Thumbnailing a Fight Sequence

In the previous video I looked at the laying-out of four pages of dialogue-heavy character interaction. Here's the companion video, looking at the laying-out of a fight scene.

The heart of this video is the idea that if you (and I'm assuming "you" is a comics-making person) are going to take the time to draw a fight sequence, make it worth the time you spend drawing it out and make it worth your reader's time. Because remember: this is not a movie. In a movie, we get to force the audience to look at all the work we put into a fight sequence. With comics, your reader can just zip-zap-zop flip to the end of the fight to see who wins. The challenge is to give them a reason to spend the mental energy to parse all of your drawings of flying fists.

The bare minimum that we expect out of a fight scene is two ding-dongs punching each other (or similar). That is not enough. Ideally, we put meat on that bone by adding action that is inherently interesting (maybe there is a compelling imbalance between the fighters, some sort of restraint, or some sort of missing knowledge), we add thematic ties, we reveal character traits and/or inject a mini character arc, and we put surprises where we can.

I was hoping to keep it short, and the final video is under an hour, but there are digressions into topics like:

• considering the reading experience (offering surprises and asking questions)
• posing characters to look balanced or off-balance
• and an off-the-cuff primer on filmmaking's "180º rule"

Please enjoy!

When is a Good Time for Research?

Most books of writing advice contain at least one solid take-away nugget of wisdom (yes, even Robert McKee's Story). One of my favourites from Stephen King's On Writing is the idea that writer's block emerges from lack of research. Importantly, he notes that "research" is not limited to the traditional idea of research. It can include just sitting down and imagining things to gain a fuller image of your characters, setting, and story.

I don't have writer's block, but I am at an important point: Chapters Three and Four are all laid out (thumbnailed), which is to say, the bulk of the "storytelling" for them has been figured out. To say the quiet part loud: thumbnailing is not just figuring out which boxes go where and what size they are; of any of the elements of the comics-making process, it is the part where the most telling-of-the-story is performed. It's as much writing as the writing part is. Or at least it is the way I do it. And before I move on, I want to make sure that storytelling is solid.

How does research fit into that picture? Well, spoiler alert, in Chapters Three and Four we're going to start seeing some pirates. Even though I've already thumbnailed a pirate invasion, I wanted to learn more about historical pirate invasions. Maybe an important detail would pop up, or maybe some interesting technical angle would present itself.

Most importantly, though, this type research can be a useful "lens" through which to see your own work with new freshness. That's the best way I can put it.

Keeping my own story in one hand while I read, I find research will remind me of things to think about. For example, where are all the sailors that would have been on the Cordelia and how do the pirates "neuter" that threat? I came up with a solution for that. Between all the sailors, the townspeople, the venetians, and the pirates, how do we balance the threat so that even though there are fewer pirates than their opposition, they're still a menace? I think I have that figured out now, and made that problem introduce some fun story business in later chapters.

Plus, I learned about the historical iconography of the hourglass on pirate flags (it's meant to be a reminder of mortality). An hourglass is thematically appropriate for this story (the latter part of the book will be a race against time in at least two ways), and hey, look at that, I already drew one on page two. Serendipity! So look for an hourglass to feature on the pirate flag.

^ Note: I wish this book (Adrian Tinniswood's Pirates of Barbary) was more fun to read. Someone point me to the book that does for pirates what Ben McIntyre does for spies—his Agent Zig Zag is an absolute blast.

Designing Pirates: HELP!

I made some pirate designs back at the start of this book, but I'm going to revisit them and see if I can't turn their knobs up to 11. Plus, I need some additional designs because some of these pirates need to look like patrons. :)

Looking through visual reference (one of those DK "Eyewitness" books, a few Osprey visual references), I am blown away by how bland all the pirates look. So bland I won't even ruin this post by including an example. The best we've got is the idea that Blackbeard would put smoking tapers in his beard or hair to look all cool and mysterious. But to be fair, I've been ruined by the designs from the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Say what you will about the movies themselves, the character designs are iconic. I love Billy the Squid. That's such a good look.

And I know there are fun historical touchstones, too: on an episode of Q.I., someone mentioned an olde-timey fighter or pirate using conch shells sort of like boxing gloves. (I'm hazy on the details because at the time, all I did was a drawing of the concept and wrote "conch-shell fists, see Q.I.") That's such a fun image I'm absolutely going to make a meal out of it somewhere in this book. (Note: there is a guy in PotC with a conch-shell head, but conch-shell fists are better.)

If you've ever encountered an idea like that, or some other piratey idea you love, please feel free to share it in the comments below! If nothing else, consider it a toast to the potential for pirates to look astonishing.

Webtoon / Tapas Update!

After talking to my lovely literary agent Bernadette about it, and after seeking legal advice, I am choosing to not post the comic to Webtoon or Tapas. This is a decision made out of an abundance of caution. The legal language in Webtoon Canvas' agreement is not strong enough to offer enough comfort WRT maintaining the freedom of my publishing rights. Apologies to anyone who was looking forward to seeing that version of the comic.

Happy November, everybody!
TC