Yeah, I've been having ta stay in planning stages fer a while. Mostly because life keeps coming up and blocking me from actually doing anything. Though, I do plan on starting ta do my comic as soon as I return ta TX (I'm in GA currently), especially since I have several pages already planned out and rearin ta go.

So, I was wondering if anyone else here on DD also happens ta do any kind of planning. If ya do, how do you go about doing it?

Lately I've taken a shine to typing the story out (if I happen to be in a real stump) then taking the story to help me plan the panels and what goes into the panels. We'll see how well it's working soon as the finished pages are posted up here on DD

I write my stories out in a kind of prose form.

But then I write each strip one at a time as i get to them. I look out my outline, figure out what has to happen next, and then write that strip to move ahead one plot point.

A lot of the time, I end up throwing the strip out as i write it, and then I just do the next one instead. Some things that SEEM like plot points you can just skip.

So yes, i plan...and no, I don't.

For the stories themselves, I write out a plot triangle, you know, exposition, inciting incident, rising actions, climax, all that crap. Once that's done, I cut out the important things and mix in a few of the "page fillers" to get my chapters. Then it's just a matter of layout, camera angles, thumbnails, and dialoug before I start the actual pages.

(Except for Sort of a Life, which is just spur of the moment tablet strips.)

I usually plan the setup of the panels in my head, and then go into photoshop and use the rulers to map out guides for their locations.
If you keep your guides on you can change the size of your panels if you're in need of more space before you actually draw in those lovely white/black/hotpink bars.

twistedrabbit
I usually plan the setup of the panels in my head, and then go into photoshop and use the rulers to map out guides for their locations.
If you keep your guides on you can change the size of your panels if you're in need of more space before you actually draw in those lovely white/black/hotpink bars.

Well that sounds like an interesting approach. I think I tried that once but didn't work out so well fer me...then again, I've a small tendency ta wanna do the lines by hand. I do use photoshop though! Just fer colorin is all

I made up my comic in 96. I drew it until 98 or 99.

I then stopped drawing it and was sidetracked until January of 07 where I decided to work on it again.

All the years I wasn't drawing pages I was working on the story. Just drawing random pictures and characters. So I have PLENTY of story now and am satisfied to begin working on it. Issue 1 is 4 pages from being done now as I speak... 11 years in the making... erm... remaking ^_^

How I plan depends on the complexity of the story. The Xolta story I'm currently working on is not all that complex, so my planning consists of having the general story in my head and then sketching out all the pages of the entire story (I think it's 175 or something like that) along with a draft of the dialogue.

Now that I know the entire story, I'm drawing my way through it. That's when I take another look at my original sketch, redraw it if I think it's off, doesn't work, or had made some story changes later on, and then draw the real version on another sheet of paper, scan it and color, etc. When I go to add the text and balloons, I also rethink the dialogue, rewrite, etc.

As I said, this is for a straight-forward, and let's face it not-that-sophisticated, story. I've got another opus that is much more character driven, more of an intricate political plot, etc. This particular story takes place over about a three-week time period, so in Microsoft Word I typed out what happens every day. Now that I see the entire story, I'm going back, modifying the timeline of the story; when events take place, rethinking how characters would react, and shifting things around. So I'm taking more time to flesh out the story, to try to nail down as much as I can. And then I'm going to go through and do my sketches of the entire story, dialogue, resketch and draw final, etc. That's my plan for how to plan.

I sketch out thumbnails in my sketchbook for planning in my weekly webcomic to get dialog properly planned and the narrative clear , but for my daily strip I don't do any planning other than perhaps a few sketches and juggling ideas in my head. This can produce interesting results.

Try to get a script out so you're maybe 10-20 pages into the future on a constant basis.

That's my philosophy, anyway...

I begin figuring out the story in my head, and when I have a rough outline I type it. I also make templates and rough blueprints for places or characters that will be used throughout the comic. Then when I'm about to draw it, I figure out what panel I will fit the text in, and I draw based on that. And remember to recheck your work since it can really screw up your comic if youu screw up a sentence or something. I know since I'm not the best at grammar, and hardly check for grammar errors.

I've never used a thumbnail in my life! I typically need a full story in my head before I feel particularly inspired. It's a bit difficult for me to work with a basic idea and tons of gaps in the plot, I just get severe writer's block.

I don't do much planning and what planning does exist exists in my head, where none of you can get it! Ga ha ha ha ha!

Right now, my script is five chapters (about 140 pages) ahead of where I actually have drawn. ..Writing is sooo much faster than drawing, haha. Anyway.

I usually do a chapter's worth of thumbnails in advance, based on the script. Sometimes, what I have pictured in my head doesn't work quite as well when it's laid down on paper, so things have to get changed around. I honestly don't think diving right into a page without doing any kind of thumbnails or sketches is a good idea. It can lead to a lot of wasted time if you get halfway through drawing a page and realize it's just not working the way you want it to. The problem gets even bigger when the core of the problem is with the layout, and not something that's easily fixed without starting the page all over again.

I have a general idea of how my story is going to progress up to the end and how it's going to end. I even have the very end scene pretty much planned out. I have some other later scenes all in mind and planned but I still have to fill in what happens between then XP normally I plan in my head what's going to happen in a chapter and then draw 'thumbnail' pages and fit like.... 20 on a page, these 'thumbnails' are for me to figure out how I want to do the paneling ( I HATE paneling!~!!!) I'll write out a script for each panel quickly beside each 'thumbnail' so I know what's being said or the general idea of what ppl are saying. Then I go through and draw...

I have a plan in my head for the upcoming plot. Sometimes I draw a little outline for a chapter or story arc. I do sketches of how especially important scenes should look (and/or try different angles). For some story arcs, I will write the whole thing out in a rough screenplay style. I like to stay fairly flexible and let the plot develop in new directions sometimes, so I never make super rigid plans way in advance...

For each page, I write a script (rough, just for me :) ), and I draw my plans for the panel layout in the margins:



That eventually becomes this:
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/zoovickie/ub461.jpg


Oh, and before I started all of this, I wrote LONG bios for all of my main characters, their quirks, their histories, their families, etc.

When I took my first stab at this whole comic-creating thing, I was in high school and attempted a "Ninjas vs. the Space Pirates" story. My brother wrote a whole story in one page, basically stick figures in about 30 or 40 tiny panels. I was going to take that and make it into a comic-book format, which never materialized because I wasn't confident with my drawing abilities and the internet hadn't progressed to the point it is now, where you can get reference photos of just about anything with minimal effort.

So, I guess even that one was planned out, sort of.

My current project, DSRI, is still written by my brother and I, but the planning stage is MUCH more structured. At first I had an outline of the plot in my head, and we made the dialog and layout of each strip as I went along. Then my brother went and got engaged and we put it on hold.

I suggest, if you have a story, to make an outline of EVERYTHING that happens to the characters (even if you don't show it right away or at all), not just an outline of the story. Now that my brother and I are working on DSRI again, I have an outline actually written out this time, which helps locate a lot of plot holes. Then we take the events and decide how many pages to devote to which events. From there, we do a script. The script is not set 100% in stone: Once I start drawing the page it may get changed to make the story flow a little better.

This time, I intend to get the entire script done before I start drawing anything except character designs for upcoming characters. That way all I have to worry about is drawing the thing.

I plan all my comics in my head, & then "write" them while doing the thumbnails (it helps that I write & draw my own books). I've written several scripts, but for my own projects I prefer to just write them as I design them.

Later,
Chip