Archive for the ‘Writing’ Category
Saturday, March 16th, 2013
It is the 16th of March, and I have no new rapid City script to post.
That is not a sad thing, however, because Kav and I have been working on a different script project.
This method we are using is much more collaborative, and that makes it harder to predict how long it will take to get it done.
That script is not complete, but it is done to the point where it is at least usable by an artist.
I am not really happy that i missed this deadline, but i am not crushed by it either.
I have been a few days late in the past… and I am breaking in a whole new method of getting comics done. So, I give myself a little grace period there.
Posted in Creative process, Editing, Plotting, Scripting, Updates, Writing | No Comments »
Sunday, January 20th, 2013
The script for the 39th issue of Rapid City has just been posted. With this issue, the series comes together as a team book with the formation of The Rapid Citizens. Read it here.
Panel 1 Smaller shot of a weary and well pissed off Knuckleduster tearing the rear wheel off of a motorcycle.
Panel 2 Larger shot of Knuckleduster holding the dismembered bike by its rear forks, she smashes it to the ground. The Dead Men are reeling at the sight.
Panel 3 Tight shot on Knuckleduster, streaked with rain, grease, and soot.
KNUCKLEDUSTER
We clear?
Read this, and all my previous Rapid City scripts here.
Posted in Script Updates, Scripting, Writing | No Comments »
Friday, November 23rd, 2012
8 days late, but issue #37 is done.
Writing a team book is a unique challenge. The skill set is the same as writing a solo book, but the execution is much different. I will clean it up and have the script posted tomorrow.
Posted in Commentary, Genre, Scripting, Superhero, Writing | No Comments »
Sunday, September 2nd, 2012
Since listening to the Decompressed podcast on Marvel Style, I have been fascinated by it.
I want to try it right away!
I usually over-write my panels just a bit in the full-script style. I think that, by this point, Kav knows that this is not me being obnoxious, but rather uncertain. I also tend to let the dialog lead the scene. I mean that I will often just let the characters talk… let them flow where ever they want to go. This is why i have so much repetition in my early drafts.
Then I will take all of that rambling and pare it down into tighter flow, one that actually moves from turning point to turning point.
I use those turning points to plan out my panel breaks. Every time the conversation changes direction, I need a new panel.
That method works pretty well.
But, in my zeal to use Marvel Style, I have been trying something else on my latest issue.
Instead of think about what everyone is going to say, I have been trying to think about what the page, or the next panel, should look like.
Then I just write that.
With little dialog tags like “COIL speaks” so that I know I have to come back and put in SOME kind of chatter. It is so much fun, and it makes the dialog that eventually goes in so much more vibrant.
This is just my half-ass Marvel Style and I already love it!
-Josh
Josh you are really onto something-this is a very dynamic and responsive writing method and you can utilize it on the books I have already drawn-that’s the beauty of it….
one downside of the method is it led to the infamous Lee/Ditko feud. But i never want credit for anything but the art so this would never be an issue with me and any writer. Of course I didn’t co plot any of RC but I’m just sayin.
-Kav
Posted in Creative process, Open Studio, Plotting, Scripting, Writing | No Comments »
Saturday, September 1st, 2012
I have been listening to Kieron Gillen’s podcast, Decompressed.
It is, without a doubt, the best thing I have ever heard on the craft of making comics.
It is a writer talking to other comics creators about the craft of making comics. I have heard some good writing podcasts where a writer simply gives advice, or podcasts where creators tell stories from behind the scenes, and there are others (like ifanboy’s Make Comics)… and they are great. But none of them do what Decompressed does.
Decompressed is comics creators discussing the application of theory to the craft of making comics. Form first-day novice to Comics Grand Champion, you have something to gain from discussions like these.
I wish there were new ones every single day.
If you make comics, go listen to these.
-Josh
Posted in Commentary, Creative process, Editing, Industry, Interviews, Plotting, Scripting, Writing | No Comments »
Thursday, August 2nd, 2012
What is the Open Studio?
Page 14. Tension ratcheting up for Max. He is such a low-pressure predator. I am really happy about that with him. I love panel 4 with Max’s head bordered in shadow like that. Panel 6, with the books tumbling, is just terrific.
Page 15. From tranquility to rage in the space of one panel. Now that is a psycho. The broken reflection shot is just amazing. Did I write that? Or is that you riffing? Either way, I love it. Panel 5… this is the second time that Max has done a weird little sexy move. and it just makes him creepier. And then in the last panel here.. his big eyes and hang-dog face make him almost sympathetic. I think I see a little bit of William H. Macy on his face sometimes.
ha ha dude I’m glad you like it-it was scripted as shards falling but I thought a cracked mirror would be more dramatic-then I realized I would have
to put max in the mirror, since it was a straight on shot-so I was forced to draw max- a scary thing actually because drawing over a bunch
of pre existing lines-the cracks-is so easy to screw up. The lines tend to get confused…then i realized that if the cracks were in focus, then
the image of Max would be blurry-google searching cracked mirrors confirmed this-which actually made my job easier because I could use bold
blurry brush strokes which are easily delineated (literally ‘de-lined’) from the cracks…the rest is history as they say. As far as his sexy moves-he’s a graceful killer.
-kav
Page 16. He is so relaxed here that it is almost disgusting. Panel 1 is just gross. Now, I believe you said you would leave it to the letterer to fill in the text on the screens. i think that is a great idea.
Great pages here.
-Josh
thanks I did my best. He is even grosser in the upcoming pages.
-kav
Posted in Art, Open Studio, Pages, Technical, Writing | No Comments »
Thursday, August 2nd, 2012
What is the Open Studio?
Page 14. Tension ratcheting up for Max. He is such a low-pressure predator. I am really happy about that with him. I love panel 4 with Max’s head bordered in shadow like that. Panel 6, with the books tumbling, is just terrific.
Page 15. From tranquility to rage in the space of one panel. Now that is a psycho. The broken reflection shot is just amazing. Did I write that? Or is that you riffing? Either way, I love it. Panel 5… this is the second time that Max has done a weird little sexy move. and it just makes him creepier. And then in the last panel here.. his big eyes and hang-dog face make him almost sympathetic. I think I see a little bit of William H. Macy on his face sometimes.
ha ha dude I’m glad you like it-it was scripted as shards falling but I thought a cracked mirror would be more dramatic-then I realized I would have
to put max in the mirror, since it was a straight on shot-so I was forced to draw max- a scary thing actually because drawing over a bunch
of pre existing lines-the cracks-is so easy to screw up. The lines tend to get confused…then i realized that if the cracks were in focus, then
the image of Max would be blurry-google searching cracked mirrors confirmed this-which actually made my job easier because I could use bold
blurry brush strokes which are easily delineated (literally ‘de-lined’) from the cracks…the rest is history as they say. As far as his sexy moves-he’s a graceful killer.
-kav
Page 16. He is so relaxed here that it is almost disgusting. Panel 1 is just gross. Now, I believe you said you would leave it to the letterer to fill in the text on the screens. i think that is a great idea.
Great pages here.
-Josh
thanks I did my best. He is even grosser in the upcoming pages.
-kav
Posted in Art, Open Studio, Pages, Technical, Writing | No Comments »
Sunday, July 22nd, 2012
As I have mentioned elsewhere, Rapid City is in a few different stages of production at any one moment.
I am constantly writing scripts. In fact, this project began as an experiment in which I challenged myself to write a complete comic book script every single month.
I used this site to post those scripts, and updates on my process of creating them.
Over a year into that script project, Kav started to draw comics from those scripts. He is churning out issues faster and faster, but I never let up on my script-a-month schedule.
Kav is doing an amazing job drawing Rapid City #6, but at that very same moment, I am starting work on the script for Rapid City #35.
The fun situation that this creates for is that Kav, who probably knows more about Rapid City than anyone outside of my head, is still more than two years out of date with what is going on in Rapid City!
Earlier today I posted the notification that issue #34 was finished, and in doing so I called it a “supervillain comic book”. This led Kav comment…
I thought it was a superhero book dude.
-Kav
Kav, it is a superhero comic book. But things change. You may have noticed an already darkening tone in the early Rapid City stories. I don’t want to spoil it, but in issue #24 some very big decisions are made. And then, from issue 25 on, the series focuses the supervillain community in Rapid City.
But don’t worry, by 37 or 38 it will be a superhero book again.
-Josh
always breaking the rules! great! PS what if some Rapid City Superheroes visit their nemeses in Slowville?
-kav
Posted in Creative process, Editing, Plotting, Rapid City Comics, Superhero, Technical, Writing | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 18th, 2012
The script for the 28th issue of my supervillain drama Rapid City has just been posted. Read the full script here.
Panel 1. Later that night, Icicle walks along the side of concrete bridge where a main road is crossing a set of railroad tracks. She is carrying the gym bag. Her clothes are in rough shape after running through the brush.
Caption: The cold never bothers me. But hunger does. Exhaustion does.
Caption: Cars just pass me by.
Panel 2. We can see a hint of the bridge she was crossing in the background. In the foreground, she is hunkered down behind a long-unused set of newspaper boxes. She is sliding a few bills out of the cop’s wallet that she took. The way it is flopped open, we can see the cop’s badge.
Caption: Twenty six bucks. That’s it.
Panel 3. Icicle is caught in the lights of a passing car, she raises her arm to shield her face. We can see rips and smears of dirt on her sleeve.
Read all of my previous Rapid City scripts right here.
Tags:comic book script, making comics, Supervillains
Posted in Coil, Editing, Icicle, Plotting, Rapid City Comics, Script Updates, Scripting, Technical, Writing | 1 Comment »
Sunday, January 1st, 2012
The script for the 27th issue of my superherovillain comic book, Rapid City, has just been posted. Read it here.
Panel 4. Shot of Icicle trying her hardest just to hold it together.
ICICLE
Piledriver’s dead.
Panel 5. Small panel of the milk hitting the ground and busting open.
Panel 6. As large a panel as the page will allow of Katy grabbing Icicle into an awkward hug. It is awkward because Katy is carefully keeping her spiky hands from poking Icicle.
KATY
Oh, Steph. No. You poor…
KATY
Come here.
ICICLE
He’s dead, Katy. He’s dead.
Read Issue 27 and all of the previous Rapid City scripts right here.
Posted in Editing, Script Updates, Scripting, Superhero, Updates, Writing | No Comments »
37 down
Friday, November 23rd, 20128 days late, but issue #37 is done.
Writing a team book is a unique challenge. The skill set is the same as writing a solo book, but the execution is much different. I will clean it up and have the script posted tomorrow.
Posted in Commentary, Genre, Scripting, Superhero, Writing | No Comments »