Hard Light Productions Forums
Off-Topic Discussion => Arts & Talents => Topic started by: Pyro MX on May 01, 2006, 08:33:28 pm
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Just for information there... just exploring the idea.
I have some questions here I would like to know about webcomics...
1) How much time in general does it take (like umm in a week)?
2) Do you have your whole story written from beginning to end?
3) What equipment do you use (like scanners, I dunno...)?
4) Is there a specific page format?
5) How many strips must be prepared before launching a comic?
6) Have you ever followed a drawing / comic class?
7) Does it permanently make your stress-o-meter go up?
So there... basically these are my questions. Just to know. I'm curious.
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You should PM Turnsky about this. Though I dont know how frequent his comics come out. There are many webcomics that aren't released on a regular schedule. A good idea would also to be emailing authors of comics you like.
I'm fairly certain the story is laid out ahead of time, or else you run the risk of running out of ideas of going on an odd tangent that you cannot escape from... but I wouldn't know. Comics is too much for me at the moment.
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You should PM Turnsky about this. Though I dont know how frequent his comics come out. There are many webcomics that aren't released on a regular schedule. A good idea would also to be emailing authors of comics you like.
I'm fairly certain the story is laid out ahead of time, or else you run the risk of running out of ideas of going on an odd tangent that you cannot escape from... but I wouldn't know. Comics is too much for me at the moment.
1) how much time per week?.. it depends on what you want to put into it, for me, i can pull off.... four comics a week, possibly five if i push it, two comics per piece of paper, 10 hours between blank page, and photoshopped wonderment.
2) some have it scripted from the get-go, i do foxfire by the seat of my pants, as it were
3) a scanner, or drawing tablet (a mouse if you're devilishly good) and any photo editing proggy, Photoshop, the gimp, etc, etc.
4) generally anything that'll fit neatly in a webpage, i'd suggest veering very far away from infinite canvas (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infinite_canvas), but that's just my opinion.
5) one, two, twenty thousand, doesn't matter, as long as you have an update script running (comic genesis has one), you should be alright.
6) me?.. no, some have, some haven't, others, you can definitely tell that they haven't put pencil to paper before in their life.
7) it depends if you get stressed out easy, i don't, i actually enjoy making comics, and get jittery when i don't make a comic..
as edison said once, before you invent a lightbulb, one must figure out how NOT to make a lightbulb, and hence
http://hownottorunacomic.comicgenesis.com/
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... get jittery when i don't make a comic..
Addict. :p
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... get jittery when i don't make a comic..
Addict. :p
and my fans appreciate it.
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... get jittery when i don't make a comic..
Addict. :p
and my fans appreciate it.
Indeed.
From what I know, having a good webhost helps too. Comicgenesis is one good spot, and there are a few others I think. :)
One of these days, I'll figure out how to use DoGA CGA and make one of my own, maybe like Equinox center or somethin. :drevil:
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Well, that quite answers my question, thanks! :) :yes:
But hey if there are other comic artists here that want to answer, go ahead eh! Not all people have the same techniques.
That said, I might come up with more questions if I have.
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You may want to PM Ransom Arceihn about this as well.
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For the record, Scott Mcloud is an asinine moron. Don't listen to him.
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For the record, Scott Mcloud is an asinine moron. Don't listen to him.
might well be, for the record, my opinions on infinite canvas is this:
1) it is the hieght of laziness if you can't even be bothered arranging your panels correctly.
2) it may well be creative, but creativity blooms when constrained within a particular size
3) proper web design pretty much makes infinite canvas look even more crappy than it is
4) nobody, and i mean NOBODY likes to horizontal scroll for got knows how long following a line, it's a comic, not a maze!
5) it doesn't matter what the "pros" (read: scott and his ilk) think about infinite canvas, it's the fact that you're not gonna have many fans with your panels of dry humor(or lack thereof) going all over the place.
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For the record, Scott Mcloud is an asinine moron. Don't listen to him.
might well be, for the record, my opinions on infinite canvas is this:
1) it is the hieght of laziness if you can't even be bothered arranging your panels correctly.
2) it may well be creative, but creativity blooms when constrained within a particular size
3) proper web design pretty much makes infinite canvas look even more crappy than it is
4) nobody, and i mean NOBODY likes to horizontal scroll for got knows how long following a line, it's a comic, not a maze!
5) it doesn't matter what the "pros" (read: scott and his ilk) think about infinite canvas, it's the fact that you're not gonna have many fans with your panels of dry humor(or lack thereof) going all over the place.
Don't worry too much on that matter - it's not like I was going to start a webcomic tomorrow lol! I fnd the infinite canvas idea interesting. But, like Turnsky said above, nobody likes to horizontal scroll and just having a big page doesn't make a comic cool. That said, gone drawing a bit. I might come up with some concepts someday if I find the time to lol (it's the end of the semester right now so work is everywhere!)
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ironically, you asking me if i've ever done scripting, i've begun a little bit of scripting myself, to do with my comic. :nervous:
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You started scripting for you comic or you just started now?
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something else, not entirely related to the comic, it's more like "i'm gonna put this down so i don't forget" more than anything else.
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Ah ok!
*Hopes for FFC: The Animated Series* :D
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Ah ok!
*Hopes for FFC: The Animated Series* :D
not that kinda script :p
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Okay then! :lol:
Anyway...what's the price of a fairly good (not the best of the best) drawing tablet? (Not that I don't like the mouse, but I tryed a table a couple of times and I found it nice)
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Okay then! :lol:
Anyway...what's the price of a fairly good (not the best of the best) drawing tablet? (Not that I don't like the mouse, but I tryed a table a couple of times and I found it nice)
best i can do, get one that's the right size for you, tho, if they're too large, they can be more trouble than anything.
note: in aussie dollars
http://www.techbuy.com.au/searchcat/POINTINGDEVICES_GRAPHICS_TABLETS.asp
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Geeeez these things aren't cheap! :eek2: (Looked at the Wacom Intuos3 4x5, I think that Wacom does good tablets) It would cost me 256.18$ CAN. Better think about it before buying one. We have some tablets at school I should try them more often.
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here we go, something a bit more closer to home: http://www.newegg.com/ProductSort/SubCategory.asp?SubCategory=296
on a side note, one of the hardest things to develop with a webcomic (aside from a website :P ) is a fanbase, mine's easy , people seem to love it, and note, there is no such thing as bad publicity on the internet, if your URL is out there, even in a negative light, it's free advertising. ;)
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on a side note, one of the hardest things to develop with a webcomic (aside from a website :P ) is a fanbase, mine's easy , people seem to love it, and note, there is no such thing as bad publicity on the internet, if your URL is out there, even in a negative light, it's free advertising. ;)
Hardest thing to develope with any art form is a fanbase. I, personally, have about 50 people looking at my work, that I am aware of atleast. It's not much, but it makes me happy.
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I don't know how many ppl watch my work... I do know tho that there's not many. Since my website isn't updated often it doesn't help. (Scanner still down)
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I used to co-author a webcomic.
1) How much time in general does it take (like umm in a week)?
We tended to take as much as it took to do the strip, sometimes ten minutes, sometimes three hours. It depends what you're doing and how many times you feel you need to redo it. Heh.
2) Do you have your whole story written from beginning to end?
We worked on a per-gag per-strip basis with small pockets of ongoing story.
If your comic does have a difinitive end, then it would be a good idea to at least have SOME small inclination of how it will turn out at the end, it will help to not drive your comic into a hole and give it some direction.
3) What equipment do you use (like scanners, I dunno...)?
We did from-scratch pixel art done in Graphics Gale.
4) Is there a specific page format?
No.
5) How many strips must be prepared before launching a comic?
However many you feel.
6) Have you ever followed a drawing / comic class?
Nope.
7) Does it permanently make your stress-o-meter go up?
If you let it.
Some of these questions are quite worrying. You should only ever, ever do a webcomic if you enjoy it. You should do it how you want to, when you want to. It's your comic and relying on other people is no way to do things.
Sitting up one day and thinking "Damn I'ld like to do a webcomic. I wonder how everyone else does it." Is not a very good train of thought, if you want to tell a story and feel like the only suitable way to do it is through the medium of webcomic, then that's the best way. Don't follow anyone else, follow yourself.
For instance, we created three brilliant characters for something completely different, we fleshed them out and thought of some pretty cool stuff they could do, we found them funny and enjoyable and wanted to share them with the world. At first we were doing a single Flash video, but eventually we decided a webcomic instead.
As for fanbase, we had about three, haha. We went on because we liked doing it and only stopped because we felt the well of fun had run dry, ideas were few and far between. You can be sure that doing a story-based comic is much easier to write than a pure gag-based one.
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Well, I never done any comic before. I'm thinking a lot about wether I should do it or not for many reasons, and it's not because I wouldn't like to do a webcomic.
A) I have a whole story written. From the beginning to end. I started translating it a while ago, and the feedback was close to none (from what I remember). Maybe it's because the story wasn't good or that is was badly translated, or maybe I didn't post enough of it (because I didn't post it completely), I don't know.
B) I do draw, and I think I am going well. But I didn't show my most recents works now.
C) <The biggest point here. What time I have to do one. That I am not very sure. Lots of projects at school and some personnal.
I don't really want to "follow" a particullar method of working, but tips from good artists are always helpful.
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You have a website?
Dude, link to it in your sig. ;)
Look at any comic strip, go back to the first one they posted, and compare to the latest one. After a few months of doing it, skills grow and get better as you learn better techniques, grow acustomed to old ones. :)
Like they say practice makes perfect... or was it perfect practice makes perfect. :p
Keep at it! :D
:yes:
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I do have a website, but it's been a while since I updated it (when you're out of scanner, it's tough to update your works...) and it's being redesigned too. Se here's the links.
http://pmxa.spouing.com (http://pmxa.spouing.com)
http://pmxa.spouing.com/test.html (http://pmxa.spouing.com/test.html) (New interface test page. Not definitive, just a test)
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:lol:
I can't read it! :p
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Umm unless my english is un-readable, my website is written like this: French parapgraph, then the english paragraph :nervous:
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Fench
Well no wonder he can't read it. :p
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*sigh*
Fixed lol :lol:
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:lol:
I just realised I didn't read the 2nd paragraphs... :p
I was pretty tired at the time though. :p LoLs.