Digital Hand Studios and YouTube

Digital Hand Studios will posting videos on YouTube Soon 

Digital Hand Studios has been slowly preparing for YouTube for this year by making screen videos of the drawing process of its current titles.  There are page drawing videos of The Legend of Old Cuban Samurai, Foreigner, Rise of Atlantis, and even some sketch covers that will be released soon.  Its been a slow start due to many obstacles that presented themselves for the first half of the year.  But as we start the second part of the year the opportunity have started to appear and have allowed for more video screen capture time and editing than previously.  Live streaming will be following very soon.   

SoFlo Panels is also following the lead to start producing videos for you guys about the local comic scene, artist interviews, and comic con previews.  We hope to release some videos and start some Live stream sessions and Q & As soon so keep posted. 

How to Create a Comic Page

Phil Jimenez is an American comics artist and writer, known for his work as writer/artist on Wonder Woman from 2000 to 2003, as one of the five pencilers of the 2005–2006 miniseries Infinite Crisis, and his collaborations with writer Grant Morrison on New X-Men and The Invisibles. This is a video of Phil Jimenez sharing his process for creating comic pages. 

The Next Big Super Hero Team

Greek Mythology meets Ancient Alien Technology

In case you haven't been to New Your Comic Con 2017 or Megacon Orlando 2018, This is Earth's newest team of young defenders, Rise of Atlantis.  The group consist of several young demi-gods who use ancient alien technology to get them super powers.  Each of them take on a role of responsibility represented by a Greek god.  Under the organizational leadership and guidance of Dean Papadopoulos, AKA "Pops", the young guardians help defend the world through their secret missions.

The story begins through the journey of the team's newest member, Zack, a young Indian genius who is starting his university studies.  He is recruited by the young gods and given an amazing opportunity to make a real difference in the world.  This is the story of the trials that Zack must face and endure to become the next young demi-god.  

Rise of Atlantis: Young Gods is a full colored graphic novel by Robert Estape and art by Andres R. Prieto, under Digital Hand Studios.  The book is scheduled to be released by the end of the year but is looking into publishing through Image Comics, a large publisher of independent comic books. 

The book is currently in the process of production with many new pages updated weekly through the book's Facebook page.  As it stands, the book is estimated to be 120 to 140 pages at release towards the end of the year. 

Change of Name

 We've recently changed our name to SoFlo Panels Indie Comic Magazine to best reflect our intentions.  South Florida provides a vast amount of beautiful local comic art that we felt needed a voice.  The melting pot of culture that encompasses South Florida brings an exotic take on comics.  This magazine is still part of Digital Hand Studios. 
In the upcoming months we plan to interview local artists and comic book stores and review local comic cons.  As it stands right now we plan to release a small run of ashcan size magazines at local stores as a preview of what the magazine will be like.  A digital version will also be available. 

We've already changed our Facebook page and are changing our Youtube channel as we prepare to upload new videos by next month.

Thanks for following our blog!

Selling your Comic Pages as Indie Artists

 The question is "Does original comic pages sell from indie artists?"  As a well known artist from any of the big publishers I'm sure your page has a strong fandom that will pay hundreds of dollars for a comic page of original art from a famous comic.  But what about indie artists or new comic artists?  Do pages from less known artists sell?

The reason that this question is so important is that it can affect your choice of medium, digital vs traditional.  Jim Lee said there were many new artists missing out on selling their original art work by working digitally.  Granted, if you're a well known and sought after artist as Jim Lee, Todd McFarlane, Mark Silvestri, or Greg Capullo it would make sense to make more money from originals.  New artists don't get the same recognition.

The trade off is losing your tools, shortcuts, and page rate for the aspiration to sell the original art for extra money.  When you take into account your own notoriety and realistically calculate who would buy your original art you get a better idea of what your sacrificing for a very slim hope of additional cash.

  

So We're Back?

We've moved back here again.  The Digital Hand Studios website is still undergoing some major changes to prepare for online digital sales.  So for the meanwhile, as long as that will be, I'll just share articles here.  We're still moving forward as a small magazine for indie comic creators, but our release date is still unannounced.   If you enjoy our articles and find the information helpful, remember to subscribe.

Articles & Topics

For those of you who have been following us, welcome back.  To all the new readers, we're a blog/soon to be a comic magazine for independent comic creators.  This means everybody who doesn't work for the big two, Marvel or DC.  Our articles range from comic art techniques to the writing process for stories.  We look into the publishing and the business side of comics, especially getting the most out of your marketing efforts.

There seems to be a few great comic art magazines out there with amazing articles, but seldom do they really speak to the unique problems that indie creators face constantly.  Most of them focus on the art, lets face it.  What we're creating here is a magazine that goes into all those issues that come along when you create a comic book for independent or self publishing. We'll go beyond just the art and get into writing stories and converting them into comic scripts, marketing campaigns that will get your book sold for a wide range of budgets, and how to register UPCs and ISBNs. Learn what you need to know to run your comic book creation business.

What's Else is New?

Moving forward to offer you guys a better experience we've added a YouTube channel to stream content related to our articles and even some cool places or neat art techniques that we can share.  We're going to have fun and explore the mysteries of creating comics...I mean come on, that's awesome!  So definitely check it out and if you really like it subscribe to it so you won't miss a video.
As it stands for now we'll be posting new articles and videos every other Sunday.  We're still a bit busy working on comic projects at Digital Hand Studios, especially for up coming Megacon in Orlando coming up in May.

Thank you for visiting us!  Remember to subscribe or check every other Sunday for new articles. 

Stay awesome!
 

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

Comic Project Work Flow for Indies

Work flow changes from person to person and from studio to studio, but many have several similarities.  I'm going to provide a simple work flow for a comic project from concept to finished product.  I'm not going to touch on publishing or distribution.  I'll save that for another post.

Practically these will be the steps you will more than likely take in create your comic.  Feel free to customize it to something you feel comfortable with.  This is the steps towards creating a comic project:

1. Concept
2. Story & Script
3. Pencil Sketching
4. Line Art or Inking
5. Coloring
6. Lettering
7. Editing of Final Draft for Print

Concept

Sand Still, Stay Silent Webcomic

If you haven't already, get yourself into the habit of brainstorming for story ideas as a daily thing.  Whether you're walking the dogs or doing the dishes (notice I'm picking simple chores and not during brain surgery or at your other job talking to customers...unless comics is your main job, of course) go through scenarios from your everyday and add something special to make it interesting.  You see the garbage man picking up the trash...so imagine if he found a dead body or some sort of alien device in the bin.  If you come up with something you really like then write a short paragraph like a pitch for it.  Keep it simple.

This is also a good time to come up with locations.  Draw some thumbnail sketches of places that you would like to use as part of your design.  Create rough design for characters for the story.  Come up with hero(es) and villain(s).

Story & Script

Putting together a story requires organizing those ideas you gathered during the concept stage. Decide how long you want to work your story, a one shot or spread throughout several issues.  The main difference is working with a story "Arch" in making several issues work together under one main theme and plot, while the one shot only deals with the story at hand.

Bul & Bal by Marko Djeska

Stories have a beginning, middle, and end.  Use a 3 act structure to organize your story.  When you feel a lot more comfortable with story telling explore other styles.  The beginning, also known as the first act, is used to introduce the reader to the characters and settings.  It also introduces o them the problem that will form the story known as the conflict.  Many story tellers use a "hook" to gain the reader's interest during the first act.  The hook is an enticing situation that creates excitement or intrigue. The second act plays out as the body of the story.  It illustrates the challenges faced by your hero(es) to find a resolution for the conflict.  At the end of the second act is the climax, or the main battle.  Finally, the third act is the resolution.  The villain is defeated or plan is foiled.  For series with several issues plan on having a cliff hanger at the end of the story to keep your reader wanting to explore the next issue. 

Once you have the story organized you'll want to break it down into a script format.  This is when you start creating scenes and dialogue.  Each page has panels.  You'll have to describe what's going on and add the dialogue, captions, and narration for each of these panels.  Keep in mind when describing the action in the panel that you're limited to an action or two.  There is also a limit on how many words per balloon per panel.  Pacing is very important in comics.  The general rule is fewer panels per page for action scenes and more panels for slower pacing to create tension.   

Pencil sketching and the rest will be explained in a latter post.

Concepts for Clients

One of the best ways to acquire new clients is to provide concept work.  You can't rely on a portfolio and a few booths setups at your local comic con.  Notice that clients aren't knocking on your door or sending you emails?  You have to get out there and work to build up your client bank and referral system.  What this simply means is that you have to go look for work by enticing writers or project managers to hire you.

There are many opportunities around you everyday, but many of us are so focused on our art projects and our tendencies to be a bit introverted that we let those opportunities slip away.  Share your art as often as possible.  Pull out your sketch book at a coffee shop or book store.  You're basically telling the world that you create art.

Writers interested in arts tend to ask lots of questions about your work habits and fees so be prepared.  Decide on your service...penciler, inker, colorist, etc.  Know your turn around time: the time it takes you to complete a comic page.  Have a page rate in mind: how much you charge per page of art work.  Its ok to be negotiable with your fee but have a ball park figure to start off with.  Most clients will find this convenient and will feel a bit more confident hiring you.

Feel free to explore ideas with writers.  Many of them have ideas brewing or work with other artists in the past and might be ready for a new project.  Use their past projects as a stepping stone and recreate their characters or settings in your art style.  People appreciate the enthusiasm and seeing their ideas come life.  But be warned, DO NOT USE THIS TACTIC IF THE WRITER IS ALREADY WORKING WITH ANOTHER ARTIST ON THE SAME PROJECT THAT YOUR PITCHING FOR.  This will create a rift and in
some cases result in legal issues depending on the contract in place between that writer and artist.

Fill your sketch book with other characters and places than the usual Marvel or DC.  Make your own.  This shows potential clients that you are creative and able to conceptualize ideas outside the usual mainstream.
       

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.

Romance: A Niche' to Consider

 

As the larger publisher saturate the diversity market many indie publishers look for new niche's to dive into.  One such niche' is the romance market.  As more young women pour into the comic industry as readers, artists, and writers, this market may start making a come-back.  Romance lends itself to a wide variety of sub-genres that make it very robust for today's creators. 

The current reader requires a modernized version of that classical romance we are use to seeing.  The importance of romance is that the reader has to connect with it.  As a creator you need to explore pop culture.  Many things don't change from generation to generation, but the style and theme does so investigate. By no means is today's market as simple as "boy meets girl".  You should explore current issues and culture for ideas.

Romance is about relationships.  This is a great opportunity to create diverse and intricate characters.  Explore personality traits and work on interesting dialogue.  Remember that your main conflict should be a relationship problem.  Remember that you might find yourself replacing a lot of fist fights with kissing and crying.  Become familiar with emotional responses to situations.

Understand your age group and audience.  If you are writing to a younger reader keep the situation very simple.  Your story will be more about friendships, holding hands and maybe a first kiss.  When you deal with a much more mature audience you can dive into more complex topics like adultery, passion, polygamy, and raunchiness.  Learn your distributor's guidelines so you can property label your book.

Something to keep in mind: fashion can play a significant role in attracting readers to your book.  The art should contain modern styles if appropriate.  What I mean is if the story is set in a modern day high school use popular clothes on the characters.  It adds a layer of realism that helps the reader submerge into your story.  Of course if its in a Victorian age please don't give the characters jeans and tank tops.

Easy tip:  You can always try short comics (10 pages or less) to get a feel for your audience and develop your story telling style.  Get feed back.
   
 

Personal vs Commercialized Art

I keep running into this often so I've decided to touch base on it.  In my opinion there are two type of art that artists create: Personal and Commercialized.  Its very important that we understand this if we plan to make our art profitable.  Each has very distinct values and purpose.  This is a concept that has to be explored before we can reach a significant level of success.

Personal art is art that we create to bring us personal pleasure.  It gives us a sense of value and internal happiness.  This type of art serves to motivate us and explore our own style or expression.  This type of art is considered our voice.

Commercialized art is art that we create with the purpose of selling or profiting from it.  This type of art requires research and has can has specific requirements to fulfill the expectations of your target market.

The goal is always to try to merge the two.  Drawing comics is an incredibly creative way to express an idea through story and art.  Understand that to make a noticeable impact to your audience you need to see what's going on in that industry, especially in the genre that you want to create your story in.  Look at art styles and stories.  After a few we'll start to see a slight pattern, a rhythm.  Learn to work in that scope or pattern to shape out your comic.

Its not always what you want it to be so be prepared to step out of your comfort zone.  Know your readers.  Have avenues to communicate with them and listen to feed back.  People are talking to you because they want to continue reading your story and be part of the adventure.

When you draw for money you draw to please your buyer.  Look for art that sells or is really popular.  Learn why people like it from their point of view and learn how your art can take on that type of value.  It could be that you need to update your art style or choose a better gimmick for your stories.  What ever the case is you need to start looking into it.

Remember that personal art is for your own pleasure and commercialized art is art that needs to sell.  

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. 

 

Racism and How to Deal With it in Comics

Comics are not exempt from racism, nor has it been absent from it's pages.  We all understand what it is: the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races. And with recent events police shootings and other events have created a cultural divide and naturally cause an artistic individual to express themselves through their medium.  For us its comics, its the creation of stories that translate our opinions on such delicate matters.  This article was created to contain the tools necessary to express your thoughts through your comic without being offensive and carrying out your message.

I know there are readers about there that think "I don't care if I piss off some people!".  The reason this is wrong is because you'll limit your fan base and maybe put yourself in a bad situation that could cost you a publishing gig or burn some bridges with other great creators.  You can still get your message across and let people know how you feel without getting carried away.

Here are a few things we will cover:

Racial Comics vs Hate Speech
Working with Diversity and Culture
Colorful Language
Working with and around Stereotypes
Racial and Cultural Topics and Themes to Write About

This will help you navigate this complex territory without losing any friends and come out with a strong message.  Understand that racism and prejudice is making a come back so we as comic creators in touch with young readers have the opportunity to make a difference.

Racial Comics vs Hate Speech

You can write a story about racism and it will fall into one of two categories: a story about racism or hate speech.  When you write a story there's usually an under lined theme that is apparent in your story through a series of events and or actions.  The resolution should push forth that message by promoting what the theme or message is.  The messages used in racial stories illustrate the injustices faced by that particular group of people or culture BUT offer a positive resolution in the end.  It is when you finish your story with a negative message that you fall into the hate speech which will limit your success to get the book published or even read.

Working with Diversity and Culture

Understand that there are many different cultures in the world with very unique views.  If you wish to work with different cultures you must first do your due diligence and research the culture.  Race is one thing but culture is another and usually the one you represent by the way your characters act. You can have a Black, Asian, or Hispanic character but the culture could be Haitian or American Black, Chinese or Japanese, Cuban or Puerto Rican.  There are very distinct characteristics about each culture to take into account.  Lucky for you, just like you are able to read this article you are also able to search the web for information about different cultures.  You will want to research:

• Slang
• customs
• food
• history
• current events

The CIA World Fact Book online is a great place to start along with Wikipedia.

Working with Colorful Language

Most cultures have a slang that is particular to them.  By using it in context and with the guidelines you have setup for your audience, you can easily submerge your readers into a rich story filled with diversity.  Remember to include a translation near the lexicon (slang).  Some slang may not be appropriate for your audience, especially if you market to younger readers. 

(To be continued in issue #1)   

    
 

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.   
 

7 Reasons Why Your Women Look Horrendous

There's an old saying that goes "An artist that knows how to draw beautiful women will never go hungry."  There's almost nothing more beautiful in this world than a woman.  Art attempts to capture that beauty in the form of illustration.  This is very apparent in comics through out history.  But unfortunately its a complex concept to grasp for many artists.  Drawing gorgeous women for your comic stories is more dynamic than just squiggling a couple of round boobs and a big butt.

Reason #1

The face of a women is incredibly important so if the proportions are off it will affect it tremendously.  Most artist have that down for the most part, but where it becomes insanely tricky is the expression.  A good deal of the attraction starts off in the face.  As an illustrator you must master the art of expression, specifically suggestive facial expressions.  A good exercise is to draw several faces from sexy advertising...or "other places".  You know what I'm talking about, don't make this awkward!

Reason #2

Hands.  Yes, hands.  Some new artists avoid drawing women's hands as much as Rob Liefeld did with drawing feet.  They can only hold bouquets of flowers for only so long.  I know it's a pain in the butt to draw those five to ten pages of hand studies but DO IT!  And remember to study WOMEN's hands.  Its so very surprising to see a drawing of a sexy comic book heroine with big gorilla hands.   Remember, thin and round off the knuckles a bit.

Reason #3

And while we are at it lets also mention FEET!  Same as with hands.  Go through those exercises and learn the correct positioning and movement of feet.  This is actually a big one.  Practice drawing toes from up close.  No one likes gargoyle feet on a nice looking women.

Reason #4

Character depth.  Personality.  The half nude women heroines in leotards might work well with the young adolescents but adults prefer to be romanced a bit with personality and character.  Don't make Latoya a black female just to have diversity in your comic.  Give her likes and dislikes, a genuine history, and make her real, in other words have her react to situations that stimulate mature thinking.  "No Don, I'm not going to be one of your side chicks.  Go play with your girls because you're messin' with a REAL WOMAN now!"

Reason #5

Drawing realistic and relevant hair.  You better believe it.  Women's hair is biblical.  You need to understand women's hairstyles and how to best draw those curls and shadows.  Please get out of the habit of drawing these 80's big porn star hair styles.  Your readers are palm facing and you're just not getting it.  Once again, use references.

(Continued in Issue #1) 

Going Places

 

Many readers want to find an escape from their everyday world through your comic.  Its part of the fantasy.  Don't shy away from creating amazing back grounds, profound panoramic panels, and beautiful open splash pages used as the establishing point.  Make it a habit of drawing and including back grounds and establishing points throughout your story.

The open establishing shot, as the picture on the top of this blog.  It conveys a strong opening message and welcomes the reader to your adventure.  The establishing shot is usually a panel displaying the current setting or location of the story.  There should be one every time you change locations in your story.  This will help the reader understand that they have traveled elsewhere in the story.    

 Establishing shots can be full page splash page, two page spread, a panoramic scene panel, or a regular panel size; it all depends on the effect you're going for.  Take your time and think about the impact that you want that specific panel to have on your audience one they reach it.  Give it a high amount of detail.  You want the reader to be left mesmerized as they look at all there is to see.

Use references.  Look at scenes similar to what you're planning.  There is a lot to consider.  Perspective and point of view are among the first that come to mind, but think about the mood, the color scheme, even the items and architecture.  Do your due diligence when it comes to designing the space for the scene.  Be creative.

 

Basic story foundation

Beautiful artwork by Greg Tocchini

What is a comic book without the story element?  Nothing but a picture book.  If you plan to create comics you should understand at least the basic premise of a story.  Without getting too deep into it here are the basic parts of a basic story and what they contain:

The beginning is exactly that, t
he beginning.  It is used to introduce an idea, situation, characters, and the setting.  Take your time to give some details of the people in your story.  show their interest or involvement.  Produce a question for your audience. Ask them what they think about a particular topic.  Show them that something is going to happen.  Welcome your reader to your world.  Make them feel part of the story.

Beautiful artwork by Greg Tocchini

The middle is the part you use to develop the elements and characters you introduced at the beginning.  Here is where your story brews.  Start leading your audience towards the main conflict or problem.  Whatever happens here should lead to your main conflict.  You can have a few minor conflicts where your heroes succeed or fail, but they all have to lead to this main conflict.  Great stories use elements such as foreshadowing and plot devices to hint towards the main conflict or the resolution of it.

The main conflict should be a turning point.  It should be grand and exciting.  Don't cop out on this part of the story.  Really put everything on the line.  People love excitement and risk.  Readers want to learn or imagine how your characters were able to resolve the conflict, how Super guy and Mega dude foiled Dr. Devastation's plans.  Make it creative and dynamic.  Do your due diligence on the resolution you choose for the problem at hand because your readers will challenge it, be assured of it.

The end should answer almost every question that the reader might have unless you plan to leave it as a cliff hanger, as in mot continual comic series.  But at least answer the main questions in your current story so your reader doesn't accuse you of leaving plot holes in your comic book.

There are many different story structures but this is the basic one used in many comic books so learn it and build from it.