Always work in two page increments – they can be two page spreads or two individual pages that go together. You can work with another team so that each team creates one page in this combination. But always work in two page increments.
This was a place we dropped the ball in the initial graphic novel weekend was totally my fault. Because I thought it was important to be as flexible as possible with positioning the story, I said to only create single pages, and work together if there were two page spreads necessary.
Unfortunately, without a digital team, all of the arrangement happened months later, in some cases without the original artists involved.
If you work in two page groups (keep in mind that the first and last page will both probably be single pages, but we can deal with that separately) then placement becomes easy, and you will have more control over how your stories get told.
We held this event over 3 days: a short period on Friday evening, all day Saturday, and Sunday Morning and afternoon.
Our goal was to give as much flexibility to everyone, while also providing limitations that help focus the amount of work that needed to be done. We stated the rules as being: – Work together – Go with the flow, and keep moving – Produce black and white comic pages in a single standard format that you have agreed as a team. For us, it was in 11x17in proportions, specifically because we were providing US comic standard artboards, but the only thing that’s important here is that there is a standard. It also important that everything be at a high enough resolution for digital printing (The industry standard is is 600dpi tiffs whether the art is scanned, or if it is made digitally, but I believe we went with 300dpi).
We gave a lot of other advice, but each team decided together how to achieve what they wanted to achieve in those parameters. They picked the tools they wanted to use – we provided a number of supplies, but anyone could bring their own tools and many did.
So, naturally, in the end everyone decided together what their final product would look like. And this was important, because the goal was to use the best skills of the people involved. Interestingly, because everything is in black and white, it does kind of all work together, even with the wildly different styles.
We also started with some specific ground rules for this story as a test: – The story will be set primarily at night, so we can use darkness to limit how much needs to be drawn – The story will be set at a specific location (the city which we are in) – The story will have a specific start, provided by the organisers
Starting image: The starting image was one that I came up with, and I gave it a lot of thought, though it was somewhat contentious amongst the organizers. The image was that the city of Utrecht was empty except for people in astronaut suits.
The reasons for this were: – It’s weird – Even if all of the writers are focused on telling grounded, down to earth stories, it’s important to give the artists ability to draw something weird. – It’s an easy metaphor – Maybe this is a story about people who feel isolated. Maybe this is a story about people just moving to a new city. This is of course in addition to the possibility of something science fiction related. (In the end, the writers decided that it would just be astronauts, and went for a surreal feel to the entire story, which featured people in astronaut suits smoking and drinking). – It allowed the artists to start before the writers knew who or what the characters were to that everyone could start at the same time – It’s impossible to tell the race, gender, sexual orientation, height, weight, species, planet, etc. of anyone in an astronaut suit. It obscures everything.
In the end, the reason it was contentious was because some of us felt like the beginning should be determined during the event, or that there should be a meeting before hand among the writers. I’ll create a separate entry on this blog to discuss this topic, but there are many ways to go about beginning. In my view it was important to have everyone working together from the beginning, but you may feel differently and you might have a better idea.
It is definitely true that giving an opening image like this did end up pushing everyone to stick with that opening image, which was not a goal we had initially. So, definitely consider the pluses and minuses to this approach.
Location and Food We got a location in a space that was specifically for artists, and that was very lucky. We also had an amazing caterer, and that was great, because it meant no one had to go and figure out food.
Having a space to get together is definitely necessary (whether physical or virtual) – this is about working together, but whether you do your own with catering (which can be quite costly) or in a bring your own food sort of situation is definitely worth considering and discussing with the participants.
“Do I need to be there the whole weekend?” This was a big question for everyone coming to join the event, and initially we said “yes, absolutely.”
But because of how the funding and planning came together, we had 6 weeks to make this event happen, and we needed to find people to join us.
So we ended up letting people come for just one or two days of the event. There were drawbacks for this, but also benefits. It meant new blood came in throughout the event, but it also meant that we had fewer writers at the end than at the beginning.
Balancing these benefits and drawbacks is worth considering.
Did it work? We ended up with a 79 page story. There was a lot of post production work involved, some of it quite challenging, but we ended up with a beautiful product that managed to meet the goals laid out. And the people involved made connections, and had this book to show off. So, yes, I think it did – but I also think there’s a lot more that can be done with the concept.
The basic structure for a 48 hour graphic novel team is based around making sure everyone has a clear role in the process.
The writers work together as a team. They plot out the story, and plan together.
Each writer has a team of 2 or more artists. In fact, the writer might also be an artist. The writer is in charge of that group of artists, and they all work together to get the story told that the writer wants to tell (though the writer should also attempt to tell a story that utilizes the skills of the artist).
Throughout the 48 hour period, artists should feel free to trade to other teams. This might not be good for everyone (especially if you get into a good flow with your team mates), but it’s a good opportunity to work with different people, and to network. Writer’s would do well to watch out for artists who are drawing in a style that would work well with your story, too.
Head writer
I advise you to pick a head writer in the beginning of the event. This person can still tell their own part of the story, but will be tasked with keeping an overview on everyone else’s strands of the story. It’s especially good so that you have one person in a position to say what’s needed in the story to fill gaps and connections between stories.
This head writer concept comes from TV writing, where you have the showrunner for a TV show, with a room of writers putting together the overall story. The showrunner’s job is to make it all hang well together and fit as pieces of a whole.
Different styles of working
There are many different styles of creating comics.
Single Artist “teams” are the norm in the EU and sometimes in the US. What this means is that everything is done by one person.
Pencilers and Inkers are common in US comics, where the work is more of an assembly line of creators. The two creators split the work, with the penciler drawing the image and the inker applying ink to make it ready for printing.
Roughs and Finishes are also often used in US comics, taking this idea tot he extreme. In it, one artist provides rough sketches of what they want, and the finisher fills out the art completely, filling in all of the details.
Background and character artists. This is how things work in animation usually, but also often in Japanese Manga where backgrounds might be drawn or purchased separately.
Whatever method works for you. Honestly, while people will tell you there are rules, all anyone ever cares about at the printed pages.
With the first GNW, we wanted to have 2 person art teams to allow for the USA Penciler/Inker, Roughs/Finishes, or backgrounds/characters methodology. And while these are designed to each be a time saving process, you can also always just use the two person teams to get more art done by having two people drawing. In any event, part of the value of the event is getting people working together, communicating, and making connections.
The goal is to allow every team to produce as many pages as they can – but unlike 24 hour comic day, you’re not expected to each do 24 pages on your own – Actually, so far as expectations go, some people work fast, some people work slowly and highly details. At the end of the day, you hope to have a mix of the two working for every writer.
Post-production during the even, where possible
It’s really very useful to do the post-production on site during the event. This gives the chance for writers to have more control over their dialogue, and for everyone to see the project come together. The minute you get away from the event, everyone has to remember their intention, and meetings have to be pulled together.
This is why it’s very recommended to have a team well versed in printing, layout, and all of the digital processes that will be necessary. This is a full time job, and so I recommend (from experience) that you plan for it, and accept that it will take a lot of work.
