I've been working on my comic "A Villain's Tale" for little over a month now.
I started it because I couldn't forget this idea for a scene. So I drew it and posted it not thinking much about it.
When it suddenly got attention I decided to continue with the story. This is what I learned.
PLAN.
I didn't plan much, and it would have been easier if I had.
- Story and Character
Know your story and characters. To do a comic you, of course, need a story and a cast.
(Unless you want to do a Comic like 'Mondo Mango', 'Sarah's Scribbles', then some of the following things do not apply)
Personally, I don't think having endless descriptions and charts is necessary.
Drawing and writing down some visual guides is helpful, but trying to get into the mindset of your characters is (for me) way more useful.
Maybe have Pinterest Boards for your main characters, pinning clothes/jokes/aesthetics/fandoms/art which they would like.
Here's an example, this is just a mockup. Go a bit deeper.
For the story, maybe draw a line. Then write down the start of the story, the key scenes and the end. You can script it or just go with the flow. But PLAN the important things beforehand, foreshadowing doesn't just randomly occur.
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Genre
Now that you have your story you probably have an idea what genre it is. Because you want your potential readers to find your story.
Here on Tapas, the Genres are:
Action, BL, Comedy, Drama, Fantasy, Gaming, Horror, Mystery, Romance, Science Fiction, Slice of Life.
You can choose 2 for your comic. Let's do it for this example story.
Since the Mafia is involved I would include Action for sure. And since It's pretty ridiculous I would go for Comedy Second.
If you're not sure just look at other comics which are similar to your idea and see in which Genre they are sorted.
- Format
You know what your story is about so let's think about drawing it without drawing it.
If you want to do purely Comedy and Slice of Life, frequent short updates are usually the way to go. Like the 4 Panel ones, these Comics live from your Humor and Personality so go wild.
For everyone else, it's a bit more complicated.
Some people do a 'classic' Comic/Manga layout and upload single pages. It can work, but especially if you have big gaps between uploads readers can forget what happened, or lose Interest.
Some people draw pages and then upload a bunch each time, this is a great way to combat the things above.
Then there are the "Flow Comics", these use the scrolling format of reading to their advantage. I'm one of these people. I found out it works the best if I have huge files, like 800px 6000px, while I'm drawing I make them bigger or smaller.
You don't have to fit the whole episode into one file, I have 2-5 files for each update. While drawing zoom in and read it to see if it's the pace you want.
This is also a huge factor with the scroll format. You can force your reader to scroll a lot to create suspense or have the panels right after each other to create speed.
BUT, keep in mind. The longer you make your episodes the more work you have.
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Drawing
You know your Story, Characters, and even your Format! What else could you need.
That's right you should know how you want to draw your comic. The more detailed you go the longer you'll be sitting there drawing. Will you go for a Stickfigure Comic, Chibi, Manga, Cartoon, or semi-realism? I highly advise you not to go for realism unless you really want to and have nothing to do.
I drew some quick Visual guide with the time I needed to draw. (You may be slower or faster depending on your skill level/how complicated the character/ pose is...)
This is just an example, these aren't the only styles you can use!
Whether or not you want to colour your comic is also a huge factor, I advise you to not go for fully shaded detailed colouring if your style is detailed unless you can manage the time this needs and the appropriate stretched out upload schedule.
Or you're just insane like me, and go for that anyways.
(You can use an Image Split tool for chopping your files into pieces you can upload.)
- Schedule
This isn't something I can help you with that much, but I can tell you that you shouldn't go for a tight schedule.
If you want to upload short episodes go for once a week or once every 2 weeks.
If you want to go for the 4-panel ones, see how many you feel like doing and upload them.
If you want to go for long episodes 2 weeks are possible (what I'm doing right now) but it's really exhausting I do full colour so I can't just not draw for 3 days straight because I don't feel like it.
So if it's a casual hobby don't overwork yourself, it can potentially burn you out or make you sick of your story. Especially if you haven't got a bigger audience yet.
Random Tips
Tell your audience if you can't make it or need more time, they'll understand.
Take photos to reference backgrounds or draw over them, you can also use free Stock photos but make sure they're copyright free for commercial use too!
You can use Sims to get an idea of how your character would dress. Or how they live.
Don't get too serious, this was a lot, but the most important thing is having fun. If you don't have fun at all doing your comic, it's not worth consuming so much of your time.
That's mostly what I wanted to say. It's not something you have to follow just think about these things beforehand. It'll save you a lot of time.
Feel free to add something, and I hope this helped someone 
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Jul '18last reply
Nov '21- 12
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