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Case study: HARD EVIDENCE

by Palle Schmidt Leave a Comment

In the year 2000 my friend Malik Hyltoft and I published FUSION the roleplaying game, the first two books from a major Danish publisher and a third was self-published. This was not just a niche product, but a niche within a niche.

I’m super proud of what we put out there, but I found myself wanting to do something something a non-roleplayer could pick up and enjoy. But at the same time, I knew I had something of a fan base in the RPG underground. What to do?

I think it was at some convention a guy showed me a White Wolf comic, based on the Werewolf game, and encouraged me to do something similar with FUSION. I completely dismissed the idea (because I’m an idiot that way). And then changed my mind less than 24 hours later.

The plot for Hard Evidence (in Danish “Skyggen af bevis”) came from a roleplaying game session. Well, two actually. My friend Thomas Bjerregaard came up with the story of a man who seemingly murdered his wife, and a sinister conspiracy beneath it all. First time around, the setting was America in the 1950’s and the investigators FBI agents. I re-hashed the plot for our FUSION campaign, the setting now a near-future Copenhagen and private investigators on the case.

We took turns as game masters in our campaign, like different directors on a tv-show. My character, ex-con Hauge, wasn’t in the session as it played out, but took the stage for the graphic novel. I enjoyed playing this guy so much, I thought he could use his own show. I toned down his thick-headed personality and made him a bit more articulate for the graphic novel. I wanted the dialogue to be zinging and tough, like Raymond Chandler at his best.

In a way, this project was a stepping stone for me. It got me back into comics, when I thought it too hard. The Devil’s Concubine was scripted and thumbnailed and just laid there, like a mountain waiting to be climbed. Hard evidence seemed like a less daunting task. Drawing it got me back into shape and rebuilt my confidence. The story originally ran as a weekly web comic on the FUSION website, thus forcing me get the damn pages done in time. I can highly recommend this method. Only downside is that everyone has read the book before it comes out. I coerced a few of my peers into doing art for a pin-up gallery in the back, so byers would get something new for their money.

Lessons learned: 

Sometimes it’s a good idea to do a smaller project, almost like a throw-away thing rather than trying to tackle the most ambitious thing you can think of.


This post is an excerpt from my book SOLO – Survival Guide for Creative Freelancers – Get in now on Amazon.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: comic, crime noir, freelance life, Fusion, Hard Evidence, roleplaying, self-doubt, SOLO, webcomics, workflow

Making Comics with Patrick Yurick – Comics for Beginners Podcast episode

by Palle Schmidt Leave a Comment


“I find that art is 90 percent fear!”

Artist, teacher and CEO of MakingComics.com, Patrick Yurick, visited Copenhagen and I got to show him the better parts of the city. We also managed to record a podcast on his view on the craft, career, his experiences with teaching comics to teens, his zombie buddy comedy Hipster Picnic and the future of making comics.

Links to stuff mentioned on this episode:

My video on lessons I learned from working on Thomas Alsop

GutterTalk podcast interview

ThomasAlsop.com

Webcomics Underdogs

TheHeadComic.Com

@patrickyurick

MakingComics.com

StoryForgeProductions.com

Patrick-Yurick-in-Copenhagen
CEO of MakingComics.com Patrick Yurick (left) hanging out in Copenhagen with Palle Schmidt.

Filed Under: Podcast, Pro Tips Tagged With: Adam Greenfield, Anime, art, artists, Comic Con, comics industry, cosplay, craft, DC comics, fear, Gutter Talk, Hipter Picnic, Illustrator, Little Fish, making comics.com, Manga, Marvel Comics, online, overwhelm, Patrick Yurick, Photoshop, podcast, publishing, reference, social media, StoryForge, storytelling, talent, teaching comics, Thomas Alsop, webcomics

ProFile: Natalie Nourigat

by Palle Schmidt Leave a Comment

ProFile-Natalie-Nourigat

Natalie “Tally” Nourigat lives in Portland, Oregon, where she writes and illustrates graphic novels, webcomics, storyboards, concept art, character designs, superhero comics, children’s books, animated PSAs, and movie reviews.  Natalie is a member of Periscope Studio, and has worked with great companies like Dark Horse, Image, BOOM!, and Oni Press. Her graphic novels include “Between Gears” and “A Boy & A Girl”.  Natalie loves traveling and learning languages.  She majored in Japanese in university and spent 2013-2014 in France (Annecy and Paris).  You can find her drawing around Portland with a sketchbook in one hand and coffee in the other.

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

I think I was trying to find the comics medium for a long time, that combination of text and images that’s so good for telling a story.  I remember when I was 6 I did my best to retell a scene from my favorite movie with a series of images.  When I was 12, I was writing a lot of prose and interspersing drawings to help tell the story.  When I finally read my first graphic novel at 13, it was like, “Oh!  This is what I was trying to do.”  Once I started reading comics and had that model to study, I switched pretty much immediately to telling my stories in that medium.

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

I agonize over my scripts before I start drawing.  Writing doesn’t come easy to me, especially dialogue, and I can spend weeks writing and rewriting even a short comic.  Having an editor helps a lot (including the times they say “hurry up!”).

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

Don’t compare yourself to others too much.  A little competitive drive is good, but you wouldn’t want to draw like anyone else, even if you could.  It’s better to develop your own, unique thing.  As you create more and more pages, your personal voice will emerge and a lot of people will love it because it’s different than other creators’.

More at http://NatalieNourigat.com/

Filed Under: Pro Tips, ProFile Tagged With: A Boy & A Girl, animated PSAs, Between Gears, BOOM!, character designs, children’s books, concept art, Dark Horse, graphic novels, Image, Oni Press, Periscope Studio, storyboards, superhero comics, webcomics

8 Steps to Comics Success – Comics for Beginners podcast episode 24

by Palle Schmidt 14 Comments

As you may know, my first monthly book Thomas Alsop is out from BOOM! Studios and is doing very well. Hooray! But how do you get there? In the first episode of this podcast, I discussed the three biggest mistakes of my comics career. But it was a different time back then. In this episode I go into what I would do if I was starting out making comics today. Follow these 8 simple steps and your comics career is guaranteed! Er, no… But there are some good tips in this episode, that’s a promise.

Related podcast: The Three Biggest Mistakes of my Comics Career

 

Filed Under: Podcast, Pro Tips Tagged With: career, collaboration, comics, comics industry, creativity, how to, improving as an artist, instagram, making comics, mistakes, planning, PR, productivity, self promotion, social media, webcomics, workflow

ProFile: Jules Rivera

by Palle Schmidt Leave a Comment

ProFile-Jules-Rivera Jules Rivera is a Los Angeles-based sequential illustrator and animator.  She has worked in small press publishing and TV animation, and has self-published several graphic novels including Misfortune High and webcomic Valkyrie Squadron.

 What made you decide to work in the medium of comics?
I’ve always been a writer and a storyteller. I’ve also had an interest in animation and visuals.  Eventually, I discovered I could tell stories visually through the comics medium, and I’ve been doing that for the last ten years or so.

What part of the process is the most challenging or frustrating to you?
Always starting with a blank sheet of paper is rough.  Trying to figure out what the right layout is, or what the right camera angle is as you draw is tricky.  The key to overcoming it is to put something down.  Anything.  This is true of script or art.  A first draft’s only job is to exist.  

If you could give one piece of advice to an aspiring comics creator, what would that be?
Never give up.  There are many external and internal forces that would stop a creator from working. Self-doubt, lack of family support, the difficulties of breaking into a saturated entertainment industry. There are many things that will make you want to quit, but don’t.  Ever.  Even if you have to put things on hiatus for a while, never give up on creating the things you love. Creation is the thing that sets us free.
More at www.julesrivera.com

Filed Under: Pro Tips, ProFile Tagged With: animation, breaking in, comics, creativity, drawing, how to, Jules Rivera, making comics, Misfortune High, pro tips, storytelling, Valkyrie Squadron, webcomics

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