Chewing Pencils

In all the excitement with the Easter Drawing Project, I almost forgot that there was one last installment in the “Storytelling” series I have been working through. The complete series can be found by clicking here but basically we’ve covered character development, setting and plot. In this post I want to finish by talking about the backstory and the detail.

Again, this is mainly relevant to comic strip artists, but you single gag folk would do well to listen to the info on ‘detail’….;)

The backstory is unusual in that it is often not told in great depth. In may be referred to from time to time, but overall it remains in the mind of the artist/author and helps shape the plot and the way the characters react to different things. Perhaps the most well known back story in comic book history is that of Batman. Millionaire Bruce Wayne fights crime in Gotham City as Batman, in reaction to the brutal murder of his parents when he was just a child. In both the comic book version and the numerous movie versions, this back story is alluded to or even shown briefly, but in only just enough detail to help the audience understand why Bruce does what he does.

Having such a well developed backstory gives your tale some meat, plus it gives the impression that the story is actually going somewhere and is not being made up as you go. It can be referred to in the same way as the Batman backstory, or it could simply remain in your mind. Being a visual medium, you can even draw elements of your back story in the form of photos on a mantle piece, carvings in a tree, grave stones, scars on a face, a dilapidated mansion and so on.

You may be surprised how well your audience connects with your characters once a good backstory is established. It’s another step in the character development process that helps a two dimensional character become a real person in the mind of your readers - suddenly they feel the same fear, the same happiness, the same pain that your characters go through.

But the danger is that telling your backstory overshadows the story you are trying to tell now, which is where the details come in.

Something that is very tempting to do in any form of storytelling is to try and say everything! This is usually why directors often employ somebody else to edit their movies, as an outside perspective can usually determine far better what contributes to the flow of the story and what is just showing off.

In your cartoon, it is easy to fall into the same trap and not only want to say everything, but also draw everything! There is a skill in knowing what to keep and what to leave out; what to say explicitly and what to leave to the readers imagination.

I have found in my work that having minimal background detail in my drawing has helped me keep the details right. The only things that get a guernsey are those which contribute directly to the message or are essential for identifying a particular character, object or place. For instance, if I have a manager sitting at a desk, I’ll put a little ‘name sign’ next to her that says ‘manager’, perhaps a pen and paper on the desk, and a cup of coffee. Rarely do I put any other detail of the office environment as they generally distract from the main character, and my style doesn’t really allow for it anyway.

This is where your partner of family can come in really handy. Every so often, show them your work and ask them if the story is making sense. Ask them to say back to you what they think is happening. You should quickly get a clear picture if something is working or not. Maybe you have too much detail that is taking away from what you’re trying to really say or maybe you don’t have enough detail and your reader is not sure what is going on. It might be a blow to the ego, but the feedback is invaluable and it contributes to you becoming a better storyteller.

So, as you work on your next comic strip project, remember to give the backstory some though, and also consider what level of detail your need to go into to get your message across. Your work will be better for it.