Why COMICS Are the BEST Storytelling Medium
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- Опубліковано 27 лип 2024
- You know I’ve been hearing for the past 30 years or so that COMICS ARE DYING... Comic strips, comic books... all of it.
when the truth is That COMICS are actually the BEST visual storytelling medium in all of human history.
In today’s video I want to break down why comics are the BEST visual storytelling medium in all of human history.
Not to be too idealistic or anything... but just a reminder that COMICS, Cartooning... has SHAPED HUMAN HISTORY and our modern world.
And I believe COMICS can SAVE THE WORLD and I’m gonna prove it today for your enjoyment...
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I don’t see enough Artists talking about this, at least out loud, maybe in small circles.
It’s hard enough being an artist in world that doesn’t really value art, but it’s even tougher to be a comic artist in an art world that doesn’t really value COMICS.
here’s my hope:
- For artists out there who have chosen comics to express themselves and tell stories, I hope it re-energizes you. I hope you shout the coming facts from the rooftops into the wider world.
- For Artists who kind of look down on Comics... Maybe you’ll expand your horizons a bit and give it a shot in YOUR style. I’m sure you have great stories to tell.
- AND for people who maybe are out there wishing or thinking about jumping in... I hope it encourages you to start making comics and telling YOUR STORY!
Here’s the HIGH level bullet points as to why COMICS Storytelling is the BEST in the world. And I’ll break them down a little more, but rapid fire here:
#1 It breaks language barriers...
#2 Comics Bend time and space... it’s different in comics...
#3 Comics Engage the reader/viewer in a deeper way....
#4 With comics... You could DO IT ALL. You could be an army of ONE.
Watch the full video to go deeper and more.
To dive deeper into comics storytelling I suggest the books in this video: Level up Your Comic Storytelling: 4 Must Own Books for Every Artist ✅
ua-cam.com/video/Au6eBIYN3EA/v-deo.html
I'm still trying to learn how to condense writing for comics. Long form storytelling is in my back pocket but trying to boil it down is a struggle.
I have committed myself to not be demoralized. Growth, learning, practice and consistent execution are my goals moving forward.
Cartooning is also the best way to learn to draw. There’s an endless variety of styles one can use and draw without anyone telling you you’re doing it wrong. It’s a safe medium to launch from, and you can take it as far as you like as your skills improve, or stay where you are and refine what you do in the style you’ve chosen.
I appreciate all styles of art, but cartooning has always been my favorite.
It’s true!
I agree comics are the best stories we have. Since starting to draw my own comics I noticed I’m a lot less stressed
Comics are the best medium above movies, animation, novels. Without comics movies wouldn’t be what it is
Especially when you realize storyboards are basically comics
@@funnymcfunfuns1455 yep. Exactly
Comics are definitely storyboards and the movie people have an excellent guide but rarely use it and cherry pick the best parts of a story from various sources in stead of sticking one particular story! You absolutely hit the nail on the head and I appreciate your enthusiasm towards writing and drawing comics! It’s like designing a building , you can’t start at the top or the middle! Ground floor is the foundation and then work from there! I really like the channel and keep up the great work!👍🎯
I’m in love with the comic book medium and have been for my whole life. And I agree that the potential of the comic medium is amazing. Unfortunately rarely do comic book writers take the craft of writing seriously enough to actually write a decent story. I mean I love the kind of plot heavy adventure stuff the way the great comic creators have done it and have lots of respect for them but I have almost never come away from a comic with the same emotional and engaging impact that I get from a good book, movie or tv show. and I really wish that wasn’t the case because comics hands down is my favorite medium. But I have to be honest about my experience as well. Most of your reasons though I agree with and it points me more to the potential of comics than the actual comics I’ve experienced reading so far.
I really appreciate your perspective and agree that there is immense power in being that "Army of one" in the realm of storytelling. Stories, created "by committee" are usually much less than they could have been. The singular vision, of a passionate creator, without boundaries or budget restraints, has the potential to shake the world. Love what you do, keep it up.
Thank you sir!
I just wanna thank you DJ for all your help and advice via your videos. Between, You Cartoonist Kayfabe(RIP Ed), and Comics by Perch, I consider to be the Holy Trinity of industry's content via UA-cam.
Thank you!
Long live comics!!!! Yes, you nailed it. Love the points you brought up. I also like the fact that, for story tellers, it is less demanding to write a comic script, than it is to write a novel. with a novel, you need a certain level of writing skill that most do not have. comics allow so many more people to get their story out there. Of course you need art skills...
I would like to add to the time and space point. It's also different from all others medium (also reading) because you can control the pace of what your eyes see, read, analyse, go back and forth etc...
you can also design a certain flow from different distinct panels on the same page (I think about the comic Maus for example that has very intelligent underlines and designs that need your patience or a few reads even...)
Great job on the video!
Thank you! Yes it’s such a fascinating craft to think about! Love comics
I started working on a technical/philosophical blog recently, and one of the big features of it is that I add in some comics and gag panels. I think my balance in terms of "words and pictures" ends up being words a lot of the time, but I like having both options.
Loved the insights on creating comics at the end and thank you for reinforcing those of us who still have the drive to create comics.
FYI: Back in the day Japan fell in love with Spider-man comics and they made their own live action series and Stan Lee loved it🎉❤❤❤❤❤
After 10+ years of working as a comicbook artist (mainly doing only pencilling and inking), now I'm starting my own comic where apart from pencilling and inking, I'll also be writing it, coloring and lettering. So gonna be fun and we'll see if I can pull off that final form you're talking about :)
Think it was Jon Peters who hired Kevin Smith for Superman. Besides wanting Superman to fight a giant mechanical spider, he didn't want Superman to ever wear the costume. Peters went on to produce Wild Wild West!
lol. I’m guilty of that 80 page epic story that I’m still working on after six years. That spider story was in a documentary about the Nic Cage Superman movie that Tim Burton was supposed to direct. Comics comics! 🙌🏼
Such a great story!
Ooohh!! I just ordered ordered some sketchbooks from your site!!!!! Can’t wait to start sketching in them❤❤❤❤
Thank you!
@@DJCoffman You’re most welcome
For me comics never die and as of now comics are thriving than ever before.im doing my part to get my comic off the ground and hopefully I can finally self publish and print my books :)
Keep grinding’
I agree, I'm making my own manga right now so i know how effective the medium is & how hard to make one. I chosen this media to promote my southeast asian culture to the world.
This was a great chat. Got serious about learning how to make comics a few years ago, started with instagram comics, then webtoons and now I am practicing 2 page comics. Next full one shots. It's a process, but all that practicing really adds up.
I was making animations after making a few comics but I felt so emotionally disconnected from them. So I decided to take a step back and go back to the 4-panel comic. I was lacking in my drawing skills more than anything.
It’s been refreshing and nice going back :)
Great to hear that!
Great video and a very necessary commentary for those fellow makers in the audience (like myself @ cjolet) and something I wish more UA-cam channels focused on. thanks for saying all this!
My LCS just had a huge turn out for free comic book day. I gave away a bunch of my zines and two up strips and people were so happy to get them. They enjoyed my books even more when I told them the reason/story behind my comics. I made a lot of friends Saturday.
I’ve said it before and will always say it comics saved the movie industry writers were not coming up with original story ideas, but we’re reaching into the past decade to revamp old familiar stories because they seem to lack consensus and imagination on how to do something new when comics came in, it blew any weak idea. They were trying to get across out of the water and transformed the medium of cinema. I don’t need to name any films. We all know the blockbusters now you can’t even go to the movies without tripping over a comic book adapted film.
You are always inspiring DJ! Thanks for always giving us permission to not be perfect, and that it's more important to make comics :)
I am actively and specifically using a comic book style in revamping my UA-cam channel even at this early stage, I’m seeing responses and subscriber interest because of comics
Great video talk! Very encouraging and very motivating.
Kinda needed this. Thank you
I definitely want to get into it and i used to read a lot of French and belgium comics in the past😊
Naps x Comics= Perfect Combo😂
I like making comics and have some indie cred but now you got me thinking about doing strips.
Doooooo ittttt
Great video
Your wisdom is to great I love the energy ❤😂
Ha! I pulled that same shit in my “fine” art classes but with Spider-Man.
🤘🏻🏴☠️
College was the same for me… all my art had a comic book aspect to it. My painting professor hated it !
Love this perspective. Facts, in my opinion. ✍️
Thank you!
It’s like you’ve reached for the lowest bar possible if you’re a comic artist, even though the best college artist that I’ve seen are masters of composition, anatomy background and coloring.
Great video! Make more comics
🫡🫡
I like this guy.
This is the way
Pretty sure the pyramids in egypt are a better visual storytelling medium.
The authors of the pyramids wanted to get something across: Great kings lived here, who presided over great kingdoms.
This is obvious to anyone who sees a pyramid, and they still inspire awe to this day. No other piece of art has been this effective for this long.
And they got that point across through sequential visual art. (Which is basically what comics are) 🤘🏻✏️
@@DJCoffman So really a temple or a pyramid is like a trade paperback for all the wall carvings.
do u have any videos on lettering for comics in procreate?
Aaaaaaaahhhhh…Thank you for this specific video!!!^_____
That’s wonderful to hear! Mission accomplished!
@@DJCoffmanI actually had my high school history teacher told me…”If you’d stop drawing cartoons in my class maybe you’d learn something…” The best times in High School was: Cartooning for my High school newspaper which were released every Friday and teachers had me sign their copies😂 I really miss newspapers as it’s tangible more than the internet…Oh! If you have AppleTV+ there’s a cool documentary called “Stripped” which is about newspaper comics and the comic strip artists😊❤❤❤ Highly recommend watching it!!!
I want to know your advice for helpful tools for someone with dyslexia. Is there proof reading for spelling to corrections?
I’m concerned about distribution and cash flow. I keep on wanting to make a little money, you know?
It’s totally possible! Build true fans
He is how great comics are I made an autobiographical comic that I gave to my dad for Father’s Day one year it told about how he helped me overcome my fears of a local bully. Then I looked online and there was a contest for building you a website if you Gave a PowerPoint presentation that one my comic was created in PowerPoint so I submitted that overnight. It received 100 views and was declared the winner and for my prize I was not given the website apparently that was a second prize first prize was a brand new iPad when it came out and that’s what introduced me to Apple productsbecause of a comic
comics are exploding right now. just not western ones lmao. comics haven't died imo, it's just that most popular type of comic has changed. manga has taken over the world
Can I just ask: why in the world would you pencil over your reds before inking? Especially with the undo button, I couldn't watch your video without itching at the time you seem to spend drawing the same line. That process is a useless relic of the print era.
Obviously; I will retract this critique if I get to the part where I find out you're making a pencil-tone comic.
I just choose red or blue pencil lines for the roughs to get the pose the way I like it and tightened before “ inking. “ - I think of penciling and roughing like “molding and shaping” the “clay” -
@@DJCoffman mmm. Sorry if my tone is pushy or rude, by the way. I'm direct and aware of my own ignorance, as a thing to cure.
I know many people choose to do tight pencils. I think what I'm interested in knowing is what value you think you get out of tight pencils, when your style seems to me to lend itself to the much faster process of "going straight in with the inks".
Ever since I met Dave Sim at Clint's Comics in Kansas City, that has been one of my biggest puzzles. Especially since I first picked up Painter 7 and a terrible tablet, it blows my mind; seeing someone who is going to ink their own stuff pour so much effort into pencils. You are not a fool...a few hours of listening to you shows me that...
So either you have some good, valid reasons for laying it out, roughing, pencilling and THEN inking; or you have a blind spot in your process that could make your life easier if dealt with. Would your comics be as good if you skipped that entire intermediary step? 👀 😮 😳 I watched your pencil lines...It's not like you don't have confidence in your stroke. Anyway...I appreciate your work. Lotta good foods-for-thoughts. 👍🏿
@@nerfytheclown Hey not at all! Good conversation and happy to explain as best as I can. I describe it like "molding clay" because, sure I can sit down and say FWBWAM! here is a cup, or this thing I know how to draw over and over from memory. So for me, the rough captures the basic composition, pretty quick work. But then the second "pass" is getting it not only tight but I'm also "listening" to the character while I'm fleshing it out. I might ask myself, is the mouth right? Is this pose or position good enough? And so it's an opportunity to mold and shape some new expressions, slight movements, even the slightest "tuck" on an eye or body part can change the overall panel. That's the fun part! When that's down, then the "inking" just makes it more permanent. That's almost an automATIC PROCESS.
All that said, these aren't even "tight" roughts to me. They are still pretty loose. Another thing is when you're working with somoene elses characters you need to take a little time to make sure you aren't going too far "off model" . That's it!
@@DJCoffman thanks so much for your feedback, buddy. I just got myself into position (through effort and pain...) to "become a full-time artist"...and for sure part of it will be responding to people here. Been studying UA-cam for almost half the time I've been studying art, so...hopefully I can contribute something cool. Cheers bro and thanks again for the videos. Similar encouraging vibe to Ed [rip] and Jim. Gonna go hit your newsletter.
@@nerfytheclown Thanks for the kind words!