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Description
Alright, some people have asked me about general comic stuff.  So, I made a tutorial.  I've linked some specific pages I've done to visually show what I'm talking about.  These are just examples, and there are plenty of other comics to look at to see the same thing.  If you want more information or have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

First thing's first.  You have a story you want to express.  Something I highly suggest is to plot out the entire course of the story before you touch a pencil.  If it's a long, ongoing series, plot out the major plot points and especially plot out your ending.  This way, you can build up to the critical parts and know how it's all going to turn out.

As pointed out in the comments, an engaging story can sell a comic in and of itself.  While dialog and the visuals are important, people aren't going to bother if you don't have an engaging story.  Before you make a comic, make sure you have everything ready to go: a good story, good characters, everything.  Take Mary Sue tests, even, for all your major characters.  Try pitching the ideas to others and see how they like it.  Take any feedback, good and bad, and think critically about what you're making.

If it's a joke-a-day comic, I'd recommend having a list of jokes handy and adding to the list when you get a new idea.  This is to prevent a week where you're drawing a blank and can't make a new comic because of it.  Always plan your things ahead of time.

Now, ask yourself, "Can I consistently update on the days I say I am?"  There's nothing that kills a comic faster than infrequent updates.  Sure, life will come along and make it impossible to update every once in awhile, but it's very important not to make a habit of it.  If you're too busy to update because of a different project, post that project.  Show you're doing something.  Don't post with a five second sketch and call it an update.  If you don't post the comic update, at least post something else that's equal in quality.

Now that we got that out of the way, let's get to the nuts and bolts of making a comic.

Chances are you'll want to post it on the internet.  That's cool, it's a great way to spread around your work.  But you have to think, "Am I ever going to print this?"  This is critical and will save you so many headaches in the future: SCAN AT A 300 DPI RESOLUTION AND WORK AT THAT SIZE.  If you're just strictly digital, make sure you have 300 dpi and the proper paper size before you start.

There's nothing more heartbreaking than wanting to print your comic, only to find out it's too small of a resolution.  Remember: you can always scale down.  You can never scale up.  The bigger, the better.  Once you're done with a comic page, just resize it and save it as a different name.  ALWAYS  SAVE THE ORIGINAL.  That way you always have the biggest file around and can edit if you make an error (typos, forget to color something, ect.).  Also, if you don't already, BACK UP YOUR WORK.  Get an external hard drive.  Your computer may work today.  That doesn't mean it'll work next week.  Be safe and back up your work regularly.

In combination with the resolution, pay attention to the paper size.  Don't go by pixels.  Go by inches.  Standard comic size is 10" by 15" for the live area, 11" by 17" if you're including bleeds.

Bleeds?  Live area?  What are these shenanigans?  When you're going to print, there's something called the bleed, the live area, and the trim.  If you take an 11" by 17" paper and mark off a half inch on both sides sides and an inch on the top and bottom, you're marking where the live area is.  This frame (again, 10" by 15" area) is where you want the majority of your artwork to be.  When this goes to print, this is the safest spot on the entire image.  All dialog or anything ultra critical should be kept within this area.

The bleed is the boarder around the live area (the half inch on the sides and the inch on the top and bottom).  The bleed is still safe to have art go to, but it is at risk of being trimmed off when it goes through press.  If you want to say, exaggerate a character's arms popping out of the frame and going into the bleed, that's certainly fine and a good way to get a reader's attention.  Just keep in mind that straying too close to the edge of the paper will lead to it getting cut off.  This would be an example of something extending into the bleed area.  Pay attention to the arms popping out of the panel: static2007.deviantart.com/art/…

The trim is the area of danger.  It can depend on who you're printing with, but make absolute sure you know what the measurements are before you send your work to them.  Make sure nothing touches the trim area unless you want it to.  If you got a full page spread (art that takes up the entire paper, again to grab attention), keep the critical things inward and just let a little bit of the art touch the trim.  Here's an example of where I'd want to do that: static2007.deviantart.com/art/… I let art touch the trim, it makes it so the art goes to the edge of the paper when printed and gets rid of the white boarders that would typically be there.  For regular comic pages, though, avoid the trim like the plague.

Math?  In my comic making?  Let's just get to the actual making of it already.  Chances are you know what tools you want to use to make the comic.  Whether it be digital, with a brush pen, technical pens, whatever.  Just keep things consistent.  If you're doing digital halfway through a storyline, don't randomly switch to traditional without rhyme or reason.  Finish the story off, then begin with traditional.

Thumbnail out your comic pages.  Plot what panels go where and who says what.  Never just take on the comic before doing this.  This can lead to people being confused by how you place things or not look as good as you wanted it to be.  Always plot things out to avoid this.

For paneling, this is really up for experimentation.  If you're the kind of person that wants to experiment with paneling and do crazy layouts, go for it.  I'd recommend showing the page to several people first and asking them to read the comic to you.  This way, you can test out how people interpret your panel flow.  If people start screwing up the order, it's back to the drawing board for you.  Also, avoid arrows unless it's part of the page design.  In a well-made comic, you don't need arrows to direct where you're supposed to go and just points out the confusing panel flow when you need them.

If you're the kind of person that just wants a simple grid layout to tell a story, keep in mind a few things:

A common mistake in paneling seen a lot in manga, we start out with two panels on top of each other that leads to a third panel on the side.  This will trip people up.  Since the top panel is right next to the two other panels (one below it, one to the side), there is a moment of hesitation from readers to think if they need to read the panel below it first or the panel next to it.  This is because English readers read left to right, then go down.

It works in manga because the Japanese read up and down, right to left.  They instinctively will read the panel on the bottom because they already read up and down first.  If you pay attention to a manga's gutter (the space between the panels), many will have very wide gutters between rows of panels.  This is so readers know when not to read up and down, but instead continue right to left.

Again, English readers read left to right.  If you're doing right to left for a manga, just remember that everything should be reversed.  Panels, speech bubble arrangements, everything.  Go in one direction.  Don't fumble up readers by reading right to left, but having speech bubbles within the panel start left to right.  Same if you're doing a standard comic.  If your panels are left to right, make sure your speech bubbles are following that pattern, too.

When arranging speech bubbles, make sure there's a clear path of reading.  Start at one end and end at the opposite.  Make sure the eye flows from the first and goes to the next without getting confused.

Example: static2007.deviantart.com/art/… first bubble starts up the conversation.  In the second panel, the character in black continues it by having the bubble bleed into the first panel slightly.  Readers will read this first because it's invading the first panel.  The next is at the bottom, and the only one remaining.

Third panel has the top and bottom format as well (note the bottom one's slightly placed to the right, to avoid confusion of who talks first), but one character's speech bubble stem is missing with "Who?"  We still know who's speaking because the storekeep's stem remains, and process of elimination would suggest the guy in black said, "Who?"  Make absolute sure that readers know exactly who's talking at any moment unless you want it to remain a mystery.  If your characters are talking off screen, try to convey who is who by their speech.  If one curses like a sailor and the other in proper English, people can tell which is which.

Fourth panel, the storekeep keeps talking and the panel flow is left to right.  He consistently has the speech bubble stem to keep readers on track with who is talking.  His friend responds, "What a load!" the same way he said, "Who?"  Keep your bubbles consistent.  The final bubble is near the way right of the panel, so we know that's the last thing said on this page.

If you're ever in doubt of if you're getting the order right, have a friend read it to you and watch for if they trip up or get confused.  Do this with multiple people if you can.

On how to make speech bubbles: personally, I draw my speech bubbles into the comic beforehand.  You can add them later.  My suggestion: don't make the speech bubble see-through.  It can make it hard to read in some cases, and you should plot out speech bubbles so it doesn't cover critical artwork (if that's what you're worried about).

If you're drawing them in and you're inexperienced with how big a speech bubble should be, write the dialog where you want it, then draw the bubble around it (remember, dialog first, then bubble).  When you do this enough times, you can probably learn to judge how big of a bubble you need without needing to write it.  This is, of course, if you're lettering digitally.  If you're lettering traditionally, keep in mind the letters should look neat and clear.

I highly recommend you do not use default fonts for your lettering.  Especially not Comic Sans.  I will beat you with a bat if I see Comic Sans.  Despite what the name suggests, it is not for comics.  The font is long since dead from years of abuse and many people will turn away when they see that font (I've seen art students hiss at the mere mentioning of Comic Sans before).

The reason I say, "Don't use default fonts," is because you should seek out a font that fits your comic or style.  Relying on defaults doesn't open up the doors of what fonts could look good in line with the artwork.  There are thousands of free fonts on the internet to use.  Go ahead and browse through them.  Try them out.  Just keep in mind they should be easily readable.

Not only should panels and speech bubbles be going in one direction, but you generally want action as well.  If a character is starting off a comic walking, have them walk left to right.  It makes it go with the flow of the comic and helps with the eye movement across the page.

One of the most important things to keep in mind with comics is communication.  You want to communicate what the character is doing as clearly as possible.  If people ask what a character is doing, you'll need to go back and try again.  Never rely on speech alone to tell what a character is doing.

If a character is leaping through the area to punch someone's lights out, make sure you show enough panels to tell what a character is doing.  Start with the character standing, perhaps plotting the jump.  Then, the run, showing that something is just about to hit the fan.  The leap into the air, hurling themselves at someone.  Finally, the best part: the punch in the face.  If you just go from standing to the punching, people will wonder how the character got there to begin with, let alone the situation.

Sound effects are fun and can help imagine what sound is happening.  Don't use sound effects to label what's happening.  If a character is jumping, don't have a sound effect be, "JUMP."  That's not a sound.  That's an action.  You can have action be sound, like if a character has an audible blink, for example.  Remember, though, it is a sound.  Characters should be able to hear that blink.

If you're unsure if you're doing it right, ignore the sound effects and look at the image.  You should be able to tell what the character is doing without the sound.  If a character has that weird blink, you should be able to tell they're blinking even without the sound effect.  Example: static2007.deviantart.com/art/… can tell the bell is ringing without the sound effect, and the twitch is visual as well with the bottom eyelid going up.  The candy cane snapping is also a good example.

You could also just completely ignore sound effects if you want.  Both Crossbones and Vagabond lack sound effects.

I once read a comic tutorial that insisted the words are the most important part of a comic.  Let me assure you, this person is wrong.  Very, very wrong.  It's a comic because it visually shows the story.  If you want words, write a novel.  You can make a comic without words and still tell a story perfectly.  If you have to rely on words to explain what's going on, then you need to work on your artwork to communicate ideas better.

When you're doing a lot of dialog, spread out the sentences over a series of panels.  Your dialog should never take up as much or more space of your artwork.  The point of the comic is to see the artwork as well, not just to read the dialog.  Too much will cover up the artwork and make people less likely to read it.  If people see a block of text, most people will think, "Man, that's a lot of work to read all that.  I'll skip over this."  If presented in small segments, people won't think of it as "work."

My personal suggestion is that the dialog shouldn't take up much more than 25% of your panel.  If your character has a long bout of explaining to do, split up the dialog by sentences and spread them out over a series of panels.  If it's too long, try cutting some of the dialog.  I generally try not to have more than two sentences in a single speech bubble.

There's plenty more information when it comes to making comics.  However, this is a giant chunk of it.  Of course, other comic artists may disagree with me and have their own way of making comics.  Perfectly valid.  I'm simply proposing some basic of comics to people that want the information.

If you have any further questions about how to do something, don't hesitate to ask.  I'll add to this when there's something new in it.

Edit: A rule I forgot!  The 180 rule!

The 180 rule states that the "camera" should not revolve around characters more than 180 degrees.  What does this mean?  Let's say I have Character A and Character B walking together while talking.  A is on the left, B is on the right.  If you suddenly have B on the left, and A on the right, you will confuse readers.

An easy way to think about this: pretend you're in the audience at a stage performance.  You can't walk around to the back of the stage and watch.  That'd be weird to watch.  Keep things visually as if you're watching the characters on stage.  If a character is standing on the left, for example, make sure they stay on the left throughout the duration of that scene.

What if the character needs to walk past another to get something?  This is why you should thumbnail this out.  If a character needs something at the other end of the "stage," position that character near that side to begin with.  That way, you avoid all the confusion and headaches of the 180 rule.

Description
Alright, some people have asked me about general comic stuff.  So, I made a tutorial.  I've linked some specific pages I've done to visually show what I'm talking about.  These are just examples, and there are plenty of other comics to look at to see the same thing.  If you want more information or have any questions, don't hesitate to ask!

First thing's first.  You have a story you want to express.  Something I highly suggest is to plot out the entire course of the story before you touch a pencil.  If it's a long, ongoing series, plot out the major plot points and especially plot out your ending.  This way, you can build up to the critical parts and know how it's all going to turn out.

As pointed out in the comments, an engaging story can sell a comic in and of itself.  While dialog and the visuals are important, people aren't going to bother if you don't have an engaging story.  Before you make a comic, make sure you have everything ready to go: a good story, good characters, everything.  Take Mary Sue tests, even, for all your major characters.  Try pitching the ideas to others and see how they like it.  Take any feedback, good and bad, and think critically about what you're making.

If it's a joke-a-day comic, I'd recommend having a list of jokes handy and adding to the list when you get a new idea.  This is to prevent a week where you're drawing a blank and can't make a new comic because of it.  Always plan your things ahead of time.

Now, ask yourself, "Can I consistently update on the days I say I am?"  There's nothing that kills a comic faster than infrequent updates.  Sure, life will come along and make it impossible to update every once in awhile, but it's very important not to make a habit of it.  If you're too busy to update because of a different project, post that project.  Show you're doing something.  Don't post with a five second sketch and call it an update.  If you don't post the comic update, at least post something else that's equal in quality.

Now that we got that out of the way, let's get to the nuts and bolts of making a comic.

Chances are you'll want to post it on the internet.  That's cool, it's a great way to spread around your work.  But you have to think, "Am I ever going to print this?"  This is critical and will save you so many headaches in the future: SCAN AT A 300 DPI RESOLUTION AND WORK AT THAT SIZE.  If you're just strictly digital, make sure you have 300 dpi and the proper paper size before you start.

There's nothing more heartbreaking than wanting to print your comic, only to find out it's too small of a resolution.  Remember: you can always scale down.  You can never scale up.  The bigger, the better.  Once you're done with a comic page, just resize it and save it as a different name.  ALWAYS  SAVE THE ORIGINAL.  That way you always have the biggest file around and can edit if you make an error (typos, forget to color something, ect.).  Also, if you don't already, BACK UP YOUR WORK.  Get an external hard drive.  Your computer may work today.  That doesn't mean it'll work next week.  Be safe and back up your work regularly.

In combination with the resolution, pay attention to the paper size.  Don't go by pixels.  Go by inches.  Standard comic size is 10" by 15" for the live area, 11" by 17" if you're including bleeds.

Bleeds?  Live area?  What are these shenanigans?  When you're going to print, there's something called the bleed, the live area, and the trim.  If you take an 11" by 17" paper and mark off a half inch on both sides sides and an inch on the top and bottom, you're marking where the live area is.  This frame (again, 10" by 15" area) is where you want the majority of your artwork to be.  When this goes to print, this is the safest spot on the entire image.  All dialog or anything ultra critical should be kept within this area.

The bleed is the boarder around the live area (the half inch on the sides and the inch on the top and bottom).  The bleed is still safe to have art go to, but it is at risk of being trimmed off when it goes through press.  If you want to say, exaggerate a character's arms popping out of the frame and going into the bleed, that's certainly fine and a good way to get a reader's attention.  Just keep in mind that straying too close to the edge of the paper will lead to it getting cut off.  This would be an example of something extending into the bleed area.  Pay attention to the arms popping out of the panel: static2007.deviantart.com/art/…

The trim is the area of danger.  It can depend on who you're printing with, but make absolute sure you know what the measurements are before you send your work to them.  Make sure nothing touches the trim area unless you want it to.  If you got a full page spread (art that takes up the entire paper, again to grab attention), keep the critical things inward and just let a little bit of the art touch the trim.  Here's an example of where I'd want to do that: static2007.deviantart.com/art/… I let art touch the trim, it makes it so the art goes to the edge of the paper when printed and gets rid of the white boarders that would typically be there.  For regular comic pages, though, avoid the trim like the plague.

Math?  In my comic making?  Let's just get to the actual making of it already.  Chances are you know what tools you want to use to make the comic.  Whether it be digital, with a brush pen, technical pens, whatever.  Just keep things consistent.  If you're doing digital halfway through a storyline, don't randomly switch to traditional without rhyme or reason.  Finish the story off, then begin with traditional.

Thumbnail out your comic pages.  Plot what panels go where and who says what.  Never just take on the comic before doing this.  This can lead to people being confused by how you place things or not look as good as you wanted it to be.  Always plot things out to avoid this.

For paneling, this is really up for experimentation.  If you're the kind of person that wants to experiment with paneling and do crazy layouts, go for it.  I'd recommend showing the page to several people first and asking them to read the comic to you.  This way, you can test out how people interpret your panel flow.  If people start screwing up the order, it's back to the drawing board for you.  Also, avoid arrows unless it's part of the page design.  In a well-made comic, you don't need arrows to direct where you're supposed to go and just points out the confusing panel flow when you need them.

If you're the kind of person that just wants a simple grid layout to tell a story, keep in mind a few things:

A common mistake in paneling seen a lot in manga, we start out with two panels on top of each other that leads to a third panel on the side.  This will trip people up.  Since the top panel is right next to the two other panels (one below it, one to the side), there is a moment of hesitation from readers to think if they need to read the panel below it first or the panel next to it.  This is because English readers read left to right, then go down.

It works in manga because the Japanese read up and down, right to left.  They instinctively will read the panel on the bottom because they already read up and down first.  If you pay attention to a manga's gutter (the space between the panels), many will have very wide gutters between rows of panels.  This is so readers know when not to read up and down, but instead continue right to left.

Again, English readers read left to right.  If you're doing right to left for a manga, just remember that everything should be reversed.  Panels, speech bubble arrangements, everything.  Go in one direction.  Don't fumble up readers by reading right to left, but having speech bubbles within the panel start left to right.  Same if you're doing a standard comic.  If your panels are left to right, make sure your speech bubbles are following that pattern, too.

When arranging speech bubbles, make sure there's a clear path of reading.  Start at one end and end at the opposite.  Make sure the eye flows from the first and goes to the next without getting confused.

Example: static2007.deviantart.com/art/… first bubble starts up the conversation.  In the second panel, the character in black continues it by having the bubble bleed into the first panel slightly.  Readers will read this first because it's invading the first panel.  The next is at the bottom, and the only one remaining.

Third panel has the top and bottom format as well (note the bottom one's slightly placed to the right, to avoid confusion of who talks first), but one character's speech bubble stem is missing with "Who?"  We still know who's speaking because the storekeep's stem remains, and process of elimination would suggest the guy in black said, "Who?"  Make absolute sure that readers know exactly who's talking at any moment unless you want it to remain a mystery.  If your characters are talking off screen, try to convey who is who by their speech.  If one curses like a sailor and the other in proper English, people can tell which is which.

Fourth panel, the storekeep keeps talking and the panel flow is left to right.  He consistently has the speech bubble stem to keep readers on track with who is talking.  His friend responds, "What a load!" the same way he said, "Who?"  Keep your bubbles consistent.  The final bubble is near the way right of the panel, so we know that's the last thing said on this page.

If you're ever in doubt of if you're getting the order right, have a friend read it to you and watch for if they trip up or get confused.  Do this with multiple people if you can.

On how to make speech bubbles: personally, I draw my speech bubbles into the comic beforehand.  You can add them later.  My suggestion: don't make the speech bubble see-through.  It can make it hard to read in some cases, and you should plot out speech bubbles so it doesn't cover critical artwork (if that's what you're worried about).

If you're drawing them in and you're inexperienced with how big a speech bubble should be, write the dialog where you want it, then draw the bubble around it (remember, dialog first, then bubble).  When you do this enough times, you can probably learn to judge how big of a bubble you need without needing to write it.  This is, of course, if you're lettering digitally.  If you're lettering traditionally, keep in mind the letters should look neat and clear.

I highly recommend you do not use default fonts for your lettering.  Especially not Comic Sans.  I will beat you with a bat if I see Comic Sans.  Despite what the name suggests, it is not for comics.  The font is long since dead from years of abuse and many people will turn away when they see that font (I've seen art students hiss at the mere mentioning of Comic Sans before).

The reason I say, "Don't use default fonts," is because you should seek out a font that fits your comic or style.  Relying on defaults doesn't open up the doors of what fonts could look good in line with the artwork.  There are thousands of free fonts on the internet to use.  Go ahead and browse through them.  Try them out.  Just keep in mind they should be easily readable.

Not only should panels and speech bubbles be going in one direction, but you generally want action as well.  If a character is starting off a comic walking, have them walk left to right.  It makes it go with the flow of the comic and helps with the eye movement across the page.

One of the most important things to keep in mind with comics is communication.  You want to communicate what the character is doing as clearly as possible.  If people ask what a character is doing, you'll need to go back and try again.  Never rely on speech alone to tell what a character is doing.

If a character is leaping through the area to punch someone's lights out, make sure you show enough panels to tell what a character is doing.  Start with the character standing, perhaps plotting the jump.  Then, the run, showing that something is just about to hit the fan.  The leap into the air, hurling themselves at someone.  Finally, the best part: the punch in the face.  If you just go from standing to the punching, people will wonder how the character got there to begin with, let alone the situation.

Sound effects are fun and can help imagine what sound is happening.  Don't use sound effects to label what's happening.  If a character is jumping, don't have a sound effect be, "JUMP."  That's not a sound.  That's an action.  You can have action be sound, like if a character has an audible blink, for example.  Remember, though, it is a sound.  Characters should be able to hear that blink.

If you're unsure if you're doing it right, ignore the sound effects and look at the image.  You should be able to tell what the character is doing without the sound.  If a character has that weird blink, you should be able to tell they're blinking even without the sound effect.  Example: static2007.deviantart.com/art/… can tell the bell is ringing without the sound effect, and the twitch is visual as well with the bottom eyelid going up.  The candy cane snapping is also a good example.

You could also just completely ignore sound effects if you want.  Both Crossbones and Vagabond lack sound effects.

I once read a comic tutorial that insisted the words are the most important part of a comic.  Let me assure you, this person is wrong.  Very, very wrong.  It's a comic because it visually shows the story.  If you want words, write a novel.  You can make a comic without words and still tell a story perfectly.  If you have to rely on words to explain what's going on, then you need to work on your artwork to communicate ideas better.

When you're doing a lot of dialog, spread out the sentences over a series of panels.  Your dialog should never take up as much or more space of your artwork.  The point of the comic is to see the artwork as well, not just to read the dialog.  Too much will cover up the artwork and make people less likely to read it.  If people see a block of text, most people will think, "Man, that's a lot of work to read all that.  I'll skip over this."  If presented in small segments, people won't think of it as "work."

My personal suggestion is that the dialog shouldn't take up much more than 25% of your panel.  If your character has a long bout of explaining to do, split up the dialog by sentences and spread them out over a series of panels.  If it's too long, try cutting some of the dialog.  I generally try not to have more than two sentences in a single speech bubble.

There's plenty more information when it comes to making comics.  However, this is a giant chunk of it.  Of course, other comic artists may disagree with me and have their own way of making comics.  Perfectly valid.  I'm simply proposing some basic of comics to people that want the information.

If you have any further questions about how to do something, don't hesitate to ask.  I'll add to this when there's something new in it.

Edit: A rule I forgot!  The 180 rule!

The 180 rule states that the "camera" should not revolve around characters more than 180 degrees.  What does this mean?  Let's say I have Character A and Character B walking together while talking.  A is on the left, B is on the right.  If you suddenly have B on the left, and A on the right, you will confuse readers.

An easy way to think about this: pretend you're in the audience at a stage performance.  You can't walk around to the back of the stage and watch.  That'd be weird to watch.  Keep things visually as if you're watching the characters on stage.  If a character is standing on the left, for example, make sure they stay on the left throughout the duration of that scene.

What if the character needs to walk past another to get something?  This is why you should thumbnail this out.  If a character needs something at the other end of the "stage," position that character near that side to begin with.  That way, you avoid all the confusion and headaches of the 180 rule.