As I Prepare for my Jump into the Webcomic World...
I require your collective knowledge!
I will, sometime in the future (probably in my college years), create a full-blown webcomic. As you've seen me develop here in my thread, I think I've gotten a few miles better than what I started at. I think you'll agree.
However, I'm nowhere near good enough to make a webcomic at the current moment, artistically, or organizationally. I think you'll agree on that as well.
While I'm still young, I've decided that I can make a really successful webcomic if I dedicate myself. I lack the knowledge though!
That's where you guys come in.
I need your advice on starting a webcomic, especially form Hlavco, Mario, and Stef (who I'm not sure is still alive).
But what do I need help on? Here's a few things to get you started brainstorming with me, while I continue to work on my art.
-What is a good place to host a comic for free (I'm guessing DrunkDuck)?
-At which point should I pay to host my comic's own site on the Belt?
-What is a realistic update scheduale?
-How can I promote my comic and gain popularity, other than word of mouth?
-How many panels should each comic roughly be?
-What kind of jokes are the best?
-Should I do a gaming comic? Or something else?
Discuss.
I will, sometime in the future (probably in my college years), create a full-blown webcomic. As you've seen me develop here in my thread, I think I've gotten a few miles better than what I started at. I think you'll agree.
However, I'm nowhere near good enough to make a webcomic at the current moment, artistically, or organizationally. I think you'll agree on that as well.
While I'm still young, I've decided that I can make a really successful webcomic if I dedicate myself. I lack the knowledge though!
That's where you guys come in.
I need your advice on starting a webcomic, especially form Hlavco, Mario, and Stef (who I'm not sure is still alive).
But what do I need help on? Here's a few things to get you started brainstorming with me, while I continue to work on my art.
-What is a good place to host a comic for free (I'm guessing DrunkDuck)?
-At which point should I pay to host my comic's own site on the Belt?
-What is a realistic update scheduale?
-How can I promote my comic and gain popularity, other than word of mouth?
-How many panels should each comic roughly be?
-What kind of jokes are the best?
-Should I do a gaming comic? Or something else?
Discuss.
Comments
It's been a long time since I went looking for free hosting, but a lot of people enjoy DrunkDuck since it automates a lot of the uploading and archiving process.
I would say immediately. ^__^ It's not like being hosted by The Orange Belt is some kind of rite of passage, where you can't join until you reach X viewers/day. But more importantly, part of the reason we made this community was to provide a good place for our friends to host their comics. If we could reasonably offer hosting for free we definitely would, but the meager hosting fees we ask for are just to keep our Dreamhost bills paid. But of course I understand if it's not in your budget; consider just getting a forum like Steven does, so we can easily chat about your comic's awesomeness. Having a good community base is a great way to promote your project with minimal effort (see below).
If you can manage it, at least once a week.
...I can't manage it.
Back in the day, I used Top Web Comics and buzzComix, but I had the benefit of joining on the ground floor when there were fewer than 100 comics onboard, so I got a lot of exposure early on. These types of sites have an inherent flaw where only the popular comics get seen by anybody, so the richer get richer while the new comics can never break into the charts. There's no easy answer to this question, except that word of mouth is more powerful than you give it credit for. Post links on community forums (maybe ones you're already established in, so it doesn't look like you're trolling for page hits). Once people start reading your comic, they'll tell other people about it, link to it, all that good stuff. If you draw it, they will come.
This is the part where Scott McCloud crashes through the window and starts waxing poetic about the Infinite Canvas. He's right in that there is no real rule for comic and panel layout, but I personally can't stand scrolling horizontally on a webpage. If your comic doesn't fit on a standard screen, stretch vertically: it's what browsers are made for.
An important consideration here is whether you ever plan to make physical prints of your comics. If so, sticking to normal 8.5x11 or horizontal strip formats may be the way to go. If not, you have considerably fewer limitations, and should format your page to best match your comic's style. Sounds like a copout answer, I know, but there's no set rule for this sort of thing. A comic revolving around setup/punchline probably shouldn't be very long, while a long narrative story might fill an entire page.
A gaming comic is only going to be read by gamers. Try not to make something with a very limited potential audience. I'm not saying write an American Idol comic or anything, but try not to alienate readers with obscure humor or references, unless you can work in more general subject matter as well which appeals to more eyeballs with brains behind them.
I only pay for the forum. I'm scared to try new things.
Whenever you FEEL LIKE IT.
I dunno, I don't promote mine. I feel it hasn't yet reached the proper level of awesome to warrant advertising. I do put links in my forum signatures, though. And NOT HUGE PICTURE BANNERS. Don't do that.
I just keep going till my characters shut up. My record's 56!
Funny ones.
I lot of people out there seem to hate gaming comics with a passion. I'd say go general, but keep it specific enough that people have a reason to come to your comic in particular.
Unless you can do something awesome like RPG World. Just make sure you finish the damn comic if you do though :P
Really, do what you know. It has to be about something you're passionate about. And it has to be fun.
I'd also recommend maintaining an update schedule. Try once a week. I know a lot of people don't, but many comic readers are more apt to check sites when they know there's an update. If they have to keep checking over and over again, they start checking less frequently.
For hosting, DrunkDuck works. (I'd say also keep an eye on the ComicSpace + Webcomics Nation merger, too.) Getting your own domain and paid hosting, however, shows a certain level of commitment, and also gives you a freedom to make the site what you want it to be (if you want that freedom). You don't have to get paid hosting, but if you plan on "going pro" with your webcomic, you should.
If you do get paid hosting, there are several backends to automate your comics, from ComicPress (tutorial), to ATP AutoSite, to AutoKeenLite, to WalrusPHP ...etc. All free. Mario, hlavco, and Stef can probably advise better on webcomics backends.
A realistic update schedule is...whatever you can realistically maintain. Like Mario and Serephel say above, shoot for at least once a week. If you don't think you can do that, start out at once every two weeks, but whatever you do update regularly. Period. DI's advice about a buffer is solid, especially when you're starting out. Some people, like Paul Southworth and John Allison, have a couple weeks of buffer; other artists do them in the hours before they go live...but usually the latter are more experienced. Start with biweekly or weekly and then move up to three days a week if you're really cranking them out. Just pick a schedule you can maintain. (Having an RSS feed also really helps.)
-How can I promote my comic and gain popularity, other than word of mouth?
Put Project Wonderful ads on the (front) pages of comics that are similar (and comics that you like).
Join a comics collective (like, hey!, the Orange Belt!), where you can get linkage on the collective's front page and cross-pollination with the fans of their comics.
Post your comics on livejournal. (Or myspace. Or facebook. Or ____.) I bring up LJ specifically because it has a crazy number of comics folks on there, and if you post your comics on an LJ, and then comment on other comics that you find, people can easily find your comic, and the word of mouth spreads a little faster. The Canadian folks who run A Softer World ran into a lass named Kate Beaton and convinced her to start posting her comics to the internet, specifically LJ; her internet fame has snowballed over the past several months to the point where some of her comics were getting 700+ comments. Part of this is just quality, FUNNY comics, but another part is her active participation in responding to comments. Which gets to...
Post in forum discussions (and LJ discussions), just like Mario and hlavco say: don't be obnoxious about it, and be very careful not to look like you're "trolling for page hits." Small text link at the bottom of your sig on a forum post, and comments organic to the discussion should be enough; on LJ, your avatar and a link back to your LJ is always there so you don't need to post a sig-link.
(If I'm sounding like I'm swilling the LJ-Koolaid, then just substitute whichever social network you want to for LJ...the advice still applies.)
-How many panels should each comic roughly be?
-What kind of jokes are the best?
-Should I do a gaming comic? Or something else?
My advice for the above three is do something that you love. Comics that are funny are FARRRRR more popular than comics that are not (trust me, I know this from experience), if popularity is your goal. Just make the kind of comic you'd want to read and if you're passionate about it, that passion will bleed through it to your readers. </peptalk>
Final volley: Rich Stevens of Diesel Sweeties wrote an excellent essay for anyone who's thinking about making a webcomic.
EDITED TO ADD:
More advice from gamer-comicker Scott Johnson: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pr4ROUutnMc