THE VISITOR

[locustsofdeath!]

No worries!

If you're new to script-writing immediately submit to any one of FutureQuake Press' titles - those boys will be brutally honest (negative or positive) about not only your story but your script; I can't tell you how much they helped me out in the beginning of my comics writing (non)career.

[Pauul]

Quite frankly - and I don't mean to offend - but I find discussions like this incredibly stupid.

Everything boils down to how good the story you're telling is. A writer won't inspire an artist by adding or subtracting description until it's just right - like he's making a porridge. A writer needs to spark the artist's imagination. Start thinking or worrying about rules and your writing becomes very clinical.

God no, being clinical doesn't help at all.

You eventually reach a point when you've been writing long enough that things become instinctual, when you just naturally know what is too much or too little.

But even when you've been very detailed, an artist can come up with an idea which works a hell of a lot better. I've been in situations where an artist has suggested moving a panel over to the next page or dividing one panel up into five and it's worked beautifully.

So, even when you are being exact in a script, it doesn't mean you can't be open to change.

A writer and an artist should be collaborators, equals when it comes to creating, and so being open to discussing changes is always a good thing.

[locustsofdeath!]

You eventually reach a point when you've been writing long enough that things become instinctual, when you just naturally know what is too much or too little.

So how are your instincts at this point? 

Hey, when it comes to writing a script, a writer should be exact to his vision. All that worrying about the artist comes later...like when an editor actual accepts the script and assigns the writer. One step at a time, ha ha.

[Emperor]

Advice from Uncle Warren on what a script is, although it seems he agrees with me:

A script is a set of instructions to the artist(s), letterer, editor, colourist if applicable, and designer if applicable. This set of instructions is intended to present the mechanics of your story with the greatest possible clarity.

...

Some writers produce reams of panel description because they require fine control of the artist, letterer and colourist to meet their vision of the story. Some writers boil their description down to a telegram because they require only that the most basic requirements of the panel be met in order to achieve their goals.

Both methods, however, and everything in between, are about manipulation of the artist. That sounds grim, doesn't it?

...

When you're starting out, you may well find yourself writing "blind": not knowing who the artist will be. This is why people like Alan Moore evolved that hyper-descriptive style — so he could get the end result he was looking for regardless of who was drawing it. You may prefer to do that. I would prefer that you took some art classes, and talk to some illustrators (this may involve sign language and grunting sounds).  Investigate art, even if your drawing hand, like mine, behaves more like a flipper. Understanding what is joyful about illustration is important. It's important to create a thing that will delight an artist. (And even a letterer, although that's going to be harder as many of them have the demeanour of a demented gravedigger.)

You are, in many ways, writing a love letter intended to woo the artist into giving their best possible work to the job. A bored or unengaged artist will show up on the page like a fibrous stool in the toilet bowl, and that's not their fault — it's yours.

(Unless the artist is crazy. Which they all are. But you take my point, yes?)

www.warrenellis.com/?p=13633

Unless anyone objects I will split this off to a separate thread.