The Comics Experience Blog

We’re almost halfway through 2019! How are those New Year’s resolutions coming along, eh?

Look, we’re not here to judge! We’re here to help, and we have four new classes beginning in August to make sure you meet (maybe even exceed!) your comic and screenplay creation goals. Enrollment is open now, so make sure you sign up as soon as you’re able to if you want to guarantee your spot.

Introduction to Screenwriting | August 12 | Instructor: James Janowsky

This course covers the fundamentals of how to structure a screenplay, with lessons on strong characterization and storytelling. Sign up here.

Perfecting a One-shot | August 14 | Instructor: Andy Schmidt

You only have 20 pages to tell a complete story. What do you need to know to make sure your characters stand out and their arcs conclude satisfactorily? Andy Schmidt builds on the basics taught in the introductory writing course. Sign up here.

Introduction to Comic Book Art | August 14 | Instructor: Phillip Sevy

At the conclusion of this course on the fundamentals of great comic book art, students should be able to draw their own 5-page story with the sure, dynamic hand of a professional. Sign up here.

Advanced Comic Book Coloring | August 19 | Instructor: Chris Sotomayor

For graduates of the introductory course on comic book coloring, this follow-up presents lessons on customized digital brushes, special effects and layering, experimentation, palette design, and more. Sign up here.

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If you want to make comics, write, draw, letter, and color comics, or improve as a comics creator, you’ll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!

Think about the most memorable elements of the last comic book you read or cartoon you watched. No doubt the characters stood out to you in some way, right?

Veteran designer Owen Welsh (Flagship Studios, EA, Qalang) is once again offering his course on how to create memorable characters, beginning June 8! For aspiring and experienced artists alike, this class focuses on the basics and philosophies of an important aspect of comics and animation.

We spoke with Owen about his views on what constitutes strong character designs and his approach.

Comics Experience: What’s your process like when designing characters? For such a complex undertaking, what makes for the ideal starting point?

Owen Welsh: Before we begin to draw we first must know what goes on inside a characters head. I would first start with a script, character bio or profile. Often times we are so eager to begin drawing that we will skip this crucial step by overlooking the psychology of our character. At this starting point the we should ask ourselves one simple question, “What is my character’s object of desire?” Answering that question will inform us on many personality traits that will be needed to supported this ambition, want or need. Form and content go hand and hand.

CE: What elements all go into great character design when it comes to specifically animation, specifically comics, and both? What are some particularly standout examples, from any form of media, that exemplify your views on character design?

OW: There are many elements or principles that we will discover during the class that help guide our process towards designing a character. First and foremost, drawing is a language and wither you are drawing for animation or comics you are communicating something very specific and intentional to your audience. Be deliberate! Animation and comics are mediums and both of them share stylistic qualities. Given the striking similarities between the mediums I would say that appeal is king of all the elements in design characters for either medium. If your character doesn’t look appealing, keep searching. Milt Kahl was an expert character designer at Disney, Jack Kirby created amazing characters for Marvel, and Heinrich Kley gave us some of the most interesting characters as illustrations to name a few.

CE: What are some misconceptions about character design held by artists? Newcomers and veterans alike.

OW: Some believe the holy grail of character design is unending pretty detail and realism. We must push past that into the world of caricature. It’s so often that we as artist do not push our designs to more extreme caricatures and as a result, the designs are easily forgotten. The best way to capture realism and detail is with photography, as artists we have the opportunity to give the world something they haven’t seen before and with that, our perspective on things. Don’t miss your opportunity.

CE: What’s some advice you wish you had gotten when you first began designing characters that you’d like to pass down to aspiring comic book artists and animators?

OW: Copy, copy, copy! Don’t feel guilty about copying other artists when you first begin. This is how we learn. Also don’t be discouraged if your character doesn’t look exactly like the original. If character design was easy everyone would be doing it. Every time you complete a new drawing reward yourself, you are one step closer to creating even better drawings. When you copy another artist you will build a dictionary of lines and shapes in your mind that’s you can pull from when you begin to design your own characters. With hard work and practice you will eventually find your own style and voice, which will be a result of the various influences you researched over time along with a special ingredient, you!

Ready to learn how to craft memorable character designs? Reserve your spot in Owen’s class here!

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If you want to make comics, write, draw, letter, and color comics, or improve as a comics creator, you’ll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!

Lettering is one of the most crucial elements of the comic book creation process, and an art in and of itself as well. Erica Schultz (Batman: Odyssey, The New Avengers) will be teaching our Introduction to Lettering course beginning on June 4.

Aspiring comic book letterers, editors, writers, producers, and artists are encouraged to sign up and learn all about fonts, placement, and all the factors that go into making a comic an enjoyable reading experience. Erica pulls from her experience with Marvel, DC, Dark Horse, and more – as well as her knowledge of editing and publishing – for a comprehensive overview of the basics. By the end, you’ll be able to letter your own 8-page comic!

We spoke to Erica briefly about the upcoming class.

Comics Experience: What excites you the most about this upcoming lettering course? What are some especially exciting topics students can expect from the course?

Erica Schultz: I’m excited to teach this because lettering is often an overlooked part of comic creating, and that’s really sad. Comics, not unlike a lot of television series, is collaborative. Unless you’re the writer, artist, colorist, letterer (which there are some people that do it all), you have to rely on others to make the finished product.

Also, lettering is very easy to do badly. You have phenomenal writers, artists, and colorists that are incredible at their specific spoke on the comics wheel, but lettering can sink a good book so easily. I’ve stopped reading stories because of bad lettering, and that’s a sad thing. Lettering is as integral to the comic as any other piece of the puzzle.

In terms of exciting topics, I hope to show the students that there are different styles for lettering and how you can break every rule but two of them (but you’ll have to take the class to find out which ones).

CE: What’s a piece of advice you wish you had gotten when you first started lettering? What are some of the most common myths about comic book lettering that students should know?

ES: Definitely check for overprint issues. If that doesn’t make sense to you, take the class and I’ll tell you all about it.

A myth about comic book lettering is that anyone can do it. Sure, anyone can do it badly, like I said before, but not anyone can do it. There’s a flow to it that gets easier and more intuitive the longer you do it. Good lettering should fly under the radar. Nothing should jump out at you. Good lettering is like good make up. You shouldn’t LOOK like you’re wearing it… unless you’re Ziggy Stardust, and then you can do whatever you want because you’re a God.

Also, the industry-standard program for lettering is Adobe Illustrator. I know there are other vector-based programs coming out, but I don’t know if they’ll ever overtake Illustrator… though they said that about Quark back in the 90s, so who knows.

CE: How has your experience as a writer, editor, and publisher informed your lettering work, if at all? Are there any interesting overlaps that people might not realize?

ES: Having worked in all aspects of comics has helped inform me in whatever comics hat I put on. Having been a letterer informs my writing work when I’m writing dialogue and when I’m editing a script for someone else. It also informs when I look at art to see if the artist left enough room for the dialogue. There is overlap in everything, you don’t make comics in a vacuum. Unless you’re making comics in space, and then… well, I don’t know what to say here. But I’m a firm believer in being at least moderately aware of the other links in the chain so you can be better at what you’re doing. When I worked in advertising, I made sure I understood what the account managers, producers, copywriters, art directors, art buyers, retouchers, etc. did so that made me better at what I do. If you’re making comics, don’t isolate yourself from the process. Be a part of it.

There’s still time to sign up for Erica’s lettering course! Slots tend to fill up quickly, so ensure your spot here.

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If you want to make comics, write, draw, letter, and color comics, or improve as a comics creator, you’ll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!

Creators Workshop member and Comics Experience course alumnus Carlos Giffoni is writing Space Riders for Black Mask Studios! Joined by Alexis Ziritt on art and Ryan Ferrier on letters, the new volume hits shops on June 26. Taking place 20 years after the previous Space Riders tales, the titular team must band together again – this time with a little help from cybernetics – and save reality.

And that other reality.

And another reality over there.

We talked to Carlos briefly about his upcoming project.

Comics Experience: This volume of Space Riders takes place a full two decades after the previous. What strategies should writers take into consideration when working on such a large jump? What are some of the challenges you’re facing?

Carlos Giffoni: Because of that large gap, I had some freedom to evolve the characters and imagine the kind of life they had each experienced since the years after those initial stories. That was an enjoyable part of the process, as it helped me make them my own a little bit since I wasn’t the original writer for the series.

On the other hand, they are still the same characters, so a big challenge became to distill their essence down to find the recognizable and important elements within each of them that I needed to keep untouched. They still needed to feel like the characters the readers of previous volumes of Space Riders know and love.

Once I broke each character down to the essence of who they are, it was a matter of applying some emotional filters to their lives to bring them forward 20 years. Failure, obsession, love to name a few. I had to put myself on the shoes of each character and imagine how their decisions changed them, and think about what they still want at this point in their lives, what their motivations are.

It was vital for me to start the process of writing this story with evolving each of the characters first, and only after I felt I had them right, begin crafting what the actual story was. Thankfully I have been in this earth quite longer than 20 years, so I did have a personal experience of what aging 20 years feels like to use as a starting point.

I also listened to a lot of heavy music. Starting with King Crimson, and moving on to the Melvins, Darkthrone, Neurosis to name a few. Music was an essential inspiration to get my mind in tune with the vibe of this series.

CE: How did your time with Comics Experience and the Creator’s Workshop help with putting together Space Riders?

CG: The most significant help from the workshop has been to have a community of other creators available to have discussions with, analyze the latest developments in comics and related fields, and having access to a group of people pursuing the same goal: Making comics.

I went to a lot of conferences this past year and a half as I had a few projects I was pitching around. Being a new writer in comics, I wanted to meet as many creators as possible and get their opinions on what I was putting together and get any advice I could use. The workshop made it so that there already was a handful of people I knew going into these conferences, a starting point. Usually, there are meetups at each big conference from the workshop self-organized by members or Andy, which become opportunities to network and share experiences with other like-minded creators. Breaking in is very difficult, and there can be a lot of disappointment, so it has been beneficial to be able to have an avenue to communicate with others dealing with similar challenges.

I have also taken a few of the master classes, and those have been great. Having a long and intense session of learning from someone that has already been there and done it is really valuable. [Editor’s Note: Carlos will also be attending our upcoming Master Seminar on writing team books with James Tynion IV!]

CE: What is your working relationship like with the rest of the team?

CG: Alexis, who is the artist and original creator, has become a good friend. I met him first at C2E2 last year and then kept running into him at conferences, and since we are both Venezuelan, we had a lot in common to talk and joke about there. I was already a big fan of his art and notably the Space Riders series when we met. I shared one of the other series I am working on (which has a publisher now who will be officially announcing it in May) with him and kept in touch through social media, and we discovered we had shared tastes in comics, food, and music. One day he called me out of the blue and offered me the opportunity to write the new volume of Space Riders, and here we are. I was thrilled.

It’s been particularly interesting because Alexis is leading the creation of this book, so I haven’t worked closely with Ryan Ferrier (who is doing the lettering) or the people at Black Mask.

Alexis called me early on to discuss where we should take the story; He had a few elements he already wanted us to explore, like the time jump and the idea that this was a different type of mission for the Riders. I took a few different explorations on my side before we had an idea for it and an outline for the series that we both were jazzed to execute. I think we found a twist to the Space Riders universe that is both exciting and culturally meaningful to both of us, and more importantly, it is metal and bloody as hell. I hope fans of the series and new readers get their minds melted along the way!

If you’re looking to take one of our upcoming April courses, now’s the time to sign up! We’ve got a few spots left in Phillip Sevy‘s Introduction to Digital Inking and Finishing, starting April 10, and James Tynion IV‘s Master Seminar: Writing Team or Ensemble Cast Comics, to be held April 20.

Phil’s Digital Inking and Finishing course covers how to polish off your pages to make sure everything looks professional and ready to print. It will also go over the best tools to use and how to create an efficient workflow.

James’ Master Seminar is a one-day-only event for comic creators of all levels who want to try their hands at ensemble books. Learn how to balance character arcs without sacrificing pacing or plot.

This is your last opportunity to learn from comic book professionals who have left their mark on such icons as Batman and Robin, Lara Croft, Magdalena, and more. Our courses and master seminars tend to fill up pretty quickly.

Sign up for Introduction to Digital Inking and Finishing here.

Sign up for the Master Seminar in Writing Team or Ensemble Cast Comics here.

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If you want to make comics, write, draw, letter, and color comics, or improve as a comics creator, you’ll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!