Thinking of starting a Comic

[Toxilicks]

Hello, I'm wondering if you can help me. I'm thinking of starting an webcomic. Basically, it would be just quick little shorts, probably about four-five panels a page or something like that. There's no real story, it's just sort of like, a cartoon version of my life.
So has anyone got drawing tips? Photoshop/other art program tips? Maybe even the best way to lay out a comic? Any advice really would be fantastic.

[Sairalinde Telemnar]

There's a bunch of useful things here: Click

[drend]

doodle-around, find a layout that suits YOU n your drawing-style the most (ex: i'm most comfortable with 4-5 or less panels over one page..BUT that's probably ALL that i'm sure about right now ;_; ).. DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THEM PANELS. D':< they're really hard to get right i think, like. how thick or thin should the lines surrounding your "boxes"/panels be, how much space between each panel suits your art? drawing these boxes free-hand or not, making them extravagant n pretty(like,with attached flowers in the corners etc) or simple? characters or talking-bubbles, should they move within or be allowed to stretch outside them boxes?

i'm struggling the most with these questions myself., but then again.. maybe i think to much. (_ _)'

do you have a da or artblog where one could get a look at your work so far? : )

(n oh! sorry for my english, not my first language : ))

[Toxilicks]

drend

doodle-around, find a layout that suits YOU n your drawing-style the most (ex: i'm most comfortable with 4-5 or less panels over one page..BUT that's probably ALL that i'm sure about right now ;_; ).. DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THEM PANELS. D':< they're really hard to get right i think, like. how thick or thin should the lines surrounding your "boxes"/panels be, how much space between each panel suits your art? drawing these boxes free-hand or not, making them extravagant n pretty(like,with attached flowers in the corners etc) or simple? characters or talking-bubbles, should they move within or be allowed to stretch outside them boxes?

i'm struggling the most with these questions myself., but then again.. maybe i think to much. (_ _)'

do you have a da or artblog where one could get a look at your work so far? : )

(n oh! sorry for my english, not my first language : ))

Yeah, the boxes are the part I worry about. Should I draw my image first and then move onto the box, or is it the other way? I've also got to maybe get a digital drawing pad, I can scan drawings but I'm not sure how to use photoshop yet. But I'm going to take a home-digital art course soon. Also you speak English well! smile

[Toxilicks]

Sairalinde Telemnar

There's a bunch of useful things here: Click

Awesome, thank you smile

[Madcap_Bekkers]

Toxilicks

Yeah, the boxes are the part I worry about. Should I draw my image first and then move onto the box, or is it the other way? I've also got to maybe get a digital drawing pad, I can scan drawings but I'm not sure how to use photoshop yet. But I'm going to take a home-digital art course soon. Also you speak English well! smile

It might not even be a matter of "chicken or egg, image or panel?" if you do a clear thumbnail first. Sometimes I sit staring at a piece of bristol paper in a state of frozen terror for twenty minutes before I realize I can just whip out some printer paper and doodle whichever I want first, and then transfer that idea onto nice paper later.

I think it probably varies from artist to artist whether you're more comfortable paneling first or drawing first and then boxing it in. And I doubt there's a "right" way to do that, especially at the thumbnail stage. My personal process is script, then thumbnail, then art. In the thumbnail stage, I draw the art first and then put boxes around it, but in the final stage I draw all the panels before drawing the art inside. It makes it easier to gauge what size everything needs to be and how I want the overall flow of the page to work.

BUT that doesn't mean inking the panels before putting the drawings inside, because there is a tried and true tradition of characters and speech bubbles sticking out beyond panel lines.

blah blah blah I answer a simple question with too much

[Toxilicks]

Madcap_Bekkers

Toxilicks

Yeah, the boxes are the part I worry about. Should I draw my image first and then move onto the box, or is it the other way? I've also got to maybe get a digital drawing pad, I can scan drawings but I'm not sure how to use photoshop yet. But I'm going to take a home-digital art course soon. Also you speak English well! smile

It might not even be a matter of "chicken or egg, image or panel?" if you do a clear thumbnail first. Sometimes I sit staring at a piece of bristol paper in a state of frozen terror for twenty minutes before I realize I can just whip out some printer paper and doodle whichever I want first, and then transfer that idea onto nice paper later.

I think it probably varies from artist to artist whether you're more comfortable paneling first or drawing first and then boxing it in. And I doubt there's a "right" way to do that, especially at the thumbnail stage. My personal process is script, then thumbnail, then art. In the thumbnail stage, I draw the art first and then put boxes around it, but in the final stage I draw all the panels before drawing the art inside. It makes it easier to gauge what size everything needs to be and how I want the overall flow of the page to work.

BUT that doesn't mean inking the panels before putting the drawings inside, because there is a tried and true tradition of characters and speech bubbles sticking out beyond panel lines.

blah blah blah I answer a simple question with too much

Haha dude, there's no such thing as too much when it comes to answering a question. smile But thank you for your input!

[drend]

Toxilicks

drend

doodle-around, find a layout that suits YOU n your drawing-style the most (ex: i'm most comfortable with 4-5 or less panels over one page..BUT that's probably ALL that i'm sure about right now ;_; ).. DO NOT UNDERESTIMATE THEM PANELS. D':< they're really hard to get right i think, like. how thick or thin should the lines surrounding your "boxes"/panels be, how much space between each panel suits your art? drawing these boxes free-hand or not, making them extravagant n pretty(like,with attached flowers in the corners etc) or simple? characters or talking-bubbles, should they move within or be allowed to stretch outside them boxes?

i'm struggling the most with these questions myself., but then again.. maybe i think to much. (_ _)'

do you have a da or artblog where one could get a look at your work so far? : )

(n oh! sorry for my english, not my first language : ))

Yeah, the boxes are the part I worry about. Should I draw my image first and then move onto the box, or is it the other way? I've also got to maybe get a digital drawing pad, I can scan drawings but I'm not sure how to use photoshop yet. But I'm going to take a home-digital art course soon. Also you speak English well! smile

aah yeah. i think, with time the question what comes first, the box or the art is like chicken n egg.: / i always have the story ready in my head, n then.. i'd LIKE to think the art comes first for me, but the more i think about it, i think the panels n general layout/page design does. but ah..i can't really tell. chicken or egg, you know. : p n thanks!

[meta-madness]

Toxilicks

Hello,

Hello!

Quote:

I'm wondering if you can help me.

Yes I can.

Quote:

I'm thinking of starting an webcomic. Basically, it would be just quick little shorts,

Seem's fair, you already have what you want and how your going forward with doing it all good start.

Quote:

probably about four-five panels a page or something like that.

Making a plan decent.

Quote:

There's no real story,

Another TMNT story we have to many of those today!

Quote:

it's just sort of like, a cartoon version of my life.

Oh don't mind my other one before this anyway.Are you gonna put the important part's of your life in it and if not there is no real chronological order per episode/tale/page/story so it is a decent question

Quote:

So has anyone got drawing tips? Photoshop/other art program tips?
Maybe even the best way to lay out a comic?

Another comment answer'd this!!!!

Any advice really would be fantastic.

Character's? Have you already choose who is who and protagnest and antaganist?
If it is based on your life there must be a couple of them. How long do you plan to make it?