• Web Comic How To: Part One
  • A Weekend With S&G
  • The State of S&G
  • Chapter 2 is finished!!!!
  • Page 17
  • Page 16

Web Comic How To: Part One

Published May 7, 2012 at 8:51 PM - No Comments

At MoCCA Fest 2012, many people came up and asked us about the process of producing two printed chapters. The fact is, while we did print the first two chapters, our primary medium will remain the Internet. You guys deserve to read comics online for free; and more than that, you deserve an honest go from people who care to make them. There will be three of these posts in total: writing, art, and production. This first post is about the writing process for the series and what we think has worked for us so far. I have highlighted a few points I think are the most important when you are starting out.

The first step to writing any comic series is very simple:  Settle on an idea. Whether you realize it or not, many things have an influence  on your story. For the S&G staff in particular, the manga series One Piece and Berserk come to mind, as well as the American comic Fables. Some of these influences can blend and others can’t, so it’s important to figure that out quickly. Most people start with a billion ideas swimming around in their heads and have a hard time narrowing it all down. John and I definitely had this problem.  It took a while to figure exactly what kind of story we wanted to tell and how we were to arrange all the thoughts we had that would actually work for S&G. This brings up another key aspect of our writing process, which is having a person to write with, or having someone on whom you can bounce ideas. Having a second perspective can only help when you are trying to create a fictional universe where anything is possible. During this process you are going to have to set your egos aside and learn that while your idea may be good, there is always room for improvement.

After deciding the kind of story you want to tell and jotting down all the ideas, you have to create some kind of structure to your series. Is it a one off, mini-series, or a long-term series? Regardless of which it is, you need to start from the beginning and work to the end. Yes, it is important to come up with an end even if it’s a long series; people will notice if you are making it up as you go. After structuring the series comes writing the actual script. The tricky thing your first time around when writing a script for a comic series is not over-saturating each page with dialogue. Dave had to slap me around a few times to edit down the first chapter, and even then we up-shifted some dialog to make it all fit. Telling what needs to be said so the audience gets it will take a few tries before you can call it a win. The bottom line is that you need to include your artist in the first draft before you can jump to storyboarding.

As a matter of personal preference, I like to sit on a draft after finishing it for a week or two then revisit it with fresh ideas.  This time gives me a chance to comb it over for the second draft. After you feel confident in your script, you need to have someone else edit it; preferably someone who has some idea as to what they are doing. Being friends with an English teacher like I am helps a great deal. That’s all I have for you guys today.  While this is only a blog post, I’d be happy to elaborate on anything and can be reached on Facebook or Twitter.  Thanks for reading guys! –Dan



A Weekend With S&G

Published April 30, 2012 at 10:09 PM - No Comments

Mocca Fest Summary

This past weekend half of the S&G staff (Myself and Dave) had the opportunity to set up shop at MoCCA Fest in the comic Mecca known as New York City. The festival started Saturday afternoon and came to a close Sunday early evening. It was remarkable how there were so many people there who were just as enthusiastic about comics as us. There are a lot of independent publishers out there doing really amazing stuff and we were very proud to have them as our neighbors during the weekend. Dave did a few  cool commissions while we talking to attendees, one of which was an illustration for Edgar Allen Poe fans. If you follow the man on Instagram then you have probably seen it.

Highlights from our time there include: some screaming teenagers applauding Dan Dussault’s illustrations, loads of interested people talking to us and grabbing flyers, and Scott Adsit who plays Pete on 30 Rock taking a copy of Chapter 1. To those of you who came out to see us or saw S&G for the first time we thank you for your interest and patronage. Please give us a read on the site and don’t hesitate to tell us what you think. Until next time everyone!

Dan

 

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