Three: Sprites

You can't make a sprite comic without sprites. There are hundreds of thousands of sprites online that have been ripped or captured directly from the game they were in. These are good as bases and references. However, you should never just use the sprites as they are in the game, or recolor them. Using the unchanged sprites means you're using the characters from the games, whether you really want to or not. Remember, you're making a comic for the world to see, not for your own private amusement. Your readers will see the sprites and assume that they represent the game characters. If you use recolored sprites, the readers will know that they're recolors, and you'll be seen as lazy and uncreative.

Before you even think about making a sprite comic, you should be at least a decent spriter. If you can't completely scratch your own sprites, you should be able to make good edits. (I, personally, don't care if a sprite is scratch or edited, as long as it doesn't make my eyes hurt. All you have to do is make it look good.) If you try to make a sprite comic without first learning how to sprite, chances are you'll make some basic mistakes that wil make your comic look horrible, such as bad resizing of sprites or neon-bright colors.

One of the most common mistakes I've seen is bittage mixing. This is when sprites that appear as if they came from different games are used in the same comic. This looks bad, and really shouldn't be done. Pick a sprite style and stick with it.

Finally, when you make sprite sheets of your characters, try to sprite a few poses of everything you think they might be doing in the comic. Make multiple walking, running, and standing poses, with different arm and leg positions. People move. Having your sprites standing in the same position for four panels in a row is boring and unrealistic. Even if they don't move from that spot, they'll move their arms, or their head, or change their stance. Think ahead when you sheet your characters, and be prepared to make more poses as you make your comic. If you want to show your character doing something, sprite them doing that thing. Don't try to move it off-panel, or (worse) simply have them stand there and say that's what they're doing. (Contrary to popular belief, rotating a standing sprite 90 degrees does not make a lying down sprite. Not even if you move the head and shoulders off-panel.)

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