Hello, I'm Dreamsoap. I came here because ironically, I keep having to direct artist peers to writing websites who want advice on writing comic stories but for whatever reason, they seek out artists instead of writers for that information. I just did so again today and found this place through google and figured, why not join myself? I live with someone who writes and they have helped me improve dramatically. But it can't exactly hurt to just snoop around, read critiques and soak up the info myself. My goal is actually to create comics. And yes, "manga" style ones, as generally awful as the genre is these days. I completely understand and agree with all criticisms flung at it. However I take my craft seriously, I'm not just drawing blatant fanservice and pretty pictures to bring in an audience. I intend to create and tell actually interesting stories. Some people might wonder "Why do you come to a writing place for comics, those are different." (And I hope no one thinks that) but it's really not different at all. All the same rules and structures apply, it's a story telling medium after all. I could also really learn grammar, too. My boyfriend tells me I type like an English as a Second Language student sometimes.
Welcome! Any ideas you've got going? I wish I could draw good enough (and quick enough) to do a comic!
Hi Dreamsoap. So I am in a similar boat as you expect I have an artist who is my partner on the project we currently working on. Yes, what you are after is story telling (story structure, subtext, irony, theme, etc.) Medium is the least important aspect (at least in my opinion.) I hope you find what you are looking for here, and I wish you the best of luck! If you have any questions, this place has a lot of great and knowledgeable people.
Thanks! And yes... too many lol. We (my boyfriend and I) are using short stories involving main characters from a long fantasy adventure series in order to gain practice and flesh out their world as we work on their main project, while at the same time trying not to give away anything about the main story itself. I'm pretty close to starting the next one which is just about a pet's adventure in a marketplace. Gotta finish some illustrations for it as well as buffer pages first to host the series on webcomic sites. In reality, learning to draw doesn't take a long time if you apply yourself constantly. There were some guys on a website called conceptart.org (website for getting critiques) who pretty much from sheer beginner to professional concept artist working for AAA game companies in the span of a couple years. If you ever want to seriously pursue that skill, I can recommend how and where to start. Alternatively, you might be able to find an artist to work with you but it's tricky. Normally they have their own projects and would expect payment for the time they take away from doing what they want to work on yours. Or you can try finding someone with a passion that is similar to yours, for the kind of story you want to tell. However it's more likely you'd be writing together so you both have the emotional investment to see the project through to the end. Ultimately, it's better to learn both skills to do it yourself. I entirely agree! If it has anything to do with writing, the medium is entirely irrelevant until the script is final. Have you guys completed any projects yet or is the one you're working on your first one? And it certainly looks people know a lot here. I'm going to have fun lurking.
Dreamsoap, This will be our first project together. He's actually an award-winning artist in Tattoos and Fine-pencil drawings. The two of us have been wanting to push our limits, so to speak, so we've come up with our little project. I have Journal on this site called Mystics, it's my journal as I progress through the writing aspect of the project.
I do my own comic art and writing. As for my comic project, I'm working on my trilogy, I've pencilled over 200 designs and 600 pages of my high fantasy trilogy and I'm going to stop when I reach 700. Then start digital painting. The scripts I wrote, I very loosely follow, which is the advantage of doing it all yourself. You don't need to negotiate for changes with a comic writer. But it's great to have another comics person here as there are very few of us.
I do my own comic art and writing. As for my comic project, I'm working on my trilogy, I've pencilled over 200 designs and 600 pages of my high fantasy trilogy and I'm going to stop when I reach 700. Then start digital painting. The scripts I wrote, I very loosely follow, which is the advantage of doing it all yourself. You don't need to negotiate for changes with a comic writer. But it's great to have another comics person here as there are very few of us.
Awesome! Sounds like he's crazy skilled. I'll be sure to check out your journal. I feel like my boyfriend (the writer) and I are very lucky in that we're both writing the story and both doing the art. It's just that he has final say on the writing because he's more skilled, and I have final say on designs because I'm more skilled. But we always try to tie the two together, like he will not accept a design that is logically impractical. But I will not accept a design that is so practical it's uninspiring either. But 600 pages, that's a mammoth effort already. Have you published them yet (webcomics) or are you painting them first before anyone sees the pages?
A select number of people have seen the pages, but I am finishing everything first before I even think of publishing. It's good to have both the male and female perspective when writing, but I couldn't delegate designs even to a partner heh. Be warned, you need a VERY strong relationship to survive collaboration. Tempers will flare up as people get passionate about a certain direction characters should go. Right now I've got to draw an army, meaning hundreds of people on the page. Comics are different from other art in that you need a HUGE attention span with repetition .
Same here! Well, actually, I'm more of a concept designer than a comic illustrator, but I still came here for a personal comic project built around my concept art.
