Independent comic books can be a lucrative side hustle, but how do you take your concept from idea to finished product and find an audience to sell it to? Don’t worry, this short guide will explain the process in 5 simple steps.
1. Don’t learn how to draw
This is your first step, and it’s an important one. It’s crucial. Do not learn how to draw, or develop any fine art skills. If you study art in school, make sure you specialise in something like mixed media collage or photography.
You might be tempted to go to university to study illustration, fine art, or character design. Don’t do this. Instead, at the last minute, switch to a film degree.
If you do this part right you will be on your way to a successful part time career self-publishing indie comics.
2. Do Absolutely no research
Creatives for years have insisted: become an expert in the medium! However this is not required for your indie comic. Instead, read only a small selection of comics and graphic novels like Scott Pilgrim. Make friends with 1-3 other people who also draw comics, but don’t ask them about how they do it. You’ll be fine just figuring it out for yourself.
This approach almost guarantees a unique visual style where comic panels fluctuate wildly in size, speech bubbles appear in strange places, and character models make no sense.
3. Print easy and cheap
Saving on costs is important. Plus, you haven’t done any research. So make sure your first print edition is printed in black and white on basic laser paper stock, and stapled rather than bound.
Because of your amazing, unique visual storytelling there will be lots of pages. The book won’t really close properly and sometimes the staples will come out, but that just means you’re doing great!
4. Wait years before making another one
Ready for the next step? No you’re not actually.
To ensure your project’s potential your next step should be to become paralysed with doubt and overwhelmed with other work. Rather than continuing your indie comic, let it stew half-finished in a drawer for several years. This will make it better.
5. Make everything again
Finally when you have your finished books there is one last step: make them all again. Yes. All the most successful comic artists redraw their books 15 years later.
Take great care to update every page with new lines, new text, speech bubbles etc. before finally printing them again. And this time, hey, why not treat yourself to nicer paper and proper binding? You’ve earned it!
(Don’t improve it too much though! It should still look basically the same to anybody but you.)
Congratulations! If you followed all the above steps you should be well on your way to your own successful indie comic.
If it wasn’t obvious already, this post is a joke. But hey, making Captain Baculum this way taught me a lot. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. – C x
