearly to the filter. The ashtray is now over-flowing with cigarette butts and the table is littered with coffee mugs. There ought to be a tall pile of books beside him, implying that he has already read them all.
CAPTION:
Four hours later...
Panel 4: Close panel - Igor points to a specific page in the book with a spell on it.
IGOR:
I've got it!
Now that's not actually from an Igor story but I've written at least one page pretty damn similar to that before. Really, no one wants to read four pages of someone else reading. It's key to keep these pages concise, so that you don't bore the reader while still conveying that the protagonist did a lot of work to find a solution.
The conclusion, again is pretty easy to keep interesting because it's the show down, the big fight, the resolution to your story. It's the hero overcoming the villain. Whatever. This is good stuff! You can also use this part of the story to reveal the struggle via flashback which if you've ever read any of the Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes stories he really loved to do this. Holmes would solve a case, then explain how he did it. You see this sometimes in espionage/spy/crime-thriller type films sometimes too.
EDIT: Here's a really interesting article about plot without conflict that is definitely worth checking out from still eating oranges.
Since I've covered pacing of your overall story, I'm going to discuss smaller-scale pacing and how it can help your stories as well.
Event/Scene Pacing
Events within your story should have pacing all of their own. Usually this starts with an establishing panel, to tell the reader where they are, what time of day it is, that sort of thing. After you've done this, you can really get to the meat of the scene. Once you've gotten through the main point of your scene, it's good to segue into the next one with either a sort of final line of dialogue or final action to signify that this part of the story is over.
Pacing for Dramatic Effect
Within a scene, pacing can also be used to create tension or suspense or to emphasize a certain point without spelling it out for the reader. For example, if you want to have a big reveal of a character, you can have multiple panels of them walking forward (or having the reader's point of view moving closer) in multiple panels until we see who it actually is. Start off with the character far away and in silhouette, and then as you get closer and closer reveal more and more of the character until BOOM! It's WHOEVER! Another way to do this is start with a focus on their feet, then in multiple panels move up their body to reveal their face.
You can also emphasize something via your pacing. Say, if you're trying to show that a character is dreading having to do something like going to work. You can take multiple panels or even pages to show them getting ready to leave for the day. Of course, the character shouldn't look happy about it either (but that's pretty obvious, right?) Make it feel like just getting ready is a chore. Or in a horror story if a character hears a noise in the other room and has to go investigate and is scared. Have multiple panels of them reaching for the door knob, their hand getting closer and closer with each panel. This will give the impression that not only is it taking the character a long while to actually perform the action, but it'll build tension within the reader who is waiting for the reveal.
The Basics
What is pacing you ask? Well, essentially, pacing is the rate and speed at which events occur in a story. And while some pacing does come down to preference, bad pacing can truly wreck an otherwise good comic. So here's a basic break down. Your story should have a set-up, a conflict, what I call the struggle, and then a resolution.
The set-up essentially sets the stage, introduces your characters, the setting, the world they exist in, all that jazz. This can be really boring sometimes because you're essentially throwing a lot of essential information at the reader with very little happening. However, it's also important to not gloss over this information because it's what helps develop your characters and really we're not going to care about a story if we don't have some sort of attachment to the characters or the world. Depending on the kind of story you're doing there are a few ways of doing this well.
If you're doing a short (something less than a single issue) I'm a big fan of the pulpy splash page with captions to catch the reader up. Essentially, have a one page panel that's right in the middle of the action with some short captions to explain how we got there. This was really common in a lot of war comics back in the 40's - 70's, and it still works great today! I employed this with great success on my first FUBAR story "Severed," and it's still one of my favorite pages I've written to this day.
If you're doing a one-shot story, it can be a bit trickier because you're limited to 22 - 24 pages and you've got a lot to tell in such a short time span. So, opposed to just throwing dialogue, captions, and what-have-you at the reader, I recommend having them in the middle of a situation that explains them. Are they a street level superhero? Have them stopping a mugger, showing off their powers or abilities. Are they an occult detective? Start the story with them finishing their previous case. Are they an intergalactic warrior? Show them winning (or losing) a cosmic battle! (This totally ties into the bit in my last post about showing over telling.)
Finally, if you're writing a mini-series or long-run series you have a lot more freedom to spell out your universe, usually across the first issue or two (depending on your proposed length.) But again, I recommend doing this via actual actions as opposed to dialogue and captions. Essentially, it's an expanded version of the solution in the previous paragraph.
Okay, on to the conflict. This is pretty self-explanatory. The conflict will present whatever problem the character or characters have to overcome. This is generally pretty easy to keep interesting because it's what piques our interest about the story. So if you're struggling with making this gripping, you probably need to come up with a better conflict. I know that's kind of mean, but people aren't going to buy in to a story with a boring conflict.
The struggle is essentially where the protagonist figures out how to overcome whatever they're facing. Whether it's through research, training, or past knowledge, this is the bit where the reader should be going, "Oh crap! How are they going to figure this out?" This one is kind of a grey area because there are so many ways this can be handled and it totally depends on your story. With Igor: Occult Detective I tend to lean toward research, past knowledge, or quick thinking due to the nature of the comic. Research is the toughest to make interesting because, generally, it boils down to someone reading. Heh. The best way to do this is to have time-lapses, keep the panels small, and generally emphasize the conclusion. Example:
PAGE 15 (4 Panels)
Panel 1: Igor is pouring over a tome, sitting at the desk in his study. He is smoking a cigarette. There ought to be a couple books, an empty ashtray, and a cup of steaming coffee on the table.
Panel 2: Igor is still at the desk, but reading a different book (different color cover/binding is a great way to distinguish this fact) there are a few books piled up next to him. The ashtray has a couple cigarette butts in it and his coffee is no longer steaming.
CAPTION:
An hour later...
Panel 3: Igor still at the desk but reading yet another book, his cigarette has burned down nearly to the filter. The ashtray is now over-flowing with cigarette butts and the table is littered with coffee mugs. There ought to be a tall pile of books beside him, implying that he has already read them all.
CAPTION:
Four hours later...
Panel 4: Close panel - Igor points to a specific page in the book with a spell on it.
IGOR:
I've got it!
Now that's not actually from an Igor story but I've written at least one page pretty damn similar to that before. Really, no one wants to read four pages of someone else reading. It's key to keep these pages concise, so that you don't bore the reader while still conveying that the protagonist did a lot of work to find a solution.
The conclusion, again is pretty easy to keep interesting because it's the show down, the big fight, the resolution to your story. It's the hero overcoming the villain. Whatever. This is good stuff! You can also use this part of the story to reveal the struggle via flashback which if you've ever read any of the Arthur Conan Doyle Sherlock Holmes stories he really loved to do this. Holmes would solve a case, then explain how he did it. You see this sometimes in espionage/spy/crime-thriller type films sometimes too.
EDIT: Here's a really interesting article about plot without conflict that is definitely worth checking out from still eating oranges.
* * * * *
Since I've covered pacing of your overall story, I'm going to discuss smaller-scale pacing and how it can help your stories as well.
Event/Scene Pacing
Events within your story should have pacing all of their own. Usually this starts with an establishing panel, to tell the reader where they are, what time of day it is, that sort of thing. After you've done this, you can really get to the meat of the scene. Once you've gotten through the main point of your scene, it's good to segue into the next one with either a sort of final line of dialogue or final action to signify that this part of the story is over.
Pacing for Dramatic Effect
Within a scene, pacing can also be used to create tension or suspense or to emphasize a certain point without spelling it out for the reader. For example, if you want to have a big reveal of a character, you can have multiple panels of them walking forward (or having the reader's point of view moving closer) in multiple panels until we see who it actually is. Start off with the character far away and in silhouette, and then as you get closer and closer reveal more and more of the character until BOOM! It's WHOEVER! Another way to do this is start with a focus on their feet, then in multiple panels move up their body to reveal their face.
You can also emphasize something via your pacing. Say, if you're trying to show that a character is dreading having to do something like going to work. You can take multiple panels or even pages to show them getting ready to leave for the day. Of course, the character shouldn't look happy about it either (but that's pretty obvious, right?) Make it feel like just getting ready is a chore. Or in a horror story if a character hears a noise in the other room and has to go investigate and is scared. Have multiple panels of them reaching for the door knob, their hand getting closer and closer with each panel. This will give the impression that not only is it taking the character a long while to actually perform the action, but it'll build tension within the reader who is waiting for the reveal.
Page Pacing
Okay,
finally, we've come down to page pacing. This is a biggy that a lot of
folks who nail the rest often neglect. It's also something that took me a
long time to figure out and even now I still haven't quite mastered it.
Each page of your comic should essentially have a beginning, a middle,
and an end. A lot of this comes down to one question, "What is the
purpose of this page?" Because your scene/event can generally be broken
down into multiple smaller events you should try to get these smaller
events to coincide with your page breaks. This can be tricky and
sometimes you will have to accept the fact that you can't make this work
without forcing in filler or snipping out crucial bits from another
scene. But when this can be adhered to, it should be.
Okay, I think
I've covered everything I intended to here. This was a doozie of a post
and I apologize for the length, but I really didn't want to split it up
into multiple posts. Have a good week and I'll see you next time!
Monday, January 14, 2013
Panel 6: Caption This!
Hello my evil minions! Welcome back to How NOT to Write Comics. I can't believe we're already on our sixth installment of this bugger. But I've still got more to share with you guys so this week I'm going to talk about captions, their over-use, and the importance of actually showing things in your scripts.
Reading this post you're going to think I hate captions and words, but I don't, really. They're a great tool for comics but only if they're used properly. I've seen a great many scripts that use captions in all of the wrong ways... and in some of my earlier work I was just as guilty. I'm going to break down this post by use and the right and wrong ways to use captions in each case.
Date/Time/Location
Honestly, this one is pretty hard to mess up for the most part. The really important thing is to make sure your dialogue and dates match. On November 6th don't have someone say, "We'll see you tomorrow," then have their meeting say November 11th. I know it sounds stupid and obvious, but I've seen it, hell, I've done it myself accidentally... and more recently than I'd like to admit. The same thing goes for time of day.
Internal Monologue
This one gets tricky. Having your characters' thoughts appear as captions is a great way to get inside their heads without using those silly and out-dated "thought bubbles." This is particularly true of less cartoony styled comics. If you're going for that style, thought bubbles are totally acceptable, but I'm assuming you're writing something a little more serious in tone. The toughest thing about internal monologue is consistency and avoiding confusion. I am notorious for the first, I'll start off with some great captions then totally end up forgetting about them when I get caught up in the script. It's something I really struggled with when doing The Red Eye and if I ever get it relaunched, I plan on spending a lot of time reworking my captions. Another thing is, don't make them stupid. I know that sounds kind of harsh but it shouldn't read, "That makes me sad." Because holy hell is that dumb. Your characters internal thoughts should really reach into their soul/heart/root/whatever... they should reflect the core of your character. Finally, to avoid confusion, if you have multiple characters having internal thoughts, make sure you identify who is thinking what. I've seen scripts where I have no idea who is thinking what because the script just reads...
CAPTION:
I'm a friggin' moron who doesn't know what I'm doing.
CAPTION:
I wish he wasn't a friggin' moron and could figure out what to do.
I mean you can assume who is saying what from the dialogue, but it just makes things easier if you signify who's thinking what.
MICHAEL (CAP):
I'm a friggin' moron who doesn't know what I'm doing.
EVA (CAP):
I wish he wasn't a friggin' moron and could figure out what to do.
This is much, much better. It tells you all the info you need in a clear and concise matter.
Narration
Narration is probably one of the most complex things to deal with when it comes to captioning. It's really important to strike the right balance with it and it's really easy to mess up. The most common mistake I see is writers who tell their entire story via captions with only snippets of what's really going on in their panel descriptions. This can be okay when rehashing something... like if a character is telling a brief story or a flashback, but your entire comic should not be told this way. A lot of beginners and people who come from other media somehow seem to forget this... comics is a visual medium... we should always be showing first and telling after. I'm a firm believer that if a person can't tell what is going on in your story without captions and dialogue, you're not doing your job. Now I'm not talking about finer details, but if I can't get the gist of the story without your words there is a problem. You don't need a caption saying, "I met with the alien ambassador," when you can just show it. It's even more frustrating when you miss out on something cool like, "The Martians killed the entire Senate with their ray guns," because it was just glossed over in a caption. Man, I want to see the Martians shooting those guys! That would make for a damn cool panel!
Well, I think I've covered everything I wanted to talk about in this post, so have a nice week and I'll see you guys next time!
Reading this post you're going to think I hate captions and words, but I don't, really. They're a great tool for comics but only if they're used properly. I've seen a great many scripts that use captions in all of the wrong ways... and in some of my earlier work I was just as guilty. I'm going to break down this post by use and the right and wrong ways to use captions in each case.
Date/Time/Location
Honestly, this one is pretty hard to mess up for the most part. The really important thing is to make sure your dialogue and dates match. On November 6th don't have someone say, "We'll see you tomorrow," then have their meeting say November 11th. I know it sounds stupid and obvious, but I've seen it, hell, I've done it myself accidentally... and more recently than I'd like to admit. The same thing goes for time of day.
Internal Monologue
This one gets tricky. Having your characters' thoughts appear as captions is a great way to get inside their heads without using those silly and out-dated "thought bubbles." This is particularly true of less cartoony styled comics. If you're going for that style, thought bubbles are totally acceptable, but I'm assuming you're writing something a little more serious in tone. The toughest thing about internal monologue is consistency and avoiding confusion. I am notorious for the first, I'll start off with some great captions then totally end up forgetting about them when I get caught up in the script. It's something I really struggled with when doing The Red Eye and if I ever get it relaunched, I plan on spending a lot of time reworking my captions. Another thing is, don't make them stupid. I know that sounds kind of harsh but it shouldn't read, "That makes me sad." Because holy hell is that dumb. Your characters internal thoughts should really reach into their soul/heart/root/whatever... they should reflect the core of your character. Finally, to avoid confusion, if you have multiple characters having internal thoughts, make sure you identify who is thinking what. I've seen scripts where I have no idea who is thinking what because the script just reads...
CAPTION:
I'm a friggin' moron who doesn't know what I'm doing.
CAPTION:
I wish he wasn't a friggin' moron and could figure out what to do.
I mean you can assume who is saying what from the dialogue, but it just makes things easier if you signify who's thinking what.
MICHAEL (CAP):
I'm a friggin' moron who doesn't know what I'm doing.
EVA (CAP):
I wish he wasn't a friggin' moron and could figure out what to do.
This is much, much better. It tells you all the info you need in a clear and concise matter.
Narration
Narration is probably one of the most complex things to deal with when it comes to captioning. It's really important to strike the right balance with it and it's really easy to mess up. The most common mistake I see is writers who tell their entire story via captions with only snippets of what's really going on in their panel descriptions. This can be okay when rehashing something... like if a character is telling a brief story or a flashback, but your entire comic should not be told this way. A lot of beginners and people who come from other media somehow seem to forget this... comics is a visual medium... we should always be showing first and telling after. I'm a firm believer that if a person can't tell what is going on in your story without captions and dialogue, you're not doing your job. Now I'm not talking about finer details, but if I can't get the gist of the story without your words there is a problem. You don't need a caption saying, "I met with the alien ambassador," when you can just show it. It's even more frustrating when you miss out on something cool like, "The Martians killed the entire Senate with their ray guns," because it was just glossed over in a caption. Man, I want to see the Martians shooting those guys! That would make for a damn cool panel!
Well, I think I've covered everything I wanted to talk about in this post, so have a nice week and I'll see you guys next time!
Monday, January 7, 2013
Panel 5: You Want Me to Do What Now?
Hey guys! Welcome back to our regularly scheduled programming! After two "delayed" holiday postings we're finally back on our normal Monday schedule.
Today we're going to talk about something I'm sure a lot of my artist friends will be very happy about... some of you writers... not so much. It's about realism in your panel descriptions. Now, I'm not talking about realism in art, I'm talking about realizing that some things that work in other mediums do not work in comics. You're probably scratching you head here a bit so let me explain.
Comics (as you well know) are a series of static images that are used to convey action. And from time to time that rules out certain things we can do in them. A wonderful example is nodding (for the most part.) Unless you want to dedicate three or four panels to a character nodding "yes" (trust me, you probably don't) or are dealing with a very cartoony style (in which case you can get away with the whole drawing multiple heads to convey movement thing), you just can't get away with nodding in comics. The same goes for shaking one's head "no." This was something that I, thankfully, discovered while I was still illustrating my own scripts... so I haven't made the mistake of putting that in my comics since.
We also forget that some things are really hard or impossible to draw. A great example I came across recently was someone described a truck coming to a screeching halt, kicking up dust, and having the truck shudder because it stopped so fast... all in one panel. (Sorry to make an example of you, Mike.) Now this would look great on film, but is nearly impossible to convey in one panel in comics. The biggest issue is the shuddering. Especially since the focus was on the wheels in the panel description.
There are a few ways to handle this. First, you can simply do away with the shuddering. The sudden stop can easily be conveyed with the kicking up off the dust and sound effects. Secondly, you could do a second panel of the driver and/or the passengers jerking forward (maybe one hitting his head on the dash or something) to convey the stark stop as well. (This would actually be my preferred solution if the sudden stop was truly important.) Thirdly, change the focus from the wheels to the whole truck and show the passengers again, jerking forward along with the dust kicking and some nice screeching sound effects. This last one is less preferable mostly because depending on your artist and the size of your panel, those could be some very small people to have to draw.
The last thing I want to discuss that is a major no no, is having characters perform multiple actions in one panel. I know this is a MASSIVE pet peeve of a lot of artists. As a writer I feel a lot of this stems from the fact that this is a fuzzy rule, because you can have a character do more than one action at once but you have to really think about what works and what doesn't. For example a character can bend over and pick something up in one panel. Those are two separate actions that can be easily conveyed in one panel. No problem. However, you cannot have someone walk over to someone and punch them in the face. The walking and the punching really have to be two separate panels. Or at lot of times I'll see "He ran up and leaped through the air." Again, no dice. The running and leaping have to be two separate action.
The way I look at it, is this: If the character is not using the same appendages for the two actions, you're safe. Example, someone can walk and turn their head at the same time. Or walk and extend their arm/hand. Hell, they can do all three. Can they walk and jump at the same time? Nope. You need your legs for both. A lot of people don't understand why punching is off limits and it's actually really simple. It's because you use your feet and legs to stabilize yourself when punching. Anyone who's ever boxed, done martial arts, or even been in a fist fight can tell you this.
Well, that about covers it for this week. It's funny, I actually thought I was going to be reaching for things to talk about in those post, but it seems to have kind of run off on me. I hope this helps you guys out and I'm sure your artists will be relieved that you read this post. Have a nice week and we'll see you next time!
Today we're going to talk about something I'm sure a lot of my artist friends will be very happy about... some of you writers... not so much. It's about realism in your panel descriptions. Now, I'm not talking about realism in art, I'm talking about realizing that some things that work in other mediums do not work in comics. You're probably scratching you head here a bit so let me explain.
Comics (as you well know) are a series of static images that are used to convey action. And from time to time that rules out certain things we can do in them. A wonderful example is nodding (for the most part.) Unless you want to dedicate three or four panels to a character nodding "yes" (trust me, you probably don't) or are dealing with a very cartoony style (in which case you can get away with the whole drawing multiple heads to convey movement thing), you just can't get away with nodding in comics. The same goes for shaking one's head "no." This was something that I, thankfully, discovered while I was still illustrating my own scripts... so I haven't made the mistake of putting that in my comics since.
We also forget that some things are really hard or impossible to draw. A great example I came across recently was someone described a truck coming to a screeching halt, kicking up dust, and having the truck shudder because it stopped so fast... all in one panel. (Sorry to make an example of you, Mike.) Now this would look great on film, but is nearly impossible to convey in one panel in comics. The biggest issue is the shuddering. Especially since the focus was on the wheels in the panel description.
There are a few ways to handle this. First, you can simply do away with the shuddering. The sudden stop can easily be conveyed with the kicking up off the dust and sound effects. Secondly, you could do a second panel of the driver and/or the passengers jerking forward (maybe one hitting his head on the dash or something) to convey the stark stop as well. (This would actually be my preferred solution if the sudden stop was truly important.) Thirdly, change the focus from the wheels to the whole truck and show the passengers again, jerking forward along with the dust kicking and some nice screeching sound effects. This last one is less preferable mostly because depending on your artist and the size of your panel, those could be some very small people to have to draw.
The last thing I want to discuss that is a major no no, is having characters perform multiple actions in one panel. I know this is a MASSIVE pet peeve of a lot of artists. As a writer I feel a lot of this stems from the fact that this is a fuzzy rule, because you can have a character do more than one action at once but you have to really think about what works and what doesn't. For example a character can bend over and pick something up in one panel. Those are two separate actions that can be easily conveyed in one panel. No problem. However, you cannot have someone walk over to someone and punch them in the face. The walking and the punching really have to be two separate panels. Or at lot of times I'll see "He ran up and leaped through the air." Again, no dice. The running and leaping have to be two separate action.
The way I look at it, is this: If the character is not using the same appendages for the two actions, you're safe. Example, someone can walk and turn their head at the same time. Or walk and extend their arm/hand. Hell, they can do all three. Can they walk and jump at the same time? Nope. You need your legs for both. A lot of people don't understand why punching is off limits and it's actually really simple. It's because you use your feet and legs to stabilize yourself when punching. Anyone who's ever boxed, done martial arts, or even been in a fist fight can tell you this.
Well, that about covers it for this week. It's funny, I actually thought I was going to be reaching for things to talk about in those post, but it seems to have kind of run off on me. I hope this helps you guys out and I'm sure your artists will be relieved that you read this post. Have a nice week and we'll see you next time!
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Panel 4: So Says the Bible...
Happy New Year to you all! Welcome to the first
post of 2013! Let me apologize as I totally forgot to mention that I had
planned on delaying this week's post due to the holiday like last week
with next week's post being on Monday as per the usual schedule. So here
we are...
This week I'm going to discuss the importance of characterization and character bibles, particularly in regards to mini-series and long running series. I've read so many comics where either someone else writing a character or even the creator writes something that just seems so out of place that essentially makes the character no longer the character we know and love. A recent example I can think of was during the Avengers vs. X-Men story arc when Captain America kicked Wolverine out of the Quinjet. Seriously? Cap is easily one of the most honorable and honest characters in comics. Does anyone really think he would betray a long time friend out of the blue like that? It's not like he has a history of shady behavior or backstabbing. That moment was so out of character that it essentially breaks the character.
So how do we avoid stupidity like this? It's actually pretty simple... albeit time consuming. Create a character bible. What is a character bible, you ask? Simple it's a document that you write out (type out) that contains imperative information regarding your characters. It can contain everything from
height, weight, and age to powers, weapons, defining personality traits, likes and dislikes. Creating a bible is actually one of my favorite parts of starting a new comic. Here's an example for you from Igor: Occult Detective. Here's the entry for Mr. Frank...
Mr. Frank
Likes: Elsa Von Tod, Bourbon, Stout Beer, Steak, Sushi, Newspapers, Boxing, Fighting, Guns, Comic Strips, Movies, Animals
Dislikes: Fire, Zombies, Ghouls, Elder Gods, Things with Tentacles, Lightning, The Sea
Notes: Generally, pretty buttoned up, neat, for the most part pretty reserved, though he can lose his temper from time to time. Builds appallingly colored bird houses and hangs them in their backyard. Feeds the squirrels Igor’s less successful baked goods. They have the only squirrels in the country to suffer from heart disease.
I've omitted a bit of info that would certainly qualify as spoilers but you get the gist of it. I also left out his weapon, purely because the file just has an image of his pistol. But I digress, you should do this for every single one of your major players: heroes, villains, and even frequently recurring secondary characters. And here's the key, you need to actually use it. When you're writing your characters, constantly remind yourself of your bible. It will help you from having your characters not act like themselves. Sometimes, as writers we write ourselves into corners and it seems like our hero has break character to get out of it... but trust me, that's rarely the case, there's usually another way around it. If there absolutely isn't, then you need to rewrite your story. Sorry, but if you can't get your character out of a situation without ignoring your bible then you're story isn't good enough and needs to be reworked.
Well, that's about it for this week. See you next week with some more ornery advice!
This week I'm going to discuss the importance of characterization and character bibles, particularly in regards to mini-series and long running series. I've read so many comics where either someone else writing a character or even the creator writes something that just seems so out of place that essentially makes the character no longer the character we know and love. A recent example I can think of was during the Avengers vs. X-Men story arc when Captain America kicked Wolverine out of the Quinjet. Seriously? Cap is easily one of the most honorable and honest characters in comics. Does anyone really think he would betray a long time friend out of the blue like that? It's not like he has a history of shady behavior or backstabbing. That moment was so out of character that it essentially breaks the character.
So how do we avoid stupidity like this? It's actually pretty simple... albeit time consuming. Create a character bible. What is a character bible, you ask? Simple it's a document that you write out (type out) that contains imperative information regarding your characters. It can contain everything from
height, weight, and age to powers, weapons, defining personality traits, likes and dislikes. Creating a bible is actually one of my favorite parts of starting a new comic. Here's an example for you from Igor: Occult Detective. Here's the entry for Mr. Frank...
Mr. Frank
Likes: Elsa Von Tod, Bourbon, Stout Beer, Steak, Sushi, Newspapers, Boxing, Fighting, Guns, Comic Strips, Movies, Animals
Dislikes: Fire, Zombies, Ghouls, Elder Gods, Things with Tentacles, Lightning, The Sea
Notes: Generally, pretty buttoned up, neat, for the most part pretty reserved, though he can lose his temper from time to time. Builds appallingly colored bird houses and hangs them in their backyard. Feeds the squirrels Igor’s less successful baked goods. They have the only squirrels in the country to suffer from heart disease.
I've omitted a bit of info that would certainly qualify as spoilers but you get the gist of it. I also left out his weapon, purely because the file just has an image of his pistol. But I digress, you should do this for every single one of your major players: heroes, villains, and even frequently recurring secondary characters. And here's the key, you need to actually use it. When you're writing your characters, constantly remind yourself of your bible. It will help you from having your characters not act like themselves. Sometimes, as writers we write ourselves into corners and it seems like our hero has break character to get out of it... but trust me, that's rarely the case, there's usually another way around it. If there absolutely isn't, then you need to rewrite your story. Sorry, but if you can't get your character out of a situation without ignoring your bible then you're story isn't good enough and needs to be reworked.
Well, that's about it for this week. See you next week with some more ornery advice!
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