Episode 436 - Master of none?
Jul 22, 2019
To become truly successful at one thing you need to focus on that alone. Is it worth it? There are MANY calls on our time with all the side things we like to do, ESPECIALLY webcomics. One of the few ways to become a really successful superstar at any one thing is to start dropping all the other things that call on your time and devote all your energy to that one thing! Then you can push past all limitations and devote the effort and time needed to properly succeed.
Topics and Show Notes
But the real question you have to ask yourself is “Do you really want to?”. A lot of us find great joy and fulfilment in working on our side things, even when they can be a bit of a chore, so, is it worth it to drop all of them for as long as it takes to succeed on that “one thing”?
We have to realise that “one thing” isn't necessarily better than another, being a superstar high profile webcomicer isn't inherently better than being a good webcomicer and also having a good job, other fulfilling hobbies, being a great gamer, being a great student, father, mother, or just someone who likes to relax and enjoy themselves in their free time. Are you prepared to sacrifice that stuff and is it even worth it? For most of us I would say “no”. Great if you can, but do NOT feel bad if you can't.
We mainly chat about what it takes to be a popular and successful webcomicer and why that might not really be what you want.
This topic occurred to me because I have a lot of things on my own plate: two webcomics with a high level of art in them, I do illustrative art, I sew and do cosplay, I do a podcast, I run a webcomic hosting site (Drunk Duck), I collect antique sabres, then there's my day job as a graphic designer… (and more things). That all takes a lot of my time and I know that if I dropped some or most of those things and just laser focussed on ONE I could be very popular and successful at it, but the thing is that I don't really want to since I love doing all those things and I don't think that's the lessor choice. What about you guys?
This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Nincu the world’s worst ninja: Silence punctuated by the gentle strains of traditional Japanese music, beautiful and subtle, minimal yet essential… Then we slide on down a crazy swanny whistle into the dark rocky world of 1970s James Bond style electric guitars, portending great action and danger!
Topics and shownotes
Featured comic:
The Caraway Crew - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/The_Caraway_Crew/
Featured music:
Nincu the world’s worst ninja - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Nincu_the_worlds_worst_ninja_/, by Oscarnjboy, rated M.
Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Banes/
Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean
kawaiidaigakusei - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/kawaiidaigakusei/
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Episode 435 - Spinoffs!
Jul 15, 2019
We're discussing spin-offs in this one. Why do them? There are many very different reasons for doing a spin-off as opposed to a sequel, prequel or a totally new story:
Episode 431 - Political messages in your work
Jun 17, 2019
This Quackcast is about having political agendas in your work and expressing them well! We're talking about deliberately putting in ideas that you want to get across to people, NOT the idea that all work has agendas and ideas no matter what. That's not relevant to this discussion. When you want to want to get your ideas across there are good ways to do it and poor ways. When you do it poorly your work either has the opposite effect (people will laugh at your agenda or despise it), or it becomes propaganda. Propaganda is for preaching to the converted, it's terrible for changing minds. The only thing it's good for is motivating people who are already on-board with you.
Episode 429 - Bad ends, not bad fans
Jun 2, 2019
This Quackcast was inspired by the fan reaction to Game of Thrones, a series that I haven't watched but Tantz and Banes have! Specifically it's about poorly written endings and gas-lighting fans rather than admitting to faults.
Episode 426 - Sidekicking
May 13, 2019
Inspired by Emma Clare's Friday newspost about supporting characters, today we're discussing sidekicks! Sidekicks are a useful character type that are used in so many different ways. They can be a specialised type of supporting character that are also a main character or they can be the main protagonist in some cases. In comics sidekicks came in during the early days as a way of giving juvenile readers their own insert character who they could identify with… Bucky Barnes, Jimmy Olsen, Robin etc. They had other functions like giving the hero someone to save, providing commentary, reaction and exposition. Later when that kind of sidekick fell out of favour they became superheroes in their own right.
Episode 425 - Pay-off or rip-off?
May 6, 2019
In this Quackcast we chat about set-ups. pay-offs, and rip-offs. To make your climaxes and endings more satisfying you have pay-offs for audience expectations: set them up in the story and pay them off at the end. If you fail to pay-off then you get a rip-off, it's pretty simple. Your audience will be really disappointed. That's not to say disappointing and unsatisfying ends to stories are wrong, not at all! Often those are fully intended. We're just talking about satisfying audiences, not “good” endings.
Episode 424 - Selling your creative dish
Apr 29, 2019
On one side we have creators of content and on the other we have the consumers. The consumers number in their billions and they're voraciously hungry for constant stimulation! Pretty much all creators are consumers too… So why don't they want the beautifully made, clever, spicy, artisanal dish you're selling? Why do they prefer the nice, bland, familiar mass-market high in fat, sugar and salt fast-food of the mainstream instead?
Episode 422 - Positive promotion and controversial characters
Apr 15, 2019
The entire gang comes together today for two topics that were taken from recent newsposts: Emma Clare's Positive self promotion, and Tantz Aerine's Handling Controversial Characters. First up we chat about why it's always a great idea to sell yourself positively, NOT be arrogant or douchey, but rather by talking enthusiastically about what you genuinely love about your work and using that REAL and SINCERE enthusiasm to infect others with your love of what you do. Emma was mainly talking about the way you introduce your comics to friends and family but it definitely applies more broadly to self promotion in general: Don't try and get sympathy through self depreciation (oh, it's not very good…), and don't be an arrogant ass (My stuff is AWESOME!), rather you should just be honest about what you love about it (This story was so FUN to write!).
