Why You Want to Start with a Panel
Writing a Script for Comics
When I write comics, I don’t start with dialogue—I start with the panel. Each panel is a frozen moment in time, and the choices I make about what to show shape the entire story. It’s a visual medium first, so I think like a director: What angle tells the story best? What reaction matters most? What image will land with the most impact?
This approach helps me build pacing and emotion into the page before I ever write a single line of dialogue. By focusing on visual storytelling, I make sure the art does the heavy lifting. A character’s slumped shoulders, a looming shadow, or a sudden cut to silence can often say more than a page of exposition. The goal is to guide the reader’s eye and let them feel the story, not just read it.
This mindset has completely changed how I approach writing—not just for comics, but across the board. It’s helped me write tighter scripts, work better with artists, and even sharpen my sense of story beats. If you’re writing comics (or thinking about it), I highly recommend starting with the panel. Ask yourself: “What do I need the reader to see?” Then build from there.
Letting the visuals lead creates a more immersive experience—and the less you rely on dialogue to explain everything, the more powerful your story becomes. Comics are about collaboration between image and word, and the magic happens when you let those elements dance.
Speaking of writing for comics, we have a lot of stuff coming in the pipeline. One big project of ours, which has been announced already, is our brand new Smokey Bear Comic. This comic will be the first Smokey comic published in over 50 years. And we have a great crew working on this one. Here’s a look at the process from Script to Page.
Take a look at the image of the script, and then the sketch page, along with the finished colors. You will see, that we reference some reference images (always something you want to do if you’re looking for something in particular) and then look at the focus not only on the dialogue, but of the descriptions of the panels.
We are on our last days of TWO excellent Kickstarter campaigns.
Amazon Women of Inner Earth (Ends Tomorrow)
Check out our newest comic! A thrilling tale of Amazon warriors living underground for thousands of years.
And our Drenverse Trilogy of Novels (End Thursday)
Three new standalone novels set in the Drenverse that can be read on their own, but connect in subtle ways leading to a richer experience reading all three.
Check them both out!
Dren has some other stuff coming down the pipeline. Take a look as what we have coming down the pipeline next.
Keep looking for these coming up!
Thanks all!
STAY AWESOME!!!