Nicole Nageli

Hey! I'm Nicole, 16 yo, and I'm an actor, artist and author! I don’t post here but u can find me on Instagram!

[neil-gaiman]

Do you have any advice for someone (attempting) writing their first novel, who feels underqualified? I'm 19 and dropped out of secondary school, I try not to think about how my writing will theoretically be received, because I'm going it for me, and I know you're not supposed to care about those things, but I feel anything I write is going to be terrible and cringe, either by other people or by me.

Perhaps it won't be terrible. And if it is once you've written your first novel, you can start on your second, and that will be better, because you've made mistakes and learned from them.

Nobody would expect you to play an instrument perfectly, or dance, or perform surgery perfectly on your first time. You do something badly until you get good at it. You don't have to show anyone your first novel. (Mine will stay in a box in the attic until I die.)

Perhaps you'll be a 19 year old who writes a brilliant and publishable first novel. Probably you won't be, the odds are against you. But if you don't write this this book, you'll be even longer getting to the good stuff you will write one day.

[lsseymiyake]

Part 2: Otherworldly creatures but, poc

[chicinlicin]

oh hey new guide thinggg~ some basics on how to practice! there’s SO much I could add to this, so it’s just the basics :O

short (kind of): there’s more to practice than doing something repeatedly, it’s also learning new things, problem solving, and honest critique. Each of those is its own skill…also be nice to yourself!

[salamispots]

it comes and goes

[salamispots]

small comic about space noodles

edit: went back and lightened the pages a wee bit because it was bugging me

[neil-gaiman]

Dear, Mr. Gaiman

How do you make a hero that is flawed, yet likeable and makes the audience want to root for them? Plus a villain that is just as flawed but makes fans root against them?

Also, how can you get an emotional reaction from readers from killing off a character. Is it about showing the characters in the story having that reaction or is it something else?

What they do. It's all about what they do.

And audiences will always be on the side of someone with a plan even if they want the plan to fail and the person to be defeated. They still want to see the plan play out and problems in the way of the plan to be solved.

If you want to make people have an emotional reaction to the death of a character, you had better write a character you care about and be able to have that emotional reaction to their death. If you care, other people will. If you don't care, nobody else will, no matter whether or not you write "Everyone cried buckets of tears as Ernest breathed his last."

[neil-gaiman]

How do you start a second draft? I just finished my first one and I'm having a hard time getting in there to start changing things because it just seems like a lot to sift through

Print out your book on paper.

Then find time when you won’t be disturbed, and read it. With a pen, or a pencil. And anything you don’t like as a reader, make a note in the margin, or change it on the page.

Look particularly for things that you were hoping would be better. Mark them in the margin too. 

And then work out what you need to do on the second draft. Basically, anything you didn’t like as a reader you get to fix as a writer.

[neil-gaiman]

Hello sir, do you have any advice for how to write a really persuasive character's dialogue when you yourself are very opposite? My main girl is literally a silver tongued lawyer. I can't even convince my friends to play rock-paper-scissors with me. It feels insurmountable.

So go and listen to lawyers and persuasive people talk and take notes. They do it on the fly. You have all the time in the world to craft her dialogue.

[spinadoodles]

What it’s like to be a Storyboard Artist on Infinity Train! a 12 page comic about the trials and tribulations of working on one of the best animated shows Cartoon Network has ever made by Sam Spina This is a follow up to my “What it’s like to be a Storyboard Artist on Regular Show” comic I made a few years ago (check it out here: https://tinyurl.com/u3cdmjb)! Tumblr only lets you post 10 pictures and this comic is 12, so please go read it on my Twitter:

https://twitter.com/Spinadoodles/status/1216803861689581568?s=20

Thanks for reading! Choo Choo

[mttbll]

Padgett Powell’s rules on “What Writing Should Do,” printed in the back of The Interrogative Mood.

[maudnewton]

I had lost my syllabus from his class, but once this book was published I had the most important part of it again.

[austinkleon]

I’m reading The Interrogative Mood right now and loving it.

[oweeeeendennis]

Hey Owen. This is a really important question. What colleges does Cartoon Network hire from? Like what college can you go to that you can get a job at CN after you're done it? I wanna work at CN some day. Thanks in advance.

Every college. Also no college. It doesn’t matter. They only care about your work.

Cartoon network isn’t some faceless, monolithic creature that just hires out of job fairs at colleges or something, it’s made up of people who see other people’s work and hire those people.

I went to the Minneapolis College of Art and Design. I know people who went to California Institute of the Arts, I know people that went to School of Visual Arts in New York, I know people that went to random community colleges, some who went to Louisiana State University, various Canadian colleges, places in Tennessee. I know people that didn’t even major in animation and people that didn’t even finish college.

Point is: it doesn’t matter.

What does matter is that you work very hard at your craft and make yourself known to people. Make your work, distribute your work, do what you need to. People will notice you and after seeing your great work they’ll want to hire you for whatever it is they need. However, this will probably take like 6-10 years (assuming you’re an 17 year old trying to figure out college right now).

There’s no guarantee that going to art school is going to get your a job at your dream company as an artist, but there’s a pretty good chance that working hard at your craft will get you close to it.

Not only that, but your dreams and desires for what you want to do will change as you age. When I first went to school I wanted to do 3D animated special effects and stuff. When I was in school I found out that animating 2D cartoons was pretty fun, so I took that route. Then, in my after my last year of college I thought maybe I didn’t even want to do that anymore and I ran away to teach English in China for a few years. Things change. I never thought I could get the job I currently have, nor that this job even existed.

So I wouldn’t worry about it. If you want to go to art school, don’t choose the school based on some random company that want to work at right now, choose it based on what skills you think it can help you with and if the culture there is a proper fit for you. Your skills will shine through if you have the passion for it and you’ll eventually work your way to wherever it is you want to be, regardless of what school you do or do not attend.

[oweeeeendennis]

Hello! So sorry for bothering you but you've been a huge inspiration! Just wanted to ask: I know that keeping ideas and waiting for that dream pitch 10 years down the line is a bad practice and I should start doing the ideas I have NOW... but... would that hurt my idea's chances of ever seeing the big screen? If I make my lifelong dream idea into a webcomic NOW, will TV executives decline it later because its story is already “spoiled” and it’s set in stone in a sort of way?

No. Here’s proof:

Daniel Chong’s “The Three Bare Bears”

Matt Groening’s Life is Hell strips.

The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman and Tony Moore

Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O'Malley

The wikipedia page for every Marvel movie

A google search of “comic book movies”

There has quite literally, and I mean literal in the literal sense, NEVER been a time MORE suited for you to make a comic that can then be turned into a movie. In fact, TV and movie executives often like a comic to already exist because it’s easier to visualize what the movie or TV show will be like. There are, believe it or not, entire comic series’ that exist purely as a proof of concept for TV shows and movies down the line because that’s where the writers and artists know the big bucks are.

The idea that “what if my comic can’t be made into a movie because people have already read it” is another bullshit thing your brain is doing to make you give up and not make the thing.

It’s precisely BECAUSE it’s a comic that it will be EASIER to adapt it into something else!

Knock it off. MAKE THE THING.

[oldsidelinghill]

Was it hard convincing convincing cartoon network to air a darker story driven cartoon?

Yes and No.

The first storyboard I did, which was supposed to be the pilot, was “The Ringing of the Bell” which ended up being reworked (with the help of Tom Herpich and Bert Youn) to fit into the Chapter 7 spot. That’s the episode with Lorna and Auntie Whispers.

When i pitched the board to the network it went over well… but… almost too well. Like… it was TOO scary and heavy. They liked it, but it seemed like it would take some work to convince them that it should actually get made.

So I did a second board, which became the pilot, that was supposed to show the lighter side of the show. This second storyboard was way harder for me to write because I had to show the lighter side of the show… but… also hint at enough dark stuff to actually feel like the intended series. Plus - to me, this was my one shot to make a professional studio film (because i had moved to the east coast away from the industry, and didn’t expect the series to get picked up). So… it was hard to give up the darker aspects of series for what might be the one and only studio-funded animated film i’d ever get to make.

But once the pilot was made it was well received and the network offered to make the show as a mini-series. And from then on it really wasn’t very hard to convince them of anything, actually. They were sold on it conceptually - including the scary stuff like “The Ringing of the Bell”. They were EXTREMELY supportive of it all the way through. Surprisingly so. There may have been some back-and-forths along the way,  but it was mostly the pilot stage that was tricky for me.

[oldsidelinghill]

Hi Patrick, I'm Amber. I just finished watching Over the Garden Wall and was truly amazed. I like to write in my free time. But I realised I'm not good at it. To be honest, I'm actually terrible. I don't feel anything for the characters I create, I'm not original and I don't have any dicipline while writing. I've never finished writing a story. But it's the only real hobby I have. How can I write something I'm satisfied with? And how can I learn to love writing?

I don’t really know the answers to these questions - i’m not really satisfied with anything i’ve ever written. Even when I’m proud of something, i’m not really… satisfied with it. You know? I’m often proud of accomplishing something, but still hate my work and wish it was better.

But maybe this’ll help:

Go get a stop watch right now (or use one on your computer) and set it for 10 minutes.  Now write a complete story with an ending before those 10 minutes are up.  If you don’t finish your story, start the stopwatch over again and write a new story. Do it until you finish a story. Now you’ve finished a story! Then do it again. Write a different story. 

Do this once a day for a week. Now you have at LEAST 7 stories finished. You may hate them and not want anyone to ever read them. But now you’ve begun learning a process. You’ve started learning a little tiny lesson in the types of stories you’re drawn to tell. If you’re not actually a fan of those types of stories you’re writing, then try writing something else the next time.

If you feel confined by having to finish your stories in 10 minutes, it’s ok to break the rules sometimes and keep going on a tangent and see where it leads. Just be conscious that you are breaking the rules. It’s like cheating at a single-player game. It’s ok to cheat sometimes, but it really stops being fun if you’re always cheating. It’s better to change the rules to accommodate the way you like to play.

You can, and should, start setting up your own rules in order to try out new avenues of writing. Each 10-minute story you write has to be about a new character with a stupid name. Each story is about the SAME character in a different situation. Write a slightly longer story in 2 hours.  Write 10 cat poems this week. Write a novel in 1 month (a chapter every few days). You may fail in the quality department, but finishing things is the way to learn. If none of these rules sound fun, then come up with a different set of rules. 

Another thing you can do is get together with some friends and give each other challenges. This’ll cause you to write about stuff you wouldn’t normally think of, and may give you a new perspective on your own work. 

[spacetravels]

So you want to make an OC?: A Masterpost of Ways to Create, Develop, and Make Good OCs!

i made this masterpost in hopes that it helps you in making your own OCs ah;; it can also apply to developing RP characters i suppose! if you’d like to add more resources then go for it sugar pea (´ヮ`)!

How to Write Better OCs:

basic tips on how to make your oc even better

tragic backstory? learn how to write one/make yours great

writing specific characters

a wordier, great guide on how to develop your character

kick out those vague descriptions and make them AWESOME

Character Development:

how to actually make an OC

Q&A (to develop characters)

more Q&As

giving your character a backstory

how to write an attractive character

Diversity

adding more racial diversity

avoiding tokenism, AKA, how to add diversity to your cast not just because you “need” it

writing sexuality and gender expression (doesnt include non binary, if you have a good ref to that, please add on!)

masterpost on writing more diversity into your story

cultures of the world

guides to drawing different ethnicities (not just a great art reference, but also really helpful in appearance descriptions!)

Mary Sue/Gary Stu

Test to see if your character is a Sue

Explains subdivisions of Sues/Stus

Powerful Characters Don’t Have to Be Sues

Villains

villain generator

need an evil sounding name for your evil character? bam

villain archetypes

what’s your villain’s motive for being a villain?

Relationships

character perceptions (What your character thinks of themselves and what others think of them)

how to write strong relationships between two characters

8 ways to write better characters and develop their relationships with others

OCxLove Interest Handbook 

develop your couple with good ol’ Q&A!

how to write realistic relationships

how to write relatives for your characters (this is more OC related to a canon character, but will help in writing family members in general)

ARCHETYPES

12 common archetypes

8 archetypes for male/female characters

female archetypes (goes pretty indepth from two main categories)

a list of archetypes

NAMES

how to name your character

random name generator

most common surnames

surnames by ethnicity

APPEARANCE

tips for better design

basic appearance generator

pinterest board for character design (includes NSFW and images of skeletons/exposed muscle (?) so tread carefully!)

clothing ref masterpost

DETAILS

give your character better powers

a list of professions

proactive vs reactive characters

positive and negative traits

interest generator

skills generator

motivation generator

123 ideas for character flaws

list of phobias

again, this is to help inspire you or help establish your OCs! i hope you get a lot of info and help from this ahh ( ´ ▽ ` )ﾉ

[kingofooo]

by storyboard supervisor Erik Fountain

A few years ago, Erik put together these updated AT storyboard guidelines for new board artists and revisionists.

[sairobee]

Some great tips to keep in mind if you’re learning to board!

[fangirlinginleatherboots]

things i did that forced me to be a better artist:

used a reference for everything

thinner line art (you think thats thin? go thinner….)

sketch, then do a cleaner sketch, THEN start finalizing

THUMBNAILS

color research, picking a set palette or light/dark for each work

you like that pose? redo it one more time

USE A DAMN REFERENCE

do not rely on stylization as an excuse for anatomy

draw the goddamn background you coward

just draw the hand- a bad hand is better than a hidden hand

the rule of thirds WORKS

take a considerable break between sketch and lines/paint

know that art takes longer as you get better at it

draw the seams on clothes

stop aiming for accuracy and focus on fluidity and motion, accuracy will come with practice of those two concepts

just…do the chiaroscuro. just DO IT. no excuses it always works

stop making excuses, make yourself an art schedule/set weekly(or daily) art goals and just DO IT.