Episodes
Starting with the Big Idea
If you’re like… well… everyone on this podcast, you’ve had some pretty epic webcomic ideas. They’re really cool and exciting, maybe you’ve even been developing them for years without even drawing a page, and it's such an expansive idea it's probably going to even longer to draw, maybe even ten years! (if you’re lucky). This is a situation that can be both exciting and scary, and today we're going to talk about taking this BIG idea and using it to start your webcomic journey.
Comedy
There are a lot of approaches to comedy in comics, and I wanted to get an episode together about that. Humor is OFTEN rooted in all kinds of cultural trends: current events, age groups, time periods, and styles, so it can be hard when people ask about how to learn to write comedy to find a way to talk about it! But Bob and Delphina are going to do their best today to break down at least their experience and approaches, and hopefully that’ll help you too
Beginnings
The beginning hooks of your webcomic are what's going to inspire a reader to keep reading, and there are lots of approaches to starting out, depending on the story you're trying to tell. Today, we're going to talk about the many ways to begin a beginning.
Sticking With One Idea
Do you have a bunch of ideas, but you can never stay fixated on just one? It can be tricky to stay focused for a project as long as a webcomic, especially when everything else starts to look SO MUCH SHINIER. But there are things you can do to increase your chances of seeing it through to the end and resisting the Plot Bunnies, so today we're going to talk about that!
Coming Up With Names
Does your webcomic contain characters? Maybe even places? Perhaps it also needs.... a title? If any of these things are true, you've probably had to sit down and face the struggle of deciding names for the things in your comic, as well as for the comic itself. These things are important, giving vital information about tone, genre, details of setting, and all sorts of other cues to the reader... But why's it gotta be so hard? Anyway, today we're gonna talk about it!
Plotting a Webcomic
Coming up with characters and scenarios is one thing, but when you're working in a longform narrative comic, you're going to want to think about a plot. Planning out your plot in a webcomic is a unique challenge compared to some other mediums, so today we're going to talk about it!
Themes
The concept of a "theme" is something that comes up in writing when we're talking about character motivations or plot in a longform narrative comic, and it's basically a word or concept that's at the core of what you're trying to say in your story. So we're going to talk about what themes are, how they come about, and how you can use them!
Blorbology
If you are on any social media platform with artists, you may have heard the terms "OC", which stands for "original character", or "blorbo" which stands for... I don't know, I think Tumblr just made that one up. The terms evolved because creators needed a way to talk about freeform character concepting. Whether they're part of a fanfiction or just the guy you always seem to end up doodling in your sketchbook, it's often the case that in the process of drawing and experimenting with scenes for these characters for fun, they really can develop cool backstories and deep emotional meaning in the creators' minds, and that's what we're calling "Blorbology".
Tragic Backstories
Let's not lie to ourselves: we've all been in the misery pit before, thinking about the poignant and tragic beginnings to our character's stories. Tragic backstories are a trope for a reason: painful experiences can add depth and catharsis to characters. But how do we make them resonate with our audiences emotionally?
Writing a Synopsis (with Eli!)
A synopsis is one of the most powerful tools we have for hooking potential readers into our story. But sometimes summing up your big ideas into an understandable, compelling short statement is really challenging! So we’re here to break down the elements, look into what you do and don’t need, and hopefully give you some good ideas to work with!
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!
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!
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!
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?
Romance (with Meg and Alli!)
Ever wondered about the allure of romance? The potential of a fiery relationship between strangers? The highs and lows, the exciting and the enticing? Well you’re in for a treat because we’re going to be discussing Romance as a genre and tool in webcomics.
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/