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Sep 2019

Hi! I'm a new user around and this is the first topic I post! My question to break the ice is: do you prefer planning the script / creating the plot of a comic or drawing it? Which part do you think is more important?
I find both parts enjoyable, but I'd say creating the script is easier for me. Finding new ideas takes time, of course, but not as much as drawing does. Plus, having a good script is vital for the story.
I'd love to know your opinion! :sip:

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    Sep '19
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    Sep '19
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I much prefer the drawing part to the writing part. I also always work with a writer and almost never write anything myself. Writing takes way too much brain power for me!

I love scripting! I'm the type who writes a lot of ideas for my story and enjoy making dialogue. So getting it down on paper before it all disappears from my head is a big one for me. I do leave some room to improvise dialogue for chapters/episodes. But a lot of time, I use script to get down that dialogue that spoke to me and is like "I NEED this in my comic"

It's an either or. It takes me awhile to think of a bottle plot to make up on chapter even if I have an idea of what to do for arc. Writing can be so much fun especially since it will eventually be visible. Drawing can be fun :grin: until it suddenly isn't. When drawing detailed or complex panels, I wonder what I'm doing with my life.

Came here to say pretty much this. Often ideas pop up quite randomly in my head and I put them into my script (thank GOD for smartphones), therefore in the end I feel quite confident that the script features a lot of good "bites". Being able to write on the fly is quite "artsy" while drawing is, well, hard work.

Scripts are more important in my opinion. The reason why I draw at all is because I want my artists/editors to know what my characters look like at a glance. Writing is arguably the most important aspect to story telling.

I don't really script at all, I feel like it's just too stiff. I do a ton of tiny little thumbnails instead, and write the dialogue next to them.

Each time I do scripting I almost ALWAYS not use it. I may use some of it but most times its a waste of my time so I try not to put too much effort into it. I like to write out my comics like a story and just draw it that way. The only time I may take scripting serious is if I am just stuck on an episode where I need better dialogue.

if you spend too much on scripting you may lose focus on the actual story so i think its best to dive into it and begin, then you go from there.

Instead of scripting, I usually write a plot outline for each chapter and then thumbnail the pages, and usually as I block things and add dialogue indicators this way the finer details change. Drawing is also a lot more fun/easy for me because that's how I give life to my characters, and I can pretty vividly imagine how I want things to go! The written outline is mostly a reminder/guideline for what I want.

Drawing is definitely so much easier for me! It is taking me SO LONG to work out my scripts! So much respect to you people who are skilled with writing, especially dialogue!

I definitely prefer the drawing part!

BUT I think that the scripting/writing/pre-production phase is more important by a pretty wide margin. Since comics are a storytelling medium you have to make sure your story itself is good, which happens during the writing and editing phase. I'm especially the type that likes to spend a lot of time there and make sure that I know how the whole comic (or at least chapter or whatever) will go before I buckle down and actually start on it lol. I lack the skills to make stuff up on the fly that's still good, like some people can :joy:

I prefer the script,its more easier to plan ahead the story. And can add drawings for the mayor scenes if needed.

Scripts are important for planning but for comics I spend a lot more time thumbnailing because composition and paneling are arguably more important to the flow of story than the dialogue

I only write some dialogue for 2-3 pages, not really a script.

I guess drawing. Because drawing is what i'm really interpreting of what is in my mind. Sometimes i draw and then think of the dialogue.

I greatly prefer scripting...as much as I like to draw, I'm just too lazy to enjoy the work of drawing a comic. There's a reason my gallery is filled with static character designs...

Although I find it at once puzzling and mystifying that people can go without scripting entirely. '_' I mean, if you have a slice-of-life comic, it's probably not a big deal, but if you have your average drama comic that takes a year or two just to get rolling, I don't know how you can manage that without a little planning.

Generally, I find it easier to work with lines I've written in advance (Ctrl+F is your best friend~) than to retroactively keep track of every little random thing I've had the characters say in the past...either you'd have to know your story and characters really well, or simply not care about the inconsistencies that are bound to crop up...

they are slowly becoming one and the same for me; my writing process becomes drawing almost immediately after the outline - i sketch out key beats, then expand that to blocking, then layouts. my actual scripts are uber sparse. however, i think i prefer this part of the process to the actual production, bc thats where the discoveries are made - once i get into the inking and shading its mostly tracing - so its both boring and scary, bc its the dip in the middle where doubt sets in. but then i enjoy colours the most.

Definitely planning. Though my planning is writing the entire story without revising once and then going back to it after a while and doing edits.