Dire Forums

Since you're all professionals you seem like the right people to ask. However since you're good at it you might not have a decent answer.

I want to put together a few comic strips, I was inspired to after I started drawing little 3-4 panel comics in the back of exam booklets in the hope hope that it would make the marker a little more lenient with me. The writing is (questionably) good, but I've hit a major crutch that now I don't have exam time restraints so don't really have and excuse for crappy stick figure stuff and I want to try and make it look a little nicer and a bit less like I'm ripping off XKCD. Is there any advice anyone has about drawing things that look passable while I have no drawing talent?

EDIT: Whoops, I may have accidentally hammered on the post button. Please don't kill me mr moderator.

The simple answer is: get someone who can draw. But then again, "simple" and "easy" aren't the same.

Learning to draw is another option, although one that would require a huge time investment. Still, learning to draw at a very basic level would suffice to get you started, and you'd be learning as you go while also developing your own style. The very early Adventures of Dave the Direman are VERY crude. Even the most popular webcomics' early strips look rather different than they do now (look at the early Player Vs Player, Penny Arcade, Questionable Content, etc.).

Actually, here's another thought: Draw simple shapes. Look up the webcomic "Order of the Stick" and Google for video game review vids called "Extra Creditz" (currently on YouTube). Both use simple shapes for their characters which you could reasonably learn to draw quickly as they're essentially two shapes for the head and torso, and limbs are either stick figures or simple shapes as well. This solution might not work if you have a specific look you want, but if you don't mind the simple look, it may work for you.

Thanks, that's pretty cool advice. I think it might be more beneficial in the long run (not just in comics, but in life in general) to gain some basic ability to draw. The Order of the Stick has given me a few ideas on improvements to make. I don't know why I never thought of Extra Creditz, I always liked watching those, but I guess since it isn't a comic it didn't really click in my head. I'm new to this whole art thing.

I'll definitely try that out, get a bit of practice in and try out a few different styles. This could be really fun.

I think Dave gave some excellent advice. "Collaborate with an artist" and "learn to draw" are probably the top two ways to deal with the situation... and working with simple shapes would definitely be a good way to start... Very simply drawn comics can be quite popular (xkcd being the flagship example of the trope, but there are many others at different degrees of complexity).
For another example, check out chainsawsuit; Kris Straub was always frustrated that this simple, quickly drawn strip of his was more popular than the one he spent lots of time on!

You might also consider looking into different types of art: photocomics (Like Ask Dr. Eldritch, Surviving the World, Tiny Ghosts, a Softer World, etc...), clip art (Wondermark, Partially Clips, etc), pixel art (Diesel Sweeties, etc) or even use the same image over and over again (Dinosaur Comics). I'm sure with more time spent searching I could find more examples. There are lots!

The methods for comic-making are endless - you just have to find the one that fits you!

And yeah, like Dave said: some of our favorite comics started out like this: http://www.questionablecontent.net/view.php?comic=1

MadCat wrote:You might also consider looking into different types of art: photocomics (Like Ask Dr. Eldritch, Surviving the World, Tiny Ghosts, a Softer World, etc...), clip art (Wondermark, Partially Clips, etc), pixel art (Diesel Sweeties, etc) or even use the same image over and over again (Dinosaur Comics). I'm sure with more time spent searching I could find more examples. There are lots!

Pizelated comics.. I should know a thing or two about those:
http://rivercitypixels.blogspot.com/

Basically you have to work on the characters and the scenarios, relies heavily on photoshop, but gets easier over time... You just have to live with the fear of your ass being sued into oblivion...

@Zephyr

So what did you end up doing anyway?

Woah, I have not been around here in a long time.

The eventual solution I found was cross my arms in some sort of hissyfit. Followed by ignoring the problem and hoping it went away. However I'm thinking unemployment might be a good time to try some basic "How to draw gud 4 dummies" tutorials to get me going a bit.

Haha, yeah. Don't get discouraged if your drawings don't come out well the first few attempts. Feel free to send me a PM or post up here again if you have any questions.

Good luck.