How do you come up with comic ideas?

[JimJom]

So i'm running out of ideas. Sometimes, i just think of a comic and write it in my phone. i have 2 lists.
Good comic ideas and Ehh comic ideas. If i can't think of good comic ideas, i'll use the ehh ones.
i'm currently very low on good comic ideas.
Any help? how do you come up with ideas?

[solhawthorne]

There's already a topic with nearly the same title here: How do you get your comic ideas? There are some good ideas there you can use.

[thomasfallaeriksen]

What works for me is to study things I find interesting and combine them. They can be very different from each other. Like vintage cars, ancient mythology and space exploration (this is something I'm writing on at the moment).
What usually happens is that I read about interesting things or listen to people talk about it while I'm working on something else. And what usually follows is that an idea appear when I least expect it. Usually when I'm doing something that isn't related to comics at all. Like when I'm sitting on the bus, on a train, in the shower, when I wake up in the morning... Usually when I don't have anything to write or draw on.

[Ringarune]

For me, it's usually A) there's a basic concept in a show/book I like and I use that as a building block to create my story or B) there's a really cool concept for a story I see, but I dislike the direction that person took it in, so I build my own story around what I would do

[jflores001]

I usually do the same thing. I read A LOT in my spare time especially about current events, politics, etc. And I like to watch documentaries. And I don't draw inspiration from all of it necessarily but I try to be really open and interested in various topics because I feel like it really fills your mind and eventually ideas come out of it. And you never know what might become almost tangentially related.

Like I'm writing an Arthurian legend comic and back in uni while I was still working on the beginning of my comic I studied Chaucer for a semester. A lot of the stuff that we read critically--stuff about time and the culture of Chaucerian times in that class actually helped me write my comic dissertation (even tho my comic is a futuristic SF) --I at least drew a lot of thought from it.

[joannekwan]

I think you're referring to plot or joke ideas? Since yours is a gag-a-day style.

I say let real life do the work. When I was writing my comedy series in high school, it was more of a diary than anything. There were always funny happenings at school and I would copy some of the dialogue verbatim and just put my characters in those situations. But if real life is coming up dry, use your imagination. Some of my favorite episodes from my comedy series were the holiday specials where I would introduce supernatural or fantastical elements, like the characters meeting easter bunnies or a werewolf vampire on Halloween.

[KoreanTacos]

Just life observations and experience. Problem is conveying your life for others to understand is the issue.

[insomniascrawl]

They bleed out of me, I can't stop them, I have a hard time working on projects because I have one idea and then 10 others bombard me and I just want to do them. I get most of my ideas just from people watching, personal experiences or going places and then internalizing what I see, but I take public transport, so I see a lot, probably why I bleed ideas.

[MST3KFan]

Given most of my comic is to do with nostalgic things from the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, I look to all those various things that were popular in those eras and make comics around them. Otherwise, I use my own experiences with things as well.

[ToxicRamen]

My ideas tend to pop up at random sometimes whenever I'm reading random comics/manga or watching cartoons/anime. Sometimes I'll get ideas whenever I'm browsing through stores or when I'm listening to music.

[scarlet_wings_kaili]

I draw from personal experiences/ emotions +inspirations from the world around me. So in a way, I'm creating stories for the purpose of exploring questions I have about the world. So for the comic I'm working on right now, Halfsoul, it's about asking, "what does it mean to lose a part of yourself". Earlier in the year, I made an interactive comic about how people perceive evil. Another story I'm developing for the future is questioning binary systems, how people hate and how do they look past the "other".

Everyone has their own ways to creating stories, so find what works for you.

[ahhvecadoes]

People watching always helps me. Hanging out with other creative people, even if they aren't artists, help spark my own creativity.

I also play the sims an ungodly amount. Great for brainstorming and creating characters.

[spadesart]

I end up giving my character designs backstories which spirals into worldbuilding and other related characters and plot and all that

[NickRowler]

I didn't have a lot of friends growing up, so that ment I spent long period of time alone. Within that time, I would get bored and just start day dreaming. A lot of it starts as a "What if...?" question. Now as an adult, I still don't have much of a social life and my job is meh, so I guess I still day dream a lot.

The down side is, my brain seems to go much faster than my drawing abilities, so I have ideas but can't draw fast enough to get them down. Maybe I should try to write them down...I dunno.

[demthorshie]

I always get my inspiration to create stories during long vacations, I have more time to think and brainstorm. I usually create the characters first and from there, I begin to craft the story based on them.

[realSean_Murphy]

Study existing comics and look into ways I could do it better, and yes I mean to really study them, which can take a while.