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Comics: How do they work?
14 years ago
I AM GETTING FED UP WITH MYSELF.
I really, REALLY want to do a comic. A nice long fucking comic I can play with and mess around in. The plot doesn't have to be too thick, I don't want to win any awards. I don't think I could even make a deep, well thought out plot filled with intricacies and details that don't make sense until way later. I want to do something fun but with feeling in it so it's not all two dimensional dribble.
And, whats worse, I have a BILLION different ideas for stories up in my noggin.
BUT THEY DON'T LIKE COMING OUT. LIKE SERIOUSLY.
"Oh, hey, plot line about Basil and her crew, want to come out and let some other people see you?"
"LOL NOPE."
Or
"Heeeeey, Jane and Reddin! You guys have a cool post-apocalyptic story about royalty and gods! I think everyone else might like to see it."
"YEAH NO. We're just going to stay here and fester in your head."
Or maybe even
"How about you, Steadfast crew? You guys have a really cool sci-fi story! I love thinking about you!"
"Pfffff. No. You can't even DRAW the Steadfast, let alone any kind of technology."
Fuck.
And before anyone says it, I know practice makes perfect, I know I should just 'give it a shot'.
But try saying that to the actors who won't cooperate! I'm a shitty director.
I really, REALLY want to do a comic. A nice long fucking comic I can play with and mess around in. The plot doesn't have to be too thick, I don't want to win any awards. I don't think I could even make a deep, well thought out plot filled with intricacies and details that don't make sense until way later. I want to do something fun but with feeling in it so it's not all two dimensional dribble.
And, whats worse, I have a BILLION different ideas for stories up in my noggin.
BUT THEY DON'T LIKE COMING OUT. LIKE SERIOUSLY.
"Oh, hey, plot line about Basil and her crew, want to come out and let some other people see you?"
"LOL NOPE."
Or
"Heeeeey, Jane and Reddin! You guys have a cool post-apocalyptic story about royalty and gods! I think everyone else might like to see it."
"YEAH NO. We're just going to stay here and fester in your head."
Or maybe even
"How about you, Steadfast crew? You guys have a really cool sci-fi story! I love thinking about you!"
"Pfffff. No. You can't even DRAW the Steadfast, let alone any kind of technology."
Fuck.
And before anyone says it, I know practice makes perfect, I know I should just 'give it a shot'.
But try saying that to the actors who won't cooperate! I'm a shitty director.
hell, I've gone back to this cozy little "Come oooon....work with meeee...work with m--and you're goneFUCK." place.
Personally, I found that just STARTING, doing the thumbnails for something or, if you want to really be a rebel, just starting something in general really helps.
though that doesnt always work either >.> Sometimes it's just a spur of the moment thing that you carry out for as long as you can.
and one you get BATTLE SCARS FROM!
ARRRR!
1. rule out some panels. assume the voice of one character and write something, anything. now assume another character's voice - what would they say in reaction? what would they do? write that in the next panel. continue until you've got some dialogue or a 'character x does y' note in every panel. now draw pictures to go with your words.
2. draw one character doing something awesome. okay, what happens next? draw that. put dialogue on it, cut it and paste it into panels.
seriously, fuck the long-term plans, you put all the effort into writing one of those and you feel like you're done and the damn story never gets told. find a random place to start - in medias res is always a lot better than "waking up" imho - and just start. you will fuck up, you may well decide the whole thing doesn't work after ten pages, you might write yourself into a corner. maybe you'll write yourself out of it brilliantly; that sort of plotting is what drove douglas adams to come up with the infinite improbability drive. it's fiction, you can pull stuff like that out of your ass. or you can just shrug, declare it a failed experiment, and try a new one.
it's fine to have vague ideas of the themes you want to engage in the story, cool to have an idea of places you want to aim at - but just start.
the steadfast has crash-landed on an airless asteroid, what happens? don't tell me, draw it.
reddin just got killed. how? who? why? what does jane think about this? maybe some flashbacks about what they were doing that got him killed would be cool too once jane deals with the immediate problem of dead reddin. don't tell me, draw it.
you can sit and plot and plan forever. i'm beginning to suspect there are certain ideas of mine that will never make it out because they got lost in that place.
Also this:
http://www.amazon.de/Understanding-.....049&sr=8-2
The other two books are good too.
The rest of "how to tell a story" "how to make a comic" is not worth mentioning.. besides maybe "even a monkey can draw manga", which is a brilliant parody.