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al-azad posted:If you post it, they will comment. No kidding. My second page just went up and I got a comment 34 minutes later.  I guess I'm just used to DeviantArt, where my uploads go mostly unnoticed. I'm loving the system of uploading a bunch of pages and putting a timer on them. I won't need to upload more pages to the site until mid April.
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Feb 10, 2014 10:47
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Nobody comments on my comic  What is your secret, how do you attract attention in the festering morass of SmackJeeves?
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Feb 10, 2014 14:46
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Avshalom posted:Nobody comments on my comic I'm using Comic Fury for hosting. I also linked to it on my local comic creators Facebook group, so it looks like some people I know are reading it.
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Feb 10, 2014 18:02
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Nessa posted:I'm using Comic Fury for hosting.
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Feb 10, 2014 20:53
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Avshalom posted:Oh, hah, thanks. That makes me feel a bit better. I should probably get off SJ, but I'm intimidated by the wider net. After going on 6 years on the web, only within the past year have I actually started getting semi-regular comments. Not every page gets a comment and those that do will only get one or maybe two. A lot of it depends on the kind of comic you make/story you tell. Comments aren't necessarily the mark of a good comic, they just mean "this ocmic compells people to leave commentary responses." Also, do you have author comments on your comic? I'm more likely to get comments if I have an author's comment that invites dialogue (and not even just literally "HEY GUYS WHADDAYA THINK" type stuff, but being like "Oh on this page I made a reference to something in the blah see if you can figure out what it is" or something like that). I'm also more likely to *leave* a comment on a comic if the author already leaves their own comments. It's kind of thing where comments propagate more comments, you know?
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Feb 10, 2014 21:27
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Avshalom posted:Oh, hah, thanks. That makes me feel a bit better. I should probably get off SJ, but I'm intimidated by the wider net. The community aspect is one of my favorite features of SmackJeeves. It makes it easier for people to find you, since if you update you'll at least briefly be on the front page. They'll also advertise you on the side of comics that seem to be similar, based on reader behavior.
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Feb 10, 2014 22:10
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Be glad you guys have readers at all. My strip averages about 4 hits a day. Though I guess that's what happens when you don't advertise or try to get the word out at all.
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Feb 11, 2014 03:52
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MondayHotDog posted:Be glad you guys have readers at all. My strip averages about 4 hits a day. Though I guess that's what happens when you don't advertise or try to get the word out at all. 'sup no readers buddy? If everybody who reads my comic isn't actually a friend of mine then... I'll be very surprised.
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Feb 11, 2014 09:09
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It looks like I have 4 subscribers after 2 pages. Oh and these are the 2 pages I finished recently.  
Nessa fucked around with this message at 18:44 on Feb 11, 2014 |
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Feb 11, 2014 16:32
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So, I just finished Chapter 6 of Astral Aves.  Wound up being 74 pages, over just under a 9 month period, which kinda seems like a bummer to think about, but I've learned a heck of a lot in the process at least. I've been trying to quell the desire to go back and touch up the first 10 pages or so. I've got 229 pages over the course a little more than 2 years, and I really only now feel like I'm scratching the surface of how to make a comic do what I want it to do.I've been messing with Manga Studio 5 lately, and I've been wanting to switch over from SAI (which I am currently using). Does anyone have experience or advice with switching programs completely like this? I'm a bit concerned that it'll slow down my updates until I learn the program, only then to find it out it might not be what I need.
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Feb 11, 2014 20:24
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drat, Nessa, you've improved so much already. Your poses are so much less stiff on the whole, and I think you're finally getting to some scenery where your color schemes can really start to show off well. Using a pattern for the dreamscape and having flat colors for the main character definitely makes her the center of focus and also makes her look like she doesn't quite fit – but in a designed way. Keep going, Nessa, you can really only go up from here as long as you keep studying anatomy and pushing yourself. And Space-Bird, this might seem dumb and obvious, but did you try watching any youtube videos for Manga Studio? When I first started using it as opposed to Photoshop I was a little bit confused, so I did youtube searches for "[Thing I want to learn] Manga Studio." https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7vKopw06eT4 That's one I remember watching and liking enough to favorite, but I haven't seen it in months so I can't comment on it now. I will say that after just a day or two of watching a half-dozen videos total it really made me loads more confident with the program. Follow along during, or don't. You can always refer back to videos if you forget.
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Feb 11, 2014 22:17
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That video is for Manga Studio 4, so be careful if you're looking up info that you're looking at Manga Studio 5 since they are vastly different programs. Like literally, I think they were originally different programs and only put under one brand once they were imported. MS5 is even ever so slightly different between using it on a Mac vs. a Windows computer, so it can get confusing. Spike did do a good video intro of MS5 a couple months ago: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pD2CVTwH8e8 I don't have any advice for learning it, but just doing a few no pressure pieces to get a feel for what works for you before committing 100% to it might help. Also, buy Frenden's brush packs, 'cause they are great, especially the pencils.
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Feb 11, 2014 22:32
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Space-Bird posted:I've been messing with Manga Studio 5 lately, and I've been wanting to switch over from SAI (which I am currently using). Does anyone have experience or advice with switching programs completely like this? I'm a bit concerned that it'll slow down my updates until I learn the program, only then to find it out it might not be what I need. I'm adjusting from SAI to Manga Studio 5 myself and I don't think it's a major leap, although I'm also coming from a Manga Studio 4 background. The brush mechanics, arbitrary rotation and canvas flipping are all there. MS5 does give you a lot more toys than SAI does--really good panel support, text, perspective rulers, screentones--so getting familiar with those might take a little time. Is there anything specific I can help out with?
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Feb 11, 2014 22:34
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geist hirsche posted:That video is for Manga Studio 4, so be careful if you're looking up info that you're looking at Manga Studio 5 since they are vastly different programs Wow. I'd never seen the MS5 UI, I had no idea they really were that different. I got MS4 back when they had a massive Black Friday deal on it, near when MS5 was being released I believe. I guess I never thought they'd be so different!
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Feb 11, 2014 22:44
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Plankhandles posted:drat, Nessa, you've improved so much already. Your poses are so much less stiff on the whole, and I think you're finally getting to some scenery where your color schemes can really start to show off well. Using a pattern for the dreamscape and having flat colors for the main character definitely makes her the center of focus and also makes her look like she doesn't quite fit – but in a designed way. Keep going, Nessa, you can really only go up from here as long as you keep studying anatomy and pushing yourself. Thanks! Some of the poses in those pages were from sketches. I grabbed some photo reference for some (or life reference for the hand), sketched it out, scanned it in and then drew over the sketch in Photoshop. I still need to work on adding line weights when I do that, but I think that will come in time as I get used to this method of doing things. These pages won't be up until mid April and hopefully by then, I'll have improved even more!
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Feb 11, 2014 22:49
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Nessa posted:Thanks! Some of the poses in those pages were from sketches. I grabbed some photo reference for some (or life reference for the hand), sketched it out, scanned it in and then drew over the sketch in Photoshop. I still need to work on adding line weights when I do that, but I think that will come in time as I get used to this method of doing things. I think that sketching on paper is super essential when you get into an art funk or when you're trying to improve something you're lagging in, and I feel like it's because you can see the WHOLE paper, whereas when drawing on the computer you either see a zoom-in of the image or it's just generally kind of small. Also, you should totally edit your SA profile to reflect your webcomic's url. Last I looked it wasn't on your page there. In fact, everyone who posts in this thread ought to do that if their comic is up. I always feel a little  when someone's talking vaguely about their Very Cool Comic and then there's no way for me to find it quickly if I don't already know who they are.
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Feb 11, 2014 22:59
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Ever have a bunch of people give you the same advice, and you want to employ it but can't really "see" the wrongness yourself? Like, you take the advice anyway and try your best, but can't really see the issue they're talking about? I have, even in this very thread, had people mention that my panels tend to all be too close-up or at best chest-up shots. I've been trying harder lately to "zoom out" and include more of the full body, background, et cetera. I perchanced to look through the computer folders where I have obviously all of my archives. You know how when you look at the folder of images, it shows you thumbnails of those images? Suddenly I realized every freaking page is just heads, heads, heads. You can practically read the facial expressions from the tiny thumbnail. I never realized how bad and obvious it was until I saw- and really looked at- all of each chapter, teeny tiny all together in a cluster. (It also makes quite clear my struggle with color, but that I knew I had, and could see, but just didn't know how to fix.) This is kind of a dumb post. I guess if there's anything to take away from it, if you ever find yourself in an artistic plateau, look at your art in a different way every now and then- whether you do horizontal flip test, make the view tiny and look at the piece as a whole, switch to grayscale to see if your values read properly, or whatever other ideas that get you to see a page with new eyes. It'd be nonsense for me to go back and try to "fix" all those pages, but this experience has made me more determined to do things properly in the chapter I'm about to start (and, you know, forever more after that).
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Feb 11, 2014 23:49
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Plankhandles posted:I think that sketching on paper is super essential when you get into an art funk or when you're trying to improve something you're lagging in, and I feel like it's because you can see the WHOLE paper, whereas when drawing on the computer you either see a zoom-in of the image or it's just generally kind of small. Good idea! It didn't even occur to me to link it in my profile.
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Feb 12, 2014 02:51
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Hey guys, kind of a weird one here, but here goes- I've been doing webcomics for some crazy amount of time now, which is neat and all, and while my art's definitely improved, it still has a huge ways to go. I know there's no 'congrats you did it, you got the best you can' end screen for artistic progression, but I feel like I've stopped at mediocre instead of reaching beyond. Basically I feel stuck, artistically. I know I need to make improvements but I've entirely lost sight of where to look for what precisely needs done. If anyone could point me to where they see problems in my dumb wizard comic, please let me know! First page (I know there are some anatomy problems in the first few pages, especially) and the most recent page.
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Feb 12, 2014 12:17
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I've been mostly helping out with occasional scripting for a friend of mine, and I am not an artist, but there is one thing that does jump out at me. Action scenes. http://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/january-15th-2014/ In this comic I kind of get the feeling that Ethan was supposed to be pushed aside in some manner, but given how the locations of everyone is framed in the second panel it doesn't make that much sense. Maybe it's more of a perspective issue? Maybe plotting out beforehand where everyone is and where they are going might help there. http://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/january-29th-2014/ http://www.widdershinscomic.com/wdshn/february-10th-2014/ Also, people feel like they're stiff, like badly articulated action figures. The only time in the last few comics where I think I see a line of action is in the first panel of Jan. 29th comic. Ethan throwing the pickled eggs feels more like he's doing a Heil Hitler gesture while pickled eggs fall down. Skip the motion lines and it becomes more jarring. Also, in the latter comic everyone does the "action figure articulation" thing and run with their right foot leading, everyone in the exact same pose.
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Feb 12, 2014 12:50
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Yeah, you're right, I've always had a problem with motion/movement. I'll have to look into that in particular. Thanks! Edit: In fact, I'm playing around with lines of action now and seeing an improvement already, dunno why I'd blanked on that completely, so double-thanks! Iced Cocoa posted:Also, in the latter comic everyone does the "action figure articulation" thing and run with their right foot leading, everyone in the exact same pose. Haha, gently caress, normally I try to make sure I don't do that but I completely missed that one 
Kojiro fucked around with this message at 13:22 on Feb 12, 2014 |
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Feb 12, 2014 13:05
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In the last panel of the latest page, the viewpoint is set down low off to the side, like it's trying to keep out of the way of the action and not draw attention to itself. That's the sense I get overall from the few pages posted above; getting it more involved in the action would help. I'd also try incorporating motion lines into the characters a bit more, rather than have simple lines of motion drawn over the artwork after the fact - as they are, they convey motion in a clinical 'he was here, now he's here' kind of way. I'd recommend perusing some action-y pages from Bleach or similar - it might have shite storytelling, but dynamic effects are something manga does really well. Also sorry if this sounds really negative, now I've seen a few pages I'm going to add your comic to my reading list! Looks like a larf it does.
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Feb 12, 2014 22:22
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I actually totally reread the archives last week (because Widdershins is SO GREAT) and a little thing that did irk me was the way you placed word balloons within panels. You seem to push them off to the side a lot and even over the gutters, which sometimes makes busy panels looked cramped and breathier shots look empty. Are you afraid of covering up your backgrounds? Also this is probably just personal preference, but I would make your word balloon tails a bit more delicate and not so blunt at the end! I'm actually going to piggyback onto the critique train. I asked for some about half a year ago (work on backgrounds and be mindful of contrast stood out) and I think I'm ready for more. This is it!
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Feb 13, 2014 00:18
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I don't think you're as bad at motion as you think you are. Take this page, for example. Probably could use some work, but not terrible. That same page also shows off one of the issues I have, though, which is that with perspective it often seems that the characters are sort of sliding towards the fourth wall. The shadows you're putting in in later pages definitely help with that, but they tend to blend in a bit on pages like this one and you still see it. The other thing that I sometimes notice is that your characters seem a bit like marionettes - their limbs are more straight than I expect peoples' limbs to be, and they sometimes seem to run out of things to do with their hands and arms. Just for the record, I'd also like to say that Widdershins is one of my favorite comics, and reading it is an absolute pleasure.
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Feb 13, 2014 06:23
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Thanks, guys! You've given me a lot to work with, gonna chew it all over and see what I can do with it. Much appreciated! Any chance you could elaborate on this, please? idonotlikepeas posted:That same page also shows off one of the issues I have, though, which is that with perspective it often seems that the characters are sort of sliding towards the fourth wall. The shadows you're putting in in later pages definitely help with that, but they tend to blend in a bit on pages like this one and you still see it. I don't quite get what you mean, sorry!
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Feb 13, 2014 10:55
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Kojiro posted:I don't quite get what you mean, sorry!
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Feb 13, 2014 11:39
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Ah, I see! Hadn't even considered how shading contributes to that, I'll keep that in mind, thank you!
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Feb 13, 2014 11:51
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I seek your assistance, thread.... I noticed via ad view stats that more folks are going straight to the latest comic page than to the main page, which... I can't really blame them (even if it's a suboptimal way to read the story), but it also means I'm constantly getting "when is the book coming out" and "are you going to TCAF" when those questions have been answered on the site and across social media already. The FAQ is even linked directly above and below the comic pages and I don't think anyone's read it. Is there a surefire way to get information to your readers? Right now all I can think of is to make an image with the announcement text in it and load that into the CMS so that it shows up as the latest page. The downside of this is there's no way to include links or clickable areas on that image, plus stuffing non-comic material in with comic pages knocks the reader out of the story. I'll still probably do this to indicate when we're away for a convention, but... this is getting nuts. I'm getting the same questions 2, 3, 4 times a day, and when I come back from a convention I hear a lot of "but I didn't know you were going to be there!", even if I slap a giant banner announcement across my tumblr, twitter, and the comic site. Edit: just added this; maybe it'll help 
bigbigtruck fucked around with this message at 17:14 on Feb 13, 2014 |
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Feb 13, 2014 16:49
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I don't quite know how comicCMS works, but you could edit the template for the comic pages to include a little area at the bottom containing short announcements/etc. Even then people could skip over it, though. Anything that is not completely getting in the way of the main comic content will get ignored by some subset of your audience, no matter what you do. It's a hard problem.
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Feb 13, 2014 17:05
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bigbigtruck posted:snip Getting readers where you want them is like the eternal question of web design and I'm barely even an amateur, but a couple of things: This is a major overhaul, but it's a good idea to keep your website consistent- your comic, about page and main page (which looks great by the way) are all different styles; that's kinda confusing, and confused people are less inclined to read lots of text. Also your FAQ is real verbose- not necessarily a bad thing, but subdivisions or maybe giving extra prominence to certain topics (like the two you mentioned  ) might help some.Also there's no shame in just putting those two topics right next to the ask box so people have to read it when they're writing to you. sweeperbravo posted:This is kind of a dumb post. I guess if there's anything to take away from it, if you ever find yourself in an artistic plateau, look at your art in a different way every now and then- whether you do horizontal flip test, make the view tiny and look at the piece as a whole, switch to grayscale to see if your values read properly, or whatever other ideas that get you to see a page with new eyes. This is incredibly important advice! Sometimes I forget that not everybody has spent years dealing with art teachers, but this is something that should be drilled into everybody. When you're working on something, take breaks! look at it from far away (like literally hang it up on a wall and look at it from across the room)! Never be working on a single piece for hours and hours at a time, our eyes are very good at tricking us. Just stand up and do something else for a while, and don't peek back at your work!
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Feb 13, 2014 17:54
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I've been thinking about starting my comic for a while now, but I get caught up in how I want to release stories/ strips My current plan is to release small strips bi-weekly and to have them lead up (sometimes story-wise, sometimes not) to a longer story with full pages that I put up on Gumroad or something for free. My previous plan was to just release all of them monthly, strips + stories, but I realized that I needed some content throughout the month to keep people interested. Does that idea seem stupid/ unwieldy?
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Feb 13, 2014 19:22
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I'm in the planning stages of my first webcomic, too. I only have about 12 or so pages in the can and want to get to 20 or more before I launch, so a lot of what I'm starting to worry about are the nuts and bolts of running this thing. Right now I'm thinking about titles (so I can find the right URL) and I know I need to start thinking about the webpage itself. I know there are plenty of comic hosting templates out there, but does anyone have some good resources I could use to start forming a plan for running the actual site? I want my own URL and need to work out ads, hosts, etc and while I know there are some good resources for a lot of that floating around SA I am also looking for some comics-specific advice. I'm just not quite sure where to start. A lot of the advice out there can end up being outdated or terrible to begin with, so I'd rather get recommended sources than try and guess whether what I've found on google is worth a poo poo or not. I'm finding more and more that my heroes are comix rather than comics creators, so in that vein I'm finally starting the slice of life, autobio comic I've been dreaming of since I was a teenager. Think American Splendor, but with me doing the art as well as the writing. I'll be doing short stories of various length (the ones I have completed are 3 and 6 pages long) updating once a week until I get a feel for whether I can do more often or not. I also have a fictional series I'm planning, but since it's sci-fi I have a lot of design work to do before that one is ready. So, any good resources for a guy launching his first "real" site? I've had geocities sites and created one for my ex-wife's pet portrait commission business back before she was my ex-wife, but this will definitely be a lot more complicated than those were. With much higher stakes. Oh, and with 12 pages of material, I already want to go back and redraw all of it. I won't, though! I swear! --edit: yet
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Feb 14, 2014 19:08
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Geekboy posted:Right now I'm thinking about titles (so I can find the right URL) and I know I need to start thinking about the webpage itself. It's worth noting that your URL doesn't necessarily have to match the title of your comic--Dinosaur Comics is on Qwantz.com, 8-Bit Theater was on Nuklearpower.com back in the day, and so on. You can always buy a redirect domain if you change your title later.
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Feb 14, 2014 21:52
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bigbigtruck posted:I seek your assistance, thread.... The best solution I've ever seen to this was from a tumblr blog: they had their 'ask' link redirect to their (short, bullleted) FAQ, with a link to their real ask box at the bottom. You could conceivably do something similar with your contact info -- require people to go through a simple gateway page with current announcements before they arrive at the means to ask you anything.
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Feb 15, 2014 11:04
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I think I might be getting better, purely as a result of using a larger canvas.
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Feb 16, 2014 05:33
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Nessa posted:I think I might be getting better, purely as a result of using a larger canvas. That's looking a lot more lively! Do mind the hands, though, the fingertips are a bit pointy and reminiscent of the Beetlejuice cartoon. If you get the time, try to practice drawing some hand gestures. Many artists agree that hands are among the more difficult parts of the body to draw, if not the most difficult.
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Feb 16, 2014 05:41
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Also, on this, I was thinking of hosting on tumblr, I already have a mock-up page set up I dunno if hosting on an actual hosting site like Drunk Duck or Smackjeeves or whatever would be more beneficial. In my mind, hosting on tumblr would allow easy cross-posting between my main tumblr and the comic tumblr.
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Feb 16, 2014 05:48
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Nessa posted:I think I might be getting better, purely as a result of using a larger canvas. Using a larger canvas is good--makes you put some elbow and shoulder into your strokes. I try to draw in a full-size sketchbook when I can. nikochansan posted:Also, on this, I was thinking of hosting on tumblr, I already have a mock-up page set up I haven't used DrunkDuck or SmackJeeves, but one disadvantage of posting on Tumblr is the search system. The tags aren't that useful for finding content, so unless you hitch your wagon to a popular fandom, you may have trouble getting noticed.
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Feb 16, 2014 06:16
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Nessa posted:I think I might be getting better, purely as a result of using a larger canvas. This is already looking a lot better! Way more volume and the poses are more natural. Keep it up. 
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Feb 16, 2014 06:35
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Bro Enlai posted:
If it helps, I'm not new to tumblr in the slightest, I already have nearly 800 followers. Exactly how many of those are spam accounts, I dunno, but still. The point is that I have exposure down
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Feb 16, 2014 08:01
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