Episodes
Themes
The concept of a "theme" is something that comes up in writing when we're talking about character motivations or plot in a longform narrative comic, and it's basically a word or concept that's at the core of what you're trying to say in your story. So we're going to talk about what themes are, how they come about, and how you can use them!
Backgrounds
I think we've all heard someone make the joke of setting their comic in a white void before. When asking around, backgrounds seem to be one of the biggest challenges when creating a comic. In today's episode we're going to give our five cents on why this might be and talk about tips and tricks that make working on them more fun!
Burnout
Burnout is the accumulation of unchecked and built up chronic stress over a period of time. And it takes some interesting forms that you might not expect, it can come from other places in your life OR from the making of your comic itself. But preventing it from creeping up on you in the great marathon of webcomics is critical to keeping healthy and happy, so let’s talk about our experiences!
RP and Webcomics
Roleplay has been with us since the dawn of the internet, and many of us have created original characters in RPs on forums or chats that later found their way into our comic work. It can be a great way to get the ball rolling on creating a webcomic, so today we’re going to talk about our experiences with it!
Webcomic Collectives
Collective groups are a fun alternative to going it alone, and there are a few options around and new ones cropping up. They used to be a used to be a little more popular than they are today, but it’s still worth revisiting what they are and how they work, because they can be a source of support among artists, especially in situations where social media platforms might scatter your friends and colleagues to the four winds.
Morality
Where your characters fall on a morality scale can be one of the juiciest things to play with in writing for your webcomic. Today, we discuss how morality can play into your work, what makes a character redeemable or not, and more!
Purity Culture and Webcomics
Today we're going to be talking about a social direction that can be equal parts intimidating and confusing for people posting their comics around the internet.
Now, we’re all doing our best to be respectful of different groups out there. It is never okay to be a phobic jerk, and there’s all kinds of resources out there for making sure you’re not doing something harmful that you do not intend. But there’s also a lot of challenging topics out there that you might want to talk about in your webcomic, and a lot of reasons people might get mad about the fact that you’re addressing them. There’s a lot of nuance and we probably won’t be able to handle all of it, but we’re going to address that fear of backlash that we’re loosely calling “purity culture” in this context.
Watercolors and Webcomics!
Today we're going to be talking about using watercolour as a medium, its strengths for comics and illustrations, and our personal recommendations.
Managing Expectations
When you first start out in the world of webcomics, you might have ideas about how you want your launch and subsequent updates to go. You might look at the popular webcomics you follow, see their engagement, comments, and even fandoms and think to yourself “I want that too”, only to realize that your expectations don’t quite match what you’re receiving. The results can be disappointment, resentment and burn-out, so today we want to discuss how we manage our own expectations and find healthy ways to cope with setbacks!
Webcomic Fashion (with Jacki!)
Unless you are writing a webcomic that doesn’t feature humanoid beings, you will have to figure out how to deal with clothing and fashion in your works. How you approach fashion can be dependent on a lot of factors, from the cultures you are trying to portray, to the personalities of your characters, to the time you are willing to put into details. Today we are going to talk about the ins and outs of fashion in webcomic and our own approach.
Season 2 Trailer and Cast Intros
We're getting excited for Season 2 to start dropping next week, so come and meet the cast and crew again!
Character Design
Today we're going to be talking about Character Design and what goes into making one that is effective, understandable, and memorable.
References
References are basically any visual aid that helps you draw something. You can use photos, 3D models, live models, or do a little pre-development work to draw reference sheets for characters or vehicles or outfits you know you’re going to be using in your pages. In webcomics, we’re drawing panel after panel, and stopping to find or make good references can be a step you gloss over in the interest of getting the page out. But long-term, there are a lot of benefits that you can get out of working them into your process.
Pens
Today's episode, our hosts discuss one of the many ways your comic can get done: with PENS! The gang nerds out about what the best pens are, what to look for when choosing how to ink your comic, and some fun stories from the land of digital tablet pens!
Plot vs Characters
You’re working on your comic and you’ve put together some sort of plan to figure out your story’s plot when suddenly: A DILEMMA! You find yourself with both a plot and characters that need to be fleshed out. How do you tackle this challenge and make your comic the best it can be? Join us as we discuss.
The Intro "DO IT (feat. Shia LaBeouf)", and the Outro "It's Good To See You Again!!", both by Adrianwave, have been used and modified in good faith under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Licensed. Edits include: Fade IN/OUT, and a repeat added to the beginning of "It's Good To See You Again!!". For more information on this creative commons use, please reference https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/