When making comics, do you prefer to work out your story/dialogue/pacing through traditional scripting? Or do you prefer to do it more visually by doing sketches and storyboards? I've found myself going the storyboard approach 'cause I struggle with words, but I've found it kinda difficult when planning out larger storylines and behind the scenes lore stuff.
I'll tell you, someone who's made HUNDREDS of comics, each HUNDREDS of pages long, without either of the options mentioned. WRITE. A. DAMN. script. As complexity becomes part of your job and jumbled concepts race through your mind, the best thing you can do is write a script instead of illustrating every panel sequence, making mistakes, and doing it all over again. Scripts come before storyboards.
Scripting. I would hate to make a logic or character behavior error.
Although I sometimes mix some "storyboard" into there too. But lines come first.
Like: "Pov of cannonball towards viewer." or "Gutter b/t 2 panels should look like the door being caved in".
Has a project about fighting fictional universal corruption running since 2019 one fictional corrupted mother at a time...
In fact, I'm making a comic about fantastic girls who fight corrupted mothers now!... But hand pain is also a pain in the behind D:<
If anyone sees this. can they tell me if the "hateful language" mentioned in the Things that will get you banned section of the Forum Rules can be used by characters towards their in-universe enemies in comics, or is even that too far? The comic could get posted in the Art Forum one day, so I want to make sure.
I usually just draw a timeline, and a brief synopsis of the events of the entire story.
Then I make a rough comic page to get a feelings and jokes right, if I want to make it look all snazzy with varied panel shapes and sizes I do that next.
After that I just wing the rest. I write my best stuff when it's improvised. Usually I get caught in a do it perfect loop. Whenever I try to plot the entire thing out before.
I just want to make funny cartoon ...not do homework.
The time line drawing also helps too so I don't have to read an entire wall of text over and over again each time I want to look back for reference.
For short 1-2 page comics? Storyboard.
Anything longer? Script.
Scripting helps keep everything in order, ensure you don't forget things, and also you can read it back to make sure it's any good before you start drawing. I'm currently struggling my way thru a script rn and wish I could just start sketching, but I know the comic will be better for it in the long run.
I hope this doesn't seem like a cop-out answer, but I find that it honestly depends on the project. I myself tend to default to storyboarding (both long and short form), but there have been projects that I scripted, just because that made more sense / felt right for that work, and one long-form comic somehow came into being as an oral recitation that I held in my memory and edited by repeating it back to myself. That was a weird one. Most comics don't get created by verbalization, and I wouldn't recommend it. But hey, that was the baby left by that particular stork.
I would go with whatever allows you to create your work most efficiently. If you're a storyboarder, develop your storyboards. If scripting comes naturally, work with that. And don't forget, you can combo up techniques - write a script, with storyboarded sections where, say, staging is important, or there's a lot of action. Or rely mostly on storyboards, but take written notes on the side to keep larger lore details straight. I'm a big believer in the Church of Whatever Works.
Honestly, both. I’ve written out scripts before that’ve gone nowhere because I couldn’t visualize it properly, and I’ve storyboarded stuff that never went anywhere because there was no source material to follow. On top of doing both, you should also have some kind of bible or reference to fall back on so you can properly incorporate key aspects of your work and rework things that seem out of place. It’s work, but if you do it right, you’ll have something you’re really proud of.
At 1/15/26 04:41 PM, PinkyTelephone wrote:When making comics, do you prefer to work out your story/dialogue/pacing through traditional scripting? Or do you prefer to do it more visually by doing sketches and storyboards?
Wait, people don't do both?
At 1/15/26 04:41 PM, PinkyTelephone wrote:When making comics, do you prefer to work out your story/dialogue/pacing through traditional scripting? Or do you prefer to do it more visually by doing sketches and storyboards? I've found myself going the storyboard approach 'cause I struggle with words,
Both really, I couldn't imagine doing only one of the two.
I start with a loose script and then draw a very rough version with stickmen to see how it could fit onto the page, how much space the dialogue occupies and where I want to add or substract a panel for reading flow. There's certainly no preference here, both tasks have to be done.
but I've found it kinda difficult when planning out larger storylines and behind the scenes lore stuff.
This is a different layer of the writing process, I feel like the difficulty comes from defining things just enough, but not tying them down too much until they are relevant because things always change as you produce more pages / chapters. Making a flexible, but durable mesh instead of setting everything in stone.
My workflow has always been general story outline > script > storyboard/thumbnailing.
Maybe for some other people storyboarding first might work better; IIRC this is what the guys at Marvel did back in the early days. Famously known as the Marvel Method, usually some artist would receive a general story outline and make the art based on that outline, and then the writer would add in dialogue afterwards.
At 1/17/26 08:17 AM, DrSaturn2 wrote:At 1/15/26 04:41 PM, PinkyTelephone wrote:When making comics, do you prefer to work out your story/dialogue/pacing through traditional scripting? Or do you prefer to do it more visually by doing sketches and storyboards?
Wait, people don't do both?
This, honestly. I subscribe to the idea that you should do both scripts and thumbnailing at the same time for the best effect.
Although, as much as I am very particular about my layouts and whatnot, I always prioritize making a basic story outline, and then a script above all else.
At 1/15/26 06:28 PM, Vinity wrote:I'll tell you, someone who's made HUNDREDS of comics, each HUNDREDS of pages long, without either of the options mentioned. WRITE. A. DAMN. script. As complexity becomes part of your job and jumbled concepts race through your mind, the best thing you can do is write a script instead of illustrating every panel sequence, making mistakes, and doing it all over again. Scripts come before storyboards.
I see someone is a fan of the DC method.
"I don't want excuses. I want results."
~Skipper
Click here to see my art and animation thread postings. Just a note that some of it might be NSFW.
At 1/15/26 04:41 PM, PinkyTelephone wrote:When making comics, do you prefer to work out your story/dialogue/pacing through traditional scripting? Or do you prefer to do it more visually by doing sketches and storyboards? I've found myself going the storyboard approach 'cause I struggle with words, but I've found it kinda difficult when planning out larger storylines and behind the scenes lore stuff.
My comic creation process is a total mess, so I alternate between both methods depending on the comic.
But it's much more advisable to first create a storyline, a general summary of your entire story, then something more detailed. This way, you can get an idea of the points you want to reach (if it's a long, linear story). Also, if you do this, you might not have as much trouble creating your storyboard.
As a tip, you can create your storyboard and develop the dialogue alongside it so you don't get lost.
In my case, I use both methods, kjsdksdj.
At 1/15/26 06:28 PM, Vinity wrote:I'll tell you, someone who's made HUNDREDS of comics, each HUNDREDS of pages long, without either of the options mentioned. WRITE. A. DAMN. script. As complexity becomes part of your job and jumbled concepts race through your mind, the best thing you can do is write a script instead of illustrating every panel sequence, making mistakes, and doing it all over again. Scripts come before storyboards.
every project is different: not only in style but in scope. i say do what works for you after experimenting with script-driven or storyboard-driven or a hybrid of both.
Storyboarding, knowing where the characters are helps me come up with the script
As above, so below
What you reap, is what you'll sow
From my experience, it's better to storyboard. Whatever scripts I have made have been shortened so that I can make less panels with more visual storytelling.
Quinnfinity NG
i usually make short one panel stuff so slapping shit down in mspaint before i forget is what works best for me, but i'm trying to break out of that habit since i want to create more longform comics. shits a pain in the ass for more than 2 pages.
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At 1/15/26 04:41 PM, PinkyTelephone wrote:When making comics, do you prefer to work out your story/dialogue/pacing through traditional scripting? Or do you prefer to do it more visually by doing sketches and storyboards? I've found myself going the storyboard approach 'cause I struggle with words, but I've found it kinda difficult when planning out larger storylines and behind the scenes lore stuff.
i usually do both
storyboard for pacing and layout, then get to the script. or vise versa depending on the work
get a load a this guy!
