Trauma is such a delicious thing in writing- it gives characters their backstories, their motivation, their special slant in a narrative wrok, from novels to webcomics.
However, it's usually considered in the context of how it has made a character ‘damaged goods’. Why they are grim, why they're ...
The Benefit of Trauma
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Sept. 22, 2018Give it Your Best Shot
Banes at 12:00AM, Aug. 30, 2018Ironically, no picture this time…and it's a Newspost about pitchers!
Beyond writing our stories and characters, figuring out our plots and dialogue and character design, and all the other stuff that goes into creating a comic, we have to choose our shots. Our camera angles.
Very much like ...
Taking a swim with the fishes - Offing your characters
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, Aug. 17, 2018
There comes a time in any webcomic creator’s career where they have to be mean to their characters. And there is nothing meaner than letting the proverbial Sword of Damocles fall on a beloved (or equally unloved) character and watching their head roll to the chorus a shrill cries ...
Where DO you need Planning for your Plot?
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Aug. 11, 2018
So there's a lot of talk and discussion on how to approach the creation of your webcomic (or novel, or short story) regarding planning out your plot, the degrees of planning out, and the option of flying by the seat of your pants.
I have done both, both in ...
Casting Characters in Comics - Larger casts, personality and temperament
Banes at 12:00AM, Aug. 9, 2018
Last week there was a post about smaller regular casts in a series - The Loner series, the Duo, and the Trio. Here's that post:
https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/aug/01/casting-characters-in-comics-123/
With a larger cast, things start to get more complicated - but with more possibilities for different ...
Casting Characters in Comics - 123
Banes at 12:00AM, Aug. 2, 2018
Creating a Cast - in 1-2-3
One of the challenges…and maybe one of the greatest pleasures…of creating a series is populating it with a cast of heroes. I know I spend many weeks or months tinkering with characters and deciding who they're going to be. …And how many ...
Art and Propaganda
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, July 21, 2018
Soviet poster advocating atheism and science over religion
From the most ancient times, art has always been used by the ruling classes for purposes of propaganda, to propagate certain ideas about those commissioning it and their purposes: that kings are mighty, that regimes are for ever, that the enemy is ...
Drawing the Line
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, July 14, 2018
We live in a world that can be exceedingly beautiful or appallingly harsh, and everything in between. And as art reflects one's experiences, emotions and questions about this world, it's unavoidable that both the themes of amazing beauty and the themes of absolute terror, disgust and horror will ...
When Feedback Doesn't Come
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, July 7, 2018
A couple of days ago Banes gave us a wonderful article on the issue of who to please- yourself or the audience, and how that can go very right or very wrong.
So that got me thinking that we should also talk about the dreaded silence. You update a page ...
Please Yourself? Or Please the Crowd?
Banes at 12:00AM, July 5, 2018
May the Forcefulness Be With You
I've been fascinated to watch the unfolding of the “battle” between Disney's Lucasfilm and the fandom playing out over the past few months.
If you haven't been looking at the fallout, there's too much for me to cover here; I ...