I have a general idea of how I want Cricket's Creature to end just because there's a type of ending that I like. I usually prefer "open" endings, where there's some closure but the protagonist still has unresolved conflicts of some kind. So I usually plan my stories with that in mind. However I like to keep things a bit inspecific until I'm actually drawing.

Yup!

I have planned the endings for both Billy Learns To Rock and Electronic Revolutions: The Burnhams!

Most of the stuff is planned but sometimes, it needs re-touching from time to time to get it look right! However, it's going to be a long time to see the ending for both comics!

for the first story arc i had a rough idea of what i wanted to happen and i just started writing it. i had 50-60 pages written before i started making them. i finished the first story arc's scripts a little while ago but i'm only half way through making the comics. for the second story arc i have an outline of major plot points that i will be working from. each arc will have a self contained story and a piece of a larger more sinister plot. i like weaving things together like this. it's gunna be awsome.

Personally, I never start drawing a comic until I know how it's going to end, or at least have a pretty good idea about how it'll end. I pretty much have the last chapter and epilogue of Rift fully scripted in my head, even though the page count will easily be in the thousands of pages by then.
If I ever do an ongoing series I'd try to plan at least the first story arc, probably the first couple. It's much easier to get from point A to point B if you know where point B is.

I got the build up chapters and story arcs planned out, I know the ending endings for each of my comics and what happens to them in the epilogues. The real problem for me is building a decent, exciting climax right before the ending.

BLNT covers only the middle school years of my characters. I've thought about writing a high school version, but then I realized it would be much too dark...especially with the way I have each grade level planned.

BLNT is a 300-400 page script of stories. The only thing tweaked are the topic parts wher education is concerned. I know how this series will end.

When the characters are done with eighth grade, I will sum up the comic with a series of "Where Are They Now" profiles for each main character (And maybe a few secondary characters). "Where are they now" from an adult perspective (They will have been done with school and on to their lives as adults).

I have a ending planned for How Unfortunate. But its not going to happen for a while. I have 25 chapters planned (I'm coming to the end of Chapter 4 currently).

cs3ink
I have benchmarks for Broken Things , but I've chosen to allow the path to those benchmarks to be less ridged. I like to leave a little wiggle room to allow the characters some freedom to develope themselves, but I'm always aware of of the bench marks, & won't hesitate to real characters or situations in a tad to make sure I get where I want the story to go.

Terran Sandz is handled the same way. I generally have an idea in mind, benchmarks in my head, & then I develope the story while I thumbnail the pages. I keep my pacing constantly in mind or the story can get out of hand.

Dead is quite the opposite. I literally have no idea where I'm going beyond the next few pages. I'm curious what will happen when I don't reign in either the characters or the situations.

Of course if I were part of a creative partnership I'd have to spell things out much more meticulously to avoid misunderstandings & to better insure we're on the same page. Thankfully, all my books are all me. I like it that way.
Later,
Chip

I agree with cs3ink. I work by myself so scripting a whole story line from beginning to end seems to constricting for me, but would be hard if I worked with others. As I live, breathe, change; so will how my approach to the comic. I think it keeps it interesting/fresh and says a lot of the creator of the comic. I mean I make plans in real life but I don't have my whole life scripted beginning to end. Who does? Likewise, our comics I think need a little room to breathe.

Like StaceyMontgomery, my work is fairly planed out but I adapt it to an illustrated form as I go. But my work doesn't have an end, it has endings... So I'll decide on a big arc that has an end and then just work towards that. I'm nearing the end of the second arc right now :)

Then I'll start on another major arc and work towards an ending that I've already decided on. There's no ultimate end in sight though, because it's not like a novel, I prefer to work on my story the way they used to do the old Phantom comics, Corto Maltize, Asterix, etc; just keep doing new stories in the character's timeline. They can have their own themes, plots whatever that can all add to the ultimate theme, but I'll keep doing them until I get tired of the idea- Only then will I really finish it. But even then I probably won't make an ultimate ending, It'll more likely be like the end of a normal arc, so I could always do another one again at some time.

Valid Soul
Everything in American007 is planned out, from beginning to end. I have all the characters I want to introduce written out, all twists explained, all episodes listed. So yeah, American007 has a planned ending. I only go back and change some story elements if I want to add any other characters or add/expand a segment to a certain episode, but that's it.

I couldn't have said that better myself. But just so this post isn't a quote...I'll just repeat. I have the characters that will be introduced written and drawn out. I have the chapters planned out. And all of the major events planned out. This is mostly a guide that might be changed alittle here or there.

Not having it planned out is annoying as I experienced in my old webcomic. It cause too much trouble to think of it on the spot.

Someone
Not having it planned out is annoying as I experienced in my old webcomic. It cause too much trouble to think of it on the spot.

Plus, what you think of on the spot is never as good as the brainstorm you had while riding the bus a month ago but never bothered to write down.

I don't even think of starting a project until I have all of the major plotpoints figured out, and a clear outline and intention of where I see the story going. Too many stories lose their way quickly, or end up painting themselves into a corner.

For Penny, I have the whole story pretty much mapped out. The details for the later parts of the story are still coalescing, but I know what has to happen, and when. the more I mull over said bis, the more it comes together. The first "arc" is pretty much scripted and about half of that is thumbnailed (though even that gets constantly tinkered with)-- though I do keep adding bits in the hope of giving a better view of the characters, their relationships with each other, and their world, including a few flashbacks and interludes I hadn't originally thought too much about. (They're making the story a lot more rounded out, even if it's going to end up considerably longer by the time I'm done.)

I never understood the point of thumbnails, even though my co-artist likes them.

Why do them? It's an extra step. Just text it out in a script. When it comes for time to draw it, just translate the text into a page in your head.

If there was some real cinematic drama you brainstormed earlier, just describe it in the script so you won't forget when the time comes.

The only way my comic will end is is I decide, the characters are getting old,and no longer funny.

mlai
I never understood the point of thumbnails, even though my co-artist likes them.

Why do them? It's an extra step. Just text it out in a script. When it comes for time to draw it, just translate the text into a page in your head.

If there was some real cinematic drama you brainstormed earlier, just describe it in the script so you won't forget when the time comes.

I'm not even sure how to answer this, it seems like such a condescendingresponse to a perfectly valid step and widely used step in the creation process. Yes, it's more work, but it's time well spent.

You don't actually think that movies go straight from script to film, do you? Or that illustrators and painters and designers just dig into the final product without having a clear visual roadmap of how to proceed? Why should comics be any different?

A thumbnail (or a study) allows an artist to play with all the finer points of angles and composition before committing to a large scale piece. I personally want to work out how a page is going to flow, how dialogue & text will sit on a page and validate that an angle or choice of focus is actually going to translate from script to page visually.

I do a good amount of freelance work, and generally, I am asked to submit thumbnails and sketches to an art director before I plow right into a project that is going to take 20+ hours. Why would I give myself that much work only to redo it and have to spent another 20+ hours because the director didn't like the look of something?

With comics, spending a few minutes here and there on thumbnails seems far more awesome to me than getting three hours into a complicated page and realziing that the composition is lame or that the panels don't tell the story effectively.

What looks good in written form doesn't always translate to the page.

mlai
I never understood the point of thumbnails, even though my co-artist likes them.

Why do them? It's an extra step. Just text it out in a script. When it comes for time to draw it, just translate the text into a page in your head.

If there was some real cinematic drama you brainstormed earlier, just describe it in the script so you won't forget when the time comes.

I'm the opposite. I don't understand why people make scripts... I quickly like to sketch out the whole page and add notes to each picture for later when I really render it.

I can't picture stuff as easily with words and when I see the images in my head I want to draw it so I don't forget it. It may also be because it takes so much text to describe a simple action scene. It's quicker to draw the thumbnail ish draft. (though my "thumbnails" are full pages large =P

Well I usually just get an Idea of what I want to do. I ask myself how will it start. Then what happens to the main charecter and his adventures. I then think of the ending. But i don't write them down and then so I have nothing really to follow. So all I do is come up with ideas to make the story better and just worse or better for the heros. So when I do that sometimes my ending has to change so it can fit whats going on. So i never really have a confirmed ending until I want my comic to end and thats the same thing for Fanfiction. Make begining then create a somewhat ending and go on what your doing and change the ending every know and then.


Doing this kinda makes the ending even more intresting or unpredictable.

I've got the basic idea of where my comic's going, including the ending, but I find that if I try to set the story in stone it'll force some characters and events to behave unnaturally. So I just kinda keep the beginning and the end, as well as major plot milestones, in mind, and from there just allow my characters to do their own thing.

Hapoppo
I've got the basic idea of where my comic's going, including the ending, but I find that if I try to set the story in stone it'll force some characters and events to behave unnaturally. So I just kinda keep the beginning and the end, as well as major plot milestones, in mind, and from there just allow my characters to do their own thing.

This is the part I like ^^ Here is one of my great challenges that makes me come up with LOTS of other stories.

Many moments in my comic are set in stone. So I come across this problem a lot. However I try to form whole stories to make sure that what HAS to happen will happen. So I have to think, how could I get a character as sweet and innocent as Sally to go do (insert plot point here)...

*Racks brain for hours/days/weeks? Comes up with a whole story that finally gets her where I need her without loosing any character face (or hopefully not :P) You also can use this to build your characters personality even better. Because at times you have to see how they will react in a situation their personality totally doesn't fly in. Or that their ideas are totally different from.

This can bring great conflict of interest from inside the character and can help them grow IMO. Then again my characters usually don't keeping acting the exact same way throughout the whole comics life span.

Also you said in another thread you like working on your comic more than coming into the forum ^^ You should stop by more, been enjoying some of your posts ^^

mlai
I never understood the point of thumbnails, even though my co-artist likes them.

Why do them? It's an extra step. Just text it out in a script. When it comes for time to draw it, just translate the text into a page in your head.

If there was some real cinematic drama you brainstormed earlier, just describe it in the script so you won't forget when the time comes.

It helps a LOT to do thumbnails! translating writing into the right sort of imagery is often very hard, especially if you've come back to the writing after having forgotten the original idea a little, or if you're giving it to someone else. Pictures really are worth MANY more words, you can transfer much more information with them so just a few seconds to do a rough thumbnail is definitely worth it for remembering the intent of the scene later or transfering it to someone else. ;)

In my first big arc I had everything thumb nailed out pretty much and it was a huge help, even when I didn't have it written it was a massive help! But the latest arc only had thumbnails for the first page. because it was all fully written as a short story; That made the drawing step much more difficult and required a LOT of thinking and agonising over how best to translate and streamline the story into images.

Ideally I'd prefer a fully written out story (rather than a script), and thumbnails. :)

JustNoPoint
Also you said in another thread you like working on your comic more than coming into the forum ^^ You should stop by more, been enjoying some of your posts ^^

Thanks, and thanks for the interesting bit of advice! I've kinda been hovering around these forums for a while now, but for some reason I've been a bit uneasy about posting. Guess I've just got to get into the groove! In any case, just so this post doesn't stray off-topic:

mlai
I never understood the point of thumbnails, even though my co-artist likes them.

Why do them? It's an extra step. Just text it out in a script. When it comes for time to draw it, just translate the text into a page in your head.

If there was some real cinematic drama you brainstormed earlier, just describe it in the script so you won't forget when the time comes.

Might as well add my own two cents to this. Sometimes I'll use thumbnails, sometimes not. But I've noticed so far that if you've got a script for each page, it's almost an absolute must to me to map it out so that I don't wind up using inappropriate space for panels and find myself drawing unimportant panels that are overemphathized, or vice versa. Right now I'm kinda doing a pseudo-thubnail method wherein I first draw a simpler version of the final panel so if I have to erase it, it's not really a big deal. But in the long run, I've found that thumbnails can help the page layout a ridiculous deal.

Wait, now, if you're talking about 2 artists working together, then I support thumbnails. Me and Ed use thumbnails to communicate what we do.

I'm just saying I don't use thumbs for myself. That's partially due to the fact that I keep my script in my saved email (so I can access it at work...), so I don't have loose papers floating around as part of my script portfolio. Only a text file.

As far as planning things out goes, I have a LOT of planning done for DSRI. I have a fairly detailed outline for this first story arc, and I have a frame-by frame script done about 15 pages in advance. On the larger scale, I have a huge cast of supporting characters and villains that have been designed but will not be introduced for quite some time, story seeds for the over-arching plot, and rough outlines for a few more story arcs to come.

Endings? No ending in sight at present. I have an idea of how to get to that ultimate ending, but I don't know if I will or not, considering how quickly I work. The concept for the way I'm doing the story is similar to the way X-Files worked. You have a lot of one-shot stories that don't really have anything to do with each other, then every once in a while you have a story, or part of a story, that advances the underlying plot and affects the setting a bit. Eventually it will get to an end if I keep at it that long.

THUMBNAILS! Thumbnails rock. I don't usually do very many; maybe two or three. More than that only if I'm really stumped. I have a pretty strong sense of design if I actually stop and think about what I'm doing (in fact, graphic design is my day job) but the thumbnail lets you figure out if anything is going to go horribly wrong with your design before you get started.

While my wife and I meticulously plan out each book of Due East, we have no idea how or when it's going to end! We have some specific goals we'd like to accomplish with the series. However, we're about halfway through Book Three and we're still introducing characters-! I foresee Due East going through quite a few more books before we even have a reason to look for an end. :)

I have several small stories, interesting sets and characters in mind. Then I just combine them in a way that feels natural to me. But a whole plot with an ending? Hell, no!

I'm a bad writer, I know.

SoulDriver had an ending before it had a beginning. Which was used to tie into the first couple of pages. By the time it's all said and done, we'll end up where we began...In fact through alot of it, pages are tied back to another to give the reader a sense of completion only to have something else crop up...muuwahhahhhh! Evil isn't it?

Oh yes, I definitely plan accordingly depending on the comic. For example, such as in Teenage Wasteland, I do not have a plan since it's your basic real life comic strip that pretty much has no ending. But for my other comics such as BFF, I seriously went deep with the storyline as you can see with my timeline.





It really helped.

PS: My penmanship is better that that.

I always go through the whole process of plot/script/thumbs first. Of course since I'm doing everything myself, it's a more fluid process, and I often change things on the fly at any point of the process when I realize my original idea doesn't work, but I can't imagine doing this stuff without proper planning.

Anyway, the plan with Bulletproof is to do storyarcs of 1-3 "issues" (i.e. 22 pages) focussing on various characters in the same city. I'm wrapping up the first 2-issue storyarc now and I have the next two planned. There are overarching ideas that hold the whole thing together as well.

Basically, I came up with this concept so that I'd have room to try different stuff and still have it be somewhat cohesive. We'll see how it goes.

I plan to end one of my comics in a few chapters. I don't have an exact plan. I just keep on with the pacing of the current storyline and let it end when the time comes.

Hey JustNoPoint,

I can explain scripts -- or at least why they're important to me.

I drew comics without scripting them for 20+ years -- and while fun, it also taught me the hard way that I really needed some refining on my dialogue (it truly stank at times, I must admit). Now I script out pages in advance, run the dialogue by my wife, we make edits to it and get a final draft before I ever sketch a page. It ends up saving time and eraser! :)

Now our dialogue for Due East comes out the way we intended it, not in rough form that may still need to be revised. Just my 2 cents...

JustNoPoint
I'm the opposite. I don't understand why people make scripts... I quickly like to sketch out the whole page and add notes to each picture for later when I really render it.

I can't picture stuff as easily with words and when I see the images in my head I want to draw it so I don't forget it. It may also be because it takes so much text to describe a simple action scene. It's quicker to draw the thumbnail ish draft. (though my "thumbnails" are full pages large =P