Common Clicks for Comic Artists

Here are some helpful links on writing your own comic

• Lang Lang Comics is an example of a successful web comic site with one of the most common setup that you will see for a web comic. This is the first webcomic that I ever read and is a personal favorite; it has been running for 7 years.
• Draw Furry is a basic tutorial website on how to get your web comic started. This has a section on brainstorming and writing word balloons for your comic.
• How to Draw Manga University specializes in the manga genre and gives many tutorials on how to draw it. Not only does it teach the manga style, it also gives tips on drawing tools and has its series of books to read on the subject.
• How Not to Run a Comic definitely takes a different approach on how to write a comic; it focuses on what NOT to do when writing a comic series. This site showcases many examples of (incorrect) comics and points out what is wrong with each of them.
• Comic Genesis Formerly known as Keenspace, this is a web comic hosting site. This would be an example of an already established web comic hosting site where you would go to begin showcasing your web comics.
• Creative Commons was established to provide writers with a more flexible form of copyright when posting material to the web. There are different types of licenses to choose from on this site, so check it out and see which one works for you.
• Basic Web Comic Tutorial is a step by step tutorial that helps aspiring web comic writers get started on the web. There are not many pictures or illustrations within the tutorial; however it does have a tutorial on how to promote your comic and how to build a readership.
• Making Webcomics is a basic website with several topics that range from photoshop to word balloons. This tutorial also has information on copyright and trademark laws that every webcomic author needs to know.
• 50 Tools and Resources to Help You Start a Webcomic is in blog format, but it has many useful links that would be helpful in creating your own web comic. There are links to webhosting sites, web comic tutorials, and different techniques web comic artists use.

Introduction

Ranma Saotome is a high school student who practices martial arts. One day while training with his father in China, he fell into a spring. Little did he know that that particular spring was the cursed spring of drowned-girl, and now whenever he is splashed with cold water he turns into a girl. This is an example of a plot device that drives, Ranma 1/2, a top-selling manga written by Rumiko Takahashi. Takahashi and many comic writers like her go through a series of steps before they can create a full-fledged comic series. There are basic elements involved in creating a comic series such as: writing a storyline, developing characters, setting up the panels, and a hefty dose of creativity. Christy Marx's Writing for Animation, Comics, and Games, goes into detail on the writing aspect of creating your own comic.

Review

In reviewing the comics section, pages 77 to 135, of Writing for Animation, Comics, and Games, I kept in mind that it would be focused on the writing aspect and was not expecting to read about any of the other aspects of making a comic. Because the type of comics that I was exposed to growing up differed from the style Marx uses, it was interesting to see how much they had in common and how much they differed. As a result she shed some light on a few areas that I was unfamiliar with. The comic section is broken up into 3 chapters (Chapters 5-7).

Breakdown

She starts chapter 5 off with the history of the comic book and then gives some examples of the different genres. While it is always nice to know the history of something before starting a project on it, this section could have been skipped, because this section is not useful to someone who is just looking for some pointers on how to start their own comic strip; nor does it help in the basic set up.

In chapter 6 there is a basic comic book terminology section with a descriptive paragraph that follows each definition; and she describes the different types of comic books that are commonly seen and the differences between them. Much of chapter 6 is spent on learning how to write a script for your comic. The script style of writing seems a little too drawn out and detailed and would be most beneficial to those who do not draw their own comics and have artists draw the comics for them. In my experiences so far, I feel it is a lot easier to just simply write an outline for your comic instead of a full script. If your aim is to write short comic strips like in the newspapers with punch lines at the end, your best bet is to just write out what you want the characters to say. When you have your dialogue written out then you can decide how you want to distribute those words across your panels.

Chapter 7 deals with breaking into the business of comic books and getting your work noticed, getting paid for your work, and copyright and ownership issues. In how to break into the industry, she gives some direction on places to go, who to approach, and how to promote your comic. Marx even helps to arm the reader with knowledge of who owns your comic after you are signed. A reason that this book would be helpful is the descriptive points that she makes on copyright and ownership. One point where I agree with the author is when she says, "Copyright is a complex issue, and I urge you to become as informed as you can about copyrights and trademarks. (Marx 126)."If you know what you are getting into legally when dealing with copyrights you can avoid a lot of stress, money, and wasted time in the future.

The illustrations that she uses throughout the book are helpful in understanding the material that the author is trying to explain. She uses illustrations from her own works as well as works from other artists. My favorite aspect about this book is that the author gives the reader many options to consider on several topics. Often times I find myself reading how-to books, and they just give the basics with an unclear path and they don't list the other choices that you can make. Marx on the other hand gives many examples of each of her topics and she names alternative websites and other books that could help the reader along the way. Marx is a professional in her field and has experience in both writing comics and scripts for comics and television. She had her comic book series, Sisterhood of Steel, published by Epic Comics; and she was the first woman to be awarded the Animation Writers Caucus Animation Award in 2000. She has done some work with G.I. Joe and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, so it is safe to say that she is qualified in her field of work and it is nice to know that you are getting professional advice.

In Conclusion...

Overall this book would be very helpful to someone who needs guidance in writing storylines and scripts for their comics. It would also be useful to someone is looking forward to publish their comic strip in the long run. Due to the fact that I simply wanted to just write a web comic for fun, this book was not exactly the most helpful thing to me. I do not think that anyone who is looking for tips on how to make text bubbles, developing a drawing style, backgrounds, or anything else other than writing. Even with writing being the highlight of the book, it does not really help readers to develop a story. This book is written very well; however, from an aspiring web comic creator's point of view I would not recommend this book to someone looking to developing their own drawing style or anyone looking for a tutorial on how to make a comic. The most helpful parts would be the few sections on text and panels and the section on breaking through. If anything, people should read this book if they plan to break into the business. I was aware of the obvious ways to gain exposure such as going to conventions and mailing them to well known comic book companies, but after reading I found that Peter David's method is worth a try.

"...Then send them, not to the editors of the respective books, but the ASSISTANT editors. Why? Because no one ever writes to the assistant editors, so they'll actually open the envelopes and read the contents. That's the biggest problem right there: getting your material in front of people's eyes... (Marx 130)"

Someday in the future I plan to submit my work to newspapers or magazines to be published as a daily comic strip. If possible I would like to publish some of my comics that I have been drawing as its own graphic novel, and after reading this book I feel that I gained some knowledge of the comic book world that I did not know. Before reading this book I knew nothing of working with agents or ownership rights and issues, and now I know what to look for and which type of deals will help me in the long run. In the end there was some very good advice given to the reader that many aspiring comic writers cannot afford to miss.