JESSE HAMM’S CAROUSEL Carousel 014: Convention Tips Summer means conventions! If you make comics, comic book conventions are a chance to show your work around and meet potential readers and clients. Here are ten conventioneering tips I’ve rarely seen elsewhere, which I really could have used when I was starting out. 1. PROMOTE YOU. You […]

JESSE HAMM’S CAROUSEL Carousel 013: Mapping Comics are often described as a medium that deals with time. We talk about the pacing of a story, about a story’s moments being ordered chronologically, we describe a title as an ongoing series, and so forth. All of this time-talk is appropriate; comics do diagram the passage of time. But we should remember that comics […]

JESSE HAMM’S CAROUSEL Carousel 012: Thumbnails When I was twelve, and living in Sedona, I decided to climb a mountain called Greyback, which was situated just outside of town. From my vantage point in town, Greyback appeared to be one solid, sloping mass. Navigating it would be easy: All I had to do was keep […]

JESSE HAMM’S CAROUSEL Carousel 011: Close Read: King Tut’s Tomb We’ve all seen (and sometimes suffered!) critiques of comics pages drawn wrong, but it’s uncommon to find a detailed discussion of pages drawn right. Today I’d like to offer such a discussion—or “close read”—of three pages pencilled by José Luis García-López. García-López is an “Artists’ […]

JESSE HAMM’S CAROUSEL Carousel 010: Getting Organized The new year is upon us, and it’s a great time to start some new organizational habits. Drawing comics poses special challenges to organizing your studio: Every comics project will generate a lot of material and information to keep track of. So here are eight tips that should […]

JESSE HAMM’S CAROUSEL Carousel 009: The Context of Fantasy Today’s bookstore shelves are packed with volumes about how to draw fantasy subjects—superheroes, dragons, fairies, aliens, robots, elves. The focus in each is on how to draw the hallmarks of the named subject: Books on superheroes will have a section on capes, books on elves will […]