Making your Comic a Reality

Successful comics depend on the details of the story you create. Once you have a story, the next step is putting it on paper. For some folks, this is easy; for others, though, the drawing is the hard part. There are many resources out there who can help you with everything from basic drawing techniques to animating cartoons - and even creating a comic.

I personally am an aspiring comic strip artist, and I took a Cartooning class with Nils Osmar at the UW Experimental College back in college. The majority of the students took the class in order to create something so they could express themselves, whether that expression was a visual narrative of their lives, or funny situations they want to draw up. Here are some additional takeaways I got from the class, and a few things I’ve learned through experience along the way:

1. Learn the drawing basics (i.e. drawing expressions, humans, movement, etc.)
2. Always take notes to jot down ideas (i.e. notebook in the back pocket, texting yourself ideas, etc)
3. There are people with the same sense of humor as you. If you think it’s funny, it probably is…to someone, anyway!
4. Have fun with it, and don’t hold back!

There are plenty of communities online where you would be able to showcase and publish your work. Here are some great resources to get you noticed:

- Tumblr.com, an easy blogging tool
- CarbonMade.com, an online portfolio
- deviantART.com, an artist community