How detailed is your script?

[Darth_Biomech]

Do you use script for your comic? Do you use it because you work in tandem with someone else and need to keep things clear and consistent? If not, how detailed do you keep it, and how far ahead does it reach? All the way to the end? Would you mind posting an example of it?

More of a curiosity question than a necessity one, since I tend to go directly to thumbnailing stage after thinking scene over in my head, so I don't really use scripts besides most simple bare bones outline of "these events happen in that order" that fits my entire first volume on two pages of A4.

[IndigoShirtProd]

Yea I use a script. I write and illustrate my own comic. My scripts consist dialogue and narrative. In my narrative, I usually detail character movements, expression changes, and action scenes(because action usually doesn't need dialogue to supplement it). Here's an excerpt from my chapter one script of BBS, https://tapas.io/series/The-Black-Belt-Society-.

The three goddesses of water, fire, and earth are sitting in the lofty heavens discussing the disappearance of their sister and their dog. Urt, the earth goddess, returns with nothing to show.

Otar: Have you found anything Urt?

Urt: No, Otar. I have asked the earth for the thousandth time, it speaks nothing of Ira. 

Ire: We can’t go on like this. The skies of have become strange since she disappeared; Otar and I can only do so much with our combined power.

Ire’s hair is smoking at the thought. She is tired.

O: Yes, I know. We’ll find her, eventually, but . . . we might not be the ones to do it.


U: What do you mean?

O: Our creations, sisters, could be of use to us now. We blessed them with abilities that could find Ira.

I: Are you saying we should just trust some random humans with the responsibility of finding a goddess.

[JeanGuillet]

Super detailed. I wrote & edited a novel first. Which I'm really glad I did, because I've got a super strong vision and there are no plot holes that are going to cause me writers block or anything because I already worked through all the hard stuff. It's hard enough to try to put something into visuals, to simultaneously have to come up with a compelling story would be extremely difficult. I suppose this is why many many comics are collaborations. Mine is too, only it's a time-warp collaboration with myself in the past. muahahaha

[eochoa92]

It's gotten less detailed.
I used to do my "scripts" in prose. So everything looked like a short novel. Thankfully, the artist that I did that for at the time didn't mind it, and actually liked it.
Afterwards, I looked at samples and talked to other writers and landed on my current format - which I think is similar to what anyone would use. I still try to be a bit overly-detailed, but snap myself out of that here and there.

[Knight_Wolf]

wend i don´t strait to thumbnails i make a very simple script just the location, room outdoor, type of building etc and the dialog that it!

[ben]

I write a pretty in-depth outline of the story beginning to end and then write the dialogue entirely in the thumbnailing process. I’ll never script if I don’t have to.

[jurinova]

I have a script but it's a bit of a mess. I have a separate file for every chapter and I usually have all the dialogue written down and maybe some basic guides along with them like "he sits down" or "zoom out" etc. However because I'm constantly working on the script in my head I often have several versions of a scene in the file and the final version is usually some sort of an amalgam of them. Usually when I thumbnail I figure out which version of the scene works best.

I had a pretty clear script until like chapter 8, which I'm currently drawing, so now I am in a bit of a pickle. I know the events but the details and the order of scenes from now on is still undecided and unwritten. It's mostly because when I started I was sure I'd never get this far and much to my surprise, I did. So my tip is: Plan and write as far as you can, even if you don't think you'll ever reach that point.

[joannekwan]

For my scripts the biggest emphasis is on the dialogue. I usually picture my comics with a cinematic view in the first place so I normally already have actions and expressions in mind already or intuit them when I go in for the thumbnails/preliminary sketch.

[silverraven0]

Not detailed at all. Mostly because I can't really follow my own script lol, so for the most part, it ended up being me making them up when I draw the early draft while for the dialogue, it usually just me making bullc*ap whenever the time I make the 'script'to me finishing the line art.

Drawing the early draft in paper coming more easily for me, so it always get improvised in the time of the making.

[punkarsenic]

i work by myself, but i often have friends or teachers go over my page by page so various stages will vary in detail

i script in three stages:
- event plan
- page by page
- notes taken while thumbnailing

the event plan is where i lay out the events into scenes and estimate length. sometimes theyre the most detailed bc im mentally working thru the chapter, sometimes theyre the least bc all i need to know is what happens. depends on how much i have figured out already.

then the page by page slots these events into pages, getting more detailed on how things will look and lay out

then the 'script' script is the sparsest, just a note on whats going on in the panel and any dialogue i wanna add

[akhayashi]

I have two files for my comic's story: one with a less detailed description of important moments in the story, from start to finish (as a summary of the story), and other with the script for pages. I illustrate my own comic so it's not very detailed, it just contains dialogues and a simple description of the scene, like this:

BLH: By the way, what's your name? I should know who is my admirer.
*BLH asks with a curious, but smiling face*

CLY: M-My name is Chen Lanyun, it's a pleasure to finally meet you!
*CLY answers blushing, making a slight bow*

BLH: All right, Chen Lanyun. I'm Bai Lianhe, and the pleasure is mine.
*Lianhe smiles, making the same gesture*

I wrote the script until Episode 10 (it will be in webtoon style), but some episodes are longer and will be split into parts, so it covers 15 updates. I'm still writing it every day so I can finish it soon and then focus only on drawing the pages.

[Rodimus13]

I write a script for my husband and myself so we stay on track. It's not tooooooo detailed because I want him to have leeway with the art. And he shows me the roughs first incase he accidentally does something that would cause a plot hole later.

[jensrichard77]

I’m the writer and write the script for the artist.
Here is the script for the latest update in The Last BL Comic.
The entire comic is scripted in notes and gets details as we work on it.

---

Boy and Love still hugging.

Love: ”So.. What shall we call each other?

Boy holding Love on his shoulders looking serious.
Boy: ”In the beginning, I was only a voice at the left side and you in the right.
Love: ”But now we are alive and can move freely”
Boy: ”All we know is that we are two boys in the last boy love comic”

Love not listening.
Love:”o0(We should find a cafe…)”
Boy:”Hello?”

Love smack a post-it on their heads with their names on.
Love:” Okay you are ’Boy’ and I am ’Love’
Love starts running with Boy in hand.
Love:” Come on let’s find a cafe before this Last BL Comic actually will end”

Post-it fly off Boy and Love as they run in the distance

Episode to compare

The Last BL Comic :: My name | Tapas

[imiogri]

I script my entire comic! I layout all the episodes until the very ending as well as noting important actions. Everything isn't done though, I'm still rewriting and refining it as I'm drawing. (It's 135 pages atm)
I go directly from script to the official pages. I also feel as a non native English speaker I need time to refine the language and make sure it's correct and let people proofread.

[elyss]

I write the story and that's my script. My entire novel is already written, I'm just doing another round of edits as I go to tighten it more. To me, it's more helpful than a script (I've tried it). I print off a chapter and group passages by what I want to be shown on each 2-page spread and work from there. It helps me with visual flow and helps the comic read better. Here's my novel and my first comic page of chapter one as well as the 4-5 page.

It's quite a bit different from the novel because both media lend to a different kind of story-telling for me. For example, what took a sentence to insinuate in the novel took 2.5 non-consecutive pages in comic form for me. It's so strange watching an 8-word chapter turn into 33 comic pages, but it's worth it! I know for a fact that my scripted version was 24 pages and utter garbage lol.

[Kura]

No Future Script

Because I'm working with myself I don't have to make my script very detailed.

It's mostly dialog with a few notes to myself about scene changes or panel notes (if for whatever reason I have a specific way I want this pictured and don't want to forget) along the way.

Raven Wolf Scripts

It's a full novel, so way more than including things I can't put into the comic because they don't translate well to comic form are there.

[vothnthorvaldson]

I have a script, pretty detailed, but I tend to not follow it completely. And because I don't, some of the script for the later chapters is becoming obsolete, so I'm trying to go through it from time to time to remove the parts that would not make sense anymore. I wish I had time to rewrite everything now that I have a better idea of where I want to go with my comic. I'll probably do it, but not in a detailed form this time.

For me, more than a detailed script, what is important is having a script ready for the whole project or at least a good part of it, before starting the comic.
One of the things that prevented me from reading long form comics/comic series for a very long time is the fact it's often clear that the writer had no idea in chapter 1 of what would happen in chapter 20, so that if we read the whole thing in one go, there are a lot of inconsistencies, an ugly overall structure, etc.
That's what I want to avoid at all costs.

[ble]

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[borzoiteeth]

Can a script have doodles? Because mine does.
I also colour code because my eyes easily get lost in a sea of letters

I should mention I super recommend Scrivener. A great program for those who love crazy amount of worldbuilding that may never reach the story but was important in shaping the finished project.

[BobbyjoeX]

o-o......uh... what script? (both Royal and Adrian's Bane)