How I'm learning to make comics: part 2

[click the pictures to view a larger version]
Visualizing the story
Based on the story concept from earlier I then begin to visualize the key scenes for the story and the designs of the characters. Again this is done mentally in my mind. It’s similar to playing out the story in my head as a mini-movie to help me visualize the settings and backgrounds for each scene and set up what the characters as actors in the movie do and say. Unfortunately it’s not in Technicolor since I’m only able to think in monochrome.

Of course those mental pictures are still fairly vague and lack detail, but now I have the key scenes and the general look and feel of the story. One thing I found that helps me improve on story visualization is to daydream a lot. I mean a lot. So the next time someone tells you to stop daydreaming, rebuke him or her by stating you’re exercising your creative imagination and carry on idling your time away.

Storyboard
Now it’s time to lay down my thoughts onto paper by drawing a storyboard. To me, storyboarding is the most important step to making my comics because it determines how well the story will be told.

Using the images I have in my mind from the earlier visualization process, I proceed to break down each key scene into panels, making sure that the reader is able to understand what is going on from one panel to the next. The layout, style and sizes for each panel can be decided on to control story flow and atmosphere; as for example using decreasing sizes of related panels to depict a character’s anxiety. Next comes the working out of what to draw in each panel, the core of the comic.

Should I draw the character from the side or from behind? Is it better to draw a close-up of the characters or a panoramic view of the surroundings? With so many possibilities to illustrate a scene in a panel, and having to keep in mind to maintain the continuance of the scene from the last panel, it’s almost a constant battle to arrive at a decision. When I’m finally done I’ll have to repeat the whole decision process again for the following panel. So it’s no surprise that I find storyboarding a time consuming struggle, but it’s unavoidable since it’s such a crucial step to creating comics.

I structure my storyboard by grouping sets of sketches of panels to each of the comic’s pages. By doing this I know how many panels a page has and the total number of pages the comic will require. Once the storyboard is made I move on to work on the comic’s dialogue before I return to refine and finalize it. As you can see from the picture above my storyboard is made up of messy sketches and notes. If I were to come back and look at it after a month, I probably wouldn’t know what it all means.

Dialogue writing
Based on the storyboard I write the comic’s dialogue in the form of a script for each character in each panel as needed. Good dialogue is crucial to giving life to the comic’s characters by making them believable so that the reader is able to relate to them. I use pointers, such as the character’s personality, relationship with other characters, emotional states and reaction to events, to help me think of what they say and how they say it.

Dialogue is my weakest aspect of comic making because of my limited writing ability and command of linguistic rules. I could spend over an hour on a one-sentence ‘thank you’ note and it comes out sounding like a death threat instead. I guess the best solution to improve is to read and write more. Maybe I could start by writing fan mail when I get my Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue.

Final storyboard
Coming back to the storyboard, I integrate the dialogue into it by checking if each panel fits its corresponding dialogue, if it doesn’t, I’ll refine or redo the panel/s. Once that is done, I go through the storyboard again to see if I can make any final changes to improve the flow of the story such as adjusting scenes within panels or removing redundant dialogue.

Character design
I think most comic creators design their comic’s characters at an earlier phase and in more detail than I do. Somehow I prefer to leave character design until the last part of the planning process. I don’t do detailed visual profiles like full body front views, side views and such. I usually only do headshot sketches of a character to work out his or her unique features to portray their personality. I would also create a personal back story of the character to help me envision their typical postures and how they would visually react to situations.

References
As a new comic creator, references are a great source for learning and improving my abilities. Through the whole comic creating process, I would be constantly flipping through my favorite comics for references, I’ll study how the creators play out a scene or the angles and visual effects they use, anything that I can apply to my own comics. Movies and animations are also valuable resources for story themes, scenes and character design.

Read the next parts:
How I'm learning to make comics: part 3
How I'm learning to make comics: part 4

Read the previous part:
How I'm learning to make comics: part 1