Hi guys! It's been a long time since I wrote here in the Blog! Now with the new changes the new era of the Blog will begin with this new entry. Today I'm going to give you some advices if you want to start your own Webcomic or you actually have one but it needs some kind of boost to become better. Here we go!
1) It's your story, your drawings, take it very serious! It can be the internet, and most of the people become famous in internet doing some stupid and weird things, this is not the same. Even if you're working on a parody you must take the job real serious like a published comic too.Your watchers will appreciate it and they will respect you and your work.
2) Copying is the worst thing you can do, it can ruin your name, even if it is only in internet, as I mentioned in the previous post, you can do parodies, but you can't copy a previous one, that's really boring, redundant and come on, if you want to do Webcomics what you need first is CREATIVITY. Remember that Google is not stupid, original artwork always comes up first in Web searches.
3) Make the webpage of the comic really simple, do not add all the buttons and gadgets you found on the internet, the less elements you have, the most audience you will capture. PLEASE, for god please, try not to add music to your Webcomic, for most of the people it can be really annoying, usually readers love to read comics by listening their own music or concentrate in silence.
4) If you're taking a break make sure you're telling to your subscribers or followers about it, it's your responsibility to look after those people who are waiting week after week for reading your comic. In the worst of the cases you will get a lot of angry people spamming your e-mail and losing a lot of readers.
5) Make clear the rules since the beginning, if you're saying you will post one page a week that's what you're going to do until the end of the story, do not start to act like "oh... I'm bored, I think I'm ditching the Webcomic this week so the next week I'll do it, they won't notice" You're wrong dude, they actually will notice. Follow your own rules, make a contract with yourself.
6) Use Social Media to get in touch with the people who are reading your Webcomic, they will receive the news and updates and you can get some cool feedback, even a "hey bro, your comic is really cool I LOVE IT!" that's the most cool thing to read, believe in me. Do a Facebook fan page, a Twitter or Deviantart account, so you can be in touch with people in different ways.
7) You must have a special communication with people who are the followers of your Webcomic series, try to start a conversation trough Facebook like "Hey guys, what do you think about the new character in the new arc?" or something like "Hey guys, here's a sketch from the main character". You can always use promotional images for Halloween, Christmas or San Valentine. Always try to make a good interaction!
8) You can use ads and some other ways to earn money with your Webcomic, but remember always not to have a website packed in ads or some weird promotions, that's incredible annoying, do it simple, put like one or two ads, do not disturb people when they're reading your comic, if they want to support you I promise, they will do, so be patient, you can earn money if you do things properly. Some people use donation buttons, sell official merchandise and things like this, be really creative about this, but do not spam people.
9) PLEASE, I mean, REALLY PLEASE, do not use Comic Sans when making the dialogues for your comic, It is a really ugly font! Come on, you must have some sense of taste, try to imagine this: You bought your favourite Comic in a local store, so you open it and you find it all in Comic Sans. If you can, try to delete that stupid font from your computer right now!
10) Experiment and try new things, that's one of the things I love the most in Webcomics, there's people using animated gifs or a incredible interaction between the Webcomic and the website, it looks really incredible and motivates a lot when it comes to read it, it is a different experience, try to imagine what do you want to do and get some help from a website designer or search on the internet for some cool resources for your Webcomic page.
11) Write the information about your comic, a description, a genre, a introduction to the main characters, the concept and if you can, try to link your work, if you have a Blog link it too! People usually loves to know a little things from the person and from the art of the person who writes the Webcomic they like.
12) Get some allies! Do you have some friends who have a Webcomic too? Link them to your page and tell them to link you too in return, you can get some extra visits, you both are winning audience trough this alliance.
Well, this has been all for now, I hope this was useful for you guys, remember that I'll be writting a new entry each Monday, so please stay in touch! Have a great day!
Previous Posts:
Composition and Dynamism in Scenery/Backgrounds
Tutorial: Create Scenery/Background
How I've improved in 8 months
How to get used to your Tablet
Improve your sketch abilities in 10 steps
