The Casual Webcartoonist

January 30, 2010

Wow That’s Heavy: File Format

Filed under: Graphic Files — Tags: , , , , , — crfh @ 4:17 pm

So you’re on fire and have produced your very first webcomic. If you’re using photoshop, or photopaint, you’ll be probably saving it first in the format associated to that program (PSD, CPT, ETC).

This is where you face a dilemma. Do you want it to look awesome, and weight 11 MB? Of course not. You have to save it for the web.

Graphic formats for the web, as discussed at lenght everywhere, are as follow:

GIF: Max: 256 colors. Good for flat colors and grayscale.

JPG: Millions of colors. Good for gradients, and generally speaking, the best format for full color.

GNP: Hate it. Still, if you find a program that can make good compressed GNPs, they generally weigh less than 256 color GIFs.

These are the most used formats.  But which one to use?

If you use flat colors, use GIF or PNG, because the dithering and compression will make your graphic look like crap. BUT. If it’s a big graphic (size-speaking, not KB speaking) both GIFs are PNGs are way too heavy so you will HAVE to use JPG, probably. The thing with JPG is that you can move the slider for more compression so you’ll be able to figure out a reasonable ugliness/KB ratio.

This is an example of  a grayscale pic saved in different formats. Yes, it’s a greyscale, NOT black and white. The antialiasing used to soften the jaggy scales on the black lines have to be gray.  See the next post for a tip on that.

A “Doomies” strip, saved in jpg.

This file is 103KB. Now, the previous strip:

That file is 41K, because it’s a GIF. Even if both comics are the same size.

Check out how HIDEOUS the jpg version of the first comic looks, IF you compress it to make it around 41K.

The only way that thing could be uglier would be if it had warts on it. Compress it even more, and the compression artifacts will make the dialogue unreadable.

So gif is the way to go here, in this case. But beware! This file is grayscale, but it’s a 8 “color” file. That means it has 8 colors, all of them grays, black and white. If you do save it as a true grayscale, with whoppin’ unnecesary 256 colors, the file size will climb to 80K.

However.

Theory is one thing, but in practice I have noticed that the bigger (dimension-wise) the file, the less practical gifs become. If your gif is too huge, try saving it as jpg instead, and see if it comes to a more reasonable KB weight.

This article might seem unnecesary in this era of broad bandwidth and fast connections. However, it’s not, IMHO.  Take in account a lot of people live their web lives now on the move: smaller files mean faster when you’re talking about  devices that have little memory, or shared Wi-Fi hot spots.

Remember, no matter what kind of format you use for web presentation, ALWAYS keep a pristine copy of your work, with no compression of any kind. Save it in a different folder or you’ll inevitably overwrite it. If print time comes around, you’ll find yourself in a boring hell of cleaning up and touching up your comics. EW!

January 24, 2010

Weekend Smallish Tip: Domain name

Filed under: Weekend Smallish Tip, domain names — Tags: , , , — crfh @ 1:18 pm

A diamond is forever. No, wait, that’s not it. I meant: a DOMAIN is forever. Or at least until you stop doing your comic.

Thing is, your domain is your name on the intertubes. People will remember (or forget) you because of it. Every domain name, when starting fresh, is easily interchangeable. But as soon as you start promoting and the spider webs start crawling, changing your domain will probably kill at least half of your referrals. So, choose wisely.

A quick tip when chosing your domain name: don’t use hyphens or underscores.  Why? Because people will constantly mistake one for the other.  And no, I don’t care if Penny Arcade uses it. I read PA, and whenever I’m not on my computer and have to type it in the address, I make that mistake and it takes at least two tries. And well, Penny Arcade has all the visitors in the world and anexed galaxies, but when you’re starting, this kind of confusing thing is another loop for the reader to jump through in order to read your comic.

Another quick tip: if it’s not .com, .net or .org, don’t even bother. It’s not worth it, IMHO. Might as well buy tryitthreetimesandgiveup.com.

January 19, 2010

That Elusive Muse, or How to make writer’s block your bitch (I)

Filed under: Uncategorized — crfh @ 2:46 pm

Along with talking about the common pitfalls for beginners, we’ll try to tackle some of the problems the general cartoonists face day-to-day.

One of this problems -and not a small one, too- is writer’s block.

Now, writer’s block is like hiccups. Everyone has a cure for it, but that cure doesn’t always work. Worse, the cures seem to be pretty esoteric and tailored to every individual’s personality.

So far, here are the  most common “cures” for writer’s block.

* Take a stroll.

* Sleep on it.

* Doodle/automatic writing.

* Fake it.

* Ask another person/bounce ideas around.

* Listen to some music.

* Have an idea storage for when you run out.

*Give up and try another day.

Are these bad strategies? Not at all. For example, some of them deal with the problem by taking some distance from it. When you have a problem and you bang your head into a wall over and over again, the mounting frustration often clogs your brain. It’s a good idea to unwind for a while and then take a fresh look at the page.

The problem with these strategies is that they assume you are prepared. The funny idea folder is a good one, but what happens when you don’t have one, or your funny ideas are unusable? What happens when you can’t afford to take a stroll because you have TOTAL DEADLINE PRESSURE?

Of these strategies, probably the most dangerous is the “giving up” one. Giving up because of writer’s block is as dangerous as, uh. Not getting back in the saddle after being thrown from a horse. Psychologically, it’s devastating to have to admit “I’ve got nothing”. From I’ve Got Nothing to I Have Lost It there’s an uncomfortable tiny step, you know.

I do not believe in muses. I believe you have good days and bad days, but your thing? That’s pretty hard to drive out. If you have had it you can find it again, I assure you.

So what do you do when you’re having a bad day and you can’t use these strategies for whatever reasons? Well, you have to kick the umpire  force it out somehow.

Here’s the method I use.

First: Mentalize yourself. Let the fear go. Give  yourself another deadline. “I will tackle this problem in an hour.” Don’t give yourself a lot of time (i.e. I “ill tackle this problem by next week) because you will spend 90% of the time fooling around and 10% freaking out.

Second: This entirely depends on what kind of comic you’re writing. If you’re writing a funny and can’t come up with a joke, change the subject and try again. If you can’t come up with a punchline, draw the comic and leave it blank. Try changing the expressions of the character saying the punchline: from smug to scared, from scared to embarrased, from happy to sad or viceversa. See if you can come up with something. Can’t? Change the expressions of the others.  If your comic is the kind to do something like that, sometimes a pop culture reference will save your ass. (Warning: pop culture references DATE your comic like hell). Other things that are funny: sex, food, animals, science. <– YMMV. For the love of holy, do NOT break the 4th wall unless you have a really, REALLY good joke for it. It’s been done to death.

If nothing else works and you can fit it in your comic, make the punchline something completely absurd. In the real world this would never fly: on the internet it’ll take you soaring high. Maybe.

If you’re writing a story comic, the method is more complicated, but also more reliable. I use a decision tree. My next post will detail that method, so look out for part II in the next few days!

Third: Settle. You won’t be able to come up with the best idea ever, everyday. You have to try, but go with what you have. The extraordinary thing about webcomics is that you’re able to revise:  if at some other point you come up with something better, sometimes you can change it. Other days your ideas will grow on you with time.

In any case, tackling writer’s block is simply a mundane problem. Don’t think it’s some kind of magic that is completely out of your control. It is (for better or for worse) entirely up to you.

January 16, 2010

Weekend Smallish Tip: Click

Filed under: Design, Weekend Smallish Tip — Tags: , , , — crfh @ 12:58 pm

On weekends, I think I’ll just put a tip that doesn’t require a lot of explanations. So here it is:

Goes to show you, you’re always learning something. While browsing the archives of americanelf.com in my Ipod Touch, I realized how convenient is to click the comic image to advance to the next comic page.

Smart phones screens are tiny, and sometimes navigation buttons are too small for your fingers (in the case of the Ipod Touch, for example). I suppose it’s easier with a stylus, but still, not as convenient.

So in order to make my comics more smart-phone friendly, I implemented the clicking-on-comic as an additional “next” button. Do it too! One less hoop for the reader to jump through!

January 13, 2010

A grain of salt, a pinch of pepper, some peanut butter

Filed under: The Planning Stage — Tags: , , , , , , — crfh @ 9:47 pm

So there’s a million things in the backburn to talk about here, from how to choose a font for your balloons (a relevant theme for me since I bought some in the Comicraft site) to Project Wonderful estrategies.

Right now, I want to tell you to not listen to me.

Well, not exactly. What I mean is: any advice anybody gives you should be taken with a lot of condiments.

On my last post I mentioned the lack of standards that is both the blessing and the curse of webcartoonists. There’s not a sure, or true-and-proven path to become succesful at this, whatever “success” means for you.

For starters yes, what is success? Success doesn’t automatically equal fame and money, recognition, awards, chicks in thongs. Berkeley Breathed prides himself in the fact that he sold a whole LOT of Bill the Cat t-shirts. Watterson would have been horrified by the thought. And yet, the measure of success in syndicated cartoonists can be measured somehow: the number of newspapers that carry your strip.

Rewards are harder to qualify in webcomicdom. Do you go by the number of pageviews (which mean more ads and therefore more money)? Do you go by the number of estimated readers? Do you go by the number of DEDICATED readers? Do you go by the money you’re making? Do you go by the books you have published, the number of awards on your shelf, the lenght of the queue you have going at cons? Do you measure by how packed is the conference room? The applause of the crowd when your name is mentioned? The raving reviews?

Success is a weird thing, and the weird thing is: it means something different for every one. Recently in one of the public hissy fits usually centered in the print vs. webcartoonists one of the cartoonists was convinced there was no way there was people making any money with webcomics, and there were offers to make public some numbers on official documents.

Well, that’s all good and nice, but had the actual interchange of data become true, then the measure of sucess would have been changed. Because that’s how those things go.

Last post, too, I made the very first step towards becoming a webcartoonist -amateur, casual, ocassional, pro- to visualize what you want so you can work towards it.

The important thing to keep in mind is to give the question a long hard thought and even more vital is to be completely honest with yourself.

Are you in for the money? That’s okay. You can make a quality product and sell it like pancakes and make some dough and laugh all the way to the bank, and all that.

Are you in for the popularity? That’s also okay. Becoming an e-celebrity and all that. In this age and era, you might find yourself quickly surpassed by the flavor of the month, but then again, you might not. Some of the most succesful webcomics are around 10 years old. So it can be done.

Are you in because of your arrrrt? Awesome. You want to do great things and be remembered as someone with talent. As an ARTIST.

No matter your motive -and remember, there will always be someone laughing at you or turning up their noses- you want to make webcomics, and that’s the important thing.  Because, to be honest: there’s a million better, simpler ways to become famous, rich, or important than webcomics.

Webcomics are not a golden ticket to anything. Webcomics are the bastard child of a guy that was once upon a time, a bastard child too. No one is going to take you seriously. Girls are not going to be impressed (well, most won’t, the rest will ask you to draw Spongebob Squarepants). :P

So you’re into webcomics, and want to “make it” -whatever that is.

Fine. Set up your goal and steer the ship into course.  You will want advice, of course. It’s a wise thing to do. But remember that a lot of what works for other cartoonists is not necessarily going to work for you. (Lots of people sell t-shirts. I suck at it, for example). This happens because different authors have different skills, and also because different comics have different audiences, demography, level of involvement, levels of income, etc.

Learn, apply, reinvent. But  anything you hear from others, filter it through the lens of what you want. Make your own path!

Also, and I wouldn’t be doing this if I didn’t believe in it: pass it on. Talk to your fellow webcartoonists, (yes, those who are struggling along you) and compare notes (plus: it’s fun!). Information is the most valuable resource in this age and era, and when you share it, it gets better and better until the whole globe is a sticky ball of love and shiny things.

January 8, 2010

That terrifying white thing

Filed under: The Planning Stage — Tags: , , , — crfh @ 3:20 pm

“Creation is an act of bravery”  Stephen King said, or someone like that. I honestly can’t remember. But it is true, so who cares. Not me. I’m not a journalist.

In defiance of everything and everybody, some people just really need to go out an do something creative. Do a painting, write a story, make a house out of beer cans. This artistic itch, however, doesn’t always show up with the GREATEST IDEA EVAR.

It’s like wanting to be in love and not having anyone you like to do it.

This happens in every artistic field, but in the field of webcomics, it’s somehow much much worse.

Why? Because of the freedom. The more choices you have, the more paralyzed with fear you become. If you were making comics for print, you should be doing it according to some standards of format, periodicity, and market. If you’re making comics on the web, you’re on your own.

Which to a brave soul, it’s not so bad. The rest of us, however, feel somehow nervous about it. Don’t worry! It’s normal. Here are some recommendations to overcome this fear.

  • Visualize it.

In a perfect world, what would you like to be doing? What would you like to have done? Are you picturing yourself with a shelf full of books that have your name, or are you more the kind that wants to participate in panels and become a webcelebrity?

You have to picture yourself succeeding to have an idea of where you’re going. When you don’t know where you’re going, all the paths are wrong. And no, I don’t know who said that either.

  •  What kind of comic would you like to be doing?

What are you into? What kind of TV shows, movies, and books do you like? Is there a particular author you like?  What is exactly what you like about him or her? Is there any work of art you go “Man, I wish I could do something like that!” or “Wow, so-and-so is really good at this-and-that!”?

The primary thing here is, identify the elements that keep your enthusiasm up. If you have an awesome idea but the thought of developing it into something real is boring to you, then you need another idea or adapt that idea into something you like DOING.

  • What are your strong points?

It’s important -although not vital- to take advantage of whatever we can, at least in the beginning. Are you a funny person? Are you good at storytelling? Can you do good dialogue? Are you good at drawing? Whatever the answer is, make a list. And at least for starters,  try to focus on that. This is especially true for the absolute newbie that has never ever attempted to make a comic. Do what you do good, so you can be proud and keep at it.

  • Stomp your foot on the ground.

The important thing is to make a decision. The bad thing about that blank sheet of paper is our own fear of screwing up. But it’s okay. It’s webcomics. Everybody is practically expecting you to fail. If you screw up, if your comic is not doing well, or if you get bored, you can simply stop and do something else, or not do anything for a while. You can of course, at some point, decide you’re not into this that much, and that’s okay too. In any case, it’s not the end of the world!

Also, if you don’t compromise… ideas have an expiration date. They are transparent, fragile things. Think too much about ANYTHING and no matter how good it is, it starts sounding stupid. Grab it by the tail and start swinging.

I have known WAAAAAY to many people who have a huge project that they develop for years, but  they never actually do it. <— EPIC FAIL.

  • It’s okay to be shy.

Listen. You have to go at your own pace. If you don’t want to announce it right away, wait till you have a month or two in the archives. If you don’t want your real friends to know you’re doing it, use a pseudonym or something. No one has to know. The important thing is to work, primarily, for yourself. Because you enjoy it.

Later, when and if you feel you have to share, you can start pimping your comic elsewhere, or giving your URL to your friends, or whatever. The important thing is to do it and upload it. The important thing is to start walking.

  • Keep at it.

This shouldn’t be a problem if you’re enjoying what you’re doing. If you are not, figure out why.

If you are, beware of great expectations. Some people think they’re going to have thousands of readers in a couple of months. Nope. This kind of thing takes years.

But you’re not doing it because of that, are you? So stop checking your statistics obssessively.

January 7, 2010

Why, hello, hello

Filed under: Meta — Tags: , , , — crfh @ 3:41 pm

Happy 2010!

It’s been a while since I wanted to do something like this: a resource for aspiring webcartoonists. This site is intended to compile advice, tips, and general recommendations and discussions about the challenges and problems to solve in your way to webcartooningdom.

Now, I know you’re thinking “Oh, Maritza is doing this because Webcomics.com started charging suscriptions.” What? No. The focus of Webcomics.com is different, because it’s aimed to the pros. This is aimed to the webcartoonist in its embrio, larvae, and maybe pupal stage, before their tails fall off. Of course, if anyone wants to contribute info on the consecutive stages, by all means do so! I don’t intend to be the sole contributor to this website. That would just be INSANE.

So to sum it up: if you want to start a webcomic, or you already have started, the goal of this blog is simply to save you work and time by avoiding the mistakes the rest of us learned simply by trial-and-terror.

Feel free to discuss, challenge, and object!

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