Tag: artist blogs

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Writing for Comics 101 – Why One-Liners Are Not Enough

In today’s installment of Writing for Comics 101, let’s talk about why one-liners are not enough.

If you missed it, I wrote in last week’s installment about how to write good characters. Now, I’m going to let you in on a secret about how to write dialogue for characters:

YOU CANNOT FORCE A ONE-LINER.

Admittedly, this is more of a problem I see in people who want to get into superhero or shonen comics. Both genres are guilty of having characters talking (almost incessantly) on the pages during action scenes. This incessant talking is meant to lead into quote-worthy one-liners.

Don’t get me wrong. I love one-liners. Otherwise I would not love the movie Mystery Men as much as I do.

But here’s the secret about one-liners: They are rooted in the characters.

To have good one-liners, you need to have good characters. To have good characters, you need to know your characters REALLY well. As in, you should know the things I talked about last week. If you don’t, go back to the Word document.

But a story cannot be made of one-liners alone. You need to have connective moments. Even Mystery Men knew that.

So what you need to learn is how to write actual, believable dialogue between characters.

To make that actual, believable dialogue, you need to understand your characters backgrounds, wants, and fears.

And here’s the most important secret about making comics that few people talk about:

Sometimes, the best thing you can say on the comic page…is nothing.

Trust me: silence can say more in a story than any amount of dialogue ever could. Read Cairo and Asterios Polyp if you don’t believe me.

If you still have questions, let me know in the comments. I’m happy to help.

That’s all for now. Thank you for reading!

You. Are. Awesome.

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Adventures in Moving – Cleaning Out the Junk

I’m used to my life and belongings fitting inside one car. From 2012 to 2014, I moved 4 times, and each time, no U-haul was necessary. But now, in this latest Adventure in Moving, I need to clean out the junk.

Right now, I live in a house. It’s a small house built to be a father-in-law suite for my neighbor, but still a house. This next move will be into a new apartment. I’ll be losing at least 300 square feet, if not more. So I can’t keep everything.

So how am I picking what stays and what goes?

Well, I’m sorting my things by category.

I’ve already cleaned out my closet of everything I no longer wear. I also got rid of the things that don’t fit me. And then I took those to the local YWCA.

Next came the books. That category was harder for me. Working as a comic artist, I get a surprising amount of books from comic conventions and meeting with other creators. I determined that the best I can do is keep my book collection to 4 and a half shelves. (I’m brainstorming how to shrink it down even more than that, though). I got rid of the books I knew I could get at the library easily. I also got rid of books that I considered “aspirational,” as in “one day I’ll read these and become a better person!”

Nope. Got rid of those books. I’m only keeping the books that bring me joy.

Then I cleared out paperwork. Thankfully, with credit cards, student loans, and some other documents having online statements and backups, that made it easier to clear out papers.

CDs and DVDs? I thought I would have trouble with that. But I think all the sorting I’ve done before made sorting these discs WAY easier. I condensed a lot of them into a CD holder and got rid of the cases…responsibly. Always recycle.

That’s the secret about cleaning out your space: start with the easy-to-clear stuff.

With every category you clear, you level up just a little bit more, and it becomes easier to get rid of the things that no longer make you happy or have any use.

The next category to tackle is the bathroom stuff, which should be easy. The plan is that by the time I get to the work- and/or hobby-related stuff I have, I’ll have leveled up my sorting to the point that this will be easy.

Will I be able to fit all of my things into my SUV when I’m done? Probably not. I’ll be taking some bulky furniture with me, like my bed and drafting table, as well as my convention gear.

Will I be able to fit my stuff into a smaller U-haul? That’s the hope. And that’s why I’m going to keep sorting and paring down everything.

What am I doing with the stuff I’m getting rid of? Well, I’m donating it to the local YWCA.

The YWCA has seen an uptick in women and children moving into their location. As it turns out, an economic crisis worsens domestic abuse, making people more likely to seek shelter. At the YWCA, the women and children can recover in peace, but they always need things, like socks, clothes in general, and bathroom supplies. After all, these ladies often only arrive with the clothes on their back and nothing else.

If you’re on a tidying journey of your own, I encourage you to look up a shelter local to you and donate your things to them. Trust me – they will use it. And they will be happy and grateful that you helped.

That’s all for now. Thank you for reading!

You. Are. Awesome.

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Adventures in Moving: An Updates on Searching for an Apartment

Adventures in Moving is my latest blog post series, where I share updates on my search for a new place to live.

Today I’ll share what I’ve discovered so far, which is this:

SOME places are willing to make exceptions regarding pet policies. You just have to ask.

See, my potential roommate and I are totally ok with sharing a place. However, our rooming together would make us a 3 cat household. (She has 1, I have 2.)

Most places, I have discovered, have a 2 pet limit.

That said, some places are willing to make an exception, but you have to ask about it.

Also it may depend on other factors. Like:

  • is the landlord sitting on a lot of empty properties that need filled? Or are places scarce (as in, only 1 or 2 places are available for move-in)?
  • are the cats indoors exclusively? (Which, ours are).

I also suspect it depends on how good of a credit score you have, as well as your past renting history. I don’t know though – I haven’t had a credit report pulled on me yet while searching for a place.

Anyway, there’s at least 1 place in the Columbus, OH area that looks promising. But there are also a lot of places in Toledo that fit our budget better.

I haven’t toured the Toledo places…yet. But I will this weekend.

Yep, I’m out of town again. This time it’s not for a convention – it’s to visit friends and tour some potential apartments and houses.

Wish me luck, yo.

That’s all for now. Thank you for reading!

You. Are. Awesome.

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Major Website Redesign Coming Soon

old website design 2018

Well, it’s about time this happened.

This website layout has been in use for…I don’t know…3 years? Probably longer. It’s nice on desktop or laptop, but on mobile it can be kind of a pain in the ass to maneuver with.

That’s one reason I want to do a website redesign.

Another reason is: man, I’m kind of out of things to blog about.

Blogging was a hobby. There’s a lot of people (mostly those wanting to make a quick buck) who are like, “you can make money blogging!”

That might have been true in the early 2000s, but the internet commerce model has shifted – away from advertising and towards patronage, sponsors, and well-designed merchandise.

To that end, I have been putting more effort towards my email newsletters and Patreon posts, and less on doing blog posts for this site.

Another reason for the redesign – this website needs to put more emphasis on my art and comics, not just my words.

When I apply for conventions, galleries, etc, and they ask for an online portfolio, I use THIS website. The art needs to be front and center.

So, with all of that said, I don’t want to delete my blog posts. There’s still posts I’m proud of, plus there’s resources, interviews, etc buried in the blog archives. Deleting the blog would delete those resources, and that would break my little librarian heart.

So I need a website that puts my art and comics at the forefront, while still having an archive for blog posts – but still has the ability to track my appearances and the stores that sell my work.

It may take a while before a design is settled on, so bear with me while the dust is up in the air.

Thank you for your patience!

You. Are. Awesome.

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Short Fundraisers: Or, Why I Do Commissions Sometimes

I need to air out a thing or two for the sake of transparency.

A while back – specifically, around Awesome Con time – I sent an email out to my newsletter subscribers asking for donations. These donations were to help cover parking fees in Washington, DC, which I forgot to account for in my budget.

Holy dang, I’m surprised it took this long to publicly say where that funding went.

Because in chatting with my table buddy at the event, Carlos, we both decided it would be easier to take metro bus and train into the city, instead of trying to drive in DC traffic and find parking.

So the money raised for the parking fees went into metro tickets into and out of the city during that weekend. Any that was left over helped to cover food for Carlos and me.

Even though the money raised didn’t go towards parking, like I said it would, it still went towards making the weekend run more smoothly. For that, I want to say thank you to my peeps who helped with that.

“Wait,” you might be saying, “Does that mean any money I give through KickStarter is equally not-going-to-things-I-want?”

KickStarter funds go towards fulfilling KickStarter rewards. That’s that.

This blog post was just to clarify what happened with the impromptu fundraiser I did a few months ago for Awesome Con.

That said, fundraising is partially why I’m doing commission pre-orders for Feminist Zine Fest Pittsburgh weekend. (This was mentioned in the previous blog post)

Because here’s the situation:

I’ll be in Pittsburgh June 23rd and 24th for different events connected to the zine fest. While Friday does happen to be my payday from one of my gigs, I don’t expect it to be big enough to cover my bills, let alone bills plus food and gas for the weekend.

So I thought, “Hey, I’ll open up for commissions for a few days and see if anybody would like some character art. And any cash raised can go towards covering food and gas for zine fest weekend.”

And that’s why I’m open for commissions for a few days. I’m offering to draw a full-body, black-and-white character of your choice for $25.

You can get a commission even if you’re not attending any events during zine fest weekend. However, attending any events (from the Big Idea Bookstore appearance to the zine fest itself) means you can pick up a physical copy of your commission from me.

Hit me up at kelci@kelcidcrawford.com if you have any questions or anything.

That’s all for now. Thank you for reading!

You. Are. Awesome.

P.S. If you want to make a small donation instead, just send it at paypal.me/KelciCrawford.