The lightbulb is the punchline. So what’s the best number of panels to use to get there? Of course you know it can depend. Assuming we’re talking about the typical newspaper strip format, let’s explore what panel count does to a strip. A comic strip is limited in size so breaking the space down into different segments creates different experiences for the reader. We’ll talk about single panel strips another time so let’s focus on the common 2, 3 and 4 panel comics.

This isn’t the “rule” for all strips but it’s worth thinking about when laying out a comic. Generally speaking, larger panels denote a longer period of time and smaller ones will portray a more rapid procession of time. The examples below have no content at all so you can see what panel size and count alone can do for the reader experience.

Strip A seems to take longer while C feels like several short segments of time. This is the result of panel count AND panel size. Four panels the size of A would feel different than the four in C. But there isn’t room for four larger panels so the decisions of panel size are crucial to the pacing of your strip.

This does differ from comic books because books have more leeway with layout. Comic strips however, have different space and time challenges. Mixing up panel sizes within a strip can give you great freedom to encourage the pace of your reader’s experience. Now throw some content in there, your characters and dialog, and you’ve got an even more complex system of time progression.

Do you experiment with panel sizes to guide the reader to the lightbulb?

Yo Zingerfans. It’s time to look at how your characters interact with each other. In reading comic strips, I see a lot of ’surprise’ responses to what one says to another, especially in the final panel of a strip during that crucial punchline.

You know how it goes. Your characters have a little dialog and when character A says the punchline of the gag, character B gets all wide-eyed with a puckered mouth (or similar expression) whether an exclamation point or question mark appears above their head or not.

Yeah ok, I get it. Character B was struck by the unexpected irony of the funny line. But here’s the problem. It’s like they don’t know each other as if gag after gag of funny lines, character B is caught off guard every time. Come on now! This creates a disconnect between your characters, and thus your reader.

Remember, you are writing for your reader, not character B.

Think about how a character would actually respond to someone they know (or sometimes not know) when someone says something funny, ironic, unexpected. What is their personality and relationship with the other? This kind of depth is what actually strikes a chord with your readers. That bit of reactionary realism is what gives your reader the freedom to form their own response to the gag.

The surprise calls attention to itself saying “Hey reader, this was an unexpected line. See, this other character thought so.” Of course, the surprise expression might actually be appropriate depending upon the characters and situation. But characters might also be annoyed, roll their eyes, ignore the other, laugh, have a blank expression and so on.

All too often I see surprise inappropriately overused. Are your characters too surprised by each other?

Any great comic strip cartoonist will agree that “good writing can save poor art - but good art cannot help bad writing“. This is true and you can’t get around it.

Many cartoonists become cartoonists because they love to draw. The instant appeal of comic strips is the art. As a visual medium, it’s the first thing you notice. But the writing is what makes or breaks a strip. You have to think of yourself as a writer before an illustrator.

Do you tell people you “write” comic strips or “draw” comic strips?

Most likely your idea already includes some characters, a setting and a context. We use a context rather than story in comic strips because most strips are not based on a single linear storyline from strip to strip. Even for those that do, the short format of a single strip breaks up a longer story into small segments, thus putting an emphasis on context.

The context is the circumstances of which define your characters, setting, theme, etc. and how it will be related to your readers. When you tell someone you have a comic about an alligator and bird who are documentarians of the human race, that is the context – the core of your idea.

Yeah, so now what? Read more »

Where do you begin? All creative endeavors start with an idea. But where do you get this idea? This new strip of yours has got to include characters, a setting, written and visual styles, but a comic strip can’t rely on any of those things alone. It’s got to have a reason for being and that reason is your own unique voice. You are more than just an artist who can draw funny cartoons, you have a viewpoint to share with the world. That is the core of your idea!

One of the biggest mistakes cartoonists make when starting a comic strip is… Read more »

Egads! Has it been since May that I last posted?! Where have the months gone? Fear not, readers - the Zingerding Blog is coming back in January 2008. Readers? Do we still have readers? Is this thing on? Hello?

What’s on the horizon, you ask? Hank and I have been developing a new strategy for the blog. Zingerding.com has been in development and is making headway. In preparation for the site, my bird partner and I will be bringing more value to you with comic strip instruction.

What do we mean by that? Well, we’re going to give you all sorts of tips, advice and tricks of the trade for developing, writing, drawing and maintaining your very own comic strips. We’ll cover humor writing, drawing techniques, digital tips, character design, comic theory and more!

We know you have some great ideas and we hope to inspire you! Happy new year and we’ll see you soon!

Well Zingerfans, I have to admit that we’ve been holding out on you. Zingerding is not merely a blog. It’s a plot to change the face of the funny pages forever. Today we announce Zingerding.com, a new website that will push the boundaries of what the internet can do for comic strips.

We’re still working on the main site so after you get all zinged up, relax and be patient. Sign up on our email list and we’ll keep you informed of when we’re ready. And if you’re a cartoonist, let us know because we want your comic strips!

We’ll continue to bring you great and not-so-great strips through this blog but we’ll also now be discussing what is to come. Isn’t this the most exciting thing since… well, ever?

Yo Zingerfans! A while back I featured a Pepsi and Pete comic strip advertisement for Pepsi Cola from 1941. Here is a modern comic form ad for Alaskan Summer Ale. They similarly end with drawings of the bottled beverages. Not much has changed there.

– Click to enlarge.

I’d like to point out a few interesting zings about this strip. If you look at the five panels in the center, they are connected with arrows to guide the order with which you’re supposed to read them. Now this has been done in comics before, especially in more experimental comic books where artists have the entire for unusual layouts. Now why are they in this comic? The natural order of reading panels is right to left, top to bottom. The arrows here point us in a circular order as if we are to read those five panels over and over, watching the killer whale do flips.

I’ll argue these arrows unnecessary. They certainly are not needed in the top panels as those already follow the natural order, especially with the whale literally going from one panel into the other. And quite frankly, would this read any different if you read the bottom two panels in the opposite order of the arrows? Not much as you still get the effect of a crazy whale-riding rodeo. And then why didn’t the artist just flop those two panels anyway? It’s not that big of a deal and it’s not like it ruins the comic, rather it’s just my job to point these things out.

Also, I’m not that much a fan of puns but I like the zinger in this. “Killer Ale”, it’s not funny but it works!

One other zing. The sound effect lettering says SPLASH and… uh… ? FRASH? TRASH? Probably CRASH but that blocky C threw me off since the S is not blocky.

Zing out!

Yo Zingerfans! On Monday I pointed out the need for more bird comic strips. I mean, we all agree that there aren’t enough birds in comics, right? It’s a universal understanding I am sure. So today I bring you The Boids comic strip by cartoonists Campbell and Merrill, first names Larry and Steve (though I couldn’t find who goes with which last name).

It’s a pretty zing new strip about a robotic bird named ‘Flock Unit 2A-6′ built to study real birds, and who accidentally gets separated from the robot flock only to end up in the company of feathered friends. The initial batch of strips are still focusing on the setup of this premise. Like other robotic animal strips, the humor somewhat lacks because of this situational approach. This is very natural for new strips so give it a chance already. It’s a bird strip after all. Once the characters are more developed, this strip will really zing! That doesn’t mean there aren’t good ones in there already. This one really tickled my feathers!

– Click to enlarge

I also dig the art. At first I was a little put off by the execution of 2A-6 himself. He looks more like origami than mechanics but then it grew on me. I zing his simple, iconic visual style next to the more realistic birds. Two wings up from me! What do you think?

Yo Zingerfans! This one reminded me of a dog I had years ago. (Actually, he was my roommate but it was like having a dog. A bird with a dog? Ha ha!) This Dog Eat Doug comic strip by cartoonist Brian Anderson made me laugh. Dogs love the smell of all kinds of things I would never put my beak to.

– Click to enlarge

There are soooo many zinging dog strips out there! How do they compete? Well, I guess I could say the same thing about those human people comics. There are tons of those. We need more bird comics, I say!