The 8 Step Comic Writing Process

Here's how I wrote my Skull Chaser comic from start to finish.
0:00 - Intro
0:18 - Writing is Hard
3:25 - Idea Capture
4:29 - Finding the Conflict
7:22 - The First Draft
8:19 - Work on the Rough Parts
9:38 - Nail Down the Beats
11:09 Write the Scriptment
12:06 - Review with the Story Trust
13:23 - Revise and Polish
14:55 - Outro

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My previous video about WRITING short comics:

My art books!

Music by Epidemic Sound

[jasonepstein]

5:54 “this just doesn’t look like you’re doing anything “

Yes!! This stage is very hard… I’d argue it’s the hardest. I’ve spent weeks thinking about my story just walking around. Sometimes it takes asking the right what if question

[jasonepstein]

7:53 the “no wait” so relatable as you begin to figure out more details in the story.

The more excited those phrases get the more you know it’s goood

[nerissacrawford]

The way you write your story is how I write mine. Another sign I am on the right track.

[scriptyshake]

Two things from this video that I wanna point out that were extremily valuable advice to me:

1) Scriptment: The idea of having something between a script and a more traditional 'novel' writing is so helpful for comics. I always felt like scripts weren't descriptive enough and with novel writing you could get too caught up with the writing style and character's inner thoughts. With the scriptment you both get a decent amount of description while still getting to the point and you get a good amount of dialogue as well.

2) The story trust: It's so so important to know who to share your story with. Here's something I experienced with one of my stories: In high school I had made this story and had shared it with my other artist friends. They were obsessed with this story to the point where they made their own OCs in my story and made short comics and animatics. It was incredible how well recieved that story was and I could tell it definitely had potential. A few years later when I start college I obviously start talking about that same story to my new group of friends. Except this time they completely destroy every single aspect of the story. At first I didn't understand why they critisized it so much when it had had such success with my other friend group. Now a year later, I know these friends better and I understand they're simply not people I should share my stories with, not because they'e bad friends but simply because they consume art in a different way than I do. They're not artists and they consume content like fast food, to 'turn their brains off', while I make my stories as pieces of art that make you reflect and that have a deeper meaning. I understand now that no story will ever please everyone and that I need to share my stories with people who are capable of giving critiques for the type of stories I'm making.

[geraldjuvejr.]

LOVED the trailer analogy. That's always how I've seen drawings in my head the best 'scene' in a movie using it's best frame. Describes the gist of the scene in one shot.

[VirtualSG]

Very nice. You did a great job evolving it from a meaningless anecdote to a genuine sequence that gets me curious about who Skull is and what lies ahead for him.

[nmlss]

This is such an interesting video!! I always love seeing how authors work and try to learn something from them so I can add it to my own workflow and make it more efficient.
I remember checking an expanded edition of Neil Gaiman's 'Black Orchid' on a bookstore and the extras included some words by Neil himself, talking about how he planned his stories. One thing that I found really useful and still use is making a list from 1 to whatever how many pages your comic has and on each number, write what happens in that page in very few words. Like: "Page 1, Skull Chaser is playing poker; Page 2, he's gonna win; Page 3, someone tricks him…" It helps you seeing it all together at a simple glance and from there you can develop the story, know if you'll need to add or delete pages, etc. etc.

[colbfx]

Cool to see how the story evolved. I find editing to be the most complicated and laborious part of the process. You want it to be perfect! A dangerously elusive goal.

[mineiro]

Oh man, this is great. Please make more comics! I love your style and sense of humor

[george-qzun]

Wow thanks Jake! Been stuck with storywriting so hard lately and this came just in time.

[cayetanokoala]

Man I have been following you for many years and STILL, you are dispensing great info and knowledge. I have a list of six art business I keep on a chalkboard in my studio to remind me of how I should be aiming my art business and art practice. Your name is consistently on this changing list. Jake you are an artist I admire and you are consistently inspiring me. Thanks so much dude.

[eviatarwarshavsky]

thank you jake! just wanted to tell you that thanks to one of your videos i made my first short comic, and since than i made 3 more short comics, and now im starting to work on my first short animated film!
thank you so much for your videos, thanks to you, i do the things that i do.

[edelgrane]

I think that the last ending you came up with is the strongest because it shows Skull being flawed just like his opponent.

[rainastor]

Welcome, welcome, welcome! Been praying for you! So good to see you back.

[theforgottenordergraphicno]

Short stories are quite tricky to get right and this was really interesting and informative, thank you!
I would love to figure out how to apply this to a long format style comic.

[BenMellingerArt]

been loving these videos on comics. they are such a passion of mine and it's so nice to learn from one of the best!

[willexcel]

I need more Jake Parker in my life. MORE videos, please!

[AngelinaMascol]

Wow! This was so well explained! I really do feel inspired to do my comic now. And I understand better now how to actually follow the process of making the story, that story beat part really helped. Thank you so much Jake Parker!
P.s.When I get discovered I'm making sure I name you. Love your drawings too btw.

[MOONSUNLife]

It's been a while, Jake! For a moment there, I thought YT was recommending an old video again... Good tips and an interesting writing process, thank you for sharing!

[averin.]

Thank you Jake! I’ve been struggling with writing my first graphic novel and this video helps so much! I love how you break everything down and simplify all the problem solving that goes into writing and illustration. Love your work and I’m glad you’re back on YouTube!