We use dominant personality traits to find our place within groups — whether it’s friends, co-workers or neighbors. One might be the “mamma bear,” while another is a “loner.” The members of the group will begin to identify each other using these personality traits. They’re using character archetypes.
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Poor Man’s Copyright is a system of attempting to establish copyright through mailing a copy of the art to yourself (some people suggest using Certified Mail). The artist then files the envelope — unopened. If their copyright ownership is ever threatened, all they need do is open the envelope (in a court of law, one supposes) and present the document with a flourish. You even see some very prominent artists advising young people to use Poor Man’s Copyright. There’s only one problem: It’s complete bullshit.
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If you have a copy of my book, “The Webcomics Handbook,” you can find a discussion of my Cascading Brainstorming technique on pages 52 and 53. The pages look like this…
Cascading Brainstorming, from “The Webcomics Handbook”
Here’s a step-by-step tutorial on how this process works. For this example, I will be trying to write a classic four-panel comic strip. I start with a clean sheet of paper in my sketchbook, and I start writing dialogue for each panel in a single column down the middle of the page.
If I hit something funny, then HOORAY! I dance my way over to my drawing table.* But that… rarely happens. Now, I actually have to sit down and write. More often than not, I find out that I really didn’t need the entire first panel. Conveniently enough, for this example, that’s exactly what happens.
I cross out the first panel (lightly), and I try to find a new punchline at the end of the string of dialogue. Any panel I cross out gets crossed out lightly because you never know when a previously “bad” bit of dialogue suddenly becomes brilliant as the parameters of your concept change!
Unfortunately, I still haven’t found the Funny. That’s where the “cascading” comes in. I think of a new direction the concept could go. In this case, I write a new Panel Three, and then I see what that leads to. Perhaps something Funny in a new Panel Four!
Nope. Still not there. Writing funny is hard. Here’s where I usually pull out another trick I wrote about in “The Webcomics Handbook” — One More Panel. If I didn’t find gold on Panel Four, I write a fifth panel… and maybe a sixth… and so forth.
The object of this is not to come up with a comic that is greater than four panels! For the sake of this example. let’s say that I found something truly Funny in the new Panel Five I’ve written.
Now I edit. What used to be the second and third panels might be combined into one. And now I have my four-panel comic strip.
Writing is hard
At the beginning of this tutorial, I made it a point to mention how I usually started in the middle of a clean sheet of paper in my sketchbook. Often, I’ll try to start on a left-hand page in the book as well. That’s because I know my “cascades” are probably going to flow over multiple sheets. In fact, by starting in the middle of a two-page expanse, I’m mentally preparing myself for the process I’m about to undergo. The cascades may go on for several columns. New cascades may start from the ashes of old ideas. I may abandon concepts entirely and earmark them so I can return to them later.
*And at the end, when I come to a combination of set-up and punchline that I really like, I actually don’t dance to the drawing table. I know from experience that writing means re-writing and re-writing and editing, and good editing needs time. I need to give my brain time to forget the mental zeitgeist that brought me to this particular writing solution. Forget the mindset. Forget the Moment.
Often, I come back a day or two later. I see all of the flaws I couldn’t have seen before. And then, it’s time to start re-writing, refining, and rethinking. The Funny is in there somewhere, and the Good Stuff is worth hunting for.
I set up commissions as a Patreon reward, and it was so popular I had to set a limit to the monthly subscribers so I didn’t fall behind.
One of the things that I use is a pre-written list of guidelines.
Manage expectations
It’s a good idea to manage expectations.
So I’ll say in my commissions, no more than two figures and a simple background.
In other words, if you say that you want two figures shaking hands in front of the Spanish Armada sailing down, down the fleet as Godzilla rises up from the sea, it’s like, “No, we’re not going to do that.”
I also learned that it is very helpful is to keep the patron involved along the way.
So, they will send me a write-up of what they’d like.
I’ll send them back at that point any adjustments that I think need to be made.
Then I come up with a scene in my mind and I’ll sketch it out.
I send them a screenshot of the sketch. and I say, “Okay, this is a scene I’ve got in mind.”
Once they approve that, then I go on to the inks.
And then at that point, changes become a little harder to make.
And to be honest, I usually have very few changes at the sketch stage because we’ve discussed it already.
Next, I move on to inks. When I’m finished, I send them a screenshot of the inks. But as of now, it’s a formality.
Patreon rewards
Not only are the commissions something that I use to drive pledges, but of course, I end up posting that content on my Patreon for everyone else to see.
I’ll send the commissioner Dropbox links to high-res and low-res versions.
They can print it out. They can do whatever they want from it. It’s theirs at that point.
We often advise that beginners write a few short stories to sharpen their comics-making skills before they tackle that 200-page epic that they’re burning to produce! But how do you write a short story? Today’s show offers an easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide! Use this blueprint to participate in the ComicLab Short Story Challenge! PLUS… if it’s a benefit to list your comic on as many eStores as possible, why is it a bad idea to do the same with crowdfunding platforms?
ON THIS WEEK’S SHOW…
How to Write a Short Story
Brad’s Short Story Challenge
Using pre-readers
The More the Merrier, part 1 —Multiple eStores?
The More the Merrier, part 2 — Multiple subscription sites?
THE COMICLAB SHORT STORY CHALLENGE
Write a comic between eight and 16 pages using the Story Circle as a guide. The Story Circle has eight steps: You / Need / Go / Search / Find / Take / Return / Change. There is more information on the Story Circle in the links below. You may spend up to two pages on each step. No more. Each written page must translate directly into a page of comics, so be sure to take that into account when you’re writing! Your final comic must tell a complete story — no cliffhangers; no open-ended conclusions! It must have a beginning, a middle, and an end. When you’re finished, post it in the #Imadethis channel on the ComicLab Discord server so we can all marvel at your prowess!
It’s one of the most frustrating parts of promoting a Kickstarter — communicating that long URL. Sure, you’re provided a truncated version. But have you ever tried to point podcast listeners to http://kck.st/2HQTXbr? Luckily, there’s a better way.
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In a Webcomics.con Poll, we asked: “If I could hire one person to help my webcomics business, it would be a(n)…” The results weren’t particularly surprising. The top response (27%) was “Business Manager.” But here’s the real question…
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Sam Logan and Jake Parker convinced me a couple of years back at an Emerald City Comic Con, like, hey, why don’t you start taking commissions?
It’s worth a few thousand bucks a year, and they’re fun to do. And I was always like, “Nah, I don’t want to do commissions. I just want to do the things that I want to do.” I was very fussy.
It was a little bit closed-minded in the sense that, like, on some level, I needed to trust my readership that they might have fun ideas in the wheelhouse of things that I like to draw, you know.
So I opened up commissions.
Great fun.
I started to get more of a systematic way of handling it. What I do is I have a form that I use.
If someone’s at a convention, and they say, “Hey, do you do commissions?” I can hand them a sheet, it literally is an ordering sheet. It lists the options — single character black and white, single character color, two to three characters black and white, two to three characters color, etc.
And then I have them write their email, their text messaging, so I can say your commission’s ready.
Setting limits
You have to set your limits. I tend not to draw licensed characters unless it’s really fun and creative.
Sometimes people will say like, “Hey, I would like you to draw my dog Bowser — but draw him though he has a dog Iron Man outfit.”
And to me, that’s enough of a creative step away from the intellectual property where I can make it fun, you know, where I’m not just drawing Iron Man, that kind of thing.
I have done once or twice, but I frankly, I’m like, you’re you’re commissioning me as a cartoonist, so have me draw my stuff. That’s more fun!
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