How's Your Webcomic? #354

You've got a webcomic, right? Post about it here. Share WIPs, pages, drawings, scripts, whatever. Get comments and critique.

Other urls found in this thread:

myscriptfont.com/
artists.pixelovely.com/practice-tools/figure-drawing/
quickposes.com/pages/timed
senshistock.deviantart.com/gallery/
shutterstock.com/
pinterest.com/characterdesigh/
tumblr.com/theme/39018
pastebin.com/kNR2W5mV
docs.google.com/document/d/1uwfOSHXfrgvcf--PkPz9jXL6p5RqIsrYvXYwgQpgT3k/edit#
youtube.com/watch?v=5xPvvPTQaMI
courses.cs.washington.edu/courses/cse456/07su/administrative/invisible_ink_part_1.pdf
courses.cs.washington.edu/courses/cse456/07su/administrative/invisible_ink_part_2.pdf
courses.cs.washington.edu/courses/cse456/07su/administrative/invisible_ink_part_3.pdf
chrisoatley.com/category/podcasts/
web.archive.org/web/20140625035030/http://paperwingspodcast.com/
blambot.com/
cienciasecognicao.org/rotas/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Robert-McKee-Story.pdf
miss-melee.tumblr.com/post/143483233951/
mediafire.com/folder/9pf1nwwa92lbp/Comics_for_making_Comics
youtube.com/results?search_query=how to draw comics
ggz.thecomicseries.com/
cultcontrol.tumblr.com
twitter.com/SFWRedditGifs

Scrub Authors GOODIE Bag
Here’s a short list of sites that any new webcomic artist or writer will find handy:
>*-Struggling to find that perfect FONT? Create your own using this link;
myscriptfont.com/

>*-Don’t forget to brush up on that ANATOMY:
artists.pixelovely.com/practice-tools/figure-drawing/
quickposes.com/pages/timed

>*-What’s a list without some reference STOCK IMAGES?
People: senshistock.deviantart.com/gallery/
Scenery: shutterstock.com/

>*-Here's a big fat compilation of CHARACTER DESIGN REFERENCE:
pinterest.com/characterdesigh/ (surprisingly not a typo)

>Links to get a rough WEBSITE started up:
Easy to use tumblr webcomic theme: tumblr.com/theme/39018
Do’s and Don’ts for starting a site: pastebin.com/kNR2W5mV
>Contact sheet if anyone wants to put information down, like their site and webcomic:
docs.google.com/document/d/1uwfOSHXfrgvcf--PkPz9jXL6p5RqIsrYvXYwgQpgT3k/edit#

>DISCORD CHAT going on,
Ask for an invite in the thread.

>Wise words from John Cleese:
youtube.com/watch?v=5xPvvPTQaMI

>Invisible Ink:
courses.cs.washington.edu/courses/cse456/07su/administrative/invisible_ink_part_1.pdf
courses.cs.washington.edu/courses/cse456/07su/administrative/invisible_ink_part_2.pdf
courses.cs.washington.edu/courses/cse456/07su/administrative/invisible_ink_part_3.pdf

>Paper Wings
chrisoatley.com/category/podcasts/
web.archive.org/web/20140625035030/http://paperwingspodcast.com/

>Fonts for your webcomic on Blambot:
blambot.com/

>Writing Resources:
cienciasecognicao.org/rotas/wp-content/uploads/2013/12/Robert-McKee-Story.pdf

>Guide to promoting your comic:
miss-melee.tumblr.com/post/143483233951/

>Comics for makin' comics!
mediafire.com/folder/9pf1nwwa92lbp/Comics_for_making_Comics

youtube.com/results?search_query=how to draw comics

previous thread

Working on animating these monitors. Heres a heavily compressed gif.

nice

reminds me of invader zim

help with design pls

dude I was like 80-90% with you before, but this is starting to look really awesome

he looks alright to me! more beard would be welcome and appropriate for that outfit

guys im using the simple tumblr webcomic theme

but i have a problem, the "next" "previous" and random buttons only show up at the bottom

and i would like to have them above my comic page below my header

how do i change it i tought it would be like that by default but only get buttons at the bottom

He honestly looks pretty cute right now, though a little short. How old is he supposed to be? I think you could make the color of his pants duller, either make them dark grey/black or washed out blue.

he's supposed to be young though

Too white.

It's a little hard to tell that he's supposed to be young by how broad his shoulders look, and how he seems to have a stocky build. Perhaps you could try to round out his features a little, give him fuller cheeks, maybe a fluffier/swooshier cape too.

how young? I had a pretty good beard when I was 14

you mean like stubble or beard beard?

Messing with the code.

You have to locate the code that represents those elements and the image in the of the page.

Once you do that, you must move the code of the first above the image.

I was thinking just a little chin fur, kinda like doublepines' dipper. this guy looks lumberjacky.

>swooshier cape
you mean like a lighter cape?

so it is just as i tought

any clue on how it should look or how many lines long it should be?

Awww, thanks. I'm really trying to make something genuinely good.

Well not lighter, but looser. Something oversized and baggy could help emphasize your character's small stature/young age.

Well, this coding for my site is beyond me.

I have to edit a plugin to get it to do what I want. I'm going to have to skip it and move on until I learn more coding language. I may be able to find a work around.

Blah Blah Blah. Can't complain to much. Fixed a number of other small things with my site.

he isn't really supposed to be small, just young, like 19-21 yrs old

Ah, okay. By young I was thinking ~12, ignore everything I've said then. His character designs looks pretty good as-is, then.

Lots of yelling in this chapter.

(Bonus points for anyone who correctly guesses the actor we based the guy behind the desk on)

Very nice

got so much stuff written down, good thing 90% of what you come up with never makes it on the page

great i located the code for the next, previous and random buttons


but now i don't know where to put them so they appear right above my comic page

try right in front of the code for the comic page

how does the code for the comic page look like?

youre the one coding it
ctrl-f 'img' or something

Maybe someone here could help me find some reference materials. Basically the start of Esper Girl Oko has the titular character in handcuffs as she's being detained by an analog of Interpol, so they're briefing her to determine what kind of threat she is to the world with the potential of being "removed from the chess board"

I need references as to what backgrounds i should use and what I can do to make the first few pages hook the reader in.

hmmm, doesn't Zenigata work for Interpol? maybe some Lupin episodes will have appropriate backgrounds to reference

I'd have to find a scene where Lupin has been arrested and is being questioned by him. The Interviewer is named Rojo and for simplicity sake he's a red-haired Agent Smith from Matrix

ahh so specifically a detention-y area
the only scenes like that I can think of are in some episodes of Venture Bros when they're being questioned

ah, the infamous Cleaner seen, that helps.

The more references the better though

Yay i managed to put the code for the buttons in the right place

but now if i use the alternative layout the sidebar gets fucked

eh whatever i'll use the normal layout

Ok, so tone is something I need to focus on. She's in deep shit and she knows it, all she can do is tell the truth and it might not be enough to save her skin, but she doesn't regret anything (almost) about what she did that put her in those cuffs.

So i'm curious about what I can do to keep that tone going

Gonna bump this on up

like this?

i liked the first one better


i don't know what those anons were saying for me it looked like a young guy

Making desert region guy in generic fantasy Europe. They wear a lot of layers because, to them, it's fucking cold there.

Which of these designs is best? I'm leaning to far right at the moment.

This actually belongs in a batman/donut thread but there isn't one up and I'm not about to make a new one just for this.

yeah that works great. this guy looks like a guy I'd hang out with and maybe we'd beat up monsters together. minor monsters, around 60-80 pounds.

interesting concept, the heatproof desert layers being thicker so they're more for insulation. i wonder, if they find the desert DAYS cold, how deadly are desert nights to them?
Use all of them, for different people, so the culture isn't all wearing the same outfit. but for the main guy... yeah either middle or far right, depending on how much he has to use his arms in action scenes.
not sure what you're looking for here

I mean they're from the desert and currently in generic fantasy setting, so roughly Norway and such.

oh i see, i read that wrong.
okay then the furs are the best because logically they havent had time to make custom-tailored garments suitable for the weather.. so realistically they would buy local clothing and look like brown norwegians, but for visual distinciton let's stick with furs. especially furs of norwegian animals as opposed to them having carried desert-animal furs all this way

Newest Kevin page.
I know it's a bit weird and seems out of place, but I'll explain what's happening soon enough.

makes sense to me, you're showing us some backstory

I love preppy bitch villains. I've been listening to Popular and Candy Store as I've been working on my comic, which is a completely different genre.

Updating once a week seems to have been a pretty good decision so far, I managed to sketch out my next 4 pages and get one of them inked, so I have at least a semblance of a buffer now.

Also I recently reread/caught up on Ava's Demon and remembered how damn good the art was in that. It made me want to brush up on my own digital painting skills a little, so here's my attempt at a portrait.

great stuff. I need to brush up on that too.
hehehe brush up i get it

working on a new page of GGZ

um... what happened to the last thread?

The painting itself looks good, the only critiques I'd have would be to move the eye closer to the ear and move the nose and mouth up a bit. This is a rough version of what I mean.

not the artist, i knew something was bothering me! and.. actually a lot of HSM's characters seem to have really close-set eyes and low nose/mouths.

user who posted the edit, I notice a tendency towards long, narrow faces too. This can definitely be a stylistic thing, but this particular piece is realistic enough that having the eye so close to the nose makes the face look deformed.

Shame drove everyone away.
Just like this one.

Oh, thanks for the correction! That eye placement looks a lot better now that I look at it, it never occurred to me that I was drawing them too close. The low nose/mouth is semi-intentional, but she does look much nice with more realistic proportions here.

Question, are the proportions off-putting? I've been trying to make my characters faces look better since they were kinda wonky last chapter, and I'm still in the phase of finding face designs that work.

Do you mean in the character drawings I've posted here? I've been drawing lots of long faces lately because I'm predisposed to draw round faces. Pretty much all the characters I already had designed have round faces. I'm still trying to find a way to give my cast varied faces while still making them fit in with the look of the rest of the world, so any advice would be appreciated.

it's a tiny bit offputting but the only real issue is how it's almost everyone. Like, laserwing has a lot of faces like that too (and a lot of them on girls, which exascerbates the problem), but there's also rounder-faced people too, for variety. now granted your comic has only just started so it only has a few people, but.. there's a definite trend, and you're about to introduce this sphinx lady whose face is even longer, and she's a feline sort so that's the last thing you'd expect (as opposed to, say, a llama woman.. which would be cute and why the fuck isnt that a thing)

its finished, see it on the website:
*Website: ggz.thecomicseries.com/

i couldnt post the page because i keep getting this weird captcha error: "Error: Your image contains an embedded file."

?

what do you mean?

No problem. It can be hard to strike a balance between your style and what people actually look like in semi-realism, which is why it's always good to do studies of real people and give yourself basic guidelines before you draw in the features. For you I'd also keep in mind that the eye appears to get farther away from the nose as a person turns their head, so even if her eye is that close to her nose in front view, it shouldn't be in 3/4 view.

>Do you mean the character drawings I've posted here?
Yeah, and your comic pages. Your characters do have varying facial features and face shapes, but overall they seem to stick to a bit of a formula where the eyes are big and close together, the nose is long, and the mouth is fairly close to the chin. This isn't terrible because it makes your art recognizable and your characters are distinct enough to be more than just recolours but if it's not what you're going for I'd try experimenting with facial features more, like making eyes really small or far apart or having a really squished face.

I see what you mean. Mildew was originally intended to have a very round face in my original sketches/pages but it got longer as the comic progressed. I've been trying to push it back in the opposite direction, but I think I'll try to go a little further just to differentiate her face a little more.

Sphinx lady actually isn't showing up for at least a few more chapters. I was rather pleased with her face as-is but I'll see what I can do to make her more cattish. I thought a long face might fit because I was trying to make her resemble a lioness/cougar rather than a house cat.

Lastly, could I get some thoughts on these two character's faces? They're gonna be showing up soon, fairy girl is going to pop up ~7 pages. I guess they're an example of some characters I have with rounder faces, but do they look too samey right now?

>fairy girl
>girl
did not catch that

I like the imp?

yeah it's totally interesting. none of it's BAD exactly. it's your style.
It just means that, when it comes to accidentally overdoing it, you have no wiggle-room. a hair too far and you've curdled the milk.
the fairy is cute byt i'd smallen her nose, A just to make her more unique and B to make her more pixielike (and her figure is already pretty solid and masculine, unless that's what you were going for) plus make sure to enlarge that cranium, it's on the small side. but I super dig her cute boots and her awesome arms. If you were trying for a 'cute pigtail' hairstyle, you want to remember the 90-degree angle rule that governs everyone from mickey mouse's ears to sailor moon's odango
the grumpy goblin there is fucking awesome and is my favorite character.

should have added:
if, instead, you were going for 'bug antennae' pigtails then you did just right and keep them that way.
by the way just going to edit something here, not to 'fix' but just to show you what jumps out to my eye. I wonder if perhaps the close-eyes thing is because you (quite rightfully) use the nosebridge as a guide for the far eye in a face that's turned to the side, but maybe follow that guide a little closely.

Dude the right one looks so bad

It's been like 6 months since I last did proper face studies, I need to get to doing those again. Thanks for the advice.

As for faces, I'm trying to go for a pseudo-anime-ish style. Big eyes are pretty much a given, but I've been giving my characters large noses to try to stay out of the "animu" zone. I'll definitely try to make the noses/mouths higher up and the eyes further apart.
My goal is basically to have my characters' faces be diverse and recognizable from one another, but still work as cutsey attractive animu-esque faces. I pretty much want to do Mogeko character designs with Fullmetal Alchemist facial diversity.

Okay, thanks. So would you mean something like this?
And yeah, her pigtails are antennae and they're expressive, so I don't want to have them frozen in one position all the time.

I would like this post

agreed, but you get my point, right? more forehead, more cranium, less chin... is just what occurs to me. Not an absolute 'must'
yeah like that. Maybe a little more cranium still, but this IS a tall lanky girl, right? so she doesn't have to look super petite like the typical julia roberts fairy. She already has a lot of personality and that's great. the impression I get is a really energetic girl, maybe a mako mankanshoku sort.

Let's not forget that hair sticks out somewhat from the skull. What about this?

not to overwhelm you with suggestions, but a rule I always think of is "where would a moustache go, if they had a moustache?" and it keeps me from making upper lips too large. Of course lots of great artists violate that all the time, to great effect, including Monkey-sensei and good ol' Miyazaki, but it keeps you thinking about a skull and the distance from the nose bone to the teeth to the bottom of the mandible

The worst part about hiatuses is that everyone forgets who you are.

i forgot your name and the comic's name, and what the comic is about, but I didn't forget you!
your art is actually visibly better since the last time I paid it attention, so don't think for a second your hiatus made you rusty

Ah, thanks! The comic's name is Cult Control, but I've hesitated to share it's site since I made the beginner's mistake of writing the basic steps of the chapter without thinking about the details. This results in the comic so far being somewhat lopsided with uneven pacing, but lucky each chapter is only loosely connected, so I'll be able to make a fresh start eventually

I'd bookmark it now if you did share it. also, good name.

cultcontrol.tumblr.com
Still a work in progress
Bad part about the name is that you can't Google it, it returns bike results for some reason

>when your creation lives in the shadow of a bicycle

I know that each case is different but there is a chart or a general estimate for analyzing the "success" of a webcomics?
X follower in Y months = good result or average, bad better stop, etc.

if it does not exist we could try to create it with our experiences / observations etc.

If it could be boiled down to a simple formula, more people would have successful comics.

Probably the number one thing for having a successful comic is something that can no longer be achieved and that's "Being one of the first ones to do it."

Many of the most popular webcomics right now were ones that started in the late 90's/early 2000s. They got popular and successful because they were the first ones doing it. Most, if not all of these comics are really not even that good in retrospect, but it was something no one else was doing at the time.

Now, webcomics are a dime a dozen, and you really, REALLY have to do something to make yourself stand out.

Probably the first and most obvious thing is if you have a really good, unique, or otherwise attractive art style. Most of the time, people probably aren't going to even bother looking if you have a really shitty looking comic, or a bland, uninteresting style.

Then once you get people in, you have to have the hook to keep them, and that's good writing, or at least a coherent story and/or interesting characters.

But that's why I say there's no real formula, because sometimes even really nice looking comics with great stories go unnoticed. Sometimes the subject matter at hand just isn't very interesting on the whole, so it gets passed over by most people, so your subject matter and how you execute that also plays a big part.

You really can never tell. Sometimes the weird, seemingly uninteresting comics get a big following.

It also helps to be a pretty personable author. Interacting with your community/fans/followers, and not being a gigantic holier-than-thou douche will do you a lot of favors too.

Bamp

i think you missed the point there, they were asking if there was a way to measure success not how to become successful
good advice though

I have 4.6k followers on social media. a month ago I had 400.
How?

I want to ask for a link so I can see what your doing right...but I know your gonna be a fag and say no

Nice, iv always felt your style would appeal to people that's why I never criticize it even though it's not exactly my cup of tea, keep it up brother. can I ask what you THINK has helped with the stream of followers lately?

So I was thinking about making the comic in these four panel formats.

Thing is, A) I don't know the best file size and resolution for comics like this, B) I don't know if people would like it like this and C) I don't know whether or not to have panel borders, seems somewhat intrusive

what do you guys think, here's a draft for the first page, is this format good?

the only reason to measure something so numerically would be to try to replicate it mathematically

Sure. But it makes no sense to me.
I posted some preview pages- about a month ago. That's it. I get between 150-200 new people a day. I try to post every few days, now.
It was at 1k before I noticed the gain, though, so I don't really know what set it off.
If freaks me out.

4-panel format is good.
file size is irrelevant. make the resolution at least 2500 pixels wide while working on it, ideally 3000+
when you're done, shrink it to 1000 pixels wide.
definitely have panel borders, they're not intrusive, they delineate the panels. it's impossible to read without them
of course people will like it, they have no choice

I agree with though there are a few things I'd like to add.
Yes, webcomics that started in the early years of the internet still have a massive amount of readers. People who've been sticking around for more than 10 years or so.
However, there a few other things that can determine why a comic does good or bad, apart from the artwork.
For example; Text. Huge texts on pages, long sentences or the usage of too many (difficult) words in one speech bubble. This can cause a reader to loose interest because it's just 'too much'. Especially when not knowing what the story is about, and having to read endless explanations is something that personally turns me off.
Paneling/layouts can also be an issue. If there are too many panels on a page, or if the paneling is badly aligned, a page can look messy and confusing. Panels should guide the reader through a page, and if a page is leading the reader everywhere except the right direction, it gets confusing to understand. If a comic has issues with either the text and the paneling, it can give off a very displeasing look and feel, and it won't be very attracting to read.

There're a few reasons as to why I guess
>Buying followers
>A bigshot who put you in a spotlight or reblogged/mentioned your stuff
>Actually having a comic that's interesting enough to a lot of people
>Your drawing style is something that's popular right now and you're pulling it off very well
>You interact a lot online and lead people to your comic in some way

I've come up with the idea of a "suffering midwife" type of character for my comic, women forced to lug around giant bags of breast milk for the newborns they watch over, but I worry if I don't play my cards right it could go from dark and tragic world building to 2edgy, any of you guys have thoughts on the topic of avoiding edge shit while exploring a dark setting?

>make the resolution at least 2500 pixels wide while working on it, ideally 3000+
>when you're done, shrink it to 1000 pixels wide.
Why?
I really don't know much about this sort of thing

I haven't bought any followers (how do?) and I am pretty quiet online, really. I spend most my time drawing and reading.

Read some Dickens, or listen to audio books while you draw. 19th century London is as dark as it gets, but Dickens never shows any edge, really. He also remembers that there are decent and terrible people to be found in all walks of life. That last point is key. Kindness exists everywhere, even in hell.

Just wanted to let the dude who wrote the "dos and don'ts for setting up a website" know how astoundingly autistic he is.
What's this fixation with two-step verification, cloud, phones?

Holy shit, dude. Half of your guide is about how to create an e-mail account, not a website.

The only other option is that you're a witch.

Burn the heretic.

Why is this little ass kid walking around with that fucking pillow

because if you try working smaller than that, your lines will look shitty and it'll be really hard to do a good job. you'll be in this limbo between pixel art and good lineart, and all your mistakes will be glaring
and because the display size is limited on people's monitors. shrinking it down hides a lot of your rough edges

that sounds interesting and practical.
All your questions rely on what the context is in your comic

Asking the important questions

From what I've experienced, 2 step verification is worth it and only takes you like 5 minutes, but a lot of the other stuff isn't necessary.