Comics for Beginners

How to Write & Draw Comics

Palle Schmidt

Are comics for kids?

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comics-for-kidsIn my part of the world, comics are often considered something for kids. The colorful, cartoony style often associated with comics is one reason, another is the subject matter and the stories themselves.

But what about graphic novels such as Persepolis, Jimmy Corrigan or Blankets? That’s not for kids. Yet I often find those books on the shelves of the bookstores next to Naruto and Dragonball, or at the kids literature section at my local library.

In my podcast interview with indie comics creator Jason Little, he talks about his experience with US readers slamming his brightly colored Bee books shut when they realize there’s sex and drug abuse in them. In France it seems they are much more open to adult subject matter being tackled in a cartoony way.

The whole explicit language thing is not something I ever gave much thought in my Danish career, but in the US there are certain words (see? I can’t even write them HERE in fear of getting in trouble!) that will instantly narrow down your reader segment. Some stores won’t even order a book with explicit language! Yet the US comics scene seems to have no trouble with explicit violence! For a foreigner it’s kind of hard to figure out. I can draw a naked breast from the side – a “side boob” (is “boob” a dirty word? I don’t even know!) – but not from the front.

I can understand the want to protect our kids from foul language, but surely foul behavior should be included in this? I can chop someone’s head off in a comic, but I can’t say “shit”.

Oops, just did.

The funny thing about the US scene is that the colorful superhero comics that many associate with kids, are mostly being bought by adults(!). In Denmark, the mantra for many years has been “you want to have a succesful comic book, you have to target kids”. I never bought into this. I always followed my heart in terms of what stories I wanted to tell, then worry about the audience. Slightly naive, I know. But in my mind, comics are NOT for kids. At least not the ones I read – and certainly not the ones I make. And I wish people wouldn’t automatically assume I make stuff for kids, when I say I make comics.

So, I have a question for you: How are comics perceived where YOU’RE from?

Related podcast: Colorful Sex with Jason Little

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The Monthly Grind – Comics for Beginners podcast episode 21

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The rabbit is out of the hat! BOOM! Studios is releasing the first issue of creator-owned book Thomas Alsop in June 2014, an occult New York story, written by Chris Miskiewicz and drawn by yours truly. Bleeding Cool did a nice little write up here: http://www.bleedingcool.com/2014/03/12/are-you-missing-hellblazer-here-comes-thomas-alsop/. I’ve obviously known about this for a while, even recorded an interview with my friend and mentor Peter Snejbjerg (http://www.snejbjerg.com) on the topic of working on a monthly book. Listen for more details.

You can read a 12-page short featuring Thomas Alsop here: http://welcometotripcity.com/2013/05/thomas-alsop-the-case-of-dead-uncle/ and watch the live action promo at http://welcometotripcity.com/2013/05/thomas-alsop-the-hand-of-the-island-official-trailer/

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Going off the grid

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The grid. Is it keeping the artist from expressing himself or are guidelines helpful? Let’s talk about the pros and cons!

First let’s talk about what a “grid” is: The grid is the arrangement of panels on the page in a predictable and similar manner. For instance, sticking to three rows of panels per page or even having the same number of panels, like the popular 9-panel grid.

While you don’t have to follow the exact same grid on every page, it’s certainly helpful to have some sort of guidelines – especially if you want to experiment on some pages! Tilted panels, A panel with no frame or a double-page spread has little effect if ALL of the comic is experimental.

The upsides to following a grid are many. The hard part of the storytelling is already done for you, the reading order is obvious. But as long as readers can find their way from one panel to the next in the right order, there is lots of room for experimenting with the page layouts in comics. Just remember, characters and objects sticking out of panels, borderless panels or big, fancy page layouts can be a lot more challenging to read, let alone create!

Even if you have an overall grid you use for a particular project, breaking it up can be a good idea. Keep those readers awake! The use of larger panels for emphasis can be a good variation. Just be aware, that larger panels tend to slow things down and smaller panels give off a more hectic feel. You can also experiment with panels that bleed all the way to the edge of the page or perhaps a figure in a panel with no frame. Variation in size and borders can be done without deviating too far from the underlying grid – but it should always be rooted in the story, in what you are trying to get across.

You may feel like you should be coming up with new and exciting ways to tell your story, but deviating to far away from the grid requires a mastery of the craft and may in fact hurt the storytelling. If people have to stop and think about reading order or what is going on, you’re not doing your story any favors.

If you’re unsure of wether the page reads right, try drawing the balloons and panels on a seperate sheet, see if the reading order makes sense without any pictures. Sometimes you can fix any problems just by moving a balloon to the top or bottom of a panel, to make the reading order perfectly clear. No need to redraw the entire page because of it!

My advice: Experiment within the grid and steer clear of wild panel arrangements until you know how to tell a story in a simple layout. Have faith in your story and focus on telling that story. Don’t try to impress readers with flashy, cool page layouts if it makes for a confusing read. Communication is key.

 

Sin City: A Dame To Kill For trailer hits

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348926-sin-city-2-josh-brolin-620x0-2Frank Miller’s hardboiled graphic novel Sin City was first brought to the screen in 2005 by Desperado director Robert Rodriguez. Now the trailer for the second follow up is online.

Looking at my art it probably comes as no surprise that Frank Miller was a major influence for me in my formative years as a comics creator. First intrigued by his Daredevil run in the 80’s, I was completely won over by his Return of the Dark Knight and Batman: Year One, the latter illustrated by David Mazzucchelli. This was superheroes, which I loved at the time, combined with the gritty realism of American noir. When Miller abandoned (more or less) the superhero aspect and went straight for the jugular with his hardboiled series Sin City, I fell in love all over again. Staying true to his trademark of reinventing his drawing style with every new project, Miller seemed to perfect the black and white art with A Dame to Kill For – a book that still stands as an example of how little outline you can get away with.

The 2005 movie stayed true to the visual style and the storyline, keeping almost every line of gravel voice over as it was in the comic. But what felt like a punch in the gut in comic form was beautifully boring on screen. The hardboiled scenes fell flat and the dialogue was cringe-worthy – to me an example that a movie IS in fact another medium and should be treated as such. But as I see it, Sin City paved the way for more comics adaptations (because it was cheap to make) and hopefully brought more readers to the source material. But the best thing Sin City caused, was the reviving of Mickey Rourke’s movie career!

Rourke is back as Marv for A Dame to Kill For, and so is Jessica Alba, Powers Boothe and Bruce Willis – adding Josh Brolin as Dwight (before the plastic surgery that made him look like Clive Owen) and Eva Green as Ava, the Dame herself. Once again spot-on casting. And the trailer promises lots of excessive violence and gratuitous nudity. What’s not to like? Well, we’ll have to wait until August to see for ourselves…

Enjoy the trailer below!

ProFile: Kody Chamberlain

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Kody Chamberlain spends most of his time creating comic books and graphic novels, but also works in film, animation, video games, and television. Credits include DC Comics, HarperCollins, IDW Publishing, Image Comics, LucasArts, Marvel Comics, MTV, MTV Comics, Mulholland Books, Sony Pictures, 12 Gauge Comics, Universal Pictures, and Warner Bros. In addition to his work in entertainment, Kody also an inspirational keynote speaker and consultant on the subject of creativity. Credits include CTN Animation Expo, HOW Design Live, INNOV8, Modbook, Macworld, iFest, Wizard World Comic Con, as well as AdFed groups and major universities throughout the United States.

You can find out more about Kody at his website: http://kodychamberlain.com.

His latest book SWEETS: A New Orleans Crime Story:

Print edition: http://tinyurl.com/amazonsweets

Digital edition: http://tinyurl.com/digitalsweets

What made you decide to work in the medium of comics?

As high school was wrapping up, I had no plan on what to do next. I was interested in a few different things but no real goals so I decided to go to college and figure it out along the way. I thought I might try engineering because I was doing very well in math so I signed up for an advanced math class that was part of the engineering program. I also signed up for a lot of the usual classes you have to take early in college including basic art classes. I was already doodling a bit here and there, so I thought the drawing classes would be fun.

I quickly realized that I hated the math class, and really enjoyed the drawing class. It was a dilemma because I was good at math and bad at drawing. I discovered graphic design somewhere along the way, thinking it might be a nice combination of the two and I picked it as my focus. After a few months in, I started hanging around with a few guys that were serious about comics and that’s what got me hooked.

I was also writing a bit, and thought it’d be fun to try getting into comics. I sucked for a lot of years but I was making slight improvements here and there, and slowly, things got better. I don’t recall ever having a big breakthrough where everything clicked and I made a big jump. I know that happens to artists sometimes, but for me it was a slow grind over many years. I was having a lot of fun and I knew if I kept pushing forward I’d eventually get to a professional level, so I stuck with it.

I started drawing around 1990 or 1991 and started sending out submissions around 1994. In 2002 and 2003 I started to get favorable replies from publishers and editors and I got my first paid work in 2004. Basically, it took me about 15 years of practice to get paid work.

What part of the process is the most challenging or frustrating to you?

The toughest part for me is letting go. I have to constantly remind myself to stop and move on to the next thing. I’ve talked with enough people to know that it’s a very common problem, and I think it’s one of the main reasons many aspiring creators never actually become professionals. I know plenty of people that have been talking about a project for years and claim to have something done on it, but I have yet to actually see anything from it. They’re stuck in the “loop” of reworking material and they never get out. I’m able to work past it, but I’m always a little grumpy when I have to let something go. In reality, if I were to keep reworking it I know I would kill it. Letting go is a daily struggle, but after an issue of a comic hits the shelf, I always feel good about the work. A little distance solves most problems.

If you could give one piece of advice to an aspiring comics creator, what would that be?

Stop sending out scripts, drawing sample pages, and mailing out submissions. Make a comic. You don’t need a team or a publisher, just make it. Write it, create some artwork, letter it, and then put it out. Then do it again. Even if you don’t end up doing every job when you get into the industry, you’ll have a detailed understanding of the process, and that’s an asset. You don’t need permission from anyone to make a comic, and you don’t need much money. The cost of making comics versus film, animation, etc is incredibly low. Once you’ve made a comic you are now a comic book creator, not an aspiring comic creator. You’ll find the industry treats you differently.

Podcasts, podcasts, podcasts

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gutter-talk-palleThe Comics for Beginners podcast is now available on iTunes! It took a while and almost broke my faith in humanity – or at least my faith in myself as a tech person. Feeds, channels and boards, OH MY!

Anyway, luckily I don’t have to understand the internet to be able to make use of it. And now the podcast can hopefully reach a wider audience. Want to help spread the word? Link to your favorite episode or go leave a review on iTunes – apparently that helps other find the podcast.

And in case you missed it, I’ve recently been interviewed for two other podcasts: Indie Comics Tracker interviewed me on the creative process and about this site in a great little 18-minute chat, and if you have more time, you can listen to me talk to the guys from Making Comics on episode 8 of the Gutter Talk podcast for almost an hour, on scripting, storytelling and the craft in general.

Enjoy! And have a great weekend.

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