Out On A Limb

[MadTarnsman]

Okay....I've been at this for about thirty years, off and on, and have done some serious earnings in the late nineties with a porn strip on the web called Zookeeper Zelda.......serious pervs out there may have heard of it.....

I'm thinking about starting my own website with my own work. An adult site would be the most profitable way to go.....but a guy gets tired of drawing that mindless drivel......trust me, ya do.

I'm posting some pics of some of my work and I'm probably looking for advice on webcomics.........running one's own website, both pay and free.....and whatever other comments I can get from hecklers or constructive critics.

Feel free to use the email addy......nobody else does.


Thanks in advance.

[LibertyCabbage]

Damn, your art pwns

If you start a CG site you're definitely going to get some attention with eye candy like that.

[Yeahduff]

Well, you're not likely to find profit here. Your best bet (if you're looking for profit) would be to run your own site and run ads off of it. I couldn't tell you the first thing about doing something like that, but someone here probably can.

[Mercury Hat]

Doesn't webcomics nation have the option of its users setting up subscriptions for their comics? I don't know how successful you'd be at that, though...

[Levi-chan]

Man, Merc's avatar is danged creepy.

On Topic: Dude, your art owns. I'm pretty sure you could pull it off, if you make your own site and host ads on it.

[Kirb]

Man, Merc's avatar is danged creepy.

It's infiltrating my soul!

[JohnLynch]

I'll echo what other people have said and would suggest checking WebComics Nation.

Their forums don't have any specific place for you to ask about making money, but it does have a catch-all forum you could post in.

[Toxic]

Critique: Coloring seems bland (I'm guessing that they're hand colored), I'd suggest learning to use Photoshop or something like that.

[Humbug]

I like it, the style reminds me of those old school comics.

[McDuffies]

Yeah, what others say.

If you decide to go for ComicGen or DrunkDuck as a host, you don't pay but you don't have a chance to make money, eventually, if your comic gets popular enough for that. On the other hand, many start on ComicGen and when they earn enough readers to make it worthwhile, they move to their own hosting.

Webcomics Nation charges for hosting, but they let you either sell adds on your pages or make your comic subscription-only. Frankly, since there's a large portion of comics well drawn and still free for view, I don't think that subscription method works unless you're a well-known comic author who knows that there are people who'd pay to see his stuff; Adds, on the other hand, won't get you money unless your site is visited a lot, but since your comic is free for viewing in that variant, you'll be gaining new readers easier. In any case, you'll be paying a host with no real guarantee that you'll make money out of it, which is why most of people who do it as hobby, start on one of free hosts.

There is Keenspot and ModernTales, a sort of elite sites; Generally, they'll pick you if they like you; It's a "don't call us, we'll call you" deal. You can still sent a sort of application letter to them (specially Keenspot) but they're pretty picky and they'll probably want to see how your comic is doing on site before they accept you; Which means that you still need another host. As for Modern Tales, someone mentioned that their branch for action/adventure comics Graphic Smash is accepting submissions right now, but I couldn't find that information anywhere.

There are a lot of other, smaller webcomic hosts, their rulles of acceptance vary from case to case. Lots of people around want to make their webcomic communities with hosting included. One that I know of is Xepher. Their rules on whether you can attach adds or ask for donations vary too.

[Jared]

I was under the impression we could post adds on our comics here so long as we left the ones that pay for our site up top.

[McDuffies]

We can't post adds next to the mandatory ones. Which means, we can't put them right under. We can post vertical ones on the side, or horizontal somewhere within the page. We also can't post adds from the same source as the mandatory ones. And to add to all these requirements, a site starts looking crowded with banners when you do that, so nobody does it anyway.

[Jared]

Good to know I'm in the clear, the stuff you just said seemed like common sense and coutesy to the administration when I placed my add. It's not like I expect it to make me any money though, its existance just gives me a feeling of proffesionalism.

[Christwriter]

Well...what everybody else said about how you can't make money at this without a lot of effort. You CAN, but you have to get behind and push and hope that your muscle will hold out until it gets somewhere. A few people HAVE done it, but it's hard as heck to do so. You can't just sit back and wait for people to show up.

I'd also suggest you do research before you get started. Take a look at the competetion, as it were. Keenspot and Modern Tales are good places to start. I'd also suggest poking around http://www.onlinecomics.com , as it's the closest thing to an online webcomics library I've seen, and you can find several thousand comics there.

Read as much as you can. Not just comics, but real books. I'd suggest investing in some "how to write" books as well...though the only two I'd suggest are Stephen King's "On Writing" and Terry Brooks "Sometimes the Magic Works", as well as Strunk and White's "Elements of Style", though I'm not sure that counts as a how to write book. Even if you're an accomplished writer, it doesn't hurt to work at polishing up your skill.

Artistically...wow, you're good. By current standards the coloring is lack-luster, though. I'd suggest investing in a good graphics program--Gimp or Photoshop would be my recommendations--and a tablet --something from Wacom--and spend a few weeks/months on some of the tutorials out there to get up to speed. There is a definite "oooh-pretty" factor that will make people put up with a limited amount of a creator's BS so that they can look at the pretty drawings, and the more "oooh-pretty" you can make, the more people will sit down and love it. That's the other place where the research comes in--you can see what's popular and what isn't.

Also...nice to meet you and I hope you're successful in your ambitions. If nothing else, it'll give the rest of us lil' people an example to follow.

CW

[MadTarnsman]

Well....lemme think about how to respond to the responses!

Firstly, thanks to all the compliments......it warm's an old guy's heart (laffin'.....actually, I'm only fifty one...)

Secondly, someone mentioned old school style. Well, I am old school....I studied Jack Kirby's style ALOT when growing up and was influenced very heavily by his work.......is that the correct way to say you copied a guy?

To christwriter....I've read Syd Field's book Screenplay and I am a working screenwriter for a indie outfit called Pirate Pictures. Look for their release Guardian of the Realm coming soon.....and a big sci fi flick after that.

I generally write my scripts for comics by hand on a legal pad, with a little rectangle to map out each pages panels and script them accordingly.....with general angles, dialogue and captions.

Art is also all by hand on BlueLine Pro bristol boards. Color is by Prismacolor pencils or Pantone markers. I've started using PhotoShop to get in some backgrounds and bulk colors......lettering is also done by computer, now. I hate lettering.

I think of myself as well read......and I've knocked down all of Stephen King's stuff long ago as wel as alot of others......I stopped reading Tom Clancy when he convinced himself he was Jack Ryan.....

Anyway, I'm researching all of your suggestions and appreciate the critics as well as the compliments.

I'll post some more from the portfolio real soon.....as soon as the scanner gets out of the shop.

[MadTarnsman]

As of now I'm trying to decide between comicgen or drunkduck. I ran an eye stalk over webcomicsnation and decided I'd see the reception on a free site first.

I've got some comic ideas I'm revamping......they don't stand that 'test of time' over four or more years I'm looking for. I also think my artwork has improved since most of this stuff was done.

Wanna sharpen your anatomy skills? .....start drawin' porn.....

Anyway, here's some more from the portfolio and I've got my stepdaughter scanning some old comic pages furiously.

If anyone wants to see any naughtier stuff, they're going to have to contact me and let me know of a place where I can let this stuff lose.

[Mercury Hat]

Drunkduck, as I understand it, is more user-friendly, especially to people with minimal computer skills. Comic Genesis allows you more customizability of your site than DrunkDuck (I think, may not be as true anymore) as well as allowing you as many extra HTML pages you want for cast, archives. I think DrunkDuck only allows you one comic upload per day (again, this could have changed).

I can't speak for DrunkDuck, but our community's rather large, vocal, and fun .

If you have experience with coding your own site and know how to work an FTP, I'd suggest ComicGenesis. Of course, I'm going to be a tad biased .

[Sortelli]

If anyone wants to see any naughtier stuff, they're going to have to contact me and let me know of a place where I can let this stuff lose.

There's a naked thread in Off Topic Junk!

[Warren]

You'd be QUITE welcome with the pervert faction here. Namely, McDuffies, myself, and possibly RKolter.

[Dr Legostar]

You'd be QUITE welcome with the pervert faction here. Namely, McDuffies, myself, and possibly RKolter.

Don't forget sortelli and his roaming tentacles.