Tips on Starting a Webcomic! Pt1

 I made this blog maybe a year & a half ago, and it just ended up collecting dust bunnies lol. With the new year, I wanna start fresh and try new things. One of them being Blogging! And on a regular basis at that!

So lets get this started with my first official blog post of 2013!

 I decided to make this 1st post pretty general. Just some various tips that i'll briefly discuss in 2 parts this month. Then I'll go into detail in later posts that i'll divide into 4 parts:

-Storyplanning/Storyboarding

-Penciling/Inking/Toning

-Online Marketing

-Printing

1.Start Small.

Short stories are the best way to practice 2 things: 

-Learning to tell complete stories in a small amount of space.

-Test out new techniques without having to commit to them long term.

A big problem I ran into when I first drawing comics this: Wanting to draw that really long, on-going, epic series as your first project.  It's something a lot of want to do when were first starting out, and I ended up not thinking things thru and just diving right in. That series happened to be Nigh Heaven & Hell. It took

4 Different Attemps before I got to This Version. And I got about 3 volumes in before I realized my art & story were all over the place and that I wasn't happy with the final product as a whole. So I Redid It.

When I first started out, I could't fully comprehend the importance of short stories. That's not to say my attempts didn't help me improve in multiple ways. But short stories force you to think in a different way. You don't get the luxury of killing space with short stories. You only get X amount of pages to tell a complete story. So I suggest you keep your long/epic series on the back burner for a bit. Practice your basic skills 1st.

Another great thing about short stories is getting to test out new techniques without the long term commitment! Say your gonna try brush inking, but quickly realize you don't enjoy it, the great thing is if you're  working on a short 10 page story, you only have to really commit to it for those 10 pages. Let the short stories be ways of testing out new materials. You can even you the short stories to try out new page layouts or test out a new way of drawing! And it's also a good way to test out the final look for your longer series. Try out side stories and see what works best for how you'd like the final product to be.

2. You Don't Need To Buy Expensive Materials!

One thing I've learned while making comics is this: It's not the materials that make the artist, it's how the artist molds those materials. You don't need the most expensive brand name products to create comics. In the end, it's the final product that matters the most. Not what you used. And i'm not saying you're not allowed to buy Sakura Pens, Copics, or Deleter Paper. They're top name brands for a reason, because they're good. What I'm saying is to try out alternatives. There's so many products out in the market, some that even compete with the products I listed above. Branch out and try as many things as you can find! As of right now, these are the products I use for making comics.
- Hammermill A4 Printer Paper
- Prismacolor Col-Erase Light Blue Pencil
- Hunt 102 Nibs
- Bombay Black India Ink
- Royal Langnickel Nano-Liner

Use whatever feels comfortable. Take your time testing out products and finding what works best for you. 

3.Get Pages Done Before Hand.

If you plan to start a webcomic, then I suggest you get plenty of pages done before you start releasing them online. This goes hand in hand topic 4.The Importance of Update Schedules. When I first started showing my comics online, I already had them compiled into volumes because I didn't know anything about Webcomics! lol. So I had plenty of content to show without much worry. By having plency of pages ready before hand, it allows you to be more flexible, consistent, and 100% in control of your update schedule. 

You never have to stress yourself out getting pages done the night before your update schedule.

4.The Importance Of Update Schedules.

This is a Golden Rule: Be Consistent with your updating. 

Have your update schedule set, and stick to it. Be sure it's displayed somewhere easy to find so everyone knows. And if you know you'll be missing an update or that you're taking a break, let pepole know ahead of time. We're only human, and we DO forget sometimes and mistakes happen. But it's important to let your readers know out of common courtesy. And overall, just try to be as consistent as possible. <3

When it comes to deciding what days you'll update or how many pages to upload. Go for whatever works best for you. I've been trying out different ways of updating with each comic. Freakshow and Nigh Heaven & Hell update every Friday. But, I only update Freakshow with 1 page a week. Where as N.H.H updates are in batches. And Technicolor London updates with 1 page every Tuesday and Friday. It's interesting to juggle each series and see what works best for each series. 

 I'd have to say, the more days you update in a week, the better. Think of it this way, if you update your comic once a month, how many opportunities do you have for people to stumble onto your comic? Only once a month right? So keep that in mind when choosing your update schedule. But also keep in mind your own schedule too. Take it easy and slow at first. 

5.Printing Tips.

Before you start your webcomic, ask yourself this: "Do you plan to have your comic Printed?"

"What size would you like it printed at?" "Will it be Black & White or in Full Color?"

Here are some Specs to keep in mind for good print quality.

-300 DPI  A.K.A Dots Per Inch (It's the DPI I use and it prints perfectly. But feel free to go higher in DPI.)

-10.45x7.5 is a about the average size my pages end up being once cropped from the A4 Paper. If you plan to make smaller books, Keep Your Original File Sizes! You never know when you'll need them. 

-If you're going to use screentones, make sure they're High Resolution and for Printing. Here's a good place to find High Res Screen tones. Manga Apps & Rayedwards.

-If you plan to color your comic and print at some point, use Cmyk.  Check out this Tutorial and this easy Chart 

-To keep your print version different from the online version, try to have extras that are exclusive to the books. Technicolor London is a good example,. About 100 pages are dedicated to story pages (the ones you see online). And 30 pages are dedicated to Bonus Material. That includes Character Sketches, 4 Panel Comics, Fanart, and one Bonus Comic that's 10 Pages. 

You don't need that much in Extras though. If someone likes your comic, they're gonna want it in print and in their hands no matter what. The bonus material just helps make it a little more special!

That's is for Part 1! In Part 2, I'll discuss sites to upload your Webcomic, Building a Fanbase and Comments, what they really mean!

I hope you enjoyed reading! Feel free to comment below <3