More details (or more word bubbles) slow down time.
establish conflict, setting, and mood by the third page. point of entry, in media res, hero intro Next is translating the beats to pages….Professionally you don’t want more than 25 words per speech bubble and no more than 250 words per page. Try to keep all your text chunks as short as a tweet.If a story can’t be told with the art without the dialogue– you messed up and it’s time to rethink your life choices. Since comics are a visual medium, highest priority is given to the beats.After the beat sheet, write up all the sound effects and speech bubbles and conversation/dialogue you want to be in your comic.Guy comes down from the rocks he as climbing and sees bear.The bear goes to where a cabin used to be (only roof tiles are left).A lone bear shambles over from the other side of the mountain.The guy takes cover by an outcropping of rocks, fastens himself securely to the rock face, and waits for the avalanche to die down.Animals, people, are all panicking and getting pushed over by the rushing snow.Guy sees this and hightails it to safer ground.Snow puffs billow and great slabs of ice crash down the mountain side.Guy, satisfied, hikes away from there still yodeling.At the top of the mountain the snow drifts twitch.Echoes roll but nothing nearby is moved.A dumb expression forms over his face and he yodels.He comes across an avalanche warning sign.This guy is hiking in the snowy mountains.This bear has no access to cabin food and garbage.Įxpand.Take the above stuff and reorder it to make sense. The guy is yodeling in an avalanche zone.He caused the avalanche that buried all the cabins. It’s the guy’s fault the bear can’t find other food.The bear must eat something or he’ll starve to death.What the protag do that led them there?.What is the turning point of their story?.…BEGIN THE WRITING ( DO NOT SKIP NO MATTER WHAT) like this, in this order: Roughly… the steps to making your comic is (treat the first page and the 2-page splash as you would the last). If you draw the pages from 1 to 12 sequentially you run the risk of fresh to burnt out- an uneven distribution of drawing skill. The end is the last page a reader sees- so spend your freshest energies on making it as epic, memorable, poignant, and beautiful as #$%^&.
Everything in between is open to editing and hacking as the most important moments are emphasized and chosen. Personally I work “backwards” because the end is the only wholly necessary page or set of panels in the story. Here is my set of instructions, tips, and notes towards making a 12-page comic. I’m NOT an expert but I have some working experience I can share. Rapidpunches: SHORT STORY/ONE-SHOT/ONE CHAPTER/COMICS 101 CRASH COURSE RAPIDPUNCHES’ STYLE