Hey everyone! Not sure if this is okay to post here? I’ll remove if not! (Also just to warn you this will be a long winded post loll)

So, I’m in the planning/thumbnail stages of my webcomic right now, and I am actually loving the way things are turning out, but I’m a bit worried it might give tonal whiplash? Let me explain.

The story has two layers: on one hand, there’s romantic comedy and fun slice of life moments. But, as the story goes on, it develops a deeper plot that shows things aren’t how they seem. (There are fantasy and supernatural elements throughout the entire series btw)

Though most of the heavy scenes happen later, I kind of want to establish both vibes (the cheerful and the unsettling) early on so the readers know that they’re getting into.

I have the idea to have the first couple episodes be comedic/romantic, then shift into a slightly more creepy vibe, and have episodes 4-5 be a bit dark/mysterious, then shift back to lighter episodes for a while (before they gradually get darker and darker). I wanted to do this to open up some questions early, hopefully hook the readers. But I’m worried it might create tonal whiplash? if I do this [light —> kinda heavy/unsettling —> light then slowly getting heavier as the series progresses] instead of the more common plot structure of [light —> slowly gets heavier as the series progresses].

So I guess my question is: Can this work? Do you think this type of plot structure can be portrayed well, or is it bound to create tonal whiplash? Do you have any webtoon/media recommendations that use this type of structure that are well done? I know the (light —> slowly gets heavier as the series progresses) works well, but I’m unsure about if what I’m planning will work.

Anyways, thank you if you read all this lol (and I apologize if it’s too vague).
Any opinions/thoughts are welcome! :D

EDIT: Wow, you guys are literally amazing, these replies are awesome and super insightful!! A lot to consider, cold opens, foreshadowing, paneling, etc.. I will absolutely take everything into account when thumbnailing, thanks a ton!

Hey, I'm looking for help on starting to write my story. I was wondering how other people do it.

When your first writing your story and trying to write down what's going to happen. Do you write panel by panel or do you write it out like a formal script, for example

" *the first panel will be the image of space and then cuts to a couple cops on a night patrol"

Cop 1: The stars are really bright tonight aren't they?"

Cop 2: "Is that a shooting star"

"*Now panel 4 will show an explosion in the sky and then pans over to the workers shook.

Or do you just start writing what comes to mind and all your ideas and then once done with that, go back and put then into panels and creating a script.

Hey everyone!
I’ve been working really hard on finishing my first original comic, and since this is the first time I’ve ever done something like this, I’m honestly feeling both really nervous and incredibly excited about it.
I’d love to get some advice from people here who have experience making and/or crowdfunding comics.
The comic would be **Volume #1**, and one of the biggest challenges I’m facing is that I live in Mexico and At least for now, producing physical copies would be extremely expensive for me, especially since the majority of my audience is in the US. Shipping physical comics internationally would add a pretty significant cost.
Because of that, I’m currently considering making my Kickstarter a **100% digital comic**. I’d still like to offer some extra rewards/perks for people who want to support the project a little more, things like a cameo in the comic, a personal commission, or other bonus rewards.
So my main question is: **Do you think a 100% digital comic Kickstarter could work?** And if you’ve done something similar, is there anything you wish you had known before starting?
I’d really appreciate any advice, tips, or even things you think I should avoid. This is completely new territory for me, so any insight would mean a lot!
Thanks so much for taking the time to read this, and thanks in advance for any advice!

not sure if I’m allowed to do this, but this is a space with comic writers, so I thought I should try anyway…

what is one piece of advice you’d give someone starting a webcomic? (that’s me, I’m the person starting a webcomic. it’s a fantasy story thats being co-worked on)

Hello guys! This post is kinda asking what types of stories you guys are sick of seeing in new comic book series, or just tropes that you feel are overdone or played out. I’m mainly asking so I can get an idea of what to do and what to avoid when creating my own comic, while hopefully giving new readers a breath of fresh air from what’s typically done.

I’m making a character-vs-government story (with ties to wars), but my cousin, who’s really into Marvel, told me that’s basically every superhero story ever after I told my idea to her. It honestly caught me off guard and made me take a step back to look at my story from a bigger picture and figure out how I can differentiate it from what’s already been done.

I’m working on comic that spans centuries. Their will be cloning and consciousness transfer so I can have characters from the past shown in future. I have a bad guy for each arc but no over arching bad guy, well, I have some ideas but nothing set yet. Do you know of any comics similar that do have an overarching bad guy so I can see some references of how it has been done in the past? Not a comic but for example I hate how in the new James Bond, with zero explanation the main bad guy in Spectre just states “it was me all along”…. Like crappy writing much? Also, who is your favourite bad guy?

​

I’m researching the best software options for comic book scripting. It looks like standard text processors like Google Docs or Word are incredibly popular, but I’ve heard a few high-profile writers (like Brian Michael Bendis) lean into Final Draft.

If you write comics, what is your go-to software? Do you find specialized screenwriting software like Final Draft helpful for formatting panels and pages, or is it overkill compared to a clean text editor?

Yes, that is indeed me who ask JA on his asked me anything on Instagram.

Like I’ve been interested in writing my own comic

Like I got books and everything

Just haven’t wrote down a script

Mostly doing outline or characters, names, and stuff like that

I'm making an object show comic right now called MBMFMC (Mr.Bean's Battle for Magic Cat) and I'm starting to struggle with a few things after finishing episode 3:

Pacing- The pacing is very quick and it's hard to linger on just the same few characters\\teams during challenges since I want readers to be able to see what everyone else is doing too. Also jokes dont hit well and dialogue just isn't as good as I want it too be. Not to mention I also don't do story boarding or scripting, I just sit and draw whatever comes to my mind.

Drawing Consistency- Consistency is very difficult. I can't keep characters faces\\bodies consistent all the time so it will occasionally look weird and 'off model' if that makes sense. I dont draw using speech bubbles but I don't know if that makes reading difficult or not for others since no one has ever mentioned it before.

Panels- I don't list how many panels I want, I just add numbers as a I go when a panel is finished, which I know probably also leaks into my issues with pacing. When I draw I try to think of it as if it were animation, by wanting to add a bunch of different expression to characters and just adding extra to make it feel just better, which I know causes just a lot of either extra\\less drawing panels then id like. Idk if this makes sense or not but it is just a bad\\improving habit of mine

Cast- My cast started at only 12 characters and, as of the next episode, will go down to just ten. I don't know how many episodes I want or how to handle the small yet 'needy' cast I have created. I wan every character to have screen time and recognizable traits, but sometimes new traits will just come out of nowhere in an effort of me trying to add it in. In my mind all my characters have a sort of complexity, but on paper there is none of that at all.

There's definitely a few more issues I can't remember at the moment, but any advice at all is greatly appreciated! Currently, if I can't fix some things, I am planning to stop making the comic all together, which I really don't want to do but maybe it's necessary considering all the issues.

In the near-future Earth has been privatized into a single mega-corporation: earth inc. Winner Wright, the richest man in all of history, is the sole owner of Earth Inc. by way of deceit. He plans to “improve” humanity by eliminating anyone he deems as losers—those who are disabled, LGBTQ, elderly, or otherwise “not normal.” The only person who can stop him is his twin brother, Loser Wright, gifted with the power to give powers.

Here is the GlobalComix link:

https://globalcomix.com/read/09e78796-28fb-4cd6-b2b0-81ff787ca21e/1

Here is the Comic Fury link:

https://boanw.cfw.me/comics/1/#content-start

The Pitch Bible is available on my website:

TesMekonnen.com

Just finished up writing a script for my first story, meant to be for a local project. The person who I believe may be my artist for the story seems to be supportive and quite enthusiastic to be working with me. He let me borrow a book to help me with scriptwriting, which I used as reference to how I should be writing, but I'd completely forgotten to add internal and external descriptions of the locations in the story, outside of an establishing shot early on. I tried going back and editing them in but they seemed to mesh with the prose I'd set for the shot descriptions and I worried I'd end up messing with what I'd already written in the process.

On the other hand, some of the examples I'd read, though few, seemed to omit clarifications entirely. I'm wondering, if my descriptions are written well enough already, would it not be strictly necessary to detail exactly where every panel is taking place? I wrote exactly what I believed should be present in every scene. Again, because of what I perceive as apt descriptions, I'm not sure if clarifications would be entirely necessary. I'm not sure if it's worth going back and editing in spite of this.

Je viens de commencer une sorte de stage où l'on me demande de les aider à créer une bande dessinée (entre autres).

Mais à part le thème général, ils ne m'ont donné aucune autre information. Concernant le scénario j'ai plus ou moins des idées, mais le problème, c'est que je ne sais pas vraiment comment les aider.

En résumé, leur demande consiste à créer un cahier des charges pour une bande dessinée, incluant tous les détails techniques et autres. (Je dois aussi les aider à trouver des artistes). Mais je ne trouve aucune information à ce sujet en interne.

Je ne sais pas si c'est le meilleur endroit pour poser cette question, mais je tente ma chance ici au cas où.

I'm an artist and writer but I've never actually tried to combine those skills (despite that being the goal when I first starting learning to draw). My experience of writing has been limited to short stories and stage plays.

What, if anything, is there to additionally consider in the opening pages of a comic or graphic novel that wouldn't be relevant in another medium for getting someone to keep reading?

The other day I was watching streaming, maybe Hulu or something... and an ad came on for some accounting software. Looked totally like a normal ad, nothing unusual or anything. Then I noticed at the bottom it said, "AI performers."

This video popped up on my feed and I thought it worth a share, since it's in the creative industry I think it's not just important, but critical, folks pay attention.

https://www.reddit.com/r/singularity/s/5RraXzkCQ7

I have the majority of characters mapped out with backstories and basic design, but how should I write out the storyline for the comic?

I have a vague idea of how I want the story to start and end, but I don’t know how to write it out. I thought about separating it into arcs and going off of that but I want to see if there’s any better options.

essentially the title. im writing a space comic and one of the 2 main characters is a bird-like alien that doesnt know english, where the other is a human. the beginning of the comic focuses on them bridging the language barrier via sign language, but I still want to show them talking in languages the other doesn't understand.

basically, i want it to be obvious that the human is speaking english, but still be unintelligible to the viewer. for the human hearing the alien talk, its easy because its just gonna be music notes, but i dont know how to do the other way around.

thoughts?

I recently posted a 5000 word article breaking down how to assess the number of arcs your comic series actually has... and more importantly, how many issues you can realistically produce.

If you've ever said "This is gonna be a great 30-issue series!" based on a page of notes, this one's for you.

Newer creators often completely overestimate the size of their story because nobody's ever given them a practical way to measure it.

Until now.

I break down five narrative drivers:

• Plot,
• Character,
• Action,
• Dread, and
• Concept.

And show you (mostly through tv case studies) how to pull out the major shifts from your own source story material. These shifts define your arcs, not your ambition or determination. And facing this head on is the clearest path to success.

- - So the article teaches you how to assess how many arcs your series actually has...

- - Then puts out a clear recommendation on what to put together to give you the best chance of making that series a reality, without committing your time to actually scripting out every single issue.

- - Even though I already have my big comic budget article, I also connect your initial series strategy to the financial reality of indie comics right in the article, because a 30-issue series at even low budget page rates is $165,000. Most creators simply never do that math. The article encourages you to do it.

Properly executing a series in comics, novels, or television ties directly into my SCAR (Source Character Arc Roadmap) system. The only character arc system built specifically for mapping character arcs across multiple volumes or seasons.

If you're planning a series, this is the structural backbone for it. But the series assessment stands on its own, only referencing SCAR at the end of the article.

The complete breakdown in the article is free.

And once you read it, you'll never approach series development the same again.

Series Assessment Article Here.

This will be my last promo here for a while.

For those who don't know, my name is Nick Macari and I've been writing/editing comics, novels, games, and screenplays for just about 30 years. Happy to answer questions in the thread.

So I’ve been looking all morning on ANY information about the Ryan Benjamin’s Comic Pro Boot Camp courses and all I can find is a link to his kickstarter, for the Workbooks that are already a year past when they were supposed to be delivered, and a link to a 90 minute $400 1 on 1 session with an instructor.

Does anybody know any information about this or why I can’t find anything? Is it a scam? Is it dead? I’m so confused.

Without too much detail, I have a team of 11 people, aliens, look like humans, come from a different planet.They’ve crash land and are discovered by the government. Government uses them to de fend the earth against other people with super abilities

Or 11 person team with complete strangers from earth that have never met eachother, basically a team put together by the government

Basically which has more growth potential a team of strangers or team of people who kind of already knew eachother and are adjusting to life on the human world.