Making Comics

This week, we talk about a new cover and changes needed for a new cover (4:35), the importance of tension in your story (25:50), going past "just okay" with every aspect of your work (35:45), undoing the profanity in a book to make it more YA-accessible (47:50), seizing the opportunity to make changes for a new printing (54:35), and careful packing strategies for conventions (59:00).

This week, we talk about thinking through and working through interesting add-ons and promo ideas for a Kickstarter (2:30), working on an animation (14:00), a recap of ALA (21:40), prepping for a campaign (29:15), thinking hard about profanity's role in your comic (33:00), and artist's block (42:15).

This week, we recap the Amazing Las Vegas Comic Con (4:15), then discuss taking time for character sheets (24:30), doing successive washes of editing to turn something that's borrowed into something that's yours (28:40), making a decision when to print a book in relation to a Kickstarter (37:45), and those times when you need to do last-minute convention prep (48:00).

This week, we visit with Scott Serkland (Young and the Dead) and talk about getting clarity on present and future writing priorities (4:00), sound effects for a book (10:40), and the excitement of a new start for a new comic (19:00) before we have a creative round table (34:00), including why comics inspire us, (49:00).

This week, we give a recap of Phoenix Fan Fusion (3:00), covering behind the scenes logistics and exhibit hall energy (14:10), and a few stories from the table (28:00), then discuss lettering (39:00), gaining clarity on future projects (42:20), and finding time to thumbnail a story (50:30).

This week, we talk about finishing scripts (3:00), running story opinions by fellow creators (13:20), hitting the due date on a commission (21:30), choosing a future project (24:45), giving writing notes (34:15), and the magic of comic art (53:00).

This week, we talk about bringing a future idea into a present story (3:00), Adding a last-minute page to a comic and finalizing a cover (13:50), remembering your most important audience (23:15), surprise additions to a project (32:20), and thinking through your projects to design a near-term release schedule (38:15).

This week, we talk about problem-solving a cover with a lot of characters (3:30), taking the best pieces of different cover treatments to build covers (19:00), forcing your way through a story problem (35:20), generating ideas for an anthology (42:15), and getting the courage to make a major project "final" (52:00).

This week, we discuss brainstorming a special cover (3:00), when multi-issue storylines mess with trade paperback continuity (12:30), when a craft lesson resonates with you (30:30), finalizing a cover (36:00), tackling a story idea that's been on the backburner (43:40), and getting in the right headspace to give feedback (46:30).

This week, we talk about finishing the art for a comic project full of twists and turns (3:00), getting the creativity you can out of feeling under the weather (20:40), Free Comic Book Day (29:15), finalizing a cover for a future project (37:00), and how the details matter (51:30).

This week, we recap the LA Times Festival of Books (3:30), rethinking a key splash page (13:40), when the "pantser" method of writing goes wrong (24:20), and thinking ahead for a 2026 project (35:30).

This week, we talk about regaining your artistic rhythm (4:40), expanding your craft through study and mimicry (10:45), understanding the essence of your influences (21:00), writing to understand what you're writing (35:40), and formatting nightmares (49:15).

This week, Jim Lujan (The Full Fungus) joins us (Go watch the Full Fungus)! We talk about repurposing archived material (4:20), working with a printer to meet key dates (11:30), the excitement of starting a new project (21:45), the role music plays in projects (28:30), how improvisation connects different creative forms (54:30), and the feeling when you finish an ambitious project (59:20).

This week, we talk about finishing production work on an anthology title (4:15), a record week of reading (19:40), using the SLAC method to finish a story (28:45), designing the mystery in your story (37:30), and a discussion on creation and commerce (50:20)

This week, we begin with a recap of WonderCon (5:20) and discuss convention do's and don'ts (20:25), then talk about coloring pages (42:00) and when subgenres break formula (45:10).

This week, we sit down with Scott Serkland (The Young and the Dead) to give big picture thoughts on AZCAF (3:15), the right amount of information to share on upcoming projects (17:00), and craft versus promotion (37:15), among other topics.

This week, we talk about found footage when it comes to comics (3:20), knowing the right amount of work and detail for talk-heavy pages (21:50), getting a book back from the printer (28:50), when crowdfunding campaigns offer pleasant surprises (34:45), when the universe does strange things (45:45), and stages of cover assembly (53:20).

This week, we discuss the framing of an unorthodox story (3:10), the challenges some background elements provide (13:30), how changing POV can make a story smoother (25:00), and managing your crowdfunding campaign mid-stream (33:15).

This week, we discuss rarities you can include in your crowdfunding (3:00), a different kind of convention (12:00), making free stuff work for you (17:25), densely paneled pages (26:20), taking the first swing at a change in story structure (35:40), a conversation with a colorist (45:00), and the decision in staking a claim on a story idea (51:25).

This week, we welcome Gary Hodges (D vs. M) and discuss editing an anthology (5:20) and naming conventions for the volumes of your work (9:15) before we open up the conversation on story structure (17:00), keeping the energy of a rough version in later versions (35:00), the rhythm / music of stories (51:50), and more!

This week, we discuss the maddening part of PDF assembly (5:55), the maddening part of PDF formatting (12:00), making a future editing promise to yourself (24:30), settling in to those productive moments (30:25), the right level of detail and quality for books within your story (37:45), finding the right format for your story (48:00), and stylistic choices for voiceover text (55:10).

This week, we discuss character references for your story (5:00), staying on an artist pace for interior pages (16:00), continuity among your comics (26:40), riding a creative wave when it happens (32:45), working through a coloring style (38:45), before we get into the main topic: the hand-drawn element of logos and lettering (45:30).

This week, we talk about drawing a Kickstarter backer into artwork (2:30), locating yourself on the learning curve (13:00), putting the promotional work into your crowdfunding (25:20), when PDF formatting goes wrong (28:15), when a workshop tells you something you didn't see (36:30), working on a letters column (46:50), and getting the complete art to Keith's superhero story (53:45), which...

This week, we go behind the scenes filming a crowdfunding video (3:10), working to an aggressive deadline for completing art (11:15), restarting a story draft before you had planned to (19:30), redefining creative success (24:00), finding the right amount of research for your story (39:00) and being the "last hand" on a book before it goes to press (48:20).

This week, we talk about how aggressive pace-setting goals help (4:45), writer's block (15:00), a change in the setting of a story that changed the story itself (22:45), how bonus content for a comic matters (31:15), tracking down comic scripts to aid craft research (40:00), and reading a first draft at a high level to target edits (47:30).