November To-Do List

November To-Do List

It's time to get started on (*choke*) the penultimate month of 2024.If you plan to offer new merchandise for the...
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ComicLab Ep 359 — Should your readers be your writers?

ComicLab Ep 359 — Should your readers be your writers?

BlueSky is beginning to feel like Twitter did ten years ago! Engagement is up, conversations are genuine, and follower counts...
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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,"...
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Writing humor

Writing humor

Writing comedy is a challenge that is made even more daunting by the fact that humor itself is completely subjective...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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Q&A with Scott Kurtz (Part Two of Four)

Part Two of a weeklong Q&A with Scott Kurtz.

I’m curious about your thoughts on shading. Since you’ve started coloring it seems you’ve gone through cycles of shading and not shading PVP. When you do shade, what process do you use? Do you think that extra step is really necessary, or is it a case by case type of situation?

I think shading can be overdone. And it takes extra time. I stopped doing it because I wanted some of my time back. And I didn’t think it added that much to the strip. I think the flat colors are just fine for PvP.

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by on May 24, 2011
Posted In: Interviews
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Q&A with Scott Kurtz, Part One

Part One of a weeklong Q&A with Scott Kurtz.

With the recent response to your 40s LOLBAT strips, do you see a possibility for a series of longer LOLBAT arcs that could be compiled into a book?

My hope is to do a stand alone LOLBAT book. But honestly, with my current commitments, I’m going to need to think like Robert Kirkman and start getting some bad ass artists to draw things that I write. My fear is that my fans may not be receptive to a LOLBAT book I didn’t draw. But it’s either that or no LOLBAT book.

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by on May 23, 2011
Posted In: Interviews
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Webcomics Weekly: Episode 81

In the newest Webcomics Weekly, Scott, Dave, Kris and Brad discuss Nina Paley’s take on copyright — with surprising results. After that, Scott and Kris talk about how they used Kickstarter to fund their new PATV project (they reached their funding goal this morning), and how Kickstarter has changed the way webcartoonists approach preorders.

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by on May 20, 2011
Posted In: Business
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Random Punchline Hot Seat: Part Eight

This is the last installment in a critique of comics picked at random from participating members, so let’s get right to the disclaimers. If I re-write the punchline, I’m not necessarily trying to go funnier. I’m trying to demonstrate construction. I want to show how you re-assembling the logical steps along the progression of your comic can lead to a more polished punchline. It may not seem funnier for your sense of humor. But I’m confident that if you pay attention to the construction, you’ll be able to take away something that works for you.

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by on May 18, 2011
Posted In: Hot Seat critiques, Writing
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Free hosting by Philip Hofer

You may know Philip “Frumph” Hofer as a key developer in the ComicsPress plug-in for Word Press — a ubiquitous publishing system in webcomics. Recently, Hofer has started a new project, ComicEasel, which offers free hosting to webcomics to creators generating under 700 daily hits.

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by on May 17, 2011
Posted In: Member Benefits
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DOs and DON’Ts of blogging

Community building is perhaps on of the most important components of a webcomics success that there is. Every beginning webcartoonist wants to be able to success in terms of pageviews and unique visitors. They think a larger audience will automatically yield larger revenue. But as it happens in so many other aspects of life, it’s not about size — it’s about how you use it. I’ll take a webcomic with a small readership with an intense sense of community over a large, disjointed readership any day.

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by on May 12, 2011
Posted In: Web site
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