Questions tagged [comics]
Writing for comic books, graphic novels, manga, etc.
107
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How can I promote somebody else's webcomic? [closed]
I found this webcomic not long ago that has quickly begun hogging my brain full time. I never got the appeal of fanfiction before, but now I find myself coming home after work every evening, opening ...
0
votes
0
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28
views
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 ...
0
votes
1
answer
40
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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 ...
0
votes
2
answers
75
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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
answer
35
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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 ...
0
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0
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29
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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, ...
3
votes
1
answer
203
views
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 ...
4
votes
2
answers
70
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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, ...
0
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2
answers
57
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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 ...
1
vote
1
answer
52
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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 ...
1
vote
2
answers
102
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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 ...
0
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1
answer
78
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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!". ...
1
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0
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38
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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'...
0
votes
1
answer
41
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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 ...
0
votes
1
answer
56
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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 ...
0
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0
answers
44
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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 ...
-1
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2
answers
114
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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 ...
0
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1
answer
99
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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 ...
1
vote
1
answer
39
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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 ...
0
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0
answers
43
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Are there other ways to put SFX in a comics book script?
I don't like this format, because it makes it harder to distinguish character dialogues from graphical sound elements you want to put in your comics panels, what are some other ways to introducing ...
0
votes
1
answer
40
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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 ...
0
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0
answers
23
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What are various shots, you can include in a script and how would you format the shots inside the script?
https://www.polarprofilters.com/blogs/polarpro/filmmaking-101-types-of-camera-shots-and-angles
They give you: long, medium and close shot, and then they mention several angle shots. I am sorry if this ...
0
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1
answer
111
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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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26
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How do you convey that a word or part of an audio tape or speech is not understood in a comic text bubble?
How do you convey that a word or part of an audio tape or speech is not understood?
Here's an example of what I mean:
Amber Heard: You're a little (impossible to make out what she said),
Johnny.
...
0
votes
1
answer
80
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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 ...
1
vote
2
answers
64
views
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 ...
0
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0
answers
37
views
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 ...
0
votes
1
answer
48
views
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 ...
1
vote
1
answer
31
views
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 ...
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 ...
0
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0
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39
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How do you tell in a script that a character is talking through radio?
How do you tell in a script that a character is talking through radio? Secondly, how do you tell the artist what kind of text bubble to use? Is there a way to do this, that's considered standard? I am ...
10
votes
3
answers
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.
...
1
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1
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74
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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 ...
1
vote
1
answer
72
views
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 ...
3
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1
answer
71
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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 ...
1
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0
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61
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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 ...
-1
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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? ...
1
vote
1
answer
101
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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 ...
4
votes
1
answer
73
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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 ...
0
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3
answers
106
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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 ...
1
vote
1
answer
65
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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, ...
0
votes
1
answer
47
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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 ...
0
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2
answers
166
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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 ...
0
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0
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36
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What do you call comics panels where the foreground is abstract and when do you use them?
What do you call comics panels where the foreground is abstract and when do you use them? Abstract backgrounds are mostly used to convey some sort of emotions, but instead of using abstract background,...
1
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0
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42
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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 ...
1
vote
2
answers
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 ...
1
vote
2
answers
106
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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 ...
1
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2
answers
92
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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 ...
6
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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 ...
1
vote
2
answers
246
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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 ...