Graphic Novels, 101

[laroche]

I have a couple ideas for graphic novels, but I'm a writer, not an illustrator, an don't know a thing about then.

Originally the ideas were for a TV series or movie, but Joss Whedon won't return my calls, so I figure a GN might be a more realistic option.

I know Harvey Peccar wrote the text for his GN and Crumb drew the novels; how can I find an illustrator to draw out my story/ideas?

Thanks!

[themegagod]

money?
Isn't there a link in the job posting sections for available work?
I'm not positive (literally), but I think I saw something like that.

[QueenGwenevere]

Depends, how much are you paying and what's the scope of the job?

And yeah, the job board would be one place to start...

[Black Spot]

Link http://jobs.conceptart.org/

[vineris]

Here's a thing you have to understand about graphic novels: art takes MUCH more time than writing. I can write enough script in one weekend to keep me drawing for a few hundred hours. Therefore, the artist will be doing the bulk of the work on the graphic novel and you will need to make it worth their while somehow, because it is totally ridiculous to ask someone to give you 1600 hours of their life for nothing. And 1600 hours of someone's life doesn't come cheap. If someone is selling that for cheap, it's usually because they are either desperate, flaky or clueless, and you will have trouble with them.

So your options are to scrape up $20,000 or so to hire an artist and keep all the book rights to yourself, hand over the rights to a publisher and let them worry about how to find and pay the artist, learn how to make art yourself, form a partnership with the artist where they have partial ownership of the work and you do all non-art work on the project (usually handling the writing, business and technology side of things), or any other bartering that you and an artist can agree on. Partnerships seem to work best between writers and artists who already know one another, because it's difficult to trust a complete stranger with your creative work, time and money.

[QueenGwenevere]

By the way, if you are going to work with an artist to make comics, here's some handy comic writing tips to keep in mind (mostly what NOT to do...)

http://sararyan.com/2010/03/getting-...riting-comics/
http://sararyan.com/2010/03/more-tip...t-do-part-one/
http://sararyan.com/2010/03/more-tip...t-do-part-two/

Keep in mind that something that took you a few seconds to write may take hours to draw... ("Panel 1: a thousand robotic locusts descend onto a gleaming cyber-city built entirely of intricate circuitry... Below, hordes of citizens flee on futuristic flying motorcycles...")

[JFierce]

It's not even just the big scenes of thousands of robots that take time. Pages don't have that much dialogue frankly, or they feel clustered and more like reading a book than watching a scene unfold. So yeah what takes a few minutes to write a paragraph of dialogue would take probably several pages of just text while working through the scene, peoples faces and reactions etc.

[vineris]

It's not even just the big scenes of thousands of robots that take time. Pages don't have that much dialogue frankly, or they feel clustered and more like reading a book than watching a scene unfold. So yeah what takes a few minutes to write a paragraph of dialogue would take probably several pages of just text while working through the scene, peoples faces and reactions etc.

Yes, it's funny that way. I've said before that you could condense all those descriptions in Lord of the Rings into a few landscape panels but a few sentences of action will happily expand into several pages of art.

[QueenGwenevere]

True, I run into that problem even when writing my own comics... A seemingly trivial paragraph of chit-chat in writing turns into five pages when drawn.

Likewise with any series of trivial actions... If you write that we see a character put something in their bag, put on their coat, go outside and lock the door, get in their car, and drive away, that's several panels right there. My preference is to condense and cut to essential shots where possible.

And of course, brief Shakespearian stage directions like "they fight" can easily turn into several pages of action. So there's that.

Though excessive detail is still a headache. The last time I worked with a writer, they specified circuitry on EVERYTHING. I swear putting in the circuitry took longer than everything else combined.

[JFierce]

The main thing I see around every good comic artist I like is one thing. They plan. Plan plan PLLaaan PlAAAnnn plan.
Plan the layout, the thumbnails, the rough sketches, the baloon placement, how much text fits in those baloons to go along with the script they already wrote where it says on this page this and this is said then the next page etc etc etc. Sometimes it's the opposite of the OP where an artist will hire a writer to help them say what they want in the scene more eloquently and get a better idea of where they're going with the chapter.

I guess saying and showing more with less is an art in it's own.
Hence why a lot of manga's grab my respect because they produce a lot in little time and many artists don't slack in quality or the stories they tell each week.

[laroche]

Thanks everyone for your comments!
Maybe graphic novels ain't the way to go?
Maybe I should enlist in an art class?
Maybe I should start doodling more on napkins?
Maybe I should be more persistent with my calls to Mr. Whedon?

Oh, the possibilities!

Thanks again!

[TinyBird]

Maybe graphic novels ain't the way to go?

Well, if you write it as a book, it's always possible to later re-do it as a comic (see Neil Gaiman's Neverwhere).

[vineris]

Thanks everyone for your comments!
Maybe graphic novels ain't the way to go?
Maybe I should enlist in an art class?
Maybe I should start doodling more on napkins?
Maybe I should be more persistent with my calls to Mr. Whedon?

Oh, the possibilities!

Thanks again!

Well, if nothing else trying to do some art yourself will give you a deep appreciation for how much work it takes to make a comic book.

But yeah, writing a book is by far the cheapest, fastest thing you can do by yourself to make your story a reality.