Writing for Comics 101 – Making Pages You Can Actually Read

In today’s lesson of Writing for Comics 101, let’s talk about making pages you can ACTUALLY read.

How do we do that? By not packing the pages with an obscene amount of dialogue.

Or at least, if you HAVE to keep so much dialogue, how to pace it out so it’s not a word brick.

This technique is something discussed in more detail in Making Comics by Scott McCloud, so what I’ll do for today’s post is share my mistakes so you can learn from them.

Let’s take a look at this page from Seeing Him, written by Kia Crawford and drawn by me:

seeing him transgender webcomic page 25

To be honest, there’s a way to get the information across that we need, without using a fuck-ton of dialogue.

We could:

  • split this between two pages,
  • condense the banter,
  • condense the backstory drop,
  • change the page layout,
  • change the balloon layout,
  • or any combination of these.

At least past me had the sense to split the dialogue into separate balloons. That way the page felt, at the time, a little less like a word brick.

This is me spit-balling some ideas right now on how to fix this page of Seeing Him: we could change the camera focus in the second and third panels, to cut away to framed photos on the walls. Those photos could showcase the history of the venue. With that edit, we can split the dialogue up some more, re-frame where the speech balloons sit, and make the page feel like less of a collection of talking heads.

Compare this page to The Legend of Jamie Roberts, page 65, written and drawn by me.

the legend of jamie roberts genderqueer lgbtq pirate adventure webcomic page 65

Here, I let the space breathe and tell the story for me, without so many words.

Whether you can draw or not, comics are a visual medium. Let the environment and scenery describe for you what words could not.

If you have questions, or need feedback, let me know in the comments. I’m happy to help.

That’s all for now. Thank you for reading!

You. Are. Awesome.

Rethinking How to Run a KickStarter

johnson and sir kickstarter art

One of the people I met at 3 Rivers Comic Con this year mentioned a podcast called ComixLaunch and recommended I give it a listen. So I did.

This is going to sound like product placement or a sponsorship, but let’s be clear, it isn’t. ComixLaunch is a podcast entirely about making comics and art, and running successful KickStarters to fund said comics and art, and how you can make a living as a working artist.

So I kinda’ got hooked after four episodes.

One episode in particular, Episode 95, is about why now is the best time for comickers to run KickStarters. It got my attention about halfway through the episode for one reason: Continue reading “Rethinking How to Run a KickStarter”

‘Seeing Him’ Has a New Online Home

Seeing Him is the story of Kate, a small business owner, and Adam, a trans male doctor, who fall in love and have adventures with their outrageous friends. It was a webcomic funded on KickStarter, then funded on Patreon to keep it going, and updated from June 2015 to December 2015 on Pink Dollar Comics.

However, Pink Dollar Comics is now gone. Which also meant that Seeing Him briefly disappeared.

Now, I’m bringing it back online.

seeing him webcomic kate yay

Continue reading “‘Seeing Him’ Has a New Online Home”

What I Learned Drawing 2 Sketchbook Pages a Day

Wheeling_Nature_Sketches_fin_web

I talked a bit before about my goals for this year, and how my goal of writing 1000 words a day was going so far.

Well, one of my other goals was to draw two sketchbook pages a day.

Why Two Pages?

Because I intended one to be for a warm-up for the day, and the other would be an entry into a later eBook. This goal was a way to make me practice my craft and build content.

What Did I Learn?

In short… a lot.

In total… it was hard to get into a rhythm of production at first. I had to make this a habit like I did with writing 1000 words, so I often drew in my sketchbook after breakfast and before I got to work… most of the time. Continue reading “What I Learned Drawing 2 Sketchbook Pages a Day”

The Almost-End of the Year Announcements

t rex vs shark t shirt
It’s T-Rex vs. Shark in my new shirt! Click the image to get this for your very own.

Please forgive my absence on the blog. There were book printers to hassle with, fights in the family to resolve (thankfully all offline), and a funeral to attend last weekend. In short, life was a total pain in the ass.

For the most part, things are resolved now. So I thought I would clue you in on some updates. Continue reading “The Almost-End of the Year Announcements”