The first thing you want is an idea. Start with something simple. Write it down or sketch it out really fast. As long as you got your idea down somewhere to guide you. I recommend writing yourself a script. It you have dialogue (talking) in your comic, typing it up on a device will be a big help. This will help with spelling checks.
Here is an example of how my scripts look. You can write yours in anyway you want as long as you understand it. This is just how I do mine.
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Nya tells Jay that Lloyd isn’t playing. We see a little mud monster figure jammed into a pipe.
Nya: Um Jay Lloyd's out of the game. His character got sucked down the drain pipe of eternal woe, remember?
Jay: Oh yeah. Well it's his fault for picking to play a mud monster.
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Panels are the boxes that make up the comic. There are a lot of ways to do them. You’ll have to play around with them and see what you like. Starting out don’t worry about this too much. I encourage you to just make your comic and not worry about all the technical stuff yet. Just have fun with it. Be goofy and just let your imagination guide you.
A few things to keep in mind when planning paneling.
The average comic page has 5 to 6 panels. You can do less or more, it’s up to you. How many panels there are on a page effects how the comic reads.
1. More panels on a single page can make it feel Fast or Chaotic. Like a lot is happening very fast.
2. Fewer panels can make things feel slower. It also makes the things happening in the panels feel more important. These are things you want your readers to notice more.
3. A Splash page is when you fill a page with just one image. These are for really important maybe shocking things. These can also be used when there is a new location. This is called an establishing shot. You could use this for when a new character comes in too. Anything you really want to stand out, use a splash page.
First one is Location aka the establishing shot. The next one is for a shocking moment.
Now that you know what your going to be making you’ll need references. Images of the characters, backgrounds and or props you’ll be drawing. If you’ve made sketches or character sheets use them too. You can always jump right in without references if you know your subject really well but its a good idea to have them on hand if you need them.
You’ll want to decide your canvas size. Pick what ever works for you. The shape is more important. I normally use rectangle for mine. You can take a screen shot of your phone screen and use it for your canvas size. It should fit your screen nicely.
You can add boarders to your canvas. You could have the boarders at the very edge of the canvas or in the middle. Like a big rectangle. This leaves you with some space outside your panels. If your drawing it out on real paper, this can give you some space for your hands to work. It can also give a place for your word balloons to spill out if you forgot to make space for them in your panels.
Border on the edge. Border in the middle.
It’s time to draw your comic. I do this in a few difrant ways. One of the ways is what I call the brainstorm page. I’ll draw out the whole comic on one or two pieces of paper. This can be really rough and sketchy or pretty clean. It’s just the characters mostly. The backgrounds I leave out unless it’s important. I’ll then take a picture of them with my tablet. I’ll put it into my drawing program. I use ibispaint. I then use the select tool to drag the images where I want them. Remember when arranging them to make room for the wordballoons.
If I’m drawing the comic right on the paper, start to finish then I do things differently. I put the panel gutters down first. (The gutters are the lines that separate the panels.) I sketch it as cleanly and as close to the finish as possible. Basically with this I want to be looking at a pencil version of the comic.
Brainstorm pages examples
Messy: needs lots of clean up. Clean: ready to be inked.
Example of how it looks when I've arranged the sketches how I want them
After you make sure you got things looking how you like them you can finally do your art. Color and do the line work just the same way you’d do any other drawing. However if your comic has more then one or two pages or has a lot of panels you’ll want to simplifie things. You may want to keep your shading very simple or leave it out altogether. The same with lighting. The point is so you don’t overburden yourselves with details and never finish your comic. If you just have one page or very few panels you can go a little crazy on the details.
Make room for these at the very start. If possible add these balloons in your sketch. I’m still not too good at these but I’m getting better. You don’t want too much text in one balloon. You can brake up a longer text into two balloons or more. You can change how the balloon looks to show how the thing is being said. If the speaking is scary and threatening try making the balloon black. I do this with Garmadon sometimes when he’s using his evil voice. You can give the balloon spikes if someone is yelling. Just play around with it.
You need to pick a font (text face) that is easy to read. You’ll also want to have it be big enough to read without zooming in. If you can get a font that looks a bit like handwriting do it. I use Walter Turncoat now. If you don’t have a font like that and can’t download one just use what you have already. Not the end of the world. If you have good handwriting you could just hand write it.
You can use different types of fonts for a different mood or voice. A drippy spooky looking font for something evil. You’ll want to make sure all your spelling is right before you add your text. If you got internet you can use quill bot for this. I also like to have something read it out loud for me so I know I got it right. I use google translate for this.
Word balloons and font examples
Black balloons with drippy white hand written front.
Walter Turncoat font with normal balloons. Spikey balloons with hand drawn lettering.
I hope this helped any of you looking to make your own comics. If you have questions ask me. I'll do my best to answer. I'm still learning myself though. Here are some links to good videos about comic makeing.
snowghoul
theartofmadeline
andulkaphoto
2087
vaporwave
