Episodes
Same Face Syndrome
So here’s our scenario: you’re making your webcomic, your readers are following to the best of their ability, but you’re hearing the feedback that they can’t tell some of the characters apart. This can be about how you draw them, the styles and coloring you’re using… OR there could be aspects of your writing that are affecting how they’re perceived. For whatever reason, people are getting confused. That's what we call Same Face Syndrome and we're here to help you diagnose and treat.
Starting with the Big Idea
If you’re like… well… everyone on this podcast, you’ve had some pretty epic webcomic ideas. They’re really cool and exciting, maybe you’ve even been developing them for years without even drawing a page, and it's such an expansive idea it's probably going to even longer to draw, maybe even ten years! (if you’re lucky). This is a situation that can be both exciting and scary, and today we're going to talk about taking this BIG idea and using it to start your webcomic journey.
Jam Session! Motivation
How do you stay motivated making comics? It's a hard question, so today we're going to jam about it and see what answers we can find!
Sticking With One Idea
Do you have a bunch of ideas, but you can never stay fixated on just one? It can be tricky to stay focused for a project as long as a webcomic, especially when everything else starts to look SO MUCH SHINIER. But there are things you can do to increase your chances of seeing it through to the end and resisting the Plot Bunnies, so today we're going to talk about that!
Alternate Formats
Webcomics are pretty great in our opinion, but they're not the only way to get a narrative story out into the world. Prose has been an option forever, but today, with so many new technologies, there are so many more options available! You could use anything from video games to podcasts to tell a story. But each option has its own pros and cons depending on what sort of project you're building, and today we're going to talk about them!
Plotting a Webcomic
Coming up with characters and scenarios is one thing, but when you're working in a longform narrative comic, you're going to want to think about a plot. Planning out your plot in a webcomic is a unique challenge compared to some other mediums, so today we're going to talk about it!
3D Models
One tool that webcomic artists can take advantage of, to help save time and sanity, is 3D models. Whether tracing directly or using them for reference, they can help you visualize complex places, objects, or poses from different angles. So let's talk about them!
Update Schedules
Many webcomics work in a serialized fashion, updating with a page a week or batch of pages every so often, and this is something we probably borrowed from newspaper comics and issue format comics. With that, we wanted to talk about what it's like to keep up with our own schedules, expectations with retaining readership, and the process involved with sticking with something that works for you.
Tragic Backstories
Let's not lie to ourselves: we've all been in the misery pit before, thinking about the poignant and tragic beginnings to our character's stories. Tragic backstories are a trope for a reason: painful experiences can add depth and catharsis to characters. But how do we make them resonate with our audiences emotionally?
Animation and Webcomics
A lot of creators in webcomics, including all of us here, have come from an animation education or a career path. It makes a lot of sense that many of us are drawn to it, because there's so much creativity and energy in the world of animation. And webcomics are very freeform, so if you have your own site or a platform that supports it, videos, GIFs, and CSS animation tricks are all on the table as tools we can integrate into the comic experience. So let's talk about it!
Video Platforms (with Star!)
Video has exploded in popularity online, and is rapidly becoming– if it hasn’t already– one of the most popular mediums for people to express themselves, chat, promote, and experiment online. Chances are good if you, the listener, are hanging out online in creative social spaces, you’re already watching video content, whether it be keeping up with a favourite streamer, putting on Youtube movie reviews in the background while you work, watching or interacting with the creative communities on tiktok… there’s a lot!
Online Stores (with Star!)
There comes a time in every webcomic's life where the creator begins pondering the wonderful world of merchandise. From stickers to books and more, the possibilities are endless and the idea of opening your own shop can be both thrilling and intimidating all at once. But have no fear! Our hosts, along with special guest Star (@starfishface), are here to help and provide their strategies for things like store hosting, what type of items to make, and how to make sure this endeavor is worth your time!
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/