How's Your Webcomic? #361: Life Support Edition

You've got a webcomic, right? Share your WIPs, concept art, pages, scripts, whatever. Give and get comments and critique.

The previous thread was lost to the abyss, let's try to keep this one alive this time

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=PQ0lck7oo4A
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
kiwidayn.comicgenesis.com
bug-quest.tumblr.com/
youtube.com/watch?v=Qa6xsdSH6Cc
discord.gg/nTw7B
twitter.com/NSFWRedditImage

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/

>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=PQ0lck7oo4A

>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

I think we can at least keep these going weekends

kiwidayn.comicgenesis.com
just gonna link because this one has boobies

>Make new tumblr account for comic
>Try to post trailer
>Doesn't show up in tags
>Discover you apparently need to do some indeterminate amount of waiting or activity before people can see your posts
Seriously there is not a single redeeming thing about this fucking website. Even in my test posts .gifs don't play on the blog and it's kind of a gif centric comic.

truly it's as shitty as it is popular

Anyone watch/play anything new that you can tell is already influencing their work?

posted my batman comic in another thread earlier in the week. got some good feedback and so I went in an gave it another try.

did page 1-3 over the past day and a half. pic related is 1.

and page two.

stop me if it sucks so bad in muh cooldown time before page three.

and three.

bearing*

your writing is pretty good. even your direction. i'm sure I don't need to tell you the art isn't living up to that yet, but i'm sure you're trying

Trying to rework/redesign this character I made awhile back.

She was originally meant to be a sorta Cranky Kong type, really irritable and bitter. But I really like those softer designs on the right side, so thinking I wanna take it more in that direction.

Other idea was having her be a sort of insane crazy cat (or in this case, frog) woman. Crazy and voodoo magic are a dangerous mix.

a cliche, and one i adore. fits in nicely with urchin as well. wait is she being called nancy again?
>awhile back
oh i see. that's actually a while. just correcting in case that come up in the comic.
i particularly like that she just enjoys hanging out with the lady
i think the center is my favorite. she ought to look kinda weak after all, like magic's all she's got
>Frog woman
man that reminds me of another comic that was in the works here a long time ago.. frog-lady witch with a kinked hat.. shit was cool. definitely inspired me.

Oh absolutely I know the art needs work. My writing too but I have to basically write what I can draw at this point. I'd love to be able to flex my writing and plotting.

I do these little things really to practice my "art" in a more practical way than just continuously drawing things and putting them in a folder I'll eventually throw away after looking at with disgust down the road. I'd prefer to write 100 comics a month but I can't afford an artist for one at the moment.

Pencils, however, are affordable.

Nah, hahaa, that top one was made YEARS ago, back when she was still Nancy. I think, like 2010 or something?

Yeah, I wonder if I could use that right design for something else cause I really like it, but it just doesnt seem to fit what I want for the character.

absolutely, practice is always a good idea
the right one looks to me like some kind of apothecary lady except instead of the expected potions, she's into perfumes.. but they're the same kinda potion material, just aerated. so poor Urch has to choke and smell weird if she's gonna use em

or just pops off the thing on top and drinks them probably

I just installed the webcomic theme (fucking with the theme is apparently one of the ways to prove you're actually worthy of being heard), is that what's not allowing the gifs to play? I checked the image locations and it actually uses different image paths, so is there any way to make them animated on-blog like they are on the dashboard? Something on my settings, some way to upload the gifs?

doesnt tumblr just fuck with all formats of images you use

You should ask the guy that did this bug-quest.tumblr.com/ he got gifs to work, I know that. and his overall site is decent except the banners at top and bottom have transparent parts you still cant click through

I am going to do my initial 23 pg upload in a couple weeks. I am just scripting the page and working on my buffer now.
I have 9.7k followers now on social media. I'll break 10k this weekend. That part does not seem real. I scrolled through the names back when it hit 3k. It's like trying to understand geological timescales.
Anyway, I'll probably storytime here when I launch.

Congrats user! I'll be looking forward to that storytime. What kind of update schedule are you gonna do once it's released?

whoa, social media followers and you havent even started the comic uploading proper?

>Update schedule
One page twice a week. Enough to do a 25 pg POD book every few months.
Thanks for the interest.

I've put up a couple 3page previews, and lots of sketches. It started to ramp up after the first preview.
It makes me really nervous.

There are so many successful webcomic artists earning thousands from patreon/merch sales/ads. And their comics are quite often...overrated.

But whatever, I just wanna be one of them. I wanna create my own shitty webcomic and I want to feed it to my readers twice a week, with little effort. This is my goal.

If I could eventually earn even €700 a month, that would be great.

The problem is getting there. It's gonna be hard. But I have no choice. Either work for myself or work for others.

Still working on video assets. Put together a simple "End slate" for videos as practice to get a solid idea of what the video quality will look like when processed and uploaded to youtube. So far so good.

youtube.com/watch?v=Qa6xsdSH6Cc

can't fault you, you've identified what you want to be like and done a perfect facsimile of it. you'll make lots of money on this.

Maybe the potions are alcohol mix with hallucinogens?
Yeah, I love the visuals of the tube. You made em yourself didn't know you were proficient with 3d modeling good on you!

>I might decide to make little doodles of the characters and environment and incorporate it into the comic as little beginning and ending to each issue.

Do you guys plan to do covers and stuff like that? I know Dupe doing video ends, but what about the rest?

>even though this cover isn't finish i should really try to post more finished products soon.

I'm sure I'll make something good enough to get a follow on Twitter.

What am I saying, I suck.

Nah, sorry to disappoint. The 3D is from some old 90s tech demos. In the final version I'll have a little title at the top saying the specific video. They're pretty obscure and match the general "90s sci-fi" atmosphere I'm going with. They're underrated and chill so I figured it'd be a nice thing to showcase and end videos with.

>Do you guys plan to do covers and stuff like that?

I'm planning to do covers for every chapter I do. I make my comic with pretty simple cel-shaded coloring but I really enjoy painting so I use covers as a way to make some nicely rendered promotional illustrations for my comic

woo nice to see you pips. you should really be on the discord
i wish I had set the precedent of doing covers, it'd be weird to start now though

Are you the guy on /ic/? Looks awesome, man.

Alright I've had a story planned out for months and I decided I wanna make a comic out of it, but I want it to start out as good as it can be assuming I get the first chapter out by summer.

Mostly I'm looking for panelling/art feedback, the lore is dense so I need to make sure my drawings read well.

...

A couple character design sketches

>Panelling

Well first off, the default reading flow is left to right, up to down. Generally you want your panels in horizontal staggered rows rather than vertical columns, right now this is hard to figure out the reading direction.

Saffron and Sage, page 25, in which we learn about religion.

without letters there's no way to tell what's happening here. Which is probably a bad sign. Unless the story needs it to jump around.

If you were to see this play out it would be a montage of shots instead of a scene.

I wouldn't point that out but you said you need the drawings to read well. And I can't read anything from them as planned.

there's a girl, a pa system, a hallway, a couch, a girl stretching, now she's sitting, now she's up, are those leggings, does she need to pee?

>Playing Wii Sports with Picard
Kek

As much as i suck at this stuff, use this as a shitty example.

skiing whilst wielding a giant metal ice cream bar is dangerous, user

Mostly the sequence of events is all I need to know people understand. There is absolutely minimal dialogue in the start since I want to convey as much as I can through visuals. Opening scenes will jump around a lot cause there's a lot going on to start off with and I despise expositional text box walls.

Thanks, I'll try splitting the first page in half and seeing if it reads better.

best religion ever

>are you the guy on /ic/?
No. Nothing against /ic/ but I haven't been there in ages.

Anyone have an suggestions for organizing a Story plot?

I have a bunch of characters , that fit in my world with their own stories, with an overarching plot but I'm not sure what to do next.
Er or better yet, I'm not sure how I should go about this, I could go with an episodic structure, which would be easier I think.

What do you guys think?

write down something you might write if you were making episode summaries, like "they go to a thing, but it turns out some thing"
get a bunch of those ideas down and let that be your start

Start making the story, Most common ways to go are:

Start with MC and introduce whoever come close to his story.

Do multiple Main Characters and interlock their stories with characters that come into their lives and events that shake them in different ways.

Go and unveil one character do a comic series about them, but intentional leave out part of the story that may happen to another character who you can introduce in another comic series like a chain of reactions.

Point is there are hundreds of things you can do, just make the story, plan something that Wows you. Try to outdo yourself in storytelling.

I don't mean to be mean but if you don't plan on adding much lettering you'll need more panels. I'd need a short story to connect the panels just on that first page.

Unless the sequence of events I listed above were close to what you have in mind.

Hmm thanks anons.
I took a break for a few weeks to try and organize my thoughts. Every-time I'm sure on one plot, another cool idea comes out and it turns into a giant clusterfuck.

I should probably start with a simple plot and branch out from there and then attach the other stories to that. I really dig the way Kill Six Billion Demons do it, and Bone from Jeff smith.

Well I'd give him some leeway here, my page doesn't have letter (dialogue) and most people probably can't tell what's happening here If you take away the notes i put on the sketch...

Hey friends, I could use your help nailing down a concept that I'm not historically or mathematically inclined enough to nail down on my own.

The comic I want to make hinges, though it's not crucial to the PLOT per se just the mechanics of the background operations, on the main being the operator of a lending trust. So my question is this:

How far back in history and how much capital would be necessary to have effectively "limitless" funds today, or in the near-ish future? Or even the less near future, whatever works.

I get that. The difference I see there is that the characters and scene seem constant. The scene seems to change in anons page and so it seems more jumpy rather than consistent.

Also directionally you can see consistent movement in your art. Anons, with the jumps, seems disjointed.

If user wants to have little wording the movement should be paramount.

You pretty much got the sequence 100% correct. I don't plan on adding much more than a maximum of 6-7 word balloons per page until I've established the characters enough. So adding more panels wouldn't really be an issue for the opening couple chapters.

I just write a general plot synopsis and let it branch out whenever I get ideas. Admittedly it's a pretty disorganized method but if you get the beginning synopsis solid enough to begin with, you can just brainstorm lore until the story basically writes its self.

Then disregard the rest of what I said. Maybe try to inject a bit more visual progression in the walk down the hallway.

Depending on whether or not you play the stock market it could be anywhere from a 10 million dollars 50 years ago to 100 million in the 18th century.

>moving on to backgrounds

uuuugggghhhufuck

Forgive me, because again I am not the best when it comes to investment type things, but why would you need more capital farther back?

Also, why the 18th century specifically? Are there historical complications regarding banks that would prohibit starting it earlier?

Not that user but maybe he's assuming the depression would gut your wealth

the thing to look into there, specifically, would be trust funds. i bet you can find great info if you search specifically for that on the internets.

all i know is that if you were really smart you'd store actual currency from back then, because it has a tendency to become collectors' items in the future... if you can actually hold onto it that long without getting robbed. david xanatos' entire fortune started with him timetraveling 1000 years into the past, getting a penny, then having it mailed to himself like 15 years in the past so he could get rich from it

Impossible, if you alter history in anyway to gain only riches you will alter the time line which would cause you not to go back and correct this. You'd create a time paradox that would ultimately end the universe.

UNLESS... you can flub up a Fictional Temporal System or FTS that can bypass or negate that.
Like i don't know Plan literally everything in you family while simultaneously keeping within the reason of reality. (Basically don't make you family powerful enough were people will kill them, you great great grandfather marries someones else)
Again Time Travel is dangerous don't do it, But if you want Limitless funds Today or in the future, Have your main character be a genius who in a future where currency is digital created the first "Limitless Currency Code"....

I don't know dude your story needs time to be developed good luck...

i love your backgrounds, but for talky pages like this you could get away with these placeholders you have now.

18th century is assuming that you're not playing the stock market.
If you were playing the stock market for as long as it had been open you'd have beyond limitless funds, you'd have more that the GDP of a small country.

Also yeah the great depression kinda screwed a lot of stuff up.

Are you being sarcastic?

user just wants to know how rich you would have to be, dating back to what year, in order to have Bruce Wayne money.

Like 100 mil in the 1920s.

I think his point is "it'll take longer and more money if you do diddly squat, just leave it sitting there, but you could do it in a trifle if you were smart"

>tfw sent my notes to the artist
>tfw everything is developing smoothly
>tfw it's storming outside
>tfw accomplished

Maximum comfy, /hyw/. Nothing gets me feeling this good like success on my creative project.

I hadn't thought of that, but that's an excellent point.

Well I never said anything about time travel, nor do I intend to use it. The limitless currency code is an interesting concept and might be able to be worked in somehow, but in any event, like I said the trust itself is not overly pivotal to the plot. The idea is that the main himself is not particularly powerful, but as he is the current head of the family he's in charge of the trust, lending out money to more powerful yet broke folks (peter parker types). But again, that's not the focus of the comic, just the background.

THIS seems like something I could definitely work with. The idea of "old money" accruing additional wealth over time. It'd take some creative jiggering, but it's certainly worth consideration.


Excellent advice from all corners guys, thanks much.

Neither of the guys who replied to you, but also examine what links those episodic narratives together thematically. Do the characters have similar goals, or are they reacting differently to the same challenges? A hack strings together locations and characters--a good creator uses locations and characters to string together ideas and themes.

555-COME-ON-NOW... Show don't Tell...

I can't, m8. I wish I could, believe me, but it's all gotta stay under wraps until it's time. Marketing and all that.

Finally, i can post this.

Lookin good my man

Yeah Episodic is the best way to go I feel, and thanks for bringing that point to my attention. Reacting differently to the same challenge, I really like that and I think this is something I was overlooking when hacking my story together.

Thank you.

Anyone got that sweet Discord link?

discord.gg/nTw7B

Mmmmoving on

>"Pastebin is under heavy load right now"
>Refresh
>"Pastebin is und

ughhh

>less than 20 people total

Uh, is this the official HYW discord?

It's not the original, but this one is comfier

lookin good. what's with the bloom on the word bubbles though? makin it harder to read.
also blonde's face seems unshaded compared to the rest. is that just me? or is it maybe not done yet
it is now. the old one wasnt really, it was just a discord we had a room on.

Ah I see okay. Well, cool. I've been trying to get a link for the last like four threads but no one was on to get me one.

i think that was the old one you were trying to get a link to
this one consistently has someone on so I can always get you a link.. as soon as I find out how that works. or at least ask them

I haven't gotten any work done in forever. i'm thinking about switching to pen & paper after this page. i bought some new pens and fucked around with inking some old drawings and i really like that look, so i think i'd be able to work faster that way and probably get better results too

looks cool
its like a home movies style fantasy
looks cool. i would try to add more details & wrinkles to the cloths, right now they kinda look like they're made of plastic

It is relatively under shaded, yeah. I'm just going to leave it as it is but I'll keep it in mind for the next page.

What do you mean by bloom?

it's just a little thing. I'm updating every week. ideas are welcome

skullfriends are goodfriends

like the white of the balloons seems to be glowing, making the text washed out and sorta red-edged

I feel like you'd like Taxipsychy. Might be generalizing there.

Oh, the words just have soft edges because I wrote them in pencil and the whole page gets a red overlay. I get what you mean about it being a bit harder to read.

I'll test out a switch to ink for dialogue, so the edges are sharper.

>tfw no skeleton bud irl to hang out with

You should add panel lines or at least separate the panels with a slim black or white space. It looks weird when they're just stuck together like this. Kinda the opposite problem of manhwa webcomics where there's meters of space between 3 panels and they call that a "chapter".

Other than that, super interesting, it's got strong Mignola vibes but doesn't feel like a rip-off...

>meters of space between 3 panels and they call that a "chapter".
i fucking haaaate that

oh, i just stitched the first panels with an online editor. when i post i upload the individual images so tumblr doesn't resize the whole thing. sdo the lines are there by default. sometimes the 600x600 images don't have enough space but I'm working on that
i just how i draw, really. I'm trying something new and instead of focusing on the details on a single thing with clean backgrounds I'm trying to do the opposite and visualize the whole scene with quick simple lines. same goes for the color.
I'm trying to work on the limits of what's enough to leave an impression but keeping it very simple.

*that's just how

Alright who is this guy because he's my favorite. he's so Mutagen Man. are those screwdriver fingertips?

what is easy patreon reward i can give with limited amount of time and no money?
there must be something i could give people that would drastically increase the odds of them giving me a dollar

giving my best shot at greyscale. maybe give my pages a bit more life.

Had to compress the shit out of this page to upload it, maybe I need to change the brush I used to paint, the brush has too much detail,
maybe its just the fact that it isn't just black and white anymore
I dont know.

also going to try to binge draw for my two days off and hopefully make something gud
wish me lucky