How do you guys write your outlines?

pr4yingmantis 2024-02-25 03:26:57 UTC #1

been working on my comic for about 8 months now and ive been writing the outline for about 2 weeks. how do you guys approach outlining and general story beats?? do you write the entire thing and break it down into different pages, do you write a general story and add details later, etc.??? just curious to see how ppl who have ACTUALLY started their comics approach writing :3

BoomerZ 2024-02-25 03:47:22 UTC #2

I literally write and outline with each number being a panel. As my comics is roughly 30ish panels per week, that's 30 bullet points.

ArtGremlin 2024-02-25 06:09:41 UTC #3

I don’t

Idk lol I just have a funky workflow
Stuff just comes an I’m like: “yeah…”

Welllll I kinda do make outlines if you count making all the sketches for pages ahead of time

moontokkym 2024-02-25 08:30:35 UTC #4

I kind of go in stages. I've got a massive whiteboard where I write down the beats and themes I want to happen, then on a Google Doc I'll write out the story beats in broad terms as bullet points like:
- character A goes to place where character B is being chased by police. A decides to help B against their better judgement
- A and B are chased but get away by hiding with character C who is confused. A and C are worried that B will get caught of they let them go now so they agree to keep B safe a while
- Because of this, A becomes a target for the police too as well as B, and they are smoked out in a raid.

Etc...
Really generally describing the events that happen with details of stuff I don't want to forget like where things are happening, any important props that need to be in the scene, how the characters feel about events, etc...

Then I write it out like a play where I only write scene/prop descriptions, character dialogue and didascalies (indications about character expressions and actions), so I have the scene as an actual scene I can work with. That goes through a few edits to get the dialogue and flow up to snuff.

Finally the "play" is split into pages and numbered panels, usually just meaning I stick numbers in front of different parts of my script, but I'll also give indications about camera angles, lenses, blocking, composition, lighting, etc... So I remember when it's time to do the storyboarding.

It goes through so many iterations because I work on the general story alone so I give myself time to really come back to what I've written with fresh eyes and tighten everything up. It also means that I can have basically the entire story from start to finish as bullet points so I know what foreshadowing needs to be done in earlier scenes, what themes need to be established, what character arcs need to be grounded, etc...

Glofernwolfe 2024-02-25 08:46:30 UTC #5

Hey I follow the generic flow used by most comic artists. But i have a very specific way of making outlines.

Make a spreadsheet with an outline of all your episodes. I usually have the columns as Intro > Build > Climax / punchline > Falling action > endings. This is for each and every episode. See a screenshot below for an example.
Write the script for each episode in different document files (keeps it neat and things are easy to find this way)
Make a storyboard (Here's where you play with layouts which may change the script and outline and that's ok!)
Draw lineart
Colour
Post production.

Hope this helps.

Outline example:

kyupol 2024-02-25 12:06:27 UTC #6

Here's an excerpt from a project outline that didn't really get off the ground... supposed to be military Sci fi

thepenmonster 2024-02-25 12:15:23 UTC #7

With a pencil and paper.

Leyelle 2024-02-25 12:23:54 UTC #8

I start with writing out the plot points in a jumbled up random list. Then I organize those in a numbered list in the order I think the events will happen in, though this occasionally gets shifted around in execution. Then I write a brief breakdown (occasionally less than brief) for each episode/chapter. Then I actually write the episode.