Baltimore Comic ConCreating a comic requires a blend of two very different disciplines — visual art and writing. Some people may be good artists, but they’re not so good at writing. Others may be good writers, but their art is standing in the way of their storytelling. And still others simply haven’t admitted to themselves that they fall into one of those two categories.
Which is why a collaboration is such an attractive proposition. A good writer teams with a skillful artist, and the two cooperate to make an amazing comic. When it works, Penny Arcade being a shining example, it works tremendously. But when it doesn’t work, things get dark quick.
So how do you establish a successful collaboration?
It’s the same as any relationship you might have in real life: Honesty, communication and fairness.
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When it comes to humor writing, writing anything that approaches instruction is a dicey proposition. When a joke is analyzed, it tends to die. At the risk of killing some funny, however, I have a few thoughts on the subject that I’d like to share.
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Comic Con InternationalIf you’ve exhibited at this convention in the past, please post details of your experience below.
I’ll bet just about everybody has at least one good cartoon in them.
After all, every now and then, even a blind squirrel finds an acorn.
But we’re not blind squirrels, are we? We’re cartoonists.
And that means we have to be nuts on a regular basis.
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Since re-launching this site in January, one of the most common questions I get has been “Will this site help me if I do a longform comic?”
And the answer is an unequivocal yes.
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It’s the most important question you can ask if you’re going to charge money for your work: What is My Time Worth?
Figuring it all out can take a little soul-searching (not to mention wallet-searching), but the time spent can make things really simple when it comes time to suggest a price for your involvement in a project.
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We’ve spoken about the importance of placing important items “above the fold” in the Web design critiques. And, to be fair, not everyone is as obsessed with the idea as I am.
One such reader passed along a Web site that argues against the “above the fold” philosophy in Web design.
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A quick note about subscriptions the Webcomics.com.
As you know, a Webcomics.com membership sets up a recurring payment of $30 per year. So as long as you’re an active member, your PayPal account is billed $30 annually.
Of course, you’re not locked into anything… you can easily cancel that recurring payment at any time. Here are the steps:
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Word balloons are so common — so freely accepted as a part of a cartoonist’s visual syntax — that many of us haven’t given the subject a whole lot of thought. Looking back at my own work, I know I didn’t for the first several years. Choosing last Friday’s Archive Dive made me remember a post I’ve been wanting to do for a long time: Word Ballon Aesthetic. If you haven’t read the Archive Dive, take a second and look it over. It provides some good structure for today’s discussion.
And, as is the case with any discussion of aesthetics, these are not meant to be taken as written-in-stone dictates. But the philosophy behind the aesthetics should help inform your own process in developing your own personal style.
It’s time to look at word balloons again for the first time.
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