Chapter 21: A Four-Panel Comic Starting From Zero (1)
It was all well and good that I’d boldly decided to try making comics.
But I soon ran straight into a certain obstacle.
“First, I’ll have to find an artist.”
That obstacle was the wall called drawing.
It went without saying, but comics were never a medium made up of writing alone.
A composite art that combined words and pictures—that was the true nature of the medium known as comics.
Therefore, in order to make a comic, I needed not only writing to handle the story, but also illustrations.
And ordinary illustrations wouldn’t do.
Unlike the covers or illustrations I’d made before, they had to be far more dynamic than conventional pictures, and they had to actively convey the characters’ emotions.
Rather than spending months or years on a single picture to raise its level of completion, it was also important to omit what could be omitted and increase the speed.
‘In a word, you could say it’s a different field.’
Even in my previous life, people didn’t treat painters and comic artists as the same thing.
Then couldn’t I, the one who knew about comics, just draw them myself? One might ask that.
‘That’s impossible for me.’
When it came to writing, whether you were good or bad at it aside, anyone who knew letters could at least attempt it.
But drawing required skill from the very act of trying.
Shading? Composition? Perspective? Proportions?
What kind of bizarre magic incantations are all these?
Explain it so even a magic dropout like me can understand.
Honestly, not that this is something to brag about.
My drawing ability had stopped at a level equal to or below that of Kim Haneul (5), student of Happy Kindergarten’s Sunflower Class.
In other words, no matter how hard I tried to draw, there was no way a proper picture would come out.
I wanted to make a comic, not some bizarre monstrosity full of stick figures.
So I needed to find an artist suited to making comics.
And fortunately, such an artist was nearby.
“Therefore, would you be interested in becoming the first comic artist, Miss Aria?”
“A comic artist...? Are you planning to create something shocking and new again, Author Wei?”
It was Aria.
I felt bad that I kept putting her to work outside of her secretarial duties.
But at the moment, the only ideal talent I had a connection with was Aria, so it couldn’t be helped.
She had worked on covers and illustrations before, so she understood the art style I wanted.
She was also right beside me, allowing for continuous communication, and she tended to follow my opinions without suspicion.
In fact, even though I had suddenly asked her, “Won’t you become a comic artist too?”
Instead of flatly refusing, Aria showed interest and asked in detail what a comic was.
“So this comic you’re talking about, Author Wei.
You’re saying it reduces the narration and explanations expressed through writing, and adds pictures suited to the situation to depict the scene much more directly, correct?”
“That’s exactly it! It may be easier to think of it as replacing descriptions written in words with pictures.
For example, instead of including narration that says someone is attending a party held at the palace.
You would draw them entering the party hall in the background, conveying it implicitly.”
“That... sounds quite difficult.
If it’s as you say, it won’t end with just one or two drawings, so both the workload and difficulty will be high.”
“I suppose so.
To find the right balance where it isn’t boring, but the progression isn’t skipped either, we’ll have to go through a lot of trial and error.”
Since detailed explanations would be removed and replaced with pictures that could be understood at a glance, the sense of speed would naturally increase.
And if the composition was mishandled, there could be situations where it became hard to tell what was going on.
If we had to establish the know-how to control that from scratch, it would obviously be incredibly tough.
“Still, I’d like to try it.
Just from hearing your explanation, I can feel how incredible this thing called a comic could become.
I want to see it with my own eyes.”
But the vivid expressiveness that comics provided.
I could guarantee it would rise far above what mere words could accomplish.
Enough to make someone want to see it despite knowing the hardship involved.
Captivated by the vision of comics I presented, Aria happily and excitedly accepted my proposal to become the first comic artist.
“To be honest, I also wanted to participate in an achievement that would be remembered in the cultural world for generations.”
It seemed she also had a bit of desire for the honor of obtaining the title of “the world’s first comic artist.”
Well, that was only a natural desire for any human being.
‘Yes, Aria.
For my sake, become Comic Artist Punch!’
Truthfully, I was also secretly motivated by the selfish desire to read comics, so I wasn’t really in a position to say anything.
Anyway.
It was good that we formed a duo to create the world’s first comic.
“Ugh, I have no idea where or how we should begin.”
“Since we have to make it from the very beginning, that can’t be helped.”
But the process of making a comic ran into difficulties just as expected.
In the case of plays, they already existed in this world, and there were existing experts as well.
So even with the ideas I tossed out one by one or knowledge from my previous life, we somehow managed to produce results.
But comics had to be started completely from zero.
‘But I’m the only one who knows what comics are?’
And since it wasn’t as if I had professional knowledge and could explain everything in detail.
I could only convey basic and conceptual things.
Roughly speaking, things like the concept of panels, the types and uses of speech bubbles, guiding the reader’s gaze, and other bits of knowledge I’d picked up.
Even then, it was difficult to explain how panel distribution, connecting the contents, or directing the flow were actually done.
Because this wasn’t a matter of content like story or emotional expression.
It was a technical issue.
‘Haah. If I could show her just one volume out of the countless comics I saw in my previous life, it would be much easier to explain and much easier for Aria to learn...’
Having knowledge I couldn’t express was unbearably frustrating.
Damn it! If I’d known I was going to be reincarnated in another world, I would’ve memorized a beginner’s guide to comics or something!
As I agonized over how to start this.
“For now, I guess we have no choice but to make something ourselves and learn with our bodies.”
In the end, I concluded that we had no choice but to gain experience and develop a feel for it.
“Then let’s start with four-panel comics.”
And for that practice, I chose four-panel comics.
Of course, it wasn’t because I looked down on or underestimated four-panel comics.
Some comic god had even said that four-panel comics, which had to create an interesting story within the limited space of four panels, were more difficult than ordinary comics.
Who was I to arrogantly look down on four-panel comics?
‘But that’s only true for proper comic artists.’
For total newbies like us, who were going to slam our heads into the problem and learn through trial and error what comics even were.
I judged that four-panel comics, with at least a minimal format already set and a simplified structure, would be relatively better.
As I said earlier, our hardware was more of a problem than our software.
We didn’t even know how to distribute panels right now.
So unless we wanted to make a puzzle where readability and direction were a total mess, shouldn’t we start with practice?
“You mean we should try drawing according to a fixed format of four panels.
That seems like quite a good method!”
After hearing my explanation of four-panel comics, Aria agreed, and the format was decided as four-panel comics.
“Then what genre are you thinking of?”
“Ah, I’ve already decided that.
We’ll try making it in the slice-of-life and comedy genres.”
The genre was decided as slice-of-life and comedy, which suited four-panel comics best.
Since the introduction, development, turn, and conclusion all had to be contained within four panels.
A light and simple slice-of-life and comedy genre suited it best.
...All right, both the format and genre were decided.
Then now, all that remained was to draw endlessly and improve!
“Good! Do we have enough paper and ink prepared?!”
In preparation for trial and error, we checked the paper and ink we had piled up in advance.
Then, without anyone needing to go first, we nodded resolutely and immediately began drawing four-panel comics.
“Miss Aria. You don’t need to draw every person or background element perfectly.
It takes too much time, and we’re not trying to create a beautiful work of art—we’re trying to draw a comic.”
“You don’t necessarily have to draw the whole body every time, either.
Sometimes showing only part of the body can be good direction as well.”
“It might be fine not to end the story every four panels, but to connect it so the content continues into the next four panels.”
“Ah! That’s a good idea.
Let’s try methods like drawing half of an image in one panel and completing it by combining two panels, or even drawing beyond the panel borders!”
“This is a bit of a shortcut, but... for backgrounds that are used often, like trees, flowers, or buildings, how about drawing several styles separately and then copying them in with magic?
It should drastically reduce time and labor!”
And perhaps the Goddess was not completely indifferent.
Once we actually started drawing comics.
More and more scenes and tips from my previous life came to mind, and I was able to quickly pick up on improvements that could only be obtained through practice.
Thanks to that, Aria also absorbed the precious information one after another and began to grow rapidly.
‘Drawing it ourselves really was the right answer!
Practice is the best for anything!’
Like that, how much time passed as we revived as many memories from my previous life as possible and went through trial and error?
Around the time the workshop floor began to be filled with crumpled papers from our failures.
“We... we did it! It’s finished! Author Wei!
We finally completed the 25 pages we were aiming for!
We finally completed episode one of our four-panel comic!”
“My goodness, is that true?!
Wh-where... Uwaaah! It really is 25 pages! Twenty-five pages!
At long last! This hellish deadline is finally over!”
At last, the first episode of the world’s first comic was completed.
Aria and I, who had run nonstop to produce the comic, were half out of our minds.
Holding the completed manuscript of episode one of the four-panel comic, we danced merrily and roared with joy and emotion.
“Ah... I’m at my limit now...”
“M-me too... I can’t go on anymore...”
And then, without anyone going first, we collapsed at the same time like golems that had run out of mana and fell asleep.