#comic resources

When an artist shares their work for free online, it can be easy to assume the art is free for everyone else to use too. So you grab it and include it in your own project, and all of a sudden an artist is mad at you, their fans are calling you out, you’re getting threatened with legal action—or even scarier, the artist’s publisher is threatening you with legal action. One-shot comics and minicomics are especially susceptible to this misunderstanding because often they are seen as viral memes instead of art, or treated as public property. But is this really the case? This guide will help you navigate using art you’ve found online. We’ll start with three basic questions: 1. Do I need to ask permission from the artist? 2. Do I need to give credit to the artist? 3. Do I need to pay the artist? After that, we’ll offer some tips on how to approach the artist.

I wrote an article for Cartoonists United! CU has a great collection of resources to help the art community, and I was really excited to contribute.

If you don't know whether it's safe to use a piece of art you found online, if you don't know how to ask permission to use art, and if you are unsure of how to approach artists, read the article!

And if you're an artist who frequently finds your work being used without permission, spread this around so more people know the etiquette around using art online!

Occasionally there are character sheets that get paired with PKNA comics (labeled as part of the "PK Files" series) after the main stories, and I've only ever been able to find a handful of them translated into English so I figured that for archival purposes I would seek out the images and translate them myself!

This post contains all the character files from PKNA chapters #0.2 - #16 (and as such may contain character spoilers for those issues so be warned!)

I'm continuing work on the second batch so I'll put a link here when that post is up. Keep in mind that this project has taken me a very long time already, so it's probably going to be a while!

Paneling and flow in comics, by Artscrumb on Globalcomix

Best explanation of how panels work I've read so far. It provides examples and tips on how to direct the reader through the page order intended.

Analyzing Comics 101: layout, by Chris Gavaler

This one is useful if you're looking for real examples of many different layouts, more than a tutorial. Trigger warning for some light gore, gun violence and overall old superhero comic weirdness.

Panel in Comics: Types, Techniques & Design Guide (2026), by Ben Argon

portfiend's webcomic template

i made another Eleventy template, this time for webcomics. if you haven't seen my other one, the character directory, go check it out!

preview the template on Neocities get the source code on GitHub

list of features

pages are markdown and can contain images, text, and any other hypertext content

"first". "previous", "next", "last" navigation, using the mouse or arrow keys

divide your pages into chapters and subdirectories, list them by section on the archive, automatically sort them numerically

"save" and "load" buttons (optional), for readers to save their place and return to it later

includes the javascript library swup for faster page transitions

those author's notes you'd find on websites like comicfury

RSS feed automatically generated from comic pages

mobile-responsive layout

I know that the future of smutty publishing is real sketch in America right now, so I just wanted to put down info in case it's helpful for anyone at the moment or is perhaps relevant in the future.

At the end of last year, 2024, I was ready to self-publish a small run of my Critical Role wizard comic anthology, Who Else But You. There are many options for self-publishing comics, but the issue is that the middle one is entirely explicit, so I needed someone more specialized. I was running sales as a pre-order so I went into the purchase process without knowing how many copies I was actually going to need.

Thus my requirements were 18+ content, small run. And I found 2 printers in America who fit that requirement: Greko Printing, now known as Comix Wellspring and Ready Comics

Comix Wellspring: The slightly cheaper option, has a 25 volume moq, will not take custom sized books, but they have a lot (but not all) of available sizes. Their faq states that they will take adult material.

Ready Comics: Their moq is 10, they do custom sizes, they are slightly more expensive per book, but they also have a lot of fancy cover options. I had to message them, but they are fine with explicit material.

For a price comparison, I put in numbers for 8.5 x 11, 100 interior pages, all color, 100# for cover, 60# for interior, and that came out to be 11.44 for Greko, and 13.50 for Ready Comics. Printed proofs are $40 for greko, and $35 for Ready Comics but will vary based on book size.

In the end, I went with Ready Comics because WEBY was a weird size and I didn't want to do the extra work to make all the pages compliant with a new size, and I honestly was not sure I would hit the necessary 25 moq.

The Process

I've only done true POD printing before, upload a file get a book. Ready Comics was a much more hands on process.

I started asking for samples of their papers. There is a reserved page for ordering free samples, but it doesn't have anything on it. I had to tell them "what I was interested in" rather than there being an already put together package, which was weird. So I guessed at some things I might like. Their cover stock drop down was extensive. When I made my guesses, the ordering person told me that not all of the options were good for cover stock and recommended to me the best ones. (so why are those options all listed???) This sample pack was put together and shipped quickly.

I was getting a custom size, so I could not simply add something to the cart, I had to have it input special. This took MULTIPLE days. It was a little frustrating how long it took to make an invoice. I guess in reality it was probably 3 or 4, but I was IMPATIENT to start. However, I was allowed to only order a proof and not have a number for the final run beyond 10, their minimum, which was extremely helpful.

Once the invoice is placed, files can be uploaded. Weirdly, the files are put in as JPG, individual pages. You then deal with the layout person Alex. Alex was a delight. They were excited for some gay D&D content and were hugely helpful and patient. I was hoping to do a full wrap around cover of a solid piece of art, but because of the file set up process it can be difficult to make the wrap around completely line up so I ended up doing a solid spine. (I also think their spine calculator is a little off, overestimating the width).

I was absolutely getting a proof because I wanted these to be beautiful. It shipped a few days after the initial estimate. The colors were VIBRANT. I was flabbergasted. I did not expect it would print that well. (below, just look at them!)

HOWEVER, there were some issues. There was persistent banding throughout (top two images), and there was a weird line on the screen-toned pages at exactly the same place (bottom two images). It wasn't on EVERY screen-toned page, but it was present on many of them.

I contacted Alex who apologized and rushed a second proof.

The second proof arrived in about a week. It was also free. So this was some top tier service far as I was concerned. The banding disappeared, but the screen-tone line never fully vanished (top book is 1st proof, bottom book is second). Alex had the printers do testing on their end to see if they could get rid of it, and it was persistent. It was not a huge enough issue that I felt like I wanted to abandon the toning or this printer, but if I knew I were going to print toned stuff I would try a different printer just in case. Alex was prepared to do more testing but I also didn't want to run much further with the production timeline so we moved on. I will reiterate that all this work was done for a run of books that was, on paper, still listed at their minimum 10. So their customer service in this regard is amazing.

Also In the second proof, the colors on the cover were identical, it was lovely. HOWEVER, the colors on the inside were noticeably different. (top book is 1st proof, bottom book is 2nd).

I asked about it and was told that they were transitioning to a new kind of printer that made things more high quality but less vibrant. And the second proof and full run were . . . good! Like these bottom images are still legitimately lovely. I just kind of wish I hadn't seen the color possibilities in the first proof because I loved them SO MUCH.

Final run: The run printed and shipped on time. I was invoiced for the full run more quickly than the initial run. The packaging was stellar. small wrapped batches of books inside boxes with styrafoam peanuts, inside a bigger box with more peanuts. The outer covers protected with a thick piece of paper so you can safely cut through the plastic. One book of the 30 had a small scratch on the cover when it arrived. And there's quite a few books that have a little wrinkle on the first page in the corner near the spine. Overall, the customer service here was top-notch, and I am pleased with my final book product.

Final thoughts: I looked further into pricing, and if you are getting a long book, the price differential between CW and RC gets LARGE. The customer service was good, even for a run that was on paper going to be 10 books. The product at the end was good, as long as you don't do screen tones. If you have a small to mid-sized book, say up to 150 pages or so, and need only 10 copies instead of 25, or have a weird size RC is am excellent option. I haven't tried CW printing at all, but I will be aiming for it when I have something longer to print, and as such will be making sure it fits one of their sizes out of the gate. (If you are looking for a larger run, that puts Keness into the run as well.)

This is a very, VERY broad subject that, like the question of "how to draw comics", is very multi-faceted and impossible to tackle in one response. Especially because I myself also will not have all the answers.

What I will say is that regarding writing comics, let's say webcomics, it's not an uncommon thing in the slightest to see writers come into communities like /r/webtoons and ask for people to help them draw their passion project and to that I say... please don't LOL That's not to say that's what you were going to do at all, just wanted to throw that out there as an initial opening disclaimer. Ultimately the reality is that in webcomics, many of the people creating these projects are artists first and writers second (as one of those skillsets is way more accessible than the other), and already have their own passion projects that they're working on. So if you're going into purely writing comics, you're gonna need to manage your perspective on the industry and how it functions from a writer's POV rather than the POV of an artist who picked up writing as a consequence of wanting to get into comics.

That said, the beauty of writing comics is that, in general, it requires a lot less overhead than drawing a comic. That's not to say that it's necessarily easier, because god knows writing presents its own unique challenges, but writing a script generally takes less overhead and resources than turning that script into a comic. I can pump out 10 episodes of rough scripts for Rekindled in a day or two, with tweaking and editing along the way, but actually drawing those episodes takes weeks LMAO (and I wouldn't be able to pull off a lot of the stuff I do now without the help of my assistant @banshriek who not only provides a lot of expertise in drawing backgrounds, but lightens the workload in their help with shading and rendering! they also provide great feedback when it comes to the roughs stage <3)

So if you're starting out, just like the advice I give to budding webcomic artists, it's about starting. Build that experience, get some projects under your belt no matter the size or length that you can use to show your skills (and shop around for feedback from those willing to give it!), etc. Familiarize yourself with various genres, both writing AND reading! Like scripts for film, writing a comic script doesn't HAVE to come with the visuals even if that's the end goal, you don't HAVE to relegate yourself to finding an artist to draw your comic and then posting it online in the hopes it'll get seen. There's a lot that can be done with a simple comic script, whether it's sharing it to the world as is, adapting it to a novel, or pitching it to publishers/agents. Being a comic writer comes with a lot more flexibility in that way than being just a comic artist with no script (though, again, most indie comic artists will simply pick up writing to create their passion projects, it's a much bigger task for writers to pick up art for the sake of creating a comic).

Also establish your goals. Is your plan to write for some major industry some day? Or would you rather stick to writing for smaller productions? Just like with drawing webcomics, you should be setting your expectations in places that are reasonable to meet, rather than shooting for the top of the game right off the bat. If you're wanting to get into writing comics, your first major goal should be something like writing a complete script and NOT, say, getting to write for Marvel/DC lmao

As for the actual writing of comics, I highly recommend you read Scott McCloud's Understanding Comics, it delves into both the history and technical aspects of writing, drafting, and pitching comics in a very easy to understand way (it's a comic about making comics!)

Here are some other helpful resources I was sent by a pal recently that might also help familiarize you with the process of getting into the actual industry as a comic writer!

I hope this gives you at least a good place to start from! Again, it's ultimately a very broad topic that will vary from person to person (esp when it comes to the differences between genres and target demographics, ex. someone writing an action comic isn't likely going to use the exact same processes as someone who writes romance), but I hope this at least helps you find some direction in it all so you can establish your goals and start making steps in the direction you want to go in.

I'm keeping this updated on my blog as well. Welcoming any and all suggestions in the comments, but these are some websites I use for my own personal collection and comic book reading.

Collection Trackers

League of Comic Geeks (All Comics/Manga + Discord)

Google Sheets / Excel

Timelines & Chronology

Comic Book Wire (Personal Favorite! Prime Earth)

DCU Guide (Personal Favorite! New + Prime Earth)

Reading Orders

Comic Book Reading Orders (DC + Marvel)

Comic Book Treasury (DC + Marvel)

Comic Book Wire (Prime Earth, Sorted by Character)