Today I follow up on a discussion started in Comics Are Great! episode 30 with some thoughts on character design from a writing standpoint. I share three different aspects that I oscillate between when creating characters.
Music for this show is by Eliott Drozd.
Audio hosting provided by Ka-Blam Digital Printing
Voiceover by Tara Platt
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Thunder Punch Daily 142 – 3 Roads to Character Read More »
Today I give a sort of book review of a comic I finished recently–Peter Bagge’s excellent Other Lives
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Thunder Punch Daily 131 – Other Lives Read More »
Today I revisit some thoughts on writing, and a go-to technique I use to write stories for clients and for myself: starting with a takeaway, or finding the story’s “aboutness”. It’s a slippery topic, and I’d love to hear from other writers as to what tricks they use to drum up story ideas. I refer to my episode on the Boulder & Fleet mini-comic during today’s essay.
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Thunder Punch Daily 107 – Aboutness Read More »
Today I share some observations and experiences I’ve had in my attempt to create an 8-page mini-comic in a week. The most interesting development was discovering a new theme that was there the whole time.
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Thunder Punch Daily 97 – It Was There All Along Read More »
Recently Sara Turner reminded me of the virtue of keeping things simple in your storytelling. I share a few thoughts on why I think a lot of us tend to overcomplicate our stories with unnecessary data or overcomplicated research. I also refer to an interesting episode of the Radiolab podcast I was pointed to by Jon David Guerra.
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Thunder Punch Daily 55 – Overcomplicating Things Read More »
Today I share some thoughts on the value of a good hook for your story or project, tying that in to how we can think of the “character” of your story or project as a means to keep yourself on track with the spadework of seeing the project through.
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Thunder Punch Daily 40 – Hook and Character Read More »
Today I share some thoughts on a recent TED talks presentation by Simon Sinek. In his talk he explains how inspired business leaders think in the order of Why, How, and What, while most of us think in the reverse order (and seldom get to the Why at the center). I dive in to explain how this philosophy applies to all aspects of our cartooning careers.
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Thunder Punch Daily 29 – WHY? Read More »
Today I leap off of topics broached in Mark of the Beast 12 and High Adventure Daily 13 to share a few thoughts on writing longer stories without letting any extraneous (or fat) make it into the narrative. One mustn’t mistake our focus on creating lean stories as an indictment on long-form comics.
I refer to Thunder Punch Daily 06 – Argue For Your Theme in this episode as well.
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Thunder Punch Daily 22 – More Content, Half The Fat Read More »
Today I model a word association exercise I use in classrooms to demonstrate how one can build a simple point of interest into a serviceable (or at the very least, fun) story idea.
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Thunder Punch Daily 18 – Associate for Ideas Victory! Read More »
Today I discuss what could be considered a character archetype: The Small Soulful One. Many of us think of characters like Yoda as a good representation of that type, but I explain why I think characters like Paddington Bear and Pippi Longstocking are even better at exploring what makes that kind of character special.
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Thunder Punch Daily 16 – The Small Soulful One Read More »
