Another work-in-progress. This is the panel directly after this piece. I started these as some warm-up sketches, and then it morphed into comic practice. I just kept adding to them with the mini plot I had. At least I've kept from full-on coloring it.
It's 5 pages thus far and will most likely stay as a one-off for the time being.
If you don’t mind me asking, what’s your comic making process? I find it hard to make comics that look eye-pleasing to read and yours are like candy.
Ah, comics! Dig under cut to see some old wips as I attempt to explain my nightmare thought process to you.
For making a comic AESTHETIC and APPROACHABLE:
I've noticed that it's easier for people to be pulled into a comic if I set the environment first and foremost, so people have some vague context for the scene. Of COURSE that's not always necessary ( there are a lot of comics that start out without environmental story telling and it works perfectly) but I've always liked having a lil illustration before digging my rat claws into the meat of the story.
For example! “Emmet and Elesa have a clandestine meeting in the library at 4 am.”
The sketch was sort of the jumping point to where I wanted to go with the comic. I wanted to a. explain wtf is happening and b. draw a nice conclusion about what the f is happening.
You don't need to make the environment available in every panel too! I'd suggest making your first panel tell all the environment detail you need and then like... slowly removing irrelevant detail from there. And then hit folks with the background again at the end. (So basically, you don't see the library in this comic until the beginning and a bit towards the end. I have tricked you! aha!)
So that's one tip i have.
For Readability:
Anyways, to make a comic easy to read, spacing is super important. Dialogue tends to cramp a shot by a WHOLE lot. For example!
Remember the "Lamp is told she's beloved (and has a tsundere moment over it"? That used to be TWO panels. Man. Nightmare fuel. Lemme find it.
(This is the rough. I Lined It, realized the pacing is off, and then withered. Please don't look at it too hard.)
So here's the thing. This READS. But the sheer amount of dialogue in the beginning is fatiguing for me and the "you are beloved, Lampent" NEEDS that oomph of both characters realizing that over the span of years, their relationship stopped being antagonistic and started being family instead. Some folks are fine with blocks of dialogue, but I have the attention span of a patrat on candy. I will not make it.
SO! To match the almost moody atmosphere, I stretched the comic out. I stretched that bad boy out a LOT.
And I got this out of it.
Something to keep in mind in comics is there's always going to be one or two iconic lines. Lines that make people FEEL things.
Those lines deserve their own panel, their own shot, their whatever. A good story has lulls in its conversation. If you can replicate it, you're winning.
Character Blocking:
So basically no, it's not all witchcraft. It's only a bit of witchcraft.
Another thing that helps is differentiating characters if they're on the same panel is by solid blocks of color. I have, for the longest time when working on storyboards, blocked characters different tones in order to help differentiate them. Don't be shy! Do that if it helps your comics read! Ingo will always be darker shaded then emmet. The angry nightlight will always have some hint of purple on her (unless I forget). The first goal in a story is to convey information, hehe.
Here's an example of color blocking! (This is from a VERY old botw comic I did for linktober in 2021.)
It's, ah, rather rustic compared to what I do. usually. I know!
BUT the primary goal here is to convey where the characters are in relation to each other. And the fact they're color coded makes life easier for both reader and artist.
Alright! That's all the tips I can think of off the top of my head. Time to get off that soap box, haha.
Overall:
Basically, my work process is-- draw a story telling image/ write a funny piece of dialogue. Build the comic around that. Pace it so the important lines stand out. Color code the characters for max visibility.
And then four to twelve hours of lineart, but that's neither here or there.
