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Comics Writing: Writing for a Visual Medium

$149.00

In the Foundations course, you learned how to build a story. In this course, you’ll learn how to develop any story for a visual medium. What is it about comics specifically, that’s going to effect how you tell your story? How do you script so that your artist will get the most out of your script–or just as importantly, that you don’t tie one of your artist’s drawing hands behind their back.

Writing for comics is a very different skill set than writing for prose or video games or film. This course demystifies the script formatting, how to communicate properly and effectively with your artist, what kinds of things they need to know to help you tell the most powerful story you can, and how to make sure your script is solid in its own storytelling while also inspiring your artist to draw the best work they’ve ever done!

Now you’re making comics!

Andy Schmidt is a comics writer, editor, publisher, and educator. He’s been working in the comics industry since 2002 and has been on staff at Marvel Comics, IDW Publishing, and Hasbro. He’s overseen multi-million dollar brands and worked in intellectual property development and as a consultant in TV, Film, and animation as well as with toy companies and video game companies.

Andy is best known for his creation of the Marvel Comics storyline called Annihilation which re-framed the Guardians of the Galaxy into a multi-billion dollar franchise. Andy conceived of the project and managed the sprawling, 26-issue saga from beginning to end, giving Marvel a new Guardians for a new era.

Andy has worked on nearly every boy-brand there is, including writing comics, video games, and prose stories. Star Wars, Dungeons & Dragons, Transformers, G.I. Joe, Star Trek, and DC Comics have all brought great joy to Andy in his career and writing, editing and consulting work.

In 2007, Andy founded Comics Experience to pass his knowledge on to students. In 2008, Andy wrote an authoritative, Eagle Award-winning book about making comics: The Insider’s Guide to Creating Comics and Graphic Novels, published by Impact Books. His follow up book, The Comics Experience Guide to Writing Comics: Scripting Your Story Ideas from Start to Finish was published in 2018 to rave reviews.

Andy currently lives in Kentucky with his family and frequently travels to LA for various meetings and work. In his spare time, he is a Solar System Ambassador for NASA’s JPL, and a coach and referee for adult and kids soccer.

Featured Work


Paul Allor is a critically-acclaimed writer, editor and letterer who began as a Comics Experience student and workshop member, eight years ago. Since then, they have written for Marvel Comics, AfterShock Comics, IDW Publishing, BOOM! Studios, Dynamite Entertainment, Vault Comics and others.

Paul’s comics writing is known for balancing intensely character-driven stories with bombastic ideas and dynamic plotting. Their creator-owned books include Hollow Heart, from Vault Comics; Monstro Mechanica, from AfterShock Comics; Tet, from IDW Publishing and Comics Experience; Past the Last Mountain, from Gov’t Comics and Comics Experience; Strange Nation, from Monkeybrain Comics; and the self-published comics Orc Girl and Clockwork, the latter of which included Paul’s five-page story from their Comics Experience Introduction to Writing class!

On the work-for-hire side, Paul is perhaps best known for their extensive work in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles franchise for IDW Publishing, as well as the critically acclaimed 2019 relaunch of GI Joe.

Other properties Paul has worked on include Captain America, Iron Man, Guardians of the Galaxy and other Marvel characters; Star Trek; Mighty Morphin Power Rangers; King Kong; Godzilla; Clue; Samurai Jack; My Little Pony and others.

Since 2017, they have served in various capacities with Comics Experience. Paul is currently the Editorial Director of CEX Publishing, and teaches a number of introductory and advanced writing classes. You can follow them on Twitter at @PaulAllor.

Featured Work

I’m a total newbie, is that okay?

Of course that’s okay! We design our courses to start at start. If you need to have taken or learned something else first, we let you know that in our requirements tab. Our instructors, while very knowledgeable, are also very understanding and take the time to make sure you’ve got all the information you need! And if you ever run into a problem, you just let us know at info@comicsexperience.com and we’ll address it.

Do I need to know a whole lot about comics?

Absolutely not.

Do I need to be a computer wiz for the class?

Nope. Not one bit. Any of the tech stuff you’ll need to know, you can learn and we cover.

What computer programs do I need for this course?

Any writing software should work just fine. If taking Level II and submitting work for review, we prefer that files be handed in in Word or PDF format. But if you want to write using other software, that’s totally fine!

To enroll in Comics Writing: Writing for a Visual Medium, you will need:


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