Artists

A good story has some kind of result ending. Because people expect a story to have some kind of resolution. If the main character comes out ahead or behind of where he was when he started, then we know there was some kind of result to the story.

All good stories have some kind of point of view. They are actually making some kind of argument about why what the main character is right or wrong. Everything that happens in that story should reinforce the argument being made. If your story has no point of view, then it will feel directionless.

(not that kind!) I mean erasers there are more types out there than you properly realise again just experiment and see what works for you, the two most common ‘erasers’ on the high street tent to be the white vinyl and the pink pearl, though I tent to use a soft putty eraser as its kneadable so you can mould it into shape whether your erasing a large or small area.

Your first draft ideas are not always the best ones. That's why rewriting is essential to a good script. We tend to regurgitate ideas before realizing later they came from some comic we read years ago. Because dialog is about the interaction between different people. Different characters should sound like individuals. They should have unique ideas and voices. But in the course of writing a first draft characters often sound more like the writer. So you need to tweak things and fix plot holes or weak scenes.

there are many different ways to ink so we will start with my favourite ‘brush’s’ out of all the different methods this is properly the hardest to master but they can give your art work an unrivalled level of line and weight. Different brush types also play apart there are the larger flat brush’s which are good for blocking in large areas of ink, then there are the narrower rounded brush’s to use when inking the finer details these of course come in many different sizes so see what works for you. The quality of the brush can also make one hell of difference but the good ones aren’t cheap so be prepared to get what you pay for, the brush’s I use are the Windsor & Newton series 7, usually a size ‘0’ to ‘5’ depending on the work I’m doing.

Clichés are boring! We have seen them a million times and they make a story feel tired. Bad dialog is often bad because it is bloody cheesy. If it sounds like something Schwarzenegger said during one of his films in the 80s then you know youre on the wrong track.

The only way you can get that feeling that your script of solid is if the story has a good structure. If your story is just slapped together with ideas that just popped into your head, it will have lots of weaknesses and the reader will see it a mile off.

professional comic book artists tend to use Bristol board try to get 3-ply hot press board as this has a very smooth surface, this comes in all standard sizes, I work on winsor & Newton Bristol board 11”x17” and work on an area of 10”x15” this gives room for and bleed.

Too many writers have characters explain things, instead of showing it. When you show something it has more impact in a flash back. Imagine how your reader will feel listening to one of your characters droning on about plot points that happened in a previous issue. Comics are a visual medium people!!

Stories that have scenes that have no purpose in the story except to show something the writer thinks as cool or funny is a waste of time. Anything that doesn't serve the story in someway is interrupting the flow of the script.

The Greeks learned the hard way that getting your heroes out of a jam by having a miracle, like the Gods showing up at the last minute to fix things, robs the hero of their purpose and makes the story silly. If your hero is in a pickle please take the time to work out how he or she would get out of it and not just some random chance of luck just to move the story on.

If you are writing a scene, you want it to strike people as fresh and original you don't want to have the first thing that comes into your head happening. That would be too easy. You should jot down everything you can think of that could happen in that scene, even thrown in ridiculous ideas. Then decide what would be best. I found that Id like a scene in the so much Id put it in another script if it didnt work in my current script.

A story needs to make the reader feel something. Do you want your story to have that kind of effect on someone? So how do you make people feel something? Well, to start, you need to find emotional layers to sink into the story. If a reader truly cares for a character then they will come back time and time again.

we all need a little help from time to time no matter how good we think we are! Get your hands on a decent t-square or even a good solid metal ruler about 24” (60cm) should be big enough, a few triangles of varying sizes, and also a mechanical compass you need to have complete control over the size of those damn circles! If your doing any inking with bottled ink it’s a good idea to have a cloth close at hand to pick up any spills (trust me).

You don't want to do all your best ideas in the beginning of a story, because then it's all downhill. Stories should be like roller coaster rides. They should have a long build to the top, then a steep scary drop, and then some twists and turns and then go to another rise before hitting you with the best part. You should seriously consider how you lead up to the ending of your story, because the audience should not see it coming in advance. The end of a story has more importance to the reader than most other things a bad ending can spoil all of your work up until that point.

I tend to only use pens when I need a constant line (flat-line) now again there are many different brands and type out there the marker pen seems to be the most common of these as they come in many different sizes from the wide felt tip to the smaller fine-liner, the down side to these can be the ink fades so image’s can loose that ‘zing’ over time,then there is the technical pen, these use refillable India ink so the art work keeps that ‘zing’ much longer, these pens are ideal for boarder work and again there are many different size nibs out there so you can vary the width of line to add to the art work. And then there is the crow quill pen these give the closest varying of line weight next to brush’s but do have a few draw backs, the ink is held in the reservoir in the nib which means the pens them self can not hold much ink and constantly need to be dipped into the ink to refill this also means there not very good if drawing long lines, but once again there are plenty of nibs out there to try.

You need to write something that you care about, that you believe in be in political religious or whatever. If you don't, the readers will respond accordingly. You might say that a lot of mindless crap sells well and the creators probably didn't care about it. But how much of that crap is remembered years later in a positive way? The work that stands the test of time is work that is a labour of love. So don't write what you think people want to read, whether you care or not. Write what has meaning for you. Don't explain the mystery. If you manage to thrill people and entertain them, be happy with that. You dont need to walk them through it with every titbit of information with regards to the secrets. The magic that you put into your work should remain a mystery to all but yourself.