Comics Online.
I was meaning to post this last week closer to the tute about webcomics but I'm lazy and whatnot.
At last a comic where you don't have to worry about your copy being damaged and losing value. A comic where you can have the first edition and not have to leave it in a plastic case to never be read. A comic that is online and most importantly a comic you normally don't have to pay for.
Webcomics started to really come of age a few years ago. One of the comics that still exists and predates most others was brought up in the tute. This comic is Penny Arcade. This comic was started in 1998. While most of the other comics I'll be referencing this blog began in 2002/3.
The idea behind a webcomic is very similar to that of a webcomic just with subtle differences. While a regular comic would be released once a month and would contain an entire story or a large chunk of an ongoing story. A webcomic is either updated daily or weekly or on a undetermined timeline. And normally your update is a singular page of the comic or a couple of pages. So because of this webcomics normally follow a different format to a regular published comic.
A published comic tends to have a story to tell and will start from the beginning and be ever working towards an end of some kind. Webcomics tend to be a ongoing story with no particular end. This isn't always the case however and this is where i start to name drop. Inverloch is a webcomic that basically follows all the conventions of a regular comic its just posted online. It is just the publication of a story that is nearly finished now. However most comics follow a format like Questionable Content this comic has been around since 2003 and is just the ongoing story of the characters lives. This style of webcomic is almost a soap opera. Theres no end to this story as long as all the characters exist.
This format allows these comics to have such a long running life. However in order to keep a webcomic alive for 5 years like Least I Could Do you need to have a solid fan base and be making money. This is what normally sinks most webcomics. Most people start a webcomic for fun because they like to draw and want others to enjoy their work. When Ryan Sohmer created LICD the last thing he thought is that it would become his full time job.
The same can be said for creator of Ctrl-Alt-Del, Tim Buckly. He is another prosumer who turned his hobby comic into his full time job. Ive been in correspondence with Tim over the last year since interviewing him for a project I was working on. During this correspondence I spoke with him about how hard it was to setup a business out of his hobby.
Like Kevin was saying in the tute how the popularity of your work can be your undoing Tim confirmed this. He said that the hardest part of setting up the comic is when your just beginning to get popular. When your not earning enough from the comic to pay for the cost of your bandwidth. He told me that he was losing money on Ctrl-Alt-Del for about 3 months til his advertising starting profiting. Eventually he was earning enough from his site that he didn't have to work another job.
Advertising is not the only way that these webcomics make money. Merchandise is another large way these sites make money. Most webcomics have a donation button on their site so if you enjoy the content and want to see it survive then you can help the artist out by donating.
I find Webcomics a fascinating piece of media because they are ever evolving. Some comics even change artists as they progress.
I'm always keeping my eye out for new and up and coming comics to give my support to and I hope some of you check out a few webcomics yourselves.
Steve.
At last a comic where you don't have to worry about your copy being damaged and losing value. A comic where you can have the first edition and not have to leave it in a plastic case to never be read. A comic that is online and most importantly a comic you normally don't have to pay for.
Webcomics started to really come of age a few years ago. One of the comics that still exists and predates most others was brought up in the tute. This comic is Penny Arcade. This comic was started in 1998. While most of the other comics I'll be referencing this blog began in 2002/3.
The idea behind a webcomic is very similar to that of a webcomic just with subtle differences. While a regular comic would be released once a month and would contain an entire story or a large chunk of an ongoing story. A webcomic is either updated daily or weekly or on a undetermined timeline. And normally your update is a singular page of the comic or a couple of pages. So because of this webcomics normally follow a different format to a regular published comic.
A published comic tends to have a story to tell and will start from the beginning and be ever working towards an end of some kind. Webcomics tend to be a ongoing story with no particular end. This isn't always the case however and this is where i start to name drop. Inverloch is a webcomic that basically follows all the conventions of a regular comic its just posted online. It is just the publication of a story that is nearly finished now. However most comics follow a format like Questionable Content this comic has been around since 2003 and is just the ongoing story of the characters lives. This style of webcomic is almost a soap opera. Theres no end to this story as long as all the characters exist.
This format allows these comics to have such a long running life. However in order to keep a webcomic alive for 5 years like Least I Could Do you need to have a solid fan base and be making money. This is what normally sinks most webcomics. Most people start a webcomic for fun because they like to draw and want others to enjoy their work. When Ryan Sohmer created LICD the last thing he thought is that it would become his full time job.
The same can be said for creator of Ctrl-Alt-Del, Tim Buckly. He is another prosumer who turned his hobby comic into his full time job. Ive been in correspondence with Tim over the last year since interviewing him for a project I was working on. During this correspondence I spoke with him about how hard it was to setup a business out of his hobby.
Like Kevin was saying in the tute how the popularity of your work can be your undoing Tim confirmed this. He said that the hardest part of setting up the comic is when your just beginning to get popular. When your not earning enough from the comic to pay for the cost of your bandwidth. He told me that he was losing money on Ctrl-Alt-Del for about 3 months til his advertising starting profiting. Eventually he was earning enough from his site that he didn't have to work another job.
Advertising is not the only way that these webcomics make money. Merchandise is another large way these sites make money. Most webcomics have a donation button on their site so if you enjoy the content and want to see it survive then you can help the artist out by donating.
I find Webcomics a fascinating piece of media because they are ever evolving. Some comics even change artists as they progress.
I'm always keeping my eye out for new and up and coming comics to give my support to and I hope some of you check out a few webcomics yourselves.
Steve.
posted by Stephen at 1:30 PM
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