Never Outsource Your Vision

I’ve been seeing this happen a lot recently, so I wanna talk about it. A creative person finds themself at…
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Webcomics Confidential: Unnecessary Tangents

Unnecessary tangents in an illustration can be distracting — and kill the composition in an otherwise great drawing. While sketching…
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ComicLab Ep 449 — Special Guest Dylan Meconis

Cartoonist and author Dylan Meconis joins Dave Kellett to discuss marketing middle-grade webcomics, working with fans who offer to translate…
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Livestream Chat: Doing a quiet voice in comics lettering

How do you represent someone whispering in a comic? If you choose to make the lettering itself smaller, you’re sacrificing…
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Talking Comics with Brad Guigar — Creativity vs Consistency

In this livestream, I’m diving into the real talk every comics creator needs to hear — no fluff, no marketing…
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Future Expected Value

What can Netflix teach you about administering your Patreon rewards? Plenty.
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Webcomics Confidential — How to get your creative motor started

The key to igniting your creativity is so simple that it continues to elude us — even those who have been…
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ComicLab Ep 448 — What’s the Best Business Model for Comics?

This week, Brad and Dave talk about the best business model for longform webcomics — and why putting your comic…
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How to do a reader survey

Reader surveys are an excellent way to get a better feel for your audience. Does your comic skew toward female…
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Rethink the landing page

Many of us recognize that readership on the Web has shifted. Our audience spends most of their online time on…
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opened box with optical lenses and rim

Never Outsource Your Vision

I’ve been seeing this happen a lot recently, so I wanna talk about it. A creative person finds themself at a crossroads, and they need to make a decision. And in a moment of weakness, they do something that dooms them. Now, I’m going to focus on business decisions in this talk, but this can often apply to creative decisions as well.

Maybe it’s a new Patreon tier they’re considering. Maybe it’s a publishing decision. Maybe it’s a Kickstarter reward. And they go to their readers and ask: “Would you support a Patreon tier that featured XYZ reward?”

And — nearly 100% of the time — they end up getting the worst advice imaginable. 

That’s because readers are experts in consumption, not creation.

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by on July 27, 2026
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Webcomics Confidential: Unnecessary Tangents

Unnecessary tangents in an illustration can be distracting — and kill the composition in an otherwise great drawing. While sketching a page for his Evil Inc comic, cartoonist Brad Guigar discusses tangents and how to avoid them.

by on July 24, 2026
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ComicLab Ep 449 — Special Guest Dylan Meconis

Cartoonist and author Dylan Meconis joins Dave Kellett to discuss marketing middle-grade webcomics, working with fans who offer to translate your work, and finding the right balance between control and accessibility. They also share practical advice for cartoonists creating an autobiographical avatar — including how simplification, posture, clothing, line quality, and tone can make a character feel unmistakably like you.

Topics include:

  • Marketing and monetizing middle-grade webcomics
  • Reaching young readers through parents, newsletters, libraries, and local events
  • Using print editions, zines, and snail-mail clubs to complement online comics
  • Deciding whether to permit fan translations
  • Maintaining quality control with beta readers and creator-hosted translations
  • Balancing copyright concerns with the desire to reach new audiences
  • Designing a cartoon version of yourself for memoir and autobiographical comics
by on July 23, 2026
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Livestream Chat: Doing a quiet voice in comics lettering

How do you represent someone whispering in a comic? If you choose to make the lettering itself smaller, you’re sacrificing legibility — and that’s dangerous. After all, that’s Guigar’s Law of Lettering: “Nobody’s gonna read your comic if they can’t read your comic.” In this Livestream Chat, let’s talk about different approaches to getting it done… quietly.

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by on July 22, 2026
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Talking Comics with Brad Guigar — Creativity vs Consistency

In this livestream, I’m diving into the real talk every comics creator needs to hear — no fluff, no marketing buzzwords, just honest advice from the trenches.

Contents

  • 00:00 Episode 400 of the ComicLab podcast
  • 05:01 Social media rewards consistency more than creativity
  • 26:28 Cameos in comics
  • 30:27 How to handle criticism
  • 42:46 Book a comics consultation
  • 43:49 Why I stopped exhibiting at comic cons
  • 49:01 Look for solutions — not excuses
  • 51:09 Closing comments

We talk about…

  • Why asking for reviews isn’t promotion
  • Why “I’m bad at social media” isn’t an excuse
  • The truth about creativity vs consistency
  • Why I don’t listen to critics — only peers
  • How I treat my social feed like a TV channel
  • And the year I stopped doing comic cons… and finally made a profit

If you’re trying to grow your audience, build your brand, or turn your comics into a business, this is the one to watch.

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by on July 21, 2026
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ComicLab Ep 448 — What’s the Best Business Model for Comics?

This week, Brad and Dave talk about the best business model for longform webcomics — and why putting your comic online for free is still the strongest way to build a sustainable career. Also: Kickstarter’s late-pledge and pledge-manager tools, the difference between market research and mirror research, and how to keep going when your first posts get nothing but crickets.

ON THIS WEEK’S SHOW…

  • Dave’s backyard skunk problem may or may not require Super Soakers
  • What’s the best business model for longform webcomics?
  • Why fear of theft can stop creators from building an audience
  • Why free-to-read comics remain the best foundation for a comics business
  • “First comes the crowd, then comes the funding”
  • Why readers who enjoy your work online are often first in line to buy the book
  • How delayed access and early-access posts fit into a Patreon strategy
  • Why exclusive side stories can work better than paywalling your main archive
  • Avoiding physical rewards on Patreon and Substack
  • Dave will be at San Diego Comic-Con booth 1228 with free ComicLab pins (use the super-easy mnemonic: 1BAT) 
  • Kickstarter late pledges and Pledge Manager are bringing in real money
  • Why charging shipping closer to fulfillment can be safer
  • Market research vs. mirror research
  • How to estimate Kickstarter shipping more accurately
  • What to do when you start posting online and get “crickets”
  • Why seven posts is not enough time to expect traction
  • Reframing early work as building an archive for future fans
  • Social-media advice for giving readers a reason to engage
  • Why success in comics is a marathon, not a sprint
by on July 16, 2026
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close up photo of survey spreadsheet

How to do a reader survey

Reader surveys are an excellent way to get a better feel for your audience. Does your comic skew toward female readers? Do they tend to be younger or older? What are their other interests? Would they support a Kickstarter for a new book? What rewards would make them Patreon backers?

The content you are trying to access is only available to members.
by on July 15, 2026
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Rethink the landing page

Many of us recognize that readership on the Web has shifted. Our audience spends most of their online time on social media and apps. However, we know it’s important to have our own website where we can own and control our own work. But that website? It’s straight out of 2005.

The content you are trying to access is only available to members.
by on July 14, 2026
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