By: Anja Racke
You've probably heard that it's good practice to edit, revise, and proofread your work before showing it to anyone else, but you may not understand how that can apply to comics. With other forms of storytelling such as prose writing, it's very easy to edit your story after you've written a complete draft, but no comic artist wants to have to make multiple drafts of the same comic. Having to redraw entire pages is time consuming and exhausting, but luckily, it can be avoided by doing a lot of editing during the earlier stages of the comics-making process. So in this article, I will give you tips on how to self-edit your comic as you are creating it. I will go through the various stages of the comics-making process and offer you some questions to reflect on and consider during each part of the process.
Note: If you ever need extra help while editing/revising, don’t be afraid to ask peers and colleagues for their opinions. Being able to show other people your work and being able to take their critique are important skills for any artist.
The Scripting Stage
How many panels will be on each page of your comic? Can you realistically fit that number of panels on a single comic page? You typically want to stay between 5-7 panels per page.
Look at your scene descriptions. Are there any panels where there may be too much going on at once? Have you accidentally written any "impossible panels"? (Impossible panels are panels in which a character is described as doing multiple things at once that would be impossible to do at the same time. For example, a character can’t take a sip of coffee and talk in the same panel.)
Read your dialogue aloud. Does it sound natural to you? Are you tripping over any words? Does each character have a distinct voice?
Read your captions. Are any of your captions describing things that could be shown through images? If so, try drawing it out instead of writing it out.
Remember to proofread all your dialogue and captions for spelling and grammar. Use a grammar-checking software if necessary.
The Thumbnailing Stage
Make sure each page of your comic has at least 1 panel with some background information to either establish or reestablish the scene/environment.
Take note of what shots and camera angles you are using in each panel. Try to use a variety of different shots. Many people often default to using close-ups and mid-shots, so check to make sure you aren't doing too many of these shots in a row.
Do your panels read from left to right and from top to bottom? If you're writing an English-language comic, the panel flow should follow the way English is read.
Have you left enough room in your panels for lettering? It's always good to begin considering word balloon placement during the thumbnailing stage. If you have any panels with a lot of text, it may even be good to type out the text to make sure that it all fits within the panel.
The Penciling Stage
Take a look at your character acting and facial expressions. Could you exaggerate any emotions or actions even more? Remember that in comics you generally want to exaggerate character acting so that it's very easy for readers to pick up on what your characters are doing and how they’re feeling.
Check for tangents! Tangents occur when two or more lines in your artwork overlap or touch in an awkward way. It’s very easy to make tangents accidentally so be sure to look back over your pencils and examine them closely for possible tangents.
Check for consistency. Did a character’s haircut suddenly change between panels? Did you accidentally draw the same character in two different outfits? These mistakes happen frequently without us even noticing, so really pay close attention to detail when looking back at your pencils to catch these inconsistencies.
The Inking Stage
Take a look at how much white vs. black there is on the page. Could your comic benefit from more black placement? Not all comics are suited for heavy black placement, so consider for yourself what would work with the tone of your story. If you plan to add lots of color later, black placement isn’t always necessary.
Should your inking be more textured? Again, consider the style and tone of your specific story to determine if your comic would benefit from more textured inking.
The Coloring Stage
Examine how you’ve colored the characters in the comic vs. how you've colored the backgrounds. Do the characters pop out enough against the backgrounds?
Are your color choices adding to the storytelling or possibly distracting from it?
Do your colors look too flat? Could the comic benefit from having some texture added to it?
Do your color choices look unified? Does each page of your comic have a good color scheme across the different panels, or do the panels look disjointed? Also consider how the pages look next to each other. Do the colors work together from page to page?
Would your colors look well in print? Are there areas where the colors are too saturated or too dark and therefore wouldn’t look good in print?
Always check that your colors are in CMYK mode before printing your comic!
The Lettering Stage
Is all the text in your speech bubbles center-justified?
Is the text too large or too small? I recommend comparing your lettering to the lettering in a few professional comics to check. Additionally, make sure you’re keeping all your text the same size unless you are depicting someone yelling or whispering.
Does the placement of speech bubbles and captions flow in the same direction as the panels?
Does the placement of the speech bubbles or caption boxes create any tangents with the existing artwork?
Are all the speech bubble tails pointing towards the mouths of the characters speaking? Try to avoid having the tails pointing to other body parts or nearby objects.
Proofread all your lettering when finished to check for any typos!
The Final Proofread
Once your comic is seemingly finished, I highly recommend doing one last proofread before sending it off into the world. At this point in the process, it would be very difficult to do any major edits, but you can still make a few adjustments to the inking, coloring, and lettering as needed. And of course, make sure to proofread all your dialogue and captions for spelling and grammar!
Hopefully this guide has provided you with some helpful insight into self-editing your comics. Whether you're working on a personal project, a school project, or preparing a comic for publication, it's always a good idea to reflect on your work and make sure you're putting your best foot forward. Being able to critically examine and self-edit your art can be difficult at first, but with practice, you can develop a more critical eye and create even stronger comics. But if you ever do struggle with self-editing your work, always remember that you can ask a friend or colleague for a second opinion. Letting others critique your work is great too, as long as you’re always working to improve your craft.
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