How to Make Comics for Newspapers

“Welcome to Socially Conscious Comics for Newspapers and the Web! If you’re passionate about using your artistic skills to create thought-provoking and culturally aware comics, this course is for you.
Led by Steven Christian, a comic book illustrator, animator, and augmented reality developer, this course will teach you everything you need to know about creating socially conscious comics for newspapers and the web. With Steven’s newspaper comic strip, A Moment in Iltopia, as a reference point, you’ll learn how to design characters, research ideas, write a script, layout a comic, and storyboard your work. Plus, you’ll discover how to publish your finished product and build a template to replicate the process.
By the end of the course, you’ll have a good understanding of how to create comics that engage and inspire readers. So join us and start making a difference with your art today!”

What are newspaper comics?

Newspaper comics are a type of visual art that is featured in newspapers. They are typically short, serialized stories or gags that are presented in a sequence of panels, similar to a comic book.

Newspaper comics can cover a wide range of genres and themes, including comedy, drama, satire, and more. They are often created by a single artist or writer, or by a team of creators working together.

Newspaper comics are typically presented in black and white, although some may feature limited color. They are usually accompanied by captions or dialogue balloons that contain the characters’ words and thoughts.

Newspaper comics have been a popular feature of newspapers for many years, and many classic comic strips have been syndicated in newspapers around the world. Despite the decline of print newspapers in recent years, newspaper comics can still be found in some newspapers and online platforms.

What does it mean to be socially conscious

To be socially conscious means to be aware of and concerned about social and political issues, and to actively seek to make a positive impact on society. It involves taking an active interest in the world around you and being mindful of the ways in which your actions and decisions can affect others.

Being socially conscious can involve engaging in activities such as volunteering, participating in social justice movements, supporting organizations that work on social and environmental issues, and using your skills and resources to make a positive difference in the world. It can also involve educating yourself about social and political issues and staying informed about current events.

Being socially conscious requires a willingness to listen to and learn from others, and to be open to new perspectives and ways of thinking. It also involves being mindful of one’s own privilege and using it to advocate for those who may not have the same opportunities or resources.

Can newspaper comics be socially conscious?

Yes, newspaper comics can definitely be socially conscious! In fact, many newspaper comics throughout history have been created with the intention of raising awareness about social and political issues, or of commenting on current events.

Socially conscious comics can take many forms, such as political cartoons, graphic novels that address social justice issues, or even traditional comic strips that incorporate elements of social commentary. These types of comics can be a powerful way to engage readers and spark discussions about important topics.

It’s important to note that while newspaper comics can be a powerful tool for raising awareness about social issues, they can also be controversial and may not be suitable for all audiences. Creators of socially conscious comics should be mindful of the potential impact of their work and consider their audience carefully when crafting their stories.

Can I create my own comics?

Yes, you can create your own comics! Creating comics can be a fun and rewarding hobby, and it’s a great way to express your creativity and ideas visually.

To create your own comics, you’ll need to follow a similar process to the one outlined above. This can include deciding on a subject or theme for your comic, designing your characters, writing a script, laying out your comic, drawing it, and adding text and final touches.

You can create your comics digitally using software such as Adobe Photoshop or Illustrator, or you can use traditional tools such as pencils, pens, and paper. There are also many online resources and tutorials available that can help you learn more about the process of creating comics.

Remember, the most important thing is to have fun and let your creativity shine!

How do you make a newspaper comic?

To create a newspaper comic, you’ll need to follow these general steps:

Choose a subject or theme:

Start by deciding on a subject or theme for your comic. This can be a fictional story, a political commentary, a slice-of-life narrative, or anything else that you’d like to explore.

Design your characters:

Next, you’ll need to design your characters. This can include creating visual reference sheets or models that show how your characters look and behave, as well as coming up with their personalities, backstories, and other characteristics.

Write a script:

Once you have your characters and theme in place, you’ll need to write a script for your comic. This should include a clear outline of the story or concept that you’d like to explore, as well as the dialogue and actions of your characters.

Layout your comic:

After you have your script written, you’ll need to lay out your comic. This involves deciding on the panel layout, determining the placement and size of your panels, and sketching out the rough draft of your comic.

Draw your comic:

Once you have your layout finished, you can start drawing your comic. This can be done digitally or with traditional tools such as pencils, pens, and paper.

Add text and finalize your comic:

After you have your comic drawn, you’ll need to add any necessary text, such as dialogue or captions. You can then finalize your comic by cleaning up any rough lines and making any final adjustments.

Publish your comic:

When your comic is complete, you can publish it in a newspaper or online platform. This may involve submitting your comic to an editor or publisher, or uploading it to a website or social media platform.

Do they still put comics in newspapers?

While the use of comics in newspapers has declined in recent years due to changes in the newspaper industry, comics are still featured in some newspapers today.

Comics have traditionally been a popular feature of newspapers, and many classic comic strips have been syndicated in newspapers for decades. However, with the rise of the internet and other digital platforms, the use of comics in newspapers has declined as newspapers have faced increasing competition and financial challenges.

Despite this, there are still many newspapers that feature comics, either in print or online. Some newspapers have their own in-house comics, while others syndicate popular comic strips from other sources. There are also many online platforms that publish comics and graphic novels, which can be accessed through a web browser or via mobile apps.

How much do newspaper comic artists make?

The amount that newspaper comic artists make can vary widely depending on a number of factors, such as the artist’s level of experience, the popularity of their comic, and the size of the newspaper or publication they are working with.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median annual wage for fine artists, including cartoonists and animators, was $57,160 as of May 2020. However, it’s important to note that this figure includes all types of fine artists and does not specifically pertain to newspaper comic artists.

Newspaper comic artists may also earn additional income from syndication deals, merchandise sales, and other sources. Some successful newspaper comic artists may be able to make a full-time living from their work, while others may need to supplement their income with other jobs or freelance work.

Basic of Drawing for comics:

In this module, you will learn the fundamental skills and techniques needed to draw for comics. This will include how to use perspective to create depth and dimension in your drawings, how to compose your illustrations dynamically to convey movement and emotion, and how to use line and shading to add detail and texture to your artwork. You will also learn about the importance of drawing from reference and how to use reference images effectively to improve your skills. By the end of this module, you will have a solid foundation in drawing for comics and be well-prepared to tackle more advanced techniques.

Research Ideas:

In this module, you will learn how to research and gather ideas for your comics. This will include how to draw inspiration from current events and cultural issues, as well as how to use research to add depth and authenticity to your stories. You will also learn about the importance of staying up to date with current events and trends, and how to balance your own personal voice and perspective with the needs of your audience. By the end of this module, you will have the skills and knowledge to research and gather ideas for your comics in a structured and effective way.

In this section, we are going to discuss the process I use to research ideas for my comic. It is often difficult for me to come up ideas out of thin air. More importantly, because these are socially conscious comics, you want to be tapped in to what is happening in the world. That is really important for comics of this nature and art as a whole. What references can you ground your work in that will appeal to a broader audience. If you want to make comics just for yourself, then feel free to skip this step, but if you want to create comics that resonate with others, then do the necessary research.

My process is very simple:
• I usually follow trending tropics to find what ideas might be relevant to my audience.
• My first platform is often Twitter.
○ I go to the trending page to find relevant ideas to explore.
○ This will often give me ideas for keywords to narrow my searches.
• The second spot that I use is the Google Search engine. I use relevant keywords that I can help me find ideas I may be interested.

Write a Script:

In this module, you will learn how to craft a compelling and well-structured script for your comics. This will include how to develop characters, plot, and dialogue, as well as how to use techniques such as subplots and foreshadowing to add depth and complexity to your stories. You will also learn about the importance of pacing and structure in comics scripts, and how to use these elements to create an engaging reading experience for your audience. By the end of this module, you will have the skills and knowledge to write a script for your comics that is engaging, well-crafted, and ready for the next stage of production.

In this section I will walk you through the process of building a script for the comic based on the inspirations you found from the internet.
• I used a keyword search to land on a reference point that is trending in the news.
○ The reference can be a tweet, meme, infographic, etc.
○ Feel free to find as many points of inspiration to use for the comics as you can. They can be just about anything.
• With all the inspiration collected, I open Microsoft Word to write my script.
○ Feel free to make direct references to the inspiration you found by having them side by side with your script.
○ If you don’t know where to start, start jotting down thoughts you have based on overarching themes and topics from the references you have.
○ What I do in this situation is I list out the characters of my comic, the general topics I want to cover in the comic, and I will organize them accordingly.
○ I will then go on to writing the script.

• A challenge to try out is using the references I have to come up with your own version of the comics. People often come up with vastly different things using the same references. That is often referred to as artistic style because it is based on individual experiences and interests.

Design Characters for comics:

In this module, you will learn how to design compelling and unique characters for your comics. This will involve considering the personality, appearance, and role of each character in the story, as well as how to convey these aspects through visual design. You will also learn about the importance of diversity and representation in character design and how to create characters that are authentic and relatable. By the end of this module, you will have the skills and knowledge to design dynamic and well-rounded characters for your comics.

In this section, We will setup a scene with the characters and introduce the topic of the comic
• Be sure to differentiate the characters based on unique and distinguishable qualities.
• That can be their dialect or slang, or maybe a catchphrase they use.
• After you finish the script, make sure to save it!

In this section we are going to make a template to use for our comic
• I use photoshop for my comics so I will make the template in there.
• Because I have a newspaper comic, I have specific dimensions from my editor that corresponds to a particular amount of space my webcomic has in the paper.
• For my comic, I set my template to 4.8 inches wide by 3.75 inches long at 300 DPI.
• With the Blank canvas, I use the ruler to setup up the borders of my panels and edges.
○ View > New Guide Layout
○ I base the number of panels for my comics on the script that I have. Usually my comics and the amount of words on the page are very dynamic. That means they are always adapted to fit each other.
§ I set my Columns to 3
§ I set my Rows to 2
§ I set my margins to .05 inches on all sides
• I use the first panel for the introduction to the comic. This is where I put the title, graphic, and any promotional information to show that I made it.
• The next things I do is make the panels for the comic.
○ I use a square with Black lines and I use the guides we made earlier to guide the panels.
○ I set the border of the boxes to something moderately thick.
• With the boxes done, I like to organize the panels in the hierarchy in photoshop to make it easier to navigate all the layers of the comic.

In this section, we start adding the text for the comic template.
• With making the text, try to pick a text that is readable at a small size, but also has some character. Feel free to play around with decorative fonts that are often collecting dust in your font library. You may need to resize the fonts to fit the size you are looking for because different fonts have different default sizes.
• If you have Adobe Creative Cloud, they have a great font selection that comes with your subscription.
• With the font chosen, I make text boxes with default text into each of the boxes as place markers. I do this so that I know how many words can fit in each of the boxes. This helps me make nice looking comics that are not too busy with information.
• Afterwards, I make a layer group to place all of my text layers in.

Layout a Comic:

In this module, you will learn how to layout your comics in a visually effective and engaging way. This will include how to use panels, page design, and composition to guide the reader’s eye and convey meaning, as well as how to use layout to create a sense of flow and progression in your storytelling. You will also learn about the importance of considering the physical format of your comic and how to adapt your layouts to different platforms and mediums. By the end of this module, you will have the skills and knowledge to layout your comics in a way that is visually effective and enhances the storytelling.

Now that we have a template made, time to use the template to make the comic.
• We are going to start off with the text.
• We will copy the text from our script to each one of the panels.
• You may need to play around with resizing the for so that it is readable in the comic.
• Get creative when organizing the text.

Storyboard:

In this module, you will learn how to create a storyboard, a visual representation of the story and layout of your comic. This will involve breaking down your script into individual panels and sketching out rough layouts to visualize the flow of your story. You will also learn about the importance of using a storyboard to plan out your comic and how to use it as a guide during the actual drawing process. By the end of this module, you will have the skills and knowledge to create a storyboard for your comics that is clear, concise, and ready for the next stage of production.

In this section, we will start adding the art to the comic.
• If you have premade art like me, then you can start placing things in.
• Or you can draw each panel to fit the dialogue.
• The first thing I do prior to adding the art is making a mask so that any of the art that goes outside of the borders will be invisible outside the panel borders. I like working nondestructively. So I can move things around later if I want.
• You can do this by holding ‘CRTL’ + clicking the rectangle layer box then clicking the mask icon.

With the art in the panels, it is time to add speech bubbles to the panels so that people can read the words on the page.
• I usually use a round rectangle because corners are usually hard on the eyes.
• Feel free to play around with shapes and line style of the speech bubbles. They can be a fun was to add character to the style of the comic.
• After the rectangles are placed, use the pen tool to make the speech bubble tails that go from the character to the text.
• With that placed, you can combine the speech bubble and the tail together by merging the shapes in the layers panel.
○ Select both layers > right click the layers > merge shapes.
• I usually have the speech bubbles on their own layer group separate from the art, panels, and text to organize them better.
• Organize the speech bubbles in a way that each of the text boxes have a clear order around them.

Finish the comic:

In this module, you will learn how to complete your comic, including how to finalize your artwork, add lettering and sound effects, and prepare it for publication. You will also learn about the importance of editing and revising your work to ensure that it is of the highest quality. By the end of this module, you will have the skills and knowledge to finish your comics to a professional standard and get them ready for publishing.

Publish the Comic:

In this module, you will learn about the various options for publishing your comic, including how to submit it to newspapers and online platforms, and how to promote your work to reach a wider audience. You will also learn about the importance of building an online presence and how to use social media and other online tools to reach and engage with your audience. By the end of this module, you will have the skills and knowledge to publish and promote your comics effectively.

Now that everything is done, time to polish it and add the finishing touches to publish it.
• Add all the promotional stuff you want such as a title, a logo, website, social media handles, and even an artist tag.
• This is the opportunity to add your own artistic flair to your work.
• You don’t need to do this, but people really appreciate having a personal touch from the creator.
• If your layers panel looks messy, you can also organize the layers to navigate them easier.
• Make sure to proof read everything as well!

Now that we have our comic done, we can send it off to our editor, and head to the news stand to pick up a copy of it!

Build a Template to replicate the process:

In this module, you will learn how to create a template for your comics that you can use to streamline and replicate the process in the future. This will include tips on how to organize your files, save time on recurring tasks, and maintain consistent quality in your work. You will also learn about the importance of having a consistent workflow and how to adapt your template to fit your personal style and needs. By the end of this module, you will have the skills and knowledge to create a template for your comics that will help you work efficiently and consistently.

In conclusion, newspaper comics can be a powerful tool for raising awareness about social and political issues, and for engaging readers in discussions about important topics. As a creator, it’s important to be mindful of the potential impact of your work and to consider your audience carefully when crafting your stories. With the right approach and tools, anyone can create their own comics and use them to make a positive impact on the world. Whether you’re just starting out or you’re an experienced artist looking to explore new avenues for your creativity, creating socially conscious comics for newspapers and the web can be a rewarding and fulfilling experience.

Socially Conscious Comics Quiz

Welcome to the Socially Conscious Comics Quiz! This quiz is based on the course “Socially Conscious Comics for Newspapers and the Web,” which teaches students how to create thought-provoking and culturally aware comics for newspapers and the web. The quiz will cover various topics covered in the course, including drawing for comics, character design, researching and gathering ideas, writing a script, layout, storyboarding, and finishing a comic. See how much you’ve learned from the course by taking this quiz!