do you artists write your script first and if you do...

[rei_ayamy]

do you artists write your script first than start drawing your manga? well if you do... how do u know it's been a chapter or a manga.... like at a certain point the manga's finito but how do you know?:confused:

[Jo Soo Park]

For me, writing a script is like writing a screenplay. I preplan on what the script is going to be about. Useally, a chapter should be 20-25 pages, depanding on the story. After all the preplanning on the story structure, I go ahead write the script using the descriptions of each panel, and the character's dialouge. For example..



PAGE ONE

PANEL 1
Casey trips on a jelly bean.

CASEY
AHHHH!



I useally know what page I am, due to the fact I write the page numbers on the script. You'll know you finished a chapter, when you hit a certian page amount. Simple as that, I guess.

[BettinaMarie]

I actually don't write up a complete dialogue script until AFTER the storyboards are done>.>;

So...basically I start off with the summary of one book and break that down into chapters. From there I create a more detailed summary for each chapter. Taking those summaries, I then storyboard the ENTIRE book, adding the dialogue as I go along. When storyboarding though, sometimes the actions or events change slightly from what was written, as not everything written actually works out or looks good drawn out, if that makes any sense^^; After all the storyboards with dialogue are done, I then go back and script the dialogue via a word document.

This process may not work best for everyone, but it does with me, being a more visual person than a writer^^;

[Klawzie]

A friend of mine (who is submitting to RSOM7) does storyboards and script at the same time.

I've both written out a script and made it up as I went along. When I made it up as I went along, I crashed and burned every few pages. When I made up an entire script, I had it to work on and figure out what I wanted the pictures to express, altering page orders and stuff to fit that. That's not something I could have really done without frustrating myself the other way. (But I'm sort of a writer before I'm an artist.)

I'd suggest trying different ways and seeing what feels most natural to you.

[MazokuOni]

I typically script and storyboard at the same time though it's always kind of frustating for me since I can never keep up with myself XD; But nor can I just script or just storyboard. It's a weird love-hate relationship for me but oddly it still works the best for me. I do this because half the time I'm thinking of dialogue and the other half in pictures. So typically with my planning, you'll see little thumbnails all over the place linked with text, or just isolated areas with text or thumbnails with a 1-4 word summary on what they're talking about or what's happening.

[lazesummerstone]

I think that it's definatly important to make sure that you basically know where you're going, even if you're writing as you go. At least write up a semi-detailed summery of your story for yourself. I know in japan, a lot of writers for comics (that don't draw the comic) will write and also make stickfigure/simple roughs for the artists to use. (or at least, that's what Hotta Yumi who wrote Hikaru no go does) XD!

[rei_ayamy]

how many panels do you usually have in a page?

[Jo Soo Park]

how many panels do you usually have in a page?

It depends, but having too many panels in one page can be somwhat messy. Useally, there should likely be 5-6 panels.

[Rem Akimichi]

It depends on which project I'm working on.

On my RSoM entry and my Doujinshi comic (both short, obviously) I do the thumbnails and scripting side by side at the same time. Later I'll come in and edit the script or the panels, ect. but intially I do it this way. I'm not sure how large everyone else does their storyboards, but my thumbnails are pretty small (maybe 4" tall by 3" wide) and basic, just giving the feel of where things should be placed and how the dialouge will flow.

On my longer project, my webcomic, I write out the dialouge and basics of the scene first, and work on thumbnails/storyboard after I've gone back and edited. This is mainly because I often take out or add extra pages or rearrage orders, ect. depending on what I'm trying to get across in that chapter without revealing too much at a time. It just saves me drawing time and paper that way. With the shorter comics, theres not a whole lot of rearranging going on (just script editing mostly) so I don't need to do this with them.

[T0M0_chan]

haha!
I draw the characters first,then I make up the
story.

NEway, does it matter how many pages there are in a chapter?
jst wondering

[QueenieChan]

I actually never scripted nor storyboarded up until "The Dreaming" vol2, and I have to script now because TOKYOPOP requires all their artists to. Youch!! Scripts don't need to be particularly detailed if you're the artist-writer, but if you're only the writer you'll need to describe as much as possible, especially if you have a certain vision of what you want it to look like. On the other hand, if you draw your own work, you can just write brief dialogue scripts, with a few descriptions of what's happening, enough so your editor can understand what's going on.

pg1
<I'm sitting at the computer, pounding into the keyboard, trying to come up with something for a script>
Me: Like this. <taps keyboard> Very simple, boring even.
You: <words show up on screen> Oh, really. I get it!

Me: Yeah, this is how I write all my scripts for "The Dreaming" v2.
<Presses "reply" button>

[headmistress]

I find it's easiest for me to do the script and storyboard at the same time - and not necessarily in chronological order. I do up a quick outline of what happens, then roughly divide that up into pages, and then start out by roughly thumbnailing any pages that I have very strong visual images of, and make sure any important or large panels are placed where I want them. After that, the script and thumbnails get done to fill in the rest of it.

Mind you, these thumbnails are on the order of stick figures with eyes, but it still gets the visuals in a concrete form that I can then work from for pencils.

Bridget

[tomselleck69]

i start out with a an outline in notepad and fill it out until i have a full chain of plot events and characters. then i switch to word add all the dialogue and make notes about the visual information. i've taken to the habit of doing "test" copies of comics, in composition books, before i do the final version on bristol.

mainly because bristol is expensive, and inking mistakes [in my style] are a pain to un-screw up.

[DescentfromOblivion]

I don't remember what site i found this off of, i hope it help.


SCRIPT FORMAT AND SPECIFICATIONS. Please create your scripts as follows.

WRITER’S NAME (name, address, and phone should appear only on the first page of your script)
Street Address
City, State and Zip
Phone Number

PAGE ONE (five panels) (Begin each new story page on a new sheet of paper, label it, and indicate how many panels make up that page.)

Panel 1. Number your panels. Panel descriptions should be typed in standard upper and lower case. Please do not use tabs, alternate fonts, or any other formatting.

CHARACTER:
The “attribution” (the name of the character speaking) should appear in all caps on a separate line from their dialogue. It used to be that all comics were lettered by hand. These days, much of the lettering is done on computer.

OTHER CHARACTER:
Typing the dialogue in standard upper- and lowercase, flush-left, with no tabs or other formatting makes it easy for dialogue to be copied and pasted onto the comics page.


Panel 2. There is no set limit for how much or how little information should be included in each panel description; generally a sentence or two is enough. If there are specific character traits, objects, or placement of either that you need, make sure you tell the artist. The most important thing to remember: if it isn’t in the script, don’t expect to see it in the art. You’ll get best results if you list characters in your panel descriptions in the order (left to right) that they need to speak in the panel.

SFX:
Sound effects are indicated just like dialogue.

CAP:
Captions are indicated the same way. All dialogue, sound effects, and captions should be listed in the order in which they should be read in the final art.

CHARACTER (thought):
Thought balloons are indicated in this fashion. Captions and dialogue should be limited to approximately 25 words per balloon, and about 50 words per panel, max.


Panel 3. Exact panel layout is usually left to the artist, but if you have something specific in mind, put it in your description. If absolutely necessary, you can draw a sketch of what you want.

CHARACTER (OP):
Characters speaking from off-panel are indicated this way.

OTHER CHARACTER (whisper):
If a character is whispering, the letterer needs to know. Other common indications for modified lettering or word balloons are (small), (burst), and (weak).


Panel 4. For action sequences, you’ll get best results if you limit yourself to three or four panels per page. Remember: the more spectacular your action description, the less room you’ll have for other panels on that page. In comics, space is your major limiting factor. If you have two characters speaking to one another in a panel on a page containing five or more panels, chances are there won’t be room to show something happening simultaneously in the background. Also, except in rare cases, the most “back-and-forth” dialogue that will comfortably fit in a panel is a comment, a response, and a counter-response.

CHARACTER: [comment]
Dialogue that carries over from one balloon, or from one panel to another is indicated by double dashes at the end of the first dialogue section --

OTHER CHARACTER: [response]
-- and another set at the beginning of the next. Interestingly, long dashes and semi-colons are not used in comics punctuation. Colons are used only on rare occasions.

CHARACTER: [counter-response]
Double dashes can also be used to indicate a speech that is cut-off by events in the story --


Panel 5. For non-action scenes, you can have more panels per page, but keep in mind how many characters and props are necessary in a scene as you’re writing. The more panels on a page, the smaller each of them will have to be. Trying to cram too much information into small panels will result in a comic that’s difficult to read and visually uninteresting.

CAP/CHARACTER
“-- a caption can be used to carry over dialogue from a previous scene to a new setting by placing the speech in quotation marks.”

NEW CHARACTER: underline words that you want to emphasize. Ellipses (three periods) indicate a pause between … sections of a speech, or a speech that trails off…

[ouch]

I hope Anthony (Phantompen) won't kill me for this. Here are some sample of his old script. He used a little bit different format for the manga script...because he is tailor make for me though.:D But you can see the overall format of how to write a comic script for artist.

http://www.takethebackseat.com/scripts.html