Making Comics

[Mark Bordiyan]

Um.....I was just wandering if there are people that actualy make comics them selfs!!If there are I just wanted to know how you guys do them!? Making comics is fun for me and I just wanted to know if there are people that share the same interest.

[shaxper]

I've been working on a few titles, off and on, for several years now. I'll have a few weeks where I get very serious about them, and then I start thinking about the odds against actually getting them published and start slacking. You should see my endless supply of character, story, title, and even universe ideas strewn around my My Documents folder

Glad to meet another aspiring creator!

[Mark Bordiyan]

Thank you! I hope there are more people then that! But you don't have to do the comic just to get it published, you can do it just fun! I actualy hope there are more people!
If not a sectret what are you working on? Just wandering!

[shaxper]

Thank you! I hope there are more people then that! But you don't have to do the comic just to get it published, you can do it just fun!

True, but ultimately, what's the point of writing if it isn't going to be read? I've been making comics since I was seven, but even then I imagined I had an audience reading.

If not a sectret what are you working on? Just wandering!

Well, I don't want to go into too much detail, but I came up with a basis for an entire universe much like ours, but which has a thoroughly logical explanation for super powers and where they come from. I wrote a short story that reads like a creation myth for that universe, explaining how it came to be, how its gods shaped man's reality without even meaning to, and how that resulted in some manifesting special abilities of one sort or another. I don't want to get into more detail than that on the web.

The main title I've been working on as of late (which takes place in that universe and could easily be written as a stand alone series without a whole universe behind it) is centered on a 12 year old girl living in her universe's equivalent of Earth. Things are very similar, but with slight differences. She is an Aedian (roughly similar to being Islamic), living in her universe's version of the U.S., and when Aedian extremists commit a second terrorist attack against her country, Aedians are rounded up and sent to internment camps. This actually nearly happened in real life, by the way. The camps were constructed during the last presidential administration and were set to go if another 9/11 happened.

Anyway, she's sent there and while there develops her own set of super powers (which I won't get into). All her life, she's been told about an avenging prophet in her people's faith that would one day step in when her people were in their darkest moment. Even though she's never had much interest in her faith up until this point (she was an average American girl), the guilt of seeing her zealous father murdered combined with her indignation at how her people have been treated in the camps lead her to believe her new-found powers are proof that she has been chosen by God to become the avenging prophet. She strikes out at her captors and is left to question what she believes in, what morals and values apply in this situation, and above all else, what she is supposed to do with these gifts. It's an exploration of terrorism, our responses to terrorism, and (most importantly) the doubt and uncertainty of adolescence in the midst of a complex and terrifying world. At times, she's the hero in this story, at other times the villain, but always a naive child who is far too young and formerly sheltered to have to take on these issues.

Most of my inspiration in crafting all of this comes from learning about the Japanese American Internment during WWII and from my own observations of confused, frightened, and angry 12 and 13 year olds that I teach everyday in my classroom.

Sorry if I got long-winded, there. Honestly, that's barely scratching the surface of what I've been writing. Can you tell I've gotten a tad bit carried away with it?

[Mark Bordiyan]

Yea, you can! But still if I think it's great.

[Tinlantern]

Heya! I do a black and white comic book called "Gruesome". It's a book with several stories in it that last over a few issues. More adult and involves monsters and sci-fi themes. I sell the issues in local comic stores here in Indiana. What I do is this (and I am not a professional):

Scan images and clean them up using Adobe Photoshop CS3

Arrange them in panels using a template I made. I have several templates depending on the scene

Convert the finished product to PFD

Print using a local printer. Kinko's or other online comic printers are really expensive. If you can cut your per issue cost you don't have to sell them for as much. Mine go for $3 each, but there is a big market for local artists where I live.

There is nothing like seeing your work on a printed page. Stick with it! Creating homespun comics is really rewarding. Who knows! Maybe a publisher will pick you up!

GOOD LUCK!

[Steve Hubbell]

Here is a neat book on creating comics.....
Drawing Comics is Easy by Alexa Kitchen (daughter of cartoonist / publisher Dennis Kitchen)

[Mark Bordiyan]

Nice....I guess a kid got a tallent.....

[Mark Bordiyan]

I agree with Tinlantern! Maybe you'll be famous some day!

Um Tinlantern... How much does your local printer costs you per comic?
And on what kind of paper do you do it on ?

[jamesewelch]

Have you tried small-press on-demand printing solutions like ComixPress? You don't have to pay anything upfront and once you've finalized your copy, just pay for the issues. You'd get a discounted rate and they'd sell the comic online for you and give you a cut. Your local comic book shops could also order copies via their retailers options.

I've also been thinking of trying my hand at a comic. I have a few ideas in my mind and many more scribbled down in notes and documents. I just need to work on brushing up my drawing skills.

[Stan Sakai]

When I was in high school/early college, a small group of us used to make our own comics. We would do everything--write, draw, letter, color, even staple them. Photocopy machines were not around back then, or if they were they could only use that weird slick paper (this is in the late 1960's/early 1970's), so every comic was a one-of-a-kind original. We would pass them around to each other, then return them. We would also meet once a month to talk comics, then went on to organize Hawaii's first comic book club with monthly meetings at the public library.

They were mostly super-hero comics. Some of my characters were The Leopard, Ophidian, and The Pack Rat.

About half of the guys in that original group went on to become professional cartoonists--Dennis Fujitake (Dalgoda), Gary Kato (Mr Jigsaw, Elf Quest), and myself.

[MikeM]

I'm currently working on a comic with a friend of mine. She does a web comic called Promises, Promises and will be doing the artwork for it.
www.promisescomic.com

We are just doing it in our spare time so it maybe a while still before it ever sees the light of day.

MikeM

[Jet_Jaguar]

Mark, have you ever read the Scott McCloud book Making Comics? It's worth a look if you have any interest in the subject.

[Andy]

I had never heard that before, Stan, very interesting. I guess it is true that if you want to make comics, one of the best things you can do is start making 'em!

[Mark Bordiyan]

Yes I have read that book its a good book!