I'm trying to think up some challenges/memes/prompts for making comics for the beginners and the art/writing blocked of us comic creators online and off. Other than what Scott McCloud has, do you have any ideas? I already have a few, like a two part 20 page story where the artist and writer switch places between parts, or trying to tell a story with no words or dialogue...
hmm..... okay lemme just dig a little in my memory bank...
Ah!
Back when I studied comics two-three years ago, we often had these little "games" that challenged us in a very fun and relaxed way but still kept us active drawing.
I remember two of these "games" the most:
"The Marvel/DC method"
Basically everyone gets a random title.
After that you write a script for a short 2-3 page comic.
Hand out the scripts in random order to everyone.
Now you're gonna sketch the comic pages based on someone else's script.
When the sketches are done, repeat the process again when it's time to ink the pages.
(we called it "marvel/DC method" since most professional comic artists in sweden (and many other countries with a tiny comic industry) do most work on their own, and not in a team.)
"Comic Relay Race"
You arrange the chairs/desks so everyone is sitting in a circle/around the room, then you hand out a page to each person. Set the timer to 2-5 minutes, the artists now are going to draw only the first panel on their comic page.
Once everyone is finished or the timer runs out, you hand your page over to the person sitting to your left side. Set the timer again and now everyone will draw the second panel. Repeat this till the comic page is finished. This is a really fun game since the comics can turn out really random but also really funny.
hhhh okay these are the two I can come up with right now, I know we had a couple of more games but I can't remember how they worked.
If little games isn't enough for you, maybe try out the 24-hour comic challenge? I think the official event is happening right now actually (anyone can join it if they want).
The challenge is basically that you have 24 hours to make a 24 page long comic, everyone will get a random title to use for their comic as a starting prompt.
If 24 hours of drawing without any proper sleep is a bit overkill, make it a 8 or 16 hour long challenge.
I'm personally not that good at coming up with stories/plots myself, but I have some "basic knowledge". And tbh the comics I've made from these kind of events actually got pretty good stories than I expected.
Here's examples of comics I made from previous 24h comic events:
"The Angel from the Tales"(2011)
"Destroy your inner cosmos"(2013)
Other than that, the only thing I know that works for me is when I don't think too much about the outcome. Don't be afraid of messing around with the plot or the way you draw the characters. It's good to make mistakes and screw it up here and there.
hmm... ah one more thing I've learned from when I was a teen and tried making my own comics: Set a page limit and don't bite off more than you can chew.
For example a friend of mine made a whole comic about a guy that turned into a talking hamburger - just because he wanted to use as many food-puns as possible in the dialogue.
I think this is all I can give you right now. I hope you'll find it useful :D