[BTM]

Just posted some of this in another thread but probably worth having here...


http://users.livejournal.com/_tonylee_/434546.html (part 1)
http://users.livejournal.com/_tonylee_/434822.html (part 2)

http://tysdiorbad.blogspot.com/2008/...-williams.html
http://tysdiorbad.blogspot.com/2008/...att-smith.html

http://calebmonroe.com/?page_id=6


http://joeljohnson.com/2009/wally-wo...imited-edition



and from Al Ewing's twitter feed:
===========================
Lots of talk about how to write comics tonight. If you're UK, two words: small press.

You can self-publish on xerox, but there are people like Futurequake more than happy to run future-shock type short strips.
1:36 AM Jun 18th from web

I'm not qualified to talk about the US small press scene, but I can't imagine it isn't just as useful or even more so.
1:39 AM Jun 18th from web

Here's a good exercise to start off with: take a sheet of A4, fold in half once, then again, then a third time, then a fourth.
1:52 AM Jun 18th from web

What you're holding is thirty-two pages long, each page big enough for a smallish panel. Unfold - each side is now divided into 16 panels.
1:53 AM Jun 18th from web

Fill those panels in. Keep refolding every so often to make sure you've got it all the right way up and in the right order.
1:54 AM Jun 18th from web


When you're done, photocopy. Fold the photocopy the same way, staple the middle and then cut the edges. That's a comic.
1:55 AM Jun 18th from web


It's about the size of a business card - you could try using the back page for your name and a web address.
1:55 AM Jun 18th from web


After you've done a few of them, you'll start noticing how you're getting more dense, more concise, using the limited space better.
1:56 AM Jun 18th from web


You'll get an instinctive sense of how much space you have left when you're halfway through a story. All useful skills.
1:57 AM Jun 18th from web


And they're fun to pass around your mates! Don't fall into the trap of thinking these aren't 'proper' comics or it's a waste of time.
1:57 AM Jun 18th from web


A comic is a comic is a comic, and if you make one of these and sell it - ten pee is a good price - you're in comics.
2:00 AM Jun 18th from web
Anyway, enough of that for tonight. Back to work.
2:00 AM Jun 18th from web


If only because I can't take any more boring comics. I want only people coming into the business who have THE THRILL POWER.
12:11 AM Jun 19th from web


Question: which of these two is a more exciting cover blurb? 1. "WHO IS DONNA TROY?"
12:12 AM Jun 19th from web


2. "PLEASE -- LET ME DROWN -- BEFORE THE GIANT SCORPIONS GET ME!!"
12:12 AM Jun 19th from web


If your answer was number 1, GET OUT OF COMICS! YOU ARE NO LONGER NEEDED MEIN HERR, NOT IN MY NEW THRILLOCRACY
12:13 AM Jun 19th from web

@MattBadham Hurm. Tough question. Usually a couple of really awesome scenes pop up first.
12:20 AM Jun 19th from web in reply to MattBadham


The first bit of Dead Signal to occur to me was a guy running across rooftops being chased by a helicopter gunship. That went in.
12:21 AM Jun 19th from web


These are the moments that inform me while I'm writing up the pitch, which is where the editor says Yay or Nay.
12:23 AM Jun 19th from web


If he says Yay, But Do Such-And-Such, it'll become a different sort of thing. In fact, if it's a straight Yay it probably will too.
12:23 AM Jun 19th from web


Things generally change by necessity between the pitch and the actual writing - obviosuly, more ideas start occurring to you.
12:24 AM Jun 19th from web


If it's roughly the same shape when it finishes, Matt's usually okay with that, but your mileage may vary.
12:25 AM Jun 19th from web


Not sure that's answered the question, but I'm not very good at describing my own process so I'll have to leave it vague.
12:26 AM Jun 19th from web


Lots of people following me now because I give advice on 'how to write comics'. Worth mentioning that I've been fired at least once.
4:52 PM Jun 19th from web


And also that my entire expertise is in writing things in short, five-page bursts, hence the 'Bond in three panels' fiasco earlier.
4:53 PM Jun 19th from web


In other words, let the buyer beware.
4:55 PM Jun 19th from web


Handy Hints for Would-Be Writers Dept: If you're anything like me, you will have a plan for a long 'epic' story, lovingly nurtured for years
1:38 AM Jun 20th from web


KILL IT NOW. KILL IT and pull it apart. Then sift through the wreckage for useful bits and use them up on five-page twist-ending stories.
1:39 AM Jun 20th from web


You'll have better ideas later, guaranteed, and your 600-part elf story is going to be the albatross weighing you down otherwise.
1:40 AM Jun 20th from web


"B-but how did you know it was about elves and their relationships and I'd got a graffiti artist who lives in town to do character designs?"
1:40 AM Jun 20th from web

I READ MINDS
1:41 AM Jun 20th from web

===========================

[canioeire]

good info cheers !

[Fysh]

Dave Gibbons is hosting a Manga Studio web seminar this Sunday at 10pm, which may be interesting for anyone interested in using it. More info can be found here.

[niall mc cann]

Wow, that could be useful.

Cheers, Fysh.

[ztoical]

Aaron Diaz, the wonderful cartoonist behind Dresden Codak, has a new blog where he shares his thoughts on cartooning, with a strong focus on craft. Check it out.

The post dealing with focal points, framing and negative space is particularly well done and worth reading for anyone drawing comics.

[Fysh]

Just stumbled across a guide to hand lettering from Nate Piekos of Blambot.

[007.57]

found this and thought it might be useful for someone that's illustration skills are not up to scratch but their photoshop skills are. here is a tutorial on how to design a comic book cover using simple photographic images and techniques

http://wegraphics.net/blog/tutorials...-illustration/

[007.57]

also, the dude mentioned this site


http://www.photo-reference-for-comic-artists.com/



has some free images useful for comic book production