Create your own comic strips as a hobby or for publication. Develop comic strips by starting with a basic idea of what the comics are about. Expand on this idea by creating stories that feature comic strip characters who are engaged in conflict. Make the comic strip by drawing it out, using the story to guide you. Developing comic strips take hard work and determination, but the finished product is something that gives many a great sense of accomplishment.
Instructions
1. Think of an idea for what your comic is about. An example could be a comic strip that is about a little boy and his friends who go on adventures and get into trouble. A good comic strip idea makes it easy to write stories within it that puts characters into situations that they must resolve. Stories, and comic strips, must have conflict in order to keep a reader's interest. Write out some plots for your comic strip, infusing conflict to create interesting stories.
2. Draw your characters on some paper to feel for what they will look like in your comic strip. Design them based upon their character, adding clothing and accessories to reflect that. Draw the characters from the front, back and side views, so you have a template to refer to when drawing them in the strip. These templates are your model sheets for your characters.
3. Break down your stories into panels. There are many ways to do this. One simple way is to write a panel description for each panel, describing the action taking place. Include some ideas of what the characters will say. Keep the dialogue short, realizing that there is only so much space for text if the art is also to remain viewable. Create thumbnails, drawing stick figures and shapes to represent the characters and backgrounds of your comic strip.
4. Lay out three or four panels on some bristol board with a pencil and a ruler. Trace over the pencil panel borders with a pen to darken them for photocopying. Mark off where you want to put your text for your word balloons. Draw lines with the ruler for the height of the text and space between. Hand-letter the dialogue, or print out a copy of the alphabet from a word processing program, and trace the letters you need to give the lettering a cleaner look. Put the printed letters under your bristol board, and place them both on a light box for tracing.
5. Refer to your thumbnails for your panels, and re-create the sketches on your bristol board. Draw your characters as stick figures first, and build them up to look like they do in your model sheets. Illustrate the actions of the thumbnails, keeping true to the panel descriptions. Finish the drawing by using black India ink, applied with dip pens or brushes.
