Understanding social media

Understanding social media

Social media is among an independent artist's most frustrating elements. We struggle for engagement, wage constant battles with "The Algorithm,"...
Read More
Writing humor

Writing humor

Writing comedy is a challenge that is made even more daunting by the fact that humor itself is completely subjective...
Read More
CMYK vs RGB

CMYK vs RGB

If you're saving your comics in RGB mode, you may be making a potentially expensive mistake. The content you are...
Read More
ComicLab Ep 358 — “Help! I’m not funny anymore!”

ComicLab Ep 358 — “Help! I’m not funny anymore!”

Cartoonists Dave and Brad share some thoughts with a young humor writer trying to find their Funny. Also: Is BlueSky...
Read More
ISBN — a beginner’s guide

ISBN — a beginner’s guide

An ISBN is a 10- or 13-digit number used to identify a book from a specific publisher. Once your book...
Read More
How to write a Halloween joke

How to write a Halloween joke

On Substack, a cartoonist was struggling with writing a Halloween joke. He was experiencing a common problem. He was stuck...
Read More
Webcomics Confidential: Size doesn’t matter

Webcomics Confidential: Size doesn’t matter

when it comes to your audience, size doesn't matter. A small and engaged readership beats a huge, lukewarm audience every...
Read More
ComicLab Ep 357 — Innovation fascination

ComicLab Ep 357 — Innovation fascination

Having wrapped up his 16th Kickstarter, cartoonist Dave Kellett shares some insights about setting realistic expectations, avoiding paid advertising, and...
Read More
Adding lettering to improve original art sales

Adding lettering to improve original art sales

Selling original art is an integral part of the business model of an independent cartoonist who works with traditional media...
Read More
Reader retention

Reader retention

Let's face it. One of the biggest hurdles in growing a webcomic is reader retention. That's why I encourage you...
Read More

Humor writing — One step at a time

I like writing about the writing process — especially humor writing. It’s a topic that I find many people who write cartooning tutorials shy away from because it’s so difficult to quantify. But it’s something that’s essential to what we do. So, even though I know I’ll never be able to write a step-by-step guide to writing the perfect joke, I like sharing little moments in which I think I’ve gotten a greater understanding of the process. While teaching my Sequential Art class, I had exactly that kind of moment.

The content you are trying to access is only available to members.
by on February 19, 2024
Posted In: Writing
 Comment 

ComicLab Ep 322 — Shopping for Success

A listener asks if they should write one big, successful comic or several mediocre ones. We have a bigger question: What makes you think you have a choice?! Also, it turns out the whole “Substack nazi” thing was yet another case of Platform Panic.

SPONSORED BY…

 ComicLab is brought to you this week by the book “How Comics Were Made, a Visual History from the Drawing Board to the Printed Page.”

ON THIS WEEK’S SHOW…

  • Which is better… one big success or multiple mediocre ones?
  • UPDATE: Kindle Direct Publishing
  • UPDATE: Patreon is fixing free membership
  • UPDATE: Substack didn’t have such a big Nazi problem after all
  • Fighting AI with Nightshade (https://nightshade.cs.uchicago.edu/)

Substack’s Platform Panic

For more information on this topic, please check out these posts:

  • freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/these-rules-about-platforming-nazis
  • freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/how-to-quit-substack

Many of the people who were making the most noise on this issue are switching to Ghost. Check out Ghost’s TOS — in which they’ve even highlighted their clause on refusing to moderate content! And, on top of that, the total number of nazi accounts that were found on Substack was only 5 or 6, none of them monetized, and collectively had fewer than 200 followers– and most of them wound up being taken down by Substack anyway. 

by on February 15, 2024
Posted In: ComicLab
 Comment 

Should you re-draw old comics?

It’s an inevitable part of getting better at comics. You look back on your earlier work and cringe. (And the better you’ve gotten, the more intense your regret!) Then, perhaps as you’re considering your first printed collection, the thought crosses your mind: “Maybe I should re-do these…”

You shouldn’t. I’ll tell you why.

The content you are trying to access is only available to members.
by on February 13, 2024
Posted In: Art, Business, Print publishing
 Comment 

How to negotiate a price

It’s one of the great Good News/Bad News situations in independent comics: Someone wants to buy your work! That’s wonderful! But… how do you determine a price?!

The content you are trying to access is only available to members.
by on February 12, 2024
Posted In: Business
 Comment 

ComicLab Ep 321 — Fifty is nifty

BE ADVISED: We’ll be discussing issues like death and dying in this episode. Dave turns fifty years old, and it has us talking about cartooning in the second half of one’s life. And we’re not the only ones asking existential questions. Our first question asker is worried that they’re not going to have time to work on all of their ideas in one lifetime! Finally, we break down Wacom’s troubling use of AI art in a promotional image!

ON THIS WEEK’S SHOW…

  • Dave turns 50 years old
  • Too many ideas for one lifetime
  • ComicLab 500
  • UPDATE: Wacom uses AI art in a promo
by on February 8, 2024
Posted In: ComicLab
 Comment 

How to give a good podcast interview — and get invited back

In light of a gradual breakdown of social media, one of my areas of focus this year is to find non-social-media methods to promote my comic. Getting invited to talk about your comic on a podcast can be effective promotion. But many comics creators just aren’t very good at… talking. And you can’t do promotion if you’ve bored the audience to tears. It’s OK if you’re not naturally lugubrious behind a microphone. With the experience of over a decade of podcasting, I’ll tell you the one secret that will turn you into an amazing podcast guest.

The content you are trying to access is only available to members.
by on February 7, 2024
Posted In: Marketing / Social Media
 Comment 
Writing Creativity icon

Character archetypes

We use dominant personality traits to find our place within groups — whether it’s friends, co-workers or neighbors. One might be the “mamma bear,” while another is a “loner.” The members of the group will begin to identify each other using these personality traits. They’re using character archetypes.

The content you are trying to access is only available to members.
by on February 6, 2024
Posted In: Writing
 Comment 

“Poor Man’s Copyright”

Poor Man’s Copyright is a system of attempting to establish copyright through mailing a copy of the art to yourself (some people suggest using Certified Mail). The artist then files the envelope — unopened. If their copyright ownership is ever threatened, all they need do is open the envelope (in a court of law, one supposes) and present the document with a flourish. You even see some very prominent artists advising young people to use Poor Man’s Copyright. There’s only one problem: It’s complete bullshit.

The content you are trying to access is only available to members.
by on February 5, 2024
Posted In: Business
 Comment