Over the past few months, I’ve been logging onto a drawing hangout where we share our screens as we draw. There is no camera or mic. Just a chat and our screens as we scribble away. At first, I wondered how productive this could be. I figured it would ...
Body doubling - how it can help you stay focused
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, Oct. 1, 2021The Use of Imagery
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Sept. 25, 2021
One of the greatest power of webcomics is that a lot can be said with an image, thus making the need for words minimal. The old ‘picture is a thousand words’ adage, and so on.
Through the power of imagery, and what we choose to add or leave out of ...
Making a splash - Introducing new characters
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, Sept. 24, 2021
In comics, as in life, characters will come and go in your story. However, how does one go about introducing them in an organic way? Sticking the landing of character introductions can make or break how memorable they are. So here are three things to consider when introducing a new ...
Children's Stories
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Sept. 18, 2021
When I was growing up in the 80s, stories that were marketed as ‘children’s' were occasionally brutal.
Characters got maimed or killed, tortured or traumatized, met with horrid ends in worlds that were anything but rosy. And this was a pattern that wasn't limited to, say, English literature ...
When characters take on a life of their own
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, Sept. 17, 2021
As I was unwinding by absent-mindedly scrolling through Twitter, I happened upon a tweet asking if other writers/creators experience creating characters who take on a life of their own, and it got me to thinking. Recently I had drafted two scripts for one of our comics, only to then ...
Rooting for the bad guy
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Sept. 11, 2021
Normally in stories there is the hero vs the villain or the protagonist vs the antagonist. As the audience, we generally expect to root for the hero or the protagonist and hope for the villain's or antagonist's comeuppance.
But there come those times when we find ourselves rooting ...
Using pre-made assets
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, Sept. 10, 2021
As I was scrolling through Instagram I saw a video from a fellow comic creator. They were demonstrating how they went about drawing shoes. They opened up a sheet and, here’s the kicker, the sheet was full of shoes at different angles. They just copied and pasted the angle ...
The Privilege of Art
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Sept. 4, 2021
Yesterday Greece's most iconic and proliferate composer, Mikis Theodorakis, passed away at the age of 96. He was a symbol for social activism and human rights. He was in the Greek resistance in 1943 as a teen, then in the anti-junta fight, he was tortured, exiled, prosecuted, and still ...
Gatekeeping print comics and the Webcomic community
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, Sept. 3, 2021Yesterday I logged onto Twitter and saw this tweet trending.
And ohohoho I knew there was spicy drama afoot.
This origin story of this tweet was an column by Rob Salkowitz titled Who's a creative professional in the comics world? The answer is getting more complicated. He makes a ...
When your readers guess correctly
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Aug. 28, 2021
So you have uploaded your latest page, and it's one of your best.
The story is at a point where the suspense is cranking up to eleven. The plot thickens. Everyone wonders what is going to happen next…
…and then that one fan GETS IT RIGHT. Right there in ...