Ryan Browne on lessons learned producing a daily webcomic

Comics artist and writer Ryan Browne joined the Comics Experience Creators Workshop recently, and discussed his work on Blast Furnace, a wacky, action-filled web-comic which was recently released in print.

During the session, Browne shared some lessons from his experience working on Blast Furnace.

Make each page a good reading experience

Browne said that while writing Blast Furnace, he tried to have at least one joke on every page, and to make every page a satisfying reading experience.

If a reader is only looking at a few pages a week, then "a super-decompressed story where two people are having a conversation that lasts six pages is not really gonna fly," Browne said. "It works if you're reading it when it's all done, but if you're reading it week to week, it doesn't. So I need a beginning, middle and end to every page."

As a result, Browne said, Blast Furnace's scenes "last about two pages at the most."

Embrace the nature of your story

Going in, Browne planned to do one page of Blast Furnace a day, and work on it for only one hour, without mapping the plot out in advance. It started as the story of a recreational thief (named Blast Furnace), but quickly evolved into a complex web of stories and characters, with a byzantine story structure that featured flashbacks within flashbacks within flashbacks.

Rather than fighting against this unconventional structure, Browne said he embraced it.

"I knew it was going to be unfocused to begin with, so I decided to just celebrate how unfocused it was, and go for it," Browne said. "I kind of make a joke out of how unfocused it was, so you would read it and go, 'I don't even know where I am anymore.' No storyline is getting wrapped up, every single story is just becoming more and more unraveled and expanded."

When you're stuck, keep going

I think I have ideas, and when I realize they don't totally work, I just find a different way to use them. I didn't really veto any ideas or any bad jokes, because I knew that I had so many pages.

"Quite frequently I didn't know where I was going," Browne said. "I got stuck all the time, and my cure for getting stuck was to just start doing it."

"If I get stuck in a scene I'll just kill it," Browne said. "I'll go into a flashback, or someone will get hit from something off-screen, and we're on to the next thing."



Other topics discussed by Browne included:

* How he got his start in comics
* His creative process
* Designing Blast Furnace's characters on the page
* The Coen Brothers film The Hudsucker Proxy, and how it influenced Blast Furnace's storytelling
* Any ideas you had that were TOO outlandish for you?
* Using up ideas/throw-away jokes
* The importance of making your own comics, and making them good
* Promotion, and generating revenue from creator-owned work

Those interested in seeing more of Browne's work can check out his other web-comic, God Hates Astronauts. Browne also illustrated the IDW Publishing mini-Series Smoke and Mirrors, written by Mike Costa and Jon Armstrong. He is currently illustrating issue #10 of the Image Comics ongoing The Manhattan Projects, written by Jonathan Hickman and set for release in January.

Comics Experience Creators Workshop sessions take place every month, giving members real-world knowledge that will help them succeed in their comics career. Additionally, the monthly Creators Workshop Book Club sessions feature guest writers and artists discussing the craft and art of comics, as well as the business side of things.

There's still plenty of time to sign up before the next session. We hope to see you there.

--Posted by Paul Allor

IDW Editor John Barber Discusses "Breaking In" and more!

IDW Senior Editor John Barber joined the Comics Experience Creators Workshop recently, to discuss breaking in to comics, and the state of the industry.

Several of the questions revolved around the best way to break into the industry, and Barber repeatedly noted that putting out your own comics -- even if they are self-published -- can help gain attention and help pave the way for future success.

"As a writer, it's extraordinarily hard, if you don't draw, to get a comic done," Barber said, in terms of wrangling talent, financing the book and producing the final product. "Once it's done, you're ahead of the pack, because a lot of people drop off. So if you can get it done, it puts you in another tier."

Barber was the first editor at Marvel to hire writers Jonathan Hickman and Keiron Gillen, and said their previous comics were a big part of what convinced him to bring them on.

"I picked up Nightly News by Hickman, and I was just blown away," he said. "It was like nothing I'd ever read. But it was just enough to see that he could write a Marvel genre comic. Keiron (Gillen), it was the same thing, I read all of Phonogram, and started talking to him.

"In both those cases, they did something in their own comic that clearly wasn't writing what they thought somebody wanted to see. It wasn't, 'zombie comics are selling, so we should do zombie comics.' They were doing their own thing."

Making your own comics also allows you to build up your skills, and take advantage of opportunities that come your way. Barber noted that Marvel writer Brian Michael Bendis spent nearly a decade writing and drawing his own comics, before being introduced to editorial staff at Marvel. Once he had that opportunity, Barber said, he was able to show them great comics that didn't read like anything else on the market.

"Breaking into comics successfully requires a lot of luck," Barber said. "It requires you to be in the right place at the right time. But the better you get and the more ready you are to shine at that moment, the more likely you are to get lucky."

Other topics John discussed included:

* What the comics industry could do to capitalize on the success of licensed books
* What it takes to be successful in comics
* The most important things for people to know about the comics craft
* Working with comics writers from other media
* Whether it's better to work on individual issues or graphic novels
* Using comics internships to advance your career
* Finding an editor for your self-published/small press project
* Choosing the right artist for a project
* Why most comics companies don't have open submissions for writers
* The difficulty of launching a comic strip
* Price points of digital comics
* How the disappearance of comic shops would affect the industry
* Whether editors' careers are influenced by finding the "next big artist."

Creators Workshop sessions take place every month, giving members real-world knowledge that will help them succeed in their comics career. Additionally the monthly Creators Workshop Book Club sessions feature guest writers and artists discussing the craft and art of comics, as well as the business side of things.

There's still plenty of time to sign up before the next session. We hope to see you there.

-- Posted by Paul Allor

John Barber - Upcoming Guest on Creators Workshop! (7/26/12)

On Thursday, July 26, 2012 at 9pm Eastern Time, the Creators Workshop will be joined by special guest John Barber!

John Barber is Senior Editor at IDW comics as well as the writer of Transformers: Robots in Disguise and other comics. He is also a former Marvel editor.

He started his career self-publishing and making webcomics before joining the Marvel Comics editorial staff in 2004.

He worked on the Ultimate line of comics at the height of their popularity, and worked on the first Dark Tower series Marvel produced in cooperation with Stephen King.

Soon after, Barber moved to the X-Men comics, where he edited the best-selling X-Force relaunch and the Wolverine line of comics, including the Eisner Award-Nominated Old Man Logan series.

He helped bring the alternative-centric Strange Tales anthology to fruition before leaving Marvel to pursue a freelance career, including writing for the X-Men: Nation X series and penning several of IDW's Transformers limited series, as well as writing and drawing the (now completed) webcomic Outside Infinity. But he was also the editor of the creator-owned hits Kick-Ass and Superior for Marvel's Icon imprint, and Turf at Image Comics.

There's still time to join us at the Creators Workshop before this session! We hope to see you there.

---

If you want to make comics, write or draw comics, or improve as a comics creator, you'll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!

Posted by Rob Anderson
rob@ComicsExperience.com
Twitter / Facebook

Greg Pak & Alejandro Arbona Discuss "Red Skull Incarnate" Tomorrow Night!

Tomorrow night, July 17, 2012 at 9pm ET, we'll be holding a live, online Book Club session at the Creators Workshop with writer Greg Pak and editor Alejandro Arbona on Marvel's Red Skull Incarnate

Red Skull Incarnate tells the secrets behind the origin of how Johann Schmidt -- orphan, thug, urchin -- became the Red Skull.

As Berlin descends into chaos and ruin, sinister forces are on the rise...and the men who will form the Nazi Party ascend to power. Greg, along with breakout artist Mirko Colak (Secret Warriors) bring to life the twisted birth of the Red Skull.

Greg Pak is a filmmaker and comic book writer best known for directing the award-winning feature film Robot Stories, writing the epic Planet Hulk and World War Hulk comic book storylines, and co-writing (with Fred Van Lente) the fan favorite Incredible Hercules series for Marvel Comics. He was named one of 25 Filmmakers to Watch by Filmmaker Magazine, described as "a talent with a future" by the New York Times, and named "Breakout Talent" of the year by Wizard Magazine.

Alejandro Arbona is a former editor for Marvel Comics, where he edited Invincible Iron Man, Osborn, Casanova, Legion of Monsters, and more. Before joining Marvel, Alejandro spent two years at Wizard, writing and editing news and feature articles, interviewing the likes of Alan Moore, and overseeing a sprawling retrospective by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley on the first hundred issues of Ultimate Spider-Man. Today, Alejandro continues to edit Casanova as well as the mini-series Sacrifice created by Sam Humphries and Dalton Rose.

There's still time to join us at the Creators Workshop before these two great discussions! We hope to see you there.

---

If you want to make comics, write or draw comics, or improve as a comics creator, you'll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!

Posted by Rob Anderson
rob@ComicsExperience.com
Twitter / Facebook

Greg Pak, Alejandro Arbona, John Barber - Upcoming Guests on Creators Workshop!

In July, we'll have two great live, online sessions at the Creators Workshop: a Book Club discussion on Marvel's Red Skull Incarnate with writer Greg Pak and editor Alejandro Arbona; AND a Workshop session with IDW editor and writer John Barber on his writing, editing, and topics such as how to break into the comics industry!

On July 17, 2012 at 9pm Eastern Time, we'll be discussing Red Skull Incarnate with Greg and Alejandro.

Red Skull Incarnate tells the secrets behind the origin of how Johann Schmidt -- orphan, thug, urchin -- became the Red Skull.

As Berlin descends into chaos and ruin, sinister forces are on the rise...and the men who will form the Nazi Party ascend to power. Greg, along with breakout artist Mirko Colak (Secret Warriors) bring to life the twisted birth of the Red Skull.

Greg Pak is a filmmaker and comic book writer best known for directing the award-winning feature film Robot Stories, writing the epic Planet Hulk and World War Hulk comic book storylines, and co-writing (with Fred Van Lente) the fan favorite Incredible Hercules series for Marvel Comics. He was named one of 25 Filmmakers to Watch by Filmmaker Magazine, described as "a talent with a future" by the New York Times, and named "Breakout Talent" of the year by Wizard Magazine.

Alejandro Arbona is a former editor for Marvel Comics, where he edited Invincible Iron Man, Osborn, Casanova, Legion of Monsters, and more. Before joining Marvel, Alejandro spent two years at Wizard, writing and editing news and feature articles, interviewing the likes of Alan Moore, and overseeing a sprawling retrospective by Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Bagley on the first hundred issues of Ultimate Spider-Man. Today, Alejandro continues to edit Casanova as well as the mini-series Sacrifice created by Sam Humphries and Dalton Rose.

Then, on Thursday, July 26, 2012 at 9pm Eastern Time, we'll be joined by IDW editor and comic book writer John Barber!

John Barber is Senior Editor at IDW comics as well as the writer of Transformers: Robots in Disguise and other comics.

He started his career self-publishing and making webcomics before joining the Marvel Comics editorial staff in 2004.

He worked on the Ultimate line of comics at the height of their popularity, and worked on the first Dark Tower series Marvel produced in cooperation with Stephen King.

Soon after, Barber moved to the X-Men comics, where he edited the best-selling X-Force relaunch and the Wolverine line of comics, including the Eisner Award-Nominated Old Man Logan series.

He helped bring the alternative-centric Strange Tales anthology to fruition before leaving Marvel to pursue a freelance career, including writing for the X-Men: Nation X series and penning several of IDW's Transformers limited series, as well as writing and drawing the (now completed) webcomic Outside Infinity. But he was also the editor of the creator-owned hits Kick-Ass and Superior for Marvel's Icon imprint, and Turf at Image Comics.

There's still time to join us at the Creators Workshop before these two great discussions! We hope to see you there.

---

If you want to make comics, write or draw comics, or improve as a comics creator, you'll find like-minded friends and colleagues in our online workshops and courses. We hope to see you there!

Posted by Rob Anderson
rob@ComicsExperience.com
Twitter / Facebook