The video didn't warn against writing comics with an overarching story and character development, just to avoid writing long epics at the beginning of your comic career. A short story can have both a great plot and character development.
honestly I'm just afraid since i don't have enough time to legitimately work on a comic without a - failing half my classes b - getting no sleep c - making literal doodles instead of art d - or all of the above...
Her TOP TEN tips: 1. Dont start out by doing a big epic story. Gain experience by doing smaller projects first. 2. Use large drawing files so that if you wanna print them later on they'll be printable quality. 3. Avoid having an inconsistent schedule for updating your comic. 4. Don't expect overnight fame and popularity. (Make sure to reach out and network with people and make friends in the community.) 5. Stop avoiding hard things and stuff you dont like to draw eg backgrounds etc. Focus more on them instead. 6. Avoid unreadable bubbles and learn proper typography eg font use etc. (If you're handwriting the text make sure it's legible.) 7. Make sure the flow of the comic is smooth and the placement of bubbles and text is good. 8. Do enough preparation before starting a comic. Make use of thumbnails, character sheets, storyboards, and references. 9. Use a script so that the comic doesn't go haywire overtime. It'll help you foreshadow and make the comic more cohesive. 10. JUST FUCKING START
If you aren't trying to sell or publish your work and just want experience: I suggest starting with that big epic story you want to do. But break it up and go in with realistic expectations. You most likely aren't gonna produce amazing work on your first go, but you'll learn. Don't drag yourself through something you don't enjoy. Tackle that big scene you have in mind and focus on that.
Gonna kinda go off this but also as my own experience (been making and publishing comics for like 5+ years) 1: make both an epic and a small story. Small stories will be recommended; 20-40 pages at most, if it's anything longer than that, it's considered a long story. the 'epic' or long stories are actually SUPER recommended for if you want to really practice and improve your art in the long run as well, the small stories will give you some variety from your big project (cause you don't necessarily have to publish it immediately). 2: It really depends here cause you can use large files, but a lot of printing firms will want it around 300-350 dpi, don't do like 600-1200 dpi unless you want to do a lot of converting (it will TAKE A LONG ASS TIME TO CONVERT SOMETIMES DEPENDING ON HOW MUCH DETAIL YOU HAVE) 3: Make sure to have enough chapters ahead of time so if you do procrastinate, you won't worry. Inconsistent schedules most readers won't mind, but more if you have a consistent schedule and then you miss an update or two, often some people will get upset (but you will totally have the people who are fine with it), while consistency is key, so is your fun and mental health. 4: Overnight fame and popularity take time (it's fine with this one) 5: while backgrounds are cool and all, work smarter not harder. Maybe prep a background in advanced but keep it really simple, you don't want to take away from your character. too much background will fuck you over in the long run and end up making your characters either blur into it or just kinda take away from the mood. While Consistency is good here too, if you can't keep it, it's fine, make it look as close as possible. You don't want to focus on the backgrounds too much unless it's applicable to the plot or just needed to give an idea on where the character is and the mood. 6: use fonts is good. But a huge tip I received from a publisher, unless your character is shouting, all fonts MUST BE THE SAME SIZE THE ENTIRE PAGE. If they're inconsistent, it will fuck you over and make it look 'unprofessional' and sometimes, depending on the style of comic you're going for, take away from the art and the story (because the font can get too distracting if it's too varying in size). 7: While flow of the comic is good, don't over saturate with panels, but don't over saturate with word bubbles as well, you want a good balance and make sure there's enough space for the word bubbles (which is also a good cheat if you don't want to draw a background) 8: prep is good, definitely use thumbnails and use a lineup of all the character's you'll be using so you'll know the heights. If you need references, make sure to reference (or just do it on the fly). I don't personally recommend story boarding, as that's more for animation and not necessarily comics because the thumbnails is basically the same thing (since that's LITERALLY what thumbnails are for, to get the idea before drawing) and full character turn around as it can take away time from other things you could do and make use of, as you don't want something overly detailed to be either never used or rarely used, making all that hard work for nothing (also, once again, turn arounds are mostly for animation, if there's something significant your character has, make a note of it on their art or their lineup sheet) 9: if you're making a script, those are mostly recommended for the big epic stories, or if you're in a large team of like 2-6 people. If it's a short story, you can literally just thumbnail it out and scribble notes on what you want, especially if it's 20-40 pages long. Scripts with a general idea is good for short to semi long stories and scripts with significant dialogue is good for epic stories. If you're going to just do short stories, maybe write down the general idea, but don't necessarily focus on everything like 'foreshadowing' and such as how much foreshadowing and other literary subjects are you doing to do in a tiny story? (unless it's horror). 10: absolutely do it, if you're the type of person who procrastinates, you might want to force yourself, but if not, just be patient, prep your shit, and then start doodling. Take your time but also work smarter not harder, because you can actually screw yourself over in the long run if you start doing overly detailed backgrounds and sometimes overly detailed character things that absolutely aren't necessary at all.
@@sarah8638 people jot down ideas and work on them later all the time, it's very common. Also remember nothing in this world is original, everything has been done before in some way shape or form. That's why it's important to have your own personal essence in what you're writing; your beliefs, opinions, emotions, experiences etc. That is what makes art unique and personal. If you tell 5 people to paint the same apple will you get five identical paintings? Of course not
@@sarah8638 lol looking up an idea online is quite hard. Just because you can't find anything like it doesn't mean something kinda similar doesn't exist trust me. If it's really unique and original then props to you but I don't think you need to be that afraid to discuss it with your friends at least? A rough outline of the plot at least. Discussing with others really help in my opinion cuz you are provided with new perspectives and opinions. Don't worry too much about someone stealing your whole comic plot when you haven't even started working on it. Good luck!
A guy from my class is literally winging a comic without a script to try to at least do something, and he doesn’t even know were the story is going. But hey, he is doing more than my individual one punchline pages (though they usually have a small script, they aren’t fun because my comic humor is dead).
At least you have the right mindset. Not many people understand the importance of a script. Perhaps comedy isnt your forte and you need a different genre?
I have a comic that I'm doing with a story as well as a comic that I'm winging without really knowing where it's going. I have a general idea about things I want to do within but no ending. Oddly enough I find it easier to draw and work with that comic than the one based off a story I have pretty completed in my head?? Kinda leaves a world of opportunities open lol.
I experimenter with improvised comics ages ago. Just started drawing the first panel, without really knowing how the rest of the page would go, let alone the whole story. It's a fun and freeing process, but doesn't really make for great comics. :)
Winging a comic is still a viable way to practice and experiment! A good script is a valuable asset, but when you're working alone, you can only do so much, right? Some people can be extremyl detailed and still start/finish a project and some people have a problem with overthinking and never start.
it works for some people, just look at kill six billion demons lmao the creator has said often that he does no scripts and has a general idea of where the story is going but no specifics, yet the comic is good and very successful so yea
Yeah same xD.l am thinking about starting on Facebook and Instagram or even Pinterest as a comic post website because l don't know if l will give up on my first simple stories just because the story doesn't go anywhere ( ꈍᴗꈍ)
It's not the easiest thing to hear, but yeah it's true. My co-creator and I made the mistake of trying to jump into the story that we *really* wanted to tell, but we had neither the artistic skills or the writing/comic skills to really back it up. Since then we've grown other projects that we now love just as much (if not more in some cases) and it was from trying to work on something that wasn't our magnum opus.
Skyforse AO I know this is 3 months old but please do not add Pinterest to your options. Pinterest is not a social media platform. It’s not even a hub for artists. It’s a collection of images- a board site of some sort. It’s not a good start for trying to give your comics exposure because it isn’t even dedicated to comics or art in the first place. WEBTOON and Tapastic are better options because it’s easier to get attention due to the audience being exactly people who are looking to read comics. It doesn’t matter if you think your comic will be scrapped easily, just don’t start with Pinterest.
I choked with laughter with 'the epic story of many characters, 20 vols and massive cast, amazing!' -- that is such a common mistake with writers I work with too. Thank you, I love this podcast talk
I almost made this very mistake. I am still just building the world and story of my comic, not even set character designs. Yet there I was, thinking about trying to get started on making this huge epic that would probably take 5-15 years to complete. With absolutely no experience in making comics, storytelling, publishing, marketing, etc, etc. My drawing skills are actually sh*t. Thank god I calmed myself by realising that this was going to go terribly. I plan on making at least 2 smaller comics before jumping in to developing the big boy. Hopefully all goes well and I live to see my long term project become reality. Unless truck-kun decides to send me to another world. Isekai harem, here i co- sike!
@@tasha2460 you can always go waaaay higher then that if you want 🤷♀️ it's just that anything lower usually has v shitty quality and wont print as nicely as anything at or above 300
One of my biggest errors while creating comics is thinking I could build a well-guided story off the top of my head. I thought I could memorize my entire storyline over months and that I wouldn't forget important details or plotholes. It all ended in me not knowing what was next and not having the energy to continue. Moral of the story? ALWAYS script, even if it sounds silly or tiring. Loved your video, I learned a bunch of stuff and reaffirmed my knowledge on some others. Subscribed!
I started scripting my comic is July and I only finished season 1 about 3 months ago. I had writers block for ages and I just came back to season 2 and am only on chapter 5. Some of my ideas were easy to remember, while others weren't so writing them down was a great decisiom. I love watch I did so much, but I leave little room to creativity. That seems to be the only issue with scripting. But other than that, go do it.
This. This is me. I have such ideas that I think are great and I won't forget... What do you think happened? Now I try to jot down any ideas that come to mind. Even if it's a quick note on my phone that doesn't make total sense, it helps remind me that I had the idea in the first place. Huge piece of adivce to anyone: Write down your ideas, not only because it helps you remember, but also helps cement the idea into reality.
I love to write stories in a novel form so I sometimes draw scenes from my series I've written. That's pretty small so if you write a stoeh you can draw scenes from that (this isn't that helpful but this is what I do sometimes)
Lol I have a sorta big first comic that I’m making but I’m making it with the mentality “ok it’s probably not really gonna be seen, but my main goal is to make something that isn’t absolute shit👌🏻”
I may actually never end up publishing my comics, but even then, I'll have something to show to my friends and family like "Hey I made this comic series wanna check it out?".
My mistake is not planning for placement of speech bubbles. I usually winged it by drawing first with thumbnails, but not speech bubbles. Yeah... Speech bubble is one of important factors on comic, but I'm just lazy to do it.
Whoops! My first comic was almost 200 pages. It was... to say the least, daunting, but I'm glad I finished it. Thanks for the helpful tips! I'll keep them in mind for my next comic.
I’ve been developing characters and such for a story for almost 5 years or so now. I feel like at this point, I just need to start it. I’ve done some tiny comics here and there.
Yes, it is definitely important to not drag out the planning stage indefinitely, otherwise you are never going to start. Start drawing some actual comic, even drawing another story is better than not drawing anything and just planning indefinitely.
Yea, but half of any project is the planning stage and if you don't plan well you're gonna run into trouble later on. My tip would be to start the important stuff like a script and finalizing worldbuilding or whatever else you may have neglected now and reserve things like redesigning characters and such for pauses/free time and the very end of planning as otherwise you may end up changing it ten more times and end up only really wasting time. With character development, stick to making them fit in the story and portraying them right. I can also recommend just doing a short and potentially unscripted comic about some backstory, some scene(s) you like or just a one-off featuring the characters in the style of the comic as a practice, you'll probably get a lot faster and more experienced with it so starting the actual comic won't be as frustrating and depending on what it is (esp. if it's backstory that's not vital to the tension in the story, a minor and not overly spoilery scene or a one-off rather than an important scene) it could be used as a teaser. Now, this shouldn't be huge, depending on how fast you are maybe 10-20 pages or so, but it's something that can be quite nice if you're struggling developing your script at the moment and it'll help you improve a lot.
Luna Fowler Thanks for the super detailed tips! They’re really helpful, I’ve been working on a comic for 2 years and changed the plots 3 times during it, I finally stuck to a plot and I’m posting it on webtoon in a few weeks! (and of course I started making scripts, back stories and etc I didn’t before!)
100 pages is still a friggin lot. If you want to have a really good script for 100 page story, you'll be working at least 6 months on that alone. As a beginner it would be better to start with small but meaningfull stories, about 10 pages. After that you can build it up. Most beginner comic artists aren't that good at drawing, so the quality of your images change a lot when you look at someone's first page and then at, say, page 80. That creates inconsistency.
Merel I totally agree but I would also add that good writing can make up for inconsistent art. I’m not saying it can be neglected, but many famous mangas have very meh looking chapter 1 art when you come from chapter 100 or so.
@@littleblueclovers true, but then you still need a lot of time to write a good story. And a lot of manga artists weren't planning to make a 100 chapter story of it, that's a decision they often make later (When it get's really popular) And those are professionals. This video is giving tips to new comic creators. If I'm a beginning comic artist I would never start with a 100 page story. I would first try to find my own style in making short comics so I can experiment a lot.
Just so happen to find your comment from mindlessly scrolling and I'm going to follow your 10 page advice, but is there a panel amount to follow? I never know how to panel and how many panels I need on a single page or for the whole thing.
Decided to start scripting my great epic before I do the smaller comics (more time between each pass of editing will be nice, so getting draft 1 down will be good) And hoo boy, script writing is.... wow. Can't wait to get to the drawing part of this xDD
The biggest mistake I made for my first ever comic was setting the scene in a library. I drew so many damn books. When I finally was done I was just so relieved. (I also coloured them...)
Same here, when I re-drew (in better quality, since the OG was a comic strip and was thrown away 😭) my first comic out of an entire series I'm planning to make, the enviroment was a forest, so I had to draw a bunch of trees in nearly every panel (PD: I'm not good at drawing trees).
I do that too. I have a basic idea and then I just make up the lines as I go and add lib it. Most of the time surprisingly it turns out well but that's after years of doing it like that and too many misfires to count lol
I don't have any programs I can use to get started. And even if I did, I'm still a beginner, so it may take a while. For all I know, I may never be able to make this a reality. How about this: When/if I make any progress, I'll reply.
I wanted to ask you a question about coming up with panels/ pages when you come up with pages for your web comic do you draw it by hand then scan to ink it digitally or do you do it all digitally? I'm asking cause I'm working on my own comic but I'm drawing it in a sketch book, then plan on scanning it to my laptop to ink it digitally so I wanted to ask you if that's a good idea or is that a bad idea to draw my comic that way or what? Thanks i really would appreciate some feedback
Travis Herndon Well, since this comment hasn’t been answered yet. I don’t know if it’s a good idea for a beginner, but a guy called Danny Parker (Spanish) is doing practices in Marvel, and he first sketches the page traditionally and then inks them digitally. So it shouldn’t be a problem.
I actually had that happen all because I made a meme, wound up getting a bunch of subs in one day, about 15 or so. And everytime I make a page, I get 3 guaranteed new subs.
Backgrounds are almost always an after thought. Some improvements have been made but it's still an after thought at times. Still working on script and hoping for the best. Love the video and how down to earth the info is. Thanks for sharing.
Love the video and I agree with point #1 specially before publishing! I really like this video!! Mmm Honestly, sth I see lately is how many young creators rush to publish. And sometimes I wonder, I started making comics/stories when I was 7 yrs old (well, earlier If you take into account storyboards) and I didn’t publish until I was like 21. Even though I don’t recommend starting to publish as late as 21 yrs old, I sometimes wonder how lucky/happy I felt doing my crappy artwork just worrying about drawing, and not wasting time marketing my noob comics. Nobody could see them but me, and I just think that maybe artists that are like super super young I would worry more about sharpening skills than publishing and worrying about followers. I’m not saying I’m an example at all, do not do what I do haha Just the suggestion on skills over followers when someone is very young >.< Unless that young person would be more motivated to work by publishing and if having 15 followers that are this person’s friends (or follow back tactics) doesn’t make that person less motivated because they wanted more or sth like that.
My goal is to draw like 20+ episodes in advance, then post them regularly while continuing to draw more, since my comic is probably going to be quite long. I'll try making a short comic to start with though.
this is a bit long: im going to (probably) fail lol, because one of your first tips was like "save your super awesome comic for later and build experience" but im a bit too impatient for that and want to make mistakes for that too, then my webcomic is alllllllllllllll about backgrounds because its an ADVENTURE dramatic (comedy i guess) story because i HATE backgrounds, which is why im doing it and also becoming a "Tree drawing professional" because alot of trees. then something im not completely fine about is like in-putting the actual point of the whole webcomic a bit down the road after starting because of dramatical build up and yea cause its not a normal adventure guild story since its DRAMATIC but if i put the actual "story" immediately without letting the readers know the characters personality its gunna fall apart ...so. i have my plan, but im completely unsure if its actually good for putting it out there on the interweb The End.
I recommend having a friend help you! I do and she and I bounce off ideas and fix plot holes. I draw and she helps with the ideas and what the characters could look like.
I may do an easier 100 pg project before finally jumping back in and finishing the first volume of my epic series I've been working on for a while. I burned out overworking and haven't been properly back to it for over a year so I think a less stressful less perfectionist project may be just what I need to study up and get back into the swing of making my graphic novel proper. Thanks for the great tips video!
I've noticed that MANY of the artists and IPs we love usually start out small, then grow into their awesome. Be it the Beatles, MST3K, Disney, Pixar, etc. Definitely the right way to go.
I wanted to make a comic *years* ago. Like 6+ years ago. I decided to learn how to draw because *duh* and write because *duh* and worked on small projects I still think I’m not ready 😂 and am still pushing it to the side every time someone mentions my big future project
thanks to this channel i feel like i gained some useful knowledge for later, since im thinking on starting a comic, but its a BIG project so ima start slow and steady~
Thanks for always believing in me! What’s the nest way to juggle making two comics at the same time? Right now I’m working on a 20+ issue epic, but also want to work on a 6 issue mini series as well. What’s the best work flow pacing I should expect from myself?
I'm not the kind to click on these kinds of videos but dang, I'm glad I did. Right when i head you talk, I feel like I can trust you completely with all of these tips. Thank you so much! I've learnt so much.
I can't help it, your chuckle is so cute😊💘♥️.... The advice here is very generic, about to start off planning a romance webtoon of mine, I haven't drawn a comic in years though I draw and sketch regularly but the comic artist in me left on a long vacation and now he's back😁😁😁Wish me luck🌹
I’ve been binging all your webcomic script videos and I can safely say I’ll take them into consideration! I’ve been planning to make a webcomic for about 6 months now, though since it’s my first project I think it’s best I archived it ^^;; thanks for all the cool tips and tricks! they’ve been super helpful :D
The one about not updating freequently i get it! I love yoo has not updated in like 6 months 😭😭😭😭 im still waiting and it left on such a big cliff hanger😢😭😅
Amazing tips! Hello from Brazil =) We usually learn from our mistakes more than with other's mistakes... It's always good to watch some fellow comic artist sharing this kind of content here on RUclips. I've been posting my comics on the internet for decades, and now I am trying to share these experiences for my students and my subscribers as well here in Brazil. Best regards!
See, I started my manga/comic about to years ago. My art style was still developing this style, and I look back on the early pages and re-read the story... and I wish I would have done a lot of things differently :(
but i cant do small! i cant create a story with only 100 pages. my brain cant do that! not possible not happening nope btw is it bad that i want to start a comic but have 0 talent in drawing people? im literally practising for 2 years now and i made 0 progress. ok maybe 5.538% progress but still
Or if you're really struggling with the drawing aspect of your comic, I'd recommend asking a friend who is good at art to help with that. (That is if you have any artist friends)
If you go to a website like Tapas and find their forums, there are always writers and artists looking for comic collaborators. If you ever want to find someone to help you with art you can ask those kinds of forums for collaborators.
Thanks so much for the detailed info and reassurance. I'm working on a graphic novel that I intend to publish as a full story, but your advice still really helped me. Also, your voice reminds me a bit of Mabel from Gravity Falls. Love your videos! Keep being awesome!
I personally think their is no wrong way of doing comics but one thing is always script and plan the whole book and series if their is one then do sketches of what the book is going to look like. AND DONT I REPEAT DONT START THE BOOK OFF SUPER GOOD mainly since im pretty darn sure you cant keep the book super good the whole time
Here's what happens My mind:Hey...hey...HEY! Me:Huh what? My mind:I have an idea Me:That's new My mind:Just shut up and listen, let's make a comic! Me:Hey that's great content, thanks! Later... My mind:Ok so how's it-OH MY GOD Me:I know it's terrible My mind:Never let anyone see this, oh and tell your hands they're fired Me:Done and done And it never gets past the character creation stage
Video: Don't make your first comic a grand epic. Me: Crap. Video: Don't make your first comic have over a 100 pages and be a whole bunch of volumes long. Me: Wait- Video: Just because something is hard to draw, still draw them. Me: BUT I'VE ALREADY MADE ALL THE CHARACTERS STICK FIGURES BECAUSE DRAWING ANYTHING IS HARD-
I loved this. You spoke so well. I'm a legally blind illustrator and aspiring comic artist. I have 5 projects I REALLY want to get out there. Two of them I've been working on for YEARS. Part of what has stopped me is I'm so scared about putting it out there. You just built my confidence a LOT. I love how much experience you have and how you explained it. Very wise words. I'm gonna start this week. :D Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you for making this video! As a comic artist with two previous 'attempts' at making a comic series, and is now storyboarding the first arc of my brand new comic with many of these mistakes under my belt, I feel confident and reassured that I have been getting better, and hope that this time, I'll be able to make a better mark among the comics community :>
Man! These are really opening my eyes. I currently have a webcomic with really poor updating patterns along with many other issues. It makes me consider what I want to do next with my stories. And I will tell you that I have multitudes of stories coming from my head. Thank you very much with making this video.
One suggestion for posting consistently is to work on pages ahead of time before you even start posting, that way if you're drawing a really important or real hard thing and it's taking forever you can still post your comic without leaving your viewers waiting
*Me:* has a wip comic draft I've had since 2016 - edited in 2018 - need to edit it again and actually add a proper story + all the smaller comic ideas I've come up with but done nothing with *Also me, someone with ADHD:* Interests shift rapidly, cant even draw art regularly, cant come up with stories / cant NOT add too little or too much, drawings are too detailed and struggle to simplify them, has extreme perfectionism, quits when there's no immediate Dopamine reward and suffers from Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria - "I will get all my comics drawn one day!"
*Also me, someone with ADHD: extra* - needs my hand held at every step, thus requiring near completed script, /practically lineart/ detailed sketches (or I cant understand what's going on :'D) and *must* have background in every shot. But I will get my comic's done eventually :')
I imagine these stories and characters in my head that has a certain art style, so I always procrastinate because I don't want to screw up a big story with a lousy art style such as mine.
*Warning. Long comment containing a lot of information. But also about a story I wrote soooo. Yeah. Read at your own risk* I’ve been into art for, I think it was ever since I was 3ish. I’ve never really been good at it, but I enjoyed painting a lot and I rarely ever drew (besides when I was young, young) because I didn’t like how my drawings looked and I didn’t draw a lot until this year. Last year I started seeing more artist and during summer, I got into manga and anime (comics ;)•) and started to draw again. I feel really confident in my drawings, but then again, I’m really in confident in them. I always draw at school when I can, even when the teacher is talking (don’t worry, even if I don’t pay attention, I’m getting good grades!) and explaining things, I’ll be drawing. Recently, in my writing class, we had to write a full front and back page story, and it had to be a mystery story. Mine was about a girl who woke up on her birthday, and went to school only to find that there was a school fire. The Principal wouldn’t say anything so she wanted to investigate herself, and had her bestfriend help her. One day there was something in her house, and she saw it from her bedroom, but when she checked the camera’s, there was nothing there. They interrogated people at school, including the principal, but couldn’t get an answer, until they met a boy who was bestfriends with the principals nephew. They got answers and kept looking, when the main character got home one day, there was a note in her house, telling her to delete all of the information that she had on the fire, and people were watching her from outside her house trying not to be seen obviously but that didn’t work. She knew. Anyway, she deleted everything on her computer, but she wrote it down. A few days after that, she was on FaceTime with her group of friends, when a monstrous figure breaks into her house and kidnaps her. and it ends there lol. It really inspired me to read more and write more stories. I’m currently working on a few others, and my classmates wanted a part 2, so I’m doing that as well. And I really want to put it into drawings, but it’s just so much to draw and I’m not very good at drawing. I don’t know what to do anymoreeeee
Write part 2. See how it feels. During this time of writing, or just after it's complicated, you can try doing some rough character sketches when you can find the time. Also create a scrap book of reference imagery that you think might come in handy later on. Keep drawing quick single scene sketches until you get something you like the look of and you feel you can easily replicate style wise. These drawings are not meant to be perfect, not even anywhere close. It is more about getting a feel for what you can comfortably do as a bare minimum and then build up from there. Basically less is more when it comes to graphic novels. You got this. 👍
Thanks so much for making and sharing this video! I've been working on my own webcomic, and one of my biggest mistakes was deciding when was the right time to start. I've been making multiple script re-writes, but I'm not letting it stop me from pushing forward. Thanks again for this great video!
personal i've been drawing anime for 1 month (for anime or whatever ) i didn't start bad i was like ok at it now im like i can draw a quick drawing like a 1 min drawing and its really good .
Its about a teen boy and a teen girl who go to a new world made out of candy and they were brought to save the day and there are five elements they are candy,chips,soda,cake,ice cream its a love/action story
So ken is more of i dont have time for love person And lisa is more of a tunsdere person Ken Likes:??? Hobi:dose experments Age:16 Lisa Likes:ken Hobi:stare at ken posters Age:16 Other people Bad guys aka the vegtables Lisa's bro Candy fairy Min candy peeps Me aka the mama 24
Idk If this would sound dumb im 30 yo and im still thinking on creating my own webcomic. i have my characters desing but.... still not a good story, and i sometimes think im too old to do so.
Your channel has inspired me to just get up and get started on my webcomic ideas, instead of keeping them in my head. I've been filling journals and making all these notes and designs of the characters, plot and ideas and meanings I want to express. Each video you post gets me so pumped to create, so THANK YOU SO MUCH!
video: don't make your first comic an epic with 20 volumes- me: has been planning my first real comic for 3 years and the script is 15,000 words long so far *and it's not even done* yeah, im fucked
Not sure if coming at it sideways counts as "getting more experience." Started doing digital artist 10-ish years ago, started writing novels 7-ish years ago, and started my video game voice acting... cinema? Weirdness? Three years ago. Just started seriously scripting out a so-far-four-but-will-be-bigger volume epic. (I'm 8 chapters into the script and am beginning to get a sense for this workload oh boy.) At this point, words aren't an issue, stage direction isn't an issue, art isn't so much an issue... it's just the PATIENCE. Oh my GAWD. (
Ok but that big epic story is literally the ONLY reason I want to start a webcomic. I don't wanna just make any comic for the sake of being a comic artist, I want to make THAT comic.
I would say, stop doing webcomics. It's the comics equivalent of a career in fine art. If you are just too hard headed, disguised as "just a love for the art", then just make sure that you're ok with eating ramen, flipping underwear inside out, having roommates, no privacy, massive anxiety, disappointed parents, no vehicle, cat food only for you, but not your your cats--every now and again, praise over pay, and lots of uncontrollable sobbing. Enough making myself laugh maniacally--you can succeed, if you hustle. Pretend you are 40 miles from the nearest gas station with a gas can in your hand--on a dirt road. You have no choice but to reach the destination--your life pretty much depends on it. That's what life is about. You have to have a goal, a destination. You have to make a living. But one serious tip here, get an audience. It is a one in a million chance that someone is going to just come along and "take you to Hollywood" so to speak. Gather like-minded artists, writers, etc and form an alliance. Utilize your separate audiences as one. Until you gain a good following, work on your book.
Honestly I just wanna make an endless comic. There's acts that provide shorter stories and allows for closure, and it allows me to stop and change things around.
sadly, everything has an end :( as much as it'd be amazing to have a story that never ends so you don't have to suffer seeing the end come, It will have an end somehow, making no end to a story is just finishing it without an end :(
Still, if you really want to you can try! I by no means want to be the reason someone loses motivation! just said that sadly all stories have an end, but you can go as long as you want! :)
My first comic has three characters. The rest have no dialogue. I know what ending I want. I expect less than 200 pages. I like to storyboard, to do backgrounds... I think I'll be fine.
I agree 100% with not starting with a long epic story as your first project. I used to see not just comic artists do this but animators and art students as well. Everyone wants to tell a giant epic with 50 characters but it always bogs you down. Trim the fat and don't start with the project that is your "baby." You'll set yourself up for disappointment.
i also have another suggestion for everyone. Make a google doc that has bullet points of events that you think would be good for your comic. Even if they're random but come across your mind, and you were able to envision it, still jot them down. If you keep on doing this, you'll have tons of ideas for your story. If you're bored in math, or a meeting and aren't paying attention, maybe day dream a scene or something, and if it's actually decent, then just write it down (Don't day dream at important things tho plz). Maybe if you have dreams, you might get ideas from them and create a whole scene focusing on a part of your dream and adding onto it, or recreating it to match the plot that you have right now. I also think that listening to songs and looking at the lyrics might spark some ideas. Even if they're very simple. Just keep on adding to your doc, and you'll surely never run out of events. As long as there are no plot holes or anything, then you're good. For script, i think you should do it per episode, meaning you start with the script for episode 1 on a doc, then start on episode 2, and if you do the whole summary of what is supposed to happen in bullet points, and use them as a guide to help you what to do in your script, then it's going to be quite successful. Example of bullet point ideas: *its morning *shrek wakes up because of the alarm *he gets up and does everything and sees fiona but something is wrong *fiona is farquaad *shrek freaks out so he grabs a fork (weapon) *farquaad jumps through the roof and flies on dragon *shrek jumps through roof and flies on donkey *they fight (sorry they aren't bulletpoints lol but you get it) Example of generating bullet point ideas to script: its morning, sky is yellow and orange, shrek wakes up from wakeup alarm. He gets up, cleans his teeth, takes shower in the swamp, then goes to living room to see Fiona. Shrek: hey fiona! Fiona (has weird look on face): Hey S-shrek! Shrek (confused/ sus): you sound just like... FARQUAAD!!! okay you get the rest. hope this helped..
I'm an older artist and had an idea for a comic... My first tought was to share it with friends when it is finished, but now I'm thinking to post it someplace on the web (when its finished). How many pages should I post at once? It will be a smal story (betwen 20-50 pages).
“Have you ever had a comic that you love and suddenly it goes on hiatus?”
*HXH has entered the chat*
Berserk, Vagabond
MCU Forever123
Lumine
@@gloop7458 yeah...
Hiatus X Hiatus
Unordinary (last year)
Me: *Starts a comic with an overarching story and character development*
Me: Oops
Hehe... I'm in danger.
Same. LOL
aNd i oOp-
The video didn't warn against writing comics with an overarching story and character development, just to avoid writing long epics at the beginning of your comic career. A short story can have both a great plot and character development.
Me: The same. My series is like a pixar theory XD
“Worst mistake is not starting” meeeee lol
Omg-
Same
I feel you. :3 xd
Same 😅
honestly I'm just afraid since i don't have enough time to legitimately work on a comic without
a - failing half my classes
b - getting no sleep
c - making literal doodles instead of art
d - or all of the above...
Her TOP TEN tips:
1. Dont start out by doing a big epic story. Gain experience by doing smaller projects first.
2. Use large drawing files so that if you wanna print them later on they'll be printable quality.
3. Avoid having an inconsistent schedule for updating your comic.
4. Don't expect overnight fame and popularity. (Make sure to reach out and network with people and make friends in the community.)
5. Stop avoiding hard things and stuff you dont like to draw eg backgrounds etc. Focus more on them instead.
6. Avoid unreadable bubbles and learn proper typography eg font use etc. (If you're handwriting the text make sure it's legible.)
7. Make sure the flow of the comic is smooth and the placement of bubbles and text is good.
8. Do enough preparation before starting a comic. Make use of thumbnails, character sheets, storyboards, and references.
9. Use a script so that the comic doesn't go haywire overtime. It'll help you foreshadow and make the comic more cohesive.
10. JUST FUCKING START
Yeap. 🙂👍
If you aren't trying to sell or publish your work and just want experience: I suggest starting with that big epic story you want to do. But break it up and go in with realistic expectations. You most likely aren't gonna produce amazing work on your first go, but you'll learn. Don't drag yourself through something you don't enjoy. Tackle that big scene you have in mind and focus on that.
Gonna kinda go off this but also as my own experience (been making and publishing comics for like 5+ years)
1: make both an epic and a small story. Small stories will be recommended; 20-40 pages at most, if it's anything longer than that, it's considered a long story. the 'epic' or long stories are actually SUPER recommended for if you want to really practice and improve your art in the long run as well, the small stories will give you some variety from your big project (cause you don't necessarily have to publish it immediately).
2: It really depends here cause you can use large files, but a lot of printing firms will want it around 300-350 dpi, don't do like 600-1200 dpi unless you want to do a lot of converting (it will TAKE A LONG ASS TIME TO CONVERT SOMETIMES DEPENDING ON HOW MUCH DETAIL YOU HAVE)
3: Make sure to have enough chapters ahead of time so if you do procrastinate, you won't worry. Inconsistent schedules most readers won't mind, but more if you have a consistent schedule and then you miss an update or two, often some people will get upset (but you will totally have the people who are fine with it), while consistency is key, so is your fun and mental health.
4: Overnight fame and popularity take time (it's fine with this one)
5: while backgrounds are cool and all, work smarter not harder. Maybe prep a background in advanced but keep it really simple, you don't want to take away from your character. too much background will fuck you over in the long run and end up making your characters either blur into it or just kinda take away from the mood. While Consistency is good here too, if you can't keep it, it's fine, make it look as close as possible. You don't want to focus on the backgrounds too much unless it's applicable to the plot or just needed to give an idea on where the character is and the mood.
6: use fonts is good. But a huge tip I received from a publisher, unless your character is shouting, all fonts MUST BE THE SAME SIZE THE ENTIRE PAGE. If they're inconsistent, it will fuck you over and make it look 'unprofessional' and sometimes, depending on the style of comic you're going for, take away from the art and the story (because the font can get too distracting if it's too varying in size).
7: While flow of the comic is good, don't over saturate with panels, but don't over saturate with word bubbles as well, you want a good balance and make sure there's enough space for the word bubbles (which is also a good cheat if you don't want to draw a background)
8: prep is good, definitely use thumbnails and use a lineup of all the character's you'll be using so you'll know the heights. If you need references, make sure to reference (or just do it on the fly). I don't personally recommend story boarding, as that's more for animation and not necessarily comics because the thumbnails is basically the same thing (since that's LITERALLY what thumbnails are for, to get the idea before drawing) and full character turn around as it can take away time from other things you could do and make use of, as you don't want something overly detailed to be either never used or rarely used, making all that hard work for nothing (also, once again, turn arounds are mostly for animation, if there's something significant your character has, make a note of it on their art or their lineup sheet)
9: if you're making a script, those are mostly recommended for the big epic stories, or if you're in a large team of like 2-6 people. If it's a short story, you can literally just thumbnail it out and scribble notes on what you want, especially if it's 20-40 pages long. Scripts with a general idea is good for short to semi long stories and scripts with significant dialogue is good for epic stories. If you're going to just do short stories, maybe write down the general idea, but don't necessarily focus on everything like 'foreshadowing' and such as how much foreshadowing and other literary subjects are you doing to do in a tiny story? (unless it's horror).
10: absolutely do it, if you're the type of person who procrastinates, you might want to force yourself, but if not, just be patient, prep your shit, and then start doodling. Take your time but also work smarter not harder, because you can actually screw yourself over in the long run if you start doing overly detailed backgrounds and sometimes overly detailed character things that absolutely aren't necessary at all.
@@sarah8638 people jot down ideas and work on them later all the time, it's very common. Also remember nothing in this world is original, everything has been done before in some way shape or form. That's why it's important to have your own personal essence in what you're writing; your beliefs, opinions, emotions, experiences etc. That is what makes art unique and personal. If you tell 5 people to paint the same apple will you get five identical paintings? Of course not
@@sarah8638 lol looking up an idea online is quite hard. Just because you can't find anything like it doesn't mean something kinda similar doesn't exist trust me. If it's really unique and original then props to you but I don't think you need to be that afraid to discuss it with your friends at least? A rough outline of the plot at least. Discussing with others really help in my opinion cuz you are provided with new perspectives and opinions. Don't worry too much about someone stealing your whole comic plot when you haven't even started working on it. Good luck!
A guy from my class is literally winging a comic without a script to try to at least do something, and he doesn’t even know were the story is going. But hey, he is doing more than my individual one punchline pages (though they usually have a small script, they aren’t fun because my comic humor is dead).
At least you have the right mindset. Not many people understand the importance of a script. Perhaps comedy isnt your forte and you need a different genre?
I have a comic that I'm doing with a story as well as a comic that I'm winging without really knowing where it's going. I have a general idea about things I want to do within but no ending. Oddly enough I find it easier to draw and work with that comic than the one based off a story I have pretty completed in my head?? Kinda leaves a world of opportunities open lol.
I experimenter with improvised comics ages ago. Just started drawing the first panel, without really knowing how the rest of the page would go, let alone the whole story. It's a fun and freeing process, but doesn't really make for great comics. :)
Winging a comic is still a viable way to practice and experiment! A good script is a valuable asset, but when you're working alone, you can only do so much, right? Some people can be extremyl detailed and still start/finish a project and some people have a problem with overthinking and never start.
it works for some people, just look at kill six billion demons lmao the creator has said often that he does no scripts and has a general idea of where the story is going but no specifics, yet the comic is good and very successful so yea
I love the fact that this isn't generic. it is extremely genuine and personal and relatable!! Thanks for the tips! I will keep them In mind.
"If you have a story you have been dying to tell for years-"
Me: :0 That's me! With my new comi-
"Wait till you have more experience"
Me: And I oop-
Yeah same xD.l am thinking about starting on Facebook and Instagram or even Pinterest as a comic post website because l don't know if l will give up on my first simple stories just because the story doesn't go anywhere
( ꈍᴗꈍ)
@@Nifoxil Try Webtoon! I find it really useful!
It's not the easiest thing to hear, but yeah it's true. My co-creator and I made the mistake of trying to jump into the story that we *really* wanted to tell, but we had neither the artistic skills or the writing/comic skills to really back it up. Since then we've grown other projects that we now love just as much (if not more in some cases) and it was from trying to work on something that wasn't our magnum opus.
Skyforse AO I know this is 3 months old but please do not add Pinterest to your options. Pinterest is not a social media platform. It’s not even a hub for artists. It’s a collection of images- a board site of some sort. It’s not a good start for trying to give your comics exposure because it isn’t even dedicated to comics or art in the first place. WEBTOON and Tapastic are better options because it’s easier to get attention due to the audience being exactly people who are looking to read comics. It doesn’t matter if you think your comic will be scrapped easily, just don’t start with Pinterest.
SAME GAWD AJJFKSJF :,,,)))) hhh
I choked with laughter with 'the epic story of many characters, 20 vols and massive cast, amazing!' -- that is such a common mistake with writers I work with too. Thank you, I love this podcast talk
I almost made this very mistake. I am still just building the world and story of my comic, not even set character designs.
Yet there I was, thinking about trying to get started on making this huge epic that would probably take 5-15 years to complete. With absolutely no experience in making comics, storytelling, publishing, marketing, etc, etc. My drawing skills are actually sh*t. Thank god I calmed myself by realising that this was going to go terribly.
I plan on making at least 2 smaller comics before jumping in to developing the big boy. Hopefully all goes well and I live to see my long term project become reality. Unless truck-kun decides to send me to another world. Isekai harem, here i co- sike!
@@jgarden3925 zbrush is not for beginner
@@ExploreImagineDefineCreate lol it's been a year, i'm curious have you already started the comic xD
As a graphic designer, I HIGHLY recommend 300dpi 👏👏
atElustrator wats that
@@breadgenie5380 the resolution
Why not higher? I'm genuinely curious
@@tasha2460 you can always go waaaay higher then that if you want 🤷♀️ it's just that anything lower usually has v shitty quality and wont print as nicely as anything at or above 300
@@edniesainteloi209 ohh okay thank you!!
One of my biggest errors while creating comics is thinking I could build a well-guided story off the top of my head. I thought I could memorize my entire storyline over months and that I wouldn't forget important details or plotholes. It all ended in me not knowing what was next and not having the energy to continue. Moral of the story? ALWAYS script, even if it sounds silly or tiring.
Loved your video, I learned a bunch of stuff and reaffirmed my knowledge on some others. Subscribed!
I started scripting my comic is July and I only finished season 1 about 3 months ago. I had writers block for ages and I just came back to season 2 and am only on chapter 5. Some of my ideas were easy to remember, while others weren't so writing them down was a great decisiom. I love watch I did so much, but I leave little room to creativity. That seems to be the only issue with scripting. But other than that, go do it.
This. This is me. I have such ideas that I think are great and I won't forget... What do you think happened?
Now I try to jot down any ideas that come to mind. Even if it's a quick note on my phone that doesn't make total sense, it helps remind me that I had the idea in the first place.
Huge piece of adivce to anyone: Write down your ideas, not only because it helps you remember, but also helps cement the idea into reality.
Valen Cat Thank you for the information, because I’m also working on a comic book. 🙂
I love to write the script actually
Script is literally my enemy lol
You said to start small but i don’t have any smaller ideas :(
Search for writing prompts
This comment may be old but try making a summarized (if needed) version of one of your characters back stories.
If you have a 1000 page epic, find a small, presentable section of it that you can call a chapter. Draw that.
I love to write stories in a novel form so I sometimes draw scenes from my series I've written. That's pretty small so if you write a stoeh you can draw scenes from that (this isn't that helpful but this is what I do sometimes)
mxrbids this is great , thank you 😧🖤 I was having the same stories too big thing but this just solved that.
Lol I have a sorta big first comic that I’m making but I’m making it with the mentality “ok it’s probably not really gonna be seen, but my main goal is to make something that isn’t absolute shit👌🏻”
same here! less pressure on you too
Same here. But I'm mostly doing it for fun, hopefully it turns out ok. And hopefully yours too (no pressure :3 ))
DragoNet661 BITCH ME TOO
I may actually never end up publishing my comics, but even then, I'll have something to show to my friends and family like "Hey I made this comic series wanna check it out?".
My mistake is not planning for placement of speech bubbles. I usually winged it by drawing first with thumbnails, but not speech bubbles.
Yeah... Speech bubble is one of important factors on comic, but I'm just lazy to do it.
Whoops! My first comic was almost 200 pages. It was... to say the least, daunting, but I'm glad I finished it.
Thanks for the helpful tips! I'll keep them in mind for my next comic.
It took me around 2.5 years. Making it probably would have been shorter if I wasn't working on it part-time.
200 isn't bad. Our short comic was 250, it's all relative.
Is it online somewhere? Id like to see your work :)
Is it up somewhere? I would love to read it.
I'd like to read your comic.
I’ve been developing characters and such for a story for almost 5 years or so now. I feel like at this point, I just need to start it. I’ve done some tiny comics here and there.
Do it on webtoon!!!
Yes, it is definitely important to not drag out the planning stage indefinitely, otherwise you are never going to start. Start drawing some actual comic, even drawing another story is better than not drawing anything and just planning indefinitely.
Same almost, made characters for wrestling comic and stopped... Dam 😣
Yea, but half of any project is the planning stage and if you don't plan well you're gonna run into trouble later on.
My tip would be to start the important stuff like a script and finalizing worldbuilding or whatever else you may have neglected now and reserve things like redesigning characters and such for pauses/free time and the very end of planning as otherwise you may end up changing it ten more times and end up only really wasting time. With character development, stick to making them fit in the story and portraying them right.
I can also recommend just doing a short and potentially unscripted comic about some backstory, some scene(s) you like or just a one-off featuring the characters in the style of the comic as a practice, you'll probably get a lot faster and more experienced with it so starting the actual comic won't be as frustrating and depending on what it is (esp. if it's backstory that's not vital to the tension in the story, a minor and not overly spoilery scene or a one-off rather than an important scene) it could be used as a teaser.
Now, this shouldn't be huge, depending on how fast you are maybe 10-20 pages or so, but it's something that can be quite nice if you're struggling developing your script at the moment and it'll help you improve a lot.
Luna Fowler Thanks for the super detailed tips! They’re really helpful, I’ve been working on a comic for 2 years and changed the plots 3 times during it, I finally stuck to a plot and I’m posting it on webtoon in a few weeks! (and of course I started making scripts, back stories and etc I didn’t before!)
100 pages is still a friggin lot. If you want to have a really good script for 100 page story, you'll be working at least 6 months on that alone. As a beginner it would be better to start with small but meaningfull stories, about 10 pages. After that you can build it up. Most beginner comic artists aren't that good at drawing, so the quality of your images change a lot when you look at someone's first page and then at, say, page 80. That creates inconsistency.
Merel I totally agree but I would also add that good writing can make up for inconsistent art.
I’m not saying it can be neglected, but many famous mangas have very meh looking chapter 1 art when you come from chapter 100 or so.
@@littleblueclovers true, but then you still need a lot of time to write a good story. And a lot of manga artists weren't planning to make a 100 chapter story of it, that's a decision they often make later (When it get's really popular) And those are professionals. This video is giving tips to new comic creators. If I'm a beginning comic artist I would never start with a 100 page story. I would first try to find my own style in making short comics so I can experiment a lot.
@@LittlxxPuDDingthat is a good advice thanks man you just helped a brother
@@hmmmwhat4400 No problem, glad it helps.
Just so happen to find your comment from mindlessly scrolling and I'm going to follow your 10 page advice, but is there a panel amount to follow? I never know how to panel and how many panels I need on a single page or for the whole thing.
3:33 why yes, yes I have
*Hiatus x Hiatus*
When will the Great Hiatus Arc end?
Decided to start scripting my great epic before I do the smaller comics (more time between each pass of editing will be nice, so getting draft 1 down will be good)
And hoo boy, script writing is.... wow. Can't wait to get to the drawing part of this xDD
The biggest mistake I made for my first ever comic was setting the scene in a library. I drew so many damn books. When I finally was done I was just so relieved. (I also coloured them...)
Oh noo 🤣🤣
Same here, when I re-drew (in better quality, since the OG was a comic strip and was thrown away 😭) my first comic out of an entire series I'm planning to make, the enviroment was a forest, so I had to draw a bunch of trees in nearly every panel (PD: I'm not good at drawing trees).
I have no script, I'm making it up as I go. I've had the ideas for a long time but didn't actually ever draw it out
All the best budd
I do that too. I have a basic idea and then I just make up the lines as I go and add lib it. Most of the time surprisingly it turns out well but that's after years of doing it like that and too many misfires to count lol
Same
what ive seen from the comments is straight up EVERYONE wants to make a big comic...including me lol
But everyone has to start small at first c:
Do both, it's better
backgrounds are not exactly hard to draw, they are really time consuming tho.
great video btw, this hints are pretty useful.
Me: I can do it!
My procrastination and crippling anxiety: you sure about that
Me: .. *awh man.*
“Stop Avoiding on Hard things.”
Me: OOHH MYY GOOODD SAAMMEEE!! I have a hard time drawing backgrounds but I still do it.
Question: Say I am structuring my comics in the form of a TV show, with each comic book being an episode. Would that still be good for a beginner?
It's fine dude, go for it!
can i read it
@@winup9417 When I actually work on it, yeah.
3 months later, you got anything bro?
I don't have any programs I can use to get started. And even if I did, I'm still a beginner, so it may take a while. For all I know, I may never be able to make this a reality. How about this: When/if I make any progress, I'll reply.
I wanted to ask you a question about coming up with panels/ pages when you come up with pages for your web comic do you draw it by hand then scan to ink it digitally or do you do it all digitally? I'm asking cause I'm working on my own comic but I'm drawing it in a sketch book, then plan on scanning it to my laptop to ink it digitally so I wanted to ask you if that's a good idea or is that a bad idea to draw my comic that way or what? Thanks i really would appreciate some feedback
Travis Herndon Well, since this comment hasn’t been answered yet. I don’t know if it’s a good idea for a beginner, but a guy called Danny Parker (Spanish) is doing practices in Marvel, and he first sketches the page traditionally and then inks them digitally. So it shouldn’t be a problem.
If it’s easier for you to sketch traditionally, go for it!
I actually had that happen all because I made a meme, wound up getting a bunch of subs in one day, about 15 or so. And everytime I make a page, I get 3 guaranteed new subs.
So... memes=popularity?
@@togaoppai7317 YEP!
Backgrounds are almost always an after thought. Some improvements have been made but it's still an after thought at times. Still working on script and hoping for the best. Love the video and how down to earth the info is. Thanks for sharing.
Love the video and I agree with point #1 specially before publishing! I really like this video!! Mmm Honestly, sth I see lately is how many young creators rush to publish. And sometimes I wonder, I started making comics/stories when I was 7 yrs old (well, earlier If you take into account storyboards) and I didn’t publish until I was like 21. Even though I don’t recommend starting to publish as late as 21 yrs old, I sometimes wonder how lucky/happy I felt doing my crappy artwork just worrying about drawing, and not wasting time marketing my noob comics. Nobody could see them but me, and I just think that maybe artists that are like super super young I would worry more about sharpening skills than publishing and worrying about followers. I’m not saying I’m an example at all, do not do what I do haha Just the suggestion on skills over followers when someone is very young >.< Unless that young person would be more motivated to work by publishing and if having 15 followers that are this person’s friends (or follow back tactics) doesn’t make that person less motivated because they wanted more or sth like that.
I always wanted to start a comic but the scariest thing is starting it
And there are no hands...
H O M E S T U C K
(In all seriousness tho this is really helpful, I love you lol)
comic going on hiatus for like 6 months *berserk flashbacks intencify*
Sad thing is the berserk creator died like a couple days ago
My goal is to draw like 20+ episodes in advance, then post them regularly while continuing to draw more, since my comic is probably going to be quite long. I'll try making a short comic to start with though.
this is a bit long:
im going to (probably) fail lol, because one of your first tips was like "save your super awesome comic for later and build experience" but im a bit too impatient for that and want to make mistakes for that too, then my webcomic is alllllllllllllll about backgrounds because its an ADVENTURE dramatic (comedy i guess) story because i HATE backgrounds, which is why im doing it and also becoming a "Tree drawing professional" because alot of trees. then something im not completely fine about is like in-putting the actual point of the whole webcomic a bit down the road after starting because of dramatical build up and yea cause its not a normal adventure guild story since its DRAMATIC but if i put the actual "story" immediately without letting the readers know the characters personality its gunna fall apart ...so. i have my plan, but im completely unsure if its actually good for putting it out there on the interweb
The End.
So how its going? Hopefully good
I recommend having a friend help you! I do and she and I bounce off ideas and fix plot holes. I draw and she helps with the ideas and what the characters could look like.
May we all finish our original stories. More power to everyone!! 💪😁🙌
I may do an easier 100 pg project before finally jumping back in and finishing the first volume of my epic series I've been working on for a while. I burned out overworking and haven't been properly back to it for over a year so I think a less stressful less perfectionist project may be just what I need to study up and get back into the swing of making my graphic novel proper. Thanks for the great tips video!
My biggest mistake so far is not reading the format webtoons wants the panels to be in uuuuuuuuuugh
I've noticed that MANY of the artists and IPs we love usually start out small, then grow into their awesome. Be it the Beatles, MST3K, Disney, Pixar, etc. Definitely the right way to go.
is it weird that im writting my comic and book just so i can read it myselfand i find it fun xD
Same
I wanted to make a comic *years* ago. Like 6+ years ago. I decided to learn how to draw because *duh* and write because *duh* and worked on small projects
I still think I’m not ready 😂 and am still pushing it to the side every time someone mentions my big future project
thanks to this channel i feel like i gained some useful knowledge for later, since im thinking on starting a comic, but its a BIG project so ima start slow and steady~
Thanks for always believing in me!
What’s the nest way to juggle making two comics at the same time? Right now I’m working on a 20+ issue epic, but also want to work on a 6 issue mini series as well. What’s the best work flow pacing I should expect from myself?
i haven't made a comic since i was in 4th grade, and i'm trying to get back into it. thank you for the tips! :)
I'm not the kind to click on these kinds of videos but dang, I'm glad I did. Right when i head you talk, I feel like I can trust you completely with all of these tips. Thank you so much! I've learnt so much.
I can't help it, your chuckle is so cute😊💘♥️.... The advice here is very generic, about to start off planning a romance webtoon of mine, I haven't drawn a comic in years though I draw and sketch regularly but the comic artist in me left on a long vacation and now he's back😁😁😁Wish me luck🌹
I’ve been binging all your webcomic script videos and I can safely say I’ll take them into consideration!
I’ve been planning to make a webcomic for about 6 months now, though since it’s my first project I think it’s best I archived it ^^;;
thanks for all the cool tips and tricks! they’ve been super helpful :D
The one about not updating freequently i get it! I love yoo has not updated in like 6 months 😭😭😭😭 im still waiting and it left on such a big cliff hanger😢😭😅
Guess what
It still hasn’t updated :’)
Amazing tips! Hello from Brazil =)
We usually learn from our mistakes more than with other's mistakes...
It's always good to watch some fellow comic artist sharing this kind of content here on RUclips.
I've been posting my comics on the internet for decades, and now I am trying to share these experiences for my students and my subscribers as well here in Brazil.
Best regards!
Don't you just love it when your favorite fanfiction gets deleted by the author?
*I'm being sarcastic*
“I remember when I was like a teenager-“
Wait what you’re not a teenager? but your voice-
See, I started my manga/comic about to years ago. My art style was still developing this style, and I look back on the early pages and re-read the story... and I wish I would have done a lot of things differently :(
but i cant do small!
i cant create a story with only 100 pages.
my brain cant do that!
not possible
not happening
nope
btw is it bad that i want to start a comic but have 0 talent in drawing people?
im literally practising for 2 years now and i made 0 progress.
ok maybe 5.538% progress but still
Or if you're really struggling with the drawing aspect of your comic, I'd recommend asking a friend who is good at art to help with that. (That is if you have any artist friends)
If you go to a website like Tapas and find their forums, there are always writers and artists looking for comic collaborators. If you ever want to find someone to help you with art you can ask those kinds of forums for collaborators.
Thanks so much for the detailed info and reassurance. I'm working on a graphic novel that I intend to publish as a full story, but your advice still really helped me. Also, your voice reminds me a bit of Mabel from Gravity Falls. Love your videos! Keep being awesome!
Your voice is so hecking adorable!
Yello Thanks for the advice it was really helpful but where should I post my comic I'm kinda new to the comic stuff so can you give ideas on where?
Tapas is a good platform I'd say. Webtoons also
I personally think their is no wrong way of doing comics but one thing is always script and plan the whole book and series if their is one then do sketches of what the book is going to look like. AND DONT I REPEAT DONT START THE BOOK OFF SUPER GOOD mainly since im pretty darn sure you cant keep the book super good the whole time
Here's what happens
My mind:Hey...hey...HEY!
Me:Huh what?
My mind:I have an idea
Me:That's new
My mind:Just shut up and listen, let's make a comic!
Me:Hey that's great content, thanks!
Later...
My mind:Ok so how's it-OH MY GOD
Me:I know it's terrible
My mind:Never let anyone see this, oh and tell your hands they're fired
Me:Done and done
And it never gets past the character creation stage
Meanwhile, we have this Japanese artist named One
Really like the way you laugh, sounds so sweet!
“Million ideas”
Same
I have million of ideas
Video: Don't make your first comic a grand epic.
Me: Crap.
Video: Don't make your first comic have over a 100 pages and be a whole bunch of volumes long.
Me: Wait-
Video: Just because something is hard to draw, still draw them.
Me: BUT I'VE ALREADY MADE ALL THE CHARACTERS STICK FIGURES BECAUSE DRAWING ANYTHING IS HARD-
This video was (and is) so helpful to me!
It really helped me avoid a lot of discouraging mistakes when making my own comics.
I loved this. You spoke so well. I'm a legally blind illustrator and aspiring comic artist. I have 5 projects I REALLY want to get out there. Two of them I've been working on for YEARS. Part of what has stopped me is I'm so scared about putting it out there.
You just built my confidence a LOT. I love how much experience you have and how you explained it. Very wise words.
I'm gonna start this week. :D Thank you. Thank you.
Thank you so much this video helped a lot, I'm working on my first comic rn, I'm still creating characters tho
Thank you for making this video! As a comic artist with two previous 'attempts' at making a comic series, and is now storyboarding the first arc of my brand new comic with many of these mistakes under my belt, I feel confident and reassured that I have been getting better, and hope that this time, I'll be able to make a better mark among the comics community :>
Man! These are really opening my eyes. I currently have a webcomic with really poor updating patterns along with many other issues. It makes me consider what I want to do next with my stories. And I will tell you that I have multitudes of stories coming from my head. Thank you very much with making this video.
One suggestion for posting consistently is to work on pages ahead of time before you even start posting, that way if you're drawing a really important or real hard thing and it's taking forever you can still post your comic without leaving your viewers waiting
You’re going to mess up but it’ll be okay
😢 so nice lmfao
*Me:* has a wip comic draft I've had since 2016 - edited in 2018 - need to edit it again and actually add a proper story + all the smaller comic ideas I've come up with but done nothing with
*Also me, someone with ADHD:* Interests shift rapidly, cant even draw art regularly, cant come up with stories / cant NOT add too little or too much, drawings are too detailed and struggle to simplify them, has extreme perfectionism, quits when there's no immediate Dopamine reward and suffers from Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria - "I will get all my comics drawn one day!"
*Also me, someone with ADHD: extra* - needs my hand held at every step, thus requiring near completed script, /practically lineart/ detailed sketches (or I cant understand what's going on :'D) and *must* have background in every shot.
But I will get my comic's done eventually :')
Any free software recommendations as a Photoshop alternative?
But what if all of my stories are 100+ pages long--
I imagine these stories and characters in my head that has a certain art style, so I always procrastinate because I don't want to screw up a big story with a lousy art style such as mine.
I just love so much the way you laugh in between your words!
*Warning. Long comment containing a lot of information. But also about a story I wrote soooo. Yeah. Read at your own risk*
I’ve been into art for, I think it was ever since I was 3ish. I’ve never really been good at it, but I enjoyed painting a lot and I rarely ever drew (besides when I was young, young) because I didn’t like how my drawings looked and I didn’t draw a lot until this year. Last year I started seeing more artist and during summer, I got into manga and anime (comics ;)•) and started to draw again. I feel really confident in my drawings, but then again, I’m really in confident in them. I always draw at school when I can, even when the teacher is talking (don’t worry, even if I don’t pay attention, I’m getting good grades!) and explaining things, I’ll be drawing. Recently, in my writing class, we had to write a full front and back page story, and it had to be a mystery story. Mine was about a girl who woke up on her birthday, and went to school only to find that there was a school fire. The Principal wouldn’t say anything so she wanted to investigate herself, and had her bestfriend help her. One day there was something in her house, and she saw it from her bedroom, but when she checked the camera’s, there was nothing there. They interrogated people at school, including the principal, but couldn’t get an answer, until they met a boy who was bestfriends with the principals nephew. They got answers and kept looking, when the main character got home one day, there was a note in her house, telling her to delete all of the information that she had on the fire, and people were watching her from outside her house trying not to be seen obviously but that didn’t work. She knew. Anyway, she deleted everything on her computer, but she wrote it down. A few days after that, she was on FaceTime with her group of friends, when a monstrous figure breaks into her house and kidnaps her. and it ends there lol. It really inspired me to read more and write more stories. I’m currently working on a few others, and my classmates wanted a part 2, so I’m doing that as well. And I really want to put it into drawings, but it’s just so much to draw and I’m not very good at drawing. I don’t know what to do anymoreeeee
Write part 2. See how it feels.
During this time of writing, or just after it's complicated, you can try doing some rough character sketches when you can find the time. Also create a scrap book of reference imagery that you think might come in handy later on.
Keep drawing quick single scene sketches until you get something you like the look of and you feel you can easily replicate style wise. These drawings are not meant to be perfect, not even anywhere close. It is more about getting a feel for what you can comfortably do as a bare minimum and then build up from there. Basically less is more when it comes to graphic novels.
You got this. 👍
Eehm im sorry but what is the program you use? Thx 💛
Thanks so much for making and sharing this video! I've been working on my own webcomic, and one of my biggest mistakes was deciding when was the right time to start. I've been making multiple script re-writes, but I'm not letting it stop me from pushing forward. Thanks again for this great video!
personal i've been drawing anime for 1 month (for anime or whatever ) i didn't start bad i was like ok at it now im like i can draw a quick drawing like a 1 min drawing and its really good .
Manga is not a good step.
Im making a new comic called candy land adventures1
Its about a teen boy and a teen girl who go to a new world made out of candy and they were brought to save the day and there are five elements they are candy,chips,soda,cake,ice cream its a love/action story
So ken is more of i dont have time for love person
And lisa is more of a tunsdere person
Ken
Likes:???
Hobi:dose experments
Age:16
Lisa
Likes:ken
Hobi:stare at ken posters
Age:16
Other people
Bad guys aka the vegtables
Lisa's bro
Candy fairy
Min candy peeps
Me aka the mama 24
Idk If this would sound dumb im 30 yo and im still thinking on creating my own webcomic. i have my characters desing but.... still not a good story, and i sometimes think im too old to do so.
30 years isn't old at all lol, it's quite young. Especially for writing. There's no age limit at all for that
Last advice is definitely the #1 mistake!
Awesome advice videos!! Thanks for making them :D
When you say “start small” would those mini cute “slice of life” comics count? Like Cassandra Calin ?
This advice is super! Thanks.
Your channel has inspired me to just get up and get started on my webcomic ideas, instead of keeping them in my head. I've been filling journals and making all these notes and designs of the characters, plot and ideas and meanings I want to express. Each video you post gets me so pumped to create, so THANK YOU SO MUCH!
lol I'm just winging this little alien kid comic and I'm dyiiinnngggg
Your giggle is so charming 😊
video: don't make your first comic an epic with 20 volumes-
me: has been planning my first real comic for 3 years and the script is 15,000 words long so far *and it's not even done*
yeah, im fucked
neccaro holy crap...good luck man
@@ajbtllr1530 pfff thanks a lot dude.. i'm gonna need it lol. just started drawin the first few eps !!
Not sure if coming at it sideways counts as "getting more experience." Started doing digital artist 10-ish years ago, started writing novels 7-ish years ago, and started my video game voice acting... cinema? Weirdness? Three years ago. Just started seriously scripting out a so-far-four-but-will-be-bigger volume epic. (I'm 8 chapters into the script and am beginning to get a sense for this workload oh boy.) At this point, words aren't an issue, stage direction isn't an issue, art isn't so much an issue... it's just the PATIENCE. Oh my GAWD. (
Ok but that big epic story is literally the ONLY reason I want to start a webcomic. I don't wanna just make any comic for the sake of being a comic artist, I want to make THAT comic.
I would say, stop doing webcomics. It's the comics equivalent of a career in fine art. If you are just too hard headed, disguised as "just a love for the art", then just make sure that you're ok with eating ramen, flipping underwear inside out, having roommates, no privacy, massive anxiety, disappointed parents, no vehicle, cat food only for you, but not your your cats--every now and again, praise over pay, and lots of uncontrollable sobbing.
Enough making myself laugh maniacally--you can succeed, if you hustle. Pretend you are 40 miles from the nearest gas station with a gas can in your hand--on a dirt road. You have no choice but to reach the destination--your life pretty much depends on it. That's what life is about. You have to have a goal, a destination. You have to make a living. But one serious tip here, get an audience. It is a one in a million chance that someone is going to just come along and "take you to Hollywood" so to speak. Gather like-minded artists, writers, etc and form an alliance. Utilize your separate audiences as one. Until you gain a good following, work on your book.
Honestly I just wanna make an endless comic. There's acts that provide shorter stories and allows for closure, and it allows me to stop and change things around.
sadly, everything has an end :(
as much as it'd be amazing to have a story that never ends so you don't have to suffer seeing the end come, It will have an end somehow, making no end to a story is just finishing it without an end :(
Still, if you really want to you can try! I by no means want to be the reason someone loses motivation! just said that sadly all stories have an end, but you can go as long as you want! :)
My first comic has three characters. The rest have no dialogue.
I know what ending I want. I expect less than 200 pages. I like to storyboard, to do backgrounds... I think I'll be fine.
Danke❤❤❤❤❤ Ursula!!^______
I agree 100% with not starting with a long epic story as your first project. I used to see not just comic artists do this but animators and art students as well. Everyone wants to tell a giant epic with 50 characters but it always bogs you down. Trim the fat and don't start with the project that is your "baby." You'll set yourself up for disappointment.
i also have another suggestion for everyone. Make a google doc that has bullet points of events that you think would be good for your comic. Even if they're random but come across your mind, and you were able to envision it, still jot them down. If you keep on doing this, you'll have tons of ideas for your story. If you're bored in math, or a meeting and aren't paying attention, maybe day dream a scene or something, and if it's actually decent, then just write it down (Don't day dream at important things tho plz). Maybe if you have dreams, you might get ideas from them and create a whole scene focusing on a part of your dream and adding onto it, or recreating it to match the plot that you have right now. I also think that listening to songs and looking at the lyrics might spark some ideas. Even if they're very simple. Just keep on adding to your doc, and you'll surely never run out of events. As long as there are no plot holes or anything, then you're good. For script, i think you should do it per episode, meaning you start with the script for episode 1 on a doc, then start on episode 2, and if you do the whole summary of what is supposed to happen in bullet points, and use them as a guide to help you what to do in your script, then it's going to be quite successful.
Example of bullet point ideas:
*its morning
*shrek wakes up because of the alarm
*he gets up and does everything and sees fiona but something is wrong
*fiona is farquaad
*shrek freaks out so he grabs a fork (weapon)
*farquaad jumps through the roof and flies on dragon
*shrek jumps through roof and flies on donkey
*they fight
(sorry they aren't bulletpoints lol but you get it)
Example of generating bullet point ideas to script:
its morning, sky is yellow and orange, shrek wakes up from wakeup alarm. He gets up, cleans his teeth, takes shower in the swamp, then goes to living room to see Fiona.
Shrek: hey fiona!
Fiona (has weird look on face): Hey S-shrek!
Shrek (confused/ sus): you sound just like... FARQUAAD!!!
okay you get the rest. hope this helped..
"Your first story shouldn't be over 100 pages"
looks at my first comic which is already over 100 pages
fuck.
I’m shook I didn’t know you guys were saying the names but thanks for answering the question!
I'm an older artist and had an idea for a comic... My first tought was to share it with friends when it is finished, but now I'm thinking to post it someplace on the web (when its finished). How many pages should I post at once? It will be a smal story (betwen 20-50 pages).
“Boowitful” i love her voice