I want to start a comic/graphic novel! Any advice?

[malice]

So I've had this story idea in my head for several years now and I think I figured out the plot and characters enough to actually do something with it. It originally started out as a book, but over time I realized that making a comic would not only work better for the story, but it would also bring my passion for art into the mix. My only road block now is that I don't know where to start! Does anyone have any advice or resources they can share? Many thanks :3

[candycanearter07]

Well first, don't do what I did and try to make the framework yourself.. I still kinda regret not going with a comic hoster but it would take forever to port everything so yeah. Comic Fury looks like a good host from what I've seen. Also, planning what happens in each page and setting a day that you release comics helps to get over the fear of starting and putting it off tomorrow. I'm less experienced with "plot-driven" comics but that definitely helped me with my own comic.

[malice]

Thank you! I'll check that place out :3

[garystu]

Webcomics are one of the oldest web mediums around. Narrow it down, what advice and resources do you want? There is so much out there, and one million places to start.

ComicFury is a good platform. Rarebit is a good raw HTML Comic template. WordPress with one of the webcomic plugins avalible for it is extremely common, if you want a self hosted CMS, although I have to confess I'm out of touch with what's the best one nowadays.
https://comicfury.com/
https://rarebit.neocities.org/
https://wordpress.org/plugins/search/webcomic/

[Dibs]

I'm also working on a webcomic; I've been chipping away at it over the last year and I still have so much to do! I've been in the same position as you, so hopefully I can shed some insight; let me know if you have more questions!

A good thing to nail down ASAP is the scope of the project. Know your upper limit on how big you want it to be, and be aware that these things always take years longer than you expect. Make sure you are setting yourself up for success by knowing what you want it to be. Is it serialised or episodic? How long is the story -- how long are individual arcs or acts? What plot beats do you want to hit and how long will they take to cover? If it is a long project, plan for your interests and availability to change over time.
For example, I know I want my project, Breaker, to be a long-term project. It is informed by sci-fi television like Star Trek and is about a crew of cadets finding their way home, so I want it to be episodic -- individual 'episodes' dealing with contained adventures and new worlds. This has the capacity to get unwieldy and over-long, so I have a plan for the winding down of the story leading to the ending so that it doesn't stop abruptly. I'm also keeping specifics open and have a premise that can handle changes in my interests to avoid losing motivation.

I don't know how familiar you are with creating webcomics, or how far you are in your development of your story and characters, so I'll tell you what my general development approach has been. Premise -> Main characters -> Immediately relevant worldbuilding -> Rest of the cast (it's set on a spaceship with a crew of ~50 so I can't make up random faces for the backgrounds ) -> Main character arcs -> Brainstorming other events/episodes/etc -> Working out which bits have to go where relative to each other and filling in the gaps -> Fill in the events of each issue/episode/chapter (where I am now) -> Finalise designs for cast and their environments -> Make the 'pilot' to test your practical workflow! This is script, thumbnailing, sketch, inks, (colour,) lettering. Lotta steps! So it's important to break it down in a way that works for you; not all of this will work for your project, but try to feel it out and make sure you're going in prepped without burning out before you start!

EDIT to say that with smaller-scope projects, you may not need as much prep work  I've been fiddling with some shorter comics that I've put much less development time in just to practice those muscles! I've got one open now that's just four pages and has only taken a few days! This is why nailing down scope is vital! Know what you want!

As I said earlier, if you have any specific problems you're bumping up against (I was struggling with episodic structure for aaaaages), just ask! There are lots of people here who can help! 

[AngelEye]

Hey! I really recommend a book called Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud Check to see if your local library has it! Mine did, and I was blown away reading it years ago!

[malice]

Many thanks to all y'all! I'll look into all of these, I'm really excited to get started :3

[tertiaryapocalypse]

some advice for later on in the run: build a backlog of pages! the first time i tried publishing my comic i ended up doing it in bundles of about 5 pages with no backlog, and it was really hard to stay moving, especially if something came up and i lost steam. with a backlog and an upload schedule i find its a lot more structured & easier to keep up the workflow! (though that of course depends on what your goals are  )

i'm currently publishing long gone legends on my own site with hand-built code-- i tried using rarebit but that was way before i was familiar enough w/ js to understand it. i like comicsfury though! it makes rss feeds for all the comics which is something ive seen a few people value a lot.

anyways. my process is a bit less formal than the one dibs described, but it did generally follow the same beats-- i found it really helpful to get all of the script hammered out before starting any illustration just so i could make sure my story fit together in a way i was happy with  then its just like. thumbnail, line, etc. different processes work for different people, though-- a lot of other creators will make a rough outline and formally script their work alongside the illustration process.

if you expect it to be a decently long term project i'd suggest making a few shorter comics first -- one offs or goofums-- they help you better anticipate what working on pages is like, and figure out how you want your comic to look stylistically. hope this helps & feel free to ask any specific questions, there's a lotta cool people on the forum who'd be happy to help (self included!)