Comics for Beginners

How to Write & Draw Comics

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ProFile: Scott Hampton

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Scott Hampton (born April 10, 1959) is an American comic book artist well known for his painted artwork. He is the brother of fellow-comics-creator Bo Hampton. Working as a freelance comic book artist, Hampton has illustrated such iconic properties as Batman, Sandman, Black Widow, Hellraiser, and Star Trek in addition to work on his creator-owned projects such as The Upturned Stone. His works include Spookhouse, released in 2004 by IDW Publishing, in which he adapted his favorite ghost stories into sequential form, Batman: Gotham County Line and the creator-owned series Simon Dark with writer Steve Niles for DC Comics.

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

My older brother, Bo, introduced me to comics and it was love at first sight.

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

Pacing. Telling a story smoothly I find quite challenging.

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

Learn the craft of writing as well as drawing. Tell your stories. Don’t give up.

More at http://scotthamptonart.com/

ProFile: Arvid Nelson

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Arvid Nelson lives in Western Massachusetts with his loving wife, an angelic son, and a large television. He’s written for all the major publishers, he believes in the Oxford Comma, and his biggest claim to fame is Rex Mundi. Follow him at arvidland.com.

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

I worked on a couple of movies after college, and I quickly discovered film wasn’t for me. Movies involve a lot of logistics and fund-raising. The artistic process inevitably gets garbled. Comics seemed like a great “shortcut”, a great way to tell a big-budget story for practically no money. So I guess it was a cynical, calculated decision in some ways – I mean, I can’t say I have a burning passion for comics – but at the same time, it was in pursuit of telling the best stories I could, without making compromises.

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

Depending on other people! For instance, a key team member on one of my stories fell ill and stopped producing for a year. A year, Palle! He’s okay now, and that’s by far the most important thing, but it really hurt our momentum. Imagine waiting for a year in between episodes of The Wire or whatever. It breaks your heart.

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

Well, two things, and they’re related – persistence and forgiveness. By “forgiveness” I mean “forgive yourself for failure”. The more you forgive yourself, the more you’ll improve. And that leads to the other thing – persistence. You will pour your heart into a comic and then let it loose on the world with hope bubbling in your soul… only to be completely ignored. That’s okay. It happens to everyone, or, at least, I hope so, or I’m a total jerk. But if at first you don’t succeed, fail, fail again. Failure never gets any easier, but if you keep at it for a few years and then look back at where you started… you’ll say to yourself “Wow, I have really come a long way”.

ProFile: Mike Cavallaro

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Mike Cavallaro is from New Jersey, where he attended the Joe Kubert School of Cartoon Art, and has been a working cartoonist for over 20 years. His clients include DC Comics, Marvel, Image, First Second Books, Archie, MTV, Warner Brothers, Cartoon Network, and others. Mike’s comics include Parade (with fireworks), Nico Bravo & the Celestial Supply Shop, The Life and Times of Savior 28, with J.M. DeMatteis, Foiled and Curses, Foiled Again, with Jane Yolen, Recognition for Mike’s work includes YALSA’s “Great Graphic Novels For Teens” list, a Will Eisner Comics Industry Award-nomination, a Junior Library Guild selection, and others. Mike resides in New York City and is the vice-chairman of the National Cartoonists Society, Manhattan Chapter.

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

I was always interested in art, primarily illustration, and the more fantastic and unreal, the better. By the time I was graduating high school, I had already been working at my local comic shop for four years — it was my first job. My favorites were artists like Barry Windsor Smith, John Buscema, Frank Frazetta, Joe Kubert, Los Bros Hernandez, and of course many others. It was obvious that I was going to pursue some kind of art, and I guess I chose the one I was most influenced by at the time: comics. While other kids were applying to various colleges, I only applied to one place: the Joe Kubert School. After that, it was all comics, all the time, for the next couple years, and I guess it’s been that way ever since — pretty much the last 20 years.

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

All parts! Seriously, I suppose there are different degrees of “frustrating”. I mean, I’m frustrated by lettering because I don’t really want to do it, so it feels like sort of a drag to me. But, on my creator-owned stuff, there’s no one else to do it, so I gotta. But that’s more about tedium than anything else. There’s the frustration you feel when you can’t draw something the way you want and you’re erasing a hole into the paper and wasting time. But that’s somehow different. It’s not tedium, it’s coming face-to-face with your limitations and learning how to either exceed them or circumvent them in some way.

All-in-all though, the thing I find most challenging with comics is the writing. There was probably a point when I was discovering comics where I’d buy something just because it looked amazing. That’s not enough for me anymore. I need a story I’m interested in or I can’t be bothered. So I believe story (not just writing, but STORY: art and words working together) is the most challenging and important part of the whole thing.

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

Be versatile. Don’t just do one thing, one way. Be able to shift gears, employ multiple techniques and styles, and have a command of all aspects of comics making: writing, pencilling, inking, lettering, and coloring.

Follow Mike’s work at  mikecavallaro.com

ProFile: Charles Soule

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Charles Soule is a New York based comics writer and musician. He is best known in comics as the creator of Strongman, 27, Letter 44 and Strange Attractors. He currently writes Superman/Wonder Woman, Swamp Thing and Red Lanterns and for DC comics and Thunderbolts and She-Hulk for Marvel.

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

Much like many (even most) comics creators, I’ve loved the medium since I was very young. Some of the first stories I ever read were comics.  I’ve always loved writing, and commenced the idea of doing it as a career by writing a few novels.  That was a phenomenal experience, and gave me a great deal of discipline as a writer, but it was also a bit solitary and frustrating.  When those novels did not immediately catapult me into the upper echelons of the literary world, I turned to comics because of the shorter turnaround time and collaborative aspects.  I began with a few shorts, and then as I gained confidence and understanding, longer works. My first publication deal happened in late 2007, and it’s been onwards and (hopefully) upwards from there.

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

I’m having a hard time answering this one, because for the most part, I have truly enjoyed almost all aspects of the comics-creation process.  I suppose I don’t like it when writer and artist are totally out of sync, or can’t come together to discuss or compromise. That doesn’t happen very often, but it’s always a drag when it does.  Part of the joy of making comics is kicking an idea back and forth between the various creators involved to make something better than any of them could have done alone (again, hopefully).  If you can’t get there, then a lot of the point is lost, to my mind. No one’s idea is so perfect that it can’t be improved.

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

I have two pieces of advice – first, never stop working on your craft – write, draw, color, letter even if you know what you’re working on at that moment will never see the light of day.  It’s all valuable – you can’t ever overhone your skills.  And second, don’t rush things.  You don’t get to write Batman (or whatever your top tier goal may be) right away.  Don’t bring your stuff out until it’s ready – and “ready” is very simple to define, to my mind: ready = “at least as good as whatever other stuff is being published for the audience you want to reach.”  And again, don’t stop. It’s a long road, but it’s so rewarding.

More about Charles Soule at http://charlessoule.wordpress.com/

ProFile: Erik Larsen

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Erik Larsen has been writing and drawing Savage Dragon for the last two decades. Before that he worked on Spider-Man. He likes Savage Dragon better.

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

I’ve drawn comics since I was a kid. I grew up reading them and I’ve never wanted to do anything else.

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

Deciding what ideas to pursue over others. There are so many options and choosing the best one is always a challenge.

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

Your job is telling a story. Clarity is key. Don’t think it has to be perfect. But if a choice has to be made of being clear or clever–clear is the way to go. Your goal is to have readers understand what’s going on.

– More about Erik Larsen at savagedragon.com