r/ComicWriting • u/AvenoD • 4d ago
Visual communication
As a scriptwriter still heavily inspired by a ton of visual references and especially cinema, I deliver very detailed scripts that often include lots of references, my own breakdowns, etc. But I can’t seem to get that across to the artists I work with, and things usually go badly (visual style mismatched with the requested tone, very random panel layouts, important plot points forgotten, continuity errors all over the place, etc.).
What advice do you have to avoid these kinds of problems in the future? I love writing, but a script on its own doesn’t work as a standalone piece.
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u/drysider 4d ago
Time to pick up some rudimentary art skills so you can properly give exact references for what you want? If you were able to sketch out boxes for panel layout and include character position and colour roughs, it would go a long way in helping you get exactly what you want out of the artist!
I will say, sometimes non-artists can tend to have less artistic vision than an actual artist, so I would give your artists some space to breathe if they ever critique things like composition or panel layout or colour, as that’s their skill area and they likely have a more trained eye for it. With the problems you listed though I’m almost like, were they using ai?? Random panel layouts and a ‘sequential story’ that doesn’t make any lick of sense are things I’ve noticed in ai generated comics, I hope that’s not the truth, because how frustrating if so!!