For my racing themed comic: I tried to understand race car settings, the possible future powertrains/drivetrains, watched other forms of motorsport other than formula 1, tinkered with my own car, strength tested fiberglass and carbon fiber, and many more... All in the name of research.XD
Funny thing is, I wont be able to use most of it in the comic because I can't make it too technical for the readers because I know most of them aren't much into motorsport.XD
I spent 5 years doing research and planning before i even drew it! XD
Culture, geology, geography, cuisine (cooked some food from the culture I wanted to get a feel for it), climate, evolution (to know what sort of animals DO live there or what could be there), history (since my comic is set in 1891 in Indonesia during colonization and all that jazz), I read a TON of mythology from that region of the world to understand the type of magic and myth to make it similar to that region too. ouo
it took about 5 years of all that to feel comfy enough to start drawing it earlier this year. I've spent about 6 years total on this comic. XD
It's not so much how far... because I can get pretty involved when doing actual research (I just really like reading about some topics) but how some research ends up in some questionable search results.
"When drowning how would it effect your vision, theoretically what would you be seeing up until the point you died?"
"How long is your brain alive after your heart stops beating?"
"You can still go through puberty and be in a coma right?"
"What is the typical cost of 'drug name' in 'city'?"
"What kind of kickback/damge will a shooter face when they are not experienced with guns and are not prepared for a kickback?"
"How long does it take a body to burn, how hot would it have to burn to completely get rid of the body?"
"What is the cheapest way to make a home made bomb?"
"Negative baby name to be passive aggressive to a kid you do not want?"
And when searching for reference images.
"That sign you do with your hands to silently signal someone to pick up the phone or call you."
"Muscular male bare back" <--- I actually felt like a fucking idiot for wording it like that... got the search results and was 'well... not sure what I expected honestly...'
It's not so much crazy things I do, as it is research being a habit for me - I do it even when I don't have any specific project in mind, or for projects that then never go anywhere.
I read an entire 600 page textbook on the history of Russia and researched Russian Orthodox prayers for a story that I then never wrote. I've also read a bunch of encyclopedias on organized crime (yes, there are several) for another story which I also never actually wrote.
In terms of visual research, I just collect all the things. I've got pictures of the eaves of temples in South Korea, just in case I ever have to draw a page in which I need to show a low-angled shot of a building with eaves that look like the eaves of temples in South Korea. For another comic, I've got multiple pictures of bloodstained fur - mainly wolves feeding on dead deer. I've got another folder full of nothing but pictures of food.
I've got an atlas of reproduced maps from 1665. I've got a badger skull on my bookshelf^, in case I ever have to draw a badger skull. I've got a series of illustrations going on in which I draw witches based on tea-flavours - and while drawing them, I drink the tea I'm drawing.
I'm very much a "just in case" kind of researcher - in the, "maybe knowing this will be useful some day, better read an entire book about shoes" kind of way.
^) I didn't buy it; I found it in the gutter outside of my house.
Having spent enough time on writers' forums for this to not even raise my eyebrows - unless the burning is an important part of the story, you're probably better off dissolving the body in a bathtub full of acid, and then getting rid of the resulting disgusting goop - if your setting allows for bathtubs and acid. I think the suggested chemical was either hydrochloric acid or lye, but it's been about a decade since I was in that particular discussion thread, so I could be mixing it up.
To quote Ash Ketchum from my niece's pokemon episodes "Science is SO amazing!"
But naw it was more a situational story event that did not end up well not a murder/hide the body. Not that the specific numbers and details WOULD actually matter when presenting the scenario to the reader... just curiosity and that need to know.
Research and asking questions 'll probably lead to my undoing. At the very least maybe getting tracked by police. Regardless of the personal privacy scenario and how effective that is, I wonder if they have a list they've sorted weird google searches under. "Undecided" "MIGHT be a murderer" "Just another ****ing writer doing research..."
I do it the other way around actually
I like learning and researching new topics and then I use the weird shit I find in my comics :'D
I took up archery and got good, but that's probably the only thing I've actually set out to do for the benefit of the comic. And holy shit, I've never seen so many girls with long plaits in all my life.
Seems to me that West takes more after what I've already done than the other way around, though there are some things I really need to get clued up on. Boats for one. Don't know what to do about that because sailing is way too expensive for me and I don't live by the coast. Tricky!
I did a lot, but what stood out for me was learning three languages - Latin, Portuguese and French - To the best of my ability of course! I also have a friend in the navy who was kind enough to show me around his area and able to watch the recruits train.
In actions not much, in reading, quite a bit
from mythology to demonology.
from math to cryptology
designing a language
wich plants are hermaphrodites
physics, metaphysics, esotherism, religion
mental diseases and how to cause them
torture devices
I have lucid dreamed (that wasn't research, I just wanted to, but it helped my stories)
I look up and research lots of stuff on regular basis, but in terms of actually doing something for research - there's one thing: I went into a sensory deprivation tank as I wanted it to be one of my comic's virtual reality techniques. In the end I just panicked and had a really bad time in there (and paid a fair bit for that), but it was still useful!
Funny thing about the Google searches:
Google actually employs people who are alerted when people google things like 'how to make a bomb' or 'how to poison your spouse' and these people then track said Google user's Google movements for a period of time essentially trying to figure out Terrorist or Writer? So don't worry! Even if you're not a US citizen, the NSA is probably checking out what you're doing ; D
btw, if you want to know how much a drug costs in a certain city and don't want the police checking in on you, Erowid vaults have all that information along with personal experiences. The experience vaults are great for writing material (or personal reference) Plus, searching for erowid online shouldn't give you a weird google search. Or just use an anonymous browser if you're really worried.
Also, I remember that time you did the sensory deprivation thing. There's no way I could do that one without peeing in the tank probably.
I'm pretty sure if someone looked at all the things I've researched for Daniel, they would think I'm a serial killer.
Sure, I researched the 1930s quite a bit, but I also looked up gravedigging and how burials were in the '30s (which was very hard to find info on), live burial, being slipped a mickey (IE how exactly it can be done, ect.) and some other freaky stuff, I'm sure.
It was also sometimes hard to find info on small details for a 1930s setting...like what would be commonly used as a grocery bag. XD Probably the easiest thing to find is 1930s fashion, sooo many great references for that!
Also researched a lot of vampire mythology, obviously.
It's not all that special but for the current comic I'm working on i read three books on psychology, read a book on mental disorders, and researched how and what drives people to insanity...I sometime fear what would happen if people looked at all my research notes.
Never-ending cycle of reading comics / manga
So many things online are good material
I often find myself telling jokes, poems to my classmates
Other things I look up, and find out how something would turn out
Like on youtube, or on a reddit page
Recently I've gotten live models, to agree to act as my characters
Its a very cool feeling, plus it helps with artwork, and planning a fight scene
I spent over 10 years researching military technologies to make sure that everything in my comic is plausible at least.
This also lead to me predicting a few things like the modern lasers, EMP used by moving objects, helium 3 on the moon, thorium reactors, the anti-radar cloaking and a few other things related to the X-price independently. Unfortunately, since I am a nobody, and since these things were already being worked on, no one will believe me, but at least I have my Facebook-posts and various Skype-messages as proof, lol. :3
Probably the farthest I've gone is joining the fencing club at my last year of University to learn how to fence (since I had a character that fences). I even bought the uniform and stuff. But ever since I graduated, I've never done any fencing since then. 8D;;;
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