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New Resource for Online Comic Artists
gmezero writes "Ten on-line comic artists from strips such as Angst Technology, Lethal Doses, and Polymer-City Chronicles have banded together and launched Rocketbox Comics in an effort to help other comic creators improve their art and to promote the idea of keeping on-line comics free."
I've read several good online comics which were hosted by keenspace, which hosts them for free, along with a few ads (nothing truly annoying, its nice.)
"Is there a reason that most online comics are in Black and White? Is it a cost issue? A resource issue? "
In some cases it is a resource issue, the resource being time. Let's say you are the author of a web comic. You need to think up of story/plot/joke, draw out the comic (usually involves sketching and inking), scanning it, prepearing it for the web, and fiddling around with a website. Doesn't leave a whole lot of time for coloring, does it?
That's my opinion, anyway.
Sorry, I mean to link to sinfest.NET not COM. Thats what i get for not checking my links.
Rocketbox has only been open for a couple of days. They've probably gotten more visits in the last hour or so then they've had since the opening. I expect the top 10 will start looking better when more people actually submit some comics to consider.
im surprised no one's mentioned exploding dog or dieselsweeties. great comics with quality shit for sale.
Actually Keenspace has always been in second while Keenspot gets all the server and bandwith... can't really blame them since Keenspot is a collection a carefully chosen comics has opposed to Keenspace where anyone can get an account. Web comics are nice... but they are becoming an addiction
I live in Soviet Canuckistan you insensitive clod!
If you're really interested in learning more, a writer/artist by the name of Scott McCloud has probably done more for the medium and getting the message out than anybody else.
McCloud wrote an incredibly popular, well-written, and informative book a few years back called Understanding Comics, about the underlying principles that make comics as a whole work. He followed it up with Reinventing Comics, which was more about methods of distribution and why he thinks online comics are the future. But interesting reading nonetheless.
The first was great. I go to an art school, and the kids in the comic art program actually have to read it as a text book for several courses. In my opinion, though, the second book was less successful, and more opinion-based. I probably just don't agree with him on a few points.
Regardless, his site is worth checking out for those interested in the topic. He's probably online comics' biggest and best-known advocate.
First, a quick disclaimer: I have no personal or financial interest in any of these. I own no stock in Adobe or Wacom. Consarnit, I can't even draw.
One of the best comics on Modern Tales are Patent Pending, a drama that is drawn by the same guy who does the comedy Goats (which is free). Two other awe-inspiring MT strips are Makeshift Miracle and American Born Chinese, the former for its art and the latter for its psychological insight.
Three free strips deserving of special mention are Wigu, Achewood, and Scary-Go-Round.
Note that none of these strips concern teenagers who play video games. Hope that's not too much of a disappointment for anyone.
Chris Baldwin spends hours out of his every day laboriously crosshatching Bruno. Does he ask us to pay? No, never. Should he? Well, based on his journal, we could all worry less about his health if he did.
Yes, this seems to be one of the major problems for online comics. Here is a tutorial describing how you could reduce bandwidth consumption pngs for comics and several tips for effective use of pngs.
From the article: Used correctly, PNG can drastically reduce the file size and download time of one's comics.
There's also a list of comics using png.
HomestarRunner/Strongbad Email ;-)
It's definitely an entertaining flash cartoon series
What are your favorites?
Megatokyo is doing great things, going it alone. We're not snubbing them or saying "we're doing what no one else is doing!" We just wanted to talk webcomics and pool our resources to shed light on great unknown webcomics, and offer a helpful community and feel-good hippie stuff like that. I also think you should "go veggie."
kstraub - http://www.nightlightpress.com
Here's some online comics that might be worth checking out:
Sluggy - Students, aliens, ghosts, psychotic rabbits, evil kittens. One of the oldest and niftiest comics online. :) :)
User Friendly - Linux, geeks. You get the idea.
Megatokyo - An online manga following Piro and Largo whilst stranded in Tokyo.
Schlock Mercenary - Not too good art, but usually a very good and suitably sci-fi-ish plot.
Clan of the Cats - A modern-day witch cursed to change into a panther. Good artwork.
RPG World - Great art. A parody of almost any role playing game (the console variety) you'd care to play.
Ghost Cat - It's a cat! It's a ghost! It's ghost cat!
Elf Life - Elves, fairies, barbarians, time travel, romance, comedy, and very well drawn as well.
Exploitation Now! - An anime-ish comic with good art and an interesting, if sporadic, plot.
Real Life - It's real life. Except it's not. Reasonably funny.
Penny Arcade - The mother of all gaming comics. Very funny
Sephen - A relative newcomer, but wow! Great pencil-work!
8-bit Theater - The grandpappy of all sprite comics. I think. It's funny anyway. Go read
Demonology 101 - Fantastic art, fantastic plot! If only it came out more often! Ah well, the world isn't perfect.
Oh, and I can't really get away without mentioning my brother's sprite comic, Pixelated!. It really isn't bad. No, really! :)
8. The right to prompt payment of a fair and equitable share of profits derived from all of our creative work.
9. The right to full and accurate accounting of any and all income and disbursements relative to our work.
"Intellectual property" is much easier for others to enjoy without payment than it is for the authors to create. No, I'm not bashing Napster. Tower Records steals more from its artists each day than Napster-analogues do in a year.
PNG cuts my comics down to about 1/3 their GIF size. LOVE IT.
http://www.clango.org
Piro Recently made the decision to got 100% FT on making His webcomic work
:)
Well, he did have a bit of incentive, having just been laid off from a full-time job
Come to the University of Mars! Classes starting soon!
Movies are a visual medium too. Does story not matter there? The Dungeons & Dragons movie had some impressive visuals and sucky writing; does that make it a better movie than Casablanca? (No color, no explosions, they even had Peter Lorre's character die off-screen. What a rip!)
You see, comics are a STORYTELLING medium. They contain both image and story (and characters, and setting, and theme, and all that icky stuff they teach in English Comp). If all you care about is imagery, perhaps you should make stand-alone illustrations instead of a comic.