Mickey Mart will be sponsoring several “How to Create Your Own Comics” youth workshops at libraries around Northcentral Ohio in 2018. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter to catch announcements of dates and locations!
We’re excited about the release of the Amazing Adventures of Mickey the Moose #4 and to celebrate we thought we’d give you a little peek at how we make a Mickey the Moose Comic!
We want to make our comics interesting and fun, so we spend a good deal of time coming up with ideas. That’s the fun part, making up the story. It can be anything you want it to be.
The famous Cleveland comic creator, Harvey Pekar, often wrote about things he observed on a regular day. You can also write about Giant Robot Moose (that is plural, btw). Your comic, your call.
Just like Mickey and his friends, we work as a team to create a comic. Many creators work by themselves but most often, one person writes and another person draws. If you are a great writer, find a friend who’s a good artist (or vice versa) and get started!
Here’s an inside look at the steps we take to bring you Mickey the Moose Comics! There are as many ways to do this as there are comics. This is our way:
First, We Organize Our Layout and Ideas:
Most MM comics are 20 pages long. We start off with a rough overview of how we want all the pages laid out. Dirk does all of the writing and layout work. This is also a good way to get an idea of how your story is developing and how it is paced.
Dirk follows this up with a (very) rough sketch of what everybody is saying or doing on an individual page. As you can see, Dirk can’t draw flies in the summer, so it’s nice to have a good artist like Kelly around. This is page 10 from Mickey the Moose Comics #3.
Next, Writing the Script!
If you are working with another person, you have to make sure you communicate your ideas clearly. Some artists like lots of detail. Others not so much. It’s very important to write your script to the strength of your artist.
Draw the Page!
The artist uses the script to draw his own rough sketches before completing all the pencils and inks.
Add Colors!
We use Adobe Photoshop to create a color layer. Here’s what it looks like without the inked background!
Voila! The Finished Page!
