How often do you illustrate your stories, either for others to see or simply as reference material to yourself?

from time to time

more often i just draw the characters--i think that's how my stories really start. i draw a character and suddenly i'm thinking up a huge background for a picture i spent five minutes on

but yeah, from time to time...

All the time. A lot of my stories are born out of my doodling on a page and getting my imagination running.

A lot of the time, it's just the characters - I need to have some sort of visual reference, to get the way they look in my head down on paper, before I can properly describe them - but with some projects, I do maps and architecture and costume design and settings and the whole shebang. Makes it easier for me to write it later, though the ideas that were novels/short stories do tend to turn into comics whether I want them to or not.

And, most of the time, my illustrations are purely for myself. While it's fun to put them somewhere other people can see and comment, I keep most of it private - some things only make sense to me, because I know the backstory and context, whereas others would be completely lost looking at it.

The Chronicles of Wyrden is the first story that I've had Reva illustrate for me. I don't think it'll be the last :)

I'm assuming you mean prose stories.

Never. Because when I'm writing prose fiction, or poetry, I'm in a completely different mode. I look at everything as a writer; "how can I paint this scene/person/event/idea in words?"

When I write a comics script, my mental picture switches to that of cinema. I see the characters moving, talking, the backgrounds panning. I'm of the manga storytelling school, so wordy prose on comics pages (like in a lot of American comics) is usually a no-no for me.

I have done illustrated storybook style in the past, for a submission to a round-robin comic. Round-robin improvisational comics formats are great in that regard - you get to experiment. Thinking in both prose and illustration was a fun experience.

All the time, if for no other reason that I prefer to tell a story with pictures.

I'm not really an "artist" but I enjoy sketching from time to time, so I think I can answer too.

When I'm writing, no, I don't illustrate. I paint nicer pictures with words, and much of the prose describes intangible, non-visual things, so illustrations would put me in entirely the wrong mindset. However, for the sake of reference and consistency, I sometimes draw maps, blueprints, and/or diagrams. It really helps me keep myself oriented and my mind straight, especially on long projects that might include a month or longer "writer's block" breaks. It's also essential when I write murder mysteries to have lists and diagrams to show who was where and with whom. (Sometimes I redraw said diagrams to include in my stories, which isn't uncommon for mysteries.)

I use my stories for practice... I'm trying to draw angles and movements. It'll help me for further studies. On angles and movements. That's why I'm drawing Black Streaks.

Interesting. My webcomic, too, is a practise in angles, landscapes, coloring etc. When I write I usually draw the characters and a map of where the story takes place.

It's such an anxious question for me. I would really rather just write and have a fitting artist to work. However, I've got to get the stories out there and be involved. I write comic scripts but find I can't illustrate them. I love to draw but find myself without a sequential focus a lot of the time. I end up drawing with a rough plot in mind and then filling in dialogue (old school Marvel method?). Unfortunately, the story suffers and the characters end up a little more one dimensional than they would if I was just working the words.

What really interests me is that a basic storyline can turn out very differently depending on if you write or draws it.

I have ocassionly draw what I have written, but I don't find it good enough to make it into a web comic. (Trust me, I've tried.)

I have been toying with the idea about doing a webcomic called "previews" where I illustrate the first chapter of eveything I have written and published on the web along with some links.

Yeah, generally I start a story by drawing the characters, which for me gets the creative juices flowing, and the story usually follows. Alot of times, it turns into a prose story because I don't have the time/energy/desire to draw it all out in comic form.

My drawing always start in my head...um, that is to say, I get drawings from ideas and not ideas from drawing. For the most part.

But then, I draw everything I think.

Usually I'll come up with personality, then image, in my head, and then by the time I draw the character, the rest of the story and the character's world follow.

Or, I'll have plot, and the silhouette of a character within the plot, and drawing helps me develop that character more fully.

But I couldn't do one without the other. If I ever wrote a novel, 3/4 of the book would be drawings. Whereas 3/4 of my drawing have some elaborately constructed world behind them that no one ever sees because my "writing" is mostly drawing.

If I could communicate telepathically I'd be an awesome storyteller. Instead, I'm jack of all trades, master of none.

Sorry, I ramble.

I tend to write out stories from a plotting/scripting perspective. I don't really do prose stories per se. But I've written and drawn my own comics since 1980. My wife co-writes and co-edits and does some sketch designs for what goes into the art.

You know who's great at prose art? Terry Moore of Strangers In Paradise!

mlai
I'm assuming you mean prose stories.

Never. Because when I'm writing prose fiction, or poetry, I'm in a completely different mode. I look at everything as a writer; "how can I paint this scene/person/event/idea in words?"

When I write a comics script, my mental picture switches to that of cinema. I see the characters moving, talking, the backgrounds panning.

Yeah, same here. If i have a story idea that i really want to draw out i'll just try it as a comic.

It's actually been a while since i wrote something straight prose. I really need to get back on that horse.

There is naturally a big difference between written fiction and drawn fiction even if it is the same story or set in the same universe.

That´s is why I was interested in drawing some of my written works and asked if anyone else had done something like that. I´m always looking for inspiration and advice from more talented artists.

The letter E
How often do you illustrate your stories, either for others to see or simply as reference material to yourself?

Your question seemed a bit general, so my best response to it is my writing and drawing are hand in hand. All of the time without question. I have never written something that didn't have at least what I call "margin sketches" all along it.

There are times when I see someone make a face in public or I get a running dialog in my mind, so I have always carried paper and a pencil to chronicle it. I remember reading that Mike Judge has FILES and FILES of stuff like that. Gems and nuggets of quick sketches and conversations that he could drop into whatever project he was working on. He was my main inspiration for doing what I do now.

I almost practiclly never draw humans, so I just draw a animal.
Then I draw another exact one, but with another animal I drew. I think up of way's those two can be connected. I Then Draw a final of the character with what I think would go on my comics.

I usually just start out with an idea. It sits in my head for a while and if I like it enough I consider putting it in story form. I like to consider what would serve the delivery of the story best; if there's action and lots of visual themes then comic but if there are complicated themes that run into many layers I find its easier to get the point across in text. Occasionally I try to plan my story out as a computer game but I can't code so that's actually kinda pointless.

Well... If I'm writing a story that I plan on showing off, I'm not going to illustrate it. You can do some things in writing that you can't in art and the other way around.

A silent comic is something you can't really do in writing. Describing the feeling of a burn is hard to show in a comic.

The comic I have up here was written beforehand, but that was more of a plot outline than a real writing. I never planned on showing it to the public, because it was just a self reference, not a 'real' writing.

So no, I don't illustrate my stories, because they're stories and that's how I want them to be.

If it's a oneshot story I usually don't bother unless I really liked it. If it's a series that i'm writing then I will usually sketch out the characters just so I can get a better feel of what they look like.