5 Things I Wish I Knew Before I Started
Starting a webcomic can be a huge endeavor. Whether it's your first comic or your fifth, the beginning stages of webcomicking can be the best of times and the worst of times. It may surprise you to know (though hopefully not) that we here at Screen Tones have all started webcomics and so, we want to share our favorite tips for getting started. And what better way to do that than with a nice, neat numbered list! Let's dive into the 5 Things We Wish We Knew Before We Started Webcomicking!!
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Episode Release Date: August 21, 2024
Episode Credits:
Kristen Lee (@feathernotes) - she/they, ghostjunksickness.com lunarblight.com
Renie Jesanis (@renieplayerone) - she/they, kateblast.com
Christina Major (@delphina2k) - she/her, sombulus.com
Miranda Schwemmer (@mirandacakesart) - she/her, mirandacakes.art
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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.
Transcription
This transcript is auto generated by our recording software.00:00.23
Miranda
Hello and welcome to Screen Tones where we talk anything and everything webcomics. Today we're going to talk about five things we wish we'd known before we started our webcomics. I'm Miranda. My pronouns are she/her, and I made the comic Into the Swell.
00:17.77
Delphina
And I'm Delphina. I use she-her pronouns and I make the webcomic Sombulus.
00:23.95
Krispy
I am Krispy, I use she/they pronouns, and I make the webcomics Ghost Junk Sickness and Lunar Blight.
00:30.40
Renie
And I'm Reni Jasanis, I use she/they pronouns and I make the webcomic Aetherstar.
00:37.67
Miranda
Starting a webcomic can be a huge endeavor. Whether it's your first comic or your fifth, the beginning stages of webcomic-ing can be some of the best of times and the worst of times. It may surprise you to know, though hopefully it doesn't, that we here at ScreenTones have all started webcomics at one time or another. And so we want to share our favorite tips for essentially getting started. And what better way to do that than with a nice neat numbered list. So without further ado, let's dive into the five things we wish we knew before we started web commenting. Renie, take us away.
01:49.48
Renie
So my first number one tip is done is better than perfect. Web comics are just what you make of them. You're allowed to start, stop, make a messy and most importantly, experiment.
02:02.85
Renie
There's many places that you can get some readers to read through your journey to. And many folks will tell you just how much they enjoy seeing your experiments and your growth, regardless of how good you think it is.
02:17.58
Renie
um At the end of the day, it's your journey and your comic. The great thing about webcomics is unless that you're under a contract, you're the boss. So if that means taking some time away from your comic to hone your style more or even do some writing experiments to hone your craft, all of that is in your power to do. It also means that it's okay to finish your comic by a way of ending it to move on to other things. I've said this a million times, but I'll hammer it home. The best way to learn webcomics is making webcomics. So honestly, it's expected that your first comic or two might not be your forever comics, if you will.
02:59.89
Miranda
so very true
03:02.32
Delphina
Yeah, my first comic was definitely not my first forever comic.
03:07.29
Delphina
um ah I mean, I'm glad I did what I did, but um in there was definitely a lot of experimentation and ah just I almost felt guilty like, Oh my gosh, I didn't get anything done with this.
03:23.07
Delphina
Like I didn't go like half the places that I thought I was going to go with the plot.
03:24.71
Miranda
very true.
03:27.80
Delphina
And letting go of that guilt was so important for me. It wasn't, you really do have to reframe it for yourself. um Because then you can move on if that's what you need to do. And I feel like the thing that that makes it Um, like if you think about, okay, my comic is over and you feel the sense of relief. Well, it's like, Oh yeah, that needed to happen. That actually does need to happen. Um, versus like the regrets like, Oh, well, maybe I should keep going and and find a way to make it work.
03:58.42
Delphina
It's all a balance.
04:00.78
Miranda
Yeah, I feel like you definitely you like it's kind of a gut feeling when you know your comics ready to end. I guess like eve if you feel like it's before your time. um But yeah, i I feel like I have false started like two or three comics before I had settled on the end of this well.
04:25.50
Krispy
And I really like like the idea that done is better than perfect because like you're never gonna know if you like comics or not if you don't even start either, right? so like I think that it's an accomplishment in itself to even try. And, you know, we say this a million times on this podcast, but like, there's a lot of hats to web comics. It's not just, oh, just, you know, like, I'm just gonna, I'm just gonna do it. I'm just gonna draw a comic and that it's just gonna be one thing. It's gonna be multiple things. It's gonna be understanding writing and understanding how it is to read it, understanding if the flow works and the art and the lettering and the blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.
05:06.58
Krispy
but not going to know any of that unless you just kind of dive in because, you know, it's not something that just automatically comes to you like anything it takes.
05:16.25
Renie
It doesn't come naturally.
05:16.54
Miranda
Mm hmm.
05:17.57
Krispy
Yeah, exactly. Anything just kind of comes with practice. So, you know, you talking about like, finishing it is also akin to like, you know, yourself being done with it too. And, you know, Delphi made a really good point about like, kind of like the first webcomic that she made. And it was like, okay, like, you know, it it was, if it was good or a relief when you're you're kind of done that. And you know, I've i've had many comics before um that I've never finished, but I always take it as a learning experience with anything.
05:50.52
Krispy
Like, you know, kind of screw the sunk cost fallacy sometimes with this stuff.
05:50.98
Miranda
Mmhmm.
05:56.02
Krispy
It's like I've learned and that still feels good.
05:56.65
Renie
Hmm.
05:58.76
Miranda
Yeah. And I think it also like the idea of done is better than perfect also applies to like individual pages of a comic. You're producing so much and like especially if you are like making a webtoon comic you have a set amount of panels that you're required to produce a week. If you're wanting to keep up with an update schedule like you have quantity that you have to make and that doesn't lend itself to having perfection in every single panel and every single page. Sometimes you just have to get it done and know that people are going to be looking at this panel for probably under 30 seconds and so done gets it out there and lets you keep going instead of getting kind of stuck on a page or stuck on those scene or anything like that.
06:55.78
Miranda
And speaking of that, that brings it to my ah what I wish I knew before starting webcomics is you don't need professional skills. You don't need to go to art school. You don't need to have been drawing since you were two to make a webcomic. They are for everyone at any stage of your life. So don't let the high expectations of like you see all these amazing webcomics out there, don't let the high expectations bar you from entering and creating what you want. ah Speaking as someone who picked up drawing in my late 20s and I decided to do that by making a webcomic, it's very intimidating seeing the art of other people who have been doing this for
07:46.04
Miranda
years and years or have an art-related career so they're fantastic artists. It's intimidating but it shouldn't stop you from putting your work out there. um Obviously you won't be able to compare your art quality with someone who's been doing it for 20 plus years but that doesn't mean your story is any less valuable and less deserving of being told. So get it out there and I i can say from experience that a great way to improve your art is by making a webcomic.
08:21.92
Krispy
I really love this point because like I see that as a fear in a lot of the community that I go into, that people feel like they have to be a certain like skill set to go into something. Because webcomics are daunting when you're seeing all of these like high quality ah things go and and just kind of be the front and center. um But you know I think it's it's just it's important to let everybody know that want to try webcomics that feel like they can't but they can and they should. like It's a tool to learn. um And also we live in a really cool kind of moment in time right now where
09:05.04
Krispy
There's a lot of accessibility from learning tools, learning to draw and stuff like that online. Like, ah not to sound like a boomer or an old person, ah but you know, back in my day, like we had to...
09:19.97
Miranda
We know you're ancient, Crispy, it's okay.
09:24.89
Renie
Crap in my day.
09:26.21
Krispy
back in my day we had the how to draw manga thing that was done by like some random North American person that was clearly not knowing what manga is and you know that's the things that I had to reference and stuff or like one of my favorite things was to take video game manuals and try to like trace or like draw from them and stuff
09:47.89
Krispy
And it's just like, those are the tools that we had. And like, you know, you could still go and ah try to get other things. But like, you know, to Miranda's point, like, you don't, you don't need the to go to art school to do this, you don't need to be a professional to start doing any of this. Like, you know, you do have this really cool opportunity ah with what we have right now to kind of just go out and try. And I i really encourage people to do that.
10:16.20
Delphina
I think there's a disconnect too for me because I didn't always understand what art school was and I didn't understand what kinds of classes you could take there. like I do know there are some programs that will teach you sequential art specifically. for For certain things but even then like you're not necessarily learning webcomics in those kinds of programs you're still having to figure out a lot of stuff by yourself that you won't figure out until you actually start a webcomic and back to the hats point we wear a lot of hats that they're like no school is going to teach you.
10:54.69
Delphina
So um it's it's really there's no like okay well I've graduated from webcomic school so I can start my webcomic now that is that does not exist. um it probably won't. and so your Your attempts are are probably just as good as anybody else's. and Even if you're struggling with something like anatomy or rendering, like there's still a lot to be said for knowing how to panel
11:27.14
Delphina
clearly knowing how to, you know, put your text, um your text bubbles in a way that are clear and can be read in order and stuff like that. There's all kinds of facets to comics that aren't covered in like, Oh, well, I learned how to draw good. So that's, that's all I need to know. So there's, there's lots to learn no matter what stage you're at.
11:53.45
Renie
Yeah, it's, and the other thing to consider too is that, you know, even if you didn't go to art school, whatever you are doing now is good and informative for comics. That's, comics are a way of imitating life too. So even if it's, you know, you're doing your own thing, that is able to support your comics too. So I wouldn't even discount, like I know for me, I went to school for engineering. And I don't think I would be able to do comics if I didn't have and night ah have a full-time job that allowed me to really pursue them to the best of my abilities.
12:31.54
Miranda
Big same.
12:31.79
Renie
So just make sure you aren't discounting yourself for that too.
12:38.05
Miranda
Yes, such great points. Krispy, tell us your first tip.
12:46.55
Krispy
my first tip!
12:48.74
Miranda
I guess!
12:54.37
Miranda
ah Your thing you wish you knew, number one, in no particular order.
13:02.83
Krispy
Well um honestly it's it's definitely connected to what you said Miranda but um asking other webcomicers for advice. ah Like and I always thought I had to do it on my own and like when I started reaching out to others that's like really really crazy and it's a big big big game changer for me. I think I've mentioned this in like other episodes but like Being in the webcomics community is still a new thing for me. like In the last five years, which feels really weird because like I have too many thoughts about webcomics now and I'm such a loud mouth, but like you know reflecting on what that has done for me is is phenomenal because like um I remember when I was doing webcomics without kind of seeking this stuff out.
13:50.89
Krispy
and um it was just kind of me and my co-creator space you and
14:33.77
Krispy
my previous comics. I'm thinking about even the beginning of, you know, Ghost Young Sickness, which is, you know, has turned 10 this year. And like, not in a negative way, but like, there are areas that shows that it is 10 years old, it is, it has the older flavors of myself. And I think that you know by reaching out and and getting peer help and getting beta readers, getting feedback is so important um to learning how to hone a lot of these skills that we want to kind of learn.
15:07.35
Krispy
And, you know, just finding a place um with my peers that do web comics, it's really changed the way that I approach things now. And I'm really, really grateful for having like, you know, you guys are really, you know, I love having this group.
15:21.51
Renie
Oh,
15:22.11
Miranda
Awwww.
15:23.01
Delphina
Aww.
15:25.25
Krispy
But, you know, it really helps like, you know, me reflect and I think I'm a better person. And I think I'm a better artist because of you guys and the community.
15:36.79
Renie
i that's very sweet. I was just gonna add in that I think it's a A common and novice fallacy is the, oh, I'm not good enough. Why should I approach these demigods of art or whatever?
15:57.19
Renie
whatever it's It's this false deification, if you will, where it's the these artists are put on such a pedestal that they're unapproachable when most every artist has been where you are, no matter where you are on the journey.
16:02.62
Miranda
Yeah.
16:09.46
Miranda
Yes.
16:12.67
Renie
So it's all relatable and so many people in webcomics are so open and welcoming and wanting to see you succeed. Where it's not as cutthroat as and other places are, or even the traditional comics industry, it's an extremely collaborative environment. So if you're thinking there, like, I'm not even good enough to have imposter syndrome. Yes, yes you are.
16:38.60
Miranda
you're having it right now if you're thinking those
16:40.41
Delphina
No.
16:43.44
Delphina
ah Oh my gosh, I'm glad you said cutthroat though because I definitely came into it with the mentality that like capitalism instilled into me like I have to be the best I have to show my worth that I have to like, you know, really, like these are my competition, like nobody in webcomics is your competition. First of all, they're all free. We're not competing for money.
17:05.46
Miranda
You're having it right now, if you're thinking those thoughts.
17:05.56
Delphina
We're like maybe a little bit for time, but even that, I just know too many people who are reading so many comics.
17:07.84
Renie
Ha ha ha!
17:12.68
Delphina
And I feel too, when you you approach it from that angle, then you're not really in a place where you can take other people's advice or outside views of your comic because we do get a little bit of blinders when we know our characters and we know our story and we're putting it on like the paper, but other people aren't getting picking up what we're putting down. So having that outside readership or or but people who both can read and get what you're trying to do and have had experience like, oh yeah, I've done a scene like that. you know here like This is what I did. Or here's some other comics that you can look at to see how they approached it. I mean, there's there's a lot of different ways to approach any kind of challenge and you're never going to hear them unless like you're open to taking that advice and and really um working it into your system.
18:12.81
Krispy
And another thing that I find kind of like validating is like, this guy' is gonna sound a little weird. but you know, I'm gonna go for it is that like hearing other people struggle and I'm like, oh good, we're all struggling.
18:27.23
Miranda
Yes, you're struggling too.
18:29.38
Renie
Anyways.
18:32.18
Krispy
it kind of humbles me because I'm just like, oh, okay, like, you know, this wasn't something like for any said, like them almost feeling like some like God form when they have such an amazing webcomic or work or whatever. like, no, they they had to have some bumps in the road to get there. And, you know, it's kind of validating to hear about their process and being like, Oh, my gosh, yeah, like, you know, when I started out my webcomic, I was doing this silly little thing. And, you know, then I started, you know, learning something else. And I'm here to share my knowledge with you. Like, that is so that's so such a valuable thing. When learning and and growing as an artist, I think it's just it's just imperative to kind of poke around and be curious.
20:06.08
Miranda
OK, cool. Resume. All right, that brings us to Delphi. What is your thing you wish you knew?
20:11.21
Renie
I realize I'm like, nah, cut this.
20:15.14
Delphina
Oh, gosh. So I feel like one thing that really stuck with me, like because I wasn't going to art school or anything like that, is that I had this preconceived notion that there was one right way to make comics, that all the professionals did the comics in this way. And if I didn't do it this way, it would I would not be a professional. But the thing I want to tell everybody is you do not have to stick to doing things one way. um you don't even have to like it there is no professional way and furthermore your process can actually change while you create it and that is completely okay um my journey was i i started making comics in my sketchbook
21:00.18
Delphina
um with you know I would use pencils and markers that were stolen from my mom's work um and then I went to school for graphic design and then I learned Adobe Illustrator and decided the vector line art was the best because it was scalable. So if I wanted to use, if I wanted to blow up a cool face that I had drawn and and scale it up, then it would be vectors. And so it would work just fine. I had no concept of line weight. that That was a late later discovery.
21:31.57
Delphina
But for a while I was tracing my pencils with my mouse and pen tool.
21:38.18
Renie
I did that too, oh my god.
21:40.79
Delphina
It was pain. It was so much pain.
21:42.44
Renie
It was, oh my god.
21:44.88
Delphina
Yeah. Um, and I think I eventually realized that because I didn't get very far. Um, so I tried physical screen tones for like half of a single page. And when I was done, like I was, that I looked like I had rolled in bits of screen tone because they're a little sticky adhesive things. And so I was just kind of this mess. I'm like, Nope, that's not the way either. Um, I, I kind of,
22:09.63
Miranda
but That's an amazing picture.
22:11.92
Delphina
It was so bad. I cannot relate to you how much of a mess I can make with physical screen tones because you you cut little slivers off when you're trying to shape the things with your exacto knife and they would just get stuck everywhere in my hair, on my clothes. It was so bad.
22:30.30
Renie
When you move out of that apartment, it's just glitter and bits of screen tones left in the cracks.
22:34.90
Delphina
It really is.
22:38.03
Miranda
It's no wonder you're part of this podcast. You are literally screen tones.
22:40.53
Delphina
it I might be 50% screen tones by body composition, like 50% water, 50% screen tones. But eventually I moved to digital screen tones and that went so much smoother and that was when I noticed like I could actually start finishing pages sustainably. I i had my my story and my ideas and I was actually moving forward with them and not getting stalled out. So that was when, aha, okay, this works. I can work with this. i And so i was I was working. I was always intending to move to color. If you look at the first pages of Samba list, they are in black and white and they do have the screen tone texture. um And that was the easiest thing for me at the time because I was still building up my stamina. But once I was ready, I found a good plot points to kind of wizard of Oz myself into color um and that was ah I you know you try to make it graceful you try to make it because color to black and white yeah that is kind of a big change but it's not. um
23:50.60
Delphina
it's not impossible. And
24:28.33
Delphina
um And the problem with that was that I was trying to do a lot of texturing. It wasn't really sustainable um And so I'm like, okay, I learned something about that um And and so I went back to my my Photoshop stuff um And then the next thing was like people started talking about manga studio and and which was later become clip studio and how much easier the inking stuff was and I That was scary to try to consider, um like moving to to an entirely new program that I never went to school for, that I couldn't figure out. But okay, I want to try it. i want to Everyone says it's a really good experience, so sure. i'll i'll
25:16.05
Delphina
go back to like a limited color palette again, just so I can start learning this this new system and program. and um you I wasn't sure how to do color in it immediately, so it was it was still kind of 50% Clip Studio fifty percent photoshop um and Until I got more comfortable with it, and until Clip Studio's tools got a little better with color, and then I could really come back to to color. and um
25:46.46
Delphina
it's My style has stayed pretty consistent from there. And so you're hearing this journey that I'm talking about. You're hearing so many processes that I went through and different different like art styles that I did. But you know what? The readers were on board. the the And a lot of times I think I hear artists get really stuck on like, oh, I changed something. Everybody's going to notice. And people do not notice. like that is That is, by and large, 90% of the time, they will not notice that you can still you still have enough of you in the way that you do things that people won't be like, whoa, I'm very disoriented now. so um And that's another thing going back to asking other webcomicers for advice like, ah can can you pull me out of my head a little bit? Can you tell me that ah things are are going to be OK here?
26:42.16
Delphina
um and that things are similar enough that people won't get disoriented. So um so yeah, that's that's my little journey. Some people start in black and white and they switch to color, vice versa. um yeah Or you could even start as a comic and go to prose. It's okay to do any of that because the the process is and still you. It's still the story that your readers came to you to read and it's gonna be okay.
27:10.68
Renie
Yeah. and Like your story will still be very much read as yours. And it's, it's very fun hearing sort of the journey as sort of technology improves and you know, skills improve too. And, and part of the thing we mentioned earlier about experimenting with web comics and using that to try many different things is you can go back and forth on a couple of different things based on what's working for you at at any given time. Like I know for me personally, I go through phases where I just can't do digital pencils. So I switched to skill pencils or physical ah during more physical. And then there are some times where I'm like, I really can't do anything physical without, you know, I need me that free transform tool. ah it's It's okay to sort of be able to go back and forth between things that you've learned and those cross disciplines will support each other.
28:09.61
Krispy
One of my favorite things that I like to do hanging around the Screentones community is infect them like a virus with the process.
28:19.38
Delphina
Gross.
28:22.80
Krispy
with my process uh using traditional art and it's really fun because I like to show that I'm doing inks and stuff like that of my comics on you know will webcam and uh it's really cool to hear people being like you know what I think I actually want to change my process and try like traditional inks and stuff like that and like even not that specific example just seeing other people change what they want to do because I'm going back to Delphi's point where she mentioned about finishing pages sustainably. And oh my god, is that not the biggest thing about webcomics is being?
29:08.09
Krispy
sustainable with your process so that you can actually feel like you're doing something and and getting through and not being frustrated because, like like, I get to watch folks, you know, work on their webcomics. I like to see people talk about it on social media. I like to do all the studying because, like, I'm a mu little weirdo as we, you know. And, you know, I see folks struggle on the process because they're trying to go for what a lot of other people do or they're trying to force things that just, it's just taking too much time but they feel that they have to do it because it's like, well I already started the comic this way and I have to continue using these
29:48.27
Krispy
horrible 3D models of horses and they just look so bad but I can't change them because it's already part of the comic and it's like no you can change those 3D horses if you'd like. You don't have to stick to them. And the other great thing about this is that you also have the power to edit stuff. Um, I would definitely check out our episode about editing because there's a lot of nuance to that topic, but web comics being the medium that they are, I mean, a lot of the power is in your hand. You can change your process. You can change, you know, some of the things that you've been doing if it's just not jiving with you.
30:30.01
Miranda
And I think part of this that I want to mention because I got stuck in it for a while is the reboot loop when you Get part of your comic out and then you decide you want to do it differently. So you start over and do it all again in a different way because you think that you can't change as you go. And i if anything, I feel like everyone here has emphasized that you can change as you go. You do not have to just keep repeating yourself trying to figure out your process and perfect it so you will do it forever.
31:06.10
Miranda
Uh, don't, don't feel like you have to do that. Like embrace change and like keep moving forward because it's okay. It's okay to have things change as you go.
31:22.20
Miranda
But with that, we come to number five. And you may have noticed that there's...
31:25.65
Renie
Yeah, number five, don't make a web comic.
31:28.77
Delphina
No!
31:28.87
Miranda
that Make But as you may have noticed, there are only four of us here.
31:29.86
Delphina
Make a webcomic!
31:31.74
Delphina
Don't listen to Reni.
31:36.53
Miranda
So for number five, we would like to hear from you, all of our listeners. What is something you wish you knew before you started your webcomic adventure? What is something you have questions about before starting your webcomic? Maybe someone else has an answer for it. Um, we'd love to hear from you. Share your thoughts with us. And we're hoping to put them into a follow-up episode of what our listeners wish they knew before they started webcomics, because we know you guys have amazing advice and we want to hear it.
32:07.21
Renie
I can't wait.
32:11.14
Miranda
And also maybe we can't count, but you don't have to count to make a webcomic.
32:17.67
Renie
You do have to count to four.
32:19.95
Miranda
At least. At least. that's that I guess that's the minimum.
32:21.44
Delphina
Oh, we got it.
32:23.46
Krispy
Oh god.
32:25.02
Delphina
Okay, cool.
32:29.56
Miranda
Well, i I guess pause there. All right. And send those comments to Blue Sky. You can share them on Tumblr with us. Tag us. We have a Discord community that we would love to hear your thoughts on. And we'll have a Spotify poll that you can put an answer in on Spotify. We'll keep an eye out for all of these responses. Share with us. We want to hear from you. And with that, that wraps up our episode with a barbecue chicken wrap. Thank you so much for listening.
33:00.35
Renie
Yum.
33:01.48
Miranda
I'm your host, Miranda, and you can check out my work at MirandaCakes dot.art.
33:07.72
Delphina
And I have been Delphina, and you can find my comic, Sombulus, at sombulus.com.
33:14.30
Krispy
I'm Krispy and you can find my work at ghostjunksickness .com and lunarblight.com
33:21.11
Renie
And I've been Renny, and you can find my work at aetherstarcomic.com.
33:26.46
Krispy
Alright. I'm glad we can count to four.
33:28.14
Delphina
Now we have to learn how to count.
33:29.74
Miranda
flapper slappers we're gonna go to school to learn how to count to five but
33:31.12
Delphina
Aw.
33:31.83
Renie
i like
33:33.64
Krispy
No!
33:34.22
Delphina
We're getting to five one of these days, I swear.
33:36.47
Krispy
I don't want to go to five. That's a scary number. It's pointy.
33:40.53
Miranda
the number of the count shall be three no more or less that is right
33:40.59
Delphina
Aww.
33:40.77
Renie
but
33:57.01
Renie
I can't! I can't! I can't! I can't!