The reason i tarted on Drawspace, was because I had been toying with a comic strip. I had been using the program Inkscape to do this in... (Sample strip below)

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v120/lpmember/TD17.png

EDIT: Changed to link to avoid forum blowout

But now I want to hand draw, as the samples I did, while I think the writing was funny,the images seemed... soulless.

Anyway, what are some guidlines to creating a comic strip? Paper size, strip frames, tools, work area, that sort of thing.

As a big Jeopardy fan, I love your example! I think the drawings fit the dialog. If the drawings were too distracting, then the dialog would be missed & vice versa. To me, a comic strip needs to be a balance of art & dialog.

I'm not a comic strip illustrator so have no real tips for you. I think that's something that you learn mainly from observation. Perhaps check out your favorite comic strip & see how they have done it. Like any art, we learn by either experimenting or copying a style that we like and making it our own.

J

Great comic Inky! Your style will develop over time as you become experienced and the ease of hand drawing will make it your own.

I'm not familiar with comic strip creatiion either, but I know that most illustration is done at about twice the size that you would see in a newspaper or comic book. As for tools and workspace, it would be the same as most artists. A drafting table would be useful along with good lighting, pens, pencils, coloured ink if you work in colour, etc.

You should do a google search on submission requirements for comics as they likely vary from publication to publication. If you have a favourite comic artist, contact them and ask them about their work and how they got started, their tools etc. I'm sure they'd be flattered and thrilled to talk to you about their work.

Its all in the narrative. The greatest thing about comics is the way you can use frames (or not frames) to control the time and space of your comic.

Eg. A long horizontal frame indicates a long space of time, or a pause in time. or, you can repeat the frame several times consecutively to show a long space of time.

Theres a book that deals with comics in a very academic fashion, and it really helps any1 dealing with narrative of any kind, i'll try find the title of it, its definatly worth a read, it really changes how you think about comics completely.

Thanks for the ideas.... Found this link to be helpful:

http://www.kingfeatures.com/subg.htm

Although, it says to draw it 13 in. wide by 4 in. tall... Do they make paper like that? (I haven't really looked at paper size at the art store, just price )

Pages of art for normal sized comic books - like the superhero ones - are drawn on 11x17 sheets of paper, which is then reduced for printing. There are suppliers who sell the paper for this, and they may or may not sell something for comic strips as well. My husband and I own a couple dozen of these original pieces of page art and have been to comic conventions where I have seen the art supplies.

There are a couple books that 3lansir could be referring to. The more academic one is by Will Eisner, I believe it's called Sequential Art. The more fun one is written in comic strip format and is called Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud. It's still theory but it really hooked me on the concept. I believe he is publishing a book this fall called Drawing Comics, or something along those lines, which might have more technical information.

Hope this helps a little bit,
Beth

Very funny comic. Laughed and laughed. If nothing else this whole thread has raised the idea that I might like to try my hand at this comic thing. Then again I might not be funny. But what the heck you can always laugh at my drawings...hehe.

Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud, thats the one, its written entirely in comic book style. Very interesting read.

Well well let see, there are lot of styles and kinds of comic strips, you find the one you like most. Than try to imitate it or copy it, practise that style and after some time your drawings and caracters will look live enough. Then you can start creating your own comic with your or some1s story. I started like that and today I draw my own comic books, some even published .Offcorse I am not a profesional I do comics because I like to draw and tell action storys Brendas lessons can help you a lot as they halped me, but also there is a bunch of books that can help you as 3lansir seed.

About paper size use A3 format (if you know what I meen) , on every page you have to have maximum 5 to 6 pictures any more and it is crowded.

When creating a comic first draw a concept art and some skatches to know in any time how your caracters and surroundings look like. Look at my galery to see some of my concept art if you want.

Well this is just some basiq tips for comic strip, if you want more be free to ask, as you can see we are allways willing to help

Thanks for the info on "Understanding Comics". I am sure I will get a copy. Although I have no idea about actually writing them, technically, I do know this from reading so many through out the years and that is you have to have a style. Like the Simpsons are rounded shapes with primary type colors. I am probalby not making myself clear but it has to be a style no one has ever used before, something unique if your going to be a big hit at it.

Maybe someone else can put this into better words. But I know it is true. I think I would have actually have to have the comics in front of me to describe the style of a particular one. Oh, right to the left the smilies faces. They are a comic all contained in a circle. So lines in a circle expressing an emotion (a Face) is the style. Before the smiley no one just showed emotions with simple a head shape. Not that I know of anyway.

Ok I found a copy of the "Understanding Comics" by Scott McCloud and low and behold right next to it was "Making Comics" by the same author which details the art. Very neat book. Just an example. He points out that we should not be afraid to draw detailed backgrounds just because we have not drawn those kinds of things before. In fact the background is not just a background of the character but the world in which it lives. Don't be a slave to the close up, be bold and share the world your comic lives in so that others will want to come back and visit that world. Not an exact quote but I thought it was a good thought. So much here....neat.....neat....neat...

Well I have been so busy my first at seeing this thread. I like your cartoon Inkva and I have saved that link. I also found this site interesting. .http://www.reuben.org/ncs/advice.asp