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So today we're going to be talking about
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the don'ts of making Comics because here
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on this channel I feel like I talk a lot
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about an art career social media
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animation but I haven't really dug too
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deep into the world of comics even
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though I just released my first graphic
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novel Mish the bad demon so check it out
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in the links below if you would like to
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read it and I also do publish my own
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self-published comics on my Etsy shop
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where I have succubishes doodlebishes
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Vera the siren and also just some print
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and other downloads but I also would
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like to share some of my experiences and
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what I've learned from just making
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Comics as a whole whether it's on
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webtoons publishing a comic
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self-publishing a comic or just posting
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it on social media a lot of the rules or
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a lot of the things that I'm going to
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mention today will pretty much cover for
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any type of comic that you make if you
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want to make either better Comics or be
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better at making comics and by no me
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means am I saying that I'm like a
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perfect comic artist either I'm just
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really going to be discussing things I
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learned on my journey what worked for me
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and what didn't so the first don't and I
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really mean do not do this hopefully
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some of you will listen to me is don't
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sign exclusive agreements with any of
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these comic hosting platforms where
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you're only allowed to share your comic
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on their platform for like either some
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time and then you can post it later on
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your own thing I won't say any names of
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what platforms are out there but if you
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ever do receive an email asking for you
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to share your comic on this one comic
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reading platform but to only allow them
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to have access to your comic either
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indefinitely Or for a certain time
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period and then you can release it on
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your own social platforms later I would
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highly suggest not doing them especially
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if they don't pay well and most of them
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that I've ever heard of don't really pay
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well sure if it really is the only thing
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that you can do go for it but I feel
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like this really holds you back from
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reaching out to an even greater audience
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and establishing a name for yourself
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rather than just being represented by
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this one platform that will be
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representing you and you don't have the
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access or freedom to do what you want
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with your own work I feel like that time
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is better off invested establishing your
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own name on a social platform and you
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develop your own Comics develop your own
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following set up a patreon or set up
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some exclusive like Community where
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people can get like Early Access or
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behind the scenes or something like that
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which again if you want to check out my
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patreon I have that where I am now doing
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exclusive podcasts live streams and
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email consultations in addition to the
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behind the scenes and Early Access just
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be very wary of any extra exclusivity
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types of agreements and again if that's
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like the only option for some reason and
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you really can't do anything else this
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is the only way you can get paid
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sure but maybe have another comic that
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you're doing on the side that you will
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be releasing on on your own terms and
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just leave this one comic specifically
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for this comic platform that offered you
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that offer if you are ever approached by
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any of these webcomic platforms that ask
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for some sort of exclusivity I really
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think it's gonna hold you back because
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during that time you could also be
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developing your own brand and business
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and really branching a lot of things off
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of your own work and that's why I'd like
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to thank today's sponsor skillshare so
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skillshare has really been evolving as
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an online learning community lately and
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I have to say that they've come a long
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way from just having classes that teach
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you how to develop your skills and
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talents certain niches and now they're
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expanding so much further and teaching
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people how to do things like develop
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their own career or brand for example
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I've been taking this moment of Hiatus
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from animation to take my personal
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projects such as my books and social
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media further and explore ways to
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potentially turn it into a full-time
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career someday and by no means am I
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planning to quit animation I'm just
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saying that during the times I'm in
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between gigs I still have control of my
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life through financial stability and
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fulfilling projects that contribute to
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My overall art journey in life hopefully
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one day syncing with animation the key
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things that helped me so far in life is
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time management having personal side
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projects learning business skills and
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growing on social media and I was
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actually overwhelmed with the selection
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of videos available to learn from but
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I'll say my top favorites were
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productivity for artists by Brooke
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Glazier make creativity your career by
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Anne DJ Pizza start your creative career
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by Sonia rasula finding success online
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by Kate Ahrens and because I juggle so
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many projects at once I figured that
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productivity for artists by Brooke
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Glacier would be really helpful for me
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in just amping up my time management
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skills for any of you who are struggling
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to find a strategy that works for your
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personal time management skills I think
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Brook's class is great for you to figure
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out which method might be more
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appropriate for your art and craft
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making so here I'm trying my own little
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kanban board I've actually never really
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done one of these before but I thought
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it would be a good idea to try so here I
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put my to-do list of stuff ranging from
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Niche work YouTube stuff and Instagram
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comics and then I put the stuff here
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such as line arting Mish editing my
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YouTube video and sketching my Ig comic
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stuff that's currently working in
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progress then for example reviewing
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Niche color is in the waiting phase
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because I submitted some feedback and
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I'm just waiting to see what the
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reception is on my feedback or if the
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feedback is addressed by my colorist and
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then once all of these things are done
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I'm gonna move it down here but I
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thought this was such a great like
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physical way of feeling the progress
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being made with your work and it's also
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really fun to just you know have your
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own little craft to do with this so I'm
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happy to offer that the first 1000
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people to use the link will get a one
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month free trial of skillshare thank you
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to skillshare for sponsoring this video
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and let's get back to the don'ts of
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making Comics so one of the biggest
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problems that I've seen most comic
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artists including myself experience is
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spending too much time on it and not
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knowing when to move on I think one of
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the things you have to accept is to know
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to make your drawings clear over making
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them perfectly beautiful or rendered
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because I do feel like yes there are
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comics where it looks like someone
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spends so long on each and every panel
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it might have taken them a really long
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time but it depends on how soon do you
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want to get this released and get it out
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because there are things to consider
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such as will you be paid if you spend so
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long making on this comic are you
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hindering yourself from future projects
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and moving along so even if your comic
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does not look the way that your usual
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rendered work looks like just remember
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that this is the comic book version of
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you not the entire artist version of you
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like it's only one part of you as an
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artist so don't fear these like less
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rendered drawings being the full
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representation of yourself because it's
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the whole book that matters not this one
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drawing on this one panel that not many
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people are going to care for all they
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care about is making sure that this
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panel serves the rest of the story what
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comes before and after it and then that
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brings me to not having a pipeline that
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works for you because I feel like a lot
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of comic artists maybe just go into
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comics and just don't really have a plan
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of how they're approaching this and
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sometimes that works better for people
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you know to each their own but I do feel
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like if somebody finds themselves
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wasting a lot of time it's probably
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because they're figuring things out as
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they're doing it which is gonna happen
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on your first comic like that's where
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all the learning comes in but there are
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things like not knowing when you should
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do rough sketches or when to do
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revisions or want to do the find a line
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art and stuff like that in what order
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should you approach these things because
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there will be times where you're doing
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the line art from some pages and rough
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sketch is still for other pages and
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managing that can get really chaotic so
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you have to figure out what might work
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best for you and for me personally what
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I do is I always section out my Comics
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especially for things like Niche the bad
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demon or traditionally published Comics
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into parts so I will usually have a part
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one part two part three part four and I
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really just focus on those sections at a
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time like if I have all of the rough
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sketches for part one done I'll write
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I'm gonna move on to line art for that
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because the rough sketches for that is
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locked but whatever is happening in
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sections two three and four if they're
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still in rough sketches I might still
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need to rework them but maybe I have
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part three figured out so that can be
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line arted that's just what personally
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works for me is when I associate my book
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with different sections and these are
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not necessary necessarily chapters it's
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just managing a somewhat equal amount of
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chunks at a time so that I can also Pace
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myself out so next I would say
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definitely don't over worry about the
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logic of your story I feel like this
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even applies to animation or any other
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sort of narrative art where I feel like
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a lot of artists worry so much about how
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is this logically going to work out does
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this make sense I feel like for me I
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just dump out everything that ever comes
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up in my mind all in one page I brain
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dump all the things I feel like should
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happen in the book and then I start to
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make sense of it later so what I would
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suggest for you to do if you feel like
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you are over worrying about the
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structure and then maybe your book is
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not fun anymore because you don't have
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the time to really think about how to
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place the more enjoyable moments of your
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comic I would consider brain dumping
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every single idea you have and then from
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then on like just pretend you can just
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grab and move those pieces you just
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dumped out that is why some people use
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Post-its if you like using Post-its do
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that because you can move them
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physically so having just a place to
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dump out all of your ideas and worrying
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about structure and there are even going
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to be moments where just let the story
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stay fictional this is a fictional world
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this is fake even if you're making a
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slice of life this is still fake it's
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just art let's just remember that art is
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something that should be enjoyed and not
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everything that we do about it has to
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imitate reality like exactly a hundred
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percent I sometimes feel like this kills
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creativity that's why some animations
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just use cartoon magic all I'm saying is
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just remember to have fun and be
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creative with your work instead of just
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worrying about the logistics so another
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problem I find is telling more than
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showing I think this could be a
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preference for some people some people
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really prefer just writing a lot in
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speech bubbles and boxes and sure maybe
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to each their own in that case but for
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me I'm always is a show don't tell
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preferer I guess because I come from a
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storyboarding background and that in
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itself is already like show don't tell
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because your boards have to explain what
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you're supposed to be pitching but you
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don't explain what's happening in the
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boards the same goes for Comics I just
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prefer understanding what's going on
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through the drawings and being able to
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communicate that clearly because even if
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you could not find the right dialogue or
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text for it the story still makes sense
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the situation still makes sense and you
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don't need to rely on words to
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compensate for like a not clear drawing
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I also feel like sometimes this helps
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with nuances like if a character is
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feeling some sort of conflicting emotion
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that might be better off shown through
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facial expressions rather than having
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them say like I'm feeling conflicted or
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something like that but I've also gotten
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some comments saying that like hey my
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comics and books are not that wordy and
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it's not a good or bad thing it's just a
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comment that I noticed so maybe there
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are people out there who do prefer
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reading a lot when they read comic books
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but it's really up to you so then next
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this kind of falls under the time
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management section is just doing
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everything in order from drawing all the
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pages in the same exact order of the
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story so this usually might not be good
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for time management because there are
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sections of your comic that might be a
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lot more detailed than others and that
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and those detailed sections might last
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like a good number of pages or chapters
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and when I say things like I do three
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pages a day I don't do three extremely
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detailed Pages a day and things that
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usually make your Comics super detailed
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is when there's like a lot of crowd
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shots or if you're doing like a city or
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like a very detailed background those
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are the time consuming elements of my
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Comics personally so I know that if I'm
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about to approach doing like like a page
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like that what I will do is I will take
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three pages from totally different
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sections of my comics in which the rough
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sketches are approved to go and proceed
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to line art so I would choose like a
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page from chapter one a page from
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chapter two and maybe another page from
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chapter three where maybe only one page
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is very detailed but the remaining two
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are easier Pages because the thing is is
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if I did all three detailed pages in one
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day that day is gonna be a rough
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freaking day like I'm gonna be up I
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won't have time to cook for myself those
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are the days I feel like I'm a prisoner
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to my desk because doing three pages can
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mean completely different things if you
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are doing three detail Pages versus one
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detail page and like two easy pages so
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that's kind of how I like to Pace myself
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out and that is why it's also important
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to plan out what you're going to be
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doing ahead of time instead of just
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figuring it out on the spot because once
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you figure out how your comic is going
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to play out and you have all the rough
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sketches or the thumbnails you can just
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start choosing what pages to start
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executing line art on instead of being
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like Oh I gotta do it in order because I
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I don't have the rest of the book
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figured out or something like that so
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another helpful time management tool
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which could really depend on whatever
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publisher or how much funding you have
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available for this is to hire a colorist
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for your comic because not all comic
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artists are really the ones that color
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their work I see I've noticed a lot who
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hire colorists and even when you work
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for a publisher they normally hire a
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colorist for you and again Some people
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prefer coloring their own Comics but I'm
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just saying if you are someone who
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prefers to spend more time drawing
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focusing on writing story and line art
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maybe you might want to consider hiring
00:15:06
a colorist to collaborate with of course
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while knowing that this is going to come
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with a cost and if you are somebody who
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is considering the self-publishing route
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I would definitely say think about be
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realistic about how much you think you
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can sell because I feel like I've
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experienced this as well as other
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artists have is over purchasing on
00:15:27
stocks of goods like this doesn't even
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have to be for Comics or books that you
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self-publish it could be for Merch or
00:15:34
pins stickers that maybe might not end
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up doing well and you end up with just a
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huge stock of items I would also say
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this is why having your own social media
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platform might benefit you instead of
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doing something exclusive because you
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have the right to do whatever you want
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with your work and if you have your own
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social media platform you can see how
00:15:54
people are responding to the stuff
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you're posting at your own pace with
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your own like commentary or whatever on
00:16:01
it then meanwhile I will say if you're a
00:16:03
person considering the traditional
00:16:04
publishing route I think the biggest
00:16:07
mistake you can make is not hiring a
00:16:10
good Agent to work alongside you because
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I don't know how I would have gotten
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through any of my book process without a
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good Agent I feel like my agent is the
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one that has really helped and educated
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and guided me through the way of
00:16:24
publishing there were so many parts of
00:16:27
me going through my book deal that I
00:16:29
could have seen myself easily getting
00:16:31
taken advantage because I don't
00:16:33
understand the terms of so many things
00:16:35
either through my contracts or through
00:16:37
the marketing plan or even like these
00:16:40
subtle things that I wouldn't understand
00:16:43
because I'm not from the publishing
00:16:44
world I'm originally from the animation
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world and I did not go to school for
00:16:49
this so it's really helpful to have an
00:16:51
agent who understands the world of
00:16:53
publishing and will be able to kind of
00:16:55
translate all of that for you and I do
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think that the commission cost is worth
00:17:01
it at the end of the day like I would
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say usually 15 is an average amount and
00:17:05
I would say anything like more than that
00:17:06
you should look into and question but if
00:17:10
you do not know where to start with an
00:17:12
agent this is the this is what I would
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suggest for you to do collect all of
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your favorite comic books that you've
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ever read or that you've bought from
00:17:20
somebody and then just Google that comic
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artist's agent on Google and they will
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most likely show up because usually
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whenever a book deal is announced the
00:17:30
agent is also announced with it or
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usually it will just show up in the
00:17:33
Google results of the agency that
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represents this author or artist and I
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would make a list of all of those
00:17:41
different agencies and just because that
00:17:43
person was assigned a certain agent
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doesn't mean you will get that same
00:17:48
exact agent you might get somebody
00:17:49
different that's still in that same
00:17:51
agency and at least for the most part
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you can hope that they will have
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similarly aligned values so that's a
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method I would recommend of looking for
00:18:01
an agent if you don't know where to
00:18:03
start is to just base off of successful
00:18:06
Comics that already exist and the Agents
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that have worked with these comic
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artists but also do know that if you're
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somebody who's just starting off in the
00:18:14
industry it might be a little bit harder
00:18:17
to land on an agent especially if you
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don't really have much prior experience
00:18:22
in either art animation or publishing to
00:18:25
begin with I will say that my experience
00:18:28
in animation and my social media
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presence combined I felt like helped me
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land on a really good Agent and then
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lastly I feel like all artists are
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guilty of this but a lot of people don't
00:18:40
start their Comics because they just
00:18:42
worry about their style not being
00:18:44
consistent enough throughout the book I
00:18:46
remembered so many times when I was
00:18:48
about to start like a comic I would just
00:18:50
be like ugh I have to figure out like
00:18:51
what style I'm going for I don't know
00:18:53
like what is the tone of this comic like
00:18:56
stylistically yet and I would just
00:18:58
really procrastinate and hold my story
00:19:00
off but you just gotta do it because
00:19:03
first of all your comic style is most
00:19:06
likely going to change throughout time
00:19:08
no matter what like when you're drawing
00:19:10
in this comic you're going to evolve as
00:19:12
an artist because it's going to take a
00:19:14
lot of time to work on this it's kind of
00:19:15
like how when you read some of your
00:19:17
favorite mangas by mangakaz I feel like
00:19:21
you see their style kind of change by
00:19:24
like the most recent volume versus the
00:19:26
first book you ever saw like their style
00:19:28
changes over time and I think that it's
00:19:30
such a interesting process to witness
00:19:33
like who cares if it's inconsistent
00:19:34
people still know the characters are the
00:19:37
same but just know that one of the most
00:19:39
comforting things I think about is just
00:19:41
knowing about how there are so many like
00:19:44
either mediocre or below mediocre
00:19:46
projects out there now and even though a
00:19:49
lot of these things are not my favorite
00:19:52
at least they inspire me in the sense
00:19:55
that this person had such a lukewarm
00:19:59
story idea or just not the greatest
00:20:02
project at least in my opinion and that
00:20:06
should give me an excuse to make my own
00:20:08
lukewarm mediocre project so we all have
00:20:12
to start from somewhere you know so
00:20:14
don't be afraid to make your own thing
00:20:16
just because so many cool projects out
00:20:19
there exist and you feel like you might
00:20:21
not stand out or anything you never know
00:20:24
and I feel like there's just
00:20:26
so much to a comic it's kind of more of
00:20:29
a package instead of just like you only
00:20:31
look at the art and like that's it
00:20:32
there's so many other elements to it to
00:20:35
think about and that's why I would say
00:20:36
just getting started is the best thing
00:20:38
you can do because you don't learn any
00:20:40
of these things till you start so anyway
00:20:42
thank you so much for watching this
00:20:44
video thank you to skillshare for
00:20:46
sponsoring this video again check out
00:20:48
the links in the description box below
00:20:50
if you would like to get a one month
00:20:52
free trial of skillshare and if you are
00:20:55
interested in reading my comic book you
00:20:58
can check out Niche the bad demon in the
00:21:00
links below as well so I wish you all
00:21:02
the best on your comic making Journeys I
00:21:05
love that we're living in this day and
00:21:06
age where a lot of people are sharing
00:21:09
their comics online now and it's kind of
00:21:11
like a much more interesting version of
00:21:14
the comic strip section of the newspaper
00:21:17
except of course now the newspaper is
00:21:19
our phone and the comic strip section is
00:21:21
like social media alright so thanks
00:21:23
again for watching and I'll see you all
00:21:25
in the next one
