#comic advice

Like, think about it. Many artists do inevitably wind up dreaming of creating a comic one day. It's a visual form of storytelling that, while tedious and labor-intensive to create, doesn't require the kind of overhead that animation requires. Many artists grew up reading comics, whether it be Marvel or DC or Japanese manga. And if the OC's that artists create for themselves are dolls, then comics are like the dollhouse, a theatrical setting in which the creator can act out their OC's stories on both a narrative and visual level.

Because of all this, comics are just sort of a natural 'next step' in the artistic journey.

Writers, on the other hand, don't really tend to gravitate towards comics in the exact same way. Or, at least, there are more degrees of separation between writing as a skill, and comic books as a medium. Someone who is born to be a storyteller and expresses it through prose won't necessarily immediately jump into writing comics - they're more likely to be interested in writing novels, or screenplays, or poetry, or stage plays, or even news articles, all of which only require the writing.

That's not to say there aren't writers out there who didn't fall in love with the craft through comics; many often do, especially those who grew up reading comics, just like artists did.

But comics are predominantly visual, the art is the very first impression a reader has of a comic, and so of course it's artists who naturally slide into that role more so than writers. Unlike artists, writers can't really pull "double duty" as naturally with webcomics like artists can. Oftentimes if a writer has a story to tell, they'll opt for novels or fanfiction instead. Artists, though... they can just draw a comic, and it won't matter whether they're good at writing, because it's still a comic. Unless a writer has an artist friend or they pay someone to do the work for them, a comic writer without an artist is just a writer - but a comic artist can just create comics without feeling the need to seek out a writer.

So because of that, I do think there's a bit of an opposing "levelling curve" when it comes to the process of creating comics and how it differs between artists and writers. How do I put this... okay, IDK if you've ever played Kingdom Hearts, but the first game opens with this sort of dream sequence that doubles as a tutorial / introduction to the game's mechanics (especially it's combat). And during this dream sequence, there are these interactions you need to have with Sora's FF-cameo friends on Destiny Islands (specifically, Wakka, Tidus, and Selphie) before you can continue. And each one of them asks you a question.

These questions are very uh, philosophical? (especially if you played these games as a kid, which considering Sora's age, I think was the point lol) And it almost feels like it's purely for narrative purposes, to create some air of mystery for the journey ahead.

Depending on your answers, you're given one of three results telling you when your journey will "begin" : dawn, midday, or night.

Initially, this conclusion doesn't mean anything. It's poetic, but vague, and even if you do another playthrough with a different result, you won't really initially notice anything's changed within the game.

But the result you get actually fundamentally changes how the game will treat the very mechanic that began as soon as you started a new file - the levelling system.

If your journey begins at dawn, then the first 50 levels require less XP; but after level 50, levels start to require significantly more.

If your journey begins at midday, the XP you need to earn to level up will remain consistent throughout the game, regardless of what level you are.

If your journey begins at night, then the first 50 levels require a significantly large amount of XP; but after level 50, levels start to require significantly less.

It's a difficulty scaling system. And it's entirely invisible. Many people (myself included) didn't even know this system existed during their first, second, or even fifth play through of the game. Shit, I'm willing to bet there are probably people who have played this game front to back dozens of times who still don't know what this sequence is actually for and this post is how they're finding out (surprise!). It's hiding in plain sight, and with such a simple tweak of the levelling curve, it can vastly change your experience playing the game.

While the midday route is pretty balanced, dawn and night are both stark opposites of one another.

Starting your adventure at dawn will give you an easier levelling curve during the early game, allowing you to level and gain new abilities quickly and breeze through the first half of the game, with the trade-off being that the endgame will be more challenging, and you'll have to grind more to really earn those levels and abilities needed to finish the game.

Reversely, starting at night will challenge you with a higher levelling curve, a disadvantage for early game that will ask for upfront grinding to level up and earn new abilities; but the reward is that by the time you get to endgame, that curve will lower, and you won't have to struggle or grind as much to prepare for the final bosses of the game.

Okay, okay, but where am I going with this?

To me, when it comes to comics, artists and writers are like the dawn and dusk mechanic of Kingdom Hearts 1.

Artists start off significantly advantaged by immediately being able to harness the visual aspects of comics, which are, again, the first impression and what people think of when they think of comics. Drawing a comic is significantly more work and learning to draw has a much higher upfront skill ceiling than writing, so if someone already has the skills to draw, then they're starting off on a pretty strong advantage. To an artist who's dipping their toes into comics, it's just more drawing, but with panels and words.

But good art can only carry a comic for so long. If a comic doesn't have substance, if it doesn't have strong writing, then readers will not be as compelled to stick around. You can draw cool characters, you can create amazing worlds, but if you don't make those characters or worlds interesting, if you don't refine your writing skills, then your comic is just a glorified image gallery. So it often takes artists many attempts to finally create something good, because while their art may start off on a strong foot, it can take added long-term effort (and a lot of trial and error) to develop the writing skills necessary to write a strong story that's brought to life through the artwork.

And so, artists are starting their journey at dawn - an easy early journey, but it will become harder as time goes on, especially if you're not refining your writing skills alongside your art.

Writers start off at an immediate disadvantage. Unlike artists, they can't just 'jump into' making comics on a visual level, they're limited to the prose; and learning to draw takes time, money, patience, long-term investment. So if a writer wants to make a comic, they only have so many options - learn how to draw themselves, find an artist friend who's willing to create a comic with them (either as a mutual collaborative effort or paid) or write comic scripts / light novels and hope that a comic company like DC / Marvel / Dark Horse / Webtoons will notice them and pick them up to adapt into a comic. It's not as natural for a writer to just "jump into" making comics, you need to put in a lot more upfront effort to eatablish a portfolio and make connections with people who could help turn your script into a comic.

But if a writer sticks with it, if they keep working at writing comic scripts, finding artists to collaborate with, pitching their scripts to comic companies, etc. they might just actually pull off finding their chance to work on a comic. And when they do, they're golden, their foot is in the door and now the bulk of the work gets passed off onto the artists to adapt the work into a comic properly. And best of all, it's the writer's contributions that will help give the artwork context and meaning. Great art creates viewers, but great writing creates fans. For better or for worse, the writing is what people remember when all is said and done and the story reaches its end.

Writers are starting their journey at dusk - a difficult early journey, but over time, can build up to a satisfying payoff.

With all that in mind, none of this is to say that one is better than the other, or that writers should just "give up" or that artists aren't capable of being good writers, etc. They're just two entirely different skill sets, and comics are a fusion of both. In a perfect world, artists wouldn't struggle with learning how to write, and writers wouldn't struggle with finding artists for themselves, but that's the reality and the challenge that comes with trying to create comics.

Ultimately, no matter what, the most important thing is to just make the thing exist. Even if it's bad, hell, especially if it's bad. Because at least if it's bad, you can learn from it, and do a little better next time. And then the next, and then the next. You still made something, you still learned, you still put forth a real and honest effort to connect with an audience.

If you're an artist, don't worry if the first story you tell is a confusing, incomprehensible mess - you can write another story. And god knows there's no shortage of writers looking to collaborate, you have the leveraging power as the one that will be doing the bulk of the long-term labor.