Do you have any advice for aspiring webcomic artists or writers? Post it here.
I love webcomics, and I’ve been thinking about creating my own webcomic for years. I can draw fairly well, but I don’t really have a style. How exactly does one develop a drawing style? For instance, when I see Penny Arcade, I know immediately that I’m looking at a drawing by Mike Krahulik. When I draw something myself, it looks like a guy trying to copy Mike Krahulik.
How can I improve my cartoon-drawing skills in general?
How about writing? From the small amount of experimenting I’ve done, I can say that writing a comic strip is not as easy as it first appears. Do you come up with the punchline first and then write backwards? Or just pick a subject first and figure out a good punchline later?
What format should I use? The standard 4-panel newspaper format is common, but what if I never plan on being published in a newspaper?
How about technique? What’s the fastest way to produce a strip using a computer?
If you don’t already know the answers to those questions, you aren’t yet ready to draw a web comic.
Style is personal. You draw your characters your way, so that they are distinctive and representative of their personalities, and easy to draw in different poses, expressions, and angles. It also helps if they are instantly recognisable if drawn in solid silhouette.
Format is decided by how best to tell the jokes/storyline. The three or four panel format is common, because the setup-joke-zinger method will fit that format best. If that’s the kind of joke you want to tell, then use that format. If you’re more likely to make absurd observations in a Far Side way, a single panel may be more suitable. Or if you have a long story to tell with few ways to break it up, try the Pibgorn full page format style.
Writing is the key. If you can write, but can’t draw, then you’ll still get a reaction. If you can’t write, and can only draw, then forget about it. Find a writer, or give up now. Without good writing, you’re wasting your time. If you can’t write or draw, then become an accountant or a mechanic or something, because, in that case, comics creation just isn’t for you.
What good luck you’re in, Phantom! Just this week, one other than Strong Bad himself had some great insight to offer to aspiring web comic artists in his weekly e-mail. Take heed of his advice!
Hey, you don’t have to be able to draw to do a webcomic. Look at StickmanStickman (no really, it’s really good). Artistic ability develops. Look at the early art for Sluggy Freelance and compare it to now. Or any other long running comic.
Write stuff you think is funny, is the only advice I have. I got people saying Thunderkitties (don’t bother looking it up, it died) was stupid, but I was having fun so I kept doing it. Which is why I want to get it started again.
You can find a bunch of advice on writing and drawing but the only way to learn is to keep doing it. Just about every webcomic (and many many humor columnists) talk about how they do it at least once.
If you do it the Something*Positive does it, you have four panels and establish an objective in the first panel. The objective can be whacky or completely normal, as the execution thereof is what hits the reader of the punchline.
So say in the first panel, Davan’s dad asks him to take out the trash.
This can’t be done with a simple request because both Davan and his dad have ulterior motives. Davan’s dad has to establish himself as an authority figure and brace himself for when Davan will inevitably respond with a smartass remark.
So in the first panel, Davan’s dad has to look cross, possibly balling up his fist in anticipation of making a threat. Davan has to have his “take no shit” face on and look indifferent to his father’s plight, whatever it may be. Once you’ve got those particular emotions depicted, then and only then can you write in the words “Boy, the trash needs takin’ out.”
This establishes conflict. But it has to be a short conflict. All good stories have to have conflict, and you’ve only got 4 panels.
Next panel, have a closeup shot of the agressee. He or she is going to build his bulwark of defense against the aggressor. This will probably involve some whining, so you have to exaggerate the mouth and facial muscles to fit the dialogue. Also helps if you have the aggressee furrow their brow and bunch their shoulders. Then put in words like “You always make me take out the trash. Why don’t you do it every once in while, you fat, tyrranical slavemaster?”
Third panel: The aggressor gets in his two cents. He gets off an alpha-dog type growl to establish his top position of the heirarchy. So Davan’s dad would say something to the effect of “Because my arm’s going to be tired from the October ‘94 Dallas Cowboys over the Redskins in RFK Stadium-style butt-whuppin’ I’m about to give you if you don’t do what I say.”
Fourth panel: S*P conflicts usually end with a definite victor giving the opponent a little bit of cold comfort and the loser snidely rebuffing it. So Davan’s dad puts his hand on Davan’s shoulder and says something like “Look at it this way, son. I’m just preparing you for life by being a bigger asshole than your bosses and teachers. They’ll look good in comparison.” Davan would respond with something like “Just so I don’t have to throw out their Skoal tins and overfull spit cups like I do yours.”
I picked up Making Comics. It’s not about specific art or writing techniques, but bigger picture stuff like pacing, choosing what story elements to depict, layout that produces the effect you want, that sort of thing. There is a section on webcomics specifically, but the rest of it applies to webcomics also.
Drunk Duck and Comic Genesis (formerly Keenspace) are popular and free webcomic hosting sites. There are others out there too. Some webcomics are embedded in blogs but that’s less common.
Finally after 3 years of lurking I have something of substance to add.
I have drawn comic strips in the past, AND had them rejected by Universal Feature so I’m pretty much pro. :rolleyes: I am currently trying to get them published by a smaller publisher. I had them web published for a time but I have taken them down. I will put them up and post links to them if anyone requests them.
With that said, writing is more important. Bill Watterson of Calvin and Hobbes fame said, “Good ideas will save bad artwork, but great artwork won’t save boring ideas.” The art will grow with the characters. As the characters grow and develop so will your artwork. Choose books about writing and comedy over standard drawing books. Plenty of people can draw, writing seems to be a little trickier. I second the book Making Comics and the sequel Understanding Comics by Kurtz.
Style is absolutely up to you. 3 or 4 panels are the norm only because that’s what you see in the newspapers. But if you are doing webcomics go nuts. there’s no right or wrong way but make it easy for the reader. I would recommend an absolutely limit of about 1000 pixels across because most screen resolutions are 1024 x 768. There are a lot out there already, but the good news is that they are all pretty similar. Video Games and Science. Try different styles at first to find something that not only looks good but is easy to do daily or at least very often.
I think the problem with the small number of comic strips I’ve attempted to draw is that I spend almost all my time making sure they look “perfect”, without thinking much about the writing. I think I’m going to concentrate on writing for awhile and try to come up with a strip based on ideas, rather than a “look”. I enjoy xkcd, for instance, and you couldn’t get more stylistically minimalist than stick figures, but the author’s insight and humor shine through anyway.
I’m thinking that it may actually be fun to practice by creating a stick-figure strip like xkcd. I could force myself to completely forget about appearances for the moment and just experiment with the kind of jokes and concepts I could come up with. I’m thinking that maybe once I’ve developed some ideas this way, it might be easier to visualize the details of character design, style, etc.
