CTID: SUDDEN ENDINGS

”Every comic, whether it is a published series or a small blog, end at some point.” //
”Even the really big ones that have been published in many countries for decades! One day it’ll be the very last issue.” //
”And if the comic only has one maker it is even more natural that one day it will end.” //
”There are many reasons for this, and many of them are good, Maybe the artist’s life was changed due to a new job or a baby. Or maybe they lost interest in their comic.” //
”Of course, if possible, it would be nice if the artist would tell that they’re not going to continue with their comic so that the readers won’t be left wondering what has happened.” //
”Because it’s very dull if a good comic just suddenly en

CTID: CHANGING STYLES

”When a comic artist makes a lot of comics, they mostly get better at it and often their art style changes.” //
”You can see it in Asterix comics, for example. In the first album, Uderzo’s drawing style is very different than in the last.” //
”Even in my blog the style has changed over the years. Luckily!” //
”I say luckily because it’s a sign that I have developed. Changing styles become a problem if it happens in the middle of the story.” //
”Especially sudden, not plot-related changes in the art style confuse the reader. Unless it is used a short-term effect.” //
”The Tex Willer artist Fabio Civitelli has said that he draws long stories by beginning at the end, drawing backwards to the midpoint and then taking it up from the beginning and drawing again to the middle. This is so that the style in the beginning and in the end would be as close to each other as possible.” //
”It is important for every artist to develop and try new stuff… but let’s not sacrifice the comic or the reader to this change!”

CTID: INTERESTING PANELS

”One thing you oftentimes see in comic drawing guides…” //
”…is that you should use interestingly shaped (=non-rectangular) panes to make the page look more interesting.” //
”I myself hate this. It CAN work, for example it is often used in manga.” //
”But in-between interestingly shaped panels there is often unused space… like here and there!” //
”Of course you can modify rectangles such as with this speech bubble trick – but the basic shape is still a rectangle! JP Ahonen uses this a lot in the Northern Overexposure comics.” //
”In actin scenes and scenes that are confusing to a character interestingly shaped panels are a good special effect. But in peaceful scenes they’re more a disturbance.” //
”You also have to be careful not to mess the reading order…” There? Or there? //
”Interestingly shaped panels can easily make the page restless and confusing!” Earthquake? //
”When used well and sparingly, non-rectangular panels can create a sense of action or other effects…” //
”…but mostly I would recommend that you’re stick to rectangles.”

CTID: EXPLANATION BOXES

Finland, an afternoon in October, 5.42 pm. Kati. ”Welcome back to the Comic Things I Dislike series.” //
This is the newest episode of the series! ”Today my topic are explanation boxes.” //
This is an explanation box! ”By them I mean those small panels in which it is explained what is happening in the comic.” //
Now Kati will talk about explanation boxes. ”Explanation boxes are often good and useful. You can, for example, tell the location or time period of the comic in them.” //
Here Kati talks more. ”But too much is too much. For example, if the exact time isn’t important, just leave it out.” //
Here’s the next panel. ”Many old newspaper comics have plenty of explanation boxes because of how they were published. Because every strip ends with a cliffhanger! Reading it as a book is pretty terrible…” This is an example of a newspaper comic! //
Oh no, no Kati stumbled! ”And just don’t use the explanation box to explain what is in the picture or what is happening in it. That’s the picture’s job! Using an explanation box like this gives the feeling that the artist doesn’t trust themselves, their comic or the reader.” That is a rock. //
This is the last panel where Kati is laying on the ground. ”Even this comic would be better without the explanation boxes.”

CTID: !

”Hello again! Welcome back to my comic series about comics!” //
”This one is one of the no-so-annoying ones in this series! At least to me!” //
”Unlike many of the other topics, this one doesn’t have that much to do with the planning but more with the finishing!” //
”And this is the thing! Constant usage of exclamation points!”
”Even though Tex Willer is a great comic it sometimes overuses exclamation points!” //
They are all right in a fight scene! ”Look out!” ”Aagh!” ”Behind you!” //
”But people don’t tent to exclaim constantly when they’re talking!” ”Indeed!” //
”Exclamation marks are really useful if someone is actually exclaiming or shouting something! But if they’re used all the time it just looks that everyone is constantly YELLING!” //
”And now… Another pretty similar… and equally annoying thing… Which is… Constantly… overusing… ellipses…”

Huomasin sittemmin, että ”…” on ”pistekolmikko” tai ”ellipsi”. Kolmoispiste taas liittyy fysiikkaan ja on se lämpötilan ja paineen suhteen ”optimaalinen” kohta, jossa aineen kolme olomuotoa eli kaasu, neste ja kiinteä, ovat tasapainossa. En tajunnut tätä tussatessani.

CTID: SPEECH BUBBLES PLACED WRONG

”Hi, so nice that you invited me!” ”Hello again, everyone! Today I invited Snowhorse to talk about comics with me.” //
”Yes, they’re an important topic.” ”Today’s topic is speech bubbles.” //
”Indeed, it is very annoying if it’s done wrong.” ”And especially the placing of speech bubbles.” //
”And if reading is slow and difficult you can’t really enjoy the story.” ”The ’flow’ of the comic is broken if the speech bubbles are placed in a wrong order and you have to think about which order to read them in.” //
”You sometimes even see wrongly place speech bubbles in published comics.” ”I understand it in some really old comics but not in new ones.” //
”It is bad all right, but also avoidable.” ”To me, this is probably the most annoying thing in this whole series!” //
”Yep, and you can always ask someone to read your sketches because the artist often becomes ’blind’ to their own mistakes. Slowly does it!” ”Yes! Good planning and making a storyboard are good ways to avoid placing your speech bubbles wrong.”

CTID: CRAMMING

”Many of the problems I have discussed in my comic series are avoidable with good before-hand planning. The topic of this comic, placing things in the comic, is a great example of this.” //
”It is often difficult to plan in your mind how you’re going to place everything in your comic.” //
”That’s why you should plan ahead and make a storyboard.” //
”It is especially useful if you’re making a longer story with a page limitation.” //
”Shorter comics, such as one-page-long strips are still easy to plan in your head.” //
”But with longer comics you might use up too much space in the beginning…” //
”…and in the end you have to cram when you run out of space!”