hi! i'm a novice comic artist and a big fan of your work :) i was wondering if you'd be willing to share a little sample of what a comic script looks like for you?
Sure! I'll share below the cut because it'll get a bit long.
(this turned into a longer post on my scripting process for comics, so do click through if you are interested in more than just a sample)
Here's the script for the opening pages of Bedfellows. The images have alt text so you can read it straight, but i'm posting screencaps because there's no way to share the exact formatting otherwise. Here's the pages themselves, for comparison:
I didn't write the script in any specialty software, just google docs, and for formatting I just memorised the different shortcuts for left/center alignment and indentation. I need a program that I can open up on any device and have my project synced across all devices because I actually do a fair amount of quick drafting on my phone, so a lot of professional script writing software doesn't work for me in this regard.
Though I wouldn't recommend any google product on principle. I hear Ellipsus and Proton Docs are less evil and programs that work just the same.
For my latest project, Surface Tension, I also set up paragraph styles for certain types of text. In this screenshot the blue text indicates flashbacks, and the green highlighted text indicates narration:
paragraph styles are assigned shortcuts, so once I memorise those I can shift into the style I want immediately:
It's worth noting that these are scripts I use in a professional context that an editor has to come in and read, so I keep them tidy and more detailed than scripts that are just for me.
Here's an excerpt from the Witchy script:
[LOUD SCREAMING AND GROANING FROM OFF-SCREEN BECAUSE IT'S REALLY EMBARRASSING LOOKING AT OLD WITCHY SCRIPTS]
Okay I'm not going to show it here but it's a lot lighter on description, and there's not a lot of information about the character acting during dialogue. It's honestly how I prefer to write, but when working with an editor there are just times you need to explain to them what things look like. You can sometimes also just draw them a picture.
You'll note that I don't demarcate page numbers anywhere here: I just really don't like to write and think about pages at the same time. That's what thumbnails/layouts are for. I have enough scripts behind me now that I can estimate roughly how many pages something will be from word count.
If you are doing things with a competent editor, or just working for yourself, you also don't have to script things formally like this if you don't want to. I would actually say that the vast majority of artist/writer cartoonists that I know work from an outline and script directly onto their thumbnails/layouts.
Sometimes I'll throw in a few thumbnails while scripting so I remember how I want to execute something, but largely my brain is not big enough to think about writing and drawing at the same time.
Also, while it doesn't really work for my needs, comics peer and former Witchy editor Steenz has developed a standardised comics script template alongside Camilla Zhang that is worth looking at if you're working with a larger collaborative team: https://www.oheysteenz.com/scs-template
Hope that helps!
