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 »