Doesn't Pay Attention in Class

[Banov]

Hey, everyone.

A few years ago I used to do a webcomic but ultimately quit because it was too time-consuming, and making comics lost its appeal when I put a deadline on it. But now I think I have a nifty new idea that will work for me.

I have problems with paying attention in class. Big problems. All of my notebooks are 75-95% doodle with 5-25% actual notes from the class. Some of these doodles have backstories and some are created out of pure unadultered confusion and boredom, but I love them all in their own way and have saved almost all my notebooks for the last few years to save these drawings.

So... I thought I might see if these drawings would be interesting for others to see. What if the byproducts of my absentmindedness were actually an exciting form of entertainment for others? It's a win-win situation, and I've got hundreds upon hundreds of pages of material to satisfy those who are interested, and the number grows every day.

Here are some examples of my doodles re-imagined in a webcomic format. Read and tell me if this is something you would be interested in reading as a regularly updated webcomic. Please be HONEST... if this is boring and uninteresting, then I want to know!

EDIT: In the time I've spent experimenting, with the format, I've made the following steps...

These were the first prototypes.
Lucas Kills Sonic
No Intruders

Under advice from others, I made the format more organized and easier to follow, resulting in this.
No Intruders (Panel Format)

But as others pointed out, this made the comic lose its appeal as something straight out of my notebook. I helped correct this by adding a background:
No Intruders with notebook background

However, I would agree that whenever possible, I would use the original, unedited notebook page. But I would need to rely on some editing a large portion of the time. For example... (These don't have any text on them yet)
"No Intruders" full page. A little hard to follow, but usable.
An examples of sequences that might be needlessly hard to follow as a full page
Others have drawings that are interesting, but too sparse to make a fulfilling comic page on their own.

This, on the other hand, is the example of an "ideal" full page scan... large drawings with no sequence or an easy to follow one, nicely spaced but still dense.

So, the current decision is default to full pages whenever possible but when necessary create panel ones, and in those cases be sure to include a notebook background that helps keep the concept. Also keep in mind that the website design surrounding the pages will also reflect a notebook.

If you have any ideas on how to improve the formatting or another way for me to make use of my drawings for a webcomic, I'm open to ideas. Also, if you have any ideas for what to name this webcomic, that would be appreciated also.

[Bustertheclown]

It's an interesting concept, but the overall look is disconcertingly bad, and I doubt making it a "panel" format would ever make it any better. It just smacks too much of MSPaint design. Because it starts out as scribbles on lined notebook paper, I don't think it could ever gain enough polish to read well as a straight comic. So, it would be better for you to present the work as an unconventional sort of comic. It's doodles in your notebook, so present it as such. At least, that's what I would do. Scan and present the entire page, doodles, notes, and all. Don't try to clean it up for the reader, but instead let them kinda work it out for themselves. I think it would be fun and interesting to look at that way; sort of a peek inside your head, "Oh, Banov was bored in History today, and doodled Lucas fighting Sonic."

[DangerFace]

I gotta go with Buster on this one. If you check out the Webcomic Pet Peeves thread, you'd be guilty of about 10 in that one page alone. Like Buster said the best course of action would be to present them just as they are in your notebook. Or how about completely retelling the doodles as a professional looking comic, with the accompanying notebook page to show the inspiration?

I know where you're coming form with this. I also have pages and pages of school-boredom-influenced drawings that I'd like to share with people, but I think you need to find a better format to do so.

[Banov]

The problem with the actual pages is that they're too disorganized to understand. The "No Intruders" one, for example, if you were to follow the sequencial drawings on the page, would be a reverse spiral starting form the lower-left corner. And, what I've done here is showed only the good parts and not included other drawings on the page that didn't turn out as well; both of the pages I redid here had a few other drawings that were pretty bad-looking or scribbled out or some other such thing.

And there are other times in which the sequence of drawings is even more messed up--where the next "frame" might be in the opposite corner and the one after that between the two, with outside drawings leaking in between and even crossing over parts of others. When possible I'd always default to using the full page, but in most cases it's just impossible.

Actually re-drawing it as a webcomic defeats the purpose; my goal was to just to make use of my drawings that already exist. Lazy? Yes, but I thought that something unique could come from it. I was hoping that I could give that idea of

"Oh, Banov was bored in History today, and doodled Lucas fighting Sonic."

while reorganizing it so that it was easy to understand.

If you check out the Webcomic Pet Peeves thread, you'd be guilty of about 10 in that one page alone.

To be fair, there are dozens of peeves in there and a lot of them are very individual. Take any comic page and you could probably apply at least a handful of peeves to it.

[Bustertheclown]

The problem with the actual pages is that they're too disorganized to understand. The "No Intruders" one, for example, if you were to follow the sequencial drawings on the page, would be a reverse spiral starting form the lower-left corner. And, what I've done here is showed only the good parts and not included other drawings on the page that didn't turn out as well; both of the pages I redid here had a few other drawings that were pretty bad-looking or scribbled out or some other such thing.

And there are other times in which the sequence of drawings is even more messed up--where the next "frame" might be in the opposite corner and the one after that between the two, with outside drawings leaking in between and even crossing over parts of others. When possible I'd always default to using the full page, but in most cases it's just impossible.

Honestly, though, I think that could be the most endearing part of the whole concept; the fact that they are actual doodles in your notebook, while you should be taking notes in class. Like I stated before, the whole idea is unconventional. I won't say outright that any steps you take to give it convention is going to take away from it, but why not go for broke here? If there's a sequence there, people will find it, and you'll have the nice distinction of being on the forefront of experimental cartooning(!). What was it Scott McCloud called what you'd become? Ah, yes, Formalist; a real maverick.

Anyway, I guess the point is this:
You want to make webcomics, and you have a good idea to do it without much work, in that you want to post stuff you're doing anyway. That's a great idea. The idea within the idea, showing doodles for what they are (just doodles) is intriguing. Trying to structure those doodles after the fact will lead to too much mechanical intrusion, and it won't be pleasant to look at. However, your doodles, as they stand, aren't exactly reading material. So, what to do? How do you marry the fun to the craft? Well, I suspect that, just by nature of your becoming self-conscious enough of your doodles to want to publish them, you're probably going to begin subconsciously ordering the doodles on the notebook page in a more readable progression anyway. However, just to make sure, do so consciously. It wouldn't take too much work to just add a little bit of structure to the sequence as it naturally lies on the page from now on. Then, we'd all be winners!

A diagram to help illustrate.

[Banov]

Well, yes, from here on that's what I would be doing.

But.

I happen to be a high school student, and we are now in the month of June. My next opportunity for true, pure during-class doodle won't be until September. I was hoping to use my existing material for the entire summer and then start mixing in new work with the new school year. I'm going to be selective with doodles anyway, so even if I was making new material to work with it would be rare that something came up that I left was worth showing.

Well, I do totally see what you're saying. I'll scan in some existing full pages when I get the chance and bring that back and then we can compare to what I've done so far. Because if the unedited pages really do provide more entertainment value on their own, that really would be beneficial to us all.

Thanks for the attention, by the way. It seems like you're putting a lot of thought into your responses here.

[Bustertheclown]

Well, yes, from here on that's what I would be doing.

But.

I happen to be a high school student, and we are now in the month of June.

Is it too late to fail all of your classes and have to take summer courses?

[McDuffies]

Why don't you try to scan an empty notebook page, and then use it as a background for your comics, pasting "panels" over it. That might preserve the overal notebook scribble look, while allowing you to rearange panels.

[Banov]

Why don't you try to scan an empty notebook page, and then use it as a background for your comics, pasting "panels" over it. That might preserve the overal notebook scribble look, while allowing you to rearange panels.

Wow, awesome idea. I'll try that next, but first, here are some unedited pages that I promised earlier:

"No Intruders" full page.
An examples of sequences that might be needlessly hard to follow
Others have drawings that are interesting, but too sparse to make a fulfilling comic page on their own.

I think I might use the notebook background for pages which need to be panelled, but default to full pages when I can; if I include full pages in the archive then readers should still hold an understanding of the concept even when looking at edited pages.

Does that seem like a fair comprimise?

EDIT:
No Intruders with notebook background

EDIT of the EDIT:
I remastered the first post, it now has full documentation of all the prototypes including another scan of what would be the "ideal" unedited notebook page.

Also, new question: What should I name this webcomic?