ABOUT THE SERIES
They storm in, they loot, they fight, and they drink – and that’s about the best plan the Runebreakers have. In a world rich with adventurers, dark dungeons, untamed magic, unnerving bureaucrats and quests around every corner, the Runebreakers stumble and tumble through their adventures, and somehow always end up on top of things (which can’t be said for their clients!). With over a million social media views per week, the Runebreakers have built a loyal fanbase since their inception. Their adventures are available as single panel comics, as longer webcomics and soon as novels as well!
Our heroes
The four principal characters of the Runebreakers are Wilhilm Grindtosser the Wizard, Gadisa Tar’Anomin the Rogue, Mormak Luke Claddani the Dwarf and Dakaria Galzur the Druid. Different artists have interpreted them for comic stories and each of the artists has interpreted them in their own unique way.
1. It all starts with an idea
A Runebreaker story, as any story, typically starts with an idea. For the single panel comic, I mostly focus on the punchline. Those may come up everywhere, often when we roleplay and stupidity ensues. For the longer story, I need several ideas – ideas for the central conflict, for twists and turns, for the beginning and ending, for interesting NPCs, for locations etc.
2. Then comes the outline
I work on my ideas for the longer scripts as an outline. The outline usually has around three pages and details the events and main twists of the stories, also some of the punchlines that spring to mind. Not all of them will end up in the final version of the script. Usually, I talk to my comic publisher about the outline and my project manager will give me feedback that sometimes flows back into the story (imagine the project master as something as the Dungeon Master. He may have a plan in mind, but as players, we don’t always follow it. Hopefully, he doesn’t read that.) The outline may take a month or three. Sometimes, they practically write themselves, sometimes, I fall from one plot hole into the next, and it takes me longer to figure out how to tell the story.
3. I weave the story
If I’m satisfied with the story, I start writing it. Normally, comic writers start writing the script. I need to see the story first, so I usually write it in the form of a short story of about 20 to 30 pages. It’s not a completely polished story, but enough to see where it’s going, how the characters will behave – and what the problems in the story will be. I have immense fun working the story out, and some of the major details often change five to seven times over the course of the process until I settle on the final version. Sometimes, I collaborate on stories. In The Lost Palace for example, I collaborated in the short story stage with W Lawrence. Mostly, I write them on my own. This usually takes around two months.
4. The script grows
When I feel like the story works and is solid enough, I start writing the script. This usually is done within a month. Now, you might be wondering why it takes a month to transform a short story into a comic script. It’s one thing to write a short story, but it’s another to write a script that an artist is supposed to work with. I need to focus a lot on the visuals and what is actually to be seen in the panels. When I have internal dialogue in the short story, I need to revisit the paragraph and think about how I can turn it into some action for the panel – into something that actually can be drawn.
5. The visuals are born
When I’m finished with my script, the artists go over it panel by panel. They need to see the panels in their mind, and come back with their feedback, e.g. when they feel like something is not a hundred percent clear, or there is a continuation error, or it simply doesn’t make sense. Most of the time, however, it’s simply about figuring out the exact logistics, e.g. what the details of the locations are or where the characters are positioned.
6. Breakdowns visualize the first ideas for the panels
The breakdown artist comes back to me with a first vision of what the panels might look like. Breakdowns are the step that comes before a sketch of the scene. Nowadays, breakdowns rarely are used in comic production anymore, since digitalization has made them obsolete, and when you work on your computer, you gradually shift from what used to be breakdowns to sketches, and all of that now is called a sketch. We don’t do breakdowns for every comic story, but we did one for The Lost Palace, for example – simply because the story was so epic and there were so many ambitious visuals that we needed to put in extra work to make it as perfect as it can be.
7. The Roughs are coming in
Once everything is in place and breakdowns (if applicable) exist, the actual artist comes in and starts to work on the pages. This usually happens with a sketch of every panel. (For the single panel comics, the process usually is that I write down the ideas as a script and the artist comes back with a sketch, so a bit of a short track.) I review the roughs and greenlight them.
8. The line art is done
After the sketches have been greenlit, the artist starts doing the clean-ups and the line art is born. This is when the actual comic takes concrete shape. With the line art, my story begins to live on paper, and actual images expand on the words of my script.
9. The coloring is done
When the line art is done, the coloring artist takes over. Usually, there is a palette set for a comic beforehand to have a guideline for what kind of colors are supposed to be used, and how the style is supposed to look. If you’re not familiar with comic book production at all, let’s just say that this sounds a lot easier than it actually is. The coloring artist can make or break the comic. If he botches his coloring check (pardon my TTRPG wording), it doesn’t much matter what the line artist did or what I wrote in the script. (For the single panel comics and often our covers, the artists do their own coloring, and use their own palettes.)
10. The lettering
The last step – the bubbles and boxes! I’m closely involved in that part of the process and for some product, I do my own lettering. This is a very sensitive process, for instance, the bubbles should of course not cover any important parts of the art (according to some, no art at all), it shouldn’t stand between two characters etc. At the same time, however, my dialogue needs to go somewhere. More often than not, I change my text again. This is unusual. Normally, if you work for one of the big comic book publishers, you’ll send in your script and that’s it. I’m lucky enough to have a very big involvement in the Runebreakers. I love seeing what the artists added to my script, and personally, I think it’s fun to go over my text once I see the pictures on page, and adjust them a little, sync them even more to
