Writing Comics

So much fail.

You can't even rely on genres or markets to have the same requirements. You have to check each one individually.

>> *snort* As someone who does prose and comics, you can generally tell the novelists because THEY NEVER LET ANYONE SHUT UP. Characters constantly talking, narration boxes everywhere... it's a really bad case of telling, not showing. <<

Comics also require a much more concise style of narrative. Some characters blather. Some are storytellers. For a good comic character, you need someone who is either pithy or laconic. It's hard to capture a really loquacious character well in comics.

>> Sometimes, you need to have a silent, wordless scene. Sometimes, you need to let the color, the lighting, the character's stupid FACE say everything. <<

Yes. I'm a huge fan of body language in art, to the point that if the body language -- human or otherwise -- is bad, then I classify the art as bad. It just looks awful to me. My benchmark for this is MAUS, which is a highly respected graphic novel with some of the shittiest anthropomorphic art I have ever seen. It's like cardboard cutouts. Their bodies barely move. *headdesk* If you cannot handle ear/tail/whisker language then for the love of Michaelangelo, stick to drawing humans. Or fruit.

I also enjoy manga and its descendants, for the better balance of transitions and image types than typical of European/American graphics. I like the variety, the storytelling flexibility, the nuance and subtlety.

*chuckle* I have this idea in my head for a horror comic, "Football Bus from Hell," which is basically a trope twist in a lot of ways. It would have, at one point, a two-page splash spread with the instructions, "You have two pages. Kill all the remaining white college students, however you want." Because it doesn't really matter how they die, just needs to look awesomely genre-appropriate.

The Blueshift Troupers, although conceived as a television show, would probably work well in comic format because it has such a strong visual aspect. Sense of wonder is among the main themes, so I imagine plenty of 'scenery' shots where the characters just take a moment to enjoy the gorgeous vista of space or some alien planet, or stop to watch a weird little critter pollinate a flower. That's not just window dressing; it tells people this is different from the typical space-western shoot-em-up.

I can understand the stiffness being an artistic choice, but for me, the affectation gets in the way of the story to the point that I can't appreciate any of it. It's like trying to read a book through a filthy window. Since I don't like the subject matter either, this is no great loss for me personally.

I did like the overlay of one animal mask atop a different animal face. That was a good visual representation of false identity as protective camouflage.

I've just seen artwork done so much better, including some very harsh topics.

>> Comics also suffer from the problem that people just assume, "oh, it's like writing and art squished together," rather than its own separate media with its own rules, conventions, and framework. <<

I really had fun researching the infrastructure of sequential art. I dug around until I found a few really promising books, and then absorbed them. Some of the information was useful to all kinds of writing, some more specifically to comics or other visual entertainment.

>> I've seen comics with beautiful art and beautiful writing that were complete failures as comics. (Example: X-Men Noir, which due to chiaroscuro lighting, an uber-desaturated color palette, and half the cast dressing in fedoras and trenchcoats meant I couldn't tell who anyone was. And then they threw in twins.) Some fantastic novels make rotten comics, and vice versa. <<

Wow, that sucks.

It is important to make visual distinctions between characters, especially in a visual medium. In writing Polychrome Heroics, I'm strongly influenced by superhero comics and games, so I pay attention to people's costumes. I also wanted to get out of the pernicious cookie-cutter body type problem in comics, so the soups in Terramagne have bodies inspired by different Olympic athletes, among other examples. The whole team in "The Hand of Sedna" (in fiction) are heavyweights, one of them inspired by a female weightlifter. Damask of course is multiracial.

The Blueshift Troupers has an added challenge because the main characters are shapeshifters, plus the hiveship Omphalos. So one trick for visual distinction is to give the uniforms colored piping, a different hue for each person. Even out of uniform they tend to wear something in their signature color. Now I'm also thinking about the ship's voice, which is a little different for each part of the ship -- they're sort of a plural person joined at the root. I think one good way to render that visually in a comic would be to put the ship's words in a particular style of frame, with a dingbat or twist in the corner to show which part of the ship is speaking. So a heart for Heart, a gear for Engine, etc.

>> When I make a thing, it tends to come through very strongly as either a comic or as prose. There has been exactly two stories that started as one and became another, and both of them were me trying something that didn't work. <<

That makes sense. I have a very few things that have been written as poetry and as prose, or been transposed from poem to comic, etc. Usually the medium comes clear to me too. But if I'm thinking in script, it's a lot easier to think of changing medium -- some things could work as text or podcast or comic.

>> I have a lot of feelings on comics. <<

It's fascinating. Thanks for sharing. I like your comics because you do such a great job of conveying emotion, and of putting things into visual format that don't fit well into words made of language.

>> I swear, Scott McCloud is my little tin god for his books on comics. (Understanding Comics, Reinventing Comics, and Making Comics.) <<

Agreed. That's where I learned the most about infrastructure, although I've got some other book that was great for other little details and conventions.

>> His books were what finally got me to stop just wanting to make comics and just MAKE COMICS. He gave me enough of the framework that I actually felt capable. He's awesome. And Will Eisner's stuff is great too. <<

I'm really happy to hear that. *ponder* Come to think of it, another reason I like your comics is because you write from a solid idea. It's not just fluff.

>> This is actually something a good letterer could smash out of the park. Different typefaces, used well, can beautifully illustrate the different parts speaking, while also emphasizing their similarities and nonhumanness.<<

Yeah, a font-family with different yet visibly related lettering would work great. It can be a challenge though, balancing distinction, relation, and legibility.

I do something like this with Damask; in the original files, each headmate has their own font. Unfortunately I couldn't make that work in LJ, so it all comes through plain. But folks who get the poetry collections with those poems included will see the original fonts.

>> And one of the comics guys I read will use speech bubbles--a superhero named Synddablok has cinderblock-shaped speech bubbles, a caged eldritch abomination always has huge jagged black lines surrounding his word bubbles like he's shouting all the time, and so on. Lots of opportunities there! (And also a great example of comics-specific art.) <<

That is so awesome! I always loved that aspect of comics, the little tidbits of lettering and framing, along with emanata such as speed lines.

>> They're a bit scarce on the ground these days, but if you find someone who can letter by hand, they'd probably be a bit better for that, since most people have a sort of natural style that comes to them, and they build on that. Bit easier to get a "family" of fonts. <<

True. I've done very little with comics, because I don't know many people who handle the visual side of it. I've just gotten lucky a few times. But I like the idea well enough to keep at it, in case I find expanded opportunities later.

>> And yeah, a good letterer or clever artist can do ALL SORTS of cool shit with emanata. <<

I think it's cute how there are names for so many different kinds, and the evolution from more literal to more symbolic versions.

>> I'm pretty envious, since my lettering is godawful; it takes all my effort just to make a basic boring block print that's legible, <<

It does take practice. Have you ever tried calligraphy? Some of the exercises there are aimed at developing style and expression.

>> and then you have people like Bob Lappan who, just through letters and speech bubbles, express agonizing pain, madness, suffering, and finally death. Oh, how I hope to be able to do shit like that one day! <<

O_O That is awesome and creepy.

>> Every field has jargon. It's just that mine has among it words like 'gutter' and 'bubbles' and 'those little squiggles above people's heads.' <<

That's true.

I first encountered the graphic versions of 'gutter' and 'bubbles' while working on a school yearbook. That was also one of my more dramatic lessons in the importance of never taking on a project that I couldn't do by myself if necessary. I and one other person did almost the whole thing because everyone else skipped out, most of them having done little or nothing on their assigned pages. But it was still a pretty cool project, and I learned a lot of useful things. It's where much of my visual design practice came from too, very handy when I'm laying out scrapbook pages.

>> Have you ever tried calligraphy?

I haven't, and I probably should. I'm left-handed, which means that writing left-to-right in smearable ink usually ends in misery and smudges. Lots of smudges. I probably should just suck it up and learn to write properly without dragging my hand across the paper after it. *sigh* <<

It might be easier for you to write a right-to-left language such as Hebrew, or even a vertical one such as Japanese; but that's no help for English lettering. Among the solutions I've heard of are using non-smearable ink, trying different hand/arm positions, and covering the written area with a blank sheet of paper or clear acrylic.

A quick search turned up some resources for leftie calligraphers:
http://www.iampeth.com/lessons/left-handers/Left%20Handed%20Calligraphy-8.2010.pdf
http://www.iampeth.com/lessons_left-handed.php
http://www.clas.co.uk/left-handers.html
http://www.amazon.com/Left-Handed-Calligraphy-Lettering-Typography/dp/0486267024/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

There are some on comics lettering in general:
http://punchandbrodie.com/leo/FamousArtistsCartoonCourse/facc_18.pdf
http://hans.presto.tripod.com/links005.html
http://www.blambot.com/grammar.shtml
http://nattosoup.blogspot.com/2011/09/lettering-practice.html

>> I KNOW RIGHT? Bob Lappan is like a god in US comics lettering. He's one of those letterers who are very recognizable and at the same time very transparent. He's fantastic. <<

A clean window is transparent, yet every so often the sun glints beautifully along its surface.

>> There are times that I think a moment in visuals as acting and then I have to figure out how to evoke it as words, the pov may need to shift. There are panels that subvert the orderly frames, that take the tension of expectation and execution and make it the punch. <<

That makes sense.

>> I think some of the power in Kirby is that he manages to capture the moment, not through realistic accuracy, but as a less overt expression that Cubism is but a glimmering hint. He's condensing movement, and it reads right, though the image as image does not capture any single slice of the world. <<

Agreed. A key aspect of comics is choosing which moments to illustrate and which to leave out.