Everyone knows that Ma and Pa Kent raised Ka-El after he lost his parents in the destruction of Krypton. But who raised Bruce Wayne after his parents were killed? It took decades for DC to decide on the canon. Beyond comics, the general public has seen multiple Batman movies, TV shows, cartoons, video games, but the […]
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How Do You Write a Picture Book?
Recently, a friend asked me to read a script for a picture book and it got me thinking about what I’d learned about picture books since writing my own (plus reading about 40 a week to my toddlers over the past few years). So here’s 6 facts and 10 techniques to get you started… FACTS 1. Picture […]
Pro-tip: Picture Book Dialogue
Picture books are meant to be read out loud by parents, caregivers, and librarians to kids. The readers who really make your book come alive and connect with kids, are the ones that get into it. They often use different voices for different characters. So it’s in your best interest to give them an easy […]
The Warped Lessons I Learned from Cartoons
Some of what I learned from cartoons is dumb but it didn’t really change my life, like how I used to think invisible meant “had a white outline”. Or that so-called “secret doors” were activated by bricks that are clearly a different colours from the rest of the wall. But some of what I’ve learned […]
Civil War Should Have Been an Iron Man Movie
I’ve been thinking about Civil War, which was a really entertaining action movie, with great character bits and action. I read Film Critic Hulk’s excellent think piece on it, and it touched on some of what I was thinking. The big problem I felt about Captain America 3 was, it was actually an Iron Man […]
Too Many Old Men Toys
In a recent interview with Shane Black, he said Marvel corporate didn’t want his Iron Man 3 villain to be female. They wanted a male villain because they thought that would sell more toys. It’s been pointed out that there pretty much are no Aldrich Killian toys, so it’s not like female Allison Killian would have […]
The Power of Genres
THE STRUCTURE OF GENRE PLOTS Genre stories are about power. Or at least, that’s one way to look at their plots. Each genre has a typical way of discussing power. Not every story follows these guidelines, and sub-genres switch things up, but this can be a useful way to start thinking about the broad tropes […]
Post-Apocalypse Now!?
POST-APOCALYPSE IS THE NEW CRUSOE If you were stranded on a desert island, what sci fi genre would you take with you? With a surge in video games, movies, comics, and novels, it might be post-apocalyptic. But, most people haven’t realized that the post-apocalypse is just the deserted island castaway story all over again. In […]
Chekhov’s Cell Phone – 6 apps to remove story-breakers from your tales
Playwright Anton Chekhov had a theory that everything in a story must be of use. If you put a loaded gun on the wall in the first chapter, it had better be used by the end of the story. Otherwise it shouldn’t be there. That’s why when you see a blockbuster movie where the bad guy […]
Webcomics Tutorial – 10 Lessons For Better Colouring
This how-to-colour-comics tutorial is geared towards webcomics but applies to regular comics as well. I’m not going to teach you the ins-and-outs of a particular art program. Instead, you will learn 10 important things to consider whether you colour with Photoshop or a paintbrush. These lessons will keep your comic storytelling clear and dynamic. If […]
