I learn something new every day about everything I do. One of the things I've learned while working on my books is the importance to plan ahead. Yes, I have created some really wacky comics in my youth, none that I have ever published. These comics were more for my own entertainment. But what they have in common is the lack of story plot or planned script. I kind of made each panel as I went along, drawing what came to my mind at any given moment. That didn't work so well, but it served for some fun entertainment.
Write of Wrong
Planning your story beforehand is the foundation of any good book, this is why this time around with every new creation, there is a plan. I usually start off with a script. I had to learn this looking at Marvel and DC samples scripts and kind of figured it out after that. Setting up dialog is tricky but if you have your characters' personalities down, then this is a walk in the park. Just imagine what you want them to say and what their attitude is like. This should help you. That is actually one of my favorite things to do. Here is a link to a sample Teen Titans script.
Two Left Thumbs
After all the juicy script and all your characters have been designed and you got your story divided into panels and pages, then you set off creating some thumbnails. I will go into more details on these in future posts. Here are some more thumbnails for Ghosts that I want to share with you. I do these digitally sometimes or sometimes in my sketchbook. It doesn't really matter where I draw them, as long as I lay them out. They help me visualize the story I have already written. There is always room for change, so I am not totally married to them, but I do try to keep really close to what I have. More times than not, your initial instinct on what you draw is what you should go with. At least that has been the case with me.
Feel free to share this and any of these entries with anyone whom you think might enjoy it. Thank you for reading and if you have any questions, you can always hit me up on the comments below. I will do my best to answer as quickly as possible.
Until next time, #drawwatuwant.
-Haro