We're moving...

Yes my friends, we're moving... to another website.  We are going to be moving our articles to our main website.  This has been a great run but that time has come where we have to become committed to presenting a higher quality of information.  In the time that we've been doing this we have found a great wealth of information on the creation, distribution, and marketing of comics and graphic novels and even though they fall in the same industry, both are managed significantly different.  The same applies to print vs digital publishing. 

Our main website will host a magazine style page for New Miami Comics, Miami's local indie resource magazine.  I'd like to start including printers and advertisers, distribution methods and guides, upcoming conventions and local comic book stores.  There are many resources out there but as a creator its easy to miss, especially when your focussed on your work.

There are a few magazines that touch many of those topics and address the local FLORIDA comic community.  Come visit us at:

www.digitalhandstudios.com

Starting in February

Starting in February we will be posting our new in depth articles to our Digital Hand Studios website as a subscription based magazine.  Our focus is still on bringing the best resources out there for indie comic creators.  We hope all of you have enjoyed our articles and find the new format even more creative and helpful. 

What you can expect from our new format:

We are going to dedicate a lot more time to organizing useful articles that creators can reference in their projects and endeavors.  We are going to include convention schedules, publishing guidelines for most of the publisher out there, list of comic book specific printers, advise from local artists, writers, and publishers.  We're also going to present articles that showcase local artists.  We would also include a section for monthly comic stories.  The magazine style and articles will be a collection of art and writing techniques, local comic news, and indie comic resources.

As our subscribers grows we will add contests and local meetups.  We will also consider article writers at that time.

So if you like our articles and find them helpful come check out our new page in February.

http://digitalhandstudios.com/new-miami-comics

Building Yourself up as an Artist

The reason many artist fail is because they don't get their name out.  The industry is very saturated, but even within that pool of artists some have very recognizable talent.  Sadly enough several of those waste their efforts in frivolous actions that lead nowhere and quickly become disappointed about the market.  Others have the mistaken notion that if they draw well enough opportunities will simply walk up to their door step and knock.  All of these artists wonder why they aren't making any money or getting more work.  "Exposure", that little word that has gotten so much negative feed back is actually the key.

Many upcoming comic creators have this idea that talent alone justifies them.   The almost cliche' argument of "Working for Exposure..." is the high light of almost every new artistic presenter...and yet these are the same artists that can't find new work.  As an artist myself I will say and stand behind saying that working for exposure is one of the greatest ways to acquire new and well paying clients and jobs.

The single most important thing to know when you work for exposure is the marketability vs work.  In simple terms, do your due diligence and evaluate the opportunity.  There is a big difference between working on a full 34 page comic for a first time writer and/or studio versus working a cover or 3 comic pages for a national recognized magazine.  Use a little common sense.  The opportunities are out there.

To get the best marketing out of it you will want to target national to global publishers and what you would consider small or simple jobs that you could showcase your best art.  You can even get some benefit from helping small publishers with small projects as long as they're well known in their local comic book scene.  Take on a few mini projects.

When you put your art out there with recognized publishers many clients can view your marketability for themselves.  In other words they'll be able to see for themselves that your work sells and is out in the market place.  When you help local small publishers the word spreads and others will want to hire you.  If you can be a bit flexible with your financing many publishers and writers will want to hire you.

The key thing here is to get your art out there in the market place through recognized publishers and local indies so that you're recommended to others.

Super Battles, Super Bust!

It would seem all the big publishers are coming out with these large scale wars between super heroes.  Its seems like only natural for the smaller indie publishers to follow.  I mean with all the super hero movies coming out and big graphic novels or comic series everyone is on a binge for comic conflict.  So why aren't you selling more books? 

One of the biggest factors that many creators fail to acknowledge is the lack of fan base to drive their comics forward.  There are many reasons for this outcome but the most common are these:

Lack of Foundation:  You have a great story and a cool group of heroes and villains but not enough going on to get anyone interested.  I'm not talking about action.  Yeah you got a 10 page battle but the real reason people aren't interested is because they have no connection to the conflict. 

Somewhere along the lines you got a little to busy with the awesome battle that you might have forgotten to show your readers why they should care.  Even more did you even evaluate the reason, did it sound concerning or believable, how about interesting?  Your story has no roots!

Build this up by creating tension between heroes and villains.  Add real problems.  Make the hard choices.  Build a history with your characters so that your readers feel like they have a stake in it. 

Great Conflict:  Heroes and villains fight all the time.  Why is this time so special.  You need to find that urgency in the problem they face.  Try to get away from cliche's...the bigger publishers have beaten that horse dead a long time ago.  Look for fresh new ideas.  Use current events as a resource.

The damsel in distress doesn't work in a world fighting for equal rights for men and women. You'll end up with a mediocre response.  Avengers: Civil War is practically about human rights.  X-Men: Age of Apocalypse is about choosing sides on morality and so on.  Find a topic to parallel and work you major conflict from there.  A lot of these topics will involve what's wrong or right scenarios and does the end justify the means type questions.

Remember to build your fan base up before releasing a major conflict title.  You can use a series of stories leading up to the major issue.  This will help get that major title off the ground when you release it since the issues leading up to it will act as your marketing and advertising. 

 

Romance for Comics

Keep your audience engaged in your comics by the spell bounding effects of romance.  Many of the larger publishers know this and use it to add drama to their stories.  Romance is an addictive element that can make your stories provocative and suspenseful.  But adding romance to your story or even writing romance stories can be challenging.

Romance is the strong and intimate relationship between people.  The drama that extends from that relationship fuel many parts of a story.  There are many emotions involved in a romance story, but to understand which ones are more apparent you should know what sub-genre you may want to focus on.  Here are a few popular ones:

• Contemporary Romance: Romance novels that are set from 1950 to the present that focus primarily on the romantic relationship.
• Erotic Romance: Novels in which strong, often explicit, sexual interaction is an inherent part of the love story, character growth and relationship development and could not be removed without damaging the storyline. These novels may contain elements of other romance subgenres (such as paranormal, historical, etc.).

• Historical Romance: Romance novels that are set prior to 1950.

• Inspirational Romance: Romance novels in which religious or spiritual beliefs (in the context of any religious or spiritual belief system) are an integral part of the plot.

• Paranormal Romance: Romance novels in which fantasy worlds or paranormal or science fiction elements are an integral part of the plot.

• Romantic Suspense: Romance novels in which suspense, mystery, or thriller elements constitute an integral part of the plot.

• Young Adult Romance: Romance novels in which young adult life is an integral part of the plot.

       Also to keep up with current trends you can explore inter-racial relations and LGBT.

Remember who your target group is and create stories that would stir up ideas, debate, and awareness.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 

Character Design Basics

 

Character design is very important.  As key element of your story they will add or take away from the comic.  Your audience should like or at least have a connection with your heroes and supporting cast while either understanding or truly hate your villains.  For comics, character designs also include costume design and powers.  Here's a simple guide on how to work the process.

Concept

This is the rough draft of your character.  Whether a hero or villain, you need to build them up and give them purpose.  Here's where you come up with the back story, name, powers, and motivation.  Make them interesting by getting away from stereotypes and the back stories.  Use things you know or stuff you research:

" Madeline, lost her sister in the war and blames Unicorp, a big war supporter and weapon's manufacturing corporation.  Madeline was trained to be the best infiltrator in the war and now after her sister's death she has gone rogue and infiltrates Unicorp for their true purpose in the war and to expose them to the world."

Get yourself a database of names.  many writers have a book of names from different cultures and nationalities.  Keep cultural websites book marked or keep reference material handy, especially if you plan to have authentic diversity in your comics.  You also want to have a list of super heroes and villain names that you might want to work with.  Try to accommodate the name to the super power or even function of your character

Choosing powers for your characters can be both awesome and frustrating.  The main thing here is not to over do it.  The more powers, the harder and more complex the challenges you have to create to keep your comic interesting.  Today's reader is constantly asking why or how come...you need to provide an intelligent and reasonable answer.  A quick search online will provide a list of common comic book super powers.

Costume design is important. Choose a design that builds or complements your character's role or power.   
 

Keeping an Amazing Comic Studio

The studio is where the magic happens.It is the home of the comic artist's inspiration.  Littered with comics, sketchbooks, statues, it is a breeding ground for the imagination.  Each is unique to its owner's style and a destination of pure comic delight. A well organized comic studio will help you be more productive and creative in all of your projects.

The main purpose of your studio is to support your creative endeavors.  It should be a place free from distractions, but full of motivational tools.  Keep in mind that the design of your studio will help you come up with better ideas and lot faster.  Here are some tips to consider when organizing your comic studio:

Your Studio is your research library.  It is your inner sanctum.  You should have a small collection of reference materials that you commonly use during your creative process.  This normally includes comics and graphic novels of your most inspirational artists, books on anatomy, perspective, and other "How to" art books.  I also include books on writing and publishing because its what I do.  Make sure that your collection is customized for you.

Keep you space dedicated.  Not only should this space be free from distractions, but also be completely dedicated to your comic projects.  This space can be a small desk or a full sized room.  The important part is that it is just used for your comic projects. 

If you work on different different media, keep your projects separated.  Have a section for your digital art, another for your acrylic paintings, and perhaps a section for your sketching or traditional drawing.  This way you can accommodate your art supplies in a way that make sense to your productivity.  Staying organized like this will keep you focused.

Have enough art tools out so that you can easily reach for something without losing your train of thought, but not too many supplies that it makes your creative space messy or cluttered.  Boxes and carousels make a great organizing tool for your pencils, pens, markers, brushes, and other supplies. Do not use anything toxic in your studio.  I'm talking about aerosol sprays or heavy paint thinners.  And even if they don't smell it doesn't mean that there aren't any harmful fumes.  You don't want to use that in a space that you're going to be constantly in for hours.

Here is a small list of useful thinks to keep in your studio:

• Trash can
• Adjustable lamp 
• Dry erase and/or cork board
• Computer, laptop, or tablet
• Portfolio
• Art supply bin
• Pencil/pen carousel 

Remember that maintaining an organized work space help keep the imagination flowing. 


        

Creating Intriguing Characters for your Comic Book

The heart and soul of a comic book is it's characters. Daring protagonists and devious villains all surrounded by an incredible cast of side kicks and supporting characters bring a story to life and spark the interest of a wide audience.  Dynamic characters bring a level of sophistication and appeal to the story that to just haphazardly create them is to spell certain doom for your potentially great comic.  Here's what you need to consider when designing a truly unique and inspiring character.

 There is a common mistake among new comic book creators when it comes to drafting up new characters for comic book stories.  For some reason there has been an ongoing misconception that in order to have a likeable character he or she needs to be god-like invincible and have the sex appeal of a porn star.  This is a stereotype carried from popular comics of the 90's during a time where everything had to be bigger, badder, and push boundaries.  But times have changed and as comic fans demand more drama and diversity in their comics the rules have changed.  Comic book characters have evolved to much more than a fancy costume with special powers.

In today's comic reading society your characters need to have depth.  You do this by giving them personality traits and human faults. Alan Moore was one of a few epic writers to change the stereotype of super heroes by humanizing them with social and personal issues.  Orson Scott Card wrote in Character & Viewpoints that characters "...readers want your characters to seem like real people. Whole and alive, believable and worth caring about."  To achieve this level of attraction between your characters and your readers you will have to build them up.

There are many traits that transform your character and bring life to your stories.  Linda N. Edelstein, PH.D. wrote a book called Writer's Guide to Character Traits.  There's a chapter dedicated to 23 personality traits with patterns of inner experience and behavior.  Such personality traits included on the list are the adventurer whose themes are excitement and boldness and the resilient, a personality type which is productive and able to face problems and take personal control.  Stan Lee writes in his book How to Draw Superheroes that there's two superhero archetypes: The S-type and the B-type.  The S-type stands for Superman while the B-type represents Batman. The S-type is a character which is bold and has superpowers.  This character is loud in the sense of being represented with bright colors and the face is visible to show expressions and to give the impression of accountability.  The B-type is a lot more grittier, typically a person without powers that is highly driven by a life altering event to perform incredible feats.

Start your character profile with all the basics: real or alter ego name, date of birth or age, sex, race, religion, culture or ethnicity, family situation such as single, married, divorced, children, parents, etc.  Next add a life changing moment or character defining event in the past, a reputation, good and/or bad habits, give them a flaw or weakness. Give them view points and biases.  Give them a bit of personality. Do they joke around? Are they a shy introvert or social butterfly? Do they hate dogs and love cats?  How do they interact with different people?  Remember, you don't need to fill this out completely before you can start your comic story, but at least have some of these answered to have a foundation to build on as your write your story.

Here comes the typical fun part, choosing powers!  The list is almost endless and feel free to be as creative as you want to be, but keep this in mind: the more powerful your character is the harder it will be to create a believable obstacle or conflict to solve.  I'll entertain the idea of listing several superpowers here to get you inspired:

• heat or laser vision
• elemental control
• invisibility
• special sight like x-ray vision
• ability to fly
• incredible speed
• shape shifting
• magic
• super sense like hearing or sight
• animal or insect like powers
• technology based powers like a bionic arm or camera eye
• super strength
• mythological power like Thor or Wonder Woman
• alien like Venom or Martian Manhunter

Give your character purpose.  People always have a reason for doing things.  What motivates your character?  Define the moment.  If your character is a certain way because a loved one passed away, make your readers understand.  Show them how happy they were or the special moments they shared.  If the reader can identify with the moment or event they will become immersed in the character.  Think of moments that people can identify with like birthdays, being sick, losing a friend, moving away, the loss of a family or friend, even the connection with a pet.

Always try to keep your characters interesting by making them dynamic with personality traits, motivations, and life changing events.  Don't be afraid to make them flawed.  It makes them that much more believable.

Batman v Superman

There has been a lot of buzz over the Batman v Superman movie.  With its mixed reviews its had to decide whether to go and check it out or wait until it comes out on Netflix, especially after Fox's Fantastic Four's disaster.  So what can you expect from this long awaited cinematic showcase?

I saw Batman v Superman at the Cinebistro.  I will tell you this right off the bat, if you have been thinking about seeing it, then see it.  Don't get mixed emotions because of the mess of critics out in the social media stream.  I personally enjoyed it.  The movie does come with a cluster of critics but for different reasons.  The movie itself was well made.  The problem that have some fanboys bent out of shape are the introduction of certain characters in which they will argue that their origin was not cited correctly.  But you know what...that's ok because of creative licensing and it makes the movie interesting.  The film is littered with references from famous comics from each of the main characters.  You can say it pays homage to the stories that have impacted these characters in the their development and fandom to this day.  Many comic fans will understand the references and find it interesting how the series will develop.  Really don't worry about plot holes.  Let the movie unwrap itself and you'll have something to look forward to the Blueray release and future movies.

Its no secret that the Justice League movies will mimic the Avengers by heading to an ultimate battle down the line.  And just as the Avengers prepare to battle Thanos in the near future over the Infinity Gautlet so to will the Justice League find themselves against a formidable foe, Darkseid.

 If you ask DC fans, many of them are going to tell you top watch the movie.  I really liked it.  Go check it out.  Definitely a thumbs up from us!

Welcome to the Blog!

Welcome to our blog!

First off Let me welcome you guys to our new blog!  Consider this an extension of Digital Hand Studios.  This will be our fun comic blog.  I'll introduce you guys to the team in the next couple of days.  We're gonna' blog about comics, mainstream and indies, movies, and a lot more.  We want to share Kickstarters and fun projects, showcase artists, and post art techniques.  

 We'll have a Youtube channel soon enough because everybody and their mother is video casting now a days. 

And finally, we'll be sharing our own projects that we've been up to during this long hiatus....oh my!   

So share the word, like our page on Facebook, and follow us on Twitter!

Thanks!

Awesome Andres