Tips for starting a webcomic?

[ElliotO]

Hey! Some of my friends and I are thinking of starting a webcomic. We've got plans for a fairly far-reaching plot, we've got the major elements figured out, and our master artist has started on character designs.

For those of you who have tried this before, any tips on how to gain traction, pace the plot, what works in the format, etc? This is my first time, so assume I know nothing.


The current plan is to publish it through webtoons. I don't know much about how that will work but some of the other people on the team do.

[UtopiaNext]

Ok, here's how I handle it. For reference, I'm a solo author who is a writer first, "graphic-ist" second.

1. Write out a rough story flow ahead of time, as soon as you can think of it. If you think of upgrades, write them down too.

2. Plot out what I call "panels" (entire comic issues) by putting expected text bubbles in each "frame" (individual part of the panel). This lets you make sure the bubbles make sense ahead of time and let you ensure that the entire issue will make sense and "cut off" at the right point.

3. As the art is made and placed into each frame, edit it further both to ensure it matches the art, and reflects your best understanding of the plot.

4. Remember to reread your so-far published comic often! That's how you avoid plot holes and accidentally abandoned plot devices.

Essentially, you need to stage out the writing from rough to pinpointed and revise it often. That's how you ensure good quality.

[ElliotO]

Ok, here's how I handle it. For reference, I'm a solo author who is a writer first, "graphic-ist" second.

1. Write out a rough story flow ahead of time, as soon as you can think of it. If you think of upgrades, write them down too.

2. Plot out what I call "panels" (entire comic issues) by putting expected text bubbles in each "frame" (individual part of the panel). This lets you make sure the bubbles make sense ahead of time and let you ensure that the entire issue will make sense and "cut off" at the right point.

3. As the art is made and placed into each frame, edit it further both to ensure it matches the art, and reflects your best understanding of the plot.

4. Remember to reread your so-far published comic often! That's how you avoid plot holes and accidentally abandoned plot devices.

Essentially, you need to stage out the writing from rough to pinpointed and revise it often. That's how you ensure good quality.

Thanks! I totally wouldn't have thought to do #4 on my own. I'll make sure to talk to the team's art guru about 2 and 3 once we reach that stage.

[Pax1138]

I and my friends are also possibly setting off on this journey (we're making pages, and seeing how the pace feels and if this is something we want to commit to for, well, for forever into the future, possibly).

I'm also keeping in mind that the first pages/issues/chapters are probably going to be crap! I am okay with this, in fact, it's one of my favorite parts. I'm always amused to find a comic with exquisite art, then go back to the first strip and find out it's a fart joke hastily scribbled on a napkin or something. :smallbiggrin:

[UtopiaNext]

I and my friends are also possibly setting off on this journey (we're making pages, and seeing how the pace feels and if this is something we want to commit to for, well, for forever into the future, possibly).

I'm also keeping in mind that the first pages/issues/chapters are probably going to be crap! I am okay with this, in fact, it's one of my favorite parts. I'm always amused to find a comic with exquisite art, then go back to the first strip and find out it's a fart joke hastily scribbled on a napkin or something. :smallbiggrin:

Ok, let me tell you, I started my webcomic in 2018 and had only been practicing comic art AT ALL since 2014, which I started doing expressly to be able to make my comic. I'm not a typical artist; I can't really draw (which is why I refer to myself as a graphicist or a graphic designer, confusing as that may be for a webcomic). I am 100% vector graphics and work on a model-based template system, though I am branching out from that at present. The point here that's relevant to you is that I started my webcomic knowing that I "sucked", but that I would get better. This is a million times better than trying to get to somewhere "good" before you even start, which often results in people never starting at all.

So don't worry about it too much. Just plot out a good story and make sure that the reader can follow it, is all, then make sure you keep doing it. The webcomic world is littered with the wreckage of comics that halted when they shouldn't have, the only real goal is to not be one of them.

p.s. You may find a bunch of trolls who have nothing better in their lives than to try to stop you early on. I did, especially on Reddit. Just remember, they're only doing it because they see something worth stopping.

[WanderingMist]

For starting one, I don't really have any.

For keeping one going, I do. Just keep working on it. Make it part of your routine rather than something that seems exceptional. Some days you will go much further than you planned, and others you will feel like things have barely moved. The only important part is to keep moving forward.

[UtopiaNext]

For starting one, I don't really have any.

For keeping one going, I do. Just keep working on it. Make it part of your routine rather than something that seems exceptional. Some days you will go much further than you planned, and others you will feel like things have barely moved. The only important part is to keep moving forward.

I agree. Even though, after four years published and eight years working on it, I don't have a huge readerbase, I keep doing it anyway. I have a story to tell and I'm going to tell it :D

Ofc, actually advertising might help... getting to that >_>

[Neoriceisgood]

Heya, webcomic author of Hero oh Hero here. Throwing in my two cents.


1. The start of a story.

I find the opening pages for a comic pretty crucial, generally speaking when I click/look at a new webcomic and consider if I might want to read it or not
it's pretty important that the first pages are accessible, easy/quick to read & don't throw up big mental barriers for people.

A thing I've grown to somewhat dislike is comics that do a massive lore/exposition dump at the very start of their story,
like you're following a class in world history before you're allowed to even get into the story itself.

I get why for some stories with strange magic systems or worlds super different from our own, authors might find this important,
but doing it as the very, very first pages can be pretty rough.

I think the best way to figure what works can just be to look through the start of various comics/manga etc to see what resonates well with you.
My own comic is actually very much designed to be a product -I'd- enjoy reading myself, so I kinda started with a more lighthearted and humorous
set of opening pages that don't require too much thinking.

Why? Because when I think of the comics I got into, that's the sort of tone I personally found inviting.

2. Work with a buffer.

Consistent updates are pretty important for maintaining and growing an audience, I feel. Having a small backlog of buffer pages to compensate for holidays,
sick days etc can really help with that.

Personally I work with world's most ridiculous buffer
Got to 700+ pages this week lol for reasons I will not disclose,
but even having 20-30 pages of backlog can help keep things consistent.

3. Keep designs simple, strong & built for repetition.

This is more aimed at the artist of the project but dear lord. Any character that you guys design you will likely have to draw thousands and thousands of times.

There's been several stories of amazing artists starting up webcomics that look AMAAAAAAAAAAAAZING, GLORIOUS. And they largely tend to end up in hiatus-hell.

To tell a good story with a solid pace you don't need world's most ornate style & most complicated characters, as you can see with Order of the Stick,
as long as characters are easy to visually seperate & action/scenery are easy for readers to comprehend and understand you're good if the story is engaging.

Obviously there's perks to having a beautiful comic, or a comic with excellent art, but drawing comics that include characters you don't enjoy drawing over and over
and over and over and over suuucks. I've tried it, no fun.

4. Every chapter/story beat needs to be its own little treat.

Okay this is just something I personally think. But I find a lot of comic/webcomic authors sometimes spend so much time building something up, that they forget
the journey there should also be ... fun and engaging.

As you mentioned a far-reaching plot I'll say: having short-term story goals and things for characters to accomplsh can allow for good tension-release moments for
readers to enjoy.

Sometimes having a little not super complicated story line early on in a comic's life cycle can be a good way to sorta run characters through a proper arc from start to
finish to give readers some tension release and all that.


--


Just throwing tips into the wild can be pretty tricky because the type of story may change what tips make sense & what ones don't, so I hope this was some help.

[ElliotO]

Heya, webcomic author of Hero oh Hero here. Throwing in my two cents.


3. Keep designs simple, strong & built for repetition.

This is more aimed at the artist of the project but dear lord. Any character that you guys design you will likely have to draw thousands and thousands of times.

There's been several stories of amazing artists starting up webcomics that look AMAAAAAAAAAAAAZING, GLORIOUS. And they largely tend to end up in hiatus-hell.

To tell a good story with a solid pace you don't need world's most ornate style & most complicated characters, as you can see with Order of the Stick,
as long as characters are easy to visually seperate & action/scenery are easy for readers to comprehend and understand you're good if the story is engaging.

Obviously there's perks to having a beautiful comic, or a comic with excellent art, but drawing comics that include characters you don't enjoy drawing over and over
and over and over and over suuucks. I've tried it, no fun.




Yeah I'll definitely have too keep this in mind. The artist of the group is really good, but tends to be on the add-too-much-detail side of things.

[elros]

The only advice I can give is that I heard a comic editor say that many artists struggle to make panels that both convey action and allow space for words. It is easy to take the brilliance of Jack Kirby and others for granted, but it takes study and practice to get it right.