Hey Sup Forums, what do you think about current webcomic trends...

Hey Sup Forums, what do you think about current webcomic trends? I'm asking cause I notice for a key couple of popular webcomics a lot of people tend to be very critical when they go south (paranatural, homestuck, etc) so I want to see if that extends to webcomics more collectively.

What do you like? What do you not like? What do you wish there'd be more of, aesthetically and storywise?

What do you think are the biggest missteps webcomic authors fall into, and what do you wish they'd do instead?

Other urls found in this thread:

patreon.com/starpower
manga.clone-army.org)
comicfury.com/profile.php?username=view)
kiwisbymirror.rf.gd
twitter.com/AnonBabble

>What do you think are the biggest missteps webcomic authors fall into
Poor planning.

That is, the worst thing most webcomics do is not have any clear idea of what they plan on doing, and are unable to modify their design once they set up some plans. Some comics are designed for weekly jokes, and trying to turn it into a plot-driven series frequently turns out terrible because they just think it is the same style writing. Similarly, some writers seem to want to make a plot-driven comic, but insist on making everything about weekly jokes and drawing everything out "just because that's what comics do." (generally referring either to other webcomics, or just cape comics)

>What do you think are the biggest missteps webcomic authors fall into, and what do you wish they'd do instead?
Regularity and planning. Hiatuses, irregular updates and a story that is obviously being written with no forward thinking are surefire ways to tank popularity.

Name ONE good *finished* webcomic.

Name ONE

Brawl in the Family

That's a large part of the problem right there - any good story has a beginning, a middle and and end, and most webcomic writers just go on and on and on aimlessly with no thought or direction, using it as a cash cow until they eventually just sort of fade out. Questionable Content, Penny Arcade and MegaTokyo (remember that? Yeah) are 3 of the biggest offenders in this area.

Ozzy & Millie

8-bit Theater

Dominic Deegan.
Here is the guys Patreon.
patreon.com/starpower

Honestly I foresee the current popular webcomics like Ava's Demon, Paranatural and Poppy going in the same direction. Not to mention crap like Prequel that's been on hiatus longer than it has been updating.

Digger
A Redtail's Dream
Anders Loves Maria
Rice Boy and Order of Tales
Annarasumanra

>MegaTokyo (remember that? Yeah)
I actually backed the VN Kickstarter.
They're finally getting around to working on it. I've not checked up on it because I wanted to actually catch up with what was going on in the comic recently.

...Yeah. That's why I'm not up to date on the project at the moment. Nowhere near close to completion, if you were wondering and even remembered that was a thing.

>Hiatuses, irregular updates
A lot of this just boils down to planning, focus, and as said, knowing when to wrap things up. When authors run out of ideas is when they start delaying updates, and a lot just assume that any sort of comic "must" be continuously running for 50 years, so rather than just wrap things up they instead hiatus for months, release a handful of updates, and hiatus again when they're out of ideas again.

I feel like hiatuses and irregular updates can be forgiven if the comic is good enough. It's not a webcomic but Berserk has the same issues regarding hiatuses and irregular releases and it's so good most of the time that people will forgive Miura eventually.

Not having a clear plan for the story though is a massive red flag. If you can't work out the beginning, middle and ending of your story before you set out to make a comic about it, don't bother.

>Penny Arcade
PA never had a story though. They've always been and always will be a gag a week comic.

Big difference; Berserk is a manga.

Is there a webcomic out there on the level of Berserk? Of course not. It wouldn't be a webcomic.

Dominic Deegan is finished?

Dominic Deegan was good?

>Is there a webcomic out there on the level of Berserk? Of course not. It wouldn't be a webcomic.
Depends on what you mean by "on the level of", but I think Kill Six Billion Demons comes close.

KSBD is funny though because it is also now a published comic.

I'm really happy for him now honestly. He and I used to browse a lot of the same forums and he'd post his art there. I'm glad he's actually going somewhere with it now and is making a living off it.

look, now you're just making me think of what KSBD would look like if it were illustrated by Kentario Miura.

I am too, even if KSBD personally doesn't do it for me writing-wise. His art skill is phenomenal though.

Exploitation Now.
Kid Radd
Queen of Wands
Checkerboard Nightmare
Starslip Crisis
Mac Hall
8 Bit Theater

If someone started a webcomic now, told you it was gonna be say 120 pages or something. It'd run for a year (1 page every 3 days) and it'd have an ending, be ostly story focuses, no gag a day. Would simply alone that be enough to gain it an audience? I mean, lets assume it's not awful. Not amazing, but not absolute shite. Do you think the author could run a patreon or something and kickstart the book at the end of the year and actually put out a book at the end?

hard mode: It's black and white

Holy shit that's horrifying.

How the fuck can a turtle JUMP?

IT BARELY GOT ANY KNEES

What is color easier?

You would be far better off making the comic, attracting an audience, then trying to Kickstart a publishing run. Nobody is going to hop onto a Patreon for you without your art being amazing or with you already having a good name for yourself. If you can build up a good audience, then you might be able to interest them in buying a physical copy of it - depending on who your audience is. If you're attracting kids, then likely not.

Please note that Kickstarting a publishing run is not going to net you a large amount of money. You might end up with some after it is over, but not likely enough to cover expenses for that year. The main purpose of a Kickstarter publishing run is going to be funding the physical version.

Also, note that one page every three days, for an entire year, is going to be quite a bit of pressure. You'd probably want to build up a bit of a backlog even before you start, just to give yourself a buffer for when life starts getting in the way.

>hard mode: It's black and white
Shouldn't matter if it's good and you have a decent following. If it's uninteresting or the art very plain, then not being in color will hurt the immediate attraction. But that's only attracting the initial audience - the most interested parts of your audience (when they are following) will probably not care that much.

rice boy

Color would be easier on the webcomic artist to produce a page every 3 days, but some people don't like reading black and white comics, and would rather read them in color. So as an audience member would you stick with a b/w comic for a year if it updated consistently and was of a decent standard of quality.

Thanks for the detailed reply user. Not op but I've been considering putting out a comic as I have a story plotted out for the most part and I want to start production on it, but I want to make it as consistent as possible. Would 2 pages a week be a decent upload schedule? Say a Wed/Fri update with the end goal of producing a collected tpb?

My plan was basically just start making the comic and putting it online, keeping as consistent as I can. Then after I have 20-30 pages (a first issue) online doing a bit of pimping to get myself an audience. Then by issue 2 (page 60 or so) starting up a patreon just to see if anyone would throw cash my way to make it easier to keep producing the book, literally buying me time. And then at the end of the 120 pages and the story resolution seeing if my audience would pitch in to a kickstarter so I could make a run of books.

I don't mind making the comic for a year without seeing a cent, but at the end of it I'd like to hope I could get 1000 or so people willing to pay $15-20 for a book or something.

>Would 2 pages a week be a decent upload schedule?
The best update schedule would be one which you can follow and put out the consistent quality you are happy with.

I will note that "what you are happy with" can change quite a bit when talking about a comic schedule compared to just making individual art pieces. It's generally better to have some clean art you can put out successfully, in a reasonably time span, rather than exceptional art which you can only put together once a month. A lot of people working on webcomics find that doing something simpler than their "best" is preferable because they don't get stuck when trying to put something out.

Oh, and avoid the temptation of going back and "revamping" your earlier comics. I cannot count the number of webcomics I have outright dropped because, three years later, they decided to just halt making any new content in order to redraw strips I've already read.

>Then by issue 2 (page 60 or so) starting up a patreon just to see if anyone would throw cash my way to make it easier to keep producing the book, literally buying me time.
I would be very, very careful with this. Unless you've worked out the math in how many Patreon dollars you would need, you could easily end up in a situation where you have a lot of promised books to publish but no money in order to publish them. This is why I recommended the Kickstarter: you can talk with publishers about costs and prices, find out EXACTLY how much you will need for print runs of various sizes, and then put out the Kickstarter for that amount of money.

On the other hand, if you start a Patreon and promise a book to everyone contributing $5 for one month (or even $20 for a single month) then you'll find yourself at the end of the year, desperately attempting to find a publisher who will print your books for what money you will have left over from Patreon donations.

As a last point, if you do accept donations through Patreon, then it means that the Kickstarter is additionally less likely to be successful. (since most people would've given you money through Patreon for the book)

Do not expect to be getting much money with this comic, if you just plan on it running for one year. Perhaps it might, but look at this as a way of putting your name out there. If you manage to put together a comic for a year, have it update regularly for a year, and put out a successful Kickstarter campaign to publish some books, THEN would be a good time to set up a Patreon in order for your existing fanbase to support you for another webcomic.

You might even be able to do additional publishing runs on your first comic, or with knowing how much it costs to publish, plan out Patreon rewards towards books for a next comic. However, from what I've seen, it generally takes webcomic artists much longer than a single year (much less six months) in order to make a reliable living off it.

>Unless you've worked out the math in how many Patreon dollars you would need, you could easily end up in a situation where you have a lot of promised books to publish but no money in order to publish them. This is why I recommended the Kickstarter

Not that user. But couldn't you run a patreon as a month to month thing and then a kickstarter for a physical book? I know a lot of people who patron comic artists and then buy a book separately later. maybe is thinking of using patreon like that. Not setting up a patreon to be a fund collecting for books. But using it to serve as a tip jar to keep them afloat while they get the book done. And y'know to raffle off commission slots and shit.

Like how jeph hacks gets at least $4k a month (amount now hidden but he has 4k patrons) and all they get is access to a Q/A and a personal sketch each once a month. None of that goes towards book production.

Very soon It Hurts!

Again thanks for the points user.

Regarding the year timeframe then, do you think it would be better to update say 3x a week for just under a year, or 2x a week for over a year in terms of making it seem like the series was running 'longer'. I know some artists drag things out to a page a week and sometimes you don't see anything for a month, but they still build an audience and run patreons and donation/tip jars and kickstarters etc.

Would being around longer be more beneficial to the comic and in this case trying to get it done in a single year actually be detrimental to the concept? Also I'd consider following up the first trade with a second set in the same universe as a sort of sequel but able to be a stand alone volume in and of itself. So it wouldn't be like I'd drop the idea once it's done and flip into a new genre/style. It'd be easy if you like my style of art/writing to read the follow up series as an extension of the original kinda thing.

I'd be doing it with the eventual goal of going full time. But I don't to just make forever running drama bait like DoA even though he makes decent money for simple daily strips and I could probably do that except maybe 2-3 strips a week instead of the 7 a week willis does. At least until I started getting funded and I could drop the dayjob and do comics full time which would be what the patreon is for.

I wouldn't want to bait an audience with "here's a page a week but if you pay my rent I'll do 2-3 a week" but not having a day job would obviously make it easier to run a comic.

>But couldn't you run a patreon as a month to month thing and then a kickstarter for a physical book?
Yes, but that is not what the user is talking about. They mentioned using the Patreon for money to produce the book, which means mentioning the book as part of Patreon rewards. Which is an incredibly risky idea, if you don't know how much it would costs to produce such a thing and don't even know how much money you would get from the Patreon as a result. (People can fund for only one month, or fund on the last two months before published, and they would need to hand out the books for less than they might need to publish them.)

Also note that, if they only use a Kickstarter and the Kickstarter falls through, then they won't publish anything but they don't have any costs either. If the Kickstarter falls through but they were taking Patreon money for publishing goals along with Kickstarter, then they are obliged to still print the books for the Patreon backers - and book print runs can be quite expensive for smaller print runs, and/or require minimum print runs, which can run up the costs.

If user wants to run a Patreon during their comic run and wants some additional rewards for Patreon backers, then bonus artwork or even commission slots (if they won't take up too much time) would be a far better idea. Something that doesn't require such a long-term commitment.

Minus

Stranger things have happened. If that's what you wanna do, do it.

>Would being around longer be more beneficial to the comic and in this case trying to get it done in a single year actually be detrimental to the concept?
Honestly, for your first webcomic, it probably won't matter too much. The biggest concern is if you can meet the production schedule and still put them out at good quality. You don't want the schedule so hectic that the art/writing suffers or you have to put up continuous "filler" because the next comic isn't ready. 3x a week is meaningless if the comic doesn't actually come out that frequently.

If you really want to get the comic completed within one year, though, and the 3x a week isn't too stressful, then go ahead and aim for that. It certainly wouldn't be unreasonable to change your upload schedule if one isn't working out for you.

>I'd be doing it with the eventual goal of going full time.
Yeah, I kind of figured that might be where this is going.

My advice so far just pertains to your first project. I'm not an expert and haven't done this myself, so keep that in mind. However, it seems that asking for Patreon too early is more likely to drive people away than attract them. I'm likely to think that your best Patreons are going to be ones which have been following you for awhile, have seen you commit and successfully put out one full story, and will be willing to support you in doing another. Call me cautious, but you will likely get just one good chance to "sell" yourself, and so you'll want to do it when you have a good standing ("Look at me, I have one complete webcomic and am doing another.") rather than when you are still working on your first project ("Look at me, I'm partway through my first webcomic, fund me to see it completed!")

(cont.)

I don't think it's possible, or at least feasible, to determine a trend among webcomics, considering the sheer amount of them right now, both popular and obscure.

That said, most webcomics now have a common feature that has been present practically since the medium's inception: a cast of middle-class, "relatable" young adults in a more or less urban setting.

Webcomics starring children are scant and those starring adults above 30 are practically non-existent.

(cont.)

Plus, big project will have unexpected problems you'll need to deal with. It will probably be easier to see one webcomic through to completion, taking care of those problems and possible delays, so that you are ready when you start asking for money from people. Remember that just because you have a Patreon, and just because you have people giving you money through Patreon, does not mean that will be enough to pay the bills. Once you have people funding you, you have responsibilities to complete. And that still means completing the comic, even if you are still working a full time job while receiving Patreon funding.

And for a comparison: Dana Simpson was making webcomics since 1998 and only received widespread serialization and publication with Phoebe and Her Unicorn, sometime after 2012. So that's nearly 15 years of webcartooning before being able to sell her comics in stores.

Patreon funding isn't that demanding, but it certainly is something you should not expect to be your primary income while still working on your first project.

Snapping Turtles are God's bloody vengeance.

You've given me a lot to think about user. Thanks. I actually was considering just doing the comic anyway, and keeping a regular schedule before I ever advertised it.

I'd start say 1 page a week and work my way up to 2 (and if I could manage 3 then sure but that might be beyond resonable production and I wouldn't want to set that as a precedent if I couldn't manage it. I'd rather 2 pages a week for a year than 3 pages a week for two months then 2 pages a week for the other 10), but this would be to see what pace I work at on a personal level before 'launching' the comic. Ie. using it to see what my limits are and also build up a buffer.)

The once I had an issue under my belt I'd slowly release it online, try and cultivate an audience and let them know that from the beginning I have an end goal in mind and I'm not just going to disappear and this is going to result in a book. And then prove myself reliable each week. I'd kickstart the book at the end (as you say, no risk if it's not funded it's not funded.) after doing HEAVY research into the practicality and fees/costs.

And if it turns out I can manage 2 pages a week AND still have time for drawing I'd consider running a side patreon as sort of a tip jar for me and a fun thing for readers. Have 1 tier of a buck a month and then each month pick one name to get a drawing. Something small and fun, not like a 'pay my rent or I hold the comic hostage' but more of a 'thanks for the support here's wallpapers and stuff.' One thing I used to LOVE about webcomics was the little club aspect, like you'd get wallpapers and pinups and inside commentaries and stuff. And Patreon seems like a cool way to re-enact those goofy old clubs.

And if I did run a patreon and people were pitching in, I'd probably actually use the money to hire a colourist or something, to make the strip go colour, that way it wouldn't slow me down and the comic would get better, and I'd get to pay another artist to do something, which I'd love. I'd love to be able to give back to the art community with stuff like that. Even if it's just paying a small page rate to get in a colourist, being able to pay one on a regular basis would be amazing.

>I'd kickstart the book at the end (as you say, no risk if it's not funded it's not funded.) after doing HEAVY research into the practicality and fees/costs.
I'd say, ask some people who have gone through the process for advice and tips. I'd assume it isn't TOO difficult to figure out - just find some publishers and ask how much it would cost to do specific sizes of print runs - but they might be able to direct you towards specific publishers who specialize in small print runs, or even on-demand printing and publishers for online comics.

And yeah, Patreon would be a good method of handing out your "secret club" idea of bonus material.

Drawing for colorists is going to be a bit different than drawing for a black and white comic. In general, you probably don't want to just make black and white, then have someone throw color on top. That could work (depending on the colorist's skill) but most likely, you would be doing linework for the colorist to fill in properly, rather than what a full B&W drawing might look like.

You could also need to change the designs, to make it clearer what a particular thing is trying to convey. A little bit of minor confusion isn't a big deal when it is just the audience looking over a page, but you don't want a situation where your colorist accidentally colors a character's feet blue because they thought they were wearing some strange sneakers. I'm not sure if that would be a common problem, though.

Blaster Nation was a good comic. Then it ended.

Problem Sleuth

>consistent updates
>great art
>lots of love into the smallest details
>satisfying enough ending
TJ and Amal was a good ride.

Manuel the Wonder Snail

Kiwis by Beat (RIP) finished several, including the classic Minus.
Evan Dahm (rice-boy.com) has finished several.
Dan Kim (manga.clone-army.org) has finished several.
Zachary Braun (nofna.com) has finished several.
View/Forview(?) (comicfury.com/profile.php?username=view) has finished a few, also a few other porn comics you'll have to look around for.

Remember, 90% of anything is shit. For webcomics this means a lot of topical comedy serials that are never intended to end, just find an audience willing to buy merch.

best

Lowroad, krakow

Yes.

No.

>mentioning minus
>not mentioning Great as well

is there an archive for Great? I want to read it again.

Most kiwisbybeat stuff, including Great, has been mirrored here:
kiwisbymirror.rf.gd

Too much slice of life and gag a day
Too much Tolkien fantasy and sci-fi

I remember Morbi saying that he made Poppy Oppossum because it's the kind of story he always wanted to read as a kid, and honestly if I can't find anything remotely close to what I'm looking for I may end up doing the same thing one way or another

you pretty much nailed it on the head for me. i don't want to see "quirky young adults living together/near eachother and doing absolutely fucking nothing" for the 100th time in a row

>Tolkien fantasy
I never knew why /tg/ hated elves until I read 20 stories featuring them

Great wasn't even that great. The seashell one was much better. Modern Fried Snake was shaping up to be his masterpiece. Do we yet know what happened to him / his site?

>What do you like?
Interesting things. But as boring as I find a lot of webcomics, I still think it's more important that an artist makes a comic they're genuinely interested in and passionate about themselves. I don't care for slice-of-life comics like Sakana, but the artist clearly loves making it and it's found a solid audience, for example.There's definitely popular genres and subjects (can't count the number of modern supernatural/paranormal comics out there, and tons of shit with demons especially), but when artists just make shit because they think it'll be popular, unless they're a really good writer, it shows.

>What do you not like?
Spotty and inconsistent updating and poor planning/meandering plot, as a few have already mentioned. I'll put up with weird updates if I like it enough, though; it helps if the artist is active on Twitter or somewhere that I can keep track of.

In terms of content, I have to agree with in that I'm really tired of low-conflict or domestic drama slice-of-life shit, and I tend to glaze over generic sci-fi and "Tolkien" fantasy unless there's something REALLY compelling to hold my attention about it. But that's more of a personal preference than anything. I just like to see people take risks and use a genre or setting in unusual ways.

>What do you wish there'd be more of, aesthetically and storywise?
I like lineless art and wouldn't mind seeing more of that, if it's done well. I also think it would be interesting to see more webcomics take advantage of the medium to create a multimedia experience with sound/animations/website design changes, like Homestuck and Ava's Demon have a bit.

>What do you think are the biggest missteps webcomic authors fall into, and what do you wish they'd do instead?
1. Again, poor planning. Or maybe misguided planning, followed by an unwillingness to make changes. This is the main reason people give Paranatural so much shit now; the plot has slowed to a crawl due to a single chapter splitting into several extensive, meandering subplots that contribute so little individually to the overall story that the original direction has been lost, and despite multiple places where it could have been cut off Zack seems unwilling to do that.
2. Hamfisted pandering-- no, wait, don't roll your eyes yet. There'll always be people who bitch about having x sexuality or x race or nonbinary/trans characters but what I see people get most irritated by-- and what I get most irritated by-- are when those get needlessly lauded in the narrative as something REALLY IMPORTANT, LOOK, LOOK WHAT I DID GUYS I'M ABOVE CRITICISM NOW. It's one thing to mix up your cast; just like personality archetypes and clothes/hairstyles, things like racial or sexual diversity can keep things varied both visually and within the characters' individual stories. But very, very rarely has any spotlight placed on one of these Diversity Point traits ended well, or come across as anything but forced.
3. Begging for money too early, or with too small an audience. I totally get wanting to live off of your art, but being too desperate or overly confident can really ruin your chances of building audience support naturally. I see so many artists with $100 or less on their patreons, or artists who order shit like enamel charms for relatively small fanbases that aren't going to snap them up at the rate needed to recoup production costs. Some of that's hard to judge and deals with a lot of factors-- market saturation, mean age of the audience, etc-- but in general I think a lot of webcomic artists are too hasty to try and rely on Patreon or Kickstarter.

This is true, I actually shouldn't have included that one now that I think of it. Gag-a-week comics can literally keep going as long as the gags do, which is why things like Katzenjammer Kids (Good. God) still exist.

Minus

>Lowroad
I think that was abandoned, not finished.
Also only good if you're 14

>Would simply alone that be enough to gain it an audience?
Not in my experience.

>but not absolute shite
I can't vouch for that though.

Webcomics turn to shit when Tumblr is fascinated by it

Retcons, cringy change in writing and in some cases even the art even manages to regress badly (Penny Arcade and Tumblr noses).

So basically (lack of) consistency and changes that hints of a agenda or outright laziness in one way or another.

We need more webcomics that cross the line and break the boundaries of acceptability. Its insane how a culture as repressed and workaholic as japan can have things like berserk where the protag gets raped as a kid, rapes his waifu, and just generally all the fucked up shit that happens in it, and its still a legitimate part of the story.

I dont mean it has to be Jack levels of edgy, but it'd be nice if webcomic authors grew a spine and made comics and stories about the transgressive, instead of the childproof mush a lot of them peddle on tumblr.

>have a couple of months to neet it up and make a webcomic
>basically have three things I could be putting out and have to pick

>one is a horror anthology comic that i can pump out no problem because grotesque baroque art is my specialty. Can complete short comics while also keeping up an ongoing story inbetween. However, a horror comic full of gore and extreme cartoony gorehound art might alienate people.

>the other is a short six issue superhero comic, got the whole thing written out pretty much ready to go with a beginning, middle and end. Its good but its not my favorite of the bunch, more or less just meant to be a proving ground for future projects to set up a patreon, but expectations might be set for more superhero stuff.

>the third option is a highly experimental comic thats actually a revamp of a comic I was in the process of making, but basically got kicked off of making because of life stuff. Its the one I really want to do, it was the most popular of my old unfinished work, and its probably the one thats gonna turn most heads, but the experimental nature of it means that even though its outlined its pretty much a scary wild ride to attempt, think I can pull it off but it'd be much harder than the other two

based off the advice in this thread it'd be wiser to go with the superhero one. However, based on advice from multiple art friends, some who've made comics mentioned in this thread, making the one I want to make most is the best option. The horror anthology would just be the most ridiculously easy one to put out because of the short non commital nature of the stories, so I'm thinking maybe I could pull off making two webcomics at once, or at the very least make one webcomic and save the horror anthology for week long pump and dump during halloween, but thats a while away.

Does anyone have any advice? I still have to finish a comission comic so I've got some time to decide before i get to work this week.

It's called "Crossed".

>webcomics

Do the third one. What's the point if you're not enjoying it?

Well its more like thats the one I'd enjoy doing the most. I'd still enjoy making the other two, just not as much. The horror anthology especially is something I could crank out fast just cause I really enjoy making that kind of art. The third option has that sort of art too, but its a lot more subtle and more or less relegated to the antagonist.

The main reason I'd be most happy doing it is because I feel like its compellingly different enough from other comics out right now. Not to toot my own horn, I just think its something that I think has a genuine justification to exist rather than being a pet project in aesthetics or some noise filler plot to please people.

I worry it might alienate people a little bit more than the horror anthology, though, cause at least you know what youre getting with horror.

Do the first one for 3 - 6 months, and get into the groove of producing content CONSISTENTLY and COMPLETELY and use that inertia to launch into the third comic. If you're driven only by passion for what you're into RIGHT NOW a long form comic will just end up unfinished, wether because the drive is gone, or because you're too devoted to the vision in your head, you'll lose focus and it'll never get finished.

If that third comic is something you REALLY wanna do then you should still want to make it down the road. Make it a goal to push you when you just dont wanna pick up that pencil.

When you launch your webcomic, would it be better to have a whole bunch of pages ready so viewers have something more than

hmmm... I mean, what you're saying makes sense. Everyone else I've spoken about it recommends the third option.

Also five months down the line I pretty much have to go back to working a day job so I have to think ahead a bit. Maybe I can crank out the horror anthology comic while also drawing a high quality buffer for that third comic for when I've got to have downtime. I think once I've proven I can start and finish short comics, and then release a full first chapter of a more ongoing but still more or less episodic comic, maybe it'd be a good time to start a patreon?

I know people have said that one thing webcomic authors fuck up with is begging for money too early on, but I dont have a lot of wiggling room to wait before I just wont have time to make art because of a dayjob.

Best case scenario is in that timeframe I could build up a portfolio to either pitch to some publishing companies or even get a job at a local animation studio, since I'm also collaborating on some animations.

Impressions are everything, though, so I'm not sure if making some super grungy grindhouse thing when looking for a job would be the right call.

The other thing is I kind of had the idea of making it, like another user suggested, a more multimedia web based project, so as to amplify the horror. I was thinking I could basically go and teach myself some coding to put something complete together by halloween.

They say its better to focus on one thing than go nuts and spread yourself thin, but when you have the time for it, its hard not to get tempted into doing that.

Good points. If you have a limited time frame, then ask yourself what you would want accomplished by the end of it. Do you want a strong portfolio? Do you want to make head way with your passion project? Figure out where you wanna be before you have to start another day job, and then figure out what you'll have to do to get there.

I mean, if you're looking to get professional work, maybe keep doing commision comics like you said you were working on. It'd probably result in having a bunch of work that is more palatable than the horror comic, and prove you have a work ethic. Unless you're just drawing smut.

I think I'll keep working on comission comics on the backburner, I guess what I'd like is to have some sort of art based revenue, however minor, that I can at least work part time instead of 12 hour shifts.

Pic related is the kinda art I'd want to make for the horror comic. I think for comic work it might be fine, not so much for the studio work I'd rather try and go for. Then again, I hear if you get an image comic going its actually a pretty decent arrangement.

Thing is this is art from a while ago, I've mostly been drawing art for the third comic lately, I'm not sure if thats telling of anything. But like, this kinda art is easy to do on automode and not think too hard about.

On an unrelated note I gotta say, having worked on submissions and comissions with a page limit is invaluably useful, learning how to keep your pacing concise and how to cut the chaff is kind of a lifesaver.

Do you have an audience on standby? If you do, then sure, it would be nice for them, and let em gorge themselves in hopes that they'll want more.

If not, then just have that as a buffer. You'll have a bunch of comics out by the time you audience grows anyways

>I feel like hiatuses and irregular updates can be forgiven if the comic is good enough.

Lackadaisy is a pretty good example of this. Tracey posts, what 6-8 pages a year? But it's so good that nobody cares that they've forgotten the story and need to read it over again.

Prequel might also be an example, but except that it's probably a bit delusional to expect it to continue.

the other thing is I'm basically picking between making a comic with a bunch of gonzo weirdos, or the third comic starring a bunch of little girls. Pic related is the protag.

I cant help but feel like thats going to have a pretty meaningful impact on how receptive people are of whatever I make.

I guess if you can really apply the discipline you get from the commisions to you passion project it might be a good balance. Work for the money, and then work for the spirit kinda thing. Could you keep up with the third option if you had to get a day job?

I'm not sure. The horror anthology, i think I could, its basically a bunch of ralph steadman esque stuff (I think it'd look closer to pic related once done in post), but the other comic is basically just more naturalistic digital paintings. If I went for a more fast and loose impressionist style I think I'd get by, but not by much. would basically just make rudimentary blue sketches and paint over with little to no lineart, or at least very limited lineart (I found the first time around I drew it that it was more of a hassle to try and keep things with borders, since then I've gotten somewhat better at coloring.)

So basically the choice is between something I know I can put out quicker, or something I think I can put out not as quickly.

>its an "author wants to cash in on some recent political controversy issue so they contrive the plot into introducing an off brand version of it" update
>its a "author preaches to the audience about some kind of social issue by using an out of character mouthpiece" update
>its a "lets get meta and intentionally shitty but point out its ironic so people cant criticise this comic" episode
>its a "author bans someone and puts some kind of strawman into the comic to mock them" update

>webcomic is clearly aping the artstyle of something else that's more popular
>bonus points if the artist used to have a more unique artstyle but it slowly degraded
>when this gets pointed out they block out the criticism by claiming that they've improved

If you can keep a consistent schedual with the latter, it's fine if it takes longer to put out but then you have to really stick to that schedual or it'll be hard to keep an audience.

Many seem to not know what volumes are or what story-boarding is or why making comics on an ad-hoc basis is a bad idea.

An interesting bit of advice that I heard from the guy who makes prequel, who says he learned it from homestuck, is that its actually better to keep an audience guessing for when something is going to update than to update consistently. What happens is that instead of getting a casual audience who just checks in the due time, you get fanatics who will guess and guess when something will come out while discussing older content to get by, so you get more apparent audience loyalty that way.

Not sure if that's really correct or not, but its interesting nonetheless.

Given that I don't think anyone actually waits or cares for Prequel updates, I don't know that is a very good long-term strategy.

Are you fucking kidding? It's been almost two years and people STILL ask Kaz for update progress

Kaz has done a lot of study on manipulating a crowd though so I don't think that strategy is actually actually viable for regular artists

I think it can work if you actively communicate with your fanbase enough to string them along, not so much if youre dumping a comic into the void.

On that note, so do you basically have to shill yourself on social media to get people to look at your stuff, or what? I have a friend who basically just doodles as a hobby and yet she has a killer following on twitter.

Is it enough to make fanart so people notice you or do you have to go through the motions of being an audience's internet friend to compete?

Heard a rumour that he had to move out of his place and ended up living out of his car.

Then again >believing anything you read on the internet.

did he died?

There's probably some truth to it, but it's amaturish as all fuck. I guess if you just want webcomics as a hobby it's a valid tactic, but then if that's the case just do whatever you feel like doing. It's not something that works for professional stuff, and it REALLY won't work if you want to make any sembelence of a living off your art .

Harcore fans (if you make sonething that can get fans at all) will alaway be a part of your base, but sparadic updating will alienate almost all of your casual fans, so keep that in mind too.

>An interesting bit of advice that I heard from the guy who makes prequel
I think it's best to not listen to his advice. Do you think Homestuck started out inconsistently?
This kind of advice seems to be a cover for shortcomings in actual storytelling and an excuse for laziness.
And I say that as a person who updates irregularly and has had sudden hiatuses recently. Even if only one person reads my comic, I owe it to them to update consistently. Especially if I would like them to drop a tip.

if you're running late on updates week after week, is it better to tell your audience you'll get it done the next week only to let them down, or say it'll be done when it's done and go radio silent

So false promise versus telling the truth?

Let me answer with a counter-question: do you like being lied to?

if it means you can keep up discussion threads then yeah, kinda

Girly by Josh Lesnick

Not sure if it counts as "finished" since it's a prequel, but Dreamspace was pretty great