Creating an Indie Comics – 5. Putting it together

Now that you have created your comics and photo copied many copies of it. It is time to put it together (literally). Unlike the big company that has their own factory printer or at lease has the capital to pay a printer to produce and staple their comics. We as an indie creator does not have the luxury of it. You can buy a long stapler at NBS at P500 or more.

Or if you want to go cheap like I do. You can use an ordinary cheap stapler that you might already have.

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Get a two book that is identical in thickness and lay them down on a firm base opposite at each other with a small gap as shown in the image below.



Fold your comics so that you will have a guide where the stapler has to be. Place you comics over the two book as shown below and start firing away that stapler.



And then presto. You have your own printing press at your living room. :D

For a little bit more flare of professionalism, I strongly recommend that you put you comics inside a plastic. Those things are very very cheap, but it will protect your comics from people that wants to mangle with them in the stores (or at lease will discourage them) and it will also dramatically change the people will look at your comics compared to those that has no plastic at all. So don't be lazy ok :D

IMAGE (of you comics, one plastic and the whole bunch of plastic).

Creating an Indie Comics – 4. Printing the cover

Some of you might be wondering why I shifted from using standard 8.5x11 short bond paper to A4 size. This is because of the cover. Glossy cover that is. I have found that using a glossy photo paper as my cover is really not that expensive. There is only a small amount difference between a Vellum cover and a glossy photo paper. So I decided that I will go for the glossy. It all started when I saw this cheap Photo paper at CD-R king. A store that I often go for my supply of blank DVD. A 25pcs. photo paper will only cost you P100. So if you do the math, the cost of your cover (with out adding the cost of printer ink) would be P4 each. The only catch is that CD-R king does not have any short bond paper size (8.5x10) photo paper. So I am forced to use an A4 size for my comics.

What about the Ink cost?

Unlike before, the printer ink now comes on a very cheap price (I also buy my ink at CD-R king). As long as you have the patience to inject/refill your printer cartridge on your own. It seams tedious to some, but I have gotten used to it that I can refill my Canon Pixma cartridge in no time. If your are looking to buy a new ink jet printer to be used for your comics. I suggest that you buy a borderless printer. So that you will not have to cut off the edges of the printed cover anymore. In a long run, it will save you more time and head ache. And also, you might want a printer that could print on a 10x15 wide paper.

Each of those small container cost only P30. Multiply it by 4 (blue,cyan,magenta and black) and you will get P120 that could print you around 50 to 70 (depends on you art) pages of full blown, full colored cover (A4 size). Nicccceeeee isn't it :D

And if you have the money. You can also buy the bigger one that cost P200 for each color. This ink will last you a very looooooonnnnng time. :D Even with all the 4 colors combined, it will only cost you P800. That is compared to a very expensive original ink(with cartridge) that will cost you around P1,200. And that will only last for about 20 to 25 covers.

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Update Nov.14,2011

About a year ago. I bought a new Canon border-less printer and made it Continuous Ink System (CIS) at InkRite store in SM Fairview. This just made my life a whole lot easier.

Creating an Indie Comics - 3. Page Layout

It is wise to have a page layout laid in for visual reference in advance before you do the actual pages. This will be the way the pages must be properly organize or sequensed. Other wise the pages will jumble all over your comics. To give you a more idea on what I am talking about. Please see the figure below.

This will give you a birds eye view on what your comics will look like. So that just in case for example that you want to put a 2 page spread on your comics, you will know where is the exact page is best suited for them. The example above is just one way that you can arrange your comics. If you need more pages for your comics, you can remove the pin-up page,fan-art section and ads and move them and compress them in one page at the back area of your comics if you want to.

This also can help you on making the script. It will give you an idea what page of the story you want to give emphasis on. It will also help you on creating the thumb nails for the story, and give you an idea on how to divide the story of that issue on a specific number of pages.

(Kalayaan #5 - page 1 and 20)

Because of the Page Layout that I draw on a piece of paper. I know that when I scan my sequential pages and edit them on photoshop, page 1 and page 20 will be the pages that will pair. Page 20 will be on the left side and page 1 will be on the right side. So, the example image above is already ready for printing.

Please also check Gerry Alanguilan's creating mini-comics.

Creating an Indie Comics – 2. Paper size

Paper size or your work area where you draw your actual comics may vary in sizes. I do not use a 10 inch by 15 inch (10x15) standard size that professional artist of DC and Marvel often use. I use a bond paper size only because of the following reasons.

1.) I am not making a full blown comics. I only publish an ashcan size. It is a A4 size folded into half. Drawing on a large 10x15 will not make any sense since most of the lines will start to collide when I shrink it down to an ashcan size comics.

2.) For convenience. It will take me longer to draw a sequential art page on a 10x15 size. And I am afraid that I could not publish my comics every 4 months.


I often buy my supplies at NBS (National Book Store) and my art board for my sequential pages is no exception. I buy an 8.5x11 Vellum type board (brand is Elit). It is just the right size, texture and thickness for me. It is also the same board that I previously used for the cover of issue #1 and #2 of Kalayaan. As you might have noticed, issue 1 and 2 is the size of a folded short bond paper. While I started to use an A4 glossy photo paper from issue #3 onwards.


If you want a little bit more larger work area than 8.5x11, you can get its bigger brother 8.5x13, but of course it will cost you a little bit more. The 8.5x11 cost at P21.50(10pcs.) while 8.5x13 cost at P24.50 (10pcs.) .

But weather you use a shot bond size or an A4 size, it does not matter, as long as you retain the aspect ratio of your work area.

What is an Aspect Ratio?

To put it very simple. You must retain the shape of your comics when you enlarge it or shrink it. Look at the figure below and you will get what I mean.



So if you are going to print your indie comics on an A4 size (or any size) just like I do. Here are the steps in getting the right work area/margin of your sequential page.

Get an A4 paper and fold it in half.


Place that on top of the 8.5x11 Vellum paper. And place a vertical and horizontal line on the left side and bottom of the paper respectively. Following the rule above on retaining the aspect ratio. Create a line from the bottom Left to the upper right tip of the A4 paper and continue the line to the Vellum paper.




Remove the A4 paper and create a horizontal line above and a vertical line on the right side. Make sure that those two new lines connects at the same point. And thats it. You can now use this as a template for the border/margin of all the other pages.


After drawing your art on this size, you can now rest assure that the aspect ration is the same with a folded A4 size. And even shrinking it in Photoshop and laying out the pages, would still retain its aspect ratio (That is assuming that you do not distort the image in the scale option of Photoshop.).

Please also check Gerry Alanguilan's creating mini-comics.

Creating an Indie Comics - 1. Plot and Script

I am often ask on how to start their own indie comics. Instead of answering them one by one. It would be better and beneficial to many just to write it down here in my blog. Because I do not want to repeat my self. And I know in the future, I will also be asked with the same questions :D.

I will write down a series of post here, regarding on that subject matter because I cannot answer this huge topic in just one post. I also want to stress out that this is not the only way to create you own comics since there are other comics tutorial out there. It just so happens that this is how I create my comics. So this is basically from my very own experience. You are very much welcome to skip some of the steps here when you think that you are not comfortable with it or simply you already know about it. And you can also make your own way as well. I will not pretend that I am such an expert on this subject matter since I still feel that I am a rookie (which I am) in comics making. So please bear with me if I occasionally type in some mistake here and there.

Creating the Plot and Script

It start with an idea. You cannot create a comics without having a story first. If you already have an idea or character in mind. It is better to write it down. Even how small or insignificant it may seams, write it down! And when an inspiration hits you. Do not stop or wait a while before you write it down on a piece of paper. This thing comes very rare so better make the best of it as much as you can. Because you just never know when the next inspiration of idea will come (or if it will ever come). This idea does not entirely means a whole complete story. This thing can also comes some small bits of pieces of idea for a story that you can patch it together later on to make a seamless story line. Your reader (and even you) will have that "Ahhhhaaaa, I see" factor and amazement of unpredictability of the story line that you made. That is assuming you created a very good script.

One of the hardest thing that I found in the entire comic book production, is writing the script. Making a plot (story with no character dialog) is much easier for me. But creating a script and breaking down the entire plot into 20 sequential pages with dialogs is very brain draining.

Many year ago, I always wonder why is the script writer always comes first before the artist. And now I know. It takes a lot of brain power to create a script. (silly me)

I often create the plot of my story, way ahead of the script. I often create the plot during my commute from office to our house. When I got that itch to create a story, I will write it down immediately. Those moments are rare and I tend to make the most of it. Even if the vehicle is moving, I will write the idea down and just revise it at home.

After the plot comes the creation of the script (the complete story with character dialog). I only create the script only when I am ready to draw the entire issue. It is hard for me to write a script without drawing a simple sketch (thumbnails) of the page layout. It is much easier for me, if I will create the page layout with the character dialog simultaneously.

I write my script (with thumbnails) on a short bond paper. I divide the paper into 4 equal parts as shown above. For one bond paper, I would write down 2 pages (script with thumbnails side by side) of my comics. Since my comics has 20 pages, I would need 10 bond paper in all. I like this kind of writing compared to the traditional way of a writer because if ever I would become a full time comic book writer. Artist would have a much easier illustrating the story that I have written because aside from the written down story, he will have a heads up on the visual because of the thumbnails.