Comic name: Without Moonlight
Creator: Tantz Aerine
Genre: War, Espionage, Drama
Synopsis: A mismatched group of Athenians try to help Greek Resistance with their plan against the Nazis.
Comic link: http://www.withoutmoonlight.com
FB link: https://www.facebook.com/withoutmoonlight & https://www.facebook.com/tantz.aerine
Michael Yakutis, Private Comic Eye, led the investigation into the answering of Sarah’s question:
Writing a westernized graphic novel (like those found in North America or Europe) differs from that of a manga in various ways. Obviously the visual look of manga is greatly different from western comics, and manga comics can get away with using symbols to help convey emotion, such as popping veins and sweat drops on the forehead. Manga comics tend to place more emphasis on character emotions and reactions whereas western comics typically avoid overly-exaggerated character expressions unless they’re going for a more “cartoony” look.
Inked linework is an iconic element of comics. Duh.
But have you thought about why? I guess because of the whole history of how the art form evolved; I’m not an expert on that. But it makes sense to me that Doré et al. etched rather than painted for book illustrations, and that Outcault et al. inked cartoons in a way that could be reproduced on plates. Pencil, pastel, and paint and other media just don’t play as nice with printing presses as clean linework does.
[Tweet “Pencil, pastel, and paint and other media just don’t play as nice with printing presses as clean linework does.”]
Don Elson (@BrmaDon) hit up our twitter with a great question this week:
Why should one write a script when in the end they draw the comic as well?
[Tweet “Everyone works differently when creating comics – @MichaelYakutis”]
In the last chapter, I compared making a graphic novel to growing a tree. When growing a tree, there are things that can kill its growth, such as drought, floods, insect infestations, etc. Just like those things that can kill a tree, there are things that can stop the progress of your graphic novel. I like to call them roadblocks because they stand in the way of your progress, and sometimes you may not even realize it. In this chapter I’ll talk a bit about these roadblocks and potential ways to get around them. read more»
Creator-owned comics are making a solid resurgence in the comic book world – from Ben Templesmith’s crowd-funded Squidder, to Jim Zub’s Skullkickers. With their successes proving that it can be done, we were asked what kinds of royalties creators see after they send their comic babies out into the world. Michael Yakutis snagged this question and gave us a great answer. read more»
Are you overwhelmed by the amount of data that Google Analytics gives you? You likely signed up for it to see how many people read your webcomic and now you’re sorting through page views, bounce rates and tons of other numbers that you’re not sure what to do with. It all seems interesting, but how can these numbers be used for something other than entertainment and ego boosting? One of the most powerful things you can do with Google Analytics is use the statistics it provides to find out if the way you’re marketing your webcomic is achieving the results you want.
One of the questions we received recently dealt with drafting a rating system for comics whose subject material might be a little too graphic for younger audiences.
Not all comics are appropriate for all audiences or age groups. If your comic contains material that is of a mature nature you may want to consider giving it a rating. Many online comics follow this rating system:
Plotting out perspective for comic book page/panel composition is paramount to building great art. One of the hardest elements of composing perspective for a panel is getting all of the measurements just right so that all of the angles for your environmental elements within your panel come out right. Sergey Kritskiy’s perspective tool allows you to create amazingly accurate grids for your comic within seconds.
Way to go! You’ve answered “yes” to the questions: Do you love comics? Do you love to draw? Do you love to tell stories? And do you love/really like/tolerate publishing? That’s a good first step, and you’ve convinced me of your passion to create a graphic novel. Now I’d like to talk to you about growing trees.
