I started "Neuropsychosis" about ten years ago, and in the time since I have, I've been amazed at how democratized comic making has become. Never in the history of comics has it been easier to get supplies, materials, resources on learning craft and most importantly a way to publish than today. This is of course due to computers and the internet. But more on that later, how do you start, or "get in" as we used to say. Well the good news is all you need to get in these days is paper, pens, a scanner, and an internet connection. but getting started that's another story.
Now I'm gonna say up front, before I can be viewed as an egomaniac. I'm not the best Artist or writer out there, nor am I very successful. but in the 250 odd page run of my comic "Neuropsychosis" I've done learned a thing or two about making funny books. Also this is not the only way, or necessarily the right way, for you, let's just call it the David's Wonder Blog way.
The idea.
Okay now you've decided I love funnybooks so much I'm gonna make one. So it's time to take the first step, and it's not related to writing or drawing. It's the idea. You most likely have already come to this, but the what the comic is about should be the starting point. The idea can be as great as people saving the world, or as minimal as the day to day life of a working drone. This part doesn't even have to be original as there actually not that many original story idea's out there. Take Star Wars, the Matrix and Terminator for instance. All of these where heralded as groundbreaking, but none of them actually had an original idea in them, they where just put together in a new and exciting way. Think about an idea as ingredients and the writer as a chef. The writer's goal is to put together all of the ideas into a form that is new and exciting.
Characters.
I come from the Characters first school of writing. The other school is plot first. I find I enjoy character driven narrative more than plot driven, and if I'm to believe what this here interweb says, (a dangerous thought) you do too. Most everything I've written has been of this school, so here goes. Now that you have your idea, which may of course come before you thought "I wanna make a comic". It's time to decide, what people you want to carry it out, the characters. My screen writing teacher once told me, "characters make plot, plot doesn't happen to characters." While this is not necessarily true it does help in developing characters. But you most likely need a main and supporting cast. think of the people you need to make your idea happen. For example when making "Neuropsychosis", my idea was "a rock band that gets into crazy stuff" so therefore, I knew I had to have at least three people. A drummer, guitarist, and bassist. I would most likely need a singer too as power trios aren't too big these days, and I wasn't going to make a period piece. Or in My forth coming "the Adventures of Captain Kenji" I needed a ships crew. See how this goes. I always like to take an approach of complementing personalities. Kind of a variation of what TV tropes calls the "five man band". Basically I give each character a central trait, sadness, anger, silliness, so that the whole group makes kind of a full personality. Now this is only a starting point, the character will get more rounded as you allow them to grow through writing. I personally like to make work sheets where I list a characters likes and dislikes. plus the central trait lets me work out who the character is. And eventually through writing they'll become "real" you'll know what he or she would "think" or "do" in any circumstance.
Assemble the Cast.
Here's where drawing comes in. Now that you have your character. Decide, what they look like. I tend to think of character design as casting actors, and so I cast a wide net. draw lots of ideas hair, eyes, shape, skin etc. you'll know When the character is right. I often do this at the same time I'm creating characters. Because after you've decided the appearance of the character, that plays into the way the character carries him or herself, and thus makes you re think the character a bit making them that much more "real". good examples from my work, is Jessy from Neuropsychosis, making her tall steered the way I imagined her self image, also she started off as a blond girl, but in drawing her one day she came out looking black, I liked it, and her identity as a black latina was eventually born. Another good example is Stef, when I decided to make her extremely buxom it not only changed the way the character viewed herself, but the way the other characters viewed her. You see where I'm going.
But of Course.
There is also the other way of doing it. Where plot is king. You can come up with the story first and then populate it with characters. Or you can design a character first and come up with the personality later. In fact i did this with my new project "Super Cliche Hero Chick" I originally drew her as a gag drawing for my Deviant Art page. davidarroyo.deviantart.com. And I was amused by the drawings' attitudes so I put word bubbles into them and that's when she became a character. No one way is right, but when I have a strong cast of characters I find writing is less of a chore and comes out richer.
Next on Do you Wanna Make a Comic Writing.
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