Create the Drama Through Expression

Comics are usually stories filled with drama and there's no better way to show it than the expression on your character's faces.  To really drive the story forward and emphasize the dialogue your characters have to show what they are feeling and how they are reacting to situations in your story.  The concept is easy to grasp but its in the application that artists have trouble with the translation.

There are many expressions to match the vast kaleidoscope of human emotion.  As an artist, especially a sequential or comic artist, it is important that you not only understand the expressions related to the scene, but also know how to draw it in your characters.  Facial expressions enhance panels and take them to a whole another level.  Make it a habit to practice human expression on your character when your sketching studies.

A few basic expressions that you need to master as a comic book artist are: happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, confusion, fear, and determination.  These are the fundamental emotions in almost all great comics.  Learn to build from these emotions like from anger to rage or from happiness to excitement.  Those changes elevate your scenes to create a much better story. Remember, characters need to react to situation and dialogue.  If everyone maintains the same level of seriousness the reader will find it difficult to understand the moon of the scene or even the whole comic.

Rather than starting at the beginning, how to draw a head or face for this matter, I invite you to explore the incredible amount of comic "How to Draw" books, as mostly all of them are very similar in that they introduce you to the variety of artistic tools available in today's market and the basics of drawing simple anatomy, such as that of the head.  No, we're just going to dive right in to some of the common expressions you will use to improve your comic panels and drive that drama right up there.  

Here's a drill that will help you start building your repertoire of facial expressions.  Everything is quality and time.  Take a sheet of paper, usually your sketchbook, and draw 16 to 20 faces per sheet, preferably of the characters you work with, and create as many different expressions as possible in a single view.  A single view would refer to making all the faces a front, profile, or 3/4th view.  Give yourself about 30 minutes.  Remember that working quickly will improve the quality of art per the amount of time spent.  You would be training yourself to make deadlines.

Each expression is a combination of eye brow positioning, eye exposure, and mouth shape. Learn to mix these combinations to form elaborate expressions such as despair, sarcasm, and a spark of insanity.  Practice these dynamic expressions on both male and female characters.  Don't be afraid to push the limits and try something new. 

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.

Let's Celebrate Independence!

Manuel A. Carmona shared a great idea: Let's create a "Buy Indie Comics Day".  Most of us are already aware of "Free Comic Book Day" which happens to be the first Saturday in May, but this is a way to build recognition to the ever growing indie publishing section of the market.  With the combined efforts of several indie publishers, we can make this into an annual event.

CWI Comics

According to the comic book sales reported by Comichron,  indie comic book sales make up about 9% of the market for 2015, which was an increase from 8.75% from 2014 and 8.70% from 2013.  In other words the indie market is growing and with this growth comes many opportunities for upcoming artists and new publishers to put out amazing titles.  Another reason indie titles are gaining so much popularity is the availability of more resources for creators like distribution through Comixology, webcomics through Patreon and the use of crowd funding to cover printing and distribution expenses through Kickstarter.

SSF Media

And even though the big two, DC and Marvel, that propel the comic industry with it's block buster hits at the movie theaters, its the indie comics that provide the sweet and salt escape from the mainstream that several fans crave after over indulgence of popular titles and characters.  Titles like Angle Wolf by CWI Comics and Pariah Dog by SSF Comics are samples of the incredible titles out there in the indie publishing market.  Besides that, indies can take their stories and art to places that larger companies can't without the fear of market repercussions or the approval of their sponsors.  When you see diversity in comics like Centinals and NightFire by Genesis Comics you know indies are making comics for everyone to enjoy.   

Genesis Comics

Indie publishers offer a wide selection of genre's and a diverse range of characters and art to suite all audiences.  But the challenge lies in getting the word out.  It wasn't until recent years that comic book stores started carrying titles from indie publishers.  On top of that, indie creators have the challenge of competing with the marking efforts of the larger publishers, not to mention the monopoly of certain distribution channels, where the larger publishers have a higher preference.

Genesis Comics

But indies are not going down without a fight.  Many small publishers can be found in the catalogue of digital distributors like Comixology and the webcomics has many great backers thanks to sites like Patreon.  There's also many resources out there to help indies get the word out like Facebook and Twitter.  But to add a recognized day dedicated to the indie comic book market would be phenomenal!  As it stands Manuel A. Carmona suggested making the first Saturday of August as the "Buy Indie Comics Day" so lets make this official and spread the word.  Lets make this a special day so indie creators should come together and schedule an event to mark that day.