Questions tagged [comics]
Writing for comic books, graphic novels, manga, etc.
102
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Is there anything too important to "offscreen" in a comic book?
Is there anything too important to "offscreen" in a comic book?
I just read a comic book where it looked like a character had won a fight against another character, and in the next panel, we ...
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0
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0
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46
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Advice for planning long comic book arcs and subplots?
It's common in traditional superhero comics for there to be a number percolating subplots, that may be developed over one or several years' time. For example, a standard issue may have about 20 pages ...
0
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0
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29
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How do you change from omniscient narration to unreliable narration and vice versa in a comic book without speech balloons?
How do you change from omniscient narration to unreliable narration and vice versa in a comic book without speech balloons? I am guessing you need to put square speech balloons, to switch from ...
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0
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1
answer
65
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When should you include a shot of a character when someone talk about that character?
When should you include a shot of a character when someone talk about that character?
In films or comics book, you sometimes see someone mention a character and you still a shot or a picture of that ...
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0
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2
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88
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Writing a character with amnesia
I'm working on a webcomic in which the main character has amnesia from head trauma. She was an experiment and when escaping she hit her head. She has one sentence of dialogue to the other main ...
0
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1
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71
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What do you call a scene where you hear a phrase in a character's mind resonate in his mind just after he heard it and how do you do it in a comic?
What do you call a scene where you hear a phrase in a character's mind resonate in his mind just after he heard it and how do you do it in a comic?
Not sure how you draw a speech bubble for something ...
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35
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Is there a way to do unreliable narration in comics book without the narrator speech bubble?
Comics are the easiest medium to accomplish this in, since you can
have the narration saying one thing above the panel and the panel show
what's really happening, whereas in Film, Western Animation, ...
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3
votes
1
answer
283
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How do you introduce footnotes in a comic book?
How do you introduce footnotes in a comic book? Let's say one of the characters play with an electrical toy inside a bathtub filled with water. How do you add the phrase "This is dangerous. Do ...
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4
votes
2
answers
74
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How do you introduce acronyms in a comic book?
How do you introduce acronyms in a comic book? For example, CIA means Central Intelligence Agency, but no one will say "Central Intelligence Agency", they will say "CIA". Likewise, ...
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0
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2
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70
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Writing text bubbles for sign language
I often see mute characters just gesturing and a person who can talk translating the mute person, but I would like to have both my mute and non-mute characters speak with sign languages without ...
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1
vote
1
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59
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How do you shorten a long spell incantation in a comic book?
O water, garden of the soul, spirit of the moon, hallowed source of
life, I command you to converge before me, I, child of Gaia! Aqua!
Let's say I have to have my character say this long incantation ...
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2
votes
2
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108
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Is it ok to do a flashback to a scene that was never shown before?
I think I asked a question that was similar, but this question is different, because the context is completely different. One of the issues is that sometimes you waste 10 panels doing a simple ...
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0
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1
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88
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How do you distinguish robotic voices from normal human voices in comics?
How do you distinguish robotic voices from normal human voices in comics?
Sometimes, in comics, you have a robotic voices coming out of a machine saying something like "Download Complete!". ...
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1
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0
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41
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How do you show in a comic that in a scene with three characters only one of them can see one character?
I have this scene where there's a character A that sees character B in the same scene, but character C who is right next to character A doesn't see character B. How do you show that character C doesn'...
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0
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1
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49
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What are things you need to insure when using text bubbles for off-screen characters in a comics panel?
What are things you need to insure when using text bubbles for off-screen characters in a comics panel? I have a few panels where we see 1 character visible, but there are 2 other characters speaking ...
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0
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1
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74
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How do you draw a small static shock in a comics book?
This is used for an electric shock, but I want to depict a small static shock, which is several magnitude weaker than a full-blown electric shock. I am not sure how to do this. I want to tell the ...
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0
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0
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53
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How do you do branching endings in a comic book?
There are sometimes 2 or more endings in video games. In video games, it's simple because the ending is determined by the character choices, but in a comic book, it's not too obvious so how would you ...
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2
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250
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How do you draw the text bubbles for telepathic communication in comics?
How do you draw the text bubbles for telepathic communication in comics? I don't recall having ever seen text bubbles for telepathic speech between 2 or more characters. I am especially interested to ...
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0
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1
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255
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How do you introduce singing in a text bubble in comics?
How do you introduce singing in a text bubble in comics? Is there a singing text bubble, or is there some other way to show that a character is singing? Do you have a few examples showing how this is ...
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1
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1
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42
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What's the minimum you need to put in dialogues during a mission briefing scene in a comics?
Because despite the amount of research I've done, I can't write a realistic scene involving a mission briefing in a military organization, I am thinking of putting the minimum amount of dialogues, but ...
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0
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1
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51
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Can you use a flashback in a comic for something the person imagined happened?
Can you use a flashback in a comic for something the person imagined happened? So basically in the flashback panels on my comics, we see the person having the flashback in the panel itself, which is ...
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0
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1
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297
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What are some alternatives to the thought bubble?
I found these panels and they seem to be used as text bubbles. Is this the case and what do we call them? I am wondering if there's a specific word for these.
https://m-mimima.tumblr.com/post/...
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1
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81
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Is there a way to not waste 4 panels for hand signs or hand gestures in a comic book?
Now, I made a question on how to merge comic panels, but what about the very specific case where the moving parts stay relatively static, or rather they don't change position, and they move while ...
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1
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2
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76
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How should you visually describe in a comic a spell cast in a subtle and stealthy manner?
How should you visually describe in a comic a spell cast in a subtle and stealthy manner? In Star Wars, Jedi sometimes use jedi mind trick, but it's hard to tell for some people from a drawn image ...
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0
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0
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52
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What are some ways to introduce a character's name in a comics book?
What are some ways to introduce a character's name in a comics book? In my comics, I have this issue where none of the characters' names are known until chapter 40, and it's because in Japanese ...
- 14.9k
0
votes
1
answer
48
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Using multiple timeskips at the beginning all at once, bad practice?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOd-BOOCOK8
Fallout 3 uses several timeskips at the beginning of the game showing how the main character grew inside of the shelter. Is this bad practice? In what ...
- 14.9k
1
vote
1
answer
38
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When should you tell your readers how much time has elapsed after a time skip in a comics?
When should you tell your readers how much time has elapsed after a time skip in a comics? The issue is during a boxing match for example. Sometimes, between panel 4 and panel 5, there's a 20 seconds ...
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1
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0
answers
35
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What do you need to do to insure that text bubbles are localization friendly in comics?
What do you need to do to insure that text bubbles are localization friendly in comics? You gave a script and the artist filled the text bubbles she drew, but how do you know if the text bubbles are ...
- 14.9k
11
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3
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2k
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How do you merge two comics panels into one?
I thought about it, and I am wondering if there's a way to put 5 seconds of action in 1 single comic frame, or you need to make 5 frames or 1 for each action. Consider the following fictional excerpt.
...
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1
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1
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139
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What do you call these text bubbles without tails?
What do you call these text bubbles without tails? I saw some radio text bubbles with tails that pointed to the headset, but I am wondering if it's better and more standard to use these tailless radio ...
- 14.9k
1
vote
1
answer
73
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When hiring an animator or an artist, how do you insure that you don't become solely reliant on that artist or animator?
When hiring an animator or an artist, how do you insure that you don't become solely reliant on that artist or animator? When writing a script and giving art direction through writing, how do you ...
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3
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1
answer
75
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How can you show that people are showing antipathy towards a character without using or by using minimal dialogues in a comics?
How can you show that people are showing antipathy towards a character without using or by using minimal dialogues in a comics? I was thinking of putting some panels where some characters are seen ...
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2
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0
answers
80
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How do you handle hallucinations/daydreaming in comics?
How do you handle hallucinations/daydreaming in comics? I remember instances where people in TV shows are literally dreaming while awake with their eyes wide-open and just wakes up from their ...
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2
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62
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How do you make flashbacks especially obvious with a clear beginning and end?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kk7qB_GfNnY
Let's say the flashback flashes in the protagonist's mind, what can you do besides graying the gutters, or graying the panels, or making the borders fuzzy? ...
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1
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1
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112
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What do you call the techniques of drawing characters like this to hide violence in comics?
What do you call the techniques of drawing characters like this to hide violence in comics? I saw it several times, but I don't know if there's a name for this technique and if it's used in other ...
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4
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1
answer
162
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How do you create the effect that voices are mumbled while the character is daydreaming in a comic panel?
How do you create the effect that voices are mumbled while the character is daydreaming in a comic panel? In films, you actually hear the mumbled voices while the character is daydreaming or in a sort ...
- 14.9k
1
vote
3
answers
111
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What are ways to shorten exposition scenes?
Let's say you are writing a military sci-fi comic book and you have a mission briefing, how do you shorten it to the maximum amount possible while avoiding cliches? I've been thinking about it and I ...
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1
vote
1
answer
72
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How would you introduce a new story arc in the middle of another arc?
How would you introduce a new story arc in the middle of another arc? Let's say that you stopped writing a comics series for 3 years and the last time you left off is in the beginning of a new arc, ...
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0
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1
answer
48
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Is there a way to tell a very gory story while still being PG-13 when writing a comic book?
Is there a way to tell a very gory story while still being PG-13 when writing a comic book? What are some techniques used in order to insure that? I see some comic books like Berserk that are ...
- 14.9k
1
vote
2
answers
170
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Is this telling and not showing, and why is it ok in here?
In Stone Ocean, the antagonist explains his power at the end of the series. I am wondering if this is telling and not showing and if there are situation where telling and showing is completely ok and ...
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1
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0
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57
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Do you need to clearly distinguish dream scenes from reality in comics books?
Do you need to clearly distinguish dream scenes from reality in comics books? Sometimes dream scenes are grayed a little bit to distinguish them, but do you have to do it? When should you distinguish ...
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1
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2
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70
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Writing a text bubble coming from a military headset in comics
Writing a text bubble coming from a military headset. How do you do that? Especially, when the headset is not visible or the character wearing the headset is small. I am not sure how comics handle ...
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1
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2
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107
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How much can you shorten an armor wearing scene in a comics?
Let's say the armor is important, do we have to show let's say the guy wearing the helmet in one panel, then the legging and then the breast plate? Or we can shorten it even more? Usually, I would ...
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1
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2
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144
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What are some essential parts of a mission briefing scene?
What are some essential parts of a mission briefing scene?
In war movies, you have a general going over some plan. Here's our target. He's in some place. Look out for X, Y, Z. And then sometimes, the ...
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5
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3
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5k
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Can you completely skip bridge scenes in movies or comic books?
Can you completely skip bridge scenes in movies or comics books?
Let's take an example.
Mario is told by Luigi that the princess was kidnapped by Bowser.
Mario asks Luigi where the princess is being ...
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2
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689
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How do you express a chuckle in a text bubble in a comic?
"Chuckles, then I might try to become President then!"
Do you use chuckles? Because chuckles is considered to be an onomatopoeia. I also considered "Haha", but it looks weird. How ...
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1
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53
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How many transitions is too many transitions in a comic book?
3 panels > 1 hour time skip > 3 panels > 4 hours time skip > 5 panels > 5 hours time skip > 3 panels 1 year time skip > 2 panels > 1 hour time skip > 4 panels > 5 hours ...
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1
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352
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Can we get sued for copying the same drawing style?
Akira Toriyama's Dragon Ball & Square Enix's Dragon Quest share the same art style, but it's because they were designed by the same artist, Akira Toriyama. I am wondering if we can get sued for ...
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8
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3
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4k
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How do you show a wolf howling in a comic book panel if the wolf isn't visible?
How do you show a wolf howling in a comic book panel if the wolf isn't visible? In some movies, you see a shot of a mountain and you hear wolves howling in the distance, perhaps behind the camera. How ...
- 14.9k
4
votes
1
answer
585
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Foregoing the background in comic books
I often see comic panels where the background is blacked out or there is very little detail, but I am not sure what the conventions on this are and when we can do this or when it is typically done. It ...
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