What is a character? A miserable little pile of traits! Except no, there is more to a character than a collection of likes and dislikes. There are varying opinions on the importance of character versus plot, with some authors viewing all characters as a mere tool to drive plot forward ...
Don't Sweat The Details
Amelius at 9:27AM, Feb. 3, 2019Running the Marathon
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Feb. 2, 2019
So it turns out I'm quite ill this week and I don't feel I have enough focus to finish up my “Writing Mental Illness” set of articles. I promise to do that next week.
For today I'd like to talk about planning, writing and drawing a webcomic ...
10 Year flashback - Share your progress!
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, Feb. 1, 2019
Last week I dug up my first webcomic page and shared it with you all. In the the comments blntmaker came up with the idea of holding a 10 year challenge for webcomics and you know what? That is a totally awesome one!
So, this week, join me and others ...
The Dread Hiatus
Amelius at 9:57AM, Jan. 27, 2019
Have you ever noticed that among the dead webcomics, a preponderance of them have “Hiatus” on their tombstone? That tombstone being, of course, the final page posted years and years ago with a promise they will be “right back” after a “short break”. There are of course a number of ...
The first webcomic page
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, Jan. 25, 2019
I’m in the process of moving house and I took the opportunity to go through some childhood belongings. During my excavation I stumbled across the very first comic page I ever drew. This was quite the find as I had long believed that my first ever webcomic, with its ...
Drawing the Red Line
Amelius at 11:48AM, Jan. 20, 2019
Let's be honest, we don't always appreciate someone pointing out our mistakes. Criticism may be important for artists growing into their craft to find the right areas to focus on improving through a little outside guidance, but not all critique is made equal. Frankly speaking, a lot of ...
Writing Mental Illness (Part 2)
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Jan. 19, 2019
How to Pick, Research and Implement Mental Disorder in a Character
So last time I talked in general about some basic concepts and principles about what constitutes mental illness, or, more accurately, mental disorder. The important thing to remember and keep from all of that is this set of truths ...
Embracing procrastination
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, Jan. 18, 2019
A few months ago, I was linked to a video about original thinkers by organisational psychologist, Adam Grant. and the habits of people he calls originals. It’s a very interesting video and I highly recommend watching it, but one of the points that he makes is about embracing the ...
Writing Mental Illness (Part 1)
Tantz_Aerine at 12:00AM, Jan. 12, 2019
Writing a character with mental illness can be a very tricky thing. Writers usually go for the extremely rare, exotic and spectacular: multiple personality disorders, extreme manifestations of psychopathy or sociopathy, high functioning autism with that ever alluring ‘savant’ magic going for the character, bombastically spectacular schizophrenia… in many ways ...
Exposition - Just the tip
Emma_Clare at 12:00AM, Jan. 11, 2019
In a nutshell, exposition is a big ole mound of information that the author wants the reader to know before they move on in the plot. It often gets a bad rap but that is usually due to it being used incorrectly. There is definitely a place for exposition so ...