New comic needs feedback

[R_coon]

http://misadventuresofamatoraccoon.comicgenesis.com/

So I have a new webcomic up now and I think I am getting things down a little better. I could use some feedback and critiques on... well just about everything. If you have any comments/complaints on the site design, comic set up, artistic skills, jokes, story line or anything else please voice them. I'm sure most people that will go here will have at least a few critiques.

I know this comic has a lot of problems and I am trying to work on them, currently I'm trying to figure out website design but it isn't going so well. Please keep in mind that a lot of these comics were never meant to be seen by anyone other than a few friends of mine and I only started gearing them towards being an actual webcomic like halfway through. Thank you.

[Lei]

Well, I suck at web-design and writing, so I'm just gonna focus on the art:

Good for you! Unlike many starting comic-makers, you actually have a concept of how to draw! Some of the anatomy and proportions are a bit funky here and there, but that's easy to fix by simply practicing and using reference photos, or getting a friend to model for you to get a pose to look accurate. Practicing drawing animals and people realistically will help you combine elements in your stylized characters in a way that seems more natural. I recommend checking out The End of Things and Fletcher Apts as visual inspiration.

The actual illustrations aren't bad, but the presentation is a bit iffy. First of all, I'd suggest investing in some decent drawing pens to darken your lines with, since some of the art comes in really pale. While it's true that a lot of published comics are hand-lettered, I don't recommend it unless you have the world's best penmanship. My handwriting hasn't improved since the 2nd grade, so I'm a big supporter of lettering digitally. It looks cleaner, more professional, and its easy to read. Blambot.com and Dafont.com both have a lot of great fonts you can check out. Putting the panel borders digitally too would make it crisper.

Also - what are you using to scan and adapt these files? The image quality is rather poor in both your banner and some of your strips, leading to that funky pixelated halo around the figures. It also does a number on the colored pencil. Scanning the images in large, touching them up, then shrinking them and optimizing the .jpegs at a high-quality setting might help. You might also try fiddling with other coloring methods to see if you find something you like better - watercolor, marker, digital coloring, etc. Whatever you do - make it darker, crisper, and higher contrast. It'll make your comic more attention-grabbing and appealing.

[Td501]

Just looked at the last half-dozen updates to get a feel for your current style. Pretty well done for an entirely hand-drawn comic! A lot of white space, though. Adding in the occasional background would go a long way. Using light colors representative of the background would also help in frames where you don't include a background. Green if the scene takes place in the grassy field, for instance.

[R_coon]

First of all, I'd suggest investing in some decent drawing pens to darken your lines with, since some of the art comes in really pale. While it's true that a lot of published comics are hand-lettered, I don't recommend it unless you have the world's best penmanship. My handwriting hasn't improved since the 2nd grade, so I'm a big supporter of lettering digitally. It looks cleaner, more professional, and its easy to read. Blambot.com and Dafont.com both have a lot of great fonts you can check out. Putting the panel borders digitally too would make it crisper.

I use pens and the work pretty well but I don't really like using the larger points though. The main reason I use my own handwriting is I have a really hard time figuring out how to put in digital dialog.

Also - what are you using to scan and adapt these files? The image quality is rather poor in both your banner and some of your strips, leading to that funky pixelated halo around the figures. It also does a number on the colored pencil. Scanning the images in large, touching them up, then shrinking them and optimizing the .jpegs at a high-quality setting might help. You might also try fiddling with other coloring methods to see if you find something you like better - watercolor, marker, digital coloring, etc. Whatever you do - make it darker, crisper, and higher contrast. It'll make your comic more attention-grabbing and appealing.

I use a scanner from my school's lab. I don't know what it is exactly but I have been trying to touch up the images on my computer but again I am having trouble in that area.

Just looked at the last half-dozen updates to get a feel for your current style. Pretty well done for an entirely hand-drawn comic! A lot of white space, though. Adding in the occasional background would go a long way. Using light colors representative of the background would also help in frames where you don't include a background. Green if the scene takes place in the grassy field, for instance.

Thanks, the basic reason the last couple of comics are white is that the setting is just all in a guy's head and isn't a real place. I could have decided to create a little bit of background but that boils down to me being lazy and now have little time to draw since I am in the field for at least 5 days at a time.

[Lei]

I suggest getting some software. I'm a personal fan of Photoshop, but there are a lot of cheaper alternatives, like the Gimp, or Paint-Shop Pro. Hell, even Comic Life (which comes free with any mac nowadays) and, though I shudder to utter the name, MS Paint, can be used to put in text bubbles and lettering. The nicer software packs also offer ways to touch up scanned images. Check with someone at your school to see if any of the computers are equipped with imaging software, and see if you can do some editing there.

[Kieve]

I only just started MechaSentient m'self, so I'll leave comic critiquing to the experienced folks.

That said, your site [could] use a bit of work. I'm using IE7 on 1024x768 resolution, and I [know] I should be able to see your comic all the way across - yet you've stuffed it into a div-layer smaller than your actual image and it's causing unnecessary scrollage. At the very least, make sure that your <div> layer that holds the comic and any layers it's nested in are collectively wide enough to fit your comic without scrolling.
Or if scrolling is unavoidable, make sure it's in one direction only (either down or to the side).

There are a number of CSS and DIV-layer tutorials floating around on the web - a quick google search should bring you up to speed really quickly.
I recommend running through a quick tutorial at W3S if you need to start from scratch, although in my personal opinion the site isn't good for any in-depth tweaking you may need to do.
In my experience, a good site design is clean and functional. Keep clutter to a minimum and make sure your readers can view everything you want them to with little or no difficulty, and if they need to scroll at all, my suggestion is downwards (a quick pgdn tap reveals all!) - that last being personal preference.

Do pardon the 'shameless plugging' of these sites, I offer them as design studies:
KRS ModWorks
MechaSentient

Good luck!

[R_coon]

I suggest getting some software. I'm a personal fan of Photoshop, but there are a lot of cheaper alternatives, like the Gimp, or Paint-Shop Pro. Hell, even Comic Life (which comes free with any mac nowadays) and, though I shudder to utter the name, MS Paint, can be used to put in text bubbles and lettering. The nicer software packs also offer ways to touch up scanned images. Check with someone at your school to see if any of the computers are equipped with imaging software, and see if you can do some editing there.

Thanks, I have Gimp and my school has photoshop but it's like I'm roaming blind with those programs. Technology just hates me so much.

I only just started MechaSentient m'self, so I'll leave comic critiquing to the experienced folks.

That said, your site [could] use a bit of work. I'm using IE7 on 1024x768 resolution, and I [know] I should be able to see your comic all the way across - yet you've stuffed it into a div-layer smaller than your actual image and it's causing unnecessary scrollage. At the very least, make sure that your <div> layer that holds the comic and any layers it's nested in are collectively wide enough to fit your comic without scrolling.
Or if scrolling is unavoidable, make sure it's in one direction only (either down or to the side).

There are a number of CSS and DIV-layer tutorials floating around on the web - a quick google search should bring you up to speed really quickly.
I recommend running through a quick tutorial at W3S if you need to start from scratch, although in my personal opinion the site isn't good for any in-depth tweaking you may need to do.
In my experience, a good site design is clean and functional. Keep clutter to a minimum and make sure your readers can view everything you want them to with little or no difficulty, and if they need to scroll at all, my suggestion is downwards (a quick pgdn tap reveals all!) - that last being personal preference.

Do pardon the 'shameless plugging' of these sites, I offer them as design studies:
KRS ModWorks
MechaSentient

Good luck!

Thanks, this is something I really need help with. To tell the truth I didn't understand a lot of the technical stuff you talked about but now that I have something to look up and work on I have a place to start. Thanks again, I'll check out those sites!

[Lei]

I'm entirely self-taught. There are a number of online tutorials, but the best way to learn is hours of trial and error.

As far as text goes while using photoshop- use the text tool to put in your dialogue. Then make a new layer, and use the ellipse tool to make white bubbles, and the polygonal lasso to add tails. When you've made all your text bubbles, and slid the layer behind your lettering, go into Layers -> layer style, and select stroke. You can fiddle around with that to give your bubbles a nice black outline.

Also - go into layers -> New Adjustment Layer -> Brightness/Contrast to make your lines more distinct.

[KWill]

When you've made all your text bubbles, and slid the layer behind your lettering, go into Layers -> layer style, and select stroke. You can fiddle around with that to give your bubbles a nice black outline.

So there is an easier way of doing that! =O

[R_coon]

As far as text goes while using photoshop- use the text tool to put in your dialogue. Then make a new layer, and use the ellipse tool to make white bubbles, and the polygonal lasso to add tails. When you've made all your text bubbles, and slid the layer behind your lettering, go into Layers -> layer style, and select stroke. You can fiddle around with that to give your bubbles a nice black outline.

Also - go into layers -> New Adjustment Layer -> Brightness/Contrast to make your lines more distinct.

Thanks for the help. I'll definitely be trying this.

[Wendybird]

The thing I immediately noticed about your site design is that there seem to be some white lines around the edges of your navigation buttons that keep them from looking at home on the black background.

In terms of the art - I tend to prefer digital coloring, if only because once you know it it isn't as time consuming to do something rich and colorful. I do like colored pencil - but I like it better when it's laid on thick. I recommend using paler pencils for paler colors instead of sketching it in lightly. Alternately try using shorter strokes, and then going over the area with a white pencil to smooth out the smaller inconsistencies. This is especially important for work that's meant to be viewed on a screen, as the texture stands out.

[R_coon]

The thing I immediately noticed about your site design is that there seem to be some white lines around the edges of your navigation buttons that keep them from looking at home on the black background.

In terms of the art - I tend to prefer digital coloring, if only because once you know it it isn't as time consuming to do something rich and colorful. I do like colored pencil - but I like it better when it's laid on thick. I recommend using paler pencils for paler colors instead of sketching it in lightly. Alternately try using shorter strokes, and then going over the area with a white pencil to smooth out the smaller inconsistencies. This is especially important for work that's meant to be viewed on a screen, as the texture stands out.

Thanks for the advice! I noticed the white around the buttons too but I can't get rid of it! Also I did use to use a white pencil but they all ran out and I'm too broke/lazy/busy/don't care enough to go get another whole pack of pencils just for one color. I thought about going into digital coloring for about as long as it took to see how much tablets and junk cost before giving it a firm no.

[Wendybird]

If you have a Michael's or similar store around you can go there and buy a single white pencil!

I color with a mouse in the GIMP. It's free!