Some discussion about my personal project
1mo
Yashwardhan Singh
I have decided to started working on my first comic book. I am not sure what will really come of it but I want to do it anyway. I am caught in something right now, so I am waiting until next summer when I will finally have time to work on it. So far I am only sure about two thing -
One, the length; I want it to be a single volume book, about 150-200 pages. I think that should be manageable for my first project. And I am guessing it would take me about a year to finish it.
Two, the theme; I want to draw fairy tale-esque fantasy stories.
I do have a lot of other things going on in my head, but these are the only two things I have locked on.
There is one other question that I think I should decide on right now. That is the format.
At first I had thought of doing a collection of short stories, called "one-shots" in comic book terms. Each one-shot would be 40-50 pages and 3-4 stories will fill a volume. I could pitch individual one-shots to be published in comic magazines or similar publications before being compiled into a volume. It might be easier to get published for a newcomer in that way.
Alternatively, I could just do a 150-200 page long story. It will be somewhat comparable to a movie. These kind of stories are called "graphic novels" in the west (I don't like that term). Seeing how there aren't many "comic magazines" in english, this format might actually have better odds of drawing a publisher's interest.
I am still brainstorming story ideas and haven't decided on anything yet. Then it suddenly occurred to me that the format I am going for (collection of short stories) might not find many takers. So I am trying to settle this question first.
I just want to echo what Patrick said about doing short stories first. Every page of making a comic book is an ordeal. Even a short story is a big undertaking.
Short stories are a good way to experiment with process and style before you hem yourself in on a longer project. You don't want to be twenty pages into your magnum opus when you think of a better stylistic approach and have to redo the first part of your book.
All that said, I encourage you in your endeavor. Making comics will hone you as an artist like nothing else I know of. If it's in the script, you have to figure it out--panel by panel, and page by page. After you solve that many drawing problems, you will not be the same artist at the end of the project. It's an amazing journey.
I don't mean it as an insult but, you are assuming way too much about where I stand and what I am doing.
It's not like I would somehow end up drawing TWENTY PAGES without knowing what I am really doing.
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26d
Hey, there! Glad you're starting to plan out your personal comic project! Personal projects are great ways to level up your art! These are some pretty ambitious goals you've set for yourself, which is great to see! If you're not able to jump in right away, you might want to start with a smaller project goal in mind to get started before jumping into a 200 page story. If you have a main character you're going to focus on throughout your story you could introduce each of your characters with a 4-6 page short story so you can start to learn who your characters are, explore the comic storytelling format, and dial in your artistic process. Do you have any favorite comics that are similar to the Fantasy/Fairytale comics you'd like to create? You might want to do a breakdown of a favorite fairy-tale/fantasy comic to learn how that story translates into comics so you can bring that framework into your own stories. There are a bunch of free lessons from the Marvel Art of Storytelling course, and David Finch's Creating a Comic Page that may help get you started! https://youtu.be/s5vqw2ueaJc?si=HgLHragR62haa0lo
https://youtu.be/L7-kfEwRbu4?si=19Jt4PYDEKxgveP4
Hope this helps! Looking forward to seeing your comics!!
Hello and thanks for replying.
Your advice on going smaller does seem sensible, but I don't want to do things that way. 4-8 pages is way too short honestly. It's like I only have a couple of paragraphs to tell the story. 20-50 pages seems a lot more natural for telling a complete short story.
I wanted my first book to be a collection of short stories because that seems like an obvious first step.
But then I started thinking how would I actually get it published? I have explained my dilemma in detail in the original post. I could go the self-publishing route, but I have zero experience in that department along with marketing and self-promotion. Working with an experienced publisher at least for my first book would be helpful.
On a side note, I had posted my question in this category without realizing there's already a category for Comics; where this post should've been I guess. I wonder if it would be okay to repost there.
