Episodes
RP and Webcomics
Roleplay has been with us since the dawn of the internet, and many of us have created original characters in RPs on forums or chats that later found their way into our comic work. It can be a great way to get the ball rolling on creating a webcomic, so today we’re going to talk about our experiences with it!
Rewarding vs Fun
Working on webcomics can take years, and what once started as a cool shiny story idea may not seem as interesting as it used to. Trying to find fun in a story, and taking regular breaks like we talk about in our hiatus episode, is essential for keeping yourself out of burnout territory. But! We all need to feel, on some level, rewarded by the process of making webcomics, too. And that might not come from the sources you immediately think of. So let’s take a deeper dive into these two elements!
Webcomic Collectives
Collective groups are a fun alternative to going it alone, and there are a few options around and new ones cropping up. They used to be a used to be a little more popular than they are today, but it’s still worth revisiting what they are and how they work, because they can be a source of support among artists, especially in situations where social media platforms might scatter your friends and colleagues to the four winds.
Jam Session! RSS Feeds
The acronym RSS comes around in webcomic circles, there have been people talking about it for years, and if you don’t know what it is, you might feel kind of out of the loop and scared about it as a creator. So we’re going to break it all down as simply as possible, because it’s actually really cool technology that you probably don’t have to worry about at all.
Shipping
The screen tones cast knows deep down, the only topic that truly keeps webcomic creators up all night, and has decided its well past time to share our our favorite ships! The gang discusses their best ships, as well as their most problematic, and how other creators can avoid economic and emotional hardship from their own ships.
Crowdfunding Your Webcomic
Crowdfunding can be used by webcomic artists in a lot of ways, from bringing large scale projects to life, getting print runs together, which we talk about book printing in another episode, so check that out. But today we want to talk about the planning process. What should you do (or avoid) along the way to make it work as smoothly as possible, what kinds of things are attractive in a campaign for your readers, and what expectations should you have? Our hosts are here to share their tips and tricks for crowdfunding!
Morality
Where your characters fall on a morality scale can be one of the juiciest things to play with in writing for your webcomic. Today, we discuss how morality can play into your work, what makes a character redeemable or not, and more!
Drawing Fundamentals
Keeping in touch with the fundamentals of perspective, anatomy, color theory, and all that good structural stuff is so crucial to every successful webcomic. Today, we're going to talk about ways you can practice better to make drawing your webcomic better and faster in fun ways!
D&D, Webcomics, and You (with Nat and Q)
This week, we sat down with Nat and Q from Snackbag Studios, co-creators of the webcomic Wayfinders: Off Course, to talk about the incredibly fun and interesting intersection of Webcomics and Table-top role playing games like Dungeons and Dragons! The crew discuss what it's like melding a D&D campaign and comics and other tips for creators looking to make a webcomic based on their favorite games!
Study Tips for Inspiration
Studies are a great way to get inspired and improve your abilities. Join our hosts as they discuss tips to help you make the most of your study sessions and find inspiration on the way!
Printing Your Comic
You’ve been drawing your comic and publishing it online pretty regularly, and eventually it crosses your mind to make a printed version. Maybe your readers are asking, maybe you’re going to a comic convention, or maybe it’s just always been your dream to hold your comic in your hands. What does the process look like to get to that point, and what should you do (or avoid) along the way to make it work as smoothly as possible?
Characterization
Writing interesting characters is something we all aspire to in our webcomics. It’s the best feeling when people relate with our characters or find them compelling. But how do we use the narrative and the visual elements of our characters to make them multi-faceted? How do we keep them from falling flat?
Power Levels
This episode of Screen Tones is OVER 9000!!! This episode of Screen Tones is all about controlling your power - your speed and level of detail to make comic pages at the speed you want to make them! Listen along as the gang talks about tips and tricks about preserving your energy for MAXIMUM IMPACT on those knockout pages!
Purity Culture and Webcomics
Today we're going to be talking about a social direction that can be equal parts intimidating and confusing for people posting their comics around the internet.
Now, we’re all doing our best to be respectful of different groups out there. It is never okay to be a phobic jerk, and there’s all kinds of resources out there for making sure you’re not doing something harmful that you do not intend. But there’s also a lot of challenging topics out there that you might want to talk about in your webcomic, and a lot of reasons people might get mad about the fact that you’re addressing them. There’s a lot of nuance and we probably won’t be able to handle all of it, but we’re going to address that fear of backlash that we’re loosely calling “purity culture” in this context.
The Intro "DO IT (feat. Shia LaBeouf)", and the Outro "It's Good To See You Again!!", both by Adrianwave, have been used and modified in good faith under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Licensed. Edits include: Fade IN/OUT, and a repeat added to the beginning of "It's Good To See You Again!!". For more information on this creative commons use, please reference https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/