Comics for Beginners

How to Write & Draw Comics

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Art tutorial: Tips for digitally coloring comics

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Coloring digitally in Photoshop or Manga Studio can save you some time and grief, and it is pretty easy to learn. Here are a few pro tips to make it even easier!

  • Start with the background color and the general flow of the page and save the best for last: coloring your characters.
  • Make a seperate layer for your characters and foreground objects, and flat them out first. This saves you time when coloring, because you can select the entire shape and not be afraid to paint outside the lines.
  • If you are coloring for print, please note that your screen is backlit, which means it looks a lot brighter there than it will on paper! Beware of colors that are too dark.
  • Convert the image to grayscale, to see if the color works. I know this sounds weird, but thinking of coloring in shades of grey can really help. It’s all about light and dark, and everything in between. By converting to grayscale, you will instantly spot where if it is all the same value, too dark or too muddled. You can always undo the conversion and get all your colors back!
  • Always put your line art on top, so you paint under the line art. Set the line art layer mode to multiply, that should work perfectly.
  • Colors should not compete with line art. Try not to have colors that are too dark. 80% black is probably too close to the black of the line art.
  • Use a seperate layer for the background color and another on top for people and objects etc. Experiment with the opacity of your regular color layer, to let the background color shine through.
  • Having a seperate layer for speech balloons and borders placed at the top of your color layers is also a good idea, as it prevents the risk of painting over your borders or into the whites of the balloons.

Related video:
Episode 8: Coloring in Photoshop

Process, pixels and pitfalls – Comics for Beginners podcast episode 27

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I got an email from a VIP subscriber who had a bunch of questions regarding his process. What program or software do you suggest for paneling or arranging the images with boarders on a computer? How much bigger should I do my drawing than the actual panel size? Is It important that all my drawings be consistent with that rule? Should I draw out panels into the page and start working on that or draw separate images and put them together on the computer?

I try to answer these and other questions in this podcast.

A shot of my desk, as requested by Joe!
A shot of my desk, as requested by Joe!

 

Writing the first draft

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plan your story with post-its
Using post-it notes or index cards can be very helpful in planning your story

When you’re writing your script, it’s important to take the pressure off and ban your inner critic from meddling.

Writing a script for my comics was the lesson that took my process to the next level. And after I learned to write a script, the next most important lesson was to think of my script in terms of drafts. After all, if it’s a first draft, you don’t have to be Alan Moore right from the go!

Here are some pointers for getting that first draft done:

  • Empty your head as fast as you can. Get it on paper, beginning, middle and end. You can always change the particulars later.
  • Perfection is not what you’re going for. It’s a first draft and it will be edited later! Don’t worry about grammar or mull over character names or location description, just get the story beats down.
  • Resist the urge to show your writing to anyone before the first draft is finished. Stephen King talks about writing with the door closed or door open in his book On Writing (which I can highly recommend). This means the first draft is yours and yours alone. If you have people critizing or asking the wrong questions it can totally derail your process. Write your first draft with the door closed.
  • Think through scenes before you sit down to write them. Take notes or just run through the scene in your head. The good thing is you can do this anywhere, anytime. And it makes the actual writing SO much easier.
  • Break it down into manageable parts if you feel looking at your entire story is overwhelming. 1st act, 2nd act, 3rd, act, individual scenes. Decide how many scenes is necessary to get from point A to point B and deal with each scene as its own little story, with beginning, middle and end.
  • Always be moving forward. Force yourself to get to the end before you go back and change things in what you’ve already written. Take notes of what you want to change but save the editing for the second draft.
  • Know the ending before you write the beginning. No, you don’t need to know the particulars but have an idea, a destination. At least know if it ends on a happy note or if it’s a tragic journey you’re setting out on.
  • Bonus tip: When you DO get to the end and write that the way it’s supposed to be, go back and rewrite the beginning so you can put in little clues about the ending!

Now, as I say in episode 2 of the tutorial videos, it’s time to put your script in a drawer and forget about it!

Related video: Writing your script

 

 

 

Video: How to Draw a Leather Jacket in Less Than 3 Minutes

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Here is a little trick to get the job done faster, if you’re trying to draw a leather jacket. It works on other things as well!

There is an Amazon link in the resources section to the acrylic markers shown in this video.

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Can Comics Composition Be Taught?

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compositionIn any comic, the way the panels arranged on the page is extremely important. Equally important, is what’s inside the panels!

Every panel has it’s own composition. And the arranged panels make up the composition of the page.

It is almost impossible to teach composition. In comics, it’s basically the distribution of black (or dark) shapes on a white page. A good composition is pleasing to the eye and helps guide the reader’s attention. The main focus should be telling the story.

The best advice I can give on composition, is work really hard on your thumbnails. If it works in a two-three inch sketch, it will probably work in full size as well. Ask yourself if it’s clear what’s going on. Is the eye guided down the page? Is it pleasing to look at? Does the page “tip” because there is too much or too little black in some areas?

Another pitfall to avoid is vertical or horizontal lines within the frames, like a wall or a door. If the line art i.e. the thickness of the lines are similar, the eye can easily confuse it with the edge of the panel. If you make sure to break the lines within the panels with an object, a person or a speech ballon, and that will help the reader tell the lines apart.

Take photocopies of your thumbnails, and try going over them with a black marker, trying out different ways to apply shades and blocks of light, to make the page appealing. Remember that speech baloons are part of the picture! And if you intend to color the page that matters as well.

When you are working on the actual page, try tacking it to your wall and taking a few steps back. Quite a few steps, actually! If a panel or page works at a ten feet distance, you’ve done a good job.

If you’re working digitally, be sure to zoom out once in a while for the same effect. Or print it out and doodle on the printout to see what might help adjust the overall expression.

In summary: The more decisions you make at the thumbnail stage, the less trouble you will have with composition at the final inking stage.

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