So, above is a really crappy drawing. Didn’t put as much time into coloring it as I probably should have, but the drawing was practice anyway. Never drawing swamps before, or much scenery at all, to be honest. That’s looking to be the hardest part of this whole thing, but we’ll see.
Anyways, alright, let’s figure this thing out.
First of all, I think it’d be really interesting to do this “open development” style, similar to what Wolfire is doing with Overgrowth. Except in this case, it’s a comic and I have no idea what I’m doing. (And obviously I’m not going to show a lot of the actual art. I’ll post as much practice art as I can, character studies and such, but once I start doing pages I don’t want to spoil it for everyone!)
I guess a good way to be start is to make a list of what I need to figure out, in no particular order:
- The story, obviously. Not even sure what time period I want it to be in yet. Having a knight suggest medieval of course, but have the knight being some what of an anachronism sounds fun, too. Lots and lots of work to be done here.
- Color or black and white. Since I’d be coloring it digitally (probably) this can be decided later on, probably. But I’m not sure which I like more yet.
- Publishin-never mind, I’m not going to think about that yet.
- Scanning the comics. So far I’ve been scanning on my Canon LiDE 110 in black and white, but I’m not sure I like how it’s turning out. What I’ve drawn so far has been in a cheap ball point pen, and I actually really like how that looks on paper, but it doesn’t translate very well to just black and white since the ink is very light. A simple solution would be to use darker ink, but that might end up changing the style completely. If anyone knows a thing or two about scanning comics, I could use some help here!
That’s at least what’s on my head now, although it certainly isn’t everything.
Also! There are some ways you (yes, you) can help!
- If you happen to be knowledgeable in the area of comics, or know someone who is and is willing to help, I could certainly use a hand. I’m new at this, and could use all the help I can get!
- Feedback! As I post things, I’d like to know what everyone thinks. I do have some vision of where I want this to go, so I know I can’t make everyone happy, but with certain things feedback will be incredibly valuable.
- Bug me. I’ve promised myself I’d write a book several times before this, and I’ll admit that I’m horrible at sticking to it. If I haven’t posted anything in weeks (or days), bug me about it. I’m hoping that by making this whole thing public that I’ll have more pressure on my to finish.
- And last and most obviously, share this with friends! Get the word out, so when I finally release this I can get it out to more than just friends and family.
And again, that’s all I can think of for now. Before we go, one important question: Would you like to see this as more of a story book or a comic book (a story book being more exposition heavy with a picture and some narrative on each page, comic book having panels and such)?