i was wondering how many people work with a group of people to make their comic and is it better to work solo or in a group.i was just wondering i been doing my comics solo but now i have formed a team.look out for my new comic

Good luck. I personally believe that it's better to work in a team. There will be friction, but it can be more fun.

I work on PT alone, and as part of a team for Ethos, and I have to say that I much prefer working alone. But that's probably just me, I've always been the type of person that likes to do everything myself. If you're not that personality type, I'm sure working in a team will fit you better, because it does spread out the work, and it's nice to have people to bounce ideas off of.

SilentKitty works on Ethos for pay, which I believe distorts her perception (insofar as I'm speaking of teamwork purely on a hobby enjoyment basis). When someone has to pay you, it's automatically not a give-&-take relationship in the creative department.

That is not to say that there aren't ppl who prefer working alone. God knows I had enough fights with my co-artist. If he wasn't such a Mr. Niceguy, it never would've lasted.

I think it depends on what kind of person you are. I personally don't mind either way but they both have downsides. On the one hand working alone can get lonely. On the other I just recently stopped producing Dave and Blip here on drunkduck because my co-writer and I had a major disagreement.

I tend toward working alone. I find that I work faster and easier when I don't have to accomodate anybody else's tastes. I'm currently working as the artist on a collaborative effort for a story for a print book (the next installment of Gord Cummings' "Mercy Seat", a theme issue called "Children Are Cruel".), which is a new experience. I have to say that it's not as much fun as working with my own material but I figured as much going into it. I think it's definitely an experience that artists should have as it makes you approach the work from a different perspective.

We work in a team of two/three-ish people.
I'm currnetly doing more back ground work via back ground art desings (the millitary seals), banners and keeping up with the journal/forms. We have/had a third person doing the lettering (she has a really good lettering style) but she's a bit over whelmed at the moment so I might be doing the lettering once I'm shown how. I also help wioth the skript writting and character desings.
Me doing that, frees up spearcarrier to foucus on the art, the website and most of everything else.

It's been working out good, for what one dose not think of the other one will. Comunication is good.

Before I started my comics. I was writing one of my comics and working really hard to work as a team with someone to share the artwork job. It totally failed.

1st one all we did was watch Sailormoon and look at How to Draw Manga books.

2nd one we only talked about writing a story. Said he was going to be an editor for writing and when it goes into print. Didn't happen. (Gave me some really pointers of how to write a better climax though.)

3nd one I showed her my rough draft script of a never made comic she had an idea for... and she said it was terrible, it could never be rewritten or fixed, and she writes her scripts perfectly the first time.

3nd one pissed me off so much I decided if you want something done you gotta do it yourself. So I've went alone ever since.

There are some good aspects to working with others in comics. Publishing tips. Being able to talk spoilers with them. Sharing your excitement. So if it works great.

EDIT: I have commissioned people to do colorist work for me lately if that counts. It's all online so it's not very personal such as the normal vision of teamwork.

I've been a "work alone" person since I was a kid. Whenever we were told to "form groups" in school, I stayed by myself if I could get away with it. I always like to work alone. It's just the way I am.

A partnership or team can be fun at times, but I couldn't do it for a long time and not for a serious project. I feel intimidated by other people. I often assume people are better than me, so I do as told and usually don't contribute much at all. If I do contribute, I worry myself sick over any little criticism and feel miserable while I bow to anyone else's wishes, until my own ideas are transformed into something I hate. (I'm too neurotic to be useful to any team.)

It very much depends on your skill set. I work in teams because, although I can convince myself I can write (on a good day!), I want my comics to be as good as they can be and I'm very aware that there are many, many talented people out there who are far better than I am with pencils, pens and brushes. (And PhotoShop!)

So ... if you're lucky enough to be great at both writing and drawing and colouring/lettering etc., there's a real advantage to doing everything yourself. You have complete control over how the finished comic will look and read and you won't have to make any compromises to accommodate someone else's ideas.

The only real downsides to working alone are (i) there's a Hell of a lot of work involved in producing something that's up to even semi-professional standards and (ii) we're not usually our own best critics, so you've got no-one to tell you if something isn't working (e.g. plot holes, pacing, page layouts etc) until it's too late.

The advantages of working in a team are obviously the exact opposite. The workload is shared, the comic should be better because there are more people contributing ideas and each party is only doing that part of the work they're best at. Plus, you do have someone to tell you when something needs changing.

The downside to working in a team is that you have to surrender a degree of control. It's no longer a comic that you have to be happy with, it's a comic that has to reflect how the whole team wants it to be. Plus, you're very reliant on each other - if one member bails, the whole comic can suffer or even have to be abandoned.

mlai
SilentKitty works on Ethos for pay, which I believe distorts her perception (insofar as I'm speaking of teamwork purely on a hobby enjoyment basis). When someone has to pay you, it's automatically not a give-&-take relationship in the creative department.

That is not to say that there aren't ppl who prefer working alone. God knows I had enough fights with my co-artist. If he wasn't such a Mr. Niceguy, it never would've lasted.

It really has nothing to do with the fact that I'm being paid. I worked on Ethos for quite a long time without being paid, and my opinion was the same.

silentkitty
It really has nothing to do with the fact that I'm being paid. I worked on Ethos for quite a long time without being paid, and my opinion was the same.

Well it seems a lot of ppl agree with you. I seem to be in the minority, but I probably came from a unique background uncommon to DD. I began my webcomics journey in a huge round-robin improvisational comics community hosting a dozen (and more) different titles. For years, that's all I did, comics-wise. And I've known my co-artist for 10 years.

Edit: Zomg I think I just realized that this background is the underlying inspiration to the basic plot point of both of my comics. Talk about revelation of the subconscious.

I work alone on 20 Galaxies, and with a friend of mine on Lady Luck. It's nice having full control over a story as I do by myself, but overall I like working with other people on comic projects - if I know the people I'm working with fairly well. In the case of Lady Luck, my co-writer and I have known each other for years. It's a lot harder for me to work creatively with people I've just met recently.

I work alone, and given that my biggest perpetual problem is time constraints, I'm glad I don't have to accommodate someone else. Anyone who had to work with me at the moment would probably want to kill me within a few weeks because sometimes I literally finish pages a few hours before they go live.

That said, I've collaborated with people on pinup pieces before, and I've always found it to be extremely fruitful as a learning experience, and the end result is almost always better than anything I create on my own.

I think in terms of the quality of the result, it would be better if I worked with a writer and a colorist - the former because I'm not very good at it and the latter because I want to do it, but don't have the time. But the way things stand at the moment, I'll probably continue on my own for a while to come.

I work alone. While I would love to illustrate someone else's writing, or have someone else illustrate my writing, it just never turns out that way - I fall too much in love with my stories/characters, and keep them to myself.

Also, I'm not very good at working in groups - sure, I CAN work with other people; it's just that if things don't get done on time, I usually take over to get it done before the deadline. I tend to take charge immediately, too, which generally annoys other people. So yeah, I'm better off working on my own, I think.

On The Devon Legacy I primarily work alone. I have a friend that I shoot ideas back and forth with but he doesn't get involved in the art. He's helped me flesh out the story quite a bit.

Me and him are in the process of starting a new comic. At 1st I thought we wanted to attempt and work on it like Mlai and EdBand make Fight1&2. But our styles are totally different.

He is very good at making a solid base however. So I came up with an interesting proposal.

He sketches in the figure and I add my style on top of his figure to finish rendering in the image.

The result is quite good from our 1st test run last night.

His Sominous
http://www.drunkduck.com/Convenient_Hell_A_DDCW_Event/index.php?p=245883

My Sominous
http://www.drunkduck.com/The_Devon_Legacy_Prologue/index.php?p=277386

Our fused style
http://content-comics.drunkduck.com/comics/C/Convenient_Hell_A_DDCW_Event/gfx/somcolab.jpg

It really surprised us to see our different styles come together so nicely like this!

EDIT: BTW that kid yellow, glad to see you back. I have been missing your art!

Considering my artistic abilities have kind of lain dormant since childhood, I always work with an artist, and usually I have no problem whatsoever with this.

For my comic A Roll of the Dice, I write up the scripts for the scenes, write up the dialog, and then hand these in to my artist Chameleon Kid. She takes them, studies them for a while, and then draws an interpretation of it based on what I describe. Sometimes it's different than what I see, but it always looks good.

I could see where some people would work better alone, but for me, a partnership is the only way to go.

For me, working alone is preferable to working with others. I have full control of schedule, content, style... everything when I alone work on a project. As much as I respect the few I've worked with, I'm at their whim as far as schedule, content, etc.

Given the choice, I'd rather put up with my own foibles than struggle with the unpredictable elements of other creators.

Later,
Chip

By the way, I can't possibly imagine doing Bulletproof with anyone else involved. I'm way too protective of these characters, and as narcissistic as it is, there's a sense of accomplishment you get from knowing that you've done absolutely everything that would be difficult to give up. If and when I work with a team, it'll be on something else. Bulletproof is my baby.

i work alone...i have always worked alone....since....."The Accident"

Unless I find a soulmate in art then I'll have to go solo. it takes way too much time/work for me to call after people to work on a project.

For my own ideas and concepts, solo. Basically, I don't wanna share the fun.

Although, I still greatly enjoy taking work from other people (especially when they give good direction), and working with them. They provide me with materials from their own sources, and in studying material for what they want, I often stumble across facts that my lazy arse wouldn't have come to on it's own. In drawing, or editing or whatnot, I also find myself doing things that, before, would've been completely alien. The fact that I'm having problems with these things just lends better reason to pursuing success.

Plus, more fun for me, less work for them.

Voodoo Walrus is a two-man effort. Technically a three-man effort, but our third member prefers not to work on the Voodoo Walrus project in lieu of some of our other projects.

CreepKnight handles the writing, Grymm churns out the art. On occasion Grymm has been known to take the reins and work without a script, but the overall idea has probably already been discussed by them both ad nauseum.

The team dynamic definitely has its pros and cons. On the downside, there's always bound to be the occasional friction between what's scripted and what's actually possible, or a general vibe put forth through the art that wasn't expected from the script. But such cases are usually few and far between. On the plus side its a way for both artist and writer to tackle new things. For the artist there's a challenge of drawing some things they may not have considered drawing before. For the writer, it can be the chance to learn how to write in a way that best compliments the feel of the art.

Or at least that's how it works for Grymm and CreepKnight...

voodoowalrus
Or at least that's how it works for Grymm and CreepKnight...

So who the heck are you? You're creeping me out.

For 20+ years, I worked alone on superhero genre comics. And then I decided to start Due East and my wife agreed to co-create it with me. We've been doing that since 2003. And now I started Off Hours with a new team and it's been a lot of fun!

I think it all depends on what you're trying to get out of your comic. :)

I work alone on my comics. I can't imagine working with a team. I thinks it's a good idea to work on a team when it comes to more in-depth comics (like Allan Poo), but when it's just simple comics (like mine), there's no point.

I just keep thinking that someone on said team will want to take charge or something over my ideas.

What a great question...I personally work in a partnership, which I adore...Since it's painful for me to draw anything other than stick figures. But, I know that sometimes...most of the time...I am WAY too hard on my artist...I make him redo and redo until I am happy...and I'm very difficult to make happy. Then again...my partner is my spouse...so I can get away with my persnikity nature...IF we wern't married...I wouldn't be so tough on him...Really all depends on how talented you are, I'd wager. Me, not that talented...I can write...that's about it.

Then again...I have worked in a team before...I was only a letterer...But, I had a problem like...with typos...when do you call out another team member???? Best of luck with the new team yellowkid.

after a life exposing lesson, that shows me that not all partners will die in horrific tragedy's....i have teamed up with nega link...to bring a comic yet to be brought....

I hate working on a team.

Theres always conflicts. :(

I tried working on a collaboration comic with a friend. Its a comic with a plot that was like a Naruto ripoff but with aliens are thrown into the picture.

School... training... studying the dead alien this and that... bah. :( He got good char designs though. Typical fantasy comic char designs.

I wanted to throw in all sorts of conspiracies in the plot (what if so and so is collaborating with the badguys or has his/her own agenda kind of crap) but he wanted everything to be linear. so it ended up 'screw it'.


Though maybe in the future I might work together with my brother. Its a short story he wrote. Something about aliens but its the humans (cliche futuristic space marines) who are portrayed as the antagonists.

When American007 first started, I was working with a team I assembled who were interested in the project. I had a guy who would co-write the story and gags with me, I had an assistant who would help me find stuff, and I had someone who was working on the website (which ended up never getting finished, and got necro-hacked).

The team didn't last very long, it ended up going on about 20 episodes before the team was dissolved and I decided to work alone for the comic.