• Post any questions you have about your story, page layout, website, or anything else about making a comic. Chances are someone will be able to help.
  
• Don't use this thread as an RSS feed for every update.
  
• If you want to talk about how great the latest update of X was, it might be better off in the BSS Webcomic thread, unless the creator posts here regularly.
  

• You might think about getting some practice in drawing shorter comics before tackling your 500 page masterpiece.
  
• Think about your update schedule: if you want regular updates, figure how many pages you can put out in a week and subtract 1. If you want to do batch updates, think of how many you can do before you feel like biting off your arm.
  
• Think about why you're doing it. It's very rare that a new comic will take off right away, it's a gradual build-up. Make sure you really like what you're doing, and not just waiting for a movie option to come through.
  

You'll have to figure out the best way for you make a page, it takes a bit of trial and error and there's no one way to do it. There's obviously a big push to digital, but a lot of people are still working traditional. This list will focus on digital tools, since that's what I'm most familiar with.

• Tablets: Wacom's still the gold standard, but there's been an increase in other manufacturers making drawing tablets. The competitor tablets can be a little trickier to get working, so do your research. Professional illustrator Ray Frenden has done a number of reviews and I've heard some people are happy with Monoprice or Yiyinova tablets.
  
• Drawing programs: Manga Studio / Clip Studio Paint (same program, different names and CSP is digital only I think), my favorite and it often goes on sale. You don't need the EX version, the only difference is EX has 3d models and the story mode (story mode lets you group numerous pages into a book, like a folder, it's not necessary). Paint Tool Sai and Photoshop are still very popular, too, and have a lot of community support. Ray Frenden, the guy above, has digital brushes for Photoshop and Manga Studio, I recommend you check 'em out.

• Back up your work, back up your work, holy poo poo back up your work. If your only copy of your entire work is on one computer that's bad. Hard drives die, computers catch fire, lightning strikes. Back up your stuff to a separate hard drive, look into offsite archiving like dropbox, and always check to make sure you're keeping up to date files in multiple places. So many sad stories.
  
• If you have even the smallest idea in the back of your head that you might want to publish, start working at 300dpi at minimum, 600dpi if your computer can manage it. 3 years from now you don't want to have to rescan or redraw a bunch of pages because all you have are your 72dpi web resolution files.
  
• Save often. It's really easy to get into the groove of drawing and forget that old ctrl+s/command+s. Use it.
  
• Remember comics is not a big community and that community has a long memory. Don't be a jerk if you want to be serious .

• There are a number of free hosts specifically for webcomics, the benefit is you have a community familiar with webcomics, admins to help with hosting problems, and a built-in network of support for cross-advertising. They also usually have built-in comments systems and sometimes a forum option. Listed in the order I remembered they existed:
  • The Duck (formerly Drunk Duck)
    
  • Comic Fury
    
  • Smack Jeeves
• Tumblr is another free option, but it's not specifically designed for webcomics as above. You have to use the Webcomic Theme but it does support disqus integration for comments.
  
• If you have your own hosting but don't know anything about coding:
  • Wordpress is probably still the simplest, many web hosts have it pre-installed or a one-button installation wizard for it. The downside is if Wordpress has a major update, it might break your plug-in until the developer can push out an update. You'll need a plug-in and they usually need specific themes. Choose a plug-in that's been recently updated, older ones may be more delicate to Wordpress updates. Plug-ins include Webcomic, Comic Easel, Manga Press and ComicPress
    
  • Grawlix is new to the scene, but it's a solid little Content Management System.
  There's more options if you know a coder you can commission, but any one the above will probably do enough for what you need.
  

• Post in this thread! It's small, but we're all doing the same thing here.
  
• Find other comic communities. Forums, G+ groups (those still exist!), Facebook, whatever.
  
• Social media. Tumblr, Twitter, and so on.
  
• Fan art. People still love getting fan art. Draw for a comic you like, tag it on tumblr, make yourself visible.
  
• Keep your ear to the ground for zines and anthologies you'd like to get in on. They're really making a come back.
  
• Conventions are still a great way to meet people and get them to meet you. Even if you don't have a table, you can print up cards, minis, or little hand outs and trade or give them away to people. Don't be obnoxious, but be friendly.
  
• Advertise on Project Wonderful.

• Patreon is a recent service allowing people to be an artist's patron. For comics you can choose to be paid per update or per month, and people can pledge money to you! You can even add goals like extra pages or goodies if you reach a certain amount per update/month. For rewards people offer access to a backer's only area, wallpapers, or even commissions if the donation is high enough.
  
• GumRoad lets you sell PDFs, ebooks, and just about anything you can zip up. Lots of artists sell PDF copies of their comics, digital paintbrushes, etc. They don't allow adult content though.
  
• If you know you have the audience to support it, comics do very well on KickStarter. Make sure to do your research on publishing costs, shipping costs, etc. Spike has a little book about KickStarting comics that I've heard is very good reading.
  
• Comic Chameleon has a curation process, but it's an app that lets people read your comic on their phone or tablet. I've heard of a few people using it and they seem to like it.

Mercury Hat fucked around with this message at 11:31 on Jun 23, 2015

Mercury Hat fucked around with this message at 12:49 on Aug 19, 2016

• You can work on your current project(s), it doesn't have to be something totally new.
  
• You can set your own goal for page count! Suggestions usually are: 30 pencilled/thumbnailed pages OR 15 inked pages OR 10 colored and inked pages.
  
• If you post it on tumblr, tag it #nanomango and the tumblr might pick it up.
  

Mercury Hat fucked around with this message at 22:32 on Jul 29, 2015

Mercury Hat fucked around with this message at 04:06 on Aug 21, 2015