Tag Archives: Artists Alley

Not in Script? Not on Page!

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Lately, I’ve been editing a graphic novel script for a client. It’s her first try at comic scripting, but she comes from a background in animation scriptwriting. The fact that she’s using an animation format was a little unusual to me, but that’s one of the nice things about comic scripting: the formatting is not as specific as screenwriting.

One of the key things about comic scripting, is that you need to be specific in your panel descriptions. Unlike screenwriting, where you can assume things carry forward during the course of a scene, in comic scripting, you can’t make the same assumptions about the panel descriptions.

Get It In the Panel Description

Tsalosha smiling

The artist gave Tsalosha a pleased smile at this moment.

Panel descriptions are perhaps the hardest thing for a novice comic script writer to grasp. In screenwriting and in prose, the writer can assume that things carry forward. But that’s not the case with comic scripting. You need to be clear about things in the panel.

But it’s not just carrying forward elements of the scene. It’s about making sure that you as the writer let the artist know details like a character’s reaction to events.

I learned this lesson the hard way. In my first story that was drawn by a professional artist (Gordon Purcell), one of the aspects of the story was that the characters were shape-changers. Each character could change into a particular animal. It is strongly implied in the story that they can only change into one such animal.

In the story, my hero, Tsalosha, changes into a stag. However, at the climax of the story comes a special revelation. His rival has provoked a slide of rocks down a mountain-side at Tsalosha, and he falls off a cliff. (This actually happens at the page turn, so it is quite literally a “cliff-hanger”.) On the next page, he turns into an eagle! This is a big surprise to everyone.

When You Forget Something Crucial

The problem is that there was one crucial aspect of this transformation that did not get into the script: that Tsalosha himself did not know he could turn into more than one animal. This transformation was supposed to be as much a surprise to him as it is to everyone.

Tsalosha anxious and surprised.

Tsalosha anxious and surprised.

Above you can see the way Gordon rendered Tsalosha’s face as he falls – there’s a happy smile on his face in the detail. What this does to the storytelling is that it changes what the Reader interprets in the character’s reaction. Even though this smile is a very tiny detail in the whole panel, it is clear in the artist’s work.

That’s because in the script, I didn’t give the artist an indication that the transformation should be a shock to Tsalosha as well. He should be afraid, thinking he is falling to his death. But I forgot to put that crucial bit of information into the script to let my artist know how to draw that detail.

Now, I’ve been preparing a color version of the story to add to my website, so it gave me an opportunity to change this little detail, because it is important to me. The color version with have the expression of the second picture here, one that is a bit more anxious.

The Lesson To Be Learned

Make sure that you are clear about every panel description in your script. Don’t assume that your artist can read your mind about your intentions for the atmosphere of the scene or the emotions of the character.

Excite and inspire your artist, always. But make sure that you also provide him or her with all the information needed to tell the story just the way you want it.

The whole panel with the detail

The whole panel with the detail.

Finding an Artist for Your Graphic Novel

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Artists Alley at a convention

Artists Alley at a convention

When you are a writer setting out to create a graphic novel project and you are not yourself an artist, the biggest question can be “How do I find an artist?” You may have friends who are artists, but who have never done sequential storytelling. Or you may like their style for many things, but know that it doesn’t quite fit your story. When you really want everything about the project to be “just right”, you face some challenging decisions when you look for an artist.

If you don’t know a lot of professional artists (or even semi-professional ones), how do you find an artist? You can check a number of online website, that’s true. A site like Deviant Art will let you browse through the galleries of established and aspiring comic book artists. But you can’t always tell if the artist who has great pin-ups can also handle the sequential storytelling of a graphic novel.

Artist Tone Rodriguez in Artists Alley

Artist Tone Rodriguez in Artists Alley

Another place you can go to find an artist is at conventions. Most all conventions that are geared toward the popular culture of comics and graphic novels will have an Artists Alley, where working artists display their work, create works on commission, or even work on assigned paying jobs while making themselves available to fans. You can talk with them, look at a variety of their works, discuss collaboration possibilities.

This is just the briefest bit of advice on selecting an artist for your project. In Creating Graphic Novels you can find more information on what to look for in an artist, as well as the factors you need to consider in connecting with a creative partner (because that is what your artist in the graphic novel will be). Check out the book for the most accessible introduction to the business of comics and graphic novels.

Where to Begin in Creating a Graphic Novel?

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I know a lot of writers who have toyed with the idea of creating a graphic novel version of one of their (usually unpublished) works, whether it’s a screenplay, novel, or short story. But they hold themselves back from it because they aren’t familiar with the business side of graphic novels and comic books. It’s a pity because the process, though a lot of work, is not as difficult as they might imagine.

scribblerworks graphic short story tsaloshaThinking Visually

One of the first things to consider in approaching the possibility of turning your story into a graphic novel is the visual possibilities in your story. Since, assuming you are not an artist yourself, you are going to be hiring an artist to draw the images for your story, you want the tale to give that person some exciting things to do: action encounters, emotional intensity in the characters, interesting locations. And while you may be in love with your prose, a graphic novel is about images. You will be giving up some of your wonderful prose in favor of wonderful artwork.

For the script of a graphic novel, you want to make the artist fall in love with the image potential in the stories. If you bore the artist, you will get boring artwork. So you want to excite your artist. To do that, you have to think visually about the story you are telling.

Learning About Artists

Of course, if you don’t know any artists, you may have no idea of what will excite one. To learn about what any artist likes to draw, what they are good at, what their finished artwork looks like, you need to do some research. You can search online and find many artists and then initiate email conversations with them. Or you can go to comic book conventions and cruise the Artists Alley of the exhibit hall, and see first hand the various styles and abilities of many artists. The artist is usually right there at the table for you to talk to and discuss possibilities.

Information Right at Your Hand

There’s no need for you to feel completely overwhelmed by these steps. I give you the basics for getting started in Creating Graphic Novels. In this book, I walk the graphic novel novice through the whole process. I explain the special jargon of graphic novels and comic books, finding art teams, and the options in  publishing.

This books is a great gift for your aspiring graphic novelist, or for yourself. Check it out! (And by the way, if you purchase from the publisher right now, you can get the book at a 25% discount with free shipping! Don’t wait!)