Tips for Comic Creators - Do Research

[onyisart]

Ok some how many people do research before/while working on their comic? Gather references and practice?
Not me!!....ok I mean I have gathered image references at least. But now that I'm wanting to dive into deep topics that have affected me but don't fully understand or draw something that's intense, I'm probably gonna need to do some reading and watching TV/movies.

Research is essential in story because it can help convey a subject better if you're dealing with a heavy subject.

Research can be useful for drawing because it can add a little more life to the acting in your characters. However, you still gotta push the character and not copy an image to the bone. For example, drawing a kissing scene that's passionate/gentle/rough, melancholic moments, or anger (draftsmanship is still very important nonetheless when it comes to drawing though​). (Framing and camera angles are very important too when portraying mood) (Color theory also plays a part too)

Research can be done by reading subjects published by legit resources (not xxxblog.com) or watching TV shows/movies that have actors portraying high/intense emotions (you'd want to illustrate key sequential shots so have that pause button ready).

Not gonna lie, I'm new to comics and haven't done this yet. I have drawn a shots from a movie it's been a while since I've done practice like that.

What brought this up was I was reading a comic and got curious as to how the author created such a sensual moment that I genuinely caught feelings lol.

Kind of sucks how I feel like I know a little somethin-somethin but still can't implement it properly into my own work lol. I'm no pro, just sharing my opinion/baby knowledge.

[nathanKmcwilliams]

Pfff. Research-smesearch.

All I do is skim Wikipedia for the bits I want and discard the rest. I tend to twist everything (mythology mostly) as far as I can so that it barely resembles it's origin.

[darthmongoose]

I'm an obsessive researcher in terms of things like setting, science, tech etc. Like I legitimately went as far as visiting the ancient Roman baths and the ruins of the temple of Sulis Minerva in Bath as research for my comic with a Romano-Celtic modern setting where characters worship Sulis Minerva. I read about Arthurian legends and Iron Age British culture extensively in preparation for Errant. I also collected a lot of reference material about Northern English cities to try to make Joysgard feel like a real place that looks a bit like Manchester rather than being the sort of.... generic sort of East Asian, sort of American city you see in every webcomic these days. I also trained at the iaido club when I was at Uni for an exchange year in Japan, so before making my webcomic about people fighting with swords I'd know at least some basic swordfighting.

For poses though, and expressions, I'm not a big reference user, not because I think it's bad, I just often find it makes things feel a bit stiff. When drawing action I like to take the mindset that I'm "summarising" the entire action, rather than taking a snapshot of one moment of it, so I'll watch a video if it's an action I'm unfamiliar with to get a sense of the overall motions. I tend to think of drawing more like "acting" than being a human camera; I'm aiming to capture the feeling of being in motion, or feeling something more than to replicate a photo of somebody doing those things.

If I'm trying to match a likeness, or working on an existing IP, I'm very careful. Like for the stuff I did in the Doctor Who book "Women Who Lived" every illustration had to get a thumbs up from the BBC, so I gathered as much material as I could, it was tricky because one of the illos was of a character from an episode that's since been lost (as Doctor Who fans know, many of the old episodes from the 60s we only have snapshots or possibly the sound track but no video because back in the day nobody really thought to preserve them) and another needed to be a colour illo of Susan Foreman, a character from the very first series, which was in black and white, meaning I had to find later pictures of the actress when she was older to find out things like her eye colour and skintone, and look for photos of the props and costumes taken years after the episode was made.

This is just half of one of my reference folders for my work on Women Who Lived:

[nathanKmcwilliams]

I'm the exact opposite xD my wife is a history teacher, and she sighs in mock annoyance (maybe real annoyance, I'm not sure ) at my carefree approach to historical accuracy. Whenever she does research for her novels she goes all the way.

[DualDragons]

I... do research only when I need it really. Mostly for outfits because I'm not too good with them. But most things I can do fine, especially blueprints and machinery since I actually do that kind of stuff often.

I should use 3D-models more now that I think about it, would make drawing buildings a lot easier. I'd put my engineer skills to a different use.

[LadyN]

For the art I look at the different poses and if I need specific ideas on how the weapons look then I just fuse some of them together. Story wise though, I just look it up.

Example: I learnt that the Egyptians invented toast!

[brilliiant]

I think research is pretty integral to helping with the execution of your idea - like, I don't think everything needs to be brain bendingly granular or something. I think especially if you're (like I am) writing about a culture that's based on one that really existed, you should get at least a Cole's notes idea of how things went down on a base level. And then BOOM artistic license.

I also think it doesn't hurt to do research so you can have a little ammo in case people come at you when you, as a creator, try to do more progressive things. Like, Viking women being treated more like people than a lot of other old timey women. Or black people living in Britain as early as like 2000 years ago. It's not out of the question for some keyboard warrior to be like 'blehhh this sjw is trying to indoctrinate me.' And then you like, bring out the JSTOR.

[ninjashira]

Oh man I do so much research. Pinterest is my go-to visual research platform, for saving costume and hairstyle and environment resources. And typically each of my characters will also get their own fashion board to figure out their style and accessorizing.

I'm currently working on a script for a natural science-based children's comic, and that one is requiring actual research into wildlife and animal behaviors, and that one's a little trickier for me because I can't just save a bunch of images to a Pinterest board. I'm still trying to find an effective way to save all my research information, right now I just have a bunch of random animal facts in a Word document with no real rhyme or reason to it.

[summermcallen]

I do a lot of research. Maybe too much

What I do before I start a story:
- really detailed character description
- if the story plays in the real world, I search after a real area for the home and places that the characters visit. So I know if she/he visit it through the subline, the bicycle or can walk.
- draw/design the home and some backgrounds around the home ( for background from existing worlds I use reference photos or google maps )
- draw their clothes. I draw at least 4-5 outfits for my characters, so that I get a feeling for their style. Its also easier when drawing the comic
- draw some sample poses
- have mood boards for my characters on pinterest

While drawing the comic:
- for each chapter I draw the whole scenario from the bird view and place the cameras in it. so i can easily avoid breaking the 180 degrees rule
- I also add te sun in the bird view, so that I can constantly see where the shadow should be

[yondoloki]

I do as much research as I can, though I feel I don't do enough. And even when I do research I end up getting details wrong fx. i made a ball scene in a victorian setting, but ended up referencing a dress I later found out was actually edwardian... WOOPS! Anyways, didn't go for 100% accuracy, but the feel of the period, since it's a fantasy story anyways and not a period piece. Still annoys me though...

Another project I've been working on for years will have to include a TON of research, since it's set in a mix of Egyptian/Persian/Arabic/Mediterranean setting, and I'm a white chick from the cold north of Denmark...
One of the key inspirations for this is also making animal behaviours into human civilizations, so animal studies will also be necessary... Oh lord what am I doing to myself...

[onyisart]

I actually research fashion/style too because a characters choice in clothing can aide in identity as well

[onyisart]

I have a pinterest too! You do a good amount of research for your work. You won't need to do too much but a little can go a long way

[joannekwan]

For contemporary stories, unless I'm depicting fine detail of some profession I'm not familiar with, I'll do hardly any research at all. I may google landmarks and street views of certain cities if I'm setting a scene in a specific place equivalent to its real world counterpart.

Now for historical works, even historical fantasy, I love doing research! I find that including fine details really grounds the reading experience. Especially since I have a minor in history, I appreciate any tidbit that enlightens me, and then I'm all the more thrown out of the reading experience when I spot inaccuracies or anachronisms.

[Rhonder]

I've become a big proponent of incorporating more research into my work over the last year and a half or so. Prior to that... I just didn't do that much of it honestly. I just did the whole "draw from imagination" thing like 90% of the time.

For some things it worked out okay. Like I stuck to drawing characters mostly in casual modern clothes, and I know what a T-Shirt looks like, for example. And even though they didn't look great I could approximate hair styles well enough, & Etc. But some things, like my backgrounds for example, often felt somewhat (or REALLY) lacking.

It was only after spending a few months on my first Tapas comic that I had the captain obvious "wow, it'll be easier to draw something good if I know what it's supposed to look like!" moment. The earliest compare/contrast moment in said comic are these two panels which are 13 pages apart. Natural landscapes have always been a weak point of mine but the first one is just offensively bad and lame xD I spent some time before it came up again looking up prairie photos on google for inspiration and was able to come up with something at least a little better for the next time:

Recently though I've been trying to use a lot more research and reference in more and more aspects of the comic-making process. My next story is going to take place in a modern-day school setting, so in addition to looking up examples of classrooms and etc., I've also spent time while working on each new character looking up hairstyles, clothing/fashion, etc. to nail those aspects down a little better as well.

Most recently I had a nagging feeling that something about the plot/outline/characterization was lacking, so I've been binging writing advice videos & articles and have learned a lot from those as well that has helped my drafting experience go more smoothly.

So... yeah, I'm a fan of research I don't think you necessarily have to go bonkers deep diving into every little thing (unless you want to, which can lead to some cool results too!) but a little knowledge & insight goes a long ways.