Anybody do webcomics?

[JDarkley]

Hi, me and my brother do a webcomic called Fanatic Gumbo. I'll post a link at the bottom for those interested in checking it out. Now the reason I'm starting this topic is because I intend to start an online community of of webcomic artists and writers. The intention for this community is so that a bunch of us can trade tips for writing, art and promotion as well as shamelessly plug each others work. Obviously we would all want people to see our work so I want to get a nice big fanbase going that this community would share. If you work on a webcomic go ahead and post a description of it and a link to it. Doesn't matter if you don't think that your comic is up to the level of Penny Arcade (buy hey, who is?) or if it's not a gamer comic. I would like to see a variety of genres, not just ones that are gaming themed. Also, I want this to be an exchange of constructive criticism, so no "LOL your comix suks!" comments, please. Otherwise, post freely and thanks for reading.

http://www.dotswoof.com/fanaticgumbo/comic.php?topicNum=382

 

[Trivun]

This could be seen as advertising, but to be honest, I don't really care much. Mainly because your join date and post count suggest you've been here for a while, if only lurking, and aren't just another shameless hack plugging their latest blog entry or Youtube video. And that sets you higher than the common advertisers, in my eyes. Just thought I'd warn you though, in case of mod wrath. And on that note, welcome to the Escapist! Just stay out of the basement, and have a nice day! Though the fridge is full at the moment, there was more meat on those orphans than I thought there would be, so I had to borrow someone else's shelf space...

Anyway, I have an idea for an ongoing webcomic that I want to do. However, I'm no good at art, and my idea needs a decent artistic style, not the likes of XKCD-style stick figures (which is all I'm good at). Being a writer at heart though, and a pretty damn good one too, if I can find an artist willing to help who can work to a deadline then I'd want to set up a collaboration, with me writing the comic and setting up and hosting the webpage, and someone else doing the artwork.

If anyone wants to help with that, then please let me know and I can send you the early drafts of of the first few strip scripts so I can see what your artwork is like...

 

[JDarkley]

About the advertising thing, I should say that I don't make any money off of my comic and I don't intend to make that much anyway (I do have realistic expectations as to making money through the internet). While I do want want the poster to promote their work, the main intention of this forum is to create an online community. I hope nobody has a problem with that.

As for an artist, you can try looking on Deviant Art.

 

[GiantRedButton]

http://www.dotswoof.com/fanaticgumbo/comic.php?topicNum=299 That comic is made of win
No, i dont make web comics, though they are the only form of comics i enjoy except for calvin and hobbes of course

 

[Trivun]

About the advertising thing, I should say that I don't make any money off of my comic and I don't intend to make that much anyway (I do have realistic expectations as to making money through the internet). While I do want want the poster to promote their work, the main intention of this forum is to create an online community. I hope nobody has a problem with that.

As for an artist, you can try looking on Deviant Art.

Fair enough, that's a pretty good point. As far as making money off it though, there are a few who have successfully made money from their works. Jeph Jaques, artist and writer of the awesome webcomic Questionable Content, actually quit his job and makes a living fulltime from the comic. He makes his money from both advertising on his site, and from sales of QC merchandise through some company called Topaco. His wife is pretty much the business manager and everything, that is how they earn a living, and to be honest, I can see why. If I had the funds to pay for shipping costs from the USA to good old Blighty, I'd be snapping up a few QC hoodies or t-shirts myself... And Looking For Group does pretty much the same thing. And I don't really need to mention Penny Arcade here, do I?

Overall, most webcomics will be smaller projects, like yours or my intended one. But there's always the potential, if you can find a good way of boosting traffic to your comic and getting the name out there, there's nothing stopping you and your brother from making a bit of cold hard cash from your webcomic .

EDIT: Forgot to mention, took a brief gander at your webcomic, OP, and suffice to say it's gone straight into my already large 'Webcomics' folder in my Favourites. Only the best get into that folder, so well done you

 

[Czargent Sane]

I plan to, if I ever become good at cartooning or manage to kidnap someone who is.

 

[Okuu_Fusion]

I'd love to make webcomics, but i can never seem to shorten my stories to the usual webcomic length

 

[Redlin5_v1legacy]

I considered starting one but then I remembered I can't draw...at all...

 

[JDarkley]

Reminds me of a story that I heard about writing. Back in the day Hollywood would hire writers to come on the set while they were shooting movies. Before the scene was shot, the director would hand the script to the writers that they hired (who usually weren't the same ones who wrote the screenplay) and asked them to see if they would rewrite it to make the scene better. The writers would look at the script, cross most of the lines out, and would spend the rest of the day smoking and playing cards.

To relate that to webcomics, you might have noticed that my earlier strips were four panels long. Those were okay (because my opinion is completely unbiased, right?), but sometimes they dragged the joke too long and some of the humor is lost as a result. My three panel strips have better pacing and thus the punchlines have more, umm, punch. I had to work on my writing to get that way, so it's not easy at first. Like anything else, it takes practice. Just look for what doesn't need to be there, and cut it out.

 

[martin's a madman]

Haha! I like your Comics, I don't have the slightest ability to draw.

 

[hazabaza1]

What game is this talking about?
http://www.dotswoof.com/fanaticgumbo/comic.php?topicNum=390

Anyway, I don't really find gaming webcomics funny, but I did try to make my own once on SmackJeeves or something. Didn't go well.

 

[Tartarga]

My friend and I draw a series of stick-man comics featuring us as the main characters which he has dubbed Poorly Drawn Comics. Some of them are actually pretty funny (from my point of view anyway) and for a while we thought of starting our own website but apparently that costs money so that dream went out the door pretty quickly.

 

[Trivun]

My friend and I draw a series of stick-man comics featuring us as the main characters which he has dubbed Poorly Drawn Comics. Some of them are actually pretty funny (from my point of view anyway) and for a while we thought of starting our own website but apparently that costs money so that dream went out the door pretty quickly.

Depends on where you go. I know someone on this site and Deviant Art, Archemitis here (Teh G-Man on DA) who does his own webcomic on DA. Pretty good stuff, and he's managed to get a website that's being worked on and built right now by a friend of his, and it doesn't cost him a thing. Some places do offer you the method to making your own free website, and some you have to pay for. You just need to shop around. If every single website in the world was paid for, then there'd be a lot fewer around, believe me. Not that anyone would notice, the internet being the size it is...

But yeah, if you want a free website to host your comic, just get in touch with Archemitis on here and ask him for some advice. I'm sure he'd be happy to point you in the right direction .