Thumbnails and no script can work if you still work out a plot summary before beginning thumbnails. If you can break the story down page by page at least. This helps with pacing of the story so you get an idea of how fast plot points will move and can avoid cramping a story or dragging it out. Then do the thumbnails then dialogue that could work for you.
I think it's hard to write a script and follow it. I know where the story is going, so I usually think of rough dialogue and stuff as I come closer to a scene and by the time I get to those pages I know how I want it to pan out, but the exact dialogue is really hard to get down without the images. It's hard to think with words instead of images, it just becomes a mess to me.
Day to day gag comics dont really need scripts or outlines as they are ONE SHOT pieces but for stories that are going to last more than a handful of panels it's best to have some idea of where your beginning, middle, and end are.
This doesnt mean that your story cant evolve and change as it goes but you want to know where your going to end up so your creative juices dont piddle out halfway through a story arch. I've read to many stories that either were NEVER finished or they had really weak, disappointing, endings because the author/creator didnt know where they were going with the story when they started and either got bored or just tried to wrap it up quickly when they hit a rough patch. This kind of disappointing storytelling leaves your readers hangry for more.
Here's an example of the script I wrote for my comic Star Watcher. You'll notice that whats written in the script and what actually makes it into the panels is a bit different. That's a good example of script evolution. Your script need not be super-detailed or lengthy. In most cases creators use it as a guide to make sure they stay on track with the major themes and plot of the story.
“What do you want, no name?” The tiger asks, yawing.
“I found a star. How do I get it back to the sky?”
The tiger sits up. It looks at the puppy. The puppy stares at it.
“Where would you find a star? You are not lying are you?” The tiger frowns
Never use scripts.
Just because the story is in my head already. I have one more reason actually, if you have prepared script and you drawing and want to change something in the story - you must change the script.
Too inconvenient =/
I believe you should a script to lay out the groundwork for your story that way the information in the story all connects and you can refer back to it. I have made some changes to my comic but I don't change it in the outline because that is a rough idea of what it is and allows for flexible when a certain element must be changed.
If it's a long story and without a script then the story will descend into complete garbage fairly quickly. It will be full of plot holes, most likely lack decent character development and be devoid many literary techniques such as foreshadowing. I doubt there is any writer in the world who could pull off a decent long story without planning it properly.
If the comic is a gag comic or a comic with recurring characters that are in different situations every week and has no continuing plot then a script is unecessary.
However, I see so many SPG mistakes on comics here that could have been fixed with a simple spelling check in word. So, for that reason it probably is always a good idea to have something written down.
RIght now I do a gag comic, but even on the story stuff I don't really script much. I dont know if i would ever fully script things out, maybe a quick summary for each page but even then I probably wouldn't follow that closely anyways. When I actually sit down to make something I usually end up with way more ideas and structure than I could ever get by trying to plan it out.
I'm amazed at people who don't use scripts at all, even for a gag-a-day. It think I would go mad after a while LOL. I don't understand how people with story driven comic can execute their comics without scripting or storyboarding. Amazing!
My first online comic which ran for 4 years (or so) was made with no scripts. I simply had an idea, drew it and only then worked out the dialogue. Used to get pretty decent traffic too! About 10,000-15,000 hits on update days.
I was wreck though, trying to figure out what to do for the next page and it nearly give me an ulcer. I had to give up for my own sanity.
These days I make sure I have lots of scripted pages before I put pencil to paper.
I started own parody comic and I have to write don't what the characters are going to say. Otherwise I don't know where to take the story.
Before 2011 I made stories without writing anything down. All I have to say is the story were messy and plot holes would form when you are not expecting them.
The only time I use Script is to send the text to someone to look over my spelling and grammar.
Other wise I sketch out thumbs to make the comic page.
I don't really use a proper script, but I use thumbnails/storyboard with all the dialogues written down, so it's something in between ( :
@Tani2691 Have you tried making a storyboard? like making small thumbnails of the page with the dialog next to it. Scripting doesn't help me that much either but when I storyboard and write the dialog too it helps me organize the page as well as the comic better. It helps with paneling, speech bubbles, angles, organizing dialog etc and you wouldn't have to re-draw panels and erase as much because you already have a small visual reference of how the page is gonna look.
I tend to storyboard + write the dialog next to it for pages waaay ahead of where I actually am, it gives me a better perspective of how the story is gonna go and leaves me with some space for change if I needed it.
as a more visual person, i rarely use scripts in my comics mainly because i have an attention-span of a dog when it comes to reading @^@ to compensate though, i just use a variety of thumbnails with annotations to get my story, sequence, and structures out well and intended.
Speaking as a reader, and not as a writer, my feelings are this: If I am reading your comic, and I start feeling like you are winging it, unless I am doing a review on it, I will stop reading.
Let me repeat that: If I feel like you are making it up as you go along, I will stop reading. The only exception is a story that I am reading just for the humour.
I am not alone in that, however most people don't have my background in writing and critique, so they will give reasons like 'too many plotholes' or 'the story wasn't going anywhere' or 'too many abandoned characters/plots' or a host of other reasons. It all boils down to the same thing, however, and that is that the story is not written completely, and the reader can tell.
As a writer, the best reason to do a script (and a complete set of thumbnails/storyboards is just another form of a script), is that you can see how the story looks from farther away than a single page. You can then do things like work on the plot, work on the character arcs, eliminate things that do not advance the story, make sure that the pacing is smooth and speeds up or slows down at the places you want it to, and most importantly, make sure that the story hangs together in plot, conflict and theme.
Now, the most important part. The first one is the rough draft. Not the final draft. The rough draft. The finest, most practiced writers in the world have rough drafts, so even if you are doing thumbnails or storyboards, it's a rough draft. Polish it up before you start drawing.
The readers will appreciate it.
Eagle
("Writing" can be done with just the storyboards/Thumbnails)
I do! But idk it's still not organize since I'm just sketching each page as I go and write down a little blurb of what the character will say. xD It helps a lot though since I'm always changing thing and I much rather this than scripting which I find very limiting in a way ; _ ;""
i script junk out! i think its kinda fun. but mostly i just haaaaaate doing thumbnails and storyboards. its super unartsy of me to say that. and i draw everythin else for the comic. but storyboarding has always been a butt to me. it just urks me havin to redraw stuff. or drawin somethin in the first place without puttin all my work into it
I don't make a script at all. Simply because I absolutely CAN'T write stories...
I let reality be my script and story, it's easier to let that write for me.
The problem is that sometimes you don't use dialog between characters because you can just draw emotion on his face which would tell much more than speech. And you will never describe on paper the way your character would speak with help of only emotions. It's impossible.
And If you have a good memory anyway, you have no need in script, which can't describe what you want
