Creating a consistant look

One of the challenges of creating a comic strip is keeping the characters looking consistent from panel to panel. Some creators, such as Scott Kurtz of “PVP” (www.pvponline.com) have created templates of their main characters and trace over these while drawing their comics. This technique yields very consistent results, but it may be somewhat limiting in terms of composition. For example, unless you have a plethora of templates at several different sizes, it will be difficult to zoom in or out on your characters.

Of course, following the template method to its logical conclusion, one could design digital characters using any one of several software packages and manipulate these in composing comic strip panels. Greg Dean's “Real Life” (www.reallifecomics.com) uses this technique. All of his characters are created in a vector graphics application (Adobe Illustrator, I believe) and are manipulated to create the daily comic. Again, the consistency and polish this gives to the comic are remarkable, but some may feel limited in terms of expression and composition.

If these methods are not for you, take solace in the following wisdom: “It's really hard to get worse at something you do every day.” After you've drawn your characters over and over and over again, you're going to fall into certain rhythms that correspond with drawing those characters in a pleasing way. It will come naturally, over time. Don't allow yourself to get thwarted because you can detect minute differences in your characters from panel to panel – especially when you're first starting out. After a couple years of daily drawing, you'll find that's it's practically impossible to draw your characters any other way.

Besides, there's a certain beauty to looking back over someone's early work and seeing the gradual visual development of a favorite character. Compare Opus the penguin in Berke Breathed's masterful “Bloom County.” In the first book, self-titled “Bloom County,” the character is introduced halfway through the book as a fairly honest depiction of a penguin – a far cry from the lovable creature we all know from books like “Tales Too Ticklish To Tell.”

Short answer: Don't allow yourself to get "thwarted" so quickly. If you update a comic five or six days a week for more than a year, you'll find that maintaining consistent characters is the least of your problems. Convincing your significant other not to dump your pale behind becomes a much greater -- and far more tricky challenge.