First Comic?

Kris X · Post by **Kris X** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 7:25 am

Ahh. Have you ever improved your comic...Then looked back in your archives and wonder... Dang, people will actually stop reading this comic once they see how much I sucked?

Personally I like ability for readers to see your weak places and how you started. It almost gives them hope that someday they will evolve into something perhaps better.

Bekka · Post by **Bekka** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 7:44 am

Well, it's encouraging to know that we all get better by drawing and drawing. Even when I find some comic that totally blows me away, that I love at first sight, that is absolutely brilliant etc. etc., the first strips are always more uncertain, bad layout, etc. etc. compared to the latest ones. So, hopefully, people don't judge too harshly based on the first page of a strip. On the other hand, if I don't like a comic's latest strip, and the first two or three, chances are I won't check the rest :|

Wp · Post by Wp » Tue Sep 14, 2004 8:04 am

It's not a good thing to do, but sometimes if a comic is really nice looking in the latest issues, but its beginning pages were bad, I won't bother looking at the rest. Sometimes it's justifiable because the beginning is illegible. Sometimes I'm just being picky.

Ratbert · Post by **Ratbert** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 8:17 am

Kris X wrote:Ahh. Have you ever improved your comic...Then looked back in your archives and wonder... Dang, people will actually stop reading this comic once they see how much I sucked?

Someday I'll be good enough that I can feel that way.

BloodKnight · Post by **BloodKnight** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 8:22 am

Still on my first baby steps. After the feedback on my beginning set of pages with my elf in the forest, I've decided to not try to build a scene or use less 'show and not tell'

Derenge · Post by **Derenge** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 8:29 am

I've never been turned entirely off by a bad start if I know that things get better later on. I have put off for a few days reading comics because of that, waiting untill I was in a better mood for reading an entire archive, but I most always come back to finish things off.

I do hope that others aren't chased away by my very first comic, but I tell them that the new readers should start at the seires start as opposed to the "first comic". I think that it's importaint to show where a person has come from. Very few of us webcomicers are pros, most everyone is still learning. In having shown where one has come from they can serve as a role-model of sorts. People can take heart in knowing that once some comic that they are a big fan of was amateurish too. Penny Arcade is a good example of this, take a look at the first and the newest, there is a great deal of progress there.

In the spirit of things I would say look at my first and last comic, but that would just be plugging... Well, I just did I guess- regardless I think it's relevant. Personally I like to see change in a comic, sometimes things remain static for too long and it gets tiresome.

Vorticus · Post by **Vorticus** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 8:35 am

Unless the first comics are huge files that take minutes to load, I enjoy going back and seeing them.

SuperSnob · Post by **SuperSnob** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 8:43 am

I think it's important to read from the start of a comic's archives to see where it's coming from and, well, to have a really good understanding of the storyline. I, too, will keep reading if I know things get better.

My comic's not even a year old yet, so there's not TOO much of a difference between the first and latest comics. I like to think there's been some improvement already though, because there are fewer pages in issue 2 that I totally hate than in issue 1.. Heheh... :b

Kris X · Post by **Kris X** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 9:53 am

Indeed. It's fun on occassion to compare how far I've come from in so little amount of time. Well, for me it's actually longer, but you get the point. I'm just glad the first strip isn't my only one... That is the ultimate sucking.

Word to the New Spacers- Never give up, unless you're not having fun or it's too stressful. Even then I'd argue, webcomics have their ups and downs. Then again, if you're not enjoying the process, why do it when you could be doing what you enjoy?-

Steve Bryant · Post by **Steve Bryant** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 10:03 am

When I look at my older stuff, some of it still holds up and some just makes me wince...the stuff that makes me wince, though, is the material that reminds me that I'm starting to put it all together.

I just have to withstand the urge to go back in my archives and fix everything. My colorist would kill me if I did that...

--Steve

Rkolter · Post by **Rkolter** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 10:27 am

Yeah, I've definately shown improvement. I'm hoping readers will view the current comic first, then want to see the archvies, so they know they aren't in store for a bunch of black and white strips that took me 10 minutes to bang out.

Beyonder_alpha · Post by **Beyonder_alpha** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 10:31 am

Ratbert wrote:
Kris X wrote:Ahh. Have you ever improved your comic...Then looked back in your archives and wonder... Dang, people will actually stop reading this comic once they see how much I sucked?
Someday I'll be good enough that I can feel that way.

same

Dalis · Post by **Dalis** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 10:56 am

Personally I like seeing a persona's begining comics and compare them to the comics now. There are some that have not changed in style, but as long as they story or the jokes entertain me, it'll keep me as a part of the audiance. For myself... I've redrawn the begining of my comic too many times, not to mention, changing the script here and there. Heheh.

Ida · Post by **Ida** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 11:16 am

Well, I think my comic has already improved quite a bit, but after all, it's only been 12 weeks, so it's really just a minor thing. Anyone else have the feeling that they're the only one who can tell the difference between their old and their new work?

As for the archives of other comics, I'm not generally turned off by bad-looking old strips - unless there is a great lot of them, and they don't seem to improve for months.

Underbelly · Post by **Underbelly** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 11:24 am

Every time I feel kind of unsure of my art, I take a look at the first Hard Underbelly, or even something I drew years ago. Seeing that I'm constantly improving, albeit at slow rate, give me the enthusiasm to keep going.

Luprand · Post by **Luprand** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 11:37 am

Man ... sometimes, I look back on my first comic, Swan Dive, and cringe. The art style stayed at about the same appalling level for about two years, after which point I started experimenting with the idea of letting the characters have necks and differing profiles.

And now, looking over just two years of NeTrek, I can see the style changing with every episode, and maybe even getting better. I dunno. I went through about five months of revisions (both plot and drawing-wise) before introducing a werewolf character, and I'm glad for it because the original sketches look like deformed NeoPets.

--Sij

Kissingkerie1 · Post by **Kissingkerie1** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 12:28 pm

As someone who's just gone through the whole routine of considering starting a webcomic, I looked at tons of sites. There was nothing more encouraging for me than to see a comic that was wonderfully drawn and told, then click on the first comic and see that it had crude beginnings.

If all I'd seen were the current comics, I might have given up. Hell, I still might if they all start looking like Zebra Girl and Wapsi Square...but, uh, not just yet.

Jim North · Post by **Jim North** » Tue Sep 14, 2004 12:36 pm

One of the main reasons for starting RotD was specifically to help me practice my visual art. As such, my archives start off as pencil chicken scratches barely contained in a horrible looking comic frame, but gradually become the inked, computer colored, sometimes shaded, thing of glory adequately placed in a half-way snazzy setting.

I've been asked a couple of times if I'm ever going to go back and redo the old comics to make them look more like the new ones, but I've decided quite firmly that I'm not going to. Without the older comics, it wouldn't be an accurate reflection of how far I've come over the past year. Also, since I'm getting better at drawing the strips all the time, I'd simply have to go back again and again and keep redrawing them every time I hit a new skill plateau, and I just don't have the time or inclination to do that.

And, in the end, the main draw for my comic is supposed to be the writing. I never intended the art to carry the strip . . . though as I'm getting better, it's becoming more and more important, and I've even done a few strips working purely off of visual gags that I think worked rather well. But in the end I just concentrate mostly on the jokes and simply hope that my hasty drawings don't stab people in the eyes like point-ed sticks.

So I have looked back at my old strips and said "Man, these drawings suck compared to what I'm doing now", but I've never really worried if that would turn potential readers away. I'm sure if they get a good look at my latest strip before heading back to the first one, they'll know it gets better as it goes along.

Wp · Post by Wp » Tue Sep 14, 2004 2:41 pm

Interestingly, the reason I started drawing was because I wanted to visualize my NPCs for D&D. But since I was no good at drawing real life people, I decided to go with the anime-ish look, since there are a ton of "how to draw anime" tutorials online. But due to the fact that I have been drawing anime a lot, I've also gotten much better at drawing other things too. I tried a hand at other styles, and I've noticed a drastic improvement in art quality in general.

Unfortunately, I have very few of my older drawings.

Not damonk with boobies · Tue Sep 14, 2004 2:57 pm

Wait... I'm supposed to get better at this??

How come nobody TOLD ME!!!!!

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