#I’ve been reading a lot of webcomics lately and some of them are just PLEASE give me SOMETHING it doesn’t have to be great but pleaseee jus

[peteytheparrot]

Backgrounds can be more important than the characters in your comic, there I said it, fight me. I do not want to see your character in a blank void for 50 pages, and or a character in a background so boring and messy you can’t even tell where they’re at, If you do this I won’t read your comic

[asher-agere]

Lately I’ve been trying to get into different kinds of books then just manga and the very occasional novel so I’ve been reading a manhua (Chinese comic) called My Darling is The Cutest and!!! I can confirm the character being referenced in the title is the cutest. It’s a very silly manhua but unfortunately its a webcomic on tapas which means I can only read another chapter every three hours unless I want to grind out the free ink missions to pay for one and thats a pain to do so I just have to deal with it. Qi Ling is an age regressor and Chang Shu is her caregiver please trust (I made this up there’s like nothing in canon pointing to this. Then again I’m only on like chapter 11 and there’s over a hundred chapters so… there could be something pointing to it!)

Anyways as you probably expect its request time now!! Can you do caregiver Ranpo and little Dazai BUT IN SPECIFIC he regresses to a teenager! Like 14~16. I think teenage regressors (actually, just anyone who doesn’t regress to a baby or toddler) are overlooked in the agere community and I’ve been thinking about ranzai a lot lately (I’m even writing fanfiction about them! It’s platonic though because I wrote it less for ranzai and more because I had an interesting canon divergence idea and I know that nobody will write it in the way I wanted) so hey why not combine the two? I also like teenage regressor Dazai a lot in general. He joined the mafia at like 14 so it makes a lot of sense for him to regress to a teenager!

That sounds so exciting! I’m answering this ask so late (╥﹏╥) Meaning you’ve probably had time to read a bunch more! So how’s it looking so far? I looked into it a bit and it seems cool :0 Though what I looked into used some different names- Qi Ling is the one with white hair I’m guessing? She’s so cute hehe

And YES I can do that! I looooove Souheki (Ranzai). I don’t write much for teenage regression since I’m very unfamiliar with it (Certified baby regressor here) but that doesn’t mean I can’t do research >:3

Caregiver Ranpo + Teenage Little Dazai

ੈ✩‧₊˚༺ ˖⁺‧₊˚ ♡ ˚₊‧⁺˖ ༻ੈ✩‧₊˚

✦ Like specified in the request, this will be teenage regressor Dazai with an age range of 14-16! Though there will be a heavier focus on 14-15 because that’s the real beginning beginning of his time in the mafia, before he had people like Odasaku and Chuuya making his life even just a tiny bit better. I think Dazai regresses because, the mafia was easily the point in his life that made him accept he didn’t have a childhood. Before that he could convince himself, so when he regresses his teenage years are the only part he feels the need to relive (We don’t know his past but we all know it’s tragic)

₊ ⊹ With Ranpo as a caregiver it’s literally impossible to hide anything, which is perfect! Because when Dazai regresses he’s an absolute menace. Constantly lying, trying to manipulate Ranpo, or just causing general chaos! For example if Dazai steals extra snacks and claims he didn’t, Ranpo knows the truth. Or if Dazai is bargaining to get something he wants, Ranpo can figure out a compromise the little one will agree to! Or if Dazai is pretending to be sad to get out of punishment of any kind, Ranpo can point out how he knows it’s fake! Dazai gets very frustrated

✦ Ranpo is a really relaxed caregiver honestly! He has like, no rules. Not officially at least? The idea of rules intimidates Dazai I think, it caused him to put up those mental barriers and shut Ranpo out, so Ranpo just skips all that hassle! Anything that’s important he simply reinforces. He makes sure to do two meals a day, showers every other day, brushing teeth twice a day, drinking water throughout the day… Standard self care stuff that Dazai would usually struggle with!

₊ ⊹ Whenever they’re going to do something, Dazai is never forced into it! Ranpo always gives him the chance to explain why he doesn’t want to and they proceed accordingly! For example if Dazai doesn’t want to eat because he says he feels nauseous Ranpo won’t force him to! The food can be put away. But if Dazai tries to avoid a shower for example by saying he’d to tired to stand up, Ranpo just sets up a bath for him instead! Problems are addressed, if they can be solved they will be, if not they’ll be avoided for the time being to avoid further conflicts

✦ Dazai absolutely feels like such a bad boy, a cool kid, however he also says things like “Frick” “Fudge” “Darn” Not because Ranpo has said he isn’t allowed to swear? But because any time he’s about to Ranpo just looks at him with a raised eyebrow, and suddenly Dazai decides to use a different word. Ranpo is torn because honestly he doesn’t care one bit if Dazai swears, but he knows not to encourage it, plus he finds it hilarious hearing Dazai’s not so swearing swear words

₊ ⊹ Dazai can push boundaries, but he also had a messed up childhood, so when Ranpo mentioned punishment Dazai got a bit freaked out… However when he was told that his punishment was an early bedtime he relaxed. He went from his quiet shutting down to being whiny and complaining. It’s not a real punishment, nothing that bad. But… He hates it! He doesn’t want to sleep! Especially not early! Of course Ranpo can’t really make him sleep, but Ranpo can make him lay in bed instead of playing and running around. And it’s so mean! Plus Ranpo rubs his scalp super nice and he gets so tired… It’s so annoying!

✦ Dazai refuses to listen to any advice, even though Ranpo is usually (Always) right. For example Ranpo can say it’s hot outside so he should dress light! Dazai puts on ten million layers. Ranpo says that eating a bunch of candy will hurt his stomach? Dazai eats even more! Ranpo says they’ll be going somewhere that might be overwhelming so Dazai should bring noise canceling headphones or fidget toys? Dazai doesn’t need that! (Ranpo brings him things in a bag anyway)

₊ ⊹ Dazai loves going to the arcade! It’s one of the few things he was able to do as a teenager in the mafia that he genuinely enjoyed, plus! Ranpo is the best! Together they’re the ultimate cheating duo. Dazai will mess up other players while Ranpo finds shortcuts and similar hacks for Dazai to use! Overall they’re basically unstoppable. The prize counter is where conflict happens! Ranpo wants all the snacks, Dazai wants the cool toys and trinkets! Eventually they end up splitting the profits, all snacks that Ranpo buys he shares though of course!

✦ Pet names! (I totally didn’t almost forget…) I think mainly just just do nicknames? Ranpo constantly calls Dazai “Daz” or “Zai”, but he’ll also use pet names like “Bud” or “Champ”! Dazai thinks he’s being real mean with his nicknames for Ranpo “Four Eyes” “Snack Addict” “Knockoff Sherlock” Ranpo will lightly argue back to amuse Dazai of course! But he doesn’t get really upset

ੈ✩‧₊˚༺ ˖⁺‧₊˚ ♡ ˚₊‧⁺˖ ༻ੈ✩‧₊˚

Hooray for Souheki! They’re so silly I love them

[websitewizard2005]

A guide to my OCs!

hey guys, figured i’d make this post because i have a shit ton of OCs that i post a lot of and i haven’t really explained most of them. they’re all part of different stories/universes, so i’ll be listing them based off of that.

Rex Sucks at Bass

Rex Sucks at Bass, or RSAB, is my webcomic. as of making this post, i’ve posted the entire first chapter! i’ve been planning this comic since late 2021 and i’m holding myself accountable to finish it no matter what. it’s a supernatural/coming of age story that takes place in 2009 about young adult named Rex who has to deal with relationship issues, worries about his future, sexuality crises, and of course, the impending apocalypse. also all the characters are anthro animals but that’s mostly because they’re easier to draw than people. some prominent characters from RSAB are Rex Xavier, Frederick Zhansky, Henri Bal, Sylvia Rose, Alex “Cowboy” Lorenzo, Lola Ramon, Scott “Spott” Simmons, and Marvin Xavier.

We’re Just Young

We’re Just Young is a fake sitcom about teenagers making bad decisions and friendship. it has a bunch of storylines i’ve planned out, but i mostly just draw the characters out of context. its main character is Gilbert Quarters, who is a gay bass player just like every single other character i’ve ever created. its main story takes place in 1997-98, during the characters senior year of high school. there’s also a “spin-off” to We’re Just Young, which follows Gilbert and a few others in college as they form a band called The Halloween Goats and gain some mainstream success as both musicians and ghost hunters. some prominent characters in We’re Just Young are Gilbert Quarters, Gerry Dawson, Marzy Lee, and Jackson Jefferson. some more prominent characters in the spin-off are Raymond Emerson, Wallace Waxman, Leo Hall, Jimmy Nickel, and Sebastian Ingalz.

Untitled Space Story

when i was 13 i read The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and thought “I need to write my own sci-fi story” and then this past summer i got really into Star Wars and ELO and decided to revamp the whole thing. Untitled Space Story follows the adventures of a small crew assembled by infamous space pilot Sonya Blasmo, who is essentially the butch lesbian version of a cross between Zaphod Beeblebrox and Han Solo. she was “retired” because she accidentally turned her wife into a robot but nobody knows that! all they know is that she’s taking to the skies again! the other characters in Untitled Space Story are Alexis “AL3X15” Goldberg, Mindinoma Lycentine, Mariella Young, Sheldon Spinelli, and Casper “Capers” McFarlin.

Heartstake Heartbreak

a really shitty, simple love triangle story about lesbians at some sort of shitty boarding school in the mid-2000s. the only three characters are Maxine “Max” Dallas, Phoebe Jean Weathers, and Francesca “Frankie” Knight. i created this one like a week ago.

Friends of Daisy Harrisson

Friends of Daisy Harrisson is a musical i wrote, and i don’t draw the characters too often, but i figured i’d still put it on this list. it’s got a really vague story, essentially Daisy goes missing and her wife (Freyja Windsnap), ex-husband (Jim Hartley), and childhood best friend (Barneston Williams) are all brought together through her disappearance.

i have a few other miscellaneous OCs that i draw on occasion, but those are all the main ones! thanks for bearing with me on this long post. if you’re curious about these guys/their stories, feel free to check out their tags! i’ve posted a lot of other character/story info outside of this post. also feel free to send me asks about them like please send me asks about my OCs that is my dream.

fun fact: Rex Sucks at Bass, We’re Just Young, Friends of Daisy Harrisson, and Max Dallas is Not a Lesbian all take place in the same town! mostly because i do not want to create another town. the only reason Untitled Space Story does not take place in that town is because it takes place in space.

[someone-always-cares]

chapter 5, page 16

first - previous - next

[image description: an sac webcomic page. inside is a large room, resembling a pub, with not too many people inside, with cream walls and wooden panelling. the foreground has a bar with white counters, with two older people with short yellow hair, both facing away. beyond that is around 3 tables, but only two are occupied, each with 2 people. the area beyond that is down a couple steps, which has more tables and a few yellow couches. there’s a couple people on the very right, one of them is transparent. on the left is someone playing darts while someone else lays on the couch. on the middle on another couch is a group of four sitting about. out of all the characters, most are too far away to make out details beyond hair colour, but the only character that has previously appeared is arrow whoe is sitting in the midground. aside from the people, the most obvious details are the paintings on the walls, all various sizes and a lot of them look out of place. there are also some potted plants dotted around, and a progress pride flag, as well as an unlabelled door in the very back, and a few bat decorations. “god, when did this place become a young person’s hangout.” grumbled one of the yellow haired people in the foreground, an old man sitting at the bar with his drink. “it always was, we just never left” replied the other, standing with his arms crossed on the other side of the bar. the man sitting at the bar is an old black man with short hair and a beard, as well as plenty of golden scars- in colour and material- and golden eyes with barely visible pupils. most of his scars are on his hand but there’s one on his neck and over his right eye. the barkeep also has short hair but straight and spikey, also old but not as old as the old man. he has a black polo and a hidden disability sunflower lanyard. he also has a scar over his eye, but much more tick and noticable, going through the actual eye and eyeball himself. the eye where the scar is is brown unlike his other yellow one. behind them, lewis and jade enter, the door where they came from no longer having any light in the room behind them, as the window is pitch black, jade holding out an arm, seemingly mid sentance, while lewis looks around frowning. “hey sir, this is my new teamate! i’ve been showing him the ropes lately!” jade says to the person behind the counter. “this is sir, he’s the one that makes the illusions!” the two of them are standing at the counter, next to the two older supers. on the far side of the bar, theres no painting but there is a notice board, mostly cut off minifridges, and a welsh and genderqueer flags. “hm, guessing he’s more than some boy scout you found, then?” sir asks, but unlike earlier, whn he speaks the speech bubble is yellow and rectangular and appears slightly behind jade’s hand and the older man’s elbow. “yeah! we have similar powers and i thought i could help” jade responds, offscreen as lewis stares forward with wide eyes, pointing towards the still present yellow speech bubble. it’s blank from the other side. he pokes it, and the text changes to “please stop tou[cut off] the subtitles”. end id]

man i sure put a lot of effort into that background when yall cant even see shit if youre reading on phone. anyway almost all the art up there is done by me apart from a couple photographs i too and a couple pieces of art my good friend made and suggested when i was trying to think of what else to put up there. anyway go check out @schakira or @grisastre on instagram because he makes very good art and needs more appreciation!! specifically the painting directly above the white haired person and the one with the wings at the top in the corner. anyway commentary. uhh actually started the top panel as a drawing a while ago and was originally going to put some typical pub decor or worldbuilding stuff but like. i didnt end up having the time or energy so i put general art stuff. works for me because i like putting art on my walls and giving my ocs traits from me, and the barkeep (Sir the yellow haired illusionist) now canononically picks up random paintings from artist alleys to put on the walls. that is, if we assume the walls and paintings are real and now more illusions. who knows! also feel free to try and guess what various characters powers are!

[eldritch-shitposting]

 So I've been reading way too many of those webcomics that are all named shit like "My Father Is A Huge Piece of Shit Tyrant." This is like, a whole subgenre, starring a poor and abused child, almost always a girl, who turns out to be the child of some super powerful family with a terrifying reputation who comes looking for her. And then she gets swept into a world of luxury and shit, to discover that her cold, icy father does in fact love her.

And I admit, I love them. But there's one thing that has been bugging me about them lately. Which is that SO MANY of them start with the new parental figure literally BUYING THE CHILD from their mother/uncle/random caretaker. This is, I think, supposed to be a way to underline how shit the original care taker is, that they are happy to sell the kid off. But like. Nobody takes a moment to comment on the fact that the new parental figure ALSO JUST BOUGHT A CHILD.

LITERALLY TRADED MONEY.

FOR A CHILD.

WITHOUT EVEN BLINKING.

Which then got me thinking that... well fuck. An older Seto Kaiba ABSOLUTELY fits the tyrant father stereotype. Cold. Distant. Secretly an absolute sucker especially for small children. Rich AF. Has the moral reasoning of a sponge cake and would ABSOLUTELY buy a child someone tried to sell him without even a second thought, irregardless of whether or not he's related to the kid in any way.

Like, random women he never met could approach him and go "so one time you banged me and this kid is the result, I want 20 grand." And Seto, gay as the sun is bright, would go "I'll give you fifty if I never have to see you again." And then he'd absolutely be like "this is my new daughter, named--Uh. Shit, did anyone say your name? Well anyway, this is my new daughter somethingsomething Kaiba, I love her and would die for her. Isono, set her up with a trust fund and her own theme park."

Which then led to the head canon of Tyrant King Kaiba and ever helpful advisor Yugi. Who keeps just being like "Kaiba. Kaiba no. We talked about this. You can't keep just buying children, Kaiba."

Seto: So what, I was supposed to just leave this poor child with an abusive caregiver?

Yugi: I didn't say that? I just. You can't. Kaiba. Kaiba, child trafficking is illegal in this country. YOU MADE IT ILLEGAL. So please. Please stop buying children.

Seto: Then what am I supposed to do every time someone approaches me with a new orphan? You won't let me put people in jail for no reason anymore.

Yugi: I don't know, Kaiba, but buying them isn't the answer. I mean, what, you think you can just literally buy every orphan on the continent?

Seto: ....

Yugi: .... Kaiba no.

Seto: I mean.

Yugi: KAIBA NO.

Seto: I'm rich.

Yugi: I SAID NO.

Seto: Really rich.

Yugi: KAIBA, I SWEAR IF YOU--

Seto: Advisor, craft me a proclamation! From this day forward, all orphans are Kaibas and also mine! I'm buying the lot of them!

Yugi: asdlkjadoijd...

[everybodyscupoftea]

Hiiii! I’ve been following you for a little while now and lately I’ve been really interested in your hockey posts. I’ve never really been someone who watches sports or interacts with them in anyway but idk recently I’ve just been really intrigued by you talking about hockey and I was wondering if you could tell me how you got into hockey and where to start etc etc cause I really wanna be invested in it but I find it really confusing ahhh Anyway thank you <3

hi!

yes so i’ve only been into it for a few years because i’m not from an area that has it. so i had to get into it in a more non conventional way.

my friend read a hockey themed webcomic called check please here on tumblr and sent it to me to read. admittedly i didn’t finish it because i ended up not liking the characterization of one of them but that was the start.

then i kinda started seeing things on tumblr. check please focused blogs became hockey blogs and here we all are! most of them were penguins fans so that was my OG team. cheered for them through the cup wins a few years ago but when fleury left i wasn’t as gung ho because he was my guy.

for picking a team after that and learning about it just came through me watching constantly. i streamed as many games as i could of all different teams and did a lot of googling. had a notebook full of rules and terms to help me understand. eventually following the puck got easier and i figured out what play style i liked. plus tumblr influence. and i picked the leafs.

also steve dangle, if you want to get into the leafs check out his youtube channel. he’s not like my fave because we disagree on some things but he’s a solid dude and reviews every leafs game so you can kinda break things down - it helped me a lot

for some exposure the world juniors international tournament is starting in a few days and it’s televised, unlike most nhl games, and usually pretty interesting! kinda an opportunity to dip your toes in before the season starts in january.

i can link you my hockey for rookies power point if you’d like. it has a basic breakdown of penalties. youtube highlights will be super useful because you can decide what kind of hockey you like to see. flashy and fast or slower but more physical!

i’m always willing to answer any questions you may have! also kinda got more invested through reading player x player fanfic on ao3. it’s my fave and will help you learn about your team a little because they often just name drop teammates.

i think that covers a lot of sources. OH i will say, do your research on teams and players. some of them aren’t great and i don’t want you to get too attached before realizing that!

[onepunchmiss]

Ok ok ok ramble time lets go- manga spoilers ahead if you don't read the web comic, beware!

So theres several things that I've been thinking about regarding how the manga is diverging from the webcomic right now- how are the other heroes rejoining the battle going to affect the outcome of the Monster association arc climax? Or I guess rather, how will they themselves be affected by participating in the battle?

Its really interesting and exciting to see that Orochi wasn't just hyped up for completely nothing! Now I'm assuming that part of the reason for Orochi at all was for the Orochi/Psykos power up- specifically because the other heroes will be joining the frey, and I wouldn't think that the over all resolution of the arc will be much different. At the same time, if you're going to amp up the final boss just to be able to defeat the extra hero power that was originally non-existent, why bother with the changes at all? Just to give the other heroes a bit more screen time and please fans? Maybe, in the same vein, just to give webcomic fans new material rather than go panel-for-panel?

What I'm really hoping and honestly feel is probably the case, is that it will serve to get some more character development in there for the heroes and flesh them out even further?? We've been seeing it a lot in the manga as it is, with the introductions of many unique lower ranking heroes, the whole dynamic of the HA, Zombieman and Child Emperor's (blessed) dynamic, even getting some much needed Drive Knight exposition. So I'm thrilled at the prospect of seeing how these heroes are going to handle the situation they're running straight into.

I HONESTLY CAN'T WAIT TO SEE LIGHNING MAX AND SNEK DOING??? ANYTHING?? I'm gonna be honest I have no idea how they're going to reasonably fit in the fight, though I feel like it would be silly and a tad pointless to have them run off from the hospital for no reason?? And correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think we have seen them in the web comic at all following the Monster association, so I'm absolutely thrilled that they're staying relevant for now. (Edit: I was wrong and stand corrected, Snek did show up briefly with Child Emperor at one point) But yeah I'm SO CURIOUS

Side note, it was awesome seeing theveryone from the martial arts tournament! Since the tournament was the whole Focus of the second season of the anime, I forgot how long it had actually been since we had seen them in the manga. Not too much longer, but still. Lin Lin is adorable and I still stan.

I'm REALLY loving this Tanktop Master&Mumen Rider friendship we've been getting, so I'm fully expecting to see more of that now. Also, after the Monster Association arc, we found out TTM started feeling uncertain of himself as a member of the S Class anf leader of the TT army from his defeat at the hands of Garou much earlier on. I'm incredibly curious to see how his involvement in the fight will impact that sentiment, if at all, following the arcs conclusion?? I also just love TTM so much y'all don't appreciate him enough I swear,,,

Then, honestly the main reason this has been on my mind, theres Metal Bat. I mean, between his fight with Garou and appearance with the Neo-heroes, we don't see Metal Bat at all. Having him back in the battle will be a great way to flesh out his decision to leave the HA for the Neo Heroes. It's understandable enough that he would ditch the HA considering last we saw, he had to drop his personal life just to babysit an obnoxiously snobby kid and his equally as obnoxious father. Justifiable enough certainly, but I can't wait to see if anything new might also co tribute to that decision moving forward!

THEN, AND THIS IS CONSUMING MOST OF MY THOUGHTS YOU SEE, THERE IS JUST THE FACT THAT BADD IS SIMPLY TOO BAD ASS. ONE himself has said before regarding the webcomic that things would have turned out differently had Metal Bat been there. Well sir, the boy is en route, so what's gonna happen?? I must know???? Was the massive Psykos power-up largely to help the cadres stand a chance against his added help??? Which brings me back to the point of why bring him to the fight just to have the monsters buffed to defeat him?? Was tHiS whOle pLOT DivErGenCE JusT an ExCusE fOr MoRE METAL BAT??? Kidding, but still, Murata didn't lie when he said Orochi would just get one-punched by Saitama despite how it seemed, so like I can't help but think ONE wasn't just talking shit? I feel like Metal Bat alone coming in is really going to fuck shit up, never mind the others?? How is this all gonna go down?????

Ugh y'all I'm LOSIN IT it is LATE and I am TIRED but I need answers NOW

[mbtiwebcomic]

MBTI Webcomic is 3 years old!

Well, damn. I’ve really written myself into a hole here. Anything profound I had to say, I said last year.

Some things at least bear repetition. First, I’d like to take the opportunity to thank all of you for sticking around. My update schedule has been…. erratic to say the least, due to school. I am currently a senior in a programming high school, so the last year has been demanding, and this one will be, too. Hopefully, after that, I could commit to a more…. regular schedule. I would also like to give my sincerest thanks to Anastassia, who made a generous donation to my Ko-Fi recently! Anastassia, if you see this, please write me a message, so I can do a comic for you as a token of my appreciation! So, what is this post going to be about? Under the cut, I’m going to talk about my favorite things that I’ve done on this blog (if you just want to see them, see the posts tagged #fave ). See you there!

Favorite things I’ve done (in no particular order):

Mother Knows Best

I am immensely proud of this one. I remember watching the “Mother Knows Best (Reprise)” song on Youtube and making the connection between Mother Gothel and abusive underdeveloped Fe. I spent several days refining Fe’s design, which I personally think is absolutely great. This is the first animatic that I’ve done that involved…. everything. Backgrounds, change of backgrounds, movement according to the song, little details…. I love it.

Prime Ship

Prime Ship is…. what I would describe as a perfect comic, for me. I really think I outdid myself with the character designs, I love the way I represented INTPs’ way of thinking, assessing the situation (and I’m really glad it seemed to click with a lot of you), I think it’s funny…. Yeah, I love it. It was made exactly one year ago, I was rushing to have a comic for the anniversary after not having updated since the beginning of the month (seems like it’s becoming a tradition, huh). While I usually make characters for a comic, these characters were done by me messing around, and then using them when I had an idea for a comic. I love it.

Uncomfortable Procrastination

This comic marked one of the first times, maybe the first, in which I managed to very clearly describe some of my mental struggles in a comic. I think it’s a great comic, I think it’s funny, I think INTPs can really relate to it, hell, I still relate to it a year after making it. I think this comic is, like the previous one, perfect. At least for me.

Dealing With Burglars

Oh, I adore this one. While the previous ones address some serious themes through humor, this one is just plain fun. I think this is one of the first times I pulled off making detailed backgrounds, and I think I did a great job! It was incredibly fun working on it. I want to make more comics like it.

Toxic

I have written two stories for this blog, and I am immensely proud of both. It has a nice storyline, drama, epicness. I adore it. I really don’t know what to say except that I want to do more like it.

Spaceship

Spaceship is a very close song to my heart. I think it completely describes me, and INTPs, in a way that’s not usually addressed. Us feeling like aliens in a cold world that does not understand us. I am really proud that I managed to create something simple and beautiful to accompany the song.

Always The Real Me

This is another very personal comic to me. It addresses my, and INTPs’ social chameleonism that we have collectively learned and started employing to extremes, to fit in. The thing I’m proud of here, is the fact that I managed to convey the idea in a simple, yet effective way. (Plus, I spent an hour drawing all the individual planets on a necklace that appears for a third of a second. Cool)

Artisans vs ENTJ

This story was prompted by a joke ENTJ vs ISTP “feud” in the form of asks. It opened my eyes about the things I could do with writing, and I personally think the story is very good! As younger me said in the tags, “pls give me notes I worked my ass for the writing”.

INTP Functions

Another thing that was received very well, I was ecstatic when I managed to create personifications of the INTP functions. I mean, how cool was that! Those four small people who all resemble me, form me! I don’t know, I just like it a lot. I should use them more often.

Thank you for reading this, it’s getting late, and I’m going to bed! Please send me messages and asks, I love reading them!

[cyborgpotatoreads]

Books I Read in June 2020!

Whoops, a little late with this one.

The Alloy of Law (Mistborn #4), Shadows of Self (Mistborn #5), The Bands of Mourning (Mistborn #6) by Brandon Sanderson

LOOK. I’ve now read 13 Brandon Sanderson books so, legally, I’m allowed to say he’s my favorite author of all time. I know a lot of Mistborn fans like this second series less than the original trilogy, but I love them both so so much.

I cannot believe I have to wait an indeterminate amount of time for The Lost Metal. 

Furthermore (Furthermore #1) by Tahereh Mafi

I did not expect the pure, unfiltered whimsy that this book exudes! I really loved it! Although, uh, let’s just say that this is not the only book I read where someone was forcefed their own body part this month, but it WAS the one I was most shocked by.

I was, however, disappointed by how fast the ending wrapped itself up, but I’ve noticed that that’s just a problem I have with a lot of middle grade books.

Dusk or Dark or Dawn or Day by Seanan McGuire

Seanan McGuire is one of my favorite authors! This book had a lot of things to say about death, suicide, and sacrifice, and I can see myself rereading this pretty often. Also, the ghost lore... pretty cool! I may or may not steal that concept for a D&D one-shot. :)

Clariel (Abhorsen #4) by Garth Nix

I read the original Abhorsen trilogy when I was in elementary school (and middle school. And high school.), and like a normal person, had assumed that when 3 books of a trilogy had come out, that it was a finished series. I was incorrect! But boy, am I glad I was wrong! I’ve now got Clariel, Goldenhand, and two short story collections, just to keep myself in this wonderful great world that I’ve been obsessed with since I was 9! 

Man, this book definitely fucked me up though. Completely changed my view on some things. Wow. Love, love, love!

The Hunger by Alma Katsu

I wrote a full review on Goodreads (with spoilers hidden). Suffice it to say, I keep reading horror books, expecting to be scared and satisfied and so far, I have been disappointed 90% of the time.

Unfortunately this book fits into my “yeah, it was ok, I see why it’s popular. Wish it was better tho” pile of horror books.

Witchy by Ariel Slamet Ries

I used to be really into reading manga and comics, but since re-entering my reading hobby, haven’t gotten back into. This was an Owlcrate exclusive edition, and I was really hyped for it! I loved it, BUT. It’s important to know that this is a compiled volume of a webcomic, and that while there is no sign of a sequel volume being released, this does not end as a standalone volume. It is genuinely just the beginning of a story, and if you, like me, go into it thinking it’s a standalone comic, you will be very disappointed by the ending (which is not an ending). The webcomic is still ongoing and keeps continuing the story that this begins, so just keep that in mind!

The Devouring Gray (The Devouring Gray #1) by Christine Lynn Herman

For some reason, I went into this book assuming that I wouldn’t like it. I love being proved wrong in this way! This was spooky, and mysterious, and surprisingly queer! I’m so excited to pick up The Deck of Omens! 

Out Now: Queer We Go Again! edited by Saundra Mitchell

I really loved the previous anthology with this editor (All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens Throughout the Ages) because as someone who is queer, a huge fantasy fan, and a lover of short stories, it hit all the right spots. So I was super excited for this anthology and was only slightly disappointed. A lot of the stories in this anthology were contemporary, which is not a genre I really enjoy. But! The stories themselves were all very good! My only problem is that I wish it had been more fantasy stories. Please read this book! I am just fantasy trash!

[afanoftheglassscientists]

The Glass Scientists Art-Style Changes

Hey yeah sorry but I saw someone complain about how the webcomic’s art style is jarring in the later chapters and that the noses are bad because they’re big and I’m back in full salt mode WHO WANTS SOME TEA!?

@glass-scientists your art-style has only gotten more beautiful as the webcomic continues and you work extremely hard on the comic by yourself and I am amazed you kept working on this for more than four years now while in a career and I hope you’ll be able to do so for the foreseeable future.  When I comment on how your art changed please know that I’m not doing it to critique you.  Okay you don’t have to read more of this I just wanted to be the 156th person to let you know you’re doing great.

ONE - The noses have always been prominent on the characters’ art design and having a big noses does not automatically make it look ugly.  Admittedly there are artists out there who draw very ugly noses for very ugly reasons, but Sabrina Cotugno is not and never has been one of those types of artists.  Yes, Jekyll’s nose is bigger, but is not the end-all, be-all take from his design changes.

Here’s him from Ch.1 Pg. 15.

And here’s him from Ch.7 Pg. 22

(And no, I do not know why the latter two picture are bigger.)

As you can see, the nose in the earlier chapters looks smaller, but Jekyll’s face is also a lot more...soft?  Like think of ceramic pieces.  You start out with soft clay and you mold it into the shape you want (but don’t forget to wedge don’t want it to explode in the oven) but then after the clay firms up a little you’re ready to carve it and give it a more pronounced form.  That’s what happened in the later chapters: Jekyll’s nose, the shape of his jawline, his sideburns, hair and even his eyebrows has become sharper and more distinct.  His nose isn’t just an attachment like a Mister Potato Head, its a part of him.  To give him a smaller nose would mean changing his whole character profile.

TWO - Like Clay, Art Changes.  Admittedly I was taken aback by the change in the comic’s art-style as well, but that will happen to literally any long-form manga or comic.  Unless you’ve been doing comics for literal decades your art is going to change, because you’re going to change, and what you want from your art and the characters you create are going to change.  Look at Bluechair by Shen on WEBTOON: while his artstyle has solidified these past few years his earlier comics are unrecognizable, because he’s been working on his Bluechairs comic for five years, often updating two or three times a week, and is currently on Episode 536 of Bluechairs, but technically he currently has 706 of them under the Bluechairs page.  His comics are like the Sunday Newspaper kind of comics, so I’m not asking you to read his stuff starting from the beginning (in fact please don’t try to read it all at once: his early stuff is pretty good but let me remind you he has SEVEN HUNDRED AND SIX COMICS OF STUFF) but maybe read a couple of them from the beginning and then read some of his latest ones.

So yeah, its not unexpected from comics to change in style, either slowly due to how the artists gains a more experienced hand or by an intentional shift in art direction.  Sabrina was in the latter camp, due to the fact that she felt the earlier character designs was too much like a Disney Princess Line-Up, which she mentioned in a page description that I cannot find but I know was real.

Honestly I really do like the more recent pages.  I disagree that they’re less vibrant, because I think removing the high glossy sheen made the characters even more distinct from each other.  Before the shift in artstyle I felt like everyone was getting the same brand of hair gel.  Hot take coming, but the character who most benefits from this shift is Rachel, who’s been looking gorgeous these last few chapters.  

THREE - Sabrina Cotugno has been working this story, these characters and the art of this webcomic mainly by herself, while still working a job as a cartoon director for multiple shows and is currently working on a project for Disney.  She does not have a lot of time on her hands to fix mistakes and asking her to change things or give her “Advice” on her art is...I won’t say unwanted because that’s up to her as to whether or not she’d use that language, but I will say she probably doesn’t need your advice on how to draw art when she has already worked in professional spaces as a storyboard artist AND as a director.

Plus I’m going to be upfront here, and this is going to sound harsh: Do not fucking nitpick and tear apart content made independently unless warranted by offensive language or imagery, because not only is it unhelpful it is just plain mean.  Yes, Sabrina has worked on shows before, but The Glass Scientists is not made by a group of people working together, with producers and press and editors to back them up.  This is entirely her work.  She is spending her own free time making this.  This webcomic is hours, days, weeks, years in the making, in the wake of hot days, sickness, travelling, other deadlines and dying plants.

And to turn around and say “Oh the way you do the art now isn’t as good?”  Fuck off with that.  I’m not Sabrina, so I get to be mean here - You are allowed to admit you dislike these changes, but sending the artist messages directly telling them of your dislikes is an absolute garbage thing to do.  Especially when you yourself are not an artist.

Like Sergeant Brokenshire has a beard in one panel but loses it in the next few pages.  Cue the Cinema Sins ding noise I guess.  Okay, that happens sometimes, she doesn’t have an editor to correct.  Am I going to directly send her messages letting her know she did her webcomic wrong?  Fuck no.  She probably has been sent hundreds of “helpful” messages about it already, and guess what?  She doesn’t have the time to correct every mistake because she has a job. 

Of course if Sabrina or any independent artist does something horrifically offensive or even just something that makes you uncomfortable you are absolutely allowed to air your grievances.  But so far Sabrina has been good so I’ve got nothing to complain about, and the asks she gets that do have issues with the webcomic she answers with grace.  

So basically this wandered completely off from the nose discussion and into the ethics of fandoms for independently made webcomics, but anyway long story short.

The Glass Scientists is not yours and its not mine.  It belongs to Sabrina Cotugno, and its hers to change how she sees fit.  Get over that and enjoy the webcomic as it is and you’ll have a much better experience.

Sorry to sound preachy there.  I’m not trying to act like the Fandom Police and I’m not trying to fight Sabrina’s battles for her.  I just see a lot of bad fucking behavior toward other independent artists and I don’t want to see it here.  I have been that anon who “critiques” or gives “helpful” advice to artists who had far more experience than me, so its not like I’m pretending to be above it all here.  I’ve buried many a blogs because of my shameful past.

Most of this Fandom has been wonderful.  Let’s keep it that way while it lasts.

Anyway that espresso really did a number on me.  I’m about to crash and I’m getting the awful sense of deja-vu here.  Sorry for being so salty on Fandom lately, I won’t do it again unless I see some real trouble.  This has accidentally become a Midnight Post, so go to bed!

...Oh wait one more thing: PLEASE DON’T REPOST FULL PAGES OF THE WEBCOMIC!!!  Access to the official page is not hard and despite a few hiccups (which is not Sabrina’s fault but the webpage itself) we have been able to see all of the webcomic.  There is no need to repost the whole page and on Sabrina’s FAQ she specifically asked people not do this.  If you want to read each new page and don’t want to refresh the website twenty time on Monday morning you can always follow her twitter or her blog “arythusa” where she posts a link to each new page after it uploads.  In fact starting tomorrow I’ll be sure to reblog these posts to make sure you have a link available to click.

Okay now good night.

[yuseirra]

Hi, you draw really, really well the comics. And i wonder if you could give me advice about how to correctly distribute the drawings in the comics?

Hello!// thanks a bunch for reading my comics, I KNOW you do, and I really appreciate it..!!// I’m glad to hear you’ve been finding them good and enjoyable!

I find this as a very good question!! However I’m not sure if I can give a good answer for this because to be really blunt about it, I don’t have a clear idea on how to do it either.. it’s quite hard to describe. I’ve been doing this for years and at this point, I forgot about all the small processes in between?;I don’t even know if I’m making comics the right way ;v;!!;; It probably isn’t??? and I’m just doing it the way I feel fit and comfy- I never learned stuff like this from anywhere- so I’m not even sure if I can recommend? or tell someone about my ways of doing it..

On the other hand, I figure seeing an example of some sort still be helpful either way! ;v;// if it’s good, you can pick it up, and if there’s something undesirable, you can avoid it. I haven’t thought about this in detail, I’ll organize things as I go, so please understand if I sound a bit all over the place!!

I posted about how I draw comics pretty recently, so you can check that out for the basic processes I go through. So, as you can see from there, the basic steps of making a comic for me would be 1.brainstorming-> 2.draw roughs(write out all the dialogues/decide on how the cuts will be organized)->3.fill/adjust/clean up sketch. I don’t think that’ll be too different compared to most artists.. and the part you’re curious about would be part 2.

last time when I drew a comic I saved the roughs for it and now seems like a great timing to bring that up as an example.

Digital or not, a drawing is drawn on canvas. You have to decide how many cuts will fit into a single page and start working from there. The sketchbook I’m using is a bit smaller than your A4 size paper and I usually go with 3~4 (horizontal)x2~3(vertical) with this one. that makes about 12 cuts on average. When you draw the cuts, make sure they are in a size that fits accordingly to the way you visualize the amount of cuts that’d fit, with some important cuts being big, and some minor cuts being smaller..this isn't required but I tend to make most of my cuts not so different in size- especially vertical-wise because you read things in rows. Things need to be in good flow- if you make one big cut that is bigger vertically, you may need to make two to three cuts that align with it to match the flow of the row. An example of this could be how I arranged the cuts in this drawing↓

the canvas is smaller too (with horizontal/vertical scales being more similar) so about 2-3 cuts can fit horizontally and about 2 vertically! and since I wanted to give more weight to leslie looking at isabella, I gave that cut a bigger room. My cuts aren’t that dynamic though, and compared to actual mangas that use a good use of the shapes and sizes, I still have a long ways to go ‘v’;)//

Another thing you have to think about when you draw a comic is deciding how it’ll start out, cut off, and end. If you draw on a piece of paper like me, cutting things off in the middle is inevitable if you want to make something longer. It shouldn’t feel so abrupt though, and every page should have a sense of being “complete” in a way.

I usually tend to arrange things in a way that’d fit in a single page (I feel you’ve been seeing me drawing 1 page comics) but if that isn’t possible, I think about where exactly I want the page to be wrapped up. A good way to do that, in my opinion, is to place something important in the last panel. Like the most important dialogue in that page or a character’s reaction towards an event. The first cut is very important too, since it’ll give the readers an idea of what’s about to happen and how the rest of the story is going to be like. If you can, it’d be a good idea to make the cut something that’d draw the reader’s eyes. For example, the rough above (which ended up as this comic below ↓) the first cut is pretty self-explanatory! Norman and Emma in a forest, with a baby, a (picnic) basket, holding hands. You’d probably know what to expect from there.

It’s the same thing as writing a story. After getting an idea (e.g: norman and emma going on a picnic together and emma climbing trees) you decide on the beginning (they’re in a forest) and confirm how it’s going to end (they are satisfied) and think of the main events in between (emma climbs a tree and norman watches her happily). Cut that up and distribute how things will play out, in the provided space! When you get the hang of it, you’ll find your own pace with making stories and how things feel natural for you. 

So this must have been what’s been going on in my head as I draw comics too. I just don’t “think” about doing it this particular way as I do it, but this must be how..! I actually try a lot right// I love writing dialogues, and I fix things and consider about the pace but it’s just so hard to describe what exactly goes on my head as I’m doing it..It’s just so nice/// to hear you think I’ve been doing a nice job!//

If you desire making polished works, I very recommend looking at published comics too!! ;v;// webcomics/webtoons have been the trend lately and those work with a totally different flow, but I’m more used to making page-based comics and I get a lot of insps from ones that are. Plus they’re professionals so they do a skilled and wonderful job at it, and you can really learn on how dynamic some cuts are. I’m more focused on making my drawings “fitting the canvas and filling up the whole paper without cutting things out” whereas commercial works seem less restricted with such and use bigger and detailed cuts, and the way they do it is very interesting. Right now I’m taking the more safer methods and making most of my cuts similar in size but a lot of comics I see take bigger steps and challenges! I’d love to do that too in the future ‘v’)9 

I hope this was good advice!// good luck drawing! Again, thanks for reading my comics, as much as I love drawing stuff out of my ideas, it’s much more enjoyable when you have someone you can share it with and I’ve been having a lot of fun thanks to you and everyone!

[bl-reviews]

Killing Stalking: a review

image sources for banner: lehzin/koogi

To start off, as this is my first post on this blog, my reviews are precisely just that, it’s how I feel and my thoughts about this series and all the other series that I’m going to review (this is also just for fun!!). I might be a bit late for this (even though it recently finished?), but this feels like a good start.

THIS IS ALSO VERY SPOILER HEAVY SO IF YOU HAVEN’T READ KILLING STALKING COMPLETELY, PLEASE STOP NOW!

I originally started reading this when it came out and from the start, it took me aback with the concept, since at the time I was about 16, but I ended up not finishing it and only originally got through half of the second “season” of the comic, but I picked it back up and reread from the beginning in one sitting about a week ago.

It was a goddamn trip. The art, beautiful. The story, interesting. The after feeling. An absolute, and very big oof. The story itself with all the twists and turns and reading as both Bum and Sangwoo progressively add on to their insanity because of each other is a good punch to the stomach.

The ending is what’s still sticking with me, and there’s a good reason why. The buildup to both Sangwoo and Bum’s demise is most certainly great, after everything they went through together, but I have some feelings about all of it, specifically about Bum’s death. I’m going to put it simply: I don’t think Bum should have died. Controversial, I know, but this is why I believe that: Bum went through, well a lot (both of them did, and that’s beside the point), and the fact that he was actively a victim from before the webcomic even started is what sits wrong with me. Bum was manipulated in more ways than one by Sangwoo, from killing three people to believing that he’s “in love” with Sangwoo and many more. Quite honestly, I sympathize with Bum, as I see it, Bum could have healed and actively gotten help once Sangwoo was gone, even if it meant that he wouldn’t have actively been able to do much in society afterward because of the mental health stigma in South Korea, but he deserved his own slice of what normality feels like. I know not everything needs a happy ending, especially Killing Stalking, I never expected a happy ending for the webcomic, but I think Yoon Bum deserved some sort of peace and justice after the events of Killing Stalking. Yoon Bum getting help doesn’t mean a happy ending, it means he’s on a long path to recovery after traumatic events, which can lead to a sort of more open ending, leaving the reader to decide and interpret how they think Yoon Bum would live his life with help, instead of well, hallucinating, walking into traffic and getting hit by a  c a r.

Now you’re thinking “What about Sangwoo?”: fuck him. Honestly, I believe he got what he deserved. Getting burned severely in your childhood home and then dying in a hospital, calling out for someone he “loved”, or I guess the only person he had left and then dying? Perfect *chef’s kiss*, love it. Sangwoo almost had a more fucked up childhood than Bum, you know, with his mom trying to kill him several times, his mom cheating on his father right in front of his face, his father becoming abusive, being blamed for his father’s death. The list goes on! Sangwoo became the way he was directly because of his mother and how she treated him and raised him, a good old “nature vs nurture” scenario. The only way that I appreciate Sangwoo as a character is for his dumbassery and I thought he was a little funny, but that might just be because I’m desensitized to this stuff. 

Sangwoo’s “relationship” with Bum is something that bothered me too. As someone who is in the LGBTQ+ community, their relationship scared the absolute hell out of me. It is by far the worst representation of a gay relationship, which of course is part of the point of this webcomic, but still. If I had been more gullible while reading this, I’m sure that when things were going “well” for the two of them I would have been very ship heavy for them and enjoyed more ship content (now it’s just memes of their relationships that I enjoyed, specifically tik tok cosplay memes of it), but I didn’t because I knew from the very start that their relationship wasn’t healthy and not something that should be wished for, so for anyone who would question “Do you support this abuse trip of a webcomic?” No. I don’t support the abuse in this webcomic, but what I do support about the webcomic is the compelling story and the gore.

To continue talking about their relationship, let me bring up Sangwoo’s sexuality since I’ve seen a lot of back and forth between other readers about Sangwoo being straight. I knew he was straight from the beginning, that might sound bad, but it’s true. I knew there was no way in hell Sangwoo was gay, it wasn’t about how he was drawn, or anything, it was how he acted towards several characters that set it in stone for me that he was indeed very straight. That brings it to “What about the NSFW scenes between Bum and Sangwoo?”. The answer is simple, it’s not hard to fake things, especially when you’re a good actor like Sangwoo was, motherfucker had everyone around him fooled about who he was as a person! Sangwoo was even hesitant to go down on Bum, which is an obvious sign, at least to me. It was all to play to Bum’s fantasy of Sangwoo and we all should know it, especially since he said directly to Bum’s face that he wasn’t gay and that he imagined Bum as a woman when they had sex. I understand where the confusion can come from, but you don’t need love or anything really to fuck someone of any gender or sexuality and have seen several occasions where straight men pretend to be gay and this is another example of something like that.

Overall, Killing Stalking is a great read if you can stomach it, but is terrible with representation for the LGBTQ+ community. Despite most of my thoughts being negative about, well a lot of the series, I really liked it, especially for the writing and the art style. Killing Stalking is going to stick with me for a long time and I’m glad it will because it can open some good conversations about a lot of things for people who have read the series.

Now that you’re at the end, go ahead and send in asks and start up conversations about my thoughts or your own thoughts! 

[marypsue]

an author meme because @viletorpedo tagged me and I think we may have descended into a vicious author meme tagging cycle

Author Name: MaryPSue. My ffn is different, but also now defunct, so I don't see much purpose in putting that username here. This was a username I chose when I first signed up for tumblr back in 2011, based on a whim and the main character of a parody webcomic I was considering making. (It never came to fruition.) 

Fun fact: the 'P' doesn't stand for anything and is really just there for aesthetic purposes, though it has variously been used as an initial for Perfect, Pitch, and Perdita depending on context and circumstance.

Fandoms You Write For: Anything moderately popular which has either a dead kid as the main character, a fraught central sibling relationship, a female character Cursed With Awesome, or all of the above. Probably best known for stuff for Gravity Falls (and Gravity Falls Transcendence AU) and Rise of the Guardians/Guardians of Childhood fandoms, though I'm currently exercising my right to be the most basic of fandom bitches by primarily pouring my energy into canons where Tom Hiddleston portrays a dark-haired woobie who thinks of nothing but murder all day. (I know there's got to still be at least a ghost of a Crimson Peak fandom out there somewhere, dammit.)

Where You Post: Here, and AO3. Most things end up in both places, though I don't know what tumblr's policies re: links and the main search are anymore so often there isn't an AO3 link included on my tumblr fic posts.

Most Popular One-shot: By kudos, that'd have to be...A Semi-Normal Life (Gravity Falls, Transcendence AU)! I didn’t expect this one. 

Most Popular Multi-chapter Story: Again going by kudos, Raising Stakes (Gravity Falls). 

Favourite Story You Wrote: Picking just one is very hard, but I'm going to put in a good word, at this close date to Halloween, for Samhain (Rise of the Guardians, Guardians of Childhood). You don't need any familiarity with the source material to read this one; it's a ghost story and a romance and a tragedy with what is arguably a happy ending. Well, a happy ending for a ghost story.

Story You Were Nervous To Post: Definitely all of them, though I'll admit to a particular anxiety about posting others (MCU, Thor). Partly because the last thing I'd posted had not been working out on the writing end and I had to take it down because I was so unhappy with it (something I'd only done once before in my entire fic career) and I was completely unable to tell whether this was any better; partly because of the subject matter; partly simply because I have avoided a good 90% of all the MCU movies, especially the crossover-y Avengers ones, and so did not have the level of knowledge of canon that I like to have before posting things so I can be sure I haven't got simple details wrong. (Changing things deliberately from canon is one thing. Not knowing a thing which might turn out to have bearing on a fic is quite another.)

How Do You Choose Your Titles: Sometimes they're a bad pun that's relevant to the plot, premise, or themes of the story; sometimes they're stolen song lyrics or snippets of poetry; and recently I've caved and just started giving my silly working titles to oneshots, or titling them like episodes of Friends. (The SPN/MCU Thor crossover that I ended up taking down got the positively insipid and overused, if extremely relevant, Lana Del Rey lyric title 'gods & monsters' when I posted it, but the working title and probably the title I should have actually given it was 'oh whats THIS hot topic clearance bin nonsense now'.)

Do You Outline: Sort of.

Complete: 118 works and counting!

In Progress: Something Borrowed, Something Blues (Gravity Falls, Transcendence AU) and Imbalance (The Adventure Zone: Balance).

Coming Soon/Not Yet Started: I'm sitting on a Crimson Peak/Haunting of Hill House (the novel, not any of the adaptations) crossover for Halloween that I'm really excited to share. I'm really thrilled with how it's turned out! It's a little experimental, a little romantic, a little queer, and hopefully a lot creepy.

Other than that, I've got a couple of continuations of things sitting in Drafts Limbo (there is some kind of ending in the works for The Family Business, though I have no idea how long it'll take to get there, and I have a host of ideas but no solid plot for what happens next in Girls In White Dresses), and some things I haven't shared because I'm not sure they're finished or that there's an audience for them or that they wouldn't be better off with the serial numbers filed off (a series of casefics where Dean Winchester gets cursed into a female body and is Not Particularly Happy About It At All, a definitely very hilarious probably non-canon-compliant oneshot where Darcy Lewis starts to suspect her new roommate is the supervillain of the week in disguise), but mostly my ideas lately have tended towards origfic. (Please. I have so many ideas and so many OCs for origfic. Help me.)

Do You Accept Prompts: Only if I announce I'm taking prompts on this blog. It does happen, though not as often as it used to.

Upcoming Story You Are Most Excited To Write: Hm. Well, right now I'm juggling ideas for two or three silly romance novels: one that's a thinly-veiled Mystery Trio AU featuring incubi; one where a burnt-out author of paranormal romances goes on vacation and ends up having to solve a murder that looks like it was committed by a werewolf to clear her name; and one that's a Hallmark seasonal romance movie for Halloween, where a high-powered marketing director comes home and ends up getting involved in the effort to save an old inn, which turns out to be haunted by an amorous ghost.

I've also got a couple of Stephen King-esque horror stories set in small rural towns that prominently feature flashbacks, and one mystery/thriller in the vein of definitely not bfu rpf where I've deliberately badly filed the serial numbers off the MCU's stable of actors to look at what happens when a megacorporation decides that its contracts should give it absolute control, not only of its actors' bodies, but also their minds. (That sounds...so serious and meaningful when I put it like that. Don't be fooled, it's 100% an excuse to reimagine the Avengers as a bunch of competent women who are actually friends, and also do that 'what if actors started becoming their characters' thing that's always fascinated me, with a side of social commentary blatantly tacked on.)

But...no real plans to write anything that's going to get posted anytime soon, sorry. Unless y'all are particularly interested in my original fiction.

Tagging: @gretchensinister, @pingnova, @seiya234, and anyone else who I didn't tag the first time I think this came around and who wants to do it.

[theonyxpath]

Once more into Milwaukee, old friends. That is said with true anticipation, as I’m looking forward to the Mid Winter Convention and also all of all the wonderful people who go to it and run it – including almost all of our Onyx Path Monday Meeting crew.

I also look forward to it with a tidal wave of nostalgia, as Milwaukee, and the Hilton where Mid Winter is held, was also where White Wolf booked our Gen-Con rooms and our parties in the years after Vampire first came out. So there’s a lot of overlay of memories as I walk (stagger) through the hotel and downtown.

Now, as to what we’re doing there now?

First, we’ll be officially announcing four projects that are on our plate this year at our Onyx Path Q&A Social on Friday. From there we’ll also talk about them on the Onyx Pathcast live from Mid Winter, and on our social media. So even if you miss the Q&A, and it’s been sold out for quite some time, keep and eye and an ear out (and maybe an arm, YA lit readers) and you’ll hear about them.

And like I mentioned last week, if you have any questions you want us to answer at the Q&A, send them in via the Comments section of this blog.

Dark Eras 2 art by Luis Sanz

Thursday features panels and seminars for folks wanting to get into or do better in the TTRPG creation biz, and we have a bunch of our folks helping out there; from Eddy Webb’s Developer Bootcamp, to Matt McElroy and myself sitting in on the Kickstarter tips session in the morning. There are freelancer panels with a bunch of our, well, freelancers, like Crystal Mazur and Danielle Lauzon, that are also happening throughout the con.

In fact, on Saturday, there’s a V5 Chicago By Night panel with Matthew and a host of writers from the project that should help illuminate the darkness. Not of a vampire’s soul, but of why Mike Hollywood wrote about particular Chicago landmarks – that sort of thing.

We’ve also got folks demoing and playtesting, with a few secret playtests being run, throughout the convention.

VtR2e Spilled Blood art by Andrea Payne

Let’s back it up, and I’ll talk about Wednesday, which is our all-day Onyx Path Summit where the Monday Meeting crew will be reviewing 2019 and looking towards the next couple of years.

Some of that is just stuff we have to do like budgeting, but the vast majority will be more process and project focused brainstorming.

Some of that will be to review the notes from the team that I’ve posted these last 3 weeks. We’ll look mostly at what we can improve, but we’ll definitely add in the good stuff we did all last year. And there is a lot of that last year. After all, we all need to remember the highs as we take a hard look at what could be done better.

So if you want us discussing your ideas for what we can do to sharpen our saws or new avenues to look into- please drop us a note in the Comments here. We’ll add your thoughts to the mix in the appropriate discussion. We intend to come out of this year’s Summit with strong directions for how to improve what we do while still moving forward with new projects and possibilities.

Last year, for example, one of our directions was to increase our Actual Play presence – and so we made decisions through the year that brought on more venues for that. Such as boosting our Twitch channel to the point where there’s at least one stream running a day and often more.

So, we’ll see what this year’s Summit brings us!

Meanwhile, (Blood) Cults of the (Bloody) Blood Gods (of Blood) for V5 continues to wow us on Kickstarter, and with more than a week left, we’re still going strong! We’ve passed the Chicago By Night KS in terms of number of backers and the pledge amount (in fact we’re just a hair from being 400% funded as I write this). Check out the raft of Cults of the Blood Gods vids and interviews happening just this last week in the Media section below!

Yugman’s Guide art by Shen Fei

New Years Resolutions from Onyx Path:

Here are the resolutions of our usual Monday Meeting cast of characters as we look out into 2020. Note that these are before our Summit this Wednesday, so some of them might refocus after that. Maybe not!

Dixie:

I’m going to revamp how I track and plan my projects so that things are less likely to be late or rushed. I’m also going to be more realistic about my workload and not let myself get overwhelmed because I thought I could do more than I reasonably could. It’s going to be a good year for projects!

Mirthful Mike:

My big one for 2020 is to work on my control issues… namely contracting more of the layout duties rather than trying to tackle 95% of them myself. This not only means bringing in at least one or two more designers, but also working with the devs on updating some of the tagging stuff that I’ve been manually tweaking over the years. 

Matt:

I’m resolving to make better use out of the tools we have available for project management and team communications. We have a lot of projects in development and tools to make managing them easier, so I should be more effective using them.

LisaT:

I resolve to manage my time better on a daily, weekly and monthly basis.

Ian:

Now that the core Trinity Continuum is out, I’m looking forward to being able to deliver upcoming supplements and game lines a lot faster. We were able to hit the ground running over December with a good handful of releases, and I’d like to keep up a lot of that momentum.

Eddy:

I resolve to clear up the clutter in my work process so I have more time to focus on projects. Being busy is a great problem to have, but it is still a problem if there’s a dozen different things that all need your attention.

Matthew:

I resolve to play and run more games outside my normal horror comfort zone! I want to expand my knowledge of rules and settings in 2020. While I love being the Vampire guy at Onyx Path, it would be fantastic to confidently take on more fantasy and science fiction work, and for me, that requires running more D&D, Scion, and Trinity!

RichT:

Last year, I was able to do much more creative work as James Bell’s efforts as our Kickstarter Concierge really kicked in and I could step back from KS planning and execution: and it was great! For 2020, I resolve to continue pushing forward with more and more creative efforts, from continuing with the ongoing reviews of our projects as our fantastic creative teams pitch and outline their ideas, to full read-throughs of finished PDFs, to expanding the unusual ideas that help define our projects and game worlds.

For example, I feel like I was able to add some fun to the TC: Aberrant KS with the lead-in webcomic, and with some of the character-based design elements for the book, and I think we can run with similar things for our other books. Maybe it’s time for us to come up with a new Deluxe book idea, to play around with some fun packaging that evokes the project specifically.

There’s a lot to look forward to with so many fantastic games to work on, and we’re all excited to be creating our:

Many Worlds, One Path!

BLURBS!

Kickstarter!

V5 Cults of the Blood Gods has passed $119,000 and 2010 backers, and has trumpeted forward passing through Stretch Goal after Stretch Goal right into the new year!

Onyx Path Media!

This Friday’s Onyx Pathcast is a live broadcast from the MidWinter Convention in Milwaukee! Check it out direct on Podbean, or your favorite podcast venue! https://onyxpathcast.podbean.com/

We continue on the V5 Cults of the Blood Gods train this week, starting with an interview between 307 RPG Podcast and one of the book’s co-writers, Jacob Burgess: https://307rpg.com/?p=128

Podcast 67 – Cults of the Blood Gods (Vampire: the Masquerade) with writer Jacob Burgess

Strange Adventures provides coverage of the Hecata from V5 Cults of the Blood Gods right here: https://youtu.be/TcXwmrLlEPk

Noted Vampire YouTuber Outstar has made her own fantastic video covering V5 Cults of the Blood Gods right here, and it’s worth checking out: https://youtu.be/_oUk-doDepo

Red Moon Roleplaying continue their actual play of The Family, a V5 Cults of the Blood Gods story involving Matthew Dawkins, Klara Herbol, Bianca Savazzi, and Jason Carl, with episode three right here: https://youtu.be/TcH3RZO3Z7s

Our Twitch channel continues with its streams of superb content, including Aberrant, Scarred Lands, Changeling: The Lost, Changeling: The Dreaming, Mage: The Awakening, and Vampire: The Masquerade! Follow us on twitch.tv/theonyxpath to watch us live or catch up by subscribing!

Likewise, continue to tune in to us on YouTube for actual plays of Changeling: The Lost, Pugmire, Vampire: The Masquerade, and much much more!

Subscribe to us on youtube.com/user/theonyxpath

And the Gentleman Gamer, Matthew Dawkins, continues his Gentleman’s Guide to Scion over on his channel, youtube.com/user/clackclickbang

And here’s even more Occultists Anonymous actual plays of Mage: The Awakening for you!

Episode 70: What We Leave Behind The cabal get breakfast with Shanna in order to get some first-hand information about the Mysterium caucus in Mexico. After the sun sets, they have an appointment with a ghost imprisoned in a bench.https://youtu.be/pE4n8Pfgml4

Episode 71: A New Oracle The cabal checks in with Jimmy “Smalls” Patinko and arranges for a jailbreak for their friend out-of-time, Judd. The Leaf Theater Players take to the stage!https://youtu.be/ky8qO-OFP9g

The Story Told Podcast continue their Exalted actual play with episode 22 of the Fall of Jiara, their Dragon-Blooded story: http://thestorytold.libsyn.com/fall-of-jiara-22

Blood on the Tamesis has published a fun video on playing a Lasombra using the resources in the soon-to-be released V5 Chicago by Night: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utI8P5C0AJk&feature=youtu.be

Devil’s Luck Gaming continue their fantastic and epic Scarred Lands Pirates of the Bloodwater campaign over on their Twitch channel: https://www.twitch.tv/DevilsLuckGaming

And back over to Red Moon Roleplaying to close us off with the penultimate episode of The Sacrifice for V5 Chicago by Night, run by Klara Herbol and including Matthew Dawkins as a player: https://youtu.be/9N29X-PWhsQ

Drop Matthew a message via the contact button on matthewdawkins.com if you have actual plays, reviews, or game overviews you want us to profile on the blog!

Please check any of these out and let us know if you find or produce any actual plays of our games!

Electronic Gaming!

As we find ways to enable our community to more easily play our games, the Onyx Dice Rolling App is live! Our dev team has been doing updates since we launched based on the excellent use-case comments by our community, and this thing is awesome! (Seriously, you need to roll 100 dice for Exalted? This app has you covered.)

On Amazon and Barnes & Noble!

You can now read our fiction from the comfort and convenience of your Kindle (from Amazon) and Nook (from Barnes & Noble).

If you enjoy these or any other of our books, please help us by writing reviews on the site of the sales venue from which you bought it. Reviews really, really help us get folks interested in our amazing fiction!

Our selection includes these latest fiction books:

Our Sales Partners!

We’re working with Studio2 to get Pugmire and Monarchies of Mau out into stores, as well as to individuals through their online store. You can pick up the traditionally printed main book, the screen, and the official Pugmire dice through our friends there! https://studio2publishing.com/search?q=pugmire

We’ve added Prince’s Gambit to our Studio2 catalog: https://studio2publishing.com/products/prince-s-gambit-card-game

Now, we’ve added Changeling: The Lost 2nd Edition products to Studio2‘s store! See them here: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/all-products/changeling-the-lost

Scarred Lands (Pathfinder) books are also on sale at Studio2, and they have the 5e version, supplements, and dice as well!: https://studio2publishing.com/collections/scarred-lands

Scion 2e books and other products are available now at Studio2: https://studio2publishing.com/blogs/new-releases/scion-second-edition-book-one-origin-now-available-at-your-local-retailer-or-online

Looking for our Deluxe or Prestige Edition books? Try this link! http://www.indiepressrevolution.com/xcart/Onyx-Path-Publishing/

And you can order Pugmire, Monarchies of Mau, Cavaliers of Mars, and Changeling: The Lost 2e at the same link! And NOW Scion Origin and Scion Hero are available to order!

Starting today, DTRPG and its affiliated Community Content sites begin the New Year, New Game sale! A huge number of our PDFs are on sale from all of our game worlds, as well as a Big Scion 2e Bundle with 4 PDFs being offered for $13! https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/299474/NYNG-Scion-2E-BUNDLE

As always, you can find Onyx Path’s titles at DriveThruRPG.com!

On Sale This Week!

This Wednesday, we will be releasing the Advance PDF for Trinity Continuum: Aeon Ready Made Characters on DTRPG! We’ll also be releasing the C20 Novel, The Cup of Dreams, and the Tales of Good Dogs Pugmire fiction anthology in the Nook and Kindle stores!

Finally on Wednesday, we’ll be opening the Storypath Nexus Community Content site for Trinity Continuum projects with templates and art packs to get you started, and several projects already submitted to the site!

Conventions!

2020: Midwinter: January 9th – 12th, in Milwaukee, WI. Come see rare appearances by Onyx Path art director Mirthful Mike Chaney, Impish Ian Watson, and a rare US appearance by The Gentleman Gamer himself, Matthew Dawkins! Also, most of our Monday Meeting crew: Eddy Webb, Dixie Cochran, Matt McElroy, and RichT!

We’ll be holding panels, running games, making announcements of hitherto unannounced projects, recording the Onyx Pathcast, and holding down some seats in the Monarch Lounge!

Check out David Fuller’s Athens, Ohio Scion actual play tie-in adventure (soon to be coming to the Storypath Nexus community content site) that will be running at Midwinter. The event url is below: https://tabletop.events/conventions/midwinter-gaming-convention-2020/schedule/402

And now, the new project status updates!

DEVELOPMENT STATUS FROM EDDY WEBB (projects in bold have changed status since last week):

First Draft (The first phase of a project that is about the work being done by writers, not dev prep)

Exalted Essay Collection (Exalted)

N!ternational Wrestling Entertainment (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Contagion Chronicle Ready-Made Characters (Chronicles of Darkness)

Trinity Continuum: Adventure! core (Trinity Continuum: Adventure!)

Duke Rollo fiction (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

TC: Aberrant Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

RUST (Scarred Lands)

Under Alien Suns (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Redlines

Kith and Kin (Changeling: The Lost 2e)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #2 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Many-Faced Strangers – Lunars Companion (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Second Draft

M20 Victorian Mage (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Exigents (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Crucible of Legends (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Development

Heirs to the Shogunate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

TC: Aberrant Reference Screen (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Monsters of the Deep (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Scion: Demigod (Scion 2nd Edition)

Tales of Aquatic Terror (They Came From Beneath the Sea!)

Across the Eight Directions (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Contagion Chronicle: Global Outbreaks (Chronicles of Darkness)

Contagion Chronicle Jumpstart (Chronicles of Darkness)

Manuscript Approval

Scion: Dragon (Scion 2nd Edition)

Masks of the Mythos (Scion 2nd Edition)

Trinity Continuum Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum Core)

One Foot in the Grave Jumpstart (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2e)

Player’s Guide to the Contagion Chronicle (Chronicles of Darkness)

Post-Approval Development

Scion LARP Rules (Scion)

Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition core rulebook (Mummy: The Curse 2nd Edition)

Titanomachy (Scion 2nd Edition)

Editing

Lunars: Fangs at the Gate (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Geist 2e Fiction Anthology (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition)

Dragon-Blooded Novella #1 (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Legendlore core book (Legendlore)

WoD Ghost Hunters (World of Darkness)

Mythical Denizens (Creatures of the World Bestiary) (Scion 2nd Edition)

Pirates of Pugmire KS-Added Adventure (Realms of Pugmire)

Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad (Scarred Lands)

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant core (Trinity Continuum: Aberrant)

Terra Firma (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Deviant: The Renegades (Deviant: The Renegades)

Lunars Novella (Rosenberg) (Exalted 3rd Edition)

Buried Bones: Creating in the Realms of Pugmire (Realms of Pugmire)

Post-Editing Development

TC: Aeon Ready-Made Characters (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed (Mage: the Awakening Second Edition)

City of the Towered Tombs (Cavaliers of Mars)

W20 Shattered Dreams Gift Cards (Werewolf: The Apocalypse 20th)

TC: Aeon Jumpstart (Trinity Continuum: Aeon)

Vigil Watch (Scarred Lands)

Scion Companion: Mysteries of the World (Scion 2nd Edition)

Cults of the Blood Gods (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

Wraith20 Fiction Anthology (Wraith: The Oblivion 20th Anniversary Edition)

Hunter: The Vigil 2e core (Hunter: The Vigil 2nd Edition)

Let the Streets Run Red (Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition)

M20 The Technocracy Reloaded (Mage: the Ascension 20th Anniversary Edition)

Indexing

ART DIRECTION FROM MIKE CHANEY!

In Art Direction

Contagion Chronicle – Finals coming in.

Trinity Continuum: Aberrant

Hunter: The Vigil 2e

Ex3 Lunars – Art is in.

TCfBtS!: Heroic Land Dwellers – LeBlanc working on finals.

Night Horrors: Nameless and Accursed – Contracted. Already seeing sketches.

Cults of the Blood God (KS)

Mummy 2

City of the Towered Tombs

Let the Streets Run Red – Art notes and contracts finishing going out this week.

CtL Oak Ash and Thorn – Figuring out art notes.

Scion Mythical Denizens – Need sketches for fulls.

Deviant

Yugman’s Guide to Ghelspad – Got some finals in.

Vigil Watch – Need one more artist.

Legendlore (KS)

Technocracy Reloaded (KS) – Got notes out to artists for halfs and splats.

Scion Companion – Working on art notes for that.

In Layout

Trinity Continuum Aeon: Distant Worlds

Pirates of Pugmire – With Aileen.

Proofing

Dark Eras 2 – At WW for approval and they will be back after the New Year.

Trinity Continuum Aeon Jumpstart

They Came from Beneath the Sea!

VtR Spilled Blood – 2nd proof with dev.

Chicago Folio – Halfway through layout.

At Press

V5: Chicago – Shipping to the KS fulfillment shippers.

Geist 2e (Geist: The Sin-Eaters 2nd Edition) – Being printed.

Geist 2e Screen – Being printed.

DR:E – Being printed.

DRE Screen – Being printed.

DR:E Threat Guide – Helnau’s Guide to Wasteland Beasties

Trinity Continuum: Aeon RMCs – Advance PDF going on sale on Wednesday.

Memento Mori – Gathering errata.

M20 Book of the Fallen – PoD proof on the way.

Trinity Continuum Storypath Nexus Community Content – Goes live on Weds.

Today’s Reason to Celebrate!

Late last week was my granddaughter’s one-year birthday! If she demolishes life as completely as she did her birthday cupcake – the kid’s gonna be alright.

[comicteaparty]

March 7th-March 13th, 2020 Creator Babble Archive

The archive for the Creator Babble chat that occurred from March 7th, 2020 to March 13th, 2020.  The chat focused on the following question:

What is your overall marketing/promotion strategy for your webcomic?

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I don't know if this counts as a strategy, but these are some of the things I do to promote my comic or my work in general. 1. Most important from what I've noticed (which I have been failing at due to stress and self-doubt lately) is to post updates to your comic frequently and consistently. It seems somewhat silly that simply putting your work out there is the best way to grow an audience, but it really is. Newly posted chapters frequently get shown on more pages and thus detected by the algorithms and potential readers. It also helps to establish trust with current and returning readers. 2. Participating in art/comic events, forums, and other comicking communities (such as this one). In a way, this isn't really marketing directly, but it is good to build connections with other creators! 3. Conventions! I actually have gotten a several new readers/followers from attending cons. It's also nice just to talk to people, get your name out there locally, and to make a little bit of money while at it. 4. Social media promotion. Tbh, this hasn't been super helpful to me, but more eyes is always a win in my book. I try to post almost every day, even if it isn't art or comic related. Having some kind of social media presence at all, even if it's small, shows people that you are working hard to connect to others. Also finding the right hashtags definitely helps with visibility.

kayotics

Overall, my strategy for marketing is to be authentic and just keep plugging my stuff. People will come if they like it. I work as a marketer for my day job, so I know what I COULD do, but I really don’t do that much since a whole marketing plan would take a lot more time than I have available to me. Some of the stuff I do otherwise: - regular updates. This ones pretty important for retaining viewers I already have. Any good marketing strategy is thinking about retaining people, not just getting new ones - self promo: this usually is on top webcomics or on social media. I get a LOT of traffic from top webcomics, and I get a good handful of people from social media. - conventions, like mentioned before, can be a great way to get people’s eyes on your stuff. I have a postcard that I hand out to people if they come by or they purchase something. - the thing I don’t do enough is post more art outside of the comic, or even just little previews. If I were dedicated to marketing, I’d be sharing sketches or illustrations on social media to grow my audience.

DanitheCarutor

Ah you know, I don't really have much of a strategy. At some point I promoted as much as I could on Twitter, adding my comic to those share/promo thread, getting in on relevant hashtag events, participating on WebComic Chat (whenever I remembered to). I've done a little promotion on forums, but there is really only so much you can do since only so many people hang out there and if your work is super niche like mine, they will pretty much avoid your promos at all cost. Lmao Other than those I don't really do much, at some point I attempted to use Instagram but the site/app is very stingy about offsite links. I also started a Facebook page, although if you don't have the money to boost your promos and don't usually have a lot going on with your comic outside of weekly updates, it won't get a whole lot of attention. I've also tried to be more active, but I'm not a good conversationalist, and I tend to be kind of a thread/conversation/mood killer so I try to avoid talking outside of Q&A prompts like this.

eli [a winged tale]

Same Dani, I used Instagram for a while too and I just don’t think the platform is a good fit for my vertical scroll comic (see exhibit 1) Twitter is a mixed bag as well and I think unless you have a solid following already, it’s hard to gain traction. What really helped was being on Webtoon’s staff pick for a couple days. I’m not sure how Tapas picked up but it’s reassuring that there’s a couple of followers gained every week when I posted regularly. So it really does sound like the first step is to have a steady update schedule (working on the buffer! Got a month’s work down today). It’s just challenging because while I could upload one page a week but on the vertical scroll sites it seems like a longer episode (6-7 pages) is valued more as a solid update. Love hearing everyone’s thoughts and hope to learn from y’all! (edited)

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Consistency and con attendance were big ones for me, but something I learned worked well (and was really fun to do) was creating really fun, really dumb, non-canon bits of art every now and then. Following meme prompts or funny ideas from other people. If your comic can afford some humor being thrown its way, making people laugh is a great way to get some attention. No one needs to know the details of your story - they just need to relate to the characters/humor somehow. I had more than one person come across my dumb, meme-y ancillary art and go “Welp, I want to read your comic now.”

eli [a winged tale]

Memes to the rescue! What has been your favourite to do? And which one has surprised you in its relatability/popularity?

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Two shots of vodka.

Also that terrible sweater meme. Everyone is required to do the terrible sweater meme. People eat it up.

eli [a winged tale]

Too good

Ahh I can’t wait till I can actually write silly adult characters

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Now that you mention it, the nice thing about the terrible sweater meme is it works with a WIDE variety of comics.

eli [a winged tale]

I would love to do a meme with y’all

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

"Came for the story, staying for the sick memes"

Spring-heeled Jack

I try to post updates every friday when my new pages go up on Patreon. And then I make my big post when my tapas and website update at the end of the month. Between all that, I have little flyers that I carry with me and if I'm ever in a shop that has a little self promotion section, I plan on tacking up a flyer. I do conventions, and this will be my first convention season while actively making a comic, so flyers will be handed out then as well.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

My comic isnt very comedy-heavy, and even for the funny scenes, my sense of humor isn't compatible with most people's. So a lot of the memes out there just don't work. But terrible sweater meme doesn't have to be hilarious. It can be just cute, or even weird.

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

For me, uh lmao. I sometimes make some funny strip panels and it was received well even though it's not polished for my liking lmao

Spring-heeled Jack

Keii, I feel you. I'm not good with comedy and my comic isn't meant to be funny, either, so I don't know how well a comedy meme will help me.

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

overall, I try to be honest with just self promo and asking when I have a chance "Hey pls check out my comic lol"

eli [a winged tale]

Or maybe just something relatable? Seen a couple caption this on tumblr

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I think instead of memes, what I'm gonna do is my characters cosplaying more well known characters from works that have some tonal similarities with my own. This isn't just for advertising purposes; it's something I've been wanting to do for a long time for myself. But I'm realizing it can serve some of the same purposes that memes do.

Spring-heeled Jack

That's extremely cute!

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Keyword being "SOME" Tonal similarities... Some of them aren't very similar but have a couple of parallels, etc.

Spring-heeled Jack

Oh for sure. Even if you could find that 'perfect match', it might not be a great cosplay for them, and give too much away

Are "draw the squad" prompts still a thing? I love those

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

The One White Dude and the Tiger Dude in my comic will definitely cosplay Calvin and Hobbes at some point.

Spring-heeled Jack

LOL

omg please, Keii

eli [a winged tale]

YES

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Yeah, not every comic will have super memeable humor - but whatever you can do to break down that wall between you and a potential reader and go “Hey! Look at this. Is this relatable? Do you get the reference? Etc” Is a very good bet

Also yes squad memes are PERFECT

You can boil down your comic’s relationships so simply.

Spring-heeled Jack

I have four couples in my comic so those "ship dynamic" posts might be fun

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

What are squad memes?

eli [a winged tale]

I also need to be educated about squad I mean all the memes

Spring-heeled Jack

OH MAN!! They are fun as heck. You can find templates and it's a very simple character design in the template, but the poses are super silly. And then you just draw your characters in place of those simple figures(edited)

If you google "Draw the squad" you will find a bunch

renieplayerone

Oh! Ill have to try that! These squad bases look fun!

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

I still have one of those I need to finish Back when I first started sharing my work, I was surprised and delighted at how quickly people shoved it through a meme filter.

Maybe that’s another thing! If marketing opportunities present themselves as a surprise, try running with them and see where they take you Within reason, of course. Never feel forced to follow anything that people respond to in a particular way. Just take it into account and see how you feel about it.

renieplayerone

(Im here to lurk on this week's question, i have no strategy and need ideas haha)

eli [a winged tale]

Omg draw the squad looks

too many to choose

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I love draw the squad poses so much TuT I wish I had more time to draw within more of them. I think I always get a little dishearten about making memes because I feel like I need to make my jokes full illustrations but I never have time for much extra content beyond ballpoint pen sketches :T

Mei

Honestly I don't have a marketing or promotion strategy for my webcomic. I make updates every week, and I post it on my twitter and kinda plug it there. I'm actually god awful at trying to make people read my comic because I'm a little bit nervous about it, to be honest. So I just sort of leave it there and see if people find it, half the time. That being said, I tried to promote it pretty hard at conventions last year. But that didn't go as well as I'd hoped. I'm hoping to make flyers with QR codes so that people can scan it, and it'll take them to the landing page/tapas for the comic. That might be a bit easier than getting them to just search the title, plus having a flyer is a nice bit of promotion if I get the opportunity?! Making memes and drawing characters in different clothes or in squad things sounds like super fun tho and I might look into that in the future

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

It's nice to hear everyone talk about this topic. TBH I had completely stopped promoting my comic because I got too scared of backlash, being a disappointment, etc. (Initially I'd attracted a number of people who weren't actually my target audience, and that led to some less than ideal results.) But some time last year, it occurred to me that 1) I'm making this comic for my reader self (or my "hypothetical taste twin" as I like to call it)... which means 2) I only have to appeal to people like me. So I started asking myself, "What would I have to say/do to get me to read this comic?" and that made it significantly less intimidating. I haven't actually started doing self promo (though I did start plugging my updates on Twitter at least). But most future self promo I do will be based on that ^ question.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

(oh god, I was just checking out the latest update for one of the Korean webcomics I read, and the new episode is about a hikikomori... who says "I want to change, but I can't step outside because... maybe there isn't a single person out there who will understand me." THAT WAS ME but with comic promo. Well, I'm getting better and I also hope this character will, too, though knowing this comic his chances aren't so great lol...)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I hope that wasn't too awkward to share! Tl;dr I really think the "what would I have to say/do to get ME to check out my comic" is a good approach for anyone else feeling intimidated about doing self promos.

In the same vein, but on the opposite side of the coin: I'm curious to know, what were some things that got YOU to read someone else's comic?

Some of my own answers to that aren't very relevant to what we can do for our own comics: e.g. I'm Korean and when Naver has a new comic in their pro comic lineup, I may check it out. I'm also a member of SpiderForest and I check out the applicants' comics during the app season. Stuff like that aren't really good promo options that we can take. But things that may be relevant: - 'Evocative scenery shot that doesn't show the face/ doesn't focus on the face.' MY WEAKNESS. That kinda pictures feel subtle and kind of lonely to me, even if it's a group shot. And I like stories with those vibes. -Promo includes an evocative quote. Could be from the comic itself, or from something else like a classical literature or whatever. The creator of Ark (https://www.arkcomic.com/) does this sometimes and even though I'm already following Ark, those promos get my attention.

eli [a winged tale]

Definitely the art promo now that I think of it! Merch, posters, banners etc. If the art intrigues me, I definitely take a look at the site/blurb/first chapter

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I wonder if we can semi-workshop promo art at some point? Not really intensive like "change xyz" because that's not always feasible with art, but just impression feedback like, "this pictures gives me these vibes, and makes me expect this kinda story"

I would be curious to see everyone's even if we don't workshop

eli [a winged tale]

YES

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

Yesssss

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

Yes please. I don‘t promo besides update notices simply because I have no clue to start.

Mei

Sometimes I get really attracted by the style of the story? I immediately started reading Wolfsbane because the art was cool and different from a lot of whta I'd seen on Webtoon up until that point. And then the story was perfect for me. What keii said about writing for yourself is right. Patrick Ness once said you should write the stories your younger self would have loved to pick up on a shelf

and I think that's a pretty evocative thing. At the end of the day, you should be enjoying what you're writing (hopefully). And if you enjoy it and you're having fun making it, that can rub off on the people reading it, or you find the people who like that similar vein of story?

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

(It's also 100% legit to write stories for your current self )

Mei

(oh yes 100% that's what i'm doing HEHE)

Tolkein wrote LOTR because he was like

in love with worldbuilding

was there a market for such a strange type of novel at the time? No. Definitely not. Did he write it anyway? YEAH HE DID

Deo101 [Millennium]

I really wanna do an art workshop yes.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Aight, anyone who wants an impression feedback from me, post your promo art in #art_help

Warning, my impressions may be totally off lol

Deo101 [Millennium]

Also I don't do much marketing. Mostly I try to get in with communities and learn about making comics, I just want to improve my craft. All I really do is make my updated every week, and share whatever art Ive made on my Twitter or whatever

Okay! I think I only have my cover on my phone, but on my computer I also have my banners and icon. So I'll share all those in a bit when I'm at my computer

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

(off topic but I'm sick, and when I'm sick or very tired I constantly misread words. I read "my banners" as "my bananas" and I was very confused for a couple seconds.)

Deo101 [Millennium]

My bananers

Feather J. Fern

I am terrible at marketing my own work, but I am very good at marketing other people's work. I use the "you would like it for this reason" to grab people. Unfortunately I can't do it for my comic because I am bad at seeing the good in my own work oof. I am getting better at it though.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

That's a really good way to do it!

And I can relate. My own hangup is a little different, but it can be extremely difficult to be brave for sure, whether in front of other people, or just in front of your own brain that constantly judges you.

Feather J. Fern

Yeah I was talking about a friend's comic and then the person I was talking to was like "Don't you write comics" and I was like "ahfoofjw yeah but don't look at them"

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I was thinking a lot about the whole "it's like [well known work] meets [another well known work]" approach that was discussed earlier. And I think that could be relevant here. Like, think of something that has either influenced your comic significantly, or just happens to have some core similarities. How would you market that thing? Could you market your own thing using a similar approach -- since there are similarities?

I'd thought of a really good example to compare HoK to. Then I got sad because the said example is extremely obscure outside of Korea. But now I'm like, hey, people don't have to KNOW that work. I can do this differently. I can talk about HoK the way I could talk about it.

('it' as in the other work that's obscure outside of Korea)

Feather J. Fern

I do think that's a good fast shortcut but I don't like using it becuase the shortcut sometimes makes people angry when they don't get what they like out of those two things

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

That's why I said to NOT actually bring up the comparison work

Don't name it

Just list the traits that are shared in common

Feather J. Fern

Oh sorry

I miss read

(And my name changed colours all the sudden?)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

It's a confusing topic, so no worries

It means you leveled up

Feather J. Fern

OWO!

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Say you want to compare your work to... I dunno, DBZ, because it's got super strong aliens duking it out barehanded, blasting ki-like energy attacks, etc. Don't name DBZ. Talk about your work the way you'd talk about your favorite aspects of DBZ. "My comic has super strong aliens duking it out hand-to-hand! YEEEAH!"

OH MY GOD I NEED TO DO THIS NOW.

Feather J. Fern

Yeah! That's what I would do. (But it also helps for me that my comic has no hard reference points) but for my new comic, people are gonna compare it to Zach Bell, and Angelic Layer i think

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I'm gonna write up some drafts that I will revise and tweet at a later time

Feather J. Fern

So I jsut got to you know, not promo it as such XD

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I want to do this too for a quick pitch

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Do it (shop talk or story help maybe?)

I'm writing a vomit draft for mine

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Yee

Feather J. Fern

I think I will do it for Story help

(Also so I can help flesh out my new project lol lol)

eli [a winged tale]

Kei I might be suuuuper off since I read only the beginning but I sort of thought inuyasha but Korea and handsome boys

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Sometimes you don't even realize your story can be marketed as "blah meets blah" until much later down the line - I've only started realizing the number of existing properties I've absorbed unintentionally into my comic. It's not how I'd market it on a serious front, but to a friend for story help, heck yes.

But a lot of people on Twitter seem to do that strategy for PitMAD and it works great for them, so... shrug

I guess it still belongs in a "pitch arsenal," as it were

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, the one "blah" I just thought of is something I hadn't realized for all these years. But it makes so much sense now that I look at it.

eli [a winged tale]

See that’s where I got confused but I think this is what I’m gonna aim to do: - pitch to readers: inspiration but this awesome unique thing in the comic - pitch to other comic makers: the Logline - pitch to agents: comparison works if requested and longer pitch depending on their format - pitch to family: just read it plzthanksbye

renieplayerone

or alternative pitch to family: Please dear god never read this

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

That's me

Oof... Writing the 'promote your comic by talking about the traits it shares with Another Person's Work,' I made myself cry, and that is definitely a sign I'm on the right track.

eli [a winged tale]

Right track is good!

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

It took me years to even think of an 'other more popular work' comparison for Children of Shadow. XD But at the same time, it's really different from the works I compare it to, so it's hard to say 'Read this if you like X or X because it has a few similarities in theme and tone, but is still very much its own thing'.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah which is why I'm not even gonna namedrop my X.

I'm just straight up gonna talk about 'My comic has [this trait]' (and X shares that trait, but no one needs to know for the purpose of that pitch)

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

To answer the weekly question... I really don't have a marketing strategy. Marketing is my achilles heel, so I generally just throw pages up and hope someone sees them. I don't really understand social media nor do I have the energy to sink tonnes of time into it, which seems to be one of the biggest requirements for being picked up by algorithms. So my marketing strategy is just.., keep making comics and talking to other creators and hope for the best

eli [a winged tale]

I think that’s still solid Capn

Ultimately you need a product to promote

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

It's something that helps me, because while I can talk about my favorite works done by others, I feel stuck when trying to do the same with my own. So it's basically telling my brain, 'hey, you already know how to do it with other stories. Do the same thing with your own.'

eli [a winged tale]

So true Kei

renieplayerone

thats my strategy too. best case you market it great, worst case you've made a new friend so win win :3

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

My incredibly low numbers after 14 years of making webcomics beg to differ but... maybe someday I can hire someone to help me market.

eli [a winged tale]

I’m using the comic platforms rather than my own site so... sort of relying on their algorithms. I imagine it can be harder if you just post on your own website?

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Sometimes the platforms don't help much if their audience isn't into the type of comics you make

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I post on both my own website and on platforms, but the algorithms for WT and Tapas don’t seem to like me, haha.(edited)

renieplayerone

yeah same

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

One of my top favorite webcomics got a front page feature on Tapas once, but it wasn't the kind of a story that gets a lot of traction there, so it still didn't get very popular. And that was in no way a measure of its quality. It is an excellent comic, just not a good fit for that particular place.

renieplayerone

I get far more views on my site, but I get way more engagement on Tapas and WT

I actually treat those two mirrors AS marketing for the main site(edited)

eli [a winged tale]

Exactly renie! Good perspective!

I never know what different platforms tailor to...

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Yeah, what Keiiii said. I make dark fantasy comics and both WT and Tapas favour romance, especially comics geared towards a female audience and drawn anime style. My comics aren’t particularly feminine and romance isn’t much of a focus, so they’re just not what that demographic is into.

eli [a winged tale]

I’ve been trying to remember how I came across my favourite comics and usually it’s through the art (interesting characters, unique dynamic style that I enjoy) and the first chapter holding promise (able to see what the character wants/will have to change into)

Romance has always been the best seller in the story world I think

Oh and most recently hiveworks and other web publishers have great recommendations too per genre

And comic conventions are always fun to meet creators. Sometimes If I feel I jive with someone I’m an instant fan

renieplayerone

I absolutely need to get better at having confidence enough to make friends at conventions x_x

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I have noticed my audience grow a bit since joining Spiderforest. They’ve helped me get a bit better at promotion, though marketing just isn’t my talent, lol.

renieplayerone

im always terrified haha

eli [a winged tale]

It’s a big step for sure renie! It took me like... three years going to VanCAF as an attendee before actually exhibiting and making friends(edited)

Mei

I know i'm late but i personally detest the 'this book is X meets Y!!', even though I get why people do it. I just wish they'd describe it to me like what if I'd never read either of those books......

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I would really love to get out to cons, they sound like a great opportunity for connecting with other creators. One of these years I’ll be able to get to one!(edited)

Deo101 [Millennium]

yeah im usually kinda like "okay, well are you doing anything new or are you just doing those things :/"

renieplayerone

I exhibit with the Boston Comics Roundtable and I still havent gotten the courage XD

Mei

yeah, cons are really fun even to attend or to make friends! I find it really tough though, I'm so intimidated;;

yeah Deo... same... it's like

sure, I could pitch a story as two things. Like I don't know "The Walking Dead meets Shaun of the Dead" which is semi redundant anyway

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I only use it to give people a framework for the kinds of tones and themes they can expect from my work when I have to keep my explanation short and sweet.

renieplayerone

they should have badges that say "Hi i want to make friends but you are all so awesome its intimidating be kind"

Mei

or you know... use those words to just describe the story? It may be a personal preference, some agents LOVE comparisons

Yes renie, yes!

i'd love a badge like that like

pls talk to me i'm scare

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Sometimes a few words can’t fully describe a story as well as saying: ‘It’s a little bit like X meets X but if you add [insert unique thing your story does]’

Mei

I personally find that it depends a bit too much on people having read those books or stories before. BUT if you're pitching to an agent, they've usually read those books

so then they get a sense or vibe of like, what the genre is

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

It’s all down to preference, really. Your own and the person you’re pitching to. If you don’t want to use comparisons to describe your own work, that’s valid, but try not to dismiss people who do.

Mei

so I get it, I just don't like it personally xD I think a lot of the times it takes away from your own voice and story

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

That too is part of the reason why I'm not namedropping the works

Just having my self-promo self learn from my 'promo other people's stuff' self

Mei

yeah for sure, it adds that level of excitement to your own work that you'd give to others?

eli [a winged tale]

I think a cool exercise might be to check out someone’s work here and see how you would promote it

It’s always good to see from someone else’s perspective

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

yessssss, all of my friends have been much better at promoting than I am

mostly because they have no shame regarding it but they also just... know what sounds cool

Mei

Oh i'm very good at promoting my friends' work

I sold his DnD book to a kpop stan who doesn't like DnD and doesn't play, and it was a crowning achievement

eli [a winged tale]

Like for yours I’d probably say... Manta Ray princess finds herself very much dead but is given a second chance to revive her friends and save her kingdom... just need to find someone very much living and very much not afraid of the seaghosts they have become

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

SOLID

though now I imagine Phaedra as a Manta Ray in a dress which is... not entirely untrue

eli [a winged tale]

LOL omg I haven’t even thought of that! Just thought manta Princess is a hook

Mei

Me, pointing at Cheth "I mean look at him, LOOK AT HIM and tell me you don't want to read this"

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

I guess for my work I market it from four potential angles: 1) The princess is cool and has a sword, 2) The villain is the best character, 3) The environments ain't bad, and 4) THERE'S A DOG

again, you gotta know who you're talking to and what they already like

eli [a winged tale]

In a world where a fallen god became trapped in the sea, a dead princess is given a second chance to fight for her life with a mysterious sea-bitten boy and undo the sea ghost curse that plagues the world.

Dammit I repeated world

Mei

hey... the environments are GREAT

eli [a winged tale]

Yeah Lady your environment shots are

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

ok I do try BUT BACK TO MARKETING

The number of times I see someone marketing their comic with very epic-sounding descriptors or broad generalizations... then that one day where they're finally like "oh, I have a character who turns into a hamster at nighttime" and people are like 'I'M SOLD'

And then they go ".... THAT'S WHAT YOU ALL WANTED???"

often it's those little weird details that get people interested

Deo101 [Millennium]

I wanna read about the were hamster please

Mei

sometimes I think the simplest and maybe slightly silly lines are what grabs people?

when things sound TOO epic i feel a bit intimidated

eli [a winged tale]

takes notes

Mei

but if someone were to sell me a big adventure epic as "it's hamsters and they fight the forces of evil" i'd read it

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

god yes

"Four small creatures band together to defeat a great darkness overwhelming their homeland."

No.

"Hamsters fight evil."

YES

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I.... I have no idea how to snappily describe my comics. XD

eli [a winged tale]

Same... I got to kids with wings for hair then my brain short circuits

Mei

i'd say it's the way you'd tell the story to a close friend

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

The best I came up with was 'Teenagers with supernatural powers team up with woodland critters to defeat monsters' but it sounds more adventure-y and doesn't really get at the fact that it's a dark story with horror elements and everyone's mentally ill.

Mei

like they come up to you and go "what's your comic about" "oh you know, my stupid comic's about mutant hamsters that take over the world" or something

(don't call your comics stupid none of your comics are stupid they are great)

Deo101 [Millennium]

"plant man and his goth boyfriend babysitting a ton of bozos" would probably be mine then

Mei

BEAUTIFUL

i'm sold

Deo101 [Millennium]

ghsakgjhgkhkgahgk my target audience...

Mei

i do think tho like this form of comedic one-lining may not work for something dark?

Unless you go "Spooky horror about cats that become humans at night!"

would need experimentation

eli [a winged tale]

It’s a balance I think.

Kids stranded on an island with weapons explore the darkness in human nature - Lord of the Flies

Mei

ooh yeah that's a good one!

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

A space explorer stranded on a foreign planet must join forces with the indigenous population and save his ship before his life support runs out.

Alternately

Small man goes to war with small carrot people

Pikmin

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

@Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios) I wonder if one could describe CoS the way how people might describe Evangelion, but with magical powers instead of mechs.

Teens, monsters, mental illnesses

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Probably. Though I've never seen Evangelion, but those three words work very well.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

The relationship dynamics are way different, but yeah, those three things...

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Also add trauma and cute lil animals and you have Children of Shadow. XD

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Evangelion also has trauma (though I don't know if you'd like it; this isn't a rec, just a promo discussion!) and it was refreshing to see at the time

A teen trying to fight huge monsters, even if he was doing it inside an equally huge mech, could lead to traumatizing experiences, and it was the first time I saw that seriously explored

Hmm, so I guess "teens, talking animals, monsters, mental illnesses feat. trauma" ?

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I don't know if it's similar at all, but that description reminds me strongly of Eureka 7. Wow, was that series intense,

🌈ERROR404 🌈

I really liked how the end happened - it was a nice solution to the lack of budget issue and told the story of his psyche reall well

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Though Eureka 7 was intense in a good way. I found the ending kind of unsatisfying, but admittedly I find the endings of 90% of animes unsatisfying (probably a cultural clash). But I enjoy them for the journey more than the ending.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I haven't watched Eureka 7, but the storyboard artist (one of the storyboard artists maybe?) for that anime is one of my favorite artists.

DanitheCarutor

Ah, a little late, but regarding the snappy promos I'm in the same boat as Cap'n with not knowing how to make one. At least one that would be ridiculous and totally not fitting the darker themes. I agree with all the people who have a generally hard time coming up with a pitch for their work, while having an easier time promoting other people's comics. Honestly my comic can be super boring to people who don't like pretentious, non-fantastical, angsty, character study types of stories. So it's really hard to think of a way to make it sound interesting without spoiling anything. Man! That thing when people come up to you, asking what your comic is about! Me: "Oh! Ah, it's uh, kinda sad and it has uh mental illness" -trails off with uncomfortable laughter- Them: Oh cool. -has a look of complete disinterest- Someone was actually extremely enthusiastic about the vague description of my comic, which somehow made me a mix of uncomfortable and excited.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I saw the conversation about blurbs and I just thought of one for a comic I'm working on! "An ecologist and a bird have a conversation about ethics"

I haven't started the comic yet so please send your critiques(edited)

and first impressions

(of the blurb)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

"Angsty character study with a heavy dose of mental illness" <--- Could this descriptor work? @DanitheCarutor

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

kei said exactly what I was just typing

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Great minds

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

oh, i just realized i've read dani's comic

I think your description is fine?

The artsy, angsty comics I follow all have kind of short, tongue in cheek descriptions

it's hard to capture the tone of an emotional comic in one sentence so they either joke about it or make it intentionally misleading

for example Drop Out's description is something like "two friends go on a road trip" and Fritz Fargo's description is "a human dumpster fire in the 90s"

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

The dumpster fire one is insta-effective

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Dani, maybe make your description shorter if anything?

Something like, "An emotionally stunted alcoholic attempts to make amends"

and then follow it up with kei's line about it being an angsty character study

RebelVampire

Im not gonna stop the convo cause it is on topic. However, i do want to remind ppl these #creator_babble chats are permanently archived. So thats something to keep in mind if youre gonna workshop.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I asked before in this discord about making my own blurb better. The main critique I got was that I included too many things that I thought were interesting and unique that a new reader probably wouldn't care about. Like how the mc's powers work. But though it's unique and important to the story, it's not going to be a main reason someone reads the comic. I revised the blurb to remove extraneous info and make the tone of the comic more apparent, and I think now I didn't lose anything and made it more concise.

I think maybe agtahr could also be summarized a bit more succinctly

DanitheCarutor

Yup, you did once upon a time but said you stopped reading it a while ago. (which is totally fine, the reason is understandable.) The mix of yours and Keii's descriptions do sound a lot better than mine. Lol Thank you Fish and @keii’ii (Heart of Keol)! I've noticed people really like the word 'angst' when you describe heavy stuff. At least when I was a teenager everyone found it appealing. I'll tinker with it a bit and use Drop_Out and Fritz Fargo as a reference. Anyways, I'm going to stop talking now, don't want to bog down the main topic.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

That's a good point; 'the best things about this story' and 'things that should go in its blurb' have an overlap, but they aren't always the same.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Yeah, I did but I'll probably pick it up again eventually. I remember enjoying it. If you do want to keep talking, we can move to shop talk?

mirandalorian

babbling I have the first three episodes of my webtoon ready to post tomorrow and I’m really excited and feel kinda proud that I made it this far...even though it’s not very far. It’s far for me without posting immediately end babbling

Feather J. Fern

I forgot to ask, but if people are tabling at cons, do you guys have promo stuff at your con tables for your comics?

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

Mostly a business card, but yes

carcarchu

i never did but my table partner one year had free postcards she gave out with purchase / to passerbys with her comic info and an illustration on it

kayotics

I always keep free postcards to advertise my comic on the table right next to my business cards.

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Yep, the free postcards did wonders for me last year. They disappeared quickly!

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

Buisness cards and postcards~

Feather J. Fern

Seems like Business and Postcards are the way to go.

Mei

business cards!!

i might be making flyers/postcards for my comic next time though! :D

sagaholmgaard

I haven't done much to promote my comic but I've gotten some good ideas reading through this, thanks! I currently plug my updates in twitter and instagram with a cool/fun panel from the new page. I do also share WIPS and try to engage through my instagram stories (Asking things like, 'what type of benders would the Reclaim squad be in an avatar au' and making doodles for the answers), but that only reaches those who follow my IG. its good fun tho. I've done memes with the characters a few times but I didn't get much attention, LOL. But it's fun so maybe worth trying again

Spring-heeled Jack

Today I went into a locally owned comic shop and went to the guy that owns it and said "I'm a local artist and I'm writing a comic. Could I give you some small flyers to let people take?" And he said yes, and then asked if I have any physical copies. I don't yet but told him I'll bring some by when I have them. He then let me know he carries other local artists! Something cool to think about if you have a local comic shop.

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

ooo that's good to know

I droped off my zines at my local comic shop but maybe I'll drop flyers of my webcomic too lmaooo

Spring-heeled Jack

I also just ordered a business card carrier so I can tote some around with ease. I carry my flyers in my sketchbook. You should totally ask, it never hurts! Carry a few extra just in case you find yourself in a new area and find another cafe or comic shop.

I ran mine off on my at home printer on some nice quality but regular weight paper. I might need to get some more professionally done.

Erin Ptah (BICP | Leif & Thorn)

I keep a handful of business cards in my wallet -- that way, any time someone says "hey, that looks cool, what are you drawing?" they get a card with the title and URL. Slowly but steadily burns through the supply.

DanitheCarutor

Seeing if my local book shops will carry copies of my comic when I print them eventually is something I'm kind of excited about! My town is hardcore into supporting local artists and writers, so that'll be something neat to try out. Although I'm a little nervous that the rating might be a little too mature for what the vendors want on their shelves.

I know of using postcards to advertise, but never heard of fliers. Maybe I'll give that a try.(edited)

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

I use double sided business cards, so on one side, it showcases some of my art, and the other side has contact info, a link to my comic website, and a QR code. It's been pretty helpful so far at conventions.

Nutty (Court of Roses)

You guys have all these sophisticated answers to this and my answer is just "scream on every social media platform I can reach and every person I meet about my comic."

Though I may not scream at people irl,,,

snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)

Let's see... I have a twitter where I repost my comic pages, and a couple mirrors that help reach different audiences. I've also carried around business cards that have my comic's URL on it. One fun strategy I've used is doing review-exchange things, in an I-critique-your-comic-if-you-critique-mine way (with the assumption that most people who read all the way through Super Galaxy Knights end up liking it). Though, that isn't really viable anymore now that the comic is 600+ pages, cuz nobody would ever agree to that trade lol. And... that's pretty much it? Though, I should note that my goal with Super Galaxy Knights isn't to make the most popular comic I can so that I can make a living off ads or patreon or print sales or whatever. If I ever do manage to make money off the comic, it'll be in "spinoff tech" (basically, video games or other media based off it). (it's the reason why a bunch of early Starstuff Stories fleshed out the abilities of the characters they focused on) I would like people to read the story because I think people would like the story, but it's not like my future depends on its popularity.

Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS

We (me and Q) are gonna (hopefully) tabeling at cons this year! I thought about doing free non permenant tattoos with our comic things. Also we have beautiful zines of the first chapter to sell. but a free postcard is also good

Desnik

promotional strategies...ah...the biggest thing I did for my first webcomic, RAWR! Dinosaur Friends, was simply update on a general platform (tumblr), using a consistent schedule and the same tags every time. That allowed some of the bigger biology/humor/critter blogs on tumblr to find me and I got a lot of people reading from their generous reblogs. I found some more niche crossover from sci-comm blog comments and dinosaur toy collector forums, because sometimes I'd have a comic that would coincide with paleontology news. It was mainly about finding my niche and bringing my stuff to that niche. To those struggling with finding readers, I would recommend distilling the contents of your comic and then reaching out to people who buy/read things like your comic. I've definitely made friends from general 'webcomic' forums and discords, but in terms of building a readership it's all about finding the niche and catering to it in a human way

In general I highly recommend shopping around for stuff like hobby blogs/forums/groups/discords that have some relation to the content of your webcomic. Those people DO want new content related to their hobby, but they don't really deal well with salesy pitches. Just be human and also a nerd for that hobby, too (nerdy enough to make webcomics about it)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, it's like fan comic for an existing IP with an existing fandom, except it's a fan comic of a 'thing' rather than an IP (e.g. you make a pirate comic? Great! Nobody owns pirates, but there are lots of pirate fans out there!).

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

The very first customer I had at the first con I tabled at, came over and said "I like ghosts! I like the ocean! I'll take it!" And wrote me later saying it was exactly what they were looking for.

And honestly it's all because I make sure every cover has something spooky and something watery, and the genres are in the title I make it very easy for people to understand what it might be like.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

omg the genres are in the title

that's genius

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Definitely not planned But it helps so much!

I think if authors have a rule on certain symbols/motifs they MUST make sure come across on covers/posters/etc, that can be a good marketing strategy. With some wiggle room, of course.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I... I feel like I can barely even describe what my comic is, which makes it so hard to market. 'Do you like comics with cute animals and eldritch horrors and angsty teens that have superpowers and hidden religious symbolism everywhere?!? Then my comic is for you!' What even is that demographic, because I sure don't know.(edited)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

@Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios) If you take away the cute animals part, that actually sounds like stuff a lot of teens are into/ a lot of people were into when they were teens. And most people love cute animals, so adding that to the mix, in theory, shouldn't reduce the accessibility too much. Buuuuut CoS has its unique flavor that's decidedly different from all the "angsty teens, eldritch horrors, religious symbolism" stuff I consumed when I was younger. I don't know how to describe that flavor, nor how to utilize it for marketing. But yeah, maybe some food for thought?

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I've used short phrases that are sort of representative to describe my comic. Examples include "consensual mind control" "a guy whose ideal life is not being entirely alive" "friendship" and "anticlimactic conversations"

I have no idea how effective any of those are

someone tell me pls

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

As someone who just started reading your comic last night I think consensual mind control is a really cool descriptor. I haven't heard that too much before.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

!

that makes me happy

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

@keii’ii (Heart of Keol) Heh, I'm not sure what that unique flavour is, either, but it might have something to do with me avoiding the typical 'chosen one' structure that most teen fantasy literature has. The characters are all (except Fawna) a part of the hidden world already rather than discovering it, and everyone's pretty much running around like chickens with their heads cut off rather than having any power over their situation (which is kind of a huge part of the theme of the comic). It's definitely different than the typical urban fantasy, so it's been really hard to find which audience that appeals to. From what I've gathered based on the people who comment on my website, it's mostly academics in college or beyond, for whatever reason. XD

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Honestly I think for almost all comics their first pages were what convinced me to keep reading. Even with Phantomarine I was ambivalent about the description but then I saw the first page, and though, yeah, I'm into this.

Maybe my own comic can be the same way

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

Exactly the same with me and your comic - I was also all about that first page It's a powerful thing! I think for anyone about to delve into a comic - which is, by nature, a very visual thing - it's going to be that visual that ultimately pushes them over the edge.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

maybe my description should just be ascii art of my main character O-O | -(edited)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

^ It's why I tinkered with the first page of HoK soooo many times even after it went live. But it wasn't enough; it still gave off the wrong impression as to what kind of a story one should expect. Finally, more than a year after I started posting it, I redid like 1/4 to 1/3 of chapter one from scratch. Even though it will never be perfect, I can live with it now. chapter 2 on the other hand... It's an imperfect intro to the right story, rather than an intro (good or not) to the wrong story.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

To be honest, my intro probably doesn't hit the right notes to explain what my comic is about, which may be part of my problem. It starts out seeming more like an anthropomorphic fantasy than a dark urban fantasy / horror story. That's just something I think I'm going to have to live with, because I'm tired of reworking old pages (I already do it far too much). I think my best solution is drawing a new cover that showcases the tone and subject matter better than the one I'm using now.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

oh god, you reminded me of the 3 cover pages I spent hours on only to later scrap. Then my current cover page I did in one hour after it came to me at 4am(edited)

and it was perfect

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

XD

and my page redoings were after the reboot.

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Cap, I don't know how representative it is of the story but I looked up the Ashes cover page and it's very impressive

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Yeah, I already redrew my intro once.... and this is the third iteration of this comic. And I'm currently redrawing the first two chapters of my other comic. I'm so sick to death of starting over. -_-

@Eightfish (Puppeteer) Oh, thank you!! I like to go all-out on covers, heh.

Kabocha

Promotion... ... is that a thing you can eat? ... A few things I've tried is business cards -- tweeting about it -- posting about it on dA... I try to stay away from services like Tapas and Webtoon because I'm not formatted for those sorts of things, and I fear I'll probably just frustrate myself. It's a delicate balance right now between remaining happy with my work and getting it seen, but overall, I guess I'm not too stressed about it since it's not a source of income for me... I just... like making comics. I've also done conventions -- Conventions are fun, don't get me wrong, but nowadays they're a really low return on interest for many shows for original stuff (except slice of life and "oh no I did a bad" types of zines -- people seem to really enjoy things like that since it's often pretty easy to relate to). They feel like they used to be easier for selling original work, but the market's gotten rougher because there's so much competition and only so many dollars. if I ever print, I'm probably going to have to lean on some marketing-savvy friends for help... Hopefully things haven't changed too much by then. I think the tool that's worked best for me in the past few years has been doing guest comics here and there, as well as using topwebcomics, oddly enough. TWC was pretty good for referrals when I started doing comics way back in 2006~2007...

sagaholmgaard

Since the topic is about promotion... Do yall know if there are any twitter hashtag events for webcomic creators? My friends in the indie game industry have certain hashtags that people can post in during specific times every week - do we have anything similar?

Kabocha

#Webcomicchat!

https://webcomicchat.com/for-creators You may also find this page helpful

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

#webcomicchat is great because you get to talk shop while talking about your own work! It's not just "look at my comic"

sagaholmgaard

Ahh!! Thank you!

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

I know some people do #WebcomicWednesday - not sure how official it is, but it gets some attention!

sagaholmgaard

I'll check that one out as well!

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

There's also #comicartistsunite too

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

webcomicchat always looked like fun, but I definitively am on the wrong side of the globe for the times it's going on

mirandalorian

Promotion is difficult. I always feel like I'm being too pushy, even for something that's free. I also feel like I built up a following that had nothing to do with comics or art and so when I switched directions to head that way, i don't get the response I would like. Reading all the thoughts here has been really helpful tho. Just got to put them into practice

Feather J. Fern

I think my current attempt for promotion is at least being more willing to promote. I have to force my fear of "I shouldn't tell people because it's not as good as (blank)" and just shove my comic into a spotlight

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

If anyone is worried about bothering people, putting variety into your promotions will make things more palatable for people for sure. I have one person on my timeline spamming the same exact post over and over again, almost daily, and it doesn't seem to be doing them any favors There's no need for a promotion every day. The people I see that do a more-obvious promotion tweet, like, weekly, or every two weeks, seem to get good results from that Sometimes less is more

mirandalorian

I need to get to that point Feathery. And ya, daily is a bit extreme imo. But I have to figure out the good balance

Feather J. Fern

Even weekly I don't do it because I feel like I am spamming and I feel awkward

Oh! Speaking of promotions, one way I found I got my comic promoted was by doing guest comics for other people! I got lots of viewers after each guest comic I did

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, for social media promo, e.g. on Twitter, you want to make your actual tweets have value -- not just things being linked off the tweets. (This is where gag-a-day kinda comics have an advantage, because each strip has entertainment value and you can just post the whole strip in a tweet.) Obviously this doesn't apply to every promo tweet; so like, weekly promo tweet that's solely about the links, as mentioned by others, is fine. But yeah, aside from those, you wanna make your promo tweets fun to read.

Feather J. Fern

Also cameos! Cameos are a great promo

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Not gonna lie, I am lowkey paranoid about doing cameos. Someone I know had to remove their cameo of someone else's character, because that other person objected to their character being in the print version of the comic.

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

Uff

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

oh rip

Feather J. Fern

Oh man, that's rough.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I'll never even print HoK but I can still imagine someone being all "NOPE, I CHANGED MY MIND" at a later time

Feather J. Fern

I am planning to do some cameos for other people, not that Go Figure will ever be in print but I can see that problem. I think what I would say is that if you want a cameo you have to be 100% certain

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Might be a good idea to have a very simple agreement thing you can have them sign

Feather J. Fern

Yeah I was going to have a written consent form

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

"I agree to let you do a cameo of my character, and to not be a jerk about it at a later time. Signed"

Feather J. Fern

Signed and dated by both parties XD

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

There's also the broad hashtags like #webcomics and even things more geared to genres like #drama and #fantasy and so on. Doing art memes helps sometimes, too.

mirandalorian

What do you think the best hashtags to use are? Is webcomics too saturdated?

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I'm not sure about the best hashtags, but my biggest thing about hashtags on Twitter : don't use a bunch of hashtags in a single tweet!

For broad hashtags like #webcomics or #fantasy, I gotta wonder if anyone's actually checking those out...

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Yeah, I usually tag my update posts with #webcomic and my comic's name, but honestly I have no idea if #webcomic has ever helped out my post ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

mirandalorian

Ya, I typically keep it to two or less, but i always wonder if webcomic is actually useful lol

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

takes note to use something more specific than #webcomic in my next update tweet

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I think it may potentially be useful as a label for someone who's just found you on that platform, and is not sure what you're promoting. But beyond that...

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

I usually use #historicalfiction and #webcomic. Not sure which one helps more, but well, there it is.

mirandalorian

Ya, I should use the genre tag too.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Do people even search genre tags for that matter lol (a bit pessimistic, but still a genuine question)

like, I'll be the first to admit, I don't hashtag search to look for new comics to read. I don't think I ever hashtag search ANYTHING, unless it's like..... a very active trend that I am interested in (e.g. an upcoming video game that I'm looking forward to)

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

Well, the tags are popular enough to be suggested by twitter so I'd think some use them, probably likeminded folk.

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Same keii. I mostly use hashtags to look for fan art, exclusively on Instagram.

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

There's also a trend of "art sharing" tweets. I have found a couple of artists and webcomics through that kind of event, but again, the turnover isn't anything to write home about.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I wonder if readers make use of the search more than us creators do?

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I doubt it, Lee

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

:/

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I never use it as a reader, at any rate, though I don't know if others are like that.

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Though, actually that's not true, I have used hashtags to look at more things being posted within art events. So inktober, mermay, hourly comic day, etc.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

But art event hashtags are useful, because -- like I mentioned before -- those tweets provide entertainment value without anyone having to click on offsite links. e.g. the #StartToFinish tag that's hot right now.

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I have followed new artists from those tags though and then checked out their off-site stuff. It's definitely a more round about way than someone specifically looking for comics to read via hashtag

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

From my limited observation, when people are looking for comics to read, they tend to ask for recs rather than do hashtag search?

"Anyone know of some good magical girl webcomics?" etc

which is a bit of a bummer for us creators, because that is completely outside of our control. Nothing we can do about it.

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

here's the popularity for the #webcomics tag

So SOME people use it.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

@Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight) I'm gonna guess it's mostly creators using them to promote, rather than readers using them to search.

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

Also it seems to be peak in popularity in the USA

@keii’ii (Heart of Keol) the graph implies interaction, really.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

What counts as interaction?

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

tweeting it and searching it

what I'm saying is we can't know.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I don’t so much in Twitter, but I personally DO search hashtags on Insta to find new art.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

It's true, we can't know. I just personally can't imagine anyone searching for #webcomics to find stuff to read

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Insta is definitely hashtag game city.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, IG is a different beast

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Comics don’t generally gel so well with Insta’s format, though, so I’m usually seeking art and not comics.

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

just to be safe, occasionally use it

To be honest, I'm probably more likely to find and become a fan of webcomics here on this server than any social media

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, I wouldn't say "don't use #webcomics" -- use it if you have no other, more specific tags to put. But on Twitter, you don't want too many hashtags, so if you got more specific ones... use those instead!

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

I feel somewhat self conscious in getting an instagram. But I'll get one most likely.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

It might be a good idea to switch up your tags regularly? Choose two or three from a relevant list each update and see if any of those tweets get a noticeable boost in engagement.

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

Yeah that sounds a good strategy

speaking of, any other creators into historical webcomics?

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I don't seek them out, but there's some that I read.

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

yours is touching upon the historical keii with the joseon-style elements.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

It's definitely not historical but yeah, got the aesthetics going for it!

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

Yeah!

I must admit, I'm a bit starved for like-minded creators. I mean people that create historical webcomics. I know and follow a few but that's not nearly enough.

(if I'm babbling too much for creator babble please tell me!)

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Babbling is fine! But this might be better for #general or possibly shop talk as it's not related to this week's topic?

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

oh sorry, there's a specific topic here too?

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Yeah, all the channels under CTP Activities have a... topic thingie that changes weekly

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

okay got it. I'll take it there. Sorry :/

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Don't be sorry, be glad to chat about this stuff in another channel

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

With insta please be mindful that if you‘ll always post with the same hashtags, their algorythmn likely will assume you‘re a bot.

mirandalorian

Oh really?

I definitely did not know that.

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

Yup, it‘s a big annoyance. At least it was that way half a year ago, how is the algorythm now? Nobody knows.

I kinda hate insta, but it‘s the platform with the most interactions for me, although I don‘t know if it goes beyound liking my panel cutout.

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

Instagram does it‘s darnest to lock the user into theor own ecosystem.

mariah (rainy day dreams)

Yeah, hard same. I definitely get the most likes there, but I get very few referrals from insta.

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

Funnily, the only social media where I KNOW I got at least one reader from is pillowfort and their teeny-tiny webcomic comunity!

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I keep wanting to hop over there, but also starting a new social media sounds exhausting TuT one day.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I need to start using PF

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

It‘s pretty chill, reminds me of the hey-day of livejournal, with great filtering - more intended to create many small communities than one giant pot like twitter.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I don’t think any platform’s algorithms like me. I get very low engagement no matter where I post. I’m just not good at figuring out what these platforms pick up.(edited)

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

I still have three invites left for this week.

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

Does cross promotion work for you guys at all?

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

A little bit? But I think my comics are a hard sell, so I generally don’t get a lot of referrals when I cross-promote with other creators.

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

It‘s how I found this community; but otherwise, nope.

Tantz Aerine (Without Moonlight)

Now I need to check out your comics Lee. I'm intrigued!

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Haha, if you want to! If they’re not your cup of tea that’s a-okay.

mariah (rainy day dreams)

I still have three invites left for this week.

@chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa] if you don't have plans for those invites, I would definitely take one and follow you first

Cronaj (Whispers of the Past)

About the hashtag thing on Twitter..... I have found the hashtags #webtoon #webtooncanvas and #celebrateCANVASday to be particularly useful for those of us publishing on Webtoon Canvas. I have gained a few new readers from this, and the official Webtoon Canvas page often retweets when these hashtags are used.

mariah (rainy day dreams)

That's good to know. I'm planning to start mirroring on Webtoon so I'll have to be sure to remember to use those tags.

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

I need to fix my series on WT first. But I'll give those hashtags a try once that's been done

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I tried using webtoon hashtags a few times, but their page never retweeted me. It seems either random, or there’s some hidden requirement for getting a rt.

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

i use the tag sometimes but I found it more responsive if you have a vertical scrolling format comic

then they're more likely to respond to you

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Oh, yeah.... I use a traditional page format.

Tuyetnhi (Only In Your Dreams!)

same rip

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I do combine all my pages into long episodes at the ends of chapters, so it’s kinda scrolling, but they’re just traditional pages stacked on top of each other, lol. WT definitely doesn’t like that, but I don’t have the time to reformat hundreds of pages.

Feather J. Fern

Also promo thought, I randomly joined people's streams before and then got hooked on their comics after seeing them draw on twitch or something like that

Pistashi

I struggle a bit with promo stuff, because I get too self-conscious about self-promoting and I'm the type of person that ends up doing too much of it or none of it

at the moment I'm working on making a press kit and sharing it with some blogs and networks about comics

but still, what I usually do is join groups and try to talk with people that works with art and comics

this is kind of more inclined to networking and meeting new people to talk about what we like than promoting my work to potential readers

nothing wrong with that, but looking with a more critical eye I still have a lot to learn about building an audience and reaching people who could become future readers

chalcara [Nyx+Nyssa]

I wonder HOW much a large social media following is worth. Insta‘s shown me that it isn‘t necessarily translating into readers.

carcarchu

in my experience followings on different platforms are non-transferable. same goes with having a large following on your comic itself, doesn't necessarily mean having a lot of followers on your art accounts. that's why they say "don't build your sandcastle in someone else's sandbox"

Pistashi

that makes a lot of sense

kayotics

If you’re building your following around your own content (original art, comic updates, etc) then the likelihood that the following is transferable is higher, but it’s still not 100%. You’re competing with everything else on their timeline too.

RebelVampire

i think a thing to consider with webcomics especially when it comes to social media is that a good portion of people who follow comic creators on social media are other comic creators, not people who are just readers. and the good majority of comic creators do not have a lot of time to read other webcomics. While there are certainly exceptions, I see those very few and far in between. So the conversion rates for social media right now are super low until the dynamic of the communities on the platforms changes.

kayotics

I’d agree with that, but also having a social media presence has definitely opened up some doors to being seen by other creators, many of whom are professionals. It’s good for networking, might not be the best for gaining and retaining readers.

RebelVampire

Oh yeah for sure. My point was about conversion factor

its factor in networking is a whole other matter entirely

and is indespensible

kayotics

One thing that I didn’t mention for myself is that networking has helped a LOT with getting new readers. Word of mouth, is always the best way to advertise, and other webcomic people giving you a plug can see some really strong results

[homespork-review]

Spork Introduction

CHEL: Hi! I go by Chel, they or she pronouns, and I’m the one spearheading this project. I still like at least a fair percentage of Homestuck, but after the ending disappointed me a great deal, I got bitter, and when Hussie pissed me off further by Godwinning himself, I decided to do something about it. I’m no longer angry about it, but I felt I’d benefit from picking out what I hate from what I love so I can focus on the latter without annoyance getting in the way, and also to benefit my own writing efforts.

BRIGHT: Howdy! I’m Bright, and I got into Homestuck fairly recently. After ploughing through the archive and digesting for a while, I realised that I was thoroughly annoyed by how something enjoyable had fallen apart so comprehensively. I am looking forward to the time-honoured practice of ripping the story apart to identify its weak points and shout at them.

FAILURE ARTIST: Hello, I’m Failure Artist (call me FA for short), she/her/herself pronouns, and I’m so old-school they burned the school down. I was introduced to Homestuck via Something Awful’s Webcomic thread. I checked the old mspadventures.com site and the latest update was [S] John: Bite Apple. After watching that bizarre piece of animation, I had to know what the hell happened before then. I found I enjoyed the wit of the comic though I didn’t really care much about the plot. It was only when Act 5 came around that I became a serious fan. I currently have 122 Homestuck works on Archive of Our Own. I have a lot of free time, you see. I am very disappointed in how Homestuck ended. Possibly there was no completely satisfactory way it could end but it still could have been better. I feel like Hussie was a juggler who threw a lot of balls into the air and ignored them as they fell to the ground and some fans think not catching them was a master move since you’d expect he’d try to catch at least one. Sadly, lots of the problems with the ending are embedded deep within the canon.

TIER: Hi hi. I am Tier, a very late newcomer to the wonderful world of Homestuck (2018 reader!) and average fan overall. I love this webcomic to bits, but the low points are deep and I enjoy seeking out what the heck went wrong. Not particularly analytical myself, hope that's cool!

CHEL: Cool by us! We’ve already done plenty of analysing before we started, as you may realise from my Tumblr’s “homestuck ending hate” tag (at @chelonianmobile).

FAILURE ARTIST: But let’s put that aside for a moment and talk about the good stuff. 

Homestuck is incredibly innovative. It is the first true webcomic. It’s not just a print comic posted online. It uses not just still images and words but also animation, music, and interactive games.

Homestuck is the latest adventure in the series MS Paint Adventures. MS Paint Adventures started as a forum adventure. In forum adventures, the OP acts as a sort of Dungeon Master and other forum members give them prompts. Andrew Hussie’s previous works under MS Paint Adventures were Jailbreak (which is little more than Hussie dicking with the prompters in scatological ways), Bard’s Quest (Choose-your-own-adventure), and the actually-completed Problem Sleuth. Problem Sleuth lacks the music and animation and despite the weird physics shenanigans is a simpler story than Homestuck. The characters aren’t even two dimensional.

Homestuck (and the previous MS Paint Adventures minus Bard’s Quest) are set up like adventure games. Adventure games are where the player is a protagonist in a story and are usually focused on puzzle-solving though sometimes there’s combat. In the beginning, these games were purely text. The player would type what they wanted to do and the game would spout back text describing it - assuming the computer parser understood you.

CHEL: Oh god, I HATED that. I wasn’t around for the heyday but I’ve played a couple and

Pale Luna

was barely an exaggeration (horror warning).

FAILURE ARTIST: As graphics improved, adventure games started using them, but the commands were still in text. Only later was the point-and-click interface created and players didn’t have to guess what exact sentence the computer wanted them to type. Homestuck and the other MS Paint Adventures play with that frustration while paying tribute to the genre. The game within the comic uses RPG elements but the comic itself is set up like those good ol’ adventure games. In the beginning, Homestuck was guided by commands from forum members. Even after he closed the suggestion box, he used memes and fanon created by readers.

CHEL: How good an idea this was varies, as we’ll be showing.

We probably don’t need to describe Homestuck much more. Everyone here who hasn’t read it will doubtless have heard of it. Almost everyone with a Tumblr will have seen fanart, almost anyone at a convention will have seen cosplay. Shoutouts have been made to it in professional works such as the cartoon Steven Universe, and the Avengers fandom latched onto “caw caw motherfuckers” as a catchphrase for Hawkeye to the point that it’s now often forgotten it didn’t originate from there.

FAILURE ARTIST: The Homestuck fandom term “sadstuck” for depressing stories/headcanons somehow leaked into other fandoms. Using second-person is actually cool now and not just for awkward reader fics. Astrology will never be the same again.

CHEL: Now, in the interests of fairness, we will say that when Homestuck is good, it’s amazing, and it’s good often. The characters at least start out appealing and are all immediately distinguishable; even with the typing quirks stripped, it’s easy to tell who said what. The magic system is one of the coolest I’ve ever seen, who doesn’t love classpecting themselves and their faves? Hussie also shows a lot of talent for the complex meta and time travel weirdness, and it is fascinating to watch a timeline thread unfurl. And whatever else one says, it’s a fascinating story that’s captivated millions. I think it is deserving of its title as a modern classic.

However, as the years have passed, we have ended up noticing problems, big and small, and they nagged at us until we decided it had to be dissected. Our intention here isn’t to tear apart something we loathe entirely. It’s to take a complex work and pick out what works from what doesn’t. As I said, when Homestuck is good, it’s very very good. But when it’s bad, we get problems of every scale from various offensive comments to dragging pace to characters ignoring problems and solutions right under their noses to an absolute collapse of every theme and statement the comic stood for before.

The comic is ludicrously long; eight thousand pages, or thereabouts, to be specific. Officially one of the longest works of fiction in the English language, in fact. Naturally, we can’t riff that word by word in any timeframe short of decades, and we can’t include every picture, even if that was permitted under copyright law. Instead, as comics have been done here before, we’ll recap most of the time, and include sections of dialogue and pictures when particularly relevant to a point.

Here are the counts we’ll be using, possibly to be added to later if we find we forgot anything. Most of these counts will only start to climb post-Act 5, but we’ll be keeping track of them from the beginning. Most of them could have been fixed with a decent editor, which is sadly a hazard of webcomics, but still frustrating to read.

TIER: Note: we started this endeavor months before the thought of a "technically not but still we'll count it" set of canon epilogues were a twinkle in the eyes of the fandom. That is, by the way, a whole 'nother can of worms that will be dealt with at a later date if that ever comes around. We're judging Homestuck the Webcomic as a whole, so no after the credits stuff is to be noted for whatever reason.

ALL THE LUCK - Vriska Serket constantly gets a pass or gets favored over every other character. This count is added to every time she pulls some shenanigans with which others wouldn’t get away. ARE YOU TRYING TO BE FUNNY? - Sometimes it’s not entirely clear whether a thing is supposed to be taken seriously or not. We don’t require hand-holding through every joke, but when, for example, we’re supposed to take one instance of violence seriously while a similar case is supposed to be funny, this count goes up. CALL CPA PLEASE - Instances of creepy sexual behaviour (and perhaps particularly gratuitous acts of violence) from the thirteen-year-old cast. Now, mileage may vary on this one. We won’t pretend that thirteen-year-olds are perfect pure angels, especially thirteen-year-olds growing up in what is openly supposed to be a nightmarish dystopia. However, when full pages focus on said behaviour, there comes a point of it being very uncomfortable to read. Clarification: does not refer to cases where the adults do something heinous, this is strictly when the kids do. CLOCKWORK PROBLEMATYKKS - When an offensive joke or comment is made, particularly when not justified by the personality of the character involved, or presented in the narration as being okay. GET ON WITH IT! - When the pace drags. ‘Nuff said. Hazard of the format, but it makes archive bingeing very annoying. GORE GALORE - For unnecessary and/or excessive torture porn which is treated less seriously because it features troll characters, and therefore less “realistic” blood colours. HOW NOT TO WRITE A WEBCOMIC - When the comic does something mentioned in How Not To Write A Novel, and it isn’t justified by the webcomic format. HURRY UP AND DO NOTHING - Characters repeatedly neglect to do something about or even react to terrible happenings, either because they don’t care even if they should or they forget they have the capacity. Not necessarily anything to do with their magical powers, either - characters ignore personal problems that are right under their noses, too. IN HATE WITH MY CREATION - For reasons that are unclear, Hussie chose to create characters he apparently hated writing, or at least ignored in favour of others. Every time he’s clearly disrespecting one of his own characters, this goes up, whether it’s by nerfing their powers or changing their personalities. RELATIONSHIP GOALS? - Romantic relationships in particular get fumbled quite often. Ship Teasing is used with skill, but that skill tends to be lost when the characters actually hook up. Fumbled friendships and family relations can also come under this heading. SEND THEM TO THE SLAMMER - When characters other than Vriska get away with something morally questionable. Covers everything from sexual harassment to not trying to save people from the apocalypse. SOME OF MY BEST FRIENDS - Later on in Homestuck’s run, Hussie tried to make up for the offensive humour and casual -isms counted by Clockwork Problematykks above. How successful he was at this varied. This count goes up whenever an attempt at progressivism is waved in front of the reader but doesn’t stand up under scrutiny. WHAT IS HAPPENING?? - When the already confusing plot kicks it up a notch. Admittedly this is as much a selling point of the comic as it is an issue, but either way, we’re going to keep track. Points will be added to when it gets confusing, and taken away when a previous confusing thing is explained adequately. WHITE SBURB POSTMODERNISM - What is shown about Alternia repeatedly contradicts what we’re told about how different it is from Earth. For example, trolls still use heteronormative terms even after it’s established they reproduce bisexually, and the demonstration of the class structure doesn’t always add up. This count goes up every time that happens. It also goes up every time something happens which strongly implies Hussie was envisioning the human kids as white, despite his later claims that they were always supposed to be “aracial”, and every time their economic statuses don’t add up either.