Comic series idea--need help on format, style, etc

[Deleted]

I've had this idea bouncing around in my head for a bit. It's a comic series about growing up, looking back on your old work (and self), and what exactly it means to "let go" of a story or character.

The protag, Ellie, is a semi-successful NT author. She's sort of making connections, sort of not. One day, she runs into her oldest character: a thinly-veiled self-insert named Annie. Since Ellie came up with her in the first grade, Annie acts just like that--a kid. Anyway, Annie feels ignored and left-out, and confronts her creator about it. (It's not too clear if it's magic or a dream or whatever, but I don't know if I need to establish that in a comic this short?) Ellie's not sure what to do about this angry ex-protagonist. By the end, she finds her resolution.

I've written the bare bones of the script and decided how to pace each page--sort of. I figure it should take up to eight or nine pages. The only thing I haven't done is the actual drawing, because, uh, I don't even know what medium to put it in.

So, some questions for comic-savvy NTWFers:

Is 8-9 pages a good size for a serious comic series?

Would it be a bad idea to put it in traditional media? In this case, I'd use colored and watercolor pencils. My only concern is that the compression might mess things up. Can a limited color palette yield a smaller file size?

Finally, would anyone be interested in beta reading this? Once I start the actual sketching, I mean.

Oh, and some character design sheets! I'd like to know if these look distinct enough, but also similar enough that you can guess a "relation"? xD

Ellie:



Annie:

[Twillie]

That honestly sounds like a really cool idea for a comic series. Serious comics in general are already sparse, and this subject matter is also highly relatable and also something I don't think I've seen something like it in the NT. This sounds very intriguing, and I can tell you that I at least would be very pumped to read it

For the questions:

Yes, 8 or 9 parts sounds like a good amount. There's not really a recommended amount of parts for comic series, funny or serious, but 8-9 parts at least sounds like plenty of room to pace out characterization and drama while keeping it readable and believable. That's actually about as in between as you can get with the usual range I see for bigger comic series, which is 5-12 parts, so you should be okay (and if you end up with less or more, that's perfectly fine as well )

Mmmm, traditional media is iffy for a comic series. It depends greatly on how many panels you'll end up with per part. Standalone comics can get away with traditional mediums because they typically only have 3-5 panels, and often they might exclude a background; with a story, though, you might find yourself with 5+ panels (my average is roughly 10). Looking at your current art, I would not advise using that style as the detailed shading and extensive palette would cause problems with, as you said, compression, and it may just not happen that you'll get it under 200KB. A more limited color palette will indeed garner a smaller file size, so you might get away with traditional via fewer colors, but that still sounds risky and I would test that out before committing to it.

OMG YES PLEASE I WOULD LOVE TO BETA

Character refs look good! I think especially if you're planning to color, they should stick out from each other (if you don't color, you might give them slightly different head or body shapes just in case they get confused with each other). Also, your expressions are very well done, and the ones that you chose here are very clear in purpose and look unique

All in all, I think you have the potential of a really good comic series here, and it sounds like a cool thing to pursue! I'd love to read this, and if you have any more questions, concerns, or requests, feel free to ask I hope you have fun with this!

[June Scarlet]

I second Twillie. Traditional Media is great, but I have a lot more problems getting it to compress to 200kb. And that's using my very simple coloring, I don't do shading or anything, just copic markers, but even the slight variations in that is enough to make the file size go way up, so I'm not even sure a limited color palette will help you, unless you go to the extremes I go to with Ink, which is done in traditional ink, but then limited to exactly black and white after it's scanned in.
I would still run a test, maybe like, just scribble a really fast version to scan in, and then cut down to 200kb, and see where it ends up. Or even just take any of your existing traditional art and cut it down to 200kb, and see how it looks, and decide if it's workable or not.

What I would be careful of as well is getting your comic to technically be under 200kb, but be so tiny and grainy it's hard to read.
I do suppose it'd depend on how big these pages are supposed to be. That effect things a lot. If you like, like, 15 panel comics like Ink, you're pretty much stuck with what I do to make them that long, which is make them black and white gifs. If you just want three panel comics, you can probably do whatever you want, and it'll fit.
Just remember to keep your endgoal in mind. Making it look good in 200kb or less, and 470 pixels wide or less.

Also I'd be okay with having a look later on if you want.