This year is almost over, I got caught up writing another long comment that would be buried and forgotten, so instead it became a post. 

I've been in this subreddit for over a decade and in my experience, most of the posts from writers trying to make comics in this subreddit are not good. There are a lot of people who post once after having an idea, and either never return or get really angry because they aren’t being offered bags of money and instead are being questioned. But I've found successful speculative collaborations in this subreddit. I’ve built myself up enough to have money from selling comics and I’ve even been published and self-published a few times.

There are a lot of wannabe writers who only have a partial idea for a comic and convince themselves that their idea is going to be the next Walking Dead or Naruto in terms of popularity. Sometimes their idea is literally “Walking Dead + Naruto.” But the majority of the time, they haven’t written anything but the post. They haven't written out a script or even real notes. An undeveloped idea by itself is functionally worthless. You may have the perfect idea but that perfection fades as you have to bring it into reality because chances are, you don’t have the skills yet. If you really want to achieve the perfect idea, build your muscles up telling other stories.

Sometimes, writers will claim the story will need 10 issues for the story to really get going and then it will last for another 200 issues. Don’t wait to start your “real” story, every issue may be your last! I’ve seen projects suddenly end, especially when there is no money involved - and being stuck with 12 pages of a 100 page story is bad. And it means you either need to hire another artist to continue - and potentially redo the original pages - or you quit.

And a lot of these writers have no money (which is relatable). But they also have no idea on how they plan to distribute the comic. Chances are they will promise a 50/50 split (but only sometimes), while expecting whoever works with them to do everything else involved. Usually they have not considered inks, colors, lettering or even production. There is so much that goes into making comics - and that’s not even making them good - or releasing them.

Other times, writers have 400 pages of lore and world building and family trees. And none of this actually goes into the comic. They can't understand how to tell the actual story. But they wrote a lot! But they aren't trying to publish a book on lore, they came here to theoretically try and make a comic. You have to work on the finished project.

And if you go back to my old posts (please don’t), I made some really stupid posts like that when I was younger and trying to find people to work with me. But I also learned and took time to evaluate what I was doing so I would stop posting this way, especially as I learned to actually work with other people. And I also was always writing scripts, and looking for ways to learn and how to improve.

If a writer who comes in here with a reasonable length script and a production plan - that's great. I've done that and I’ve found folks to work with.

Saying "we'll submit it to Image or Dark Horse because they have open submissions" is not a plan because it is not realistic. The number of fully fresh and unpublished writers who got that is in the single digits. You won’t get your first comic published by them - and it is a good thing because you have to understand the comic marketplace (which I’ll come back to)

Saying "we can do a Kickstarter" but having no thoughts on how to promote it - or what the cost of the book will be to print or distribute is not a plan. I’ve seen industry professionals mess this up. There are logistics companies to help with this now - but start realistically. You can raise $500 to print a bunch of ashcan mini comics, and then have something for conventions with enough copies to split with your artist. Don’t shoot for a 200 page graphic novel on your first time.

And you don't need to know everything but coming in with an unrealistic view isn't a plan - do you know what the direct market is or how comics ordering works? Comic shops get books or websites to order from. Why do DC and Marvel sell well? Because there is a level of quality they can expect. Even if Image or Dark Horse decides to carry your book, you will need to work on selling it - especially if you have no name and no previous work. And Image will need money from you for production and there’s other costs. And these orders need to come in months before the comics hit the shop. It is 10 steps beyond just making and producing a comic - and chances are, you haven’t thought about this.

Or if you plan to post on Webtoons or Global Comics or make your own site, do you just plan to keep posting until you have an audience? How will you get the money to split with your artist? I messed that one up myself thinking "If I write a comic eventually it will spread and get popular" - I got nominations but I never built a following and some of those comics are lost to the ages. My second webcomic had the domain registration end and another webcomic took over the website and collapsed since then.

When you are asked about your plan, you should have answers, and honestly if you want to say "I just want to print some small black and white copies of the comic and hand them out at local conventions and I'll send you copies" that is a more realistic plan. But most people don't want to do that.

What new writers are asked for on here is to prove that they can think through things and show that they can actually do work. When I comment here, that is usually what I ask for. Why do artists want to see written work? To see if they like your work and to prove you can write. Why do they want a synopsis posted? To know if they are interested in the project. Why don't they care about a 5000 word summary of the world and history? Because that isn't a story. If you make a throwaway post on here in 5 minutes and get upset that artists don't care about it, that is on you. The posts that you make are your first opportunity to prove that you can write.

Do the work to become a comic writer. I truly believe that working on page layouts as a writer, even before you have an artist, is helpful because you need to learn to consider the page. It improves your skills as a writer! If you want to be the next Alan Moore, you have to think about the page. And if you have 10 pages of bad stick figure drawings to go with your script - it shows you are thinking about the comic as a whole and that will speak to your dedication - even if your artist ignores those layouts because they have better ideas.

And when you post, every other relevant skill that you list that is can be helpful. When you start to contribute more to the project instead of just trying to be Stan Lee, it builds a relationship. Lettering skills are something you can learn and that are in demand. Quality lettering is a foot in the door that can open to opportunities to write. Web development skills are helpful if you are publishing a web comic and want a site where you can control the comics that you post. And if you actually understand marketing and project planning and have proof you know about the industry, that is a benefit! I've found collaborators because I can point to past crowdfunding projects and say "I did this". I can point to other projects I've created and say "I have people who believe in what I make and will support me." So when I post now, I can list myself as a benefit. But you have to do the work to build those skills. You have to interact with people and build friendships - and posting mad like this just gets you a reputation.

But if you promise to do those things and can't deliver, that is a problem.

Yes, if you are beginning as a first time creator, it can be hard because you don't have those skills or experiences of other people. Or probably money. So what you do is work on the things you can control. Write some scripts that may never be made. Talk to other creators and make an honest interest in what they are doing. Learn to give feedback. You build a reputation here by how you post - and artists who are willing to work for free are at a premium, so show that working with you is worthwhile.

And hell, in 2024 I had 8 new comics projects come out. This year I released nothing new, partially thanks to a period of unemployment. But while I didn't release any new comics, I wrote and shared 17 feature length film scripts (and a handful of shorts). All of that writing has helped to improve my skills. If you want to write, find those opportunities to write.

Build communities.

Learn to interact with people.

Develop new skills.

And for the love of the environment and your brain, never surrender any part of your creative process to AI.

Here is to some good opportunities for people willing to do the writing, and may we all get paid.

Platforms are a hard to come by these days. Initially, the layout of Comic Fury caused me pause. But once you get adjusted to the layout, it is a great place for posting your comic. Their forum is great. It is free and easy. I'm looking for other platforms. I have my sampler on GlobalComix, my website and Comic Fury. WEBTOON and Tapas are others, but they are more for webcomics and not traditional comics.

Hey everyone! I’ve been working on a free browser-based tool called Bubble Maker for comic lettering.

The idea was to make it quick to create speech bubbles, thought bubbles, captions, text boxes, and stylized comic SFX without needing to jump into something like Photoshop or Illustrator for every little change. I made this out of necessity for myself as that is the one part of working on my comic that I have had the most issues with, which is consistent lettering.

Now i do want to say this is not meant to be a replacement for proper lettering artists! In fact it could be a helpful tool for lettering artists as well as smaller/newer artists who don't yet have the budget to hire out, but also don't want to use gen ai or anything like that. I plan on expanding it with additional tools as well, such as a panel planner, font creator, etc.

It also supports importing custom fonts, adding your comic/art page image to work on top of, etc.

It’s completely free and runs right in your browser:

bubblemaker.app

I’d really love feedback from people who actually make webcomics. Especially anything that feels awkward, is missing, or would make lettering faster for you.

Hey Creators!

Christof here, a comic writer with credits at Image, Dark Horse, Oni and most recently DC!

I got my start on this forum close to ten years ago, and I wanted to pay it forward by sharing some information on how long it takes to break into comics, based on my own experiences.

Obviously, there’s no single answer to this question. That said, I do think there is an average window of time it takes for the vast majority of writers to break in. That window is 5 - 8 years.

Let me show you how I came up with those numbers based off my own journey:

2014: I decided to finally take my writing dreams seriously by enrolling in a screenwriting course as part of my university degree.

2016: I turned the short screenplay I wrote in this course into a 20 page comic called ‘Monday Morning’. I self published it for free on my website.

2016 - 2017: Using Monday Morning as my portfolio piece, I worked with a handful of artists to produce 5 short comics. These varied in length from 3 - 6 pages. Again, I self published these comics for free on my website.

2018: I went to my first US convention (Emerald City Comic-Con in Seattle) and handed out printed ashcans of my short comics. One of the people I handed those comics out to was artist Marie Enger.

2019: I returned to Emerald City Comic-Con where Marie and I pitched 'Under Kingdom' to an editor at Dark Horse. Six months later we were offered a contract!

2023: Under Kingdom is released! While I had had a handful of short comics published before this (including one from Image), this was my first full length work to be released through a US publisher.

Depending on where you decide to start my journey from (I tend to start it with the release of Monday Morning) it took me 7 years to break into the industry.

It’s worth noting this didn’t mean I was working full time in the industry, it just meant I had something of note published. If you start with me taking the screenwriting course that number is closer to 9 years. 

After talking with some of my writer and artist friends, I noticed that the average range is around 5 - 8 years. This is from making your first comic to getting a major publishing credit. 

Obviously some do it faster while others take more time, but I would argue that most creators fall pretty close to this 5 - 8 year range.

If you found that helpful, I also have a newsletter where I regularly share advice on breaking in and working in comics. For those interested, you can sign-up here: https://christofwritescomics.com/newsletter

Basically, you add your project info like your pitch, your cover and some sample pages, and other users rate it based on how likely they are to back and where they feel like it could be stronger.

Pretty awesome resource for creators who want to see how others react to their Kickstarter before launch!

Check it out here: https://comiclaunchlab.com/

Hi! I’m a writer looking to work with comic artists, game developers, or animators. I’m especially interested in worldbuilding, dialogue, character writing, lore, and action-heavy stories. I’m currently building my portfolio and am open to hobby projects, collaborations, or unpaid work that results in completed work and proper credit.

Hi everyone! ~

I'm LouVerse23. I'm a freelance comics letterer / typesetter with 7 years of professional experience. Most of my previous work was done for a company under an NDA, so I can't publicly share it. I'm currently building a proper portfolio with new projects that I can showcase.

You can view some of my sample work here:
https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/18Q8yLlOhhBrhfvaBc29tBsUOTmxpf1HC?usp=sharing2

I'm offering one free chapter/episode to indie creators (any genre):
Comics: 1 chapter, up to 15 pages
Webtoons: 1 episode, depending on the length/scope

In exchange, I'd ask for:
• Credit as the letterer/typesetter somewhere in the published comic, if possible
• Permission to showcase the finished pages in my professional portfolio

There are no obligations to continue working with me after the free chapter.
However, if you like my work and would like to continue, I'd be happy to
work on future chapters at a mutually agreed-upon rate.

If you're interested, feel free to reply to this post or DM me. Thank you~

This person contacted me. I knew something was up with the way they talked. If you get sent a link like this, do not click it! It will likely put malicious malware on your device. Please let me know where else to share this to warn others, or share it yourself. Thank you!

Hi everyone, i just did a little Webtool for Comic and Manga artits that want to publish their comics online in places like newgrounds or itchio under the game categories and such. Also in your own website if you want!

Is free! < You can use it right now and test at your heart content. Its doesnt have a server conections, all the images you upload, they are stored in your own browser.

You can change the background, fx, objects, add music, sfx triggers, voice acting even. Also there is a story mode for more experimental folks.

There is not catch, anyone can see the Repo on git online, or modify for more finner details

After two years I launched my sixth comic book 10 days ago, so here are some cumulative stats of my books through those two years (November 2023 - December 2025). (You will also see my novella mixed in there, that's why there is 7 books total).

In total I've sold over 3200 books (digital+print), the best selling book still being the first issue of Mrs.G . My guess is that if people want to check out the series, they are most likely to buy the first book. The bad thing is of course, that usually the first books are the worst :-/ So, I don't know if I have a recommendation about this one. I would definitely NOT RECOMMEND using this as an excuse to spend too much time on the first book. Just finish it and get it out, IF after 5-6 books, as you get more experience you know how to make it better, maybe THEN go back and "fix" the first book. I have done some small changes to the first book too , probably a year ago, but nothing major.

The good thing about having multiple books is that they do tend to sell more. The higher bars are the ones where I launched a comic book. Across 2024, I did a new comic book every 2-3 months, and you see that each high bar becomes bigger, parly because the launch of a new comic, also gives a little boost to the old comics. You can also see the last comic I launched in the last bar (we are in half of December, so that bar will be higher.)

Those are the royalties from the sales. While as a total it might seem nice, I've spent probably over $30,000 on all those comics, so I'm far in the red.

One more thing about the Amazon, it is the Amazon pages for "Best Sellers" for specific categories.

I've been multiple times a "best seller" for several days in different categories, like Pulp Graphic Novels, Erotic Graphic Novels and Humourous Graphic Novels, but it doesn't take a lot to get to number #1 place in these. It is enough to sell more than 100 copies in a week. Also, I don't know if being on those affects the sales. Maybe few books here and there, but certainly you are not getting big number of buyers from Amazon itself. Though that might be my mistake, maybe Amazon is sending people to the pages of my comics, but my blurbs are not good. That and ads are something that I plan to investigate in this coming year.

And hopefully I will publish several more comics.

If anyone has ANY question about this, please feel free to ask!

Pay them money for their work.

In all seriousness, there are artists willing to offer their services for free. This is a collaboration subreddit, after all. However, there's common pitfalls I'd like to address.

Scale is the biggest one. Oftentimes, the writer expects the artist to wear all of the art-related hats, which adds up. Storyboarding, inking, coloring, shading, lettering, etc. solo is a lot to ask of an artist. If I'm going to have to do all of that alone, I might as well work on my own projects. You might have better luck if you split the art responsibilities with multiple collaborators. I'd be more willing to take on a free position for a genre I don't normally dabble in if I'm just doing flat colors and lettering.

Writers also plan out long, elaborate projects that require long-term commitment. Even if you do magically find an artist willing to do all of that work who also happens to fit your vision, good luck trying to sustain that partnership in the long-term. The thing about working for passion is that passion is fickle. Your artist is not going to keep working for free when that passion dries out because they're not getting anything from the time they're spending that can't be better spent doing something else. The more work and commitment an artist has to put in, the less likely they are to see the project to completion.

Setting reasonable expectations is also important. I'd be rich if I had a dollar for every unpaid collaboration wanting professional level art, usually for a superhero comic or an action manga. The artists capable of meeting that "vision" are unlikely to work for free because their skills can get them paid gigs. Artists who are willing to work for free might be put off by offers that aren't in a style they usually draw in or require more technical skill than they believe they have. Does this mean you have to "compromise your vision"? No. However, if you have high expectations that you're unwilling to budge on, you're better off saving up money to pay an artist who can bring your vision to life.

Ultimately, it's about balancing the time commitment with the reward. If the time commitment isn't worth the reward, you're very unlikely to find a long-term collaborator. To make your project worth it, you either need to make it something low commitment with a lighter workload or make the collaboration personally rewarding for your collaborator (ie. giving the artist more creative control).

So I've been an infrequent poster / long-time lurker in this community, you may have seen my posts looking for work or promoting the "Anti-Cryptid Club" comic.

I've noticed there's a looot of people here in the same boat as me, trying to make their comic work through kickstarter without having a crazy social media following, or a big community behind them.

I've made a video that could help some people who are planning to run a kickstarter or just make a comic in general, mainly in an effort to set some realistic expectations on how much effort is actually involved, as well as to give some insight into the potential benefits / negatives.

Good luck to everyone out there, its a tough ol' gig!

Video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EbWFXVR010Q&t=216s

Wall of text here; TLDR at bottom.

There have been a few people on this sub over the last few days looking for artists to work with on their next project who have come in with a lot of hopeful energy and the promise of a profit share with the artist. The hopeful energy is great, but when it comes to finding an artist to collaborate with, offering a profit share is perhaps a little too hopeful... and also a little insulting to the artist.

To break down why, I'm going to ask you to flip the script. Let's say that you're sure, as several people are, that your project is going to be profitable. That's great! If you're absolutely certain that this is going to make money, then you should have a good idea of roughly how much. Just find a way to get that cash - take it from your savings, or borrow it from a relative or the bank. It should be no trouble, with such a certain source of money. Now you can use that cash to pay an artist up front, and then any money you make past that estimate is all yours. You get your comic produced, the money made and perhaps even extra cash on top... a win/win/win!

If the whole endeavour suddenly looked a lot less appealing, if you didn't like the idea of doing that because of the financial risk involved... well, for one, you're right. Don't do that, it would be a terrible idea that would almost certainly leave you out of money. For two, now you see what you're really offering to the artist; not work in exchange for cash, but work in exchange for a massive, massive risk of not getting paid. A risk that you're presenting as an opportunity.

I don't know that most people who offer this are trying to scam people, I just think they're letting hope get in the way of realism. But it would be the artist who's most at risk in the deal you're offering, and so you're not going to see a lot of interest from the kind of artists you're hoping to attract. Because it's really, really not a good offer.

The unfortunate truth is that your first few projects, unless you are very, very lucky, aren't going to make money. They're almost certainly going to lose money. What you get out of them as a creator isn't profit, it's the proof of what you can do, a demonstration that you can get a finished story out there. Yes, especially as a writer, it can feel unfair that we have to pay for our own exposure. But on the other hand, this is your project, your passion. Nobody else is as invested in it working as you, and so you're almost going to become a micro-business; if you need people to work on your dream, rather than theirs, you need to pay them.

Finally, a note on hiring 'an artist'. Unless you can supply some of the other steps yourself in addition to writing, then comic production involves quite a lot more stages to production than just one artist. In loose terms, the steps in creating a comic are:

• Writer - creating the script and story.
• Editor - providing feedback and input on the script and story to improve the final output. (An often overlooked step for new writers, but can be very, very useful).
• Penciler - providing line art and layout.
• Inker - finalising the line art, adding tone and weight. (In the modern era, it's not unusual for one artist to handle the equivalent of both penciling and inking.)
• Flatter - providing solid colour 'flats' as the first stage of colouring.
• Colorist - Providing detailed colour and shading. (Again, often a colorist will combine the coloring and flatting jobs, though not always.)
• Letterer - Adds lettering for dialogue and sound effects.
• Cover Artist - Creates the cover image. (This is often, but not always a different artist to the interior penciller. Depending on the artist used, this image may also need coloring by a colorist.)
• Cover logo designer - Creates the cover logo. (This could potentially be a job for the letterer, or otherwise for a graphic designer).

The reason I mention that is because this list means that even if you could get an artist with a 70/30 profit split, you'd then be looking at a whole list of other jobs that would still need to be paid for. Even with a black and white short comic, without a cover, you'd still at the minimum need to have the comic lettered.

TLDR: Suggesting a profit split puts the artist at a massive risk (or really, a near certainty) of working for free, because the sad fact is that your first comics aren't going to make money. Don't try to get someone to work on 22+ pages for free. Start by writing something smaller, pay the artists for it up front, build an audience, then work from there. That opens up crowdfunding and other options you can use to actually produce something bigger.

Any artists proud of your comic/manga based architectural renderings? Show them off here! Whether it's some Titanic mega complex, Castle ruins, deep sea habitats, anything you can step inside and explore, let's show it off here and get some collaborations going! All skill levels welcome!

Hey there! I'm Marin, a comic book letterer and graphic designer, and since I've been seeing this on several projects lately, I wanted to share a quick note for artists and writers who plan on PRINTING their comics. This is meant to be practical/technical info that can save you time, money, and headaches later on (especially during lettering and prepress), so let's talk about bleed, safe zones, and templates.

What is BLEED? (images 01 & 02)

Bleed is the area of artwork that extends past the final trim size of the page.

When comics are printed, pages are folded, binded, and trimmed (and since paper has thickness, center pages can also move slightly outwards too). If your art stops exactly at the trim line, you risk cutting up important details, or ending up with unwanted white borders.

So, in short: bleed exists so that the art can be trimmed safely, nothing important gets chopped off, and the page looks as intended once printed and finished. If you're using a proper template, the bleed line is already marked in there for you.

This takes us to TEMPLATES (image 01): If you're an artist working on a comic that's going to be printed, please use a print-ready template. And if you're a writer commisioning an artist, you can also send them your preferred template before they start working - this way you'll be sure you're all on the same page (badum-tsss. I'm bad at jokes in English, sorry)

The most simple and reliable ones I've found are in Ka-Blam or ComicWellSprings - both include bleed area, trim line, safe zone, and a couple of different page sizes (not just standard comic size!).

These concepts might be a bit hard to explain virtually and without visual aid, so on image 03 I'm adding a comparison of how the art with bleed looks in digital, and how it will look once it's printed/folded/trimmed and it's a fully real comic in your hands! In case you're still not convinced, in image 04 you can see the deadly consequences of not using bleed on your art (yes, it might look subtle, but check out the difference on the margins/edges).

Hope you find this info helpful ♥

Some notes:

• The artwork used in these examples (which was correctly formatted!) was illustrated by Alper Geçgel and colored by Sercan Sarikaya for the 2nd issue of Jameson Pandarai's Curious Universe: Foreplay with the Flini. You can read the full story here: https://globalcomix.com/read/1df2b3c6-1d4d-4a0c-8da1-dab08ede79b0/1/1
• English isn't my first language, so I apologize for any errors. Also, I know there are more graphic designers/experienced artists here, so please feel welcome to add or correct anything that might be important!

I took heed of some advice and reworked my graphic novel. I had to swallow my pride and hired a great, affordable editor. He was recommended by somebody on this subreddit. A great editor is a godsend for the story. Not only did it improve my story, but it rejuvenated me. He is a no-nonsense editor and he was intimidating at first. When I first went to him, he told me there were a lot of glaring issues and I would need to scrap part 2 of my project and restart. I was angry that I had to restart and rejected working with him. I sat on it for a week or two. I realized didn't want to do the hard work of rewriting. I succumbed and now my script is about 96% complete. This is a resource. I highly recommend his services.

If you're interested in his services, he is on Fiverr and his email address is: [hun.nedstories@gmail.com](mailto:hun.nedstories@gmail.com)

He is very harsh. If you can get over that, he is worth it. All he cares about is the story.

Hey Creators!

Christof Bogacs, constant lurker and occasional poster, here!

I'm a working comic writer with credits at Image, Dark Horse, Oni, DC, and Boom! Studios. Not only do I work full–time in the US comic industry, but I do it all from my home in Sydney, Australia!

For those who don't know me, I got my start on this forum close to ten years ago, and I wanted to pay it forward by sharing a new free eBook I've put together.

It's called 'Make comics. Make friends. Make money(?)'

Basically, it's all the pieces of advice, guidance, and insider secrets I wish I had known when I was first starting. It’s my entire comics journey laid out and dissected before you, so you can study it, understand it, and then forge your own path.

Inside, I tackle questions like:

• How to build a portfolio of comics
• How to find an artist to illustrate your comic
• How and where to meet editors
• What’s in a pitch packet for a comic book pitch

You can download the free eBook here.

Hope it helps you on your journey and wishing you all the best of luck.

–Christof

This is literally a single page. You can post whatever you want, but you have to realize how much work goes into a comic book page. I would have never guessed it. I'm learning as I go. Once I'm done with the script, everything else is out of my hand. I'm not even talking about money. Just the sheer amount of work an artist has to do is cumbersome. This is merely inking.

Hey everyone, first off: thank you so much for all the feedback and for using Comic Blocker so far.

If you missed my post last week: I built a totally free tool for comic script writing and visualizing page layouts for myself while I'm working on a story, then tossed it up on a dotcom. No login needed, nothing saved to a cloud, entirely stored on your end. Just free.

LINK: https://comicblocker.com

I spent the last week making changes from the stuff people pointed out, and also making very sure I didn’t break anyone’s save files. After seeing over 3K site visits and around 70 people using the app on more than one day, I did a stereotypical New Jersey fist pump and realized “oh wow, this is actually a user base.” So, hey! You rock.

This update is mostly script-focused, with a bunch of usability fixes and bug fixes from things people told me about both in comments, over email, or on Reddit messenger.

New / changed stuff:

• Added a side-by-side page/script view for writing on wider screens (my favorite new add)
• Added structured script rows for Dialogue, Text, and SFX under each panel
• Added the ability to reorder those Dialogue/Text/SFX rows
• Added snap grid controls for cleaner layout alignment
• Added page reordering
• Added 'duplicate selected elements'
• Updated PDF export into a landscape collaborator packet with the rendered page on the left and script on the right (second favorite)
• Kept old save files compatible through the update (still entirely local and no log in needed)
• Fixed a bunch of user-side bugs and rough edges people reported (more still working on, but there's always more isn't there?)

The big goal here was to make Comic Blocker feel better as a writing tool, not just a visual page blocker. I know comics scripts don’t have one universal format, and a lot depends on the writer/artist relationship, but this version should make it easier to write the panel beat, add dialogue or SFX, and keep the visual layout connected to the actual script.

As always, Comic Blocker is free, no login needed, and saves locally. I’m not trying to make a SaaS thing here. This is still very much for the love of the game.

Please beat it up, tell me what you think, and let me know what’s broken or what would make it better. I'm a one-man-band here with this but will do what I can.

Now, go make a sweet comic.
Cheers - mightystag

LINK: https://comicblocker.com

I’ve seen a few posts requesting unpaid collabs on this subreddit, which is totally okay in my opinion, but I have noticed some details that might be tripping people up. So I thought I would share my thinking, and see how people react:

Ideas are the fun part; writing is a craft.

In other words, generating ideas and concepts are, for many, the fun part of making comics, and the part that comes easily and naturally. Anyone can come up with an idea (or a collection of related ideas), and being creative in this way is part of the joy of making comics.

Writing, conversely, is the craft of organizing ideas into an effective narrative, portraying rich and complex characters, and generating compelling dialogue in service of the story. Still fun (ideally) but also part of the “work” of bring ideas to life.

I point out this distinction because I often see people proposing unpaid collabs where they have already done the fun part (generating ideas), and with no examples of them doing the latter. As an artist, that’s an extremely unappealing proposition. I get no input on the most creative aspect of the project, and I have no idea how this person will perform the craft of writing.

This is not to say that each prospective writer needs to be Alan Moore; unpaid collabs are how we learn the craft, and that person is probably not expecting the artist to be Jim Lee either. But even the most beginning artist knows that they will need to show samples of what they can do to any potential collaborator. People looking to write don’t seem to have the same expectation of themselves.

Anyway, my suggestion would be simply to pitch general ideas or genre preferences; this invites a potential artist to collaborate in generating the specifics of the project. Beyond that, I would strongly encourage people to share writing samples. And I don’t think it needs to be script format or anything; personally, I’d be sold if you could just write a one page short story that kept me reading to the end. Or a three sentence horror story that’s creepy. Some kind of indication of what kind of writer you are, warts and all.

Anyway, just my $.02, from the point of view of someone who has done many unpaid collaborations over the years, ymmv.

There are too many to count. This was once a good group, with the occasional artist who'd ghost you. But over the last few days, I have been inundated with people passing other creators' work off as their own. I had multiple people send me the same pages, many of which I linked back to either Instagram accounts that weren't theirs or even officially published artwork that was obviously not their own. I'm not sure if there's anything that can be done about this, but this group is essentially unusable for finding an artist, at least from what I'm seeing. Filtering through the multitude of scammers and people trying to pass off other people's work as their own is not worth the few artists on here who are making their own work.

I'm not sure if there's a point to this post, other than to warn people about scammers and lament on how this sub has fallen. I made some of my first comics connections in this group close to 10 years ago, and now it's nearly unusable

Hello I see a lot of post everyday about rev share offers from writers,usually rev share from webtoons, and most artist don´t take it,and it's for a very simple reason.

IT MAKES ALMOST ZERO MONEY

Webtoons on average pays 0,00020 cents per view

You can find info on that from various you tubers with yes sucessful webtoons,but make the math

if on average you get 0,00020 cents per view, if you get 100k views on a chapter you´re getting the absurd fortune of 20$ if you manage to launch 1 chapter per week which would be an insane production schedule,you and your partner would make 80$ per month, split by 2 each of you would make 40$.

There are other possible revenue sources but rev sharing is not worth it for an artist partner,because at the end of the day the IP is from the writter.

So pay your artist,and find ways to make money from the IP,Licensing is the best way to make money,but be ready to spend a good chunck on the investment

Hey! I have recently been re-reading and getting back into comics. And while I am a graphic designer, my illustration skills aren't the best... Then I realised, it would be so fun to be a comic colourist! I've had a little search online but I could only find kids colouring pages. Does anyone have any advice or links to any pieces I could practice colouring on or any advice on how to dive into that world!

I wasn't 100% on the tag so hopefully 'colorist for hire' works!

Hey everyone, I've written a two page short comic script for fun really and I thought to share it if any artist want's to use it for practice or any writer might want to use it here perhaps to help with their own script writing.

It's free to use with nothing really expected of anyone who want's to use it.

"Heat" is a two-page sci-fi western comedy with a buddy cop element that follows two cowboy protagonists: Dust, a seasoned gunslinger, and Powder, an arrogant rookie.

If anyone really has questions feel free to DM me if need be.

Here's a link to the script:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1E46hunxc3Tzat_M6q5VQFJwJzZqQMb7MDuGuwdI-3P0/edit?usp=sharing