An effective way to land the climax of your comic arc is to build it up using foreshadowing. Foreshadowing is when a creator lays down small nods or clues throughout their story that an event is going to happen or a character is going to act a certain way. When ...
Foreshadowing the future
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, July 2, 2021An Ode to Sidekicks (Part Deux)
kawaiidaigakusei at 12:00AM, June 28, 2021
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 ...
Shaking off creator's slump
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, June 18, 2021
The last few months have hit like a sledgehammer, leaving me with a profound sense of “slump”. That feeling of lethargy lazily tangled with a lack of motivation for anything creative. This got me thinking of ways I can shake off this heavy fog and step into the light of ...
Improvement and the brain
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, June 11, 2021
It’s easy to fall prey to impatience when it comes to progress, even more so when we begin comparing ourselves to other people. However, so long as you continue to practice, you will see improvements in your work and speed. It takes time to make noticeable improvements but they ...
Your formative inspiration as a comic creator
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, June 4, 2021
I was on a livestream earlier today and the topic of Tim Burton came up when discussing my favourite movies. I went on to describe how influential his movies were for me, even going so far as to inspire quite the phase particularly when it came to creating comics. My ...
Balancing speed and detail
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, May 28, 2021
It is a balancing act when it comes to the level of detail we comics artists like to include in each page and the speed at which we can complete said page. Sitting back and seeing a beautifully coloured render of your work may be satisfying, but is the level ...
Haters going to hate
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, May 21, 2021
It’s a fairly common sentiment of the Internet. When you put yourself out there, you’re going to get others making bad faith criticisms for the sake of “trolling”. The phrase, “haters going to hate” is meant as a rallying cry for the ego; Bolster yourself with seemingly unearned ...
Bookending with epilogues
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, May 14, 2021
So your comic is coming to end but you still have some small threads to tie up. What better way to bookend the story than with an epilogue? Much like the prologue, the events in the epilogue can take place some time after the concluded events. The main purpose is ...
Bookending your start - The prologue
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, May 7, 2021
If you’re looking to open your comic by establishing the scene, theme and/or tone of the rest of the narrative then you might consider using “the prologue”. Derived from the Greek term, prologos, meaning, “before word”, the prologue serves as a mini story that is set before the ...
Favourite tools of the trade
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, April 30, 2021
When it comes to making comics, I have gone through many phases with regards to my tools. These days I stick mainly to creating comics using digital tools and programs but that’s not to say that it is the only method of producing art.
I first started drawing webcomics ...