Comics for Beginners

How to Write & Draw Comics

making comics

ProFile: Aaron Alexovich

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ProFile-Aaron-Alexovich

AARON ALEXOVICH’S first professional art job was drawing deformed children on Nickelodeon’s Invader Zim. Since then he’s been deforming children for various animation and comic projects, including Avatar: The Last Airbender, SLG’s Haunted Mansion, DC’s Fables, Kimmie66, Confessions of a Blabbermouth, and three volumes of his own horror/comedy witch series, Serenity Rose. Aaron currently lives in Southern California, where the bright light makes him sneeze
for mysterious reasons.

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

There’s something incredibly personal about making comics, you know? It’s just you sitting there alone building a whole world up on a page. Almost like making an entire feature film single-handedly. Not every art form can compete with that kind of control. I love it. Kind of feels like dreaming when I’m really into it.

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

Every part feels frustrating most of the time. I sort of live for those little moments when things seem to come together. If I had to pick one especially tough part I’d have to choose inking. Still trying to find a way to ink stuff without killing all the energy in my roughs…

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

Always be working on something you love. Even if you have to take iffy jobs just for the money, it’s important to have a project you love on the side. Otherwise you’ll forget why you got into comics in the first place!

Aaron Alexovich’s site is heartshapedskull.com

Seth Kushner and Nathan Schreiber – Comics for Beginners podcast episode 18

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Seth Kushner (http://www.sethkushner.com/) is a photographer and writer, known for his awesome portraits in Leaping Tall Buildings: The Origins of American Comics and his Schmuck series and photocomics on Trip City. Nathan Schreiber (http://www.nathanschreiber.com/) is an Eisner and Harvey Awards nominated artist, whose own book Power Out won a Xeric award in 2009.

I talked to both Seth and Nathan about the art and craft while I was in New York this fall, only later realizing what a great double feature the two interviews would make, as they worked together on Seth Kushners Schmuck! Their collaboration on the Schmuck series can be found at http://welcometotripcity.com/2013/10/schmuck-14-size-11/

Seth Kushner and Nathan Schreiber's collaboration on Schmuck : Size 11
Seth Kushner and Nathan Schreiber’s collaboration on Schmuck : Size 11

ProFile: Ed Brisson

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ProFile-Ed-Brisson

Ed Brisson is a comic book writer who’s has been published by Image, Marvel, BOOM! and IDW. Before getting being published by others, Ed spent nearly two decades creating and self-publishing his own comics.

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

I don’t remember a time where I didn’t want to work in comics. I’ve been reading comics since I could read and probably started drawing my own not long after. It’s just something I’ve always wanted to do.

Initially I wanted to be a comic artist and only started writing them because I didn’t know anyone else who could. This was before the internet was around, so I didn’t have access to scripts either. Slowly, and over a long period of time, I realized that I enjoyed the writing more than I did the illustrating and gave up the latter to focus in solely on writing.

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

I’m not sure. I tend to be pretty scatter brained and have a lot of trouble focusing in when the time comes. I takes a lot of effort and is thoroughly exhausting. I need a nap after I’ve written four or five pages.

Another thing I have trouble with, something that I rarely hear people talking about to aspiring creators, is making sure that I have downtime. I mean, you work hard for a long time to “break into” comics, to have people notice you and when they finally do, the offers will come flooding in and you have to be aware of how much you can handle and making sure that you leave some time for you. Otherwise you’re going to burn out.

I *try* to leave my weekends free for me time (which means mostly spending time with my wife and daughter), but still generally end up working through them. I’m working on it though.

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

My advice would be to jump in, head first, and just start creating comics. Stop talking and start doing. I know too many people who have a “great” story they want to do, but never put rubber to road. Just start. Now. Start with 5-10 page stories. Build to single issues and then focus on doing longer stories once you have that down – once you’ve discovered your voice. Scrap your idea for a 200 issue epic. Start small and grow.

Follow Ed’s work at http://edbrisson.com/

Drawing Every Day – Comics for Beginners podcast episode 17

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In this episode I share some tips and suggestions for becoming a better artist. Drawing every day and everywhere is one thing, but what if you find yourself hating the end result? How do you get good at drawing and make it a habit? Well, click play and find out!
Drawing-every-day

5 great online resources for comics creators

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online-comics-resources

You can spend hours, days, even months scouring the web for information or resources on how to make comics. Here are five good places to go (other than this site, of course!)

Jimzub.com

Comics writer Jim Zubkavich (Samurai Jack, Skullkickers) dishes out a ton of great advice for aspiring writers and artists, both on the craft and the business side of comics. I interviewed him for the podcast at New York Comic Con 2013 on why he creates these tutorials and gives away all this valuable information – and trust me, it’s gold.

Blambot.com

A good comics font can be hard to find – and even harder to create from scratch – but the folks at Blambot have done the hard work for you! Their fonts are not all free. Some are license, so you pay a one-time fee, usually $20-25. A good deal for something you could end up using daily.

iFanboy makecomics podcast

Short podcasts about the craft, featuring Andy Schmidt (no relation!) of Comics Experience. The podcast sound quality isn’t always great, but there’s a lot of food for thought for creators, both newbies and seasoned pros. I sat on a panel with Andy at this year’s SDCC and he was every bit as smart and nice in  person.

Remind blog

Writer/artist Jason Brubaker shares his experiences and tools for creating his comic reMIND. Brubaker started the site Making Comics as well, where I did a few guest posts, but I would recommend going to remindblog.com first and devouring all you can.

Posemanics

A great online resource for artists who don’t have access to life drawing classes is pose maniacs.com. There are tons of reference models on the site and a timer function for doing 30 second sketches from random images. There is even an app for it and the resource is FREE.

ProFile: Scott Hampton

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ProFile-Scott-Hampton

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/