Episodes
Pitching
If you’ve spent time in the comics world, you’ve probably heard people talking about pitching their comics to publishers, awards, review sites, collectives, and so on. But what are pitches? And should YOU be thinking about them?
Lore
LORE! We all love it, we all have it. It’s that cool secret sauce that makes sci-fi, fantasy, supernatural, or other speculative fiction so much fun to make theories about. How does this funky world you made up work? How do you keep it all consistent, and make it an interesting part of the story? Today we’re gonna talk about it!
Making Money
It’s time to talk about the dreaded subject of THE HUSTLE. These days, it seems the subject of monetization is on a lot of webcomic creators’ minds. If it’s not on yours, we envy your calm and your liberation from the oppressive weight that is modern western capitalism, and you should listen to another episode, please, you can escape the contagion, it’s not too late!!!
Plot vs Characters
You’re working on your comic and you’ve put together some sort of plan to figure out your story’s plot when suddenly: A DILEMMA! You find yourself with both a plot and characters that need to be fleshed out. How do you tackle this challenge and make your comic the best it can be? Join us as we discuss.
Clip Studio Paint
Clip Studio Paint is a art program with a lot to offer to webcomic creators. It was once known as Manga Studio before being rebranded a few years back. It’s available on Windows, Mac, and iOS, has a few different tiers with varying features available, and goes on sale very often. Today we're going to dive into what we love about this great application.
Green Tones
Something strange has come over the Screen Tones team!! They're looking pretty green in the face! I wonder what they could be discussing in this episode?
Exposition
Your comic has some cool worldbuilding lore that ties into your plot and characters in some fun ways and you’re excited to show it off to readers. But how do you explain these things without putting everything else in the story on hold? How do you use prologues, how do you explain the gods/creation myths, how do you set up the custom jargon? And how do you avoid scaring readers away with a big infodump? Let’s get into all the different techniques you can use!
Tropes
So, Tropes. The term gets a bad rap in media criticism sometimes, but a “trope” is just the word for a storytelling device or theme that recurs across multiple works. If you have a favourite kind of scene, character archetype, or relationship dynamic in storytelling, chances are many other stories out there have contained similar moments. And today we’re gonna talk about them!
Marketing
So, MARKETING. You’ve got a cool new comic, and you’ve put it online, and now all you gotta do is… get people to read it! Easy, right? ….Right?
Retcons and Reboots
Say you’re making a comic (which I assume many of you listening are), and say some time goes by after you launch, and you discover “Uh oh! I dont like X anymore” or “Oh no! This doesn’t work with the canon of the story!” What are you to do?
Reader Spaces vs. Creator Spaces
Communities take a couple forms in webcomics. Finding a community to support you on your journey as a creator is important, and sometimes they’re going to be your proofreaders, your cheerleaders, and recommend printers or conventions. There’s also the communities we make for our readers to discuss your comic and meet each other! So we’re going to be talking about those things, and where they live, and what the differences and expectations are for both!
Getting Started
Whether it’s your first and only webcomic or one of many that you’re planning, preparing to launch a new comic can take a lot of thought! There’s organizational aspects (which is getting your art and story plans ready), technical aspects (which includes hosting that works for the scope of your comic), and marketing aspects (which are the basic outreach you need to get audiences to find the comic). Some of these topics have a whole lot to them and are constantly evolving and we will only be covering the very basics of them. Don’t worry though, we’ll be dedicating more episodes to those specifically.
Editing
In today’s episode we’ll be talking about some of those challenges, but also some of the really cool things editing can do for you, if you let it into your life! Join our hosts as they discuss the following questions and share their thoughts on editing.
Pacing
Pacing is the term used to describe the speed at which narrative information is delivered – in other words, how fast or slow the story moves. If you’re reading something and get the feeling that some scenes were rushed, a plot point went by in the blink of an eye, or that something is taking way too long to get to the point and you wish it would just speed up… those are common issues with the story’s pacing. Every story is a little different; a meandering slice of life story has different pacing needs from an action thriller, or a sci fi adventure.
Found Family
Today's episode we will be talking about the Found Family trope! As we enter the holiday season, the idea of Found Family is just so important to us as creators, and we want to talk about how you can get those great found family vibes in your story!
The Intro "DO IT (feat. Shia LaBeouf)", and the Outro "It's Good To See You Again!!", both by Adrianwave, have been used and modified in good faith under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Licensed. Edits include: Fade IN/OUT, and a repeat added to the beginning of "It's Good To See You Again!!". For more information on this creative commons use, please reference https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/