Easy Comic Lettering & Word Balloon Layout: Comic Life Tutorial

Comic Life Tutorial

We’ve been talking recently about the importance of lettering when making your own comics. In my two posts Comic Balloons & Clarity and The Comic Lettering Spell the discussion in the comments turned toward discussing our own processes. Personally, I use a program called Comic Life. A lot of you asked to see how I [...]

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Comic Layout Tutorial: The Comic Lettering Spell

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I was never interested in lettering. …until I learned that good comic lettering is one of the most important ingredients for casting a story-spell on my readers. I just have to make sure the words don’t cover any important element in the art and I’m done, right? Early in the making of my webcomic, I [...]

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How To Gather Healthy Critique Groups & Collaborators :: PWP #22

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The fastest way to an artist’s heart is to criticize their work. That is, if your intent is to break the artist’s heart. We all have baggage from failed collaborations and scars from harsh critiques. But without healthy critiques and collaborators, you’ll never grow – as an artist, as a storyteller or as a person. [...]

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Man Vs. Man: The Hero’s Mirror

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Perhaps of all the literary conflicts, comic books have championed Man vs. Man more than any other genre. The Man Vs. Man conflict manifests in the epic form of Heroes vs. Villains. There are many ways to use Man vs. Man in your script, but a Superhero-against-Arch-nemesis provides an excellent opportunity to examine a dynamic range [...]

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Man Vs. Machine: The Storyteller’s Frontier

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If your robot army can be defeated accidentally by the likes of Jar Jar Binks, you have NOT crafted a strong Man Vs. Machine conflict. Man Vs. Machine is the newest of all the types of dramatic conflict. The Legend Of John Henry is the oldest Man Vs. Machine story I could think of. That [...]

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Comic Layout Tutorial: Comic Balloons & Clarity

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You’ve just written a fantastic script and absolutely cannot wait to draw it. Then, after laborious hours and perhaps days, the artwork turns out perfectly. You cannot wait for your readers to see it. You really can’t. All that is left is that final, insignificant step: lettering. You begin dropping in a few comic balloons [...]

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Perspective For Comics: Google SketchUp Demo

A few weeks ago, a bunch of us from the Paper Wings Community had a conversation on Twitter about  using Google’s free 3d modeling software Google SketchUp as a way to speed up the process of making comics. I was amazed to discover that everyone had the same problem I did before I learned how to use the program. [...]

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Man Vs. Society: Your Hero Will Change The World & The World Will Change Your Hero

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Use caution when writing a Man vs. Society conflict into your script. If you don’t think through what a Man vs. Society conflict will cost your hero, you will wind up with a Man vs. Nature conflict instead. …except your storm will be made up of human faces. Last week, Chris talked about Man vs. [...]

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Man Vs. Nature: It’s More About Dying Than Surviving

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The Man Vs. Nature conflict is not just about surviving in the wilderness like Tom Hanks in Cast Away, James Franco in 127 Hours or one of my personal favorites: Robert Redford in Jeremiah Johnson. “Nature,” for the purposes of designing conflict and plot, can mean the natural AND the supernatural. In fact, “Nature” is [...]

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Man Vs. Self: How To Create Heroes With Heart

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The Dark Knight Rises will make millions this summer, but poor Wonder Woman will probably never get her film or tv pilot made. There is a reason that Batman is the most popular superhero in the DC universe and it is the same reason that people can’t get enough of Spider-Man, Ironman or Wolverine… Often [...]

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Interview With Brian McDonald: Storytelling Guru, Author of ‘Invisible Ink’ & ‘The Golden Theme’ :: PWP #21

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“Everybody’s looking for the elevator. There is no elevator. You have to climb the mountain.” -Brian McDonald Brian McDonald wrote the two best books on storytelling that I have ever read.  (I have read a lot of books about storytelling.) ‘Invisible Ink’ will equip you as a storyteller.  ‘The Golden Theme’ will give you a [...]

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3 Artistic Inspiration Myths That Will Lead You Astray

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Earlier this year one of my friends embarked on his own “commit to be fit” endeavor and he was on a roll. (Or… #onastroll as he tagged every tweet about his workouts.) I loved reading about his success and determination. So I decided to become a runner, too. The new me was running strong for [...]

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