Comically Speaking: Using Cartoons and Comics to Spread the Gospel

Comically Speaking: Using Cartoons and Comics to Spread the Gospel

First Peter 4:10 says, "Each one should use whatever gifts he has received to serve others..." And you may be thinking, "that's fine but my big gift is drawing superheroes, funny little characters, etc. How can that be used to serve others and glorify God?" The truth is there is a multitude of ways. Comics and cartoons are widely read throughout the world, and with the advent of the internet virtually anyone can get his message out using this ancient art form. Think about it. Comics and cartoons combine words and pictures into a simple to understand way of getting your point across. This gift empowered by God can really make a difference for the Kingdom. So what are you waiting for. It's time to get moving.

Techniques

Writing

In order for your comic to make an impact, it has to have a message. It has to be saying something, especially if you are using cartoons and comics to spread the Gospel. So, start there. Ask yourself what am I trying to prove? What am I trying to say? What is the point of this project? Who am I trying to reach? What is the message of this piece? Are you trying for a light hearted humor strip or a deep and thought provoking comic book? Depending on how you want to get this message out, you may also need to look at commercial concerns, though we will leave that our for the purposes of this discussion. There are a thousand questions to be answered but the most important one for the Christian in this is How will this glorify God? Sometimes your main character will "help" to determine the direction of the story. Does the story fit with the character's character? This is especially important in creating continuing stories or comic strips. You are essentially creating a person's life, values, etc.

In some cases Christian cartoonists will use biblical figures and biblical themes. If you decide to go this route, really get to know your subject. While you will be required to flesh things out in your story, it is extremely important to remember that these are people that God has placed into His Word as an example. Be sure to be accurate and respectful. For example, if Jesus is your main character and your fleshing out the story requires that he do some sort of sin, you didn't do enough homework. Jesus never sinned, sinning is outside His character.

If you have a hard time creating the story, it may be an indication that you need to work with a writer. There are many people out there that would be willing to team with you in creating a new strip, book, etc. With the advent of the internet, there are a multitude of message boards, e-lists, etc. where you can find anyone you're looking for. Set up an agreement between you for the handling of any financial benefits, deadlines, etc. and then get moving.

Character design:

This depends on the context you are working in. What style do you like? What is the personality of the character? What is the end product you are looking to create? Will it be a humor strip or a superhero comic or something else altogether. The look of your character will say a lot about what you're trying to create? Take your time on this, especially if this is going to be a continuing character, because if you are successful you will be drawing him/her/it for a long time. Once you have this nailed down, practice practice, practice. Draw your character in a multitude of positions, doing a multitude of things, with a multitude of emotions. Have I said multitude enough yet? You need to draw a lot.

Making the comic.

Once you have written your story, and you characters have been developed there are five basic steps that are involved in creating a comic. The first is layout. In this step you break your story down into the panels that will become your finished comic. How you plan on presenting your comic will determine how the layout is done. For a single panel cartoon, you will use (surprise, surprise, surprise) one panel. The size on a single panel is not very important, what is important is the proportion. The comic and caption should fit into a square. I usually work about six by six.

A newspaper strip is usually two to three panels with a finished size of about 13"x3.75" and comic books are usually a finished size of 6"x9" per page though most comic artists work at a page size of 10"x15" and then reduce the work to size due to the amount of detail necessary for each piece.

When your layout is complete and the story flows properly, you are ready to go to your final art board and begin your finished product.

Pencilling

In other words drawing the final piece. You begin by sketching out the final product lightly according to your layout. Then as you complete the basic sketches you will add your details, shading, etc. The amount of detail you add in this step depends upon who will be inking the piece. If you will ink it yourself, make it as detailed as you need to be able to finish it. If someone else will ink the piece, more detail is required. For penciling cartoons, I usually use a non-repro blue pencil. This does not show up on most scanners and copiers, so you don't have to erase your pencil lines and risk marring your inked pages. When your pencils are complete, you are ready to ink.

Inking

The vast majoritty of comics and cartoons are created in black and white ink and then colored either manually (with watercolors) or electronically (digital). It is for this reason that the inking phase is very important. The ink brings the drama to the piece. What you use depends on your style. I prefer to use sharpie markers and draw the shape of my lines filling them in as I go. Some of my cartoonist friends find this to be laborious and slow, but I do a humor strip without a lot of details so it works for me. Some prefer brush and ink or pen and ink. One word of caution, if you prefer to use the manual painted method of coloring, be certain to use waterproof ink. In inking you want to make suure to add most of your shading. Do not use washes you have only two values to use, pure black and pure white. Other values will not scan well. The only change to this would be if you are doing a black and white strip/comic and can properly scan a greyscale piece. There are no greys in printing. Your scanner will break your piece down into black dots. If you make an error, white it out.

Coloring

If you decide to color manually, i.e. with paint, watercolor is the preferred method, with many artists using Dr. P.H. Martin's Concentrated Watercolors. Most people now use computers for their color work, usually using some variation of Photoshop. Your tools in coloring will once again be dependent on your preferences and style. Please note: Use of color should be dependent on how you are going to use your final piece. If you are going to print the piece, first make sure that your publishe has color capabilities. A lot of people self produce their comics, sometimes even using photocopiers. Most people find color cost prohibitive in this case. If you use computer coloring it's not a huge problem as your inked pages remain black and white and usable regardless of which method of reproduction you use, but if you plan on painting your piece, do it on copies or reproductions of your pieces. That way your black and whites are still available shoul the color output not work out.

Lettering

If you choose to hand letter your piece, there are volumes of books on the subject. Find a clear, legible style and practice, practice, practice. Many people now do this digitally as well and there are several places on the web where you can download really professional looking comic style fonts. I much prefer this type myself as my lettering as attrocious and if I typo on it, a key stroke will fix it. Most people who letter manually do their letters on separate pieces of paper and cut and paste them onto the finished piece.

Vehicles for getting your work out.

Using cartoons and comics for the Lord involves getting them out to where people will see them. There are many different vehicles for this. Here are just a few:


Next time we'll look at some of these topics in more detail. Happy Cartooning!