Mailbag: Copy/Paste Cheating?
I’m grappling with whether or not it’s “cheating” to continually borrow from my own archive to copy and paste a character’s head, a scenario, etc.
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I’m grappling with whether or not it’s “cheating” to continually borrow from my own archive to copy and paste a character’s head, a scenario, etc.
The content you are trying to access is only available to members.
As we head into March, I want to be sure that I’m covering some of the topics that are important to you, so if you have a specific question, please hit the Questions link at the top of the site. After your question, please provide your name, comic title and URL. If you’d like me to withhold that information, let me know that, too.
Creating a comic requires a blend of two very different disciplines — visual art and writing. Some people may be good artists, but they’re not so good at writing. Others may be good writers, but their art is standing in the way of their storytelling. And still others simply haven’t admitted to themselves that they fall into one of those two categories.
Which is why a collaboration is such an attractive proposition. A good writer teams with a skillful artist, and the two cooperate to make an amazing comic. When it works, Penny Arcade being a shining example, it works tremendously. But when it doesn’t work, things get dark quick.
So how do you establish a successful collaboration?
It’s the same as any relationship you might have in real life: Honesty, communication and fairness.
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When it comes to humor writing, writing anything that approaches instruction is a dicey proposition. When a joke is analyzed, it tends to die. At the risk of killing some funny, however, I have a few thoughts on the subject that I’d like to share.
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If you’ve exhibited at this convention in the past, please post details of your experience below.
I’ll bet just about everybody has at least one good cartoon in them.
After all, every now and then, even a blind squirrel finds an acorn.
But we’re not blind squirrels, are we? We’re cartoonists.
And that means we have to be nuts on a regular basis.
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Since re-launching this site in January, one of the most common questions I get has been “Will this site help me if I do a longform comic?”
And the answer is an unequivocal yes.
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It’s the most important question you can ask if you’re going to charge money for your work: What is My Time Worth?
Figuring it all out can take a little soul-searching (not to mention wallet-searching), but the time spent can make things really simple when it comes time to suggest a price for your involvement in a project.
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We’ve spoken about the importance of placing important items “above the fold” in the Web design critiques. And, to be fair, not everyone is as obsessed with the idea as I am.
One such reader passed along a Web site that argues against the “above the fold” philosophy in Web design.
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