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Hiatus is probably kinder to the readers, but like Fortis said, people who read will read as long as something is there to be read. My update "schedule" is kind of a mix of both hiatus-based and updates-whenever. I take breaks in between each scene to work on the next, so that way when it's done I can have a few pages ready to update for a few consecutive days. It spares my readers from waiting a week to get a resolution to something mundane. Trouble is I take too long in between scenes and can never correctly estimate when I'll be able to return/update again.
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Sep 1, 2015 19:10
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I'm with Fortis. As a reader I prefer a hiatus to irregular updates. As a creator, I enjoy giving myself a longer break to relax and take time building up what I need over pushing stuff out the door. That said if you think an irregular update system is what you want or need, just say so and readers should understand.
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Sep 1, 2015 23:41
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I think it depends on how you get readers: if they're coming from the old "bookmark and check sometimes" model, a scheduled hiatus is probably better. If you're mostly getting them from social media, you can probably get away with an intermittent schedule, because they're conditioned to check when they see an update happened.
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Sep 2, 2015 15:51
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As a reader I prefer a hiatus, but if the author misses the hiatus deadline and hasn't been communicating why on the website (in otherwords, I am not stalking your Twitter for info), it really damages my trust in the author.
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Sep 2, 2015 17:04
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I have a question about tools: do you guys use any particular software for script writing?WrathOfBlade posted:Let's say you're doing a regularly updated comic, and you hit a patch where keeping your schedule becomes impossible, either due to Life Stuff or just needing to play catchup. Do you guys think it's smarter to go on hiatus 'til you know you're in a good place again, or to go on an "irregular schedule" and just put up comics whenever you can get them out? Whatever you do, don't post filler. If you absolutely must post filler, remove it from the main archives once you resume your regular schedule
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Sep 4, 2015 23:03
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Couldn't agree more. There's nothing more offputting than trying to read through a comic's archive and getting 5 doodles for every actual piece of content. But yeah, in general I guess like the best policy is just to honestly communicate with your readers/yourself about what you're capable of delivering. Also I know manga studio has built-in script writing tools. (I mostly just use Notepad.)
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Sep 5, 2015 03:52
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Google docs is great because it's free has a spellchecker and has cloud storage so I can pull up my script on my phone instead of switching windows all the time. Celtx is decent script writing software if you want something fancier, although it's more geared towards screenplays. The formatting is very nice though! They've recently adopted an an online subscription based thing so you won't find it on their site, but the formerly free to download standalone desktop version of the software is only a google search away.
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Sep 5, 2015 08:18
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It's more for writing stories than scripts, but I thought Quoll Writer was neat.
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Sep 5, 2015 11:23
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hackbunny posted:I have a question about tools: do you guys use any particular software for script writing? One peeve I have about comics on SmackJeeves is that by default, the site displays any pages in the default "unchaptered" folder at the beginning of the comic archive, so like before Chapter 1. Unfortunately a lot of people post their fillers, gift arts, "THANKS FOR 500+ FANS" images, etc, in "unchaptered," not realizing that although usually the archive displays chronologically, all of those extra and useless images wind up at the beginning of the comic so you have to navigate around them or wade through them before you get to the actual start of the comic.
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Sep 5, 2015 19:00
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sweeperbravo posted:One peeve I have about comics on SmackJeeves is that by default, the site displays any pages in the default "unchaptered" folder at the beginning of the comic archive, so like before Chapter 1. Unfortunately a lot of people post their fillers, gift arts, "THANKS FOR 500+ FANS" images, etc, in "unchaptered," not realizing that although usually the archive displays chronologically, all of those extra and useless images wind up at the beginning of the comic so you have to navigate around them or wade through them before you get to the actual start of the comic. Yeah, I think I have to periodically move them to the end of the most recently-complete chapter. Even that isn't a *great* spot.
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Sep 5, 2015 19:37
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Pick posted:Yeah, I think I have to periodically move them to the end of the most recently-complete chapter. Even that isn't a *great* spot. This is what I tend to do, too. I end up then putting them up on a separate page on the site just for fan art so they aren't in the middle of the archive, since like you say even if its' between chapters it's not something that's really meaningful to a new reader. I've also never really done a proper splash/"thanks for X fans" filler though I imagine that would end up in the neglected gallery section after whatever point. I think a lot of people just never go back and look through their archive or pay attention to anything like that, so they never realize that the first 12 pages a reader would chronologically see are "Thanks for 100 +favs!" "Thanks for 200 +favs!" "Happy Valentines day! Here's two characters you haven't had the chance to read about yet looking bashful at each other!" "Thanks for 250 +favs!" "Here's some fan art of a joke you don't get yet!" I mean one could figure it out quickly enough to use the drop down menu or archive page to jump to the story but it's one of those "more work for the reader" things that's just generally not a good idea.
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Sep 5, 2015 20:03
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How crass and transparently exploitative would it be if I started uploading from the archives of my already-extant webcomic to a service like Tapastic? It seems like a reasonably low-effort way to get my work in front of some new people, but then there's a whole community of people who actually generate original content specifically for that format and I feel like they'd be 100% within their rights to think I'm an rear end in a top hat for capitalizing on their thing. ...also I think the text in my comics is barely legible on most phone screens. That's probably a more valid point to be concerned about.
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Sep 6, 2015 17:37
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WrathOfBlade posted:How crass and transparently exploitative would it be if I started uploading from the archives of my already-extant webcomic to a service like Tapastic? It seems like a reasonably low-effort way to get my work in front of some new people, but then there's a whole community of people who actually generate original content specifically for that format and I feel like they'd be 100% within their rights to think I'm an rear end in a top hat for capitalizing on their thing. Not at all? It's a free service for the purpose of uploading comics. If your layout is bad that's your fault but never feel bad about advertising yourself.
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Sep 6, 2015 18:09
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I think they even tell you that if you already have a comic, you should also upload it there.
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Sep 6, 2015 18:39
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Well okay, that makes me feel better. Kind of sensed that it was a silly thing to be worried about while I was typing it. It's easy to forget sometimes that the rest of the world is not as wrapped up in the integrity of your every minor career decision as you are!
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Sep 6, 2015 19:07
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Does Tapastic give you readership statistics? Do people have an idea how many people stumble on to comics there? How big is the audience?
Fangz fucked around with this message at 22:41 on Sep 6, 2015 |
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Sep 6, 2015 22:31
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Fangz posted:Does Taptastic give you readership statistics? Do people have an idea how many people stumble on to comics there? How big is the audience? Yep, you get both viewership stats per page and per series as well as subscription stats and like stats. I don't have a large audience and already have about 30 subscribers and about 1k views after just about a month of doing it there.
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Sep 6, 2015 22:41
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pulp rag posted:Yep, you get both viewership stats per page and per series as well as subscription stats and like stats. I don't have a large audience and already have about 30 subscribers and about 1k views after just about a month of doing it there. Can you tell me which comic is yours? I'm wondering if it's worth reworking some of what I have to fit into Tapastic's vertical format.
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Sep 6, 2015 22:47
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It's "Blaze the Blue Devil". I come from a traditional comic background, so I just work in a regular A2 paper size and layouts like what would be expected in a print comic. Hope I didn't come off as bragging. I was more meaning that someone with almost zero following can get an okay amount of people seeing your comic just from the site's internal showcasing methods. e: Aww poo poo, meant to say I have half 1k views on my comic. I'm not great with remembering numbers. pulp rag fucked around with this message at 23:59 on Sep 6, 2015 |
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Sep 6, 2015 23:55
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pulp rag posted:It's "Blaze the Blue Devil". I come from a traditional comic background, so I just work in a regular A2 paper size and layouts like what would be expected in a print comic. Oh, don't ever feel bad about bragging about your comic.
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Sep 7, 2015 00:06
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It's cool to post ~concept work~ for projects, right? I'm back to working on a comic. Taking baby steps, so here, have reference sketches for three out of four protagonists:  My worry is that my art isn't good enough yet to attract and keep readers.  But it's been eight years since I decided I was going to do a comic and I feel i should probably make good on that soon.
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Sep 9, 2015 17:43
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Are they supposed to all have the same face?
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Sep 9, 2015 19:46
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The two shorter ones are twins! I was hoping the taller guy's face was distinct from the other two, but I think I didn't quite accomplish that. Will have to rework.
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Sep 9, 2015 20:09
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painted bird posted:It's cool to post ~concept work~ for projects, right? 8 years is way too long to sit on an idea. Honestly, you'll never be ready to make a comic, until you've made a few comics. There's no way around it. I'd suggest plotting out a solid 16 page short story and execute on it at your current ability level. Focus on learning and growing as a comic maker, not readership. You'll get to that hurdle eventually.
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Sep 9, 2015 21:51
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As long as art is clean and the reader can tell what's happening, most won't be driven off. It's hard to tell without a finished page, but you're at least at a good starting point. My early stuff was a lot rougher, to be sure. If every artist waited until they felt like they were perfect, there'd be a lot less artists around and it's like triply-true of webcomics  . You're going to improve while you work on a comic, it's just the nature of things.What I like most about doing comics is drawing nearly every day helps me improve and every page I finish feels like it's better than the one before. It's a good feeling to have an archive of improvements, I think!
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Sep 9, 2015 23:14
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Yeah, TBCH look at the art in some of the popular webcomics around. Art quality is not nearly as important as we assume it is. Remember: the majority of your readers are not trained in art and thus can't tell if you hosed a few things up. (And/or just don't give a poo poo because they like the comic in general.)
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Sep 10, 2015 00:35
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That and hey, it's just your style.
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Sep 10, 2015 00:38
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Seconding the above people. Don't let perfection get in the way of great.
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Sep 10, 2015 02:21
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Puppy Time posted:Yeah, TBCH look at the art in some of the popular webcomics around. Art quality is not nearly as important as we assume it is. It's hard to reiterate this point enough. Jeph Jacques makes a minimum of $9,782 a month, and I'm pretty dang sure that you, painted bird, can draw better than Jeph Jacques. One of the mystical things about drawing that I discovered is that you very quickly begin to forget what it was like before you could draw. Nowadays, I get all mopey if one of my eyes doesn't look quite right, or if the nose is a bit too long, or whatever. Two years ago, the idea of someone making a human face appear on a piece of paper was witchcraft, and you're going to find that a lot of your audience thinks the same way. The "average" person notices art fuckups a lot less than you, the artist, does.
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Sep 10, 2015 05:53
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Vermain posted:One of the mystical things about drawing that I discovered is that you very quickly begin to forget what it was like before you could draw. Nowadays, I get all mopey if one of my eyes doesn't look quite right, or if the nose is a bit too long, or whatever. Two years ago, the idea of someone making a human face appear on a piece of paper was witchcraft, and you're going to find that a lot of your audience thinks the same way. The "average" person notices art fuckups a lot less than you, the artist, does. Oh man. See, I have this happen occasionally because when I am overworked/stressed/etc the part of my brain that makes shapes just goes gently caress YOU DAD and locks itself up in it's bedroom, with a hint of cigarette smoke coming out from under the door and the sound of a bass playing while plugged into headphones. But, on the other side, how many artists do you know that are happy with - not just content with - all aspects of their own work? It's pretty rare.
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Sep 10, 2015 16:21
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Don't let the perceived subjectivity of 'good' stop you from doing stuff. As long as the audience can follow the story and empathize with the characters, they will read. The internet bypassed a lot of creative gatekeepers, don't turn around and be one for yourself (or others).
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Sep 10, 2015 20:43
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GreatJob posted:Don't let the perceived subjectivity of 'good' stop you from doing stuff. As long as the audience can follow the story and empathize with the characters, they will read. The internet bypassed a lot of creative gatekeepers, don't turn around and be one for yourself (or others). Yeah. Definitely this. It's ok to be hard on yourself, but if you're being so hard that you aren't producing work or moving towards your goal, you're clearly being counter-productive. It seems like an obvious thing, but it took me awhile to learn this lesson, and I think I'm still learning it.
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Sep 10, 2015 22:52
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GreatJob posted:As long as the audience can follow the story and empathize with the characters, they will read. This 100%. Make the story good. The rest is just icing.
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Sep 11, 2015 01:30
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windex posted:Oh man. See, I have this happen occasionally because when I am overworked/stressed/etc the part of my brain that makes shapes just goes gently caress YOU DAD and locks itself up in it's bedroom, with a hint of cigarette smoke coming out from under the door and the sound of a bass playing while plugged into headphones. I find if I'm constantly adjust and redrawing a thing, just going to sleep and looking at it with new eyes is often enough to decide "actually this looks acceptable" rather than agonize over it in a sleep deprived state. Pretty sure same goes for lovely teens. For what it's worth painted bird, I like your style so far. I'm a real fan of sharp silhouettes. Rethy fucked around with this message at 07:18 on Sep 11, 2015 |
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Sep 11, 2015 07:07
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Rethy posted:I find if I'm constantly adjust and redrawing a thing, just going to sleep and looking at it with new eyes is often enough to decide "actually this looks acceptable" rather than agonize over it in a sleep deprived state. Pretty sure same goes for lovely teens. Yeah, totally. It pays off to do the roughs, do a "pre-final" layer, then go to bed and come back the next day to look at it again and consider if something needs to be fixed or if it looks pretty good. What we're ultimately trying to say here, painted bird, is: don't let perfection be the enemy of production. It's good to want to make something that's visually impressive, but trying to put a painstaking amount of detail into every frame or spending inordinate amounts of time second guessing your art's quality is just gonna hamstring you, in the end. I'll take a comic with mediocre art that's either managed to reach completion or is steadily progressing towards something versus a comic that either takes years for each chapter to arrive (looking at you, Miura!) or which simply dies in the field because the artist got burned out trying to make it perfect.
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Sep 12, 2015 04:28
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It will also lead to disappointment when, if you use a stat tracker, you notice that even the pages you poured the most detail and effort into crafting are still going to get looked at by the average reader for however long it takes them to read any present text and glance around for a gist of what's going on, so a few seconds. This isn't to say you don't want to make pages you're proud of or that effort is only worth the audience's time spent evaluating it, you still want to do each page to the best of your current ability but within reason- stressing over a background character who came out with arms too long or something is not worth your time as an artist. Stressing over a main character looking unrecognizably off-model would be a reasonable concern. Perspective a little wonky in one panel? You can probably let that one go. Perspective so wrong, Escher would need help decoding the action? Yeah, that's worth a redraw. edit: The above doesn't apply if you are being paid to do something for someone (and getting a buck from 50 subscribers on patreon doesn't count), but I think it's reasonable for those of us who are hobbyists. sweeperbravo fucked around with this message at 14:26 on Sep 12, 2015 |
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Sep 12, 2015 14:15
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Or, to put it another way: pretend you're in charge of the budget for an animated show. Save the effort for the scenes where the audience is really paying attention (major conflicts, periods of high emotion, etc.), and focus on passability for everything else. I'm not gonna remember the art being sketchy on twenty panels of people's heads talking to eachother, but I am gonna remember the art being sketchy in the climactic fight scene of a chapter.
Vermain fucked around with this message at 17:20 on Sep 12, 2015 |
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Sep 12, 2015 16:48
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How worth it is color? I don't see any black and white comics, so I'm assuming it's basically a necessity.
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Sep 13, 2015 19:17
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FactsAreUseless posted:How worth it is color? I don't see any black and white comics, so I'm assuming it's basically a necessity. Black and white comics exist, they just super limit the style of book you're working on, depending on what you're doing anyways.
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Sep 13, 2015 19:21
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FactsAreUseless posted:How worth it is color? I don't see any black and white comics, so I'm assuming it's basically a necessity. I'm not surprised people get the impression it's vital though.
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Sep 13, 2015 19:27
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