Here we have a Flaming Paint Can Head man comic sketch. This was actually drawn with the Sketchbook Mobile app on my iTouch. I still think Sketchbook Pro is one of the best drawing programs out there hands down, so all you artists that have not checked it out should give it a looksie.
I’m sure that a few of you may have seen this Hi & Lois comic posted somewhere, or heard about it at least.
This sort of attitude is fairly typical* from most folks in the print industry. They also tend to think that there is such a dirge of useless, crappy webcomics polluting the internet that the ability for someone with a small amount of talent to earn a living is diminished.
Obviously my opinion on this matter is a tad skewed but I believe where the best comic talent can be found these days is on the web. If you take take a sampling of newspaper comics and pit them against some webcomics I think they would stack up favorably. Naturally this depends on what webcomics you chose. I would submit for your approval that we would need to chose only the best webcomics because that is what is supposed to be represented in the newspaper comics, only the top of the crop get selected to appear on a national stage right? So on and make yourself a list and compare and contrast. Let me know when you are done…
Done, already? And did you conclude, as I have, that webcomics are where the true talent lies? That webcomics are where all the innovation is coming from?
Now, I will be the first to admit that there are lots of not great webcomics out there, but that is one of the wonders of the world of webcomics. It is a free wheeling sort of place where anyone can get their foot in the door. This is both a blessing and a curse. The lack of any sort of minimal standards for entry into the field is what other artists look down at. Also the behavior of some of the people at the top of the webcomic industry does not always reflect well on the rest of us, but I have decided that there is not much I can do to moderate the behavior of others.
So how do we change this attitude that the print industry has of the webcomics community? I am not sure that we really can, all we can do is continue to make the best comics we are able to, and to continue with the free wheeling nature of the community. Because, although some view it negatively, I believe that is the greatest strength of this art form, the fact that it is so easy to break into. Not every comic will be a gem when it first debuts, how many of you have seen the first Questionable Content it was far from fantastic, but with hard work and some major perseverance Jeph improved. And now there he sits making a living at something he loves to do. (Well, I think he loves it, you’ll have to ask him to be sure.)
I seem to have diverged from the main point of the Hi & Lois comic however, that it is unlikely that anyone can make a living from webcomics. Obviously there are several people in the webcomics industry that I could use to make a case for the opposite point of view. But one could argue that because those folks have made it, there is less of the pie to go around for the rest of us. This is probably true to a certain extent, but what is not factored in to this theory is that the internet is fickle, there are comics that will always do well in terms of maintaining their readership. But others will fail to do so, or simply blink out of existence. That is where the next big thing steps up to the plate and takes its best swing. Or something truly unique and innovative might catch the eye of someone and then be passed around. That is something that newspaper comics don’t really have…. they are not viral in nature. There is no one standing out on the corner handing out the latest Hi & Lois comic shouting “LOL, check this out it was full of win!” Which I think makes the newspaper comic industry sad. My point is basically this, you don’t need to knock off the folks at the top for a slice of the pie, because try as they might they can’t eat the whole thing there will always be some of it left over. Don’t take this to mean that you should not try to make a comic that surpasses PVPonline‘s readership but seriously there is no real need to try and grab his slice of pie from him while he is eating it. (and seriously what are going to do with a half eaten pie anyway.)
So what have we learned today?
No, No, No….
That is not what you should be taking away from this.
Try again.
Ok, that is great. Now go off and spread the word of webcomic goodness.
*Perhaps not typical but certainly the artists with this sort of attitude are more vocal than the ones who support webcomics.
So recently I started work on an what I thought was an interesting comic idea… You see at my job we have scraps of left over vinyl blinds (the ends that are cut off when we cut them to size.) so I thought why not just do a strange group of comic images that would eventually turn into a story. So here are some of the images from said project:
↓ Read the rest of this entry…
Here we have a sketch of me putting together our new coffee table from Jordans this was after I had realized that it was missing some screws (try like half of them) and I was determined to make it work anyway. Naturally it works because I am awesome…. or stubborn. Not really sure which.
Once again the idea of Micropayments is being floated around, this time with a system called iCents. Take a look at their website and you will see the idea is pretty well thought out, the major problem I have always felt hindered micropayments of the past was it was tied to the micropayment system, ie you had to buy xx amount of “coins” from the company and then use those “coins” to buy content. Adding that extra step gives the consumer a chance to get second thoughts and say “Hey, I don’t really NEED to read this comic.” or “It is not really worth the time it takes to fill out this damn form.” any time you add another hoop to go through to get to your content you lose a certain percentage of your readers. It’s a simple fact that people are lazy and have a short attention span. (Ok, that might be a bit harsh but you get the idea)
Now before you start throwing all the instances where micropayment type systems have worked, let me tell you that I am not against the idea of micropayments. But I have yet to see one executed well. Will iCents be any different? Well I think it has one advantage over at least the last micropayment system I know of (BitPass) it accepts all forms of payment, as in Paypal, Google checkout, Amazon payments, Apple, credit card, organ selling… ok not organ selling but you get the idea. So if any micropayment system has a chance of succeeding it is this one. If it fails I can’t imagine that any other system will succeed.
