Plugins for WordPress – making your like easier
In the last post, we started to add pages and widgets to the website so it would be a little more functional. Now we need to take advantage of the WordPress developer community and install some plugins to make our site more effective. read more»
What’s In A Name? Choosing An Effective Title For Your Webcomic
Consider this; 2.5 billion people are known internet users worldwide, with more people adding to that number every day. It’s a truly enormous pool of potential webcomic readers, but reaching them isn’t easy. Marketing strategies and networking help, but no single method is completely effective on its own. Part of the reason for this is the competition for attention, with over 22,000 competing webcomics monitored by The Webcomic List alone–and thousands more beyond that. All this free content means that for a webcomic to attract a large crowd, it needs to not only be appealing to its audience, it needs to be good at being noticed in the first place. Ads and banners can help with that, but nothing represents the identity of a story quite like its title. There are several things to consider when choosing a title for a webcomic.
#FAQDevin – How do I make a scary comic?
While scrounging for questions to answer I came across this one from Kevin Cullen, our Head of Content and Scheduling:
Dear Devin,
How do I make A SCARY COMIC?!
-your pal, kvin
Full disclosure: I’m not sure if Kevin was being serious but I’m going to answer as if he were (also, I have no other questions to answer). read more»
First Things Last
Here’s a tip that is applicable to many art forms – comics, writing, storyboards. read more»
#FAQDevin – I’m a writer, how do I submit a pitch to a publisher?
Keep the questions coming! Got another one from @alwashington5 on Twitter:
Devin – what would [you] say to those who can’t draw (me lol) when someone is ready to present a proposal to a publisher?
Can they use some type of PowerPoint to present their story? read more»
WRITING TROPES: NAMING CHARACTERS
Tropes are storytelling devices. Used well, they enrich a story; used badly, they result in the dreaded cliché. This series of articles takes a closer look at some major tropes relevant to comics and the pitfalls they may present.
This isn’t a trope per se, but a collection of thoughts and advice on this subject from someone who was deeply obsessed with names at some point. It’s written with comics in mind but applies equally to writing for other media.
#FAQDevin – How should I manage my social media presence?
I’ve received several excellent questions recently, so look for yours in a column in the near future. And keep sending them in! You guys rock.
Today, Arnie G. asks:
After years of being “out of the game,” I am currently rebuilding a young career as a freelance artist. I find myself with outdated material [showcasing] outdated skills [in terms of] what i have to offer. Facebook, Tumblr, Blogger, DeviantArt, Freelance Dot Com, Twitter, [and] PHP are all the rage [to the point where] it seems no matter where you turn, everyone swears “this” is the one to use. Not wanting to be left behind, it can get confusing with all these accounts and becomes easy to neglect a few. I ‘m wondering what is the best way to organize them so any information is shared across platforms? [W]hich of these is best [for a] portfolio, networking, sharing with my peers, etc? What [are their] advantage[s]? read more»
So You Wanna Publish A Webcomic? – Part 4
Making pages and using widgets
By the end of the last tutorial, our site was up and we had made quite a few basic edits to the CSS to begin to customize the look of the site. I continued on to make some more edits and if you want to see my updated stylesheet, you can download one here.
#FAQDevin – I feel like I’m running out of time, what should I do?
Send me your questions! Not kidding guys, I only have a couple in my inbox. Tweet with #FAQDevin to @devinafterdark.
Good one today though (they all are). The question of project scope seems to come up a lot, I think with good reason. It’s difficult to judge what you’re capable of finishing when starting out. But there’s a mental/emotional aspect that often gets tied up in that question. Can I accomplish what I want? Am I capable? Developing the ability to perform a task is usually only part of it. read more»
Comic Review Checklist – Part 3
Hello once again, everyone! This is the third and final installment of my blog post series about my comic review checklist that I use when editing comics for CarpeChaos.com. To read part one, click here. To read part two, click here. read more»
