Asking for Tips and advice for beginner comic artist and writer

[dbeirigo]

If you are an comic artist or writer or both who been in this path for a while could you give me a few tips and advices you learned over the years about making comics

[An_Alias]

My main advice for new writers is usually dont make a prologue. Very few people do them correctly and it usually turns into a really boring/slow first chapter. World building should be introduced naturally whenever possible and shouldn’t be an info dump of set up. If you do write a prologue, your reader should be able to skip it and have the story still make sense.

Your very first line/page needs to be a hook! Make it relevant to the story and make it grab people

[RedLenai]

Maybe you should narrow down based on what you're looking for. Not all advice is useful nor its that helpful if there is still other aspects missing.

Still, I recommend going to the Tapas Art Master Library, there are several resources for drawing, comic making and writing.

[dbeirigo]

Yeah I have this space fantasy story where I'm planning to do the world building naturally in the way people talk about the world and in this case galaxy they live in.

[An_Alias]

I think it’s supposed to be really basic general advice for newbies. Things that experienced people would have wished they’d known when starting out. It doesn’t look like they want advice about any one thing specifically.

[NickRowler]

Don't just wing it, have a plan/outline.

You don't have to outline everything at once. Break it down into chunk, or chapters.

Usually I would write the chapter then create it. Once I was done, I would move on the the next. It helps you focus on your current project without worrying about the story plot that you won't get to for about a year or two.

[dbeirigo]

on writing I want story telling tecnincs, character development tips and dialogue tips,, on art I want to know what to do not so much how to do it, what art work is necessary for comics? how much design should I do?
also what to avoid in general as a begginer comic creator?

[dbeirigo]

my problem is redoing stuff over and over, I will do an out line than scrap it, and this goes for all the things I been doing I either scrap it completely or I create a paralel new file to start from scracth keeping the old one

[dbeirigo]

it was a good advice and it serves for other artists who may look this thread

[rumpenstiltzkin]

Now Im quite the newbie still but I think my biggest advice is just start! Just do it!

I regret never starting earlier, like years ago, caus I was always scared of never being good enough, I cant draw this or that but since I started drawing my comic I've learned so much while doing so yeh, just start and dont start over - keep going

Maybe start with a smaller project, something you can finish maybe within a year or so, and take what you learn from it with you to the next project

[NickRowler]

I can relate to being stuck in a loop. I had that issue with my current series, I kept shelving it because I could not figure out how to begin it.

I guess my my advice is...

• If everything seems off, try a different approach. It could be how you are framing your story. Maybe it's the tone. Maybe there is something you are trying to make work and it's just not working.

• Think about where your idea came from. Re-look at your first draft. What was your inspiration for your story? Was that lost when you kept rewriting it?

• Just get something out. Sometimes once you get the ball rolling, it will be easier to write your story.

[dbeirigo]

my idea now is to tell the story from the beginning, it's about a team of people that trasport people across space, where does that team come from? so I'm starting with introducing jackie since they started the team what I'm strugling how to hook the reeder, how to make people like jackie, how to show depth like I'm unsure if I'm doing a good job.,

[BoomerZ]

That is a setting, not a story. There is a difference between the two, and most people think they are the same. Jackie, the teamster, is a character in a setting of transporting people. That is the background or setting. The story is what you drop Jackie into to make the story interesting. Is the story Jackie becomes involves in human trafficking and has to deliver a young boy to safety? What starts as a job just for money, Jackie finds herself caring for the boy? Then Jackie has a redemption arc of becoming a better person in the process? That is the story.

[An_Alias]

For sure! They just seemed a bit confused by the prompt

[ZombieOwl]

The biggest advice, especially if you're brand new: don't try to make it perfect! If you have an idea that's super important and precious, save it until you have technical experience. Otherwise, you're going to be in "rewrite hell" because you feel like you have to keep starting over to get it right, or the art is improving too fast and the comic doesn't look cohesive.

If you don't have any other comic ideas, start with a scene that you want to draw from your "Big Story" and treat it like a one shot for practice

[dbeirigo]

The story of the first chapter is this Jackie is an alcoholic depressed person who lives In their spaceship in a desert planet and have no money and no job one day a woman shows up needing help, Jackie dosen't initially want to help but ends up agreeing when she offers little but some money, the woman wants to see her familly in another planet and Jackie is the only one that can help her, so Jackie flies across space, goes into a shortcut dimension called intraspace filled with monsters and weird phenomena, they arrive at the destination, Jackie gets, paid, and decides to start a business of transporting people

[SoftWonderBun]

1. Use pre-production to get your story to a polished state. Any questions, plot holes, characters inconsistencies, world building, etc. Use that time before the start of your story to get those problems out of the way. Things will come up as you progress in production but help your future self as best you can now.

2. Simplify your character design. You are going to be drawing these people over and over and over. Help yourself out and cut out any unnecessary design elements and don't make elements more important than they are/they could be something else instead. Ex: Character has a full back tattoo signifying something about them/where they come from/their role. A smaller tattoo or jewelry item could serve the same purpose and is much less trouble.

3. Know the end of the story. If you want the story to have a conclusion, have it decided before you start that way you can always keep driving the story forward to the end. Even if you're doing a 'villan of the week' style story they all need to end some time.

4. Build your drawing skill before you start. I imagine this will be an unpopular one but I'm speaking from my own experience. If you are not comfortable enough to parse how to draw the elements of your story you won't make it very far before you give up. Comics are a battle, make it easier for yourself by developing your art skill prior to starting. You don't have to be master but you should be able to draw the things you need for your comic to your own satisfaction.

5. Once you start, don't stop. It's very easy, especially in the beginning, to feel defeated and overwhelmed by the scope of the actual work it takes to make a comic. You will find a rhythm. The next page will be better than the last. You will grow, but only if you keep going.