I see a lot of indie comics and indie comic websites. Being the webmaster of Blambot means that I get dozens of e-mails each day from all kinds of indie comic folks, who like to show me their stuff. And that's great! I love seeing other people's work. You can't be an artist without being an art fan. But many people are making similar mistakes. I've also had the opportunity to work with mainstream comic artists, and I've learned as much as I could from each of them. We all can do better. Now, I'm only going to say this once, and then I'll get off my soapbox and you can either benefit from my experience, or disregard it completely. but I guarantee you, if you don't learn from your mistakes, they will come back to bite you in the behind.

I WANNA BE FAMOUS!

      Forget it. If that's your goal, you're setting yourself up for disappointment. It's a remote chance. Do this because you love it. Period. There are thousands of people just like you who are doing what you're doing, and some of them are doing it better...and lots of them never get famous. But it doesn't mean you can't hope for that someday. Before you even have a chance you need to learn...

BORING STORY SYNDROME

      A comic without a story is NOTHING. Sergeant Six-Pack jumping around with his UZI killing everything in sight will bore the heck out of 99% of your readers after issue 2. Only little kids and the immature really stick with comics that offer nothing but action and nudity. You NEED a story. And not just any story, but a really good story. With substance. And how do you get ideas for such plots? DON'T JUST READ COMICS. Read books. Watch movies. Listen to music. Comics in general don't get the emotional reaction that a great novel or movie do. And to make a great comic, you must engage your reader's mind and emotions. You can be sure that almost anything you come up with has already been done. What you need to do, is spin it in a direction no one's seen before.

HOW CAN IT SUCK? IT TOOK A WHOLE WEEKEND TO WRITE!

      So you've got your plot... now you need a script. Now before you do anything, just chill out. I know you're excited. THINK about it. Take a week, take a month... Think it all through. You're young, you have time. Don't just sit down at the computer and type without an idea of where you're going with this. Make notes. Make a chart. Ask yourself the questions that a novel writer asks, "What is my point?" "Does the story have a solid intro, an engaging middle, and a great ending?" Ask youself if the reader will identify with your characters and situations. Ask if anyone will even care about these characters and what they're going through. When I created ATLAND, I created backstory for the characters and setting for three months before I even wrote the first episode.

      Yes, there is a fairly standard way to write a comic script. It varies from writer to writer, but it's very similar to writing a movie screenplay. Here's what one looks like:

PAGE 1

PANEL 1- Int. Blambot Mothership arena. Cont. of Eddie and Gus are being pummelled by the monster. Closeup of the monster's hand. Eddie is in it being squeezed in front of the monster's face. He's struggling...his eyes are suinted down. He's in agony! The monster grins victoriously.

      1. Eddie thinking - ANY MINUTE NOW I'M GOING TO WAKE UP...

PANEL 2- Profile of the monster putting Eddie into his mouth.

      2. Eddie thinking - ANY MINUTE NOW...ANY MINUTE!

PANEL 3- C/U on Eddie, surprised.

      3. Voice from Off Camera - PUT HIM DOWN YOU INBRED SON OF AN INFOMERCIAL HOST!

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      The panels and dialogue are numbered. The Editor (and letterer!) can diagram the page (called "balloon placements") with those numbers to make sure they know who is speaking and where it all should go. "C/U" stands for "Close up". Bold words are indicated by the underline, or in all-caps depending on the script method you prefer.

      Write more than one draft! When you're done with the script, let someone else read it. They will notice things you might not. The story is crystal clear in your head because you wrote it, but the most important thing is that someone who knows nothing about your comic, must be able to pick it up and understand it. Write and re-write and re-write again. If you get stuck, put it down and go do something else. If that still doesn't work, ask someone for their opinion.

      Learn to write good dialogue. Write through the personalities of the characters, and don't overuse your Thesaurus. Again, read novels and listen to how REAL people speak.

OF COURSE I'M A GOOD ARTIST, I'VE BEEN READING COMICS ALL MY LIFE!

      ...And that shall be your downfall. It's great that you read a lot of comics, and admire certain artists. But if the sum total of your art history knowledge and training comes from reading comics, you will succeed only in regurgitating other people's comics work.

       Most of the artists in mainstream comics don't just read comics to learn how to draw. They've gone to art school, or they've had a lifetime of professional illustrating experience. YOU MUST know the rules of art before you can break them. There's no way around it. Study classical art, art history, graphic design, movie directing, and every other visual art you can.

BACKGROUNDS

      OK, there's only one way to say this...DRAW THE BACKGROUNDS! I see this problem every day and it's just a symptom of laziness. I know it's boring. I know the reader is only going to see it for 2 seconds, but it's important. You don't have to draw it in EVERY panel, but an establishing shot on a page that indicates to the reader WHERE a scene is taking place, MUST have a background. If you flip through some comics, you'll notice establishing shots. You'll also notice most action scenes have very little backgrounds unless the background is intrinsic to some part of the action. This is to keep your focus on the excitement, and to mimic the mind's tendency to block out extranious info during intense moments.

I had the good fortune to talk to Walt Simonson when I was first starting out, and he gave me this advice: "You have to draw every cigarette butt, every trash can and every seatbelt because they are just as important as your main characters." And he's absolutely right. You know how creative you are at designing costumes for your superheroes? That's how creative you should learn to be with your backgrounds. Go outside and look around. Soak it all in. Remember how things look. Remember all the things you see on a street so when you're drawing one, you don't forget that, "Oh crap. I didn't draw seatbelts in that car." (That's what Walt caught me on!) Most important start a reference file! Collect pictures from magazines, take photos and go out and see everything you can. Use the internet too. I do that all the time. Need a picture of a rat? Search online? A firetruck? Seach online...

PERSPECTIVE

      Nothing ruins a good drawing more than bad perspective. Depth gives realism to your pages! Learn about 2-point, 3-point and all other types of perspective. When you get good at it you can cheat and do cool effects like mimicking the look of a fish-eye lense.

GRAPHIC DESIGN

      Whether the artist realizes it or not, 50% of each page is grapic design and 50% is illustration. The page has to flow and has to be aesthetically pleasing to the eye. Grab the script and do thumbnail sketches of each page, do a dozen if you want. A thumbnail sketch is a small, very quick drawing where you make some decisions about how you want to lay out the panels and maybe even the dialogue balloons. Use some cheap 8.5"x11" copy paper and a pencil and just do 1/4 sized layouts.

CINEMATOGRAPHY

      This is the advice I repeat most to amateur comic artists. Watch movies and study directing. When I first started doing comics, I was amazed to discover how closely setting up each panel of a page is to directing a movie. Study which angles suit the mood you're trying to convey.

MEDIA

      People will tell you that you have to use a brush to ink, or you have to use this brand of paper, or you have to draw the comic at this size... you know what? You don't. Use whatever the you want, BUT try out everything first. Have a working knowledge of lots of different media, you never know when you'll be asked to use it by the writer or editor. The average comic artist works on 11"x17" bristol board, that has been ruled off to an area of 10"x15" comic dimensions. You can see those dimensions HERE.

LETTERING

      It's just the visual representation of every audible clue and every line of dialogue in your book. Letterers are the graphic designers of the comics world. Lettering is important. It must fit into the graphic design of your pages and enhance the "feel" of your comic. Choose your fonts wisely, young jedi. If you're hand lettering, more power to you. It's a great way to learn the basics. With the advent of computer lettering, now everyone can have decent text in their comic.

PUT ON YOUR TIE, YOUR A BUSINESS MAN NOW

      So, your comic is done. Awesome. But guess what? No one can read it can they? Whether you're doing it hardcore indie style, a la Xerox machine, or your having it professionally printed, you MUST learn how to promote your work, and get familiar with the politics of making comics. Use every avenue at your disposal: Build a webiste, Tell people, show people, get online and find out a few hundred comic shop addresses and send out fliers to them, get a distributor like Diamond, take out ads, convince your local shop to do a small book signing for you... the list goes on and on. but remember, don't plan the rest of your life on the success of this book. Even if you put your very heart and soul into this... you probably will not be able to make a living doing it. Always have a "Plan B". That's just the way it is. You must do this for the fun of it first, and the profit second.... speaking of which...

CONGRATULATIONS! YOU'RE POOR!

      If you're doing a xerox produced comic, expect to spend a hundred or more dollars per 100 issues on copy costs, and who knows how much on promos. If you're having it professionally printed, expect to spend about $1000 + per 1000 issues you have printed. Prices vary from printer to printer (and call them all!). Every penny you spend should be considered non-refundable. Go into this with the conclusion that the $3000 you just spent is GONE. Because you may not make it back in sales.

IN CONCLUSION

      With all this said, you may think I have a bleak outlook on self publishing. I don't. I have the facts, and you just read 'em. Remember: Do this because you love it. And if you love it, you owe it to yourself to do it the best you possibly can.

~Nate Piekos