Tips on planning out first comic?

[3ace]

(I'll close this topic if there was one already,, sorry I'm not really in the hang of looking through the forums yet :, DD)

Heeey!! First time posting but I've been a pretty avid webcomic reader for like years lol. Basically- I've been wanting to do a webcomic for a while now, I have a few ideas for different stories.

These stories are like bulky story wise. With packed lore and stuff, and I'm quite passionate about them. So the main problem is- would it be a good idea to go for something like this? Especially since it would be my first webcomic?

I'm worried down the line I would want to change something and end up renovating the whole webcomic for like the next few years (I'm not worried about the story expanding years, I'm just worried I'm going to have revamp it plus it'd probably be kinda bad)

Then if I go with a completely new story just for my first webcomic I'm worried it will expand for years and the only thing I'd be doing is that webcomic and not get to what I wanted to do.

So do you guys have any opinions?? Idk, I can't really decide on it lol

[darthmongoose]

This might not be the advice you want to hear, but it's the best advice I can give:

Your first webcomic is likely to not be great. It will probably not be your magnum opus or the webcomic you become known for. Go in assuming it'll suck, and instead of trying to go back and fix it, instead treat your first webcomic as a learning process, maybe run it as the pilot you intend to reboot later, or make a shorter comic that you can finish and move on from after a run of no more than a year. You're going to make a lot of beginner mistakes, because comics are hard and it takes time to work out the process that works for you to get polished-looking pages, and it's easier to get feedback when you have a comic than to try to plug all the pitfalls before you start.

All that said, whatever you make, first try to plan your story ahead, so you know at least the rough overview of the main plotpoints and where you're headed, and make a test page before you start making pages for real to make sure you're comfortable with the style and confident you can update regularly with that pipeline. Remember that the main thing that makes a webcomic professional is attention to detail; a strong cover with a good series logo, distinctive character designs, a plot that establishes itself quickly and with a bang, and neat presentation.

[3ace]

Thank you a lot!! This put into perspective some things, I made a few test pages and immediately had to pause because I didn't like the style or where it went

But I'll keep the low expectations going in : O !!

[BoomerZ]

And make your first comic short and a contained story that has a beginning, middle, and end. Something you can finish is about 2 months max. You don't know what you don't know so things will pop up you have not prepared for. If you keep it short, you will finish it. Then you will have a finished comic under your belt. So then you can try a more ambitious story. The worst thing you can do is start a comic with no ending and figure out the story as you go. You will not finish that.

[RedLenai]

Welcome to the forum and so good you feel taking this big step!

Welp, first of all I would recommend start with a small project, something that doesn't take you more than a 10 chapters, and each won't take you more than 20-40 panels.

Why?
Well, you'll need first to adapt to the format, regardless if you read several series, how comfortable you feel drawing in long canvases or having to cut each panel/image to place it vertically for the easy reading.

Then, this is going to be the most unsatisfying advice ever, but avoid focusing way too much if you like what you finished, finishing a page or a chapter is way more important than if you like the artstyle, you're definetly not gonna like being inconsistent, having messy pages, or the coloring, or the passing, angle, anatomy, perspective, backgrounds etc.
A lot of the time, you'll learn on the go, you didn't like how a panel was? All right, I'll try making the next ones better.

Another thing that'll probably help you lots especially if you don't want the story to be rewritten or changed (Still is something that's gonna happen, you're going to change things as you go)
Is to:

• Write an argument of the story (start to finish, this one is for yourself)
• A small summary (This is to conceal the focus of the series)
• Write your chapters (script), you don't need to focus on so many details but try to focus on writting down what you'd like to be drawn, it mostly acts as a reminder so you know what to draw.
• Do thumbnails, thumbnails are small rough sketches, like storyboards that'll help you visualize what is going on in your story/chapter
• Sketching the pages, by following the script and the thumbnails, you can have more defined sketches here, basically preparing your drawing for the inking/lineart and then coloring (Steps may vary depending on digital or traditional art)
• After finishing the pages, then you can put the dialogues in clean speech bubbles, sound effects and such.

[gabriellabalagna]

Okay, my biggest tip here is to write a script. It doesn't even have to be fully typed out, you can just write a one sentence summary of what will happen in each episode. But doing so will help you
-control the pacing
-have a good ending
-ensure the comic doesn't get too long
- know how much work/time it's gonna take you to finish

All the best!