In the early parts of the story, it helps the quality of the thing and the experience of the audience to layer in the details that will come into play later.

These are little character and world details that will come into play later - the sword that falls off the ...

It was a blustery, cold evening when Elias and Archimedes arrived at the Four Harts Inn. Upon arrival, the pair meet up with Yara Sistani, a guide to get them safely through the first part of their expedition. Out of nowhere, a haunting voice of a creature beyond the earthly ...

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Schemers can be part of some great stories when they're done well! When they're done badly though they're very annoying! Schemers, plotters and planers ...

There’s always an issue every artist has at some point and that is having stiff looking characters.

It is incredibly hard to actually have a fluid looking character. Also because, as humans, we are kind of stiff. Not every single person moves smoothly like a Disney character gliding across ...

Conflict in a story is not only necessary, it can be the juiciest part of your comic. Think about it! We often remember and recount the parts of a movie, comic or show where the emotions were the strongest. A solid vitriolic scene can result in one hell of a ...

Welcome to my Underground Layers

-Banes, your pop culture references are as on point as ever!



I've talked about story structure here many times, normally in similar ways.
A different approach to character and story, one I haven't used much personally, is what we could call the “onion ...

One of the things I love the most about comics, is the prep work, which may not be obvious by the countless amount of times that I’ve stated that I’m doing absolutely no prep work as of now for Scorned; but when I worked on Scarred Eden, that ...

Photo: Conan O’Brien and Andy Richter during a Cold Open for San Diego Comic-Con International (2016)

Seven years ago, on November 17, 2014, I wrote a Monday article on the Duck following the final taping of the Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson. It was around that time that ...

Have you seen ”The Road to El’Dorado”? If you pay attention to the movie, the whole thing is pretty much based on luck.
Spoilers ahead if you haven’t watched the movie!
We witness luck happening from the start of the movie when Miguel and Tulio have been using ...

One of the latest twitter dramas seem to be around artistic shortcuts, and how consumers of comics and webcomics (often non-artists) tend to scoff at any artist that dares admit they use them.

Comic shortcuts could include pre-rendered backgrounds, using 3D programs to arrange spaces or make sure perspective is ...