Links and resources for comic creators

Fysh

Resources for comic creators v1.0 (created 03.07.2008)

Free webcomic hosting:

http://www.comicgenesis.com
http://www.drunkduck.com
http://www.webcomicsnation.com/
http://www.comicdish.com/

General tutorials guides:

http://khaoskomix.livejournal.com/34395.html (Khaos Komics)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0bqJYiKw7dM&mode=related&search= (Khaos Komics)
http://www.scamp.ie/2007/09/07/sudoku-city/#more-226 (Chris Judge)
http://www.daniellecorsetto.com/gwstutorial.html (Danielle Corsetto)
http://dryponder.livejournal.com/141497.html (Dean Trippe)
http://firstsecondbooks.typepad.com/mainblog/2008/01/draw-like-a-ral.html (Brian Ralph)

Fonts

http://www.fontifier.com/
http://fontforge.sourceforge.net/

Free vector graphics tools

http://www.inkscape.org/

Free Raster/bitmap graphics tools

http://www.gimp.org/
http://www.gimpshop.com/
http://www.getpaint.net/

Free 3D design tools

http://www.blender.org/
http://www.geist3d.org/
http://sketchup.google.com/
(There is also more discussion of more advanced 3D design tools in the Computers > Graphics forum)

Print-on-demand services

Comixpress
Ka-Blam
Lulu

These resources are taken directly from the original Comic forum resources thread. If you have any resources to add, please reply to this post with a link.

magwea

Thanks for the Dean Trippe link have been looking for the automatic flattening plugin for ages.

livingtargets

Deadly links but here`s a free font site as I noticed they were "purchase" fonts you posted there...

http://www.fontface.com/main.html

Blambot is a well known one for fonts as well.some free,some you have to pay for,though those ones are marked clearly with a red dot.

http://www.blambot.com/fonts.shtml

livingtargets

oh and here`s another site that has helpful tutorials for nearly everything...

http://boards.phwonline.com/showthread.php?t=11560

ztoical

Two pages I put together that might be of some use to some people:

A list of some of the cons happening I've been trying to keep this as up to date as I can.

And some con exhibiting tips I just put this together and the page needs some tweaking as far as layout and what not. These are just my thoughts on exhibiting at cons and are no way rules or anything like that.

ztoical

Some links for selfpublishing:

The Writer's Guide to creating a comic book


The Poor Man's Guide to Self Publishing - some very good advice and information for those thinking of going the diamond direct market road only [over hitting the small press convention scene and working your ass off pushing the book to individuelle comic stores and publishers] I disagree with him pushing online advertising as the main area of advertising - if you read this newsarama blog post three comic store owners tell you why they don't like online advertising and at the end of the day these are the guys who want to order your book. It is off putting to read the figures for advertising in something like Previews where a black and white full page ad runs at $1200 but there are other cheaper options like posting copies of the book to stores, as well as printing up posters, having buttons, book marks etc etc

Reproguide: Xerography, Silkscreening and Offset Printing I think this may already be linked but its such a great resource doesn't help to link twice.

Fysh

I thought I'd mentioned this already, but there is a free open-source page-layout program available called Scribus - the official site is Scribus.net but the downloadable installer for windows is here (direct sourceforge link here).

I haven't used it yet so I don't know if it's any good, and it's likely to be inferior to commercial products like Adobe's InDesign but on the other hand it's free.

film_gonzo

Here's a font site I like that has free and trial versions of fonts

www.dafont.com

Also can anyone reccommend any good inking and shading tutorials? It's one of the things I feel my drawings really lack to pack that extra visual/dramatic punch.

Fysh

Over the weekend I picked up and read How To Make Webcomics, and I'd recommend anyone making their own webcomic to check it out. It's roughly evenly split between creative and business aspects, although I would stress that this isn't a "how to draw/make comics" book - the assumption is that you are already able to draw and produce comics to a reasonable level, so the book's focus is on what aspects of your comic you'll need to look after to make a viable long-term webcomic.

The business side of things is interesting, given that the four guys who put this book together are amongst the people who originally proved you could make a living from webcomics in the first place (Brad Guigar, Dave Kellet, Scott Kurtz and Kris Straub). And while they have perhaps been a touch conservative in their estimations of a couple of aspects of the business side of webcomics (eg making micropayments work for you - they acknowledge it may be possible to do it but seem unaware of the likes of Ctrl-Alt-Del: The Animated Series, for example) it is really nice to see a book that not only stresses the importance of working out the financials before going into any business venture but also goes into a reasonable amount of detail about how to do this. They also go into detail about aspects like what technology to power your website with, what standard advertising banner sizes are and how to use them, or how to go about promoting your comic at conventions.

All in all, it's well worth a look if you're interested in going anywhere beyond the hobbyist level with your webcomic.

magwea

Links to a great collection of public domain art guide books from Harold Speed, George Bridgman and Andrew Loomis, all very much classics but which are still relevant to contemporary creators. Print and peruse.

Also great, the lively comments thread on why its time to trash Hogarth books.

Lone Stone

Anyone else on flikr
http://www.flickr.com/people/johngunning/

Its nice pritty good for showing off your work to once you organise it
you can show it off in a pritty good quality looking flash type slide show
its like a community thing aswell you can make groups and things like that
it has a free account or a payed account option like 24 usd for a year dunno what that is in euro's i signed up the other day.

Thats my profile up there tho click photostream to see any work i put up.

Ow and this is a good video tutorial site
http://www.drawingcoach.com/

ztoical

I'd linked this ages ago but its been lost in the shuffle from one board to the other. Dave Roman's Advice for building a career as a freelance artist
and/or paid cartoonist

ztoical

Just linked to this in another thread and thought it was worth adding to the resource links.

Fall angel media printing services - Bristol based POD for small press comics.

ztoical

Matt Bernier who I linked to before regarding buying the best brush for inking has a blog called comic tools with some really great well written guides for various areas of cartooning.

Fysh

I only just saw this now, but Paul Duffield of Freakangels has posted up a breakdown of his working process.

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/2008/01/because-i-wanted-to-talk-torob-williams.html
http://tysdiorbad.blogspot.com/2008/01/because-i-wanted-to-talk-tomatt-smith.html

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


http://joeljohnson.com/2009/wally-woods-22-panels-that-always-work-unlimited-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/designing-a-comic-book-cover-with-no-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