Comic Creators Free Talk

[Kaxen]

I worry about doing preplanning forever... and there's not "DING! PLANNING PHASE COMPLETE MILESTONE" ...thing.

Though I should probably try color scripting at some point. I know I abuse the hell out of blue. >_> Aside from skin tones, I don't get along with warm colors most of the time.

And for some strange reason, I only imagine interior walls in shades of blue or one of those bland light-yellow-beige-off-white colors. Minus coffee shops. Coffee shops ought to be a warm rusty orange.

[Kupocake]

Kaxen

I worry about doing preplanning forever... and there's not "DING! PLANNING PHASE COMPLETE MILESTONE" ...thing.

Though I should probably try color scripting at some point. I know I abuse the hell out of blue. >_> Aside from skin tones, I don't get along with warm colors most of the time.

And for some strange reason, I only imagine interior walls in shades of blue or one of those bland light-yellow-beige-off-white colors. Minus coffee shops. Coffee shops ought to be a warm rusty orange.

I worry about that too! But then again, many films out there are in pre-production for years, so I don't feel too bad taking my time pre-planning. In addition, I've only been working on this particular comic (Cans of Beans) since October 2011, and I've already got the entire story & script done and a slew of thumbnails/color scripts. So, I feel like I'm in pretty good shape. I'd rather spend more time pre-planning than spend several years drawing pages, only to realize something wasn't working or something could have been done better.

I think a clear, quantifiable target helps the most, so you're not in pre-planning hell forever. Like: "I will start drawing finalized pages when I got the script worked out and at least 3 chapters of thumbs drawn."

[Kaxen]

That's true... But I always feel like I should actually start something... Then again, I'm all "Better to do something than nothing" while working and "Kaxen, when will you understand the concept of editing?" whenever I look back on it.

[enchantedsleeper]

Kaxen

Though I should probably try color scripting at some point. I know I abuse the hell out of blue. >_> Aside from skin tones, I don't get along with warm colors most of the time.

What's colour scripting? I'm curious; I've never heard the term before.

[Kaxen]

enchantedsleeper

Kaxen

Though I should probably try color scripting at some point. I know I abuse the hell out of blue. >_> Aside from skin tones, I don't get along with warm colors most of the time.

What's colour scripting? I'm curious; I've never heard the term before.

stuff like this

[Kupocake]

enchantedsleeper

Kaxen

Though I should probably try color scripting at some point. I know I abuse the hell out of blue. >_> Aside from skin tones, I don't get along with warm colors most of the time.

What's colour scripting? I'm curious; I've never heard the term before.

It's a term more used with the film/animation industry than comics, but quoting back what I posted before:

Quote:

Color scripting is just figuring out the color scheme of the entire story, key scene by key scene. Here was the color script for Up. With color scripts, you can really get a feel for the mood and atmosphere of the scene before jumping into actually coloring the pages/sequence, a sort of "sketching with colors" approach.

Mine personally aren't that detailed, but I can't really show it around as an example since color scripts by their nature are spoilerific.

Some comic artists do color scripts. I know the Blacksad artists do, but it's also partly because they were Disney Animation Layout artists first before they jumped into comics.

[enchantedsleeper]

Ah, I get it now. Thanks, you guys :3 I might even give that a go for some of my projects, in spite of my non-existent artistic skills. I often have a specific idea of how I want the colours to look, so it would help to get that down on paper.

[[- DB -]]

Let me pose a question (after a bit of rambling)

I'm not a fan of a lot of exposition. I'd rather not have some character explaining to me what you just saw happen or rambling off about something in the past. Why would two old friends tell each other something they have known for years, it doesn't make much sense to me in a comic/movie.

However I don't want to just leave the reader completely in the dark, while keeping the characters from spouting off stuff they already know. I'm not sure how to do this in some situations.

For example: In my comic the main character has an enchanted weapon (actually it is a sentient weapon) that will only allow him to pick it up at the moment. It will magically increase its weight or even set people on fire to avoid being used by someone it doesn't like. His friends and allies know this fact and have for ages so they wouldn't even bother to discuss the fact anymore. Say he drops the thing while climbing a ladder or something, No one could hand it to him and the readers could be confused why something so simple wouldn't happen if I didn't explain it but as I said, the group already knows why so they likely wouldn't say anything about it and just let it go.

So do you guys have any suggestions on how to avoid overly explaining everything and still somewhat keep the readers informed?

My thought was that I simply ignore explaining until it potentially comes up with some stranger later on or answering it in a extra "Q&A" type comic thingy, but I was wondering about others opinions.

Edit: I should note that the fact that no one can wield the thing but the main character isn't a major part of the story and thus isn't really going to be brought up, it was an example.

[Proqxy]

[- DB -]

Let me pose a question (after a bit of rambling)

I'm not a fan of a lot of exposition. I'd rather not have some character explaining to me what you just saw happen or rambling off about something in the past. Why would two old friends tell each other something they have known for years, it doesn't make much sense to me in a comic/movie.

However I don't want to just leave the reader completely in the dark, while keeping the characters from spouting off stuff they already know. I'm not sure how to do this in some situations.

For example: In my comic the main character has an enchanted weapon (actually it is a sentient weapon) that will only allow him to pick it up at the moment. It will magically increase its weight or even set people on fire to avoid being used by someone it doesn't like. His friends and allies know this fact and have for ages so they wouldn't even bother to discuss the fact anymore. Say he drops the thing while climbing a ladder or something, No one could hand it to him and the readers could be confused why something so simple wouldn't happen if I didn't explain it but as I said, the group already knows why so they likely wouldn't say anything about it and just let it go.

So do you guys have any suggestions on how to avoid overly explaining everything and still somewhat keep the readers informed?

My thought was that I simply ignore explaining until it potentially comes up with some stranger later on or answering it in a extra "Q&A" type comic thingy, but I was wondering about others opinions.

Edit: I should note that the fact that no one can wield the thing but the main character isn't a major part of the story and thus isn't really going to be brought up, it was an example.

Maybe you could use a chapter or a segment of your story to show a flashback sequence in a way that just simply explains that part of the story to the reader, with no character involvement from the current part of the story. This way, it kinda gives the reader some of the backstory without breaking up the current situation with a dialog between two characters like you mentioned. Just a thought.

[Kaxen]

[- DB -]

Let me pose a question (after a bit of rambling)

I'm not a fan of a lot of exposition. I'd rather not have some character explaining to me what you just saw happen or rambling off about something in the past. Why would two old friends tell each other something they have known for years, it doesn't make much sense to me in a comic/movie.

However I don't want to just leave the reader completely in the dark, while keeping the characters from spouting off stuff they already know. I'm not sure how to do this in some situations.

For example: In my comic the main character has an enchanted weapon (actually it is a sentient weapon) that will only allow him to pick it up at the moment. It will magically increase its weight or even set people on fire to avoid being used by someone it doesn't like. His friends and allies know this fact and have for ages so they wouldn't even bother to discuss the fact anymore. Say he drops the thing while climbing a ladder or something, No one could hand it to him and the readers could be confused why something so simple wouldn't happen if I didn't explain it but as I said, the group already knows why so they likely wouldn't say anything about it and just let it go.

So do you guys have any suggestions on how to avoid overly explaining everything and still somewhat keep the readers informed?

My thought was that I simply ignore explaining until it potentially comes up with some stranger later on or answering it in a extra "Q&A" type comic thingy, but I was wondering about others opinions.

Edit: I should note that the fact that no one can wield the thing but the main character isn't a major part of the story and thus isn't really going to be brought up, it was an example.

If the character has friends with certain types of humor, I'd probably have one of them guffaw "sucks to have a sword like yours" in response to when the character is in some sort of situation where he needs to do something particularly laborious to retrieve his sword. I think that would imply that something is up with it without going all out with "As you all know, no one can pick up that sword without something going wrong except him." >_> Or just name the sword something that implies it's picky about who holds it. I dunno, depending on how clumsy, unlucky, and/or lazy the character is, having a sword no one else can hold seems like it can be a real hassle. Like if he is surrounded by murderous thugs, he has a broken arm (let's just pretend it's a two-hand sword for the moment), and his best friend is attempting to defend him but is unarmed and not the sort of martial artist who is a master of disarming or a Jackie-Chan-like "DEATH BY INNOCUOUS EVERYDAY ITEM!" type.

And sometimes, as long as you're consistent, no one will question it too much. Like the Magic A is Magic A trope. I think as long as the character's friends don't express themselves in a way that sounds lazy (or they are disinclined to help for some unpleasant reason), it could make it seem like it quirk of the sword.

[Psycho Bunny Studio]

Kupocake

Well... that would certainly make the script more interesting. And when I say interesting, I mean unreadable. XD

Something about rainbow script always makes me want to lick it.
Maybe it's cus of rainbow candy canes.
Maybe it's because I'm high on pain killers for my wrist...

GUESS WHO MIGHT BE GETTIN SURGERY!

gonk crying crying crying crying

[Psycho Bunny Studio]

btw
1) fml
2) I now quite like the bbc's sherlock tho the background music is hokey as s**t.
3) everything still hurts. I will never make anything beautiful again.
going to learn how to draw with my feet.

[Kupocake]

Psycho Bunny Studio

btw
1) fml
2) I now quite like the bbc's sherlock tho the background music is hokey as s**t.
3) everything still hurts. I will never make anything beautiful again.
going to learn how to draw with my feet.

Ouch, sorry to hear. Hope things go well for you. D:

Also, I pretty much adore Sherlock's music. It's quirky and interesting, and I feel like it adds to the strangeness of the show.

[Kaxen]

Psycho Bunny Studio

Kupocake

Well... that would certainly make the script more interesting. And when I say interesting, I mean unreadable. XD

Something about rainbow script always makes me want to lick it.
Maybe it's cus of rainbow candy canes.
Maybe it's because I'm high on pain killers for my wrist...

GUESS WHO MIGHT BE GETTIN SURGERY!

gonk crying crying crying crying

Good luck! x_x As a medically boring person, the idea of surgery terrifies me.






I love the music in Sherlock.

[[- DB -]]

Defective Ice Cube

Maybe you could use a chapter or a segment of your story to show a flashback sequence in a way that just simply explains that part of the story to the reader, with no character involvement from the current part of the story. This way, it kinda gives the reader some of the backstory without breaking up the current situation with a dialog between two characters like you mentioned. Just a thought.

I don't think I like the idea of using flashbacks to tell a story within a story. I'd rather continue the flow of the main storyline and not use flashbacks that would seem like filler storyline. A page here and there is ok, but not a back story.

Kaxen

And sometimes, as long as you're consistent, no one will question it too much. Like the Magic A is Magic A trope. I think as long as the character's friends don't express themselves in a way that sounds lazy (or they are disinclined to help for some unpleasant reason), it could make it seem like it quirk of the sword.

Damn Tropes I spent another 3 hours reading random things and seem to do it everytime I click one of their links.
Basically what I was considering just ignore it. It is also what I was a little worried about, as I wasn't sure how well it would be understood. Guess it can't be helped and I'll I have to have faith that people will not care lol.
But as I said the example I used is only a minor quirk of the story, and not one that comes into the light of day easily.