Comics for Beginners

How to Write & Draw Comics

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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!
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Hard Choices with Palle Schmidt – Comics for Beginners Podcast episode 16

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Last week I taught a comics class at the Animation Workhop in Viborg. This week’s podcast is a summary of some of the things I taught – and learned myself! The main theme is choice: what kind of choices you need to make before you start drawing, and what you can do to make the process easier for yourself. As usual, your host is writer/artist Palle Schmidt.

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JFK and Craig Frank – Comics for Beginners podcast episode 8

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Last week I talked to animation director and first time graphic novelist Craig Frank (http://www.frankfilm.dk/) about his succesful Kickstarter campaign for his upcoming book JFK Secret OPS (http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/256252644/jfk-secret-ops-the-graphic-novel) and his experience with making comics for the first time and how to avoid cramping up by painting on several canvasses at the same time.

Better to Start Small than Fail Big

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It's better to start small, than to fail bigWhen you are starting out in a new field, like making comics, it’s a good idea to start small.

But what about that big, epic graphic novel you have in you? You want to make an impact, right? True. But if you want to have even the slightest chance of succeeding, you need to pace yourself, get better before you throw all you’ve got after a 120 page graphic novel.

You don’t start your running with a marathon. You run a mile. Then, when that starts to become easy, you run two. You slowly build your running skills.

And skill is not the only thing you build. Confidence is equally important. If you start a huge project and don’t finish, it will feel like failure. You did not achieve what you set out to do.

If you set small goals, the chance of success is much bigger. And success is what builds your confidence, which again builds your skills.

You’ll never make it to the finish line, if you don’t build some muscle first. You need skill, dicipline and craftmanship.

Even with a five-page story, you will no doubt want to redraw page 1 when you get to page 4. This is a good thing! It means you are learning, getting better. But I urge you to move on, finish it. And take whatever you’ve learned and apply it to your next project.

And when you DO finish, share your achievement. Put it online or get it out in a fanzine. Take pride in your work, however small. And always be improving, learning, gaining more and more confidence.

The way to do that is to start with something you can actually achieve. Something small.