Nuzlocke Comic Tips
Anonymous asked: Hey Mew, your stuff has inspired me to try my hand at a comic Nuzlocke run, but I have to say I’m not sure I’m confident enough in my drawing abilities… Yours is stunning, you got any tips/pieces of advice for a novice such as myself?
Ah, I’m really honored that this Nuzlocke could inspire you! Um, as far as tips go I’m not sure if you’re looking for art tips, comic tips, Nuzlocke-playing tips, or what! Here’s a few general tips:
Before you even start: keep in mind that Nuzlockes often take years to complete. Are you willing to do hundreds, sometimes thousands of hours of Pokemon drawings? Try drawing a short test page. Then imagine doing that again… a dozen times, two dozen times, a hundred times. Are you willing to see it through? (I hope you are! But still, it’s a huge commitment!)
Ask yourself: why do you want to draw a Nuzlocke comic? What’s missing in the stories you’ve read that you want to see? What new things can you bring to the table? Don’t start drawing until you find something you’re truly passionate about.
To get better at drawing, draw a lot of stuff you’re uncomfortable with. A great way to force yourself to draw a lot of new stuff is to… draw a Nuzlocke comic! Death’s Nuzlocke is a great example of just how much a person can improve over the course of a run (take a look at the first pages compared to the most recent ones). If you struggle, that’s good! That’s like getting sore after a workout: it means you’re stretching your limits. Don’t give up; you’ll get better as the run goes along.
To keep a consistent schedule, set aside a block of time to draw… every day. It doesn’t have to be a long time. The hardest part of making time for drawing is just forcing yourself to get started. Once you’ve gotten past that hurdle, you can find yourself drawing for hours.
Play through your run before you start your Nuzlocke. This way, you can see who dies and what happens and you can plan your story accordingly. It’s a lot less haphazard and lets you do plotting, foreshadowing, and so forth. This is an example of the notes I took while on my own run.
Figure out your story’s genre before you start your Nuzlocke. Is this going to be a funny gag-filled Nuzlocke? Or do you want a dramatic and deadly serious story? Are you going to point out silly game inconsistencies, or try to create an internally consistent world? Each decision requires you to treat the characters and the world differently and puts different limitations on your story. It’s harder to be silly in a serious story, and it’s harder to make the readers cry in a comedy-based story.
Make every scene matter. Don’t be afraid to skip stuff and drastically rework the plot. Every single ‘pervert professor’ joke has already been done, and I’ve seen several Nuzlockes just skip the boring and predictable first section (or make it so different it’s unrecognizable). Make all your scenes power the story forward somehow, whether it’s through the main plot, character development, subplots, etc. Don’t just add stuff ‘to be accurate,’ make it FIT. Same goes with characters: make each character matter.
I always find it much easier to draw a comic if I’ve written out the dialogue and script beforehand. Your mileage may vary, but for me, it’s one less thing to hold in my head when I’m trying to figure out where to put everything.
I hope these tips help! Best of luck!
