Episode 638 - Rookie Mistakes
Jun 5, 2023
Beginners at webcomics make mistakes, rookie mistakes. In fact people tend to make a lot of the same mistakes and we're going to chat about some of those in the Quackcast, but there are certainly a LOT more!
Topics and Show Notes
A few common mistakes of first timers:
- They have too many comic panels so it takes ages to draw and artwork and text become too small.
- They plan way too much, sometimes for month or even years before starting the actual comic. Planning is good but not when it prevents you from actually starting.
- Their art or designs are too complicated so that they can't sustain it for more than a few pages and they give up.
- Their story is too complicated so that it's too hard to translate into a comic or it would take too long to draw.
- The cover art doesn't match their artwork in the comic. Great way to turn off readers.
- Too much expository text.
- They make their comic too raunchy (when it's not a sexy comic) and limit their potential audience because it needs a higher rating and can't be displayed on most comic sites.
- They think they'll get popular and famous right away.
- They think people will just “find” their comic and rely too heavily on Google and the internal promotion system of their comic host.
- Filler pages, especially generic ones are a huge turn off. If you MUST do them show a BTS thing like a rough version of your comic page.
- Aggressive marketing. Don't be a one-eyed dick when promoting your work, it can have the opposite effect and make people avoid you.
- Giving up when you don't get feedback or if you miss a few updates. Keep working at it, people will come eventually, especially if you're a bit social. And people will still come back after missed updates. Stick with it!
Did you fall victim to any of those? Tell us some of your own rookie mistakes? :)
This week Gunwallace has given us the theme to Mirage - light dances around the sparkling surface of a smoothly curved, shiny object. Our view shifts and we dive through its hollow centre, observing the complex geometry of this unusual three dimensional object. Overlaying synthesised sounds.
Topics and shownotes
Links
Featured comic:
Plusum - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/news/2023/may/31/featured-comic-plusum/
Featured music:
Mirage - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/Mirage/ - by InkyMoondrop, Rated E.
Special thanks to:
Gunwallace - http://www.virtuallycomics.com
Ozoneocean - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/ozoneocean
Kawaiidaigakusei - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/kawaiidaigakusei
Banes - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/banes
Tantz Aerine - https://www.theduckwebcomics.com/user/Tantz_Aerine/
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Episode 635 - Warcast
May 14, 2023
We're talking about WAR here! Trying to leave out politics, though that's really hard with war because it's basically ALL politics but on fire. So we're talking mainly about depictions of it or at least aspects of it, in art and the media. Both Tantz Aerine and myself work on war comics, Without Moonlight and Pinky TA respectively (plus Tantz also does Brave Resistance with Pitface), so we have some knowledge of the subject from a creator perspective.
Episode 634 - Boomer-myth
May 8, 2023
Generational tensions are a cultural constant. It's popular to pick on the young and say they're lazy, irresponsible, stupid, changing things in silly ways etc, but it's also just as popular too defend them and debunk myths associated with younger people, we don't have that with older people and I find that a bit sad and disturbing. This cast tackles the myths associated with “boomers”.
Episode 631 - Entitlements
Apr 17, 2023
What rights are people actually entitled to? That question is a lot bigger than you think! The Quackcast today is sequel to last week's about entitled people, this one is about actual entitlements- what people SHOULD be entitled to. i.e. rights and such. It's a topic that Banes and Tantz really wanted to do and my purpose was to link it to writing and comics (not just theory and politics), which I think I did ok. This topic turned out to be very interesting.
Episode 628 - Cover me!
Mar 27, 2023
We're talking about the importance of a good cover in this cast. Another technical comicscast! I love making coves, they're one of my fave things because I get to stretch my artistic muscles and get a little more flashy and creative with my art and graphic design. They can also be pretty dread things to work on when you've used up all your creative powers on your actual comic and have nothing left over…
Episode 627 - Character consistency and speech bubbles!
Mar 20, 2023
Today its another technical comics making focused cast, suggested by Tantz Aerine! We cover our notions about how to maintain character consistency and consistency in general, plus a bit on speech bubbles and the text in them. I was SOOPER tired towards the end though so I wasn't all there mentally but the guys carried it through admirably.
Episode 619 - Artificial culture
Jan 23, 2023
Talking about AI again but this time our subject is different: Does it have a negative influence on culture? AI creative tools in the hands of an actual skilled creator opens up amazing possibilities. Real creative people will be able to use them as the tools they are, to mix and match with their own knowledge, talents and many different creative sources to produce novel and interesting things!
Episode 618 - The grass is always Greener
Jan 15, 2023
The Saying goes that The Grass is Always Greener on the Other Side of the Fence. Envy and jealously are destructive, negative feelings that either lead to bad outcomes or just make you feel pretty crappy. It especially affects creators! We get down about our artwork, our writing, the popularity of someone else's comic etc and we wish WE were as good as them and wonder why we aren't… maybe we're just not as good? If we could only just have their talent, their luck, their skill then WE'D be awesome too. it's just not fair…