I want to write comics but can't draw.

You don't have to draw but without some kind of layout its going to be hard to get any responces.

You need to either basic sketch out the panels for a general idea of your vision, or find a artist to do some sample pages for you.

Dig around in the threads here. You'll find lots of answers to that question. One comic publishing house that accepts scripts without artwork is Dark Horse. You can get their guidelines at http://www.darkhorse.com/Company/Submissions#writers

I probably sound a bit like a broken record listing the same threads to refer to, but they answer a lot of questions.

Novel to graphic novel - where to begin?
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=176349
Submission guidelines
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=170041
Trying to start a webcomic (Contains advice on where to find an artist.)
http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=174355

Maybe I should just add these links to my signature.

I just want to add that respect is important. Even if you get a low wonderful rate (everyone wants a good deal) don't gloat or you might end up internet ridiculed like Christopher Gregorio, aka "How to Hire and Artist" fellow. Though this post is about game artists, it can be applied to any freelancer you hire. http://www.thejonjones.com/2010/08/09/how-not-to-hire-an-artist/

Well...at the risk of parade-raining, regardless of what Dark Horse submission policies state, the editors pay no attention to scripts written by unknowns.

There are anthology titles put out by smaller, niche publishers that might--and I stress might--hook up a writer with an artist, but it's rare.

The best bet is to create your own property and team up with artist, at least insofar as preparing a proposal package.

If this is something that you truly want, have you thought about learning to draw? Anyone can learn to draw competently. Depending on what you have in mind, it might be simpler to develop enough skill to be able to do the artwork yourself.

Don't believe it? Spend $8.00 to buy a used paperback copy of this book and give it a serious week of your life. You will likely be amazed by about the fourth day. And, in case you are thinking it's all smoke and mirrors, I'll let you in on the key concept: most adults can't draw well because they can't see well. Holding a pencil and drawing a line on paper isn't that hard and you can be trained to do that in a day. Seeing what is in front of you is what's hard.

When someone who says he can't draw is asked to draw a portrait of the person sitting in front of him, he'll start drawing bits and pieces of the stylized "adult head" that he has stored in his mind. Out will come a circle for the head. On will go the ears. Then some hair. And the result will barely look human, much less anything like the person in front of him.

Now take a skilled artist and sit them down and ask them to draw a portrait. What will they do first? Simple: start looking for lines and shadows. Instead of drawing a nose, they'll observe that it's really outlined by a triangular shadow below it and a longish shadow on the right side. They'll draw in those shadows and let the nose pop out. They look closely at the lines that make up the face and areas with no shadow at all and copy those on the paper in front of them. Bit by bit, as the lines and shadows are placed on the paper, the person's portrait will begin to emerge.

Spend $8 and a week of your time. Then come back here and tell us that you can't draw. Even if you still think that you won't be able to draw a comic, you'll have proved to yourself that you can draw and you will have immensely improved your powers of observation -- of people, objects and almost everything. Not a bad return for $7 and a week for a writer. Or an artist.

Troa said:

sigh, oh well. I will see what i can do.

Click to expand...

Yes, it is crazy.

Comics publishing is not an industry in of itself. It's more novelty publishing, related to paper epherma like postcards.

The field has shrunk and compressed to the point where the publishers target specific niche markets...in the case of Marvel and DC, their niche markets are 40-plus year old fanboy completists. They make no real money on their books, it all comes from licensing.

In Dark Horse's case, they almost never publish anything new that isn't connected to a licensed property.

None of those three publishers have need of writers, per se, regardless of what their submission policies might state. Since the readership of comics is so small, and since a substantail percentage of that readership comprises aspiring comics creators, they can't afford to alienate any part of any audience.

Anyway--the rules for breaking into the comics field are totally different than any other market....mainly because there are no rules.

I've been working professionally in the comics field off-and-on for over 20 years...I'm back in it again to a limited degree--

http://www.justicemachine.com

--And it's a more ridiculous so-called industry now than it ever has been.

If you want to pursue it with a creator-owned property, then it's best to find an artist who shares your enthusiasm for a project and work on that.

Like Axler said the market has shrunk from a market to a completionist supplier of sorts.

When the crash of the 90's hit it almost took out comics completely so trying to get a new work published is like trying to find a needle in a haystack, if you do its all dumb luck.

And like Axler said the big two are making there money from movie and cartoon dvd licenses. Think about it since the crash there have been more and more movies released than ever before, and they actually use the sorce material now since Marvel and DC take a more hands on approach.

Best bet would be find an artist and try a small publisher and see if you can build momentum from there and cause a buzz for the mainstream to notice.

If you are going to try and sell a work to the big boys you probably need to work with their characters and build up some history before trying to get them to publish a risk.

www.millarworld.tv has a creative forum where artists and writers are hooking up to present submissions for Mark Millar's new magazine 'CLiNT' might be a way to either submit your work for publication or find an artist for your work.

Cannot draw? As was suggested above: get "DRAWING WITH THE RIGHT SIDE OF YOUR BRAIN" excellent advice, excellent book.

Still cannot draw?

Check out any of several of the recent "BEST AMERICAN COMICS" anthologies. As insulting as some of their choices are ... apparently one doesn't need to be able to "draw"

When I hear folks rant against the self-appointed intellectual and aesthetic "elites" ... I picture BEST AMERICAN COMICS

I praise your desire to learn art! A basic level of visual ability can be learned that will entertain artist and audience both!

There's too much crap out there that pretends (insultingly so) that the "art" of comics is something that can be ignored or doesn't really matter, and it's the equivalent of some jerk who thinks any camera makes you a "photo artist" (or that the tallest soap box makes anyone the best orator, i suppose)

My brother is an artist and I am a writer. It would be a great idea to collaborate! Thanks for the helpful tips and links here!