HOME | DD

Description
So You Want To Make Your Own Comic.

You've seen them all of your life: comics.

Printed, Online, Graphic Novels, Domestic, Foreign...

Today's comic artist has the means to display a comic in ways we never had back in 1986! If you have access, just access, to a scanner, a computer, and the Internet, YOU too can publish a comic where millions can see it!

Even publishing a comic in printed form is so much easier and so much less expensive than in my younger years during the Reagan Era, when without considerable money doing so with a quality color comic was all but impossible, it was just too expensive for a typical artist alone.

So- you want to do it- but you aren't sure how to go about making a comic. You have the idea, you may know what kind of comic you want to create, so...now what?

That's where this handy-dandy tip guide can help, and it'll cost you nothing! And if not 100% satisfied, you'll get a full refund, less shipping and handling!

First, you must decide just what it is you want to do. That may seem like a blinding flash of the obvious, but believe me, it's easy to go right in with an idea of what it is you want to do, which is NOT the same as knowing what it is you want to do.

For example, do you want to try a "humans only" comic, an anthro-comic (if so, what kind?), a standard superhero-style comic, a romance-style along the lines of "Brenda Starr," humor, horror, science fiction, spy action, AD&D-style fantasy, political...there are so many combinations and variations I cannot list them all. For example, there are a number of "college misadventure" comics out there, but some use humans, others use anthro-characters- but are otherwise the same.

Humans are not overly difficult in themselves, for a rather obvious reason: we know what we are. What to do from there is another thing, but any comic artist knows just what the subject matter itself is. So any comic using only humans is much easier, all else the same.

But O.K., you say, you want to do a typical "college misadventure" comic but with anthro-characters. Fine- but what kind? Anthro-foxes only, or a mixture of species? Fantastic creatures, such as anthro-dragons and anthro-griffins? If different species or even different sub-species, how do they interact? Can an anthro-raccoon date an anthro-vixen? Is there friction between grey anthro-foxes and red anthro-foxes? Do you wish to keep some actual reality in an anthro-world, so it is impossible for an anthro-raccoon and an anthro-vixen to marry and have children; do they then adopt, is such a mixed marriage fine or is it frowned upon; if so, why?

Do you keep to standard views of anthros: tricky, sneaky foxes; brave lions; cowardly jackals; savage sharks, etc...or individual characteristics in a given species?

Do you keep some reality based on actual ability? During the track meet the team of one college is horrified to see that the other team has an anthro-cheetah warming up...but the first college's girls' swimming team has an anthro-shark while the opposing team only has "land creatures," and so...

lady-cybercat.deviantart.com/a…

Does this world include avian creatures, anthro-birds? This is important in any such comic, because if they can fly then you must consider that they move about in fully three dimensions, while land creatures are essentially confined to two-dimensional movement. (Aquatic creatures in water also have three-dimensional movement). Such creatures are not blocked by walls, fences, raging rivers, and other obstacles that can stop land creatures dead in their tracks; so in a world with intelligent flying creatures their entire history must develop differently than ours, since real flight was essentially very recent for us (but even primitive avians would always have had an Air Force if warlike). If you want to create a comic that has satisfyingly greater depth and "reality," you'd really want to consider such factors.

Those are just a few considerations out of so many- now, do you just want a fun comic that doesn't delve too far in socio-economic, biological, or religious matters, so of course an anthro-raccoon and an anthro-vixen can simply have children, either a raccoon or a fox? Where nobody cares about different species, and a cheetah has no better chance of winning than a bear? The more sophisticated the comic, the more considerations must pile up, since one aspect leads to a number of questions: if there is friction among the different kinds of foxes, why? A war from long ago, social mores, what? Is there an effort to ease off, keep it the same, or to tighten?

What sort of a society is it? One based on our world somewhere sometime, or a completely fictional one? A mixture?

What sort of world is it overall? Primitive, technological, magical, post-apocalyptic, wartime, what? If "technological" is it like ours; if so, from when? Past, present, future? Is it based on something altogether different, one based on the organic only? Steampunk? What variation? A combination, if so, is there rivalry; Wizards vs. Steampunk gunners? Laws that limit what one can do: no magic in battles, but healing only done with magic? There are ENDLESS possibilities, so don't limit yourself.

What kind of environment will your story take place in? If it's underwater on a water world, then it's unlikely fire, which is the basis of our technology, could have happened, because although there are things that can burn underwater (e.g. thermite, but not magnesium) these do not exactly occur in nature so how could they have known about it? On our world we had fire for ages, it occurred naturally, so man saw it and learned about it, and could experiment until he found out how to make it burn underwater- this would not be the case here. Therefore it is unlikely such a world would have technology like ours, unless some outside agency (i.e. aliens) were involved. Therefore if such creatures had metal spears, where did they come from? What would they have done instead?

If a world with floating islands in the air then without air travel those lands must have developed in isolation. If a world with regular islands in the sea and no large land masses without sea travel- same thing (maybe deadly water creatures prevent such travel)? But what happens when air travel is developed in the former or ways of dealing with those sea creatures in the latter ("The Kragen" by Jack Vance)? Did each island even know others existed? That alone offers so many possibilities!

As I mentioned in "How to Build Your Own World," logical consequences and some reality make even the most fantastic worlds so much better. This applies to the social as well as the physical. Our own histories can give plenty of great ideas: what if the people of a warlike island finally become aware of and can reach one that is peaceful? What if the latter was aware of what was about to happen, how would they react?

But all right, you have decided what kind of a comic you want to create. You have even created maps, basic economies (paper money or "real" money, like gold, silver, gems, or something unusual?), basic societies, etc. You actually have an advanced and detailed subcreation, well thought out. You've got your pens, pencils, paints, markers, or these days your digital art tablets and GIMP 2 ready, and you're all set to go, we're finished, right?

Not quite.

Now for the mechanics.

First of all, what kind of a comic do you want to do as far as "continuity" is concerned? This is quite possibly the most important question you must ask yourself once you are ready to go, because this could be THE factor that will determine if your comic lives or slowly dies in the future, unfinished!

If the comic you are planning is not connected, if each strip or page is independent, "Stupidfox," "Close to Home," and most daily "Family Circus" being examples, then there is no problem here, especially if your comics can be read in any order. There's probably nothing more here that can be of much use to you.

Comics that tell relatively short stories usually don't present much of a problem here, either.

But what if what you are planning is nothing short of an EPIC? A long-ranging comic, filled with places, characters, complex plots, sub-plots, an entire world, an entire universe?

Now you have a problem...and if you do not plan carefully ahead, a possibly fatal one.

What I am talking about here is the question often overlooked by artists, the thing which, if not considered ahead of time, can cause terrible trouble later on:

Pacing.

That's right- pacing. How are you going to pace your comic? To get an idea of that, ask yourself these questions:

1) How big is the comic going to be?

2) How much will each page, on average, tell?

3) How often will each page be done and posted (if online)?

4) How will I go from event to event?

5) IMPORTANT: Just how long am I going to do this comic?

As mentioned above, with some comics this is not a problem. If the comic is not going to be connected, or if it's just a small story effort, then you have considerable leeway, but if it's going to be large, maybe even an EPIC, then you'd do well to carefully answer these questions because if you don't you will fail, no matter how talented you are in everything else.

This is why I wrote this- this one factor.

Seems silly, seems like I'm overly concerned? "Really, you're saying I WILL fail? I've seen your gallery and my talent is twice yours easy, if you can do that "Wallaroo World" comic then what makes you think I'll fail?"

Let's say you are not twice but FOUR times as talented- doesn't matter.

All right, let's look at how time flows in a comic universe as opposed to ours. In a daily newspaper comic strip five days of strips can be dedicated to Peter Parker sitting in a diner, thinking about how he may have killed someone wrongfully as Spiderman. This would be maybe half an hour in his world, but in our world five days- 120 hours, or 240 times as much time- has gone by.

It can, of course, work both ways. The Hero might search all over Japan for something, this taking a full year, all in about four pages of comics, which came out over the span of four weeks. Typical comics do this both ways, depending on the situations.

You must determine how time on average will flow in your comic. You must at least have an idea of how you are going to pace it. This is because no matter how time is handled in your comic, in the real world time is going to move at a normal pace.

If drawing a full page of comic panels each time, it is not unreasonable to to say that one such page a week is a good effort. If you can do this, you are actually doing quite well, since most online comic artists are not doing it for a living.

But what does this mean?

It means that you are producing 52 pages a year. Another brilliant flash of the obvious, right? Maybe.

This means that if you plan on some event in your comic that is going to be very detailed, going into the different visual angles as Manga often does, with detailed conversations, each move detailed, you are going to need quite a few pages to get through that one event. Suppose you, with this method of storytelling, are going to need a full 26 pages to get through that event?

It means you will need a full six months in real time to get through something that can take less than a day in your comic's reality. Even if you cut that down to just 8 pages, that is still roughly two months just for less than one day. What if your comic is a tale that spans months, years, decades in its own reality? Even if mundane events are ignored or given little space, a mere dozen such situations will take SIX YEARS by themselves. If you are 12 years old when starting then by the time this happens you will be 18- and that's not figuring in anything else!

If your comic is going to be a complex, long-range effort, with plenty of adventures over a considerable amount of time, that simply won't do; if your comic is the kind that does not just follow one character but can simultaneously "branch off" to deal with several characters it'll be several times worse. If you continue at that pace, with all sorts of mini-adventures along the way, it could be years, even DECADES, in our world before your Heroes, Inc. (call 1-800-GOODGUY) even reaches the king's castle to take the job of rescuing the princess from the evil wicked bad warlord.

In short, if you plan on drawing 52 pages a year, you're going to have to ask yourself how much you want to happen in your comic in a real-world year: those 52 pages. How will you do it? By planning ahead. You don't even have to storyboard in the earliest stages: just a basic description of what a page is supposed to tell, with a quick line for each panel under it. This will tell you right from the start how it might work before you even begin in earnest. You can then maybe try a quick, crude storyboard, deciding how the panels will be arranged, how large each one will be, etc.- remember, there are no restrictions, so it can be anything from small panels with characters literally reaching into neighboring panels to one big panel for a page.

There are practical considerations here, too: it does not matter how talented an artist you are, or how crummy, one thing remains constant: the more you want to put into an artistic effort the longer it will take you to do any one thing (all else the same). It's a case of quality vs. quantity, you'll have to decide where you want to draw the line, pun intended (dodges thrown art equipment). The pictures in my "The Wallaroo World" comic are NOT the very best I can do, but if I did my very best quality artwork then it would take me far too long to ever finish a page. So overall the more pages you want to do the quicker you must be, and at some point even the most super-talented must settle for less detail to move even faster.

So if you plan on a comic that is epic in size and will be the sort that has many pages, or maybe even panels, for given lone events, you'll either have to figure on a comic that could take years, or even decades, to finish or you moving more quickly by accepting that the artwork will not be the best you can do.

Basic style is another factor. "The Wallaroo World" is done in the style of the old "Rupert the Bear" and "Tom Poes" comics, where a given panel can have quite a bit of text along with it. This means that a considerable number of things can happen in just a few pages: as of this writing there are five pages, yet we know much about Wallaroo, their world, their society, we've met a number of characters, and more.

Other comics have nothing remotely like it, not even captions. These are comics that can have the problems I described above, very much so, unless paced very well (and such do exist, so don't despair!).

Between these two extremes is something that can help: The Caption.

You have a few adventurers travelling through a forest. It is dangerous. One panel can show them swatting aside stupid little goblins armed with sticks; the caption reads "...dangers and enemies there were: some mere nuisances..."

While the next has them fiercely battling chlorine gas breathing tree/human mutations; "...while others were quite deadly. Very much so."

Those two panels can do the work of at least several pages.

Here's a secret: some of the best stories, the most effective, allow the reader to fill in details. H.P. Lovecraft never really described what that thing in the pit in "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" looked like, which made it all the more horrifying. We do may not need to see an actual murder being committed: a scream above a darkened building at night tells us what just happened. There are times you'll want to handle the details yourself, of course: if your good-natured barbarian hero finally confronts the King of Black Blades then naturally you'll want a detailed battle because that is such an important, long-awaited climax; but in the forest scenes above one panel each can more than suffice. It's a judgement call.

And captions can be used in detailed scenes. Your barbarian hero is badly hurt and down on bended knee as the King's shadow looms over him; "...battered and bleeding from the unholy screaming dark blade of the King, Bambo drew upon sheer determination to restore his tribe's good name, to get up just once more to fight on..."

Captions are your friends. They can just do so much for you!

You can also decide how much you want to dedicate to a given scene. The kindly, tired sorceress sits by a fountain trying to decide what she must do to help Bambo from afar as he fights for her realm; do you really need two pages of comic panels for that? Remember that professional comics may have entire teams of experienced professionals working on them, dividing up labor as did Disney animation, very organized, under definite leadership- do YOU have such advantages? No matter how fantastic your comic's reality is, it will still be bound by our world's reality.

Another factor is this: things change in one's life.

I am fifty years old. When my talent finally became good enough to be taken halfway seriously, it was 1986. I was 20, in that entirely different world: no Internet in the modern sense of the word, the Soviet Union still around, Reagan as President, a much stronger economy, cars easy to maintain, more than just three of my relatives still alive, during that time in Dutchess Community College. And this I will tell you: of all the futures I may have considered, what actually happened was not among them. YOU CANNOT PREDICT WITH ANY ASSURANCE WHERE YOU WILL BE YEARS FROM NOW.

If you are 16 now and decide, during summer vacation, to start an online comic, especially with the help of friends, fine- but what happens when you all turn 18? Will things be the same? People move, get full-time jobs, go to college, etc. Granted, communication via the Internet for this sort of thing is an advantage we did not have in 1986 (not in any remotely practical sense), but what about jobs, military service, trouble with friendships, family, marriage, etc.? You may have many hours during the day NOW to work on a comic, you and friends can get together NOW easily enough, but will that remain the case in the future? Trust me, sudden change can literally happen overnight as it has to me. Unless you can in fact do it for a living, and that is a very small percentage, you must treat it as a hobby. If it is an effort by more than one person, consider what will happen if one moves away; at least today it is not as critical a problem as it was before. Even so...

If your comic is based on personal politics, remember that people do change. If your political views change, will your comic? Will that prove too disruptive for the "subcreation" within it; what will happen to the fan base, if any? Here's some advice: it's rarely a good idea to base a comic strictly on some personal politics. A comic can involve politics, but try to keep it "third person," not about you. One of the main reasons conventional comics from Marvel and DC are dying is because of "political correctness;" in my area a comic shop no longer even orders any of them because nobody is buying them. Back when I was a kid in the 1970s, when comics were in those spinning wire mesh cylinders with Archie and Casper smiling away on top, an issue could sell many thousands or even millions. Here is a warning that can save you from great disappointment years from now: people who demand some form of pop culture, such as comics, to pander to their extreme politics, rarely if ever buy printed comics or even read free online anything once they get their way. I oppose whaling but would expect any "true" comic version of "Moby Dick" to remain true to the original story.

And you must realize that your art style can change, so your earlier pages may not be as good as later ones. That's natural, many famous comics went through this, or changed styles: "Peanuts" is a perfect example, and even Bill Watterson's beloved "Calvin and Hobbes" went through some changes during its time. Fans will accept this. But if you do not believe your talent is advanced enough to start yet, work at getting better, no need to rush into it- and maybe review everything else, why not double-check?

An excellent way to learn about pacing and other factors is to read over other comics, of varying styles. Pokemon, Tintin, Calvin and Hobbes, continuous-story online comics, The Saga of Rex, Rupert, there is no law saying you must reinvent the wheel.

And don't worry about being the "best." I'm pretty good, but there are many here much better- some with artistic talent I'll never equal. Doesn't stop me.

Finally, as corny as this sounds, one of the most important things you can do to help your comic effort work is to make it a labor of love. Bill Watterson did this with "Calvin and Hobbes," which was one reason why that comic always kept its special magic. YOU must create something you like and enjoy, something you care about. Otherwise, it becomes just tedious work, and if you aren't even making any money from it as a job, you'll likely lose interest and let it fade away.

Today we are no limited to whatever mainstream comics dish up- DC and Marvel no longer hold a monopoly, not with what's online out there, I'd much prefer "Stupidfox" to what newspapers toss out, and best of all you can try just about anything you'd like, so if you've ever said "hoo, boy, if only someone would create a comic like..." well, now's your chance.

Good luck!

:) (Smile) — Description
So You Want To Make Your Own Comic.

You've seen them all of your life: comics.

Printed, Online, Graphic Novels, Domestic, Foreign...

Today's comic artist has the means to display a comic in ways we never had back in 1986! If you have access, just access, to a scanner, a computer, and the Internet, YOU too can publish a comic where millions can see it!

Even publishing a comic in printed form is so much easier and so much less expensive than in my younger years during the Reagan Era, when without considerable money doing so with a quality color comic was all but impossible, it was just too expensive for a typical artist alone.

So- you want to do it- but you aren't sure how to go about making a comic. You have the idea, you may know what kind of comic you want to create, so...now what?

That's where this handy-dandy tip guide can help, and it'll cost you nothing! And if not 100% satisfied, you'll get a full refund, less shipping and handling!

First, you must decide just what it is you want to do. That may seem like a blinding flash of the obvious, but believe me, it's easy to go right in with an idea of what it is you want to do, which is NOT the same as knowing what it is you want to do.

For example, do you want to try a "humans only" comic, an anthro-comic (if so, what kind?), a standard superhero-style comic, a romance-style along the lines of "Brenda Starr," humor, horror, science fiction, spy action, AD&D-style fantasy, political...there are so many combinations and variations I cannot list them all. For example, there are a number of "college misadventure" comics out there, but some use humans, others use anthro-characters- but are otherwise the same.

Humans are not overly difficult in themselves, for a rather obvious reason: we know what we are. What to do from there is another thing, but any comic artist knows just what the subject matter itself is. So any comic using only humans is much easier, all else the same.

But O.K., you say, you want to do a typical "college misadventure" comic but with anthro-characters. Fine- but what kind? Anthro-foxes only, or a mixture of species? Fantastic creatures, such as anthro-dragons and anthro-griffins? If different species or even different sub-species, how do they interact? Can an anthro-raccoon date an anthro-vixen? Is there friction between grey anthro-foxes and red anthro-foxes? Do you wish to keep some actual reality in an anthro-world, so it is impossible for an anthro-raccoon and an anthro-vixen to marry and have children; do they then adopt, is such a mixed marriage fine or is it frowned upon; if so, why?

Do you keep to standard views of anthros: tricky, sneaky foxes; brave lions; cowardly jackals; savage sharks, etc...or individual characteristics in a given species?

Do you keep some reality based on actual ability? During the track meet the team of one college is horrified to see that the other team has an anthro-cheetah warming up...but the first college's girls' swimming team has an anthro-shark while the opposing team only has "land creatures," and so...

lady-cybercat.deviantart.com/a…

Does this world include avian creatures, anthro-birds? This is important in any such comic, because if they can fly then you must consider that they move about in fully three dimensions, while land creatures are essentially confined to two-dimensional movement. (Aquatic creatures in water also have three-dimensional movement). Such creatures are not blocked by walls, fences, raging rivers, and other obstacles that can stop land creatures dead in their tracks; so in a world with intelligent flying creatures their entire history must develop differently than ours, since real flight was essentially very recent for us (but even primitive avians would always have had an Air Force if warlike). If you want to create a comic that has satisfyingly greater depth and "reality," you'd really want to consider such factors.

Those are just a few considerations out of so many- now, do you just want a fun comic that doesn't delve too far in socio-economic, biological, or religious matters, so of course an anthro-raccoon and an anthro-vixen can simply have children, either a raccoon or a fox? Where nobody cares about different species, and a cheetah has no better chance of winning than a bear? The more sophisticated the comic, the more considerations must pile up, since one aspect leads to a number of questions: if there is friction among the different kinds of foxes, why? A war from long ago, social mores, what? Is there an effort to ease off, keep it the same, or to tighten?

What sort of a society is it? One based on our world somewhere sometime, or a completely fictional one? A mixture?

What sort of world is it overall? Primitive, technological, magical, post-apocalyptic, wartime, what? If "technological" is it like ours; if so, from when? Past, present, future? Is it based on something altogether different, one based on the organic only? Steampunk? What variation? A combination, if so, is there rivalry; Wizards vs. Steampunk gunners? Laws that limit what one can do: no magic in battles, but healing only done with magic? There are ENDLESS possibilities, so don't limit yourself.

What kind of environment will your story take place in? If it's underwater on a water world, then it's unlikely fire, which is the basis of our technology, could have happened, because although there are things that can burn underwater (e.g. thermite, but not magnesium) these do not exactly occur in nature so how could they have known about it? On our world we had fire for ages, it occurred naturally, so man saw it and learned about it, and could experiment until he found out how to make it burn underwater- this would not be the case here. Therefore it is unlikely such a world would have technology like ours, unless some outside agency (i.e. aliens) were involved. Therefore if such creatures had metal spears, where did they come from? What would they have done instead?

If a world with floating islands in the air then without air travel those lands must have developed in isolation. If a world with regular islands in the sea and no large land masses without sea travel- same thing (maybe deadly water creatures prevent such travel)? But what happens when air travel is developed in the former or ways of dealing with those sea creatures in the latter ("The Kragen" by Jack Vance)? Did each island even know others existed? That alone offers so many possibilities!

As I mentioned in "How to Build Your Own World," logical consequences and some reality make even the most fantastic worlds so much better. This applies to the social as well as the physical. Our own histories can give plenty of great ideas: what if the people of a warlike island finally become aware of and can reach one that is peaceful? What if the latter was aware of what was about to happen, how would they react?

But all right, you have decided what kind of a comic you want to create. You have even created maps, basic economies (paper money or "real" money, like gold, silver, gems, or something unusual?), basic societies, etc. You actually have an advanced and detailed subcreation, well thought out. You've got your pens, pencils, paints, markers, or these days your digital art tablets and GIMP 2 ready, and you're all set to go, we're finished, right?

Not quite.

Now for the mechanics.

First of all, what kind of a comic do you want to do as far as "continuity" is concerned? This is quite possibly the most important question you must ask yourself once you are ready to go, because this could be THE factor that will determine if your comic lives or slowly dies in the future, unfinished!

If the comic you are planning is not connected, if each strip or page is independent, "Stupidfox," "Close to Home," and most daily "Family Circus" being examples, then there is no problem here, especially if your comics can be read in any order. There's probably nothing more here that can be of much use to you.

Comics that tell relatively short stories usually don't present much of a problem here, either.

But what if what you are planning is nothing short of an EPIC? A long-ranging comic, filled with places, characters, complex plots, sub-plots, an entire world, an entire universe?

Now you have a problem...and if you do not plan carefully ahead, a possibly fatal one.

What I am talking about here is the question often overlooked by artists, the thing which, if not considered ahead of time, can cause terrible trouble later on:

Pacing.

That's right- pacing. How are you going to pace your comic? To get an idea of that, ask yourself these questions:

1) How big is the comic going to be?

2) How much will each page, on average, tell?

3) How often will each page be done and posted (if online)?

4) How will I go from event to event?

5) IMPORTANT: Just how long am I going to do this comic?

As mentioned above, with some comics this is not a problem. If the comic is not going to be connected, or if it's just a small story effort, then you have considerable leeway, but if it's going to be large, maybe even an EPIC, then you'd do well to carefully answer these questions because if you don't you will fail, no matter how talented you are in everything else.

This is why I wrote this- this one factor.

Seems silly, seems like I'm overly concerned? "Really, you're saying I WILL fail? I've seen your gallery and my talent is twice yours easy, if you can do that "Wallaroo World" comic then what makes you think I'll fail?"

Let's say you are not twice but FOUR times as talented- doesn't matter.

All right, let's look at how time flows in a comic universe as opposed to ours. In a daily newspaper comic strip five days of strips can be dedicated to Peter Parker sitting in a diner, thinking about how he may have killed someone wrongfully as Spiderman. This would be maybe half an hour in his world, but in our world five days- 120 hours, or 240 times as much time- has gone by.

It can, of course, work both ways. The Hero might search all over Japan for something, this taking a full year, all in about four pages of comics, which came out over the span of four weeks. Typical comics do this both ways, depending on the situations.

You must determine how time on average will flow in your comic. You must at least have an idea of how you are going to pace it. This is because no matter how time is handled in your comic, in the real world time is going to move at a normal pace.

If drawing a full page of comic panels each time, it is not unreasonable to to say that one such page a week is a good effort. If you can do this, you are actually doing quite well, since most online comic artists are not doing it for a living.

But what does this mean?

It means that you are producing 52 pages a year. Another brilliant flash of the obvious, right? Maybe.

This means that if you plan on some event in your comic that is going to be very detailed, going into the different visual angles as Manga often does, with detailed conversations, each move detailed, you are going to need quite a few pages to get through that one event. Suppose you, with this method of storytelling, are going to need a full 26 pages to get through that event?

It means you will need a full six months in real time to get through something that can take less than a day in your comic's reality. Even if you cut that down to just 8 pages, that is still roughly two months just for less than one day. What if your comic is a tale that spans months, years, decades in its own reality? Even if mundane events are ignored or given little space, a mere dozen such situations will take SIX YEARS by themselves. If you are 12 years old when starting then by the time this happens you will be 18- and that's not figuring in anything else!

If your comic is going to be a complex, long-range effort, with plenty of adventures over a considerable amount of time, that simply won't do; if your comic is the kind that does not just follow one character but can simultaneously "branch off" to deal with several characters it'll be several times worse. If you continue at that pace, with all sorts of mini-adventures along the way, it could be years, even DECADES, in our world before your Heroes, Inc. (call 1-800-GOODGUY) even reaches the king's castle to take the job of rescuing the princess from the evil wicked bad warlord.

In short, if you plan on drawing 52 pages a year, you're going to have to ask yourself how much you want to happen in your comic in a real-world year: those 52 pages. How will you do it? By planning ahead. You don't even have to storyboard in the earliest stages: just a basic description of what a page is supposed to tell, with a quick line for each panel under it. This will tell you right from the start how it might work before you even begin in earnest. You can then maybe try a quick, crude storyboard, deciding how the panels will be arranged, how large each one will be, etc.- remember, there are no restrictions, so it can be anything from small panels with characters literally reaching into neighboring panels to one big panel for a page.

There are practical considerations here, too: it does not matter how talented an artist you are, or how crummy, one thing remains constant: the more you want to put into an artistic effort the longer it will take you to do any one thing (all else the same). It's a case of quality vs. quantity, you'll have to decide where you want to draw the line, pun intended (dodges thrown art equipment). The pictures in my "The Wallaroo World" comic are NOT the very best I can do, but if I did my very best quality artwork then it would take me far too long to ever finish a page. So overall the more pages you want to do the quicker you must be, and at some point even the most super-talented must settle for less detail to move even faster.

So if you plan on a comic that is epic in size and will be the sort that has many pages, or maybe even panels, for given lone events, you'll either have to figure on a comic that could take years, or even decades, to finish or you moving more quickly by accepting that the artwork will not be the best you can do.

Basic style is another factor. "The Wallaroo World" is done in the style of the old "Rupert the Bear" and "Tom Poes" comics, where a given panel can have quite a bit of text along with it. This means that a considerable number of things can happen in just a few pages: as of this writing there are five pages, yet we know much about Wallaroo, their world, their society, we've met a number of characters, and more.

Other comics have nothing remotely like it, not even captions. These are comics that can have the problems I described above, very much so, unless paced very well (and such do exist, so don't despair!).

Between these two extremes is something that can help: The Caption.

You have a few adventurers travelling through a forest. It is dangerous. One panel can show them swatting aside stupid little goblins armed with sticks; the caption reads "...dangers and enemies there were: some mere nuisances..."

While the next has them fiercely battling chlorine gas breathing tree/human mutations; "...while others were quite deadly. Very much so."

Those two panels can do the work of at least several pages.

Here's a secret: some of the best stories, the most effective, allow the reader to fill in details. H.P. Lovecraft never really described what that thing in the pit in "The Case of Charles Dexter Ward" looked like, which made it all the more horrifying. We do may not need to see an actual murder being committed: a scream above a darkened building at night tells us what just happened. There are times you'll want to handle the details yourself, of course: if your good-natured barbarian hero finally confronts the King of Black Blades then naturally you'll want a detailed battle because that is such an important, long-awaited climax; but in the forest scenes above one panel each can more than suffice. It's a judgement call.

And captions can be used in detailed scenes. Your barbarian hero is badly hurt and down on bended knee as the King's shadow looms over him; "...battered and bleeding from the unholy screaming dark blade of the King, Bambo drew upon sheer determination to restore his tribe's good name, to get up just once more to fight on..."

Captions are your friends. They can just do so much for you!

You can also decide how much you want to dedicate to a given scene. The kindly, tired sorceress sits by a fountain trying to decide what she must do to help Bambo from afar as he fights for her realm; do you really need two pages of comic panels for that? Remember that professional comics may have entire teams of experienced professionals working on them, dividing up labor as did Disney animation, very organized, under definite leadership- do YOU have such advantages? No matter how fantastic your comic's reality is, it will still be bound by our world's reality.

Another factor is this: things change in one's life.

I am fifty years old. When my talent finally became good enough to be taken halfway seriously, it was 1986. I was 20, in that entirely different world: no Internet in the modern sense of the word, the Soviet Union still around, Reagan as President, a much stronger economy, cars easy to maintain, more than just three of my relatives still alive, during that time in Dutchess Community College. And this I will tell you: of all the futures I may have considered, what actually happened was not among them. YOU CANNOT PREDICT WITH ANY ASSURANCE WHERE YOU WILL BE YEARS FROM NOW.

If you are 16 now and decide, during summer vacation, to start an online comic, especially with the help of friends, fine- but what happens when you all turn 18? Will things be the same? People move, get full-time jobs, go to college, etc. Granted, communication via the Internet for this sort of thing is an advantage we did not have in 1986 (not in any remotely practical sense), but what about jobs, military service, trouble with friendships, family, marriage, etc.? You may have many hours during the day NOW to work on a comic, you and friends can get together NOW easily enough, but will that remain the case in the future? Trust me, sudden change can literally happen overnight as it has to me. Unless you can in fact do it for a living, and that is a very small percentage, you must treat it as a hobby. If it is an effort by more than one person, consider what will happen if one moves away; at least today it is not as critical a problem as it was before. Even so...

If your comic is based on personal politics, remember that people do change. If your political views change, will your comic? Will that prove too disruptive for the "subcreation" within it; what will happen to the fan base, if any? Here's some advice: it's rarely a good idea to base a comic strictly on some personal politics. A comic can involve politics, but try to keep it "third person," not about you. One of the main reasons conventional comics from Marvel and DC are dying is because of "political correctness;" in my area a comic shop no longer even orders any of them because nobody is buying them. Back when I was a kid in the 1970s, when comics were in those spinning wire mesh cylinders with Archie and Casper smiling away on top, an issue could sell many thousands or even millions. Here is a warning that can save you from great disappointment years from now: people who demand some form of pop culture, such as comics, to pander to their extreme politics, rarely if ever buy printed comics or even read free online anything once they get their way. I oppose whaling but would expect any "true" comic version of "Moby Dick" to remain true to the original story.

And you must realize that your art style can change, so your earlier pages may not be as good as later ones. That's natural, many famous comics went through this, or changed styles: "Peanuts" is a perfect example, and even Bill Watterson's beloved "Calvin and Hobbes" went through some changes during its time. Fans will accept this. But if you do not believe your talent is advanced enough to start yet, work at getting better, no need to rush into it- and maybe review everything else, why not double-check?

An excellent way to learn about pacing and other factors is to read over other comics, of varying styles. Pokemon, Tintin, Calvin and Hobbes, continuous-story online comics, The Saga of Rex, Rupert, there is no law saying you must reinvent the wheel.

And don't worry about being the "best." I'm pretty good, but there are many here much better- some with artistic talent I'll never equal. Doesn't stop me.

Finally, as corny as this sounds, one of the most important things you can do to help your comic effort work is to make it a labor of love. Bill Watterson did this with "Calvin and Hobbes," which was one reason why that comic always kept its special magic. YOU must create something you like and enjoy, something you care about. Otherwise, it becomes just tedious work, and if you aren't even making any money from it as a job, you'll likely lose interest and let it fade away.

Today we are no limited to whatever mainstream comics dish up- DC and Marvel no longer hold a monopoly, not with what's online out there, I'd much prefer "Stupidfox" to what newspapers toss out, and best of all you can try just about anything you'd like, so if you've ever said "hoo, boy, if only someone would create a comic like..." well, now's your chance.

Good luck!