Episodes
Commissions and Contract Work
One of the biggest questions about making comics is: what roads are available to make money off of making comics? One direction that many creators go is commissions or contract work. Contract work is specifically entering into some kind of agreement, where someone is paying you for your comic-related skills. It can be a simple illustration commission that you draw for someone in a day, or it can be something long-term that spans years and years.
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.
Buffers
We’re not here to tell you how to live your life. If you want to post every comic page as soon as you’re done with it, that’s valid. But! A buffer of comic pages can help keep your comic on a steady release schedule, set healthy reader expectations, and prevent burnout or stress during the times when you can’t be at your drawing desk as often. So let’s talk about buffers!
Jam Session! Motivation
How do you stay motivated making comics? It's a hard question, so today we're going to jam about it and see what answers we can find!
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!
Drawing from Photo Reference (with AdorkaStock!)
Drawing anatomy and poses can be tricky, but there's some excellent tools out there for referencing poses like the awesome stuff that Sarah makes at adorkastock.com. But how DO we do it in an effective way? Let's talk about it!
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!
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".
Update Schedules
Many webcomics work in a serialized fashion, updating with a page a week or batch of pages every so often, and this is something we probably borrowed from newspaper comics and issue format comics. With that, we wanted to talk about what it's like to keep up with our own schedules, expectations with retaining readership, and the process involved with sticking with something that works for you.
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?
Finishing a Webcomic
Webcomics can come to a stop for a whole host of reasons. Sometimes creators don't get to choose those reasons, as life or other circumstances can get in the way.... BUT let's say it's smooth sailing and everything goes to plan. At some point, you will reach the end of your story or a natural stopping point. However you choose to tie up all those loose ends can take a little effort that you don’t always anticipate!
Join our hosts as they discuss the hows, whys, and whens of their webcomic endings.
AI is Bad, Actually
Welcome, fellow artists and storytellers, to the vibrant world of Screentones, where the lines between imagination and reality blur with every stroke. Join us as we delve into the colorful palette of comics, exploring the intricate layers of storytelling, character dynamics, and the magic of visual narrative. Whether you're a seasoned creator or an eager enthusiast, prepare to be immersed in discussions, interviews, and insights that ignite your passion and ignite your creativity. This is Screentones, where every pixel holds a story.
Patreon (with Bob!)
Joining us today is Special Guest Bob, the creator of Into the Smoke! Join us as we talk all about Patreon!
Patreon is a site where you can get your readers to financially support you on a subscription model. You make an account on patreon.com, send your readers over to give you any amount per month they want, and you can post bonus content for your readers that’s either free to access OR behind a paid tier. It can be a really nice way to put a little money in your pocket, but it’s also really easy to overwhelm yourself, too, so we’re going to talk about what we’ve learned about navigating it!
5 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started
Starting a webcomic can be a huge endeavor. Whether it's your first comic or your fifth, the beginning stages of webcomicking can be the best of times and the worst of times. It may surprise you to know (though hopefully not) that we here at Screen Tones have all started webcomics and so, we want to share our favorite tips for getting started. And what better way to do that than with a nice, neat numbered list! Let's dive into the 5 Things We Wish We Knew Before We Started Webcomicking!!
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/