Comickas Community Blog

Comics & Manga Artists, The Secret to Creating the Ultimate Story Is…

I am surprised.

Surprised, and frankly, a little confused.

Everyone thinks that there must be some deep, well-kept secret about how you can create the ultimate, best-selling comic, manga, graphic novel or comic strip. Maybe it's some mysterious drawing tool that will turn your scribbly lines into fluid perfection. Maybe it's finding the right mentor to train under. Or maybe, it's about shaking hands with the right people who can get your work noticed.

Nice answers, but they are only partially correct.

It's about all that, and One Big Secret Ingredient.

And this Big Secret Ingredient is: COLLABORATION.

... Huh?

Yes, like I said, I am surprised.

Surprised that the answer is so direct and simple; Surprised by how it is almost never mentioned by the industry's experts. And ultimately, surprised that it is something that is within the reach of each and every one of us.

That's the Big Secret?!

Think about it: creating a comic or a manga is about following a series of steps. You start from a concept, outline your story, write out the script, do your preliminary thumbnails or layouts, etc, etc, etc... Even if you skip some steps or tack on a few more, it does not change the fact that it is a PROCESS before you end up with a finished sequential art masterpiece.

"Great," you say, "But what does that have to do with collaboration?"

See, here's the deal. As much as we will like to believe that we can create our dream comic or manga by ourselves (and avoid clashing over artistic differences), the truth is that we cannot be good at every single aspect of it.

You can be a master storyteller, whose every keystroke is pure Shakespeare.

You can be the greatest artist ever, whose lines are perfection from beginning to end.

Chances are, you are somewhere in-between the 2. And unless you are among the tiny handful of independent, do-it-all creators who have found (rare) commercial success, the only way to ever bring your story to life is to focus on ONE skill set.

Feel free to strike out on that route, but be forewarned that it is a long, hard journey that will drive you into poverty if you go at it full-time.

That's why collaboration is the answer to bringing your comic or manga idea to life.

If you can pencil and ink but cannot color, find someone who can do your coloring for you.

If you can write but cannot draw, find an art team that can handle that. It doesn't have to be a single person: collaborate with an artist with a knack for character design, have another experienced artist draw your story, perhaps a prize-winning inker to really bring out the artwork for you...

This 'Secret' Has a Lot More History to It Than You Know

Stan Lee and Jack Kirby.

Jim Lee and Scott Williams.

Tsugumi Ohba and Takeshi Obata.

These almost mythical artistic collaborations all have something in common. It's not just about sharing the workload of creating a comic or manga masterpiece.

It is about finding the right person to work with - someone who shares your visions and dreams.

It is about playing to your artistic strengths and finding someone else or even a group of people to help you with what you cannot do.

It is about understanding that instead of producing an average comic/manga all by yourself, you can instead produce a stellar comic/manga as a team in the same amount of time.

I can find no better proof of this fact than in the Japanese manga industry.

Any manga artist (or mangaka, as they are known) whose work has been serialized had to prove beforehand that he or she can write, draw, ink, apply special effects and letter. It is the only way to get their work noticed by a publisher who will then give them a shot at drawing a new series and assign the mangaka a team of assistants.

Wait, what?

Doesn't the mangaka already know how to do everything required to produce a commercially-successful series? Why does he or she need a helping team?

The answer is simple: because it is IMPOSSIBLE for an individual to produce 20 pages of high-quality work every 7 days without something suffering eventually.

That's why a mangaka is mostly focused on getting the story pacing and page layouts right. They leave the work of drawing backgrounds, inking, special effects and more to their equally-capable team. Sometimes, the team even has to pinch-hit and handle the basic drawing duties if the mangaka is falling behind schedule.

Everyone plays the part that they are best at. When you put the best of everyone's abilities together, the final product will always be greater than the sum of its parts.

This is What Comickas is About - Collaboration

Creating your dream comic or manga all boils down to the meeting of the right artistic individual.

This is what Comickas wants to do for you: we want to bring together all the comic and manga artists of all genres, to give each individual a free place on the Internet to showcase their skills, to help creators connect in a trusted environment. No geographic boundaries. No socio-economic boundaries.

Just bringing all the talent of the world together so they can bring their artistic dreams to life.

This is about Your Creative Space.

This is about making this community the very best that it can be.

Help Us Build Your Ideal Comic & Manga Social Community

We want to give every single comic and manga artist a place for their personal portfolio, and for them to interact with others like themselves. We want you to make connections and take on life-changing projects.

And we are going to need your help to do that.

It's not a lot of work on your part - just your opinion and feedback. All you have to do is help us out by answering our questionnaire below, and we will set about to fulfilling your needs and wants for Comickas.

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Please complete the questionnaire by posting your answers as a comment at the end of this blog entry.

Question 1: Comickas is going to be the largest social gathering of comic and manga artists on the Internet. What do you most envision yourself doing or wanting to do in the community? (It is not necessary to choose from the options given - tell us exactly what you think by writing out something completely different!)

A) Finding your artistic collaboration partner(s) and using the Comickas site infrastructure to organize your project(s).
B) Meeting up with professional, published individuals and interacting with them as friends.
C) Learning directly from experts on the different aspects of comic and manga creation and having the opportunity to ask questions.
D) Others. (Please tell us in detail what you will like to be able to do on the Comickas community)

Question 2: In order of your personal opinion, please rank the following community features from your most wanted to least required.
- Personal blog
- Fan and discussion communities
- Online drawing guidance and tutorials
- Organizing meetups and local events
- Multiple personal portfolios (standard is 1 portfolio per member)
- Personal store to sell your artwork
- Interviews and articles by industry professionals
- Community-wide contests (with prizes)
- Personal profile customization similar to MySpace
- See all your friends' activities on a single page (like Facebook)
- Your own collaborative group space with privacy options
- Jobs postings by both individuals and companies

Question 3: Aside from the community features listed above, what do you WANT to see or be able to do on Comickas? You are encouraged to think of anything and everything you want. The more details you provide, the better we can make it a reality!

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ATTENTION: By answering all 3 simple questions, you stand a chance of becoming a Comickas alpha-tester!

Yes, yes, you have already secured your Preview Membership invitation by signing up with our notification list (and if you have not, the sign up box is at the top of the page!). But this is your chance to get inside the community even earlier than anyone else so you can secure your unique user ID and other special privileges!

All you have to do post your answers as a comment, and you can become one of our lucky 10 alpha-testers.

The deadline for all entries is September 20, 2009.

September 20th Update: Please do continue filling out the questionnaire! Until the alpha-testers are officially announced over the coming days, an ADDITIONAL 5 alpha-testers will be selected from right up to the moment the list of alpha-testers is announced!

I look forward to seeing you on the inside!