Storytelling for Comics: Explore Action and Perspective

Storytelling for Comics: Explore Action and Perspective

“Congratulations! You have reached the end of this Domestika course. Thanks for enrolling and I hope you've enjoyed delving into comics with me. Before saying goodbye, I would like to clarify my expectations for your final project. You can do one of two things. Either, use the storyline that I shared. Clearly, what I did is an excerpt only. Your task is to extrapolate what happens before and after. Create more layouts, up to a total of 20 pages. Or even better, apply all that you have learned in this course to develop your own story. Create a script, layouts, and final pages. This way, you can familiarize yourself with all the different angles of crafting visual narratives. Start with something small (5-12 pages) and build up from there. Now that you have the task clear in mind, here is the step-by-step process to complete it.

• First, plan your story. Write a skeleton for your narrative with all the notes and details that you want to include. Compile it into one file and develop until you have a beginning, middle, and end.

• From your plan, write a script. Use the basic formatting of dividing things into pages and then panels. As you progress through this stage, you may find that your pages are too crowded. So, move things to the next page or simplify your sequences.

• Once you have completed your script, draw the layouts. In this step, it is important to ensure that everything ties together in terms of storytelling. The flow must work well and move the reader naturally across the page. If it doesn’t, change the script. You can add panels, remove panels, make changes to the sequences. All that you need to make sure of is that your narrative is strong.

• With the layouts established move to the pencils. I recommend penciling a batch of pages in a row before inking. It helps to not have your brain jumping back and forth between disciplines. Establish good composition, anatomy, and perspective. Detail every element.

• Finally, it's time to move on to the inking stage. The moment at which you drop your pencils and pick up ink will vary from person to person. Do it when you feel comfortable with what you have. This is the stage to add the line weight variation, the textures, the black spots—all the little techniques that will help your storytelling shine.

These five steps will give you enough material to send to an editor or embellish your portfolio. But, if you want, you can keep going and end up with a more finished product. For example, adding grey tones, color, and other effects will bring another element to your comic. As you progress through your final project, keep in mind the following:

• Storytelling is king. It should guide all of your options.
• Vary your camera angles and panel crop to show different perspectives and zooms, like full-body, heads only, etc.
• Pay attention to your panel and page transitions. Make sure your narrative is clear and people can follow it without getting lost. Establish your characters, places, and objects well, and their relationship to each other.
• Create interesting compositions. Be it an action scene or a quiet scene, make sure there’s enough to keep the reader interested. Integrate balloons into your composition. Draw them onto your layouts.
• My final advice: Start something and finish it.

And that's a wrap! I can't wait to see what you produce. You can share your comic by clicking the above link "Create your project". Remember to share both the final result of your illustration and the steps that have led you to it. It would be great if you showed a picture of each step and added a brief explanation about what you have done in each one. So I can give you feedback. See you in the forum.”

Partial transcription of the video

“ Final Project Hi, you reached the end of the course. Thanks for coming along. Before I say goodbye, let me give you some last tips. Despite the apparent complexity of it all, take one step at a time. You might feel like progress is slow, but a steady flow of work is an unstoppable force. Like water into stone. Remember, try out different materials until you find out what suits you better. My techniques work great for me, but maybe not for you, so pick them apart until you find a method that suits you. Lastly, the big three. Be persistent and put yourself out there. Second, never miss a de...”

This transcript is automatically generated, so it may contain mistakes.

Course summary for: Storytelling for Comics: Explore Action and Perspective

• Level: Beginner
• 100% positive reviews (106)
• 5217 students
• 4 units
• 18 lessons (3h 46m)
• 10 downloads

• Category

  Illustration

• Software

  Clip Studio Paint

• Areas

  Comic, Digital Drawing, Drawing, Ink Illustration, Pencil Drawing, Storyboard, Storytelling