talking to akumyo about comics and now im going to type about comics!

i get asks sometimes asking how to make comics/ how to make characters/ etc etc

i dont consider myself a pro or anything but heres what i can offer:

a main problem i see with people developing a story or a character is that they are george lucas. being george lucas is the worst thing for your comic. your character is not their job, your character is not their past, your character is not their outfit. a lot of people focus on developing their ex black-ops with no memory who has telekinesis and lost their dad in the great robot wars. all of this can be very important information, but people feel like that is where they need to start, or even finish developing a character

a setting and an aesthetic can go a long way but unless you are trying to go for some kind of abstract experimental thing thats not what you want to develop. you end up with this soulless husk doing things with no motivation or purpose.

i cant care that anakin has turned to the dark side. i cant care about his battle with obi-wan, or the big lava pool they are dancing around in, or his relationship with his space wife, just telling me this is happening and that i should care doesnt lead to me caring.

my way of writing and the comics that i do are not for everyone, i have a really abstract and in-the-moment stream of consciousness kind of approach to doing things. its sort of like writing television, where the characters and basic setting/ideas are in place, and i plant them in situations or pair them up and see what happens. i understand them and how they react to things enough that i just make it happen panel by panel. its that kind of understanding of your characters and the world of your story that can make people care about it. 

your characters outfit, job, and appearance are secondary. can you describe your character without mentioning any of this information? focus on who they are, what they like, how they behave. if two characters are in love, think of why. what do they see in each other? 

obviously if you are making some kind of avant garde thing this stuff can be much less important, but its still vital to have an understanding of this kind of thinking. even in plotless stories more interested in seeing a character who is more a symbol or a vessel than a person wandering through a landscape have something else going on beneath the surface that gives things emotion and purpose.

anyway i hope this helps someone??? make comics