Attention Aspiring Comics Artists
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Andy
- Shugyosha<Student Warrior>
- Posts: 621
- Joined: Thu Mar 11, 2004 18:13 -0700
- Location: 112 Center Street, Athens, PA 18810
- Contact:
Attention Aspiring Comics Artists
Is anyone else there a wanna-bee comics creator? Are you interested in sharing tips? answers to questions? Frustrations? I'm going to be posting some threads on topics like these. I am struggling to find answers and hope I am making progress.
Last edited by Andy on Wed May 16, 2007 11:53 -0700, edited 1 time in total.
-
Andy
- Shugyosha<Student Warrior>
- Posts: 621
- Joined: Thu Mar 11, 2004 18:13 -0700
- Location: 112 Center Street, Athens, PA 18810
- Contact:
Being a comics creator is a dream of mine, and while I have achieved a small measure of success, I am not content, and have been studying and searching for answers. Here are some ideas I'm going to try to implement.
1. Start a cartoonist group. I put some feelers out for artists in my area who are interested in starting what we just might call the Athens Cartoonist Society. We will share a page or so of our latest work in hopes of getting some feedback. I recall Stan saying he belongs to such a group. I've got one response already saying they're interested.
2. The Morning Improv. I got this idea from Scott McCloud's website. I guess he spends an hour each morning just putting down in comic form whatever comes into his head. What I have found is that I have piles and piles and piles of research and sketches that don't ever often make it to the next stage. During my morning improv the goal is not to make a great comic, but to just get a page done! If it's mediocre, I can ask myself what I might do to make it better.
3. 24 hour comic Day. This is similar to the one above. I read that McCloud and a friend were frustrated at how slow they drew, so they challenged one another to create a 24 page story in 24 hours. Failure is not an option! They pull an all-nighter. The results are quite rough, but as a discipline I can see how it might help stretch your abilities. Some day soon I'm going to see who might like to join me for a 24 Hour Comic Challenge.
Anybody else have any ideas?
1. Start a cartoonist group. I put some feelers out for artists in my area who are interested in starting what we just might call the Athens Cartoonist Society. We will share a page or so of our latest work in hopes of getting some feedback. I recall Stan saying he belongs to such a group. I've got one response already saying they're interested.
2. The Morning Improv. I got this idea from Scott McCloud's website. I guess he spends an hour each morning just putting down in comic form whatever comes into his head. What I have found is that I have piles and piles and piles of research and sketches that don't ever often make it to the next stage. During my morning improv the goal is not to make a great comic, but to just get a page done! If it's mediocre, I can ask myself what I might do to make it better.
3. 24 hour comic Day. This is similar to the one above. I read that McCloud and a friend were frustrated at how slow they drew, so they challenged one another to create a 24 page story in 24 hours. Failure is not an option! They pull an all-nighter. The results are quite rough, but as a discipline I can see how it might help stretch your abilities. Some day soon I'm going to see who might like to join me for a 24 Hour Comic Challenge.
Anybody else have any ideas?
I'm a writer, and I'm happy to help you if I can. But really, there's no magic method to becoming a great comic artist/writer/whatever. You simply have to practice. And practice. And practice. And... you get the idea.
I'm not accussing you of thinking one thing or another, I just wanted to point that out because a lot of novice comic creators have such, no offense intended towards anyone, naive ideas about what creating comics, what becoming great at doing so, entails.
For what it's worth, my "qualifications:"
I write an autobiographical webcomic, and I have written some guest strips for other comics.
I'm also a member of two webcomic collectives, which are similar to the cartoonist groups you described.
Some sites you should be familiar with:
- Digital Webbing
- Scryptic Studios
- Comic Genesis
Blog sites about webcomics:
- Comixpedia
- Fleen
- Talk About Comics
I'll post more if I remember them.
I'm not accussing you of thinking one thing or another, I just wanted to point that out because a lot of novice comic creators have such, no offense intended towards anyone, naive ideas about what creating comics, what becoming great at doing so, entails.
For what it's worth, my "qualifications:"
I write an autobiographical webcomic, and I have written some guest strips for other comics.
I'm also a member of two webcomic collectives, which are similar to the cartoonist groups you described.
Some sites you should be familiar with:
- Digital Webbing
- Scryptic Studios
- Comic Genesis
Blog sites about webcomics:
- Comixpedia
- Fleen
- Talk About Comics
I'll post more if I remember them.