Progression on the Woolly Wonderful comic plot

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I realised that it’s more than a year ago when I uploaded issue #1 of Woolly Wonderful. And maybe have too.

My original plan was to work the rest of the story out and jump on issue #2 soon after. In summer '24 I drew an illustration of Woolly on a rabbit to try a new page process to simplify and speed up my drawing. The drawing was uploaded in an earlier blog post.

In preparation for the plot creation I've read Lisa Cron's book Wired for Story which is indeed an excellent book and an inspiration when crafting a story. The book itself is a page-turner, high recommendation from me, though I am not affiliated with that link.

But not a lot of progress has been made I have to admit.



After working a long time digitally I felt the urge to finally draw with pencil and paper again. Which I did with my animal advent calendar and left me no time for working on Woolly.

At the beginning of this year I signed up to contribute to this year's WIP Comics anthology. Apart from moving into a new home this took up a lot of my time. The campaign meanwhile got funded, I am going to be a published comic artist by the end of the year. Almost unbelievable!

So where are we with the story?

If you have not read issue #1, go ahead and read it first, and then come back. You'll find it here: https://andi-pasti-art.blogspot.com/p/woolly-wonderful-issue-1.html

Ok? You've read it?

...


Super! By the end of the issue we know that

1. Woolly used to live with a girl in the past and misses her. 

2. He is powered by an integrated, rechargeable battery, but now runs out of energy.

3. The world around him is abandoned, as far as we can see there're no humans around. Electricity is sparse.

The second aspect introduces an interesting plot device which has been used often enough in successful movies, a ticking time bomb. It creates an urgency that produces tension and keeps you on the edge of your seat. Or keeps you turning pages in this case.

While drafting a story for my comic, I got a valuable tip weeks ago. 

Finish your story first before drawing your comic.

That might sound obvious but you wouldn't believe how many creators would make the story up while they're drawing. That leaves you as a creator and as an audience with some problems. As a creator you might fail to establish some setups, build ups in the main story's conflict to be resolved at the end satisfactory. 

If you don't know where you are going, all that happens is just "filler" but not catering to the story. As a creator you also might lose the finish line of your project entirely. Anyway....

There is help on the horizon! The "save the cat" book by Blake Snyder, or at least the very essence, the beat sheet: https://savethecat.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Tom-Gowen-STC-onesheet.jpg



My next actions:

  • I will use that sheet to set in the main plot points of the story. Obviously I can't share the whole sheet with you as it would spoil the story. But maybe this helps you with your comic too.
  • I am currently working on a small story arc and draw it out, to find my process again
Hope that was interesting, till next time!

Andi Pasti


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