Throughout literature and modern media, many faults and drives for leads, damsels and villians have often been motivated by a tragic backstory so much so, that to employ one for your story may appear trite or cliche. There is, however, a way to use a tragic backstory effectively and can ...

2018 marks the 80th birthday of the big guy himself - the OG superhero.

Superman first appeared in Action Comics #1 in 1938.

Actually, there were precursors to Superman. But he popularized and defined the ‘Superhero’ character-type and genre. He was the template for countless characters who came later, with his ...

LISTEN!

This Quackcast was based on an idea from Banes. We chat about designing a group of characters with complementary temperaments. In Banes' own words:
“I like the idea of the line between a logical, left brained person and a creative, right brained person, crossed with a spectrum of a ...

There's nothing more intense than subverting the audience's expectations: The righteous character that always says the truth says a lie. The character that values all life ends up murdering someone. The bad sort, the punk that's always terrible ends up saving the day or doing something decent ...

Ironically, no picture this time…and it's a Newspost about pitchers!


Beyond writing our stories and characters, figuring out our plots and dialogue and character design, and all the other stuff that goes into creating a comic, we have to choose our shots. Our camera angles.

Very much like ...

There comes a time in any webcomic creator’s career where they have to be mean to their characters. And there is nothing meaner than letting the proverbial Sword of Damocles fall on a beloved (or equally unloved) character and watching their head roll to the chorus a shrill cries ...

The nominees have been announced and current volunteers have been given assignments. 

We still need more volunteers. There are 12 unclaimed presentations and 25 judging slots still left over.


2018 Finalists: Genre/Style Awards


My Life as An American Hero 2
Kitty Kitty Bang Bang
Mindfold
Steel & Manitou


Jay’s Internet Fight Club
TransNeptunian


Lego Space
Life and Death


Chunky Skunk
Fluffy 500

Best Community Project
Only one comic rose above. Stay tuned to see the winner in the October ceremony.

Best Drama
Only one comic rose above. Stay tuned to see the winner in the October ceremony.


Dragonet
Electricity Is Her Element
Sword of Kings


Craters Edge
Demon Eater
Monster Soup


Fantasticbrick
Froggtree Comics
Life and Death
The KAMics


Awfully Decent Fellows
Kings Club
Used Books


All Unicorns to Battle Stations
Belle’s Best: the films of Belinda Brandon
Holy Bible: The Albino Ginger Version


Godstrands
Holy Bible: The Albino Ginger Version
Without Moonlight


Godstrands
Mars II
The Constellation Chronicle
TransNeptunian


Fred Peterson: The Mighty Warlord
Generation Bad
Godstrands
My Life as An American Hero 2


Craters Edge
Godstrands
Putrid Meat
Super Impact High School
The Last Sheriff
TransNeptunian


My Life as An American Hero 2
The Gloom


Kings Club
Putrid Meat
Riddick Q Loss Tales
TransNeptunian

2018 Finalists: Technical Awards


Cosmos Song
Craters Edge
Kings Club
Monster Soup
The Constellation Chronicle
Without Moonlight


Charby the Vampirate
Cosmos Song
Kings Club
Sword of Kings


Cosmos Song
Kings Club
Used Books


Godstrands
Simply Sarah
Sword of Kings
Used Books
Without Moonlight


Kings Club
Simply Sarah
Sword of Kings
TransNeptunian


Belle’s Best: the films of Belinda Brandon
Lego Space
Sword of Kings
TransNeptunian


Awfully Decent Fellows
Electricity Is Her Element


Godstrands
My Life as An American Hero 2
The Gloom
Used Books


2018 Finalists: Character Awards, User Awards, and The Big Ones


Bones from Putrid Meat
Cyrenna from Kings Club
Hitomi from The Gloom
Kimber Lee from Godstrands
Searsha from Sword of Kings


Andy from Kings Club
Eeve from Craters Edge
Osprey from TransNeptunian


Nascha from TransNeptunian
Salaster from Craters Edge


bravo1102
ozoneocean
Tantz_Aerine
vinomas


AmeliaP
bravo1102
El Cid
Jason Moon
KimLuster
rmccool


bravo1102
KimLuster
plymayer


AmeliaP
mks_monsters
RecklessHero


Hit Girlz
My Life as An American Hero
Putrid Meat



Fantasticbrick
Modest Medusa


Kings Club
Modest Medusa
TransNeptunian
Without Moonlight



—-


Congratulations to all ...

Last week there was a post about smaller regular casts in a series - The Loner series, the Duo, and the Trio. Here's that post:

https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2018/aug/01/casting-characters-in-comics-123/

With a larger cast, things start to get more complicated - but with more possibilities for different ...

We all talk about the sheer necessity to create characters that don't appear cardboard, that are fleshed out, that generally feel like real flesh-and-blood, living, breathing people (regardless of your character's species or nature) with personalities that ring true to the audience.

There are several elements that contribute ...

Soviet poster advocating atheism and science over religion

From the most ancient times, art has always been used by the ruling classes for purposes of propaganda, to propagate certain ideas about those commissioning it and their purposes: that kings are mighty, that regimes are for ever, that the enemy is ...