StevenForbes
Tuesday, April 28, 2009, 07:18 PM
Hello? This thing on? It’s Tuesday! Where is everyone? I’ve got stuff to talk about! Here I was, looking forward to this all week, and it looks like no one’s shown up. On Tuesday! It’s not like I wasn’t going to be here. I’m always here! (I’m here!) Well, thanks! I appreciate it. (Besides, it’s Tuesday.) Exactly!
Last week, I started talking about webcomics. I said that this is the outlet that many creators are more than likely going to take in order to get their work noticed, especially since Diamond changed their benchmarks. I also said that it was important to update consistently, no matter the format you choose, be it a strip or longform. Not updating regularly hurts your credibility. (You said the only excuse I had for not updating regularly was nuclear proliferation.) True! It was true last week, and it is true this week, too.
Let’s get into some of the topics I spoke about last week. One of them is webhosting.
Before we get too far into this, I’m going to direct you to all around nice guy, DJ Coffman. He put up a basic how-to when it comes to HOSTING YOUR OWN WEBCOMICS (http://www.djcoffman.com/tikibar/2008/09/17/host-your-own-friggin-webcomic/). I’m going to tell you right now, I think you should listen to the man. (Duh. You linked to him, so I kinda figgered that…) [Fair enough. Now go read it. Let me know when you’re done. I’m gonna have some tea.]
(Back.) [Wow. That was fast.] (I bookmarked it.) [Great call!]
Okay, that’s one way to do it. Hosting your own comics. I’m going to get into that in just a bit. I’m going to talk about another way first, though. (Gah! I knew it!) Compare and contrast. That’s what it’s all about.
There are basically two different methods when it comes to web hosting: you can do it yourself, or you could join a collective such as Drunk Duck or Webcomics Nation. There are pros and cons to both. Let’s talk about collectives first.
The problem with collectives, in my opinion, is that there are so many webcomics that it becomes hard to stand out in the crowd, because EVERYONE’s trying to stand out and be seen. They’re all trying to stand out in the same place, so it all becomes noise. And there can [and often are] literally thousands of webcomics up on these collectives. Try being seen in all of that!
These collectives usually aren’t that customizable. They may offer you some customization options, but you won’t have the full amount of customization you could be looking for. If you have a vision in your head as to how your site should look, then a collective may not be for you.
The pros, though, are that you have a much greater chance of being seen at a collective. The audience is already there—now, they just have to find you. The chances of just being stumbled upon are much higher as part of a collective. Just because I don’t subscribe to them doesn’t mean they don’t serve a purpose. I just like doing things the hard way.
Time now for a small aside, dedicated to Drunk Duck. This started out as an independent collective, but was then bought out by Platinum Studios. Platinum Studios is the company that was something of a joke for years, being the only comics publisher that didn’t publish anything. They have a couple of major windfalls to their name, the biggest being the Men in Black movies [well, at least the first one], the second being a show called Jericho that was on Showtime a few years ago. Platinum Studios recently made a few splashes in the news, and not all of them good.
They have a book out called Cowboys and Aliens, and have been touting it as a tentpole summer blockbuster to be coming out soon. [A little of that is Hollywood-speak. Stay in comics long enough nowadays, you’ll pick this up. No worries, babe.] This book made some news when it first came out, because it seemed like it was everywhere because of the numbers ordered. They made it seem like the book hit hard everywhere. (Hm. I don’t have a copy.) Me either. (I don’t recall it being for sale…) I hope you noticed the use of the word “seem.” (Yeah, you did say that.) Let’s suffice it to say that there were some creative accounting practices going on when it came to the numbers they were touting.
But hey! At least they finally started publishing books! One of them, Hero By Night, a creation of the aforementioned DJ Coffman, was one of their success stories. They were publishing books, getting the word of their viability out, and things seemed to be looking up. They even brought on their greatest cheerleader, DJ, into the fold.
Well, things went south.
Rumors of non-payment started to surface, and then that situation stretched out. Fun, right? Then, even though they were in breach of their own contract, they then started to threaten their creators with the non-disclosure portion of the contracts, basically saying if they spoke out, they wouldn’t get paid. (Whoa.) Yep. Gets worse, too.
Their biggest cheerleader, DJ, spoke out against their practices. Then he subsequently got screwed. His comic, Hero by Night, was optioned for a live-action show, and he was never consulted about it. He had to hear about it from other sources. Why? Because Platinum Studios is an Intellectual Property [IP] farm.
They tout a library of over 4500 characters or somesuch. Sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? Think about it like this, then: Martha Jameson. (Huh?) Exactly. Martha Jameson. Wife of J. Jonah Jameson. How important is she to the rest of the Marvel Universe? (Well, I barely recognize the name, so I’m going to say not very.) Exactly. But she’s a character in the library of the MU, and if they wanted, they could make a comic or a movie around her. (Wouldn’t be too interesting.) Yup. Same thing with Platinum.
What does this have to do with webcomics? Again, Platinum Studios owns Drunk Duck. Because of their practices and management methods, there are a lot of creators that won’t go anywhere near them. There are allegations by some that they are also using Drunk Duck as a way to troll for more IP’s. True or not, some people just don’t put their webcomics up there. Then, there is the fact that it was recently revealed that Platinum Studios are $20 million in debt. If they stop paying the hosting fees, Drunk Duck could be gone in the blink of an eye. The decision is yours.
I’m not trying to scare you. There are others out there, such as Webcomics Nation, that some creators absolutely love. As always, do your research. As a creator, research will ALWAYS be your friend.
Now, when it comes to hosting your own webcomics, things are harder for you. While you have complete control over the look of your site [it is yours, after all], it will be up to you to drum up business for your site. Just because you make it, people will not automatically come. You have to get readers there by hook or by crook, and even then, you have to keep them coming back. Which means you have to be good.
Hosting your own webcomics nowadays is a pretty cheap affair (http://www.dreamhost.com/). (You’re right! I didn’t know it could be that cheap!) Neither did I, when I first looked in on it. I was expecting to have to give up at least a toe, but when I found out it would be just a clipped nail, I was pretty pleased. (You’re also pretty nasty.) [If’n you say so.]
Now, there are programs out there that will allow you to put up your creations with little fuss, and archive them for you. Remember last week when I said to go get How To Make Webcomics? They’re listed in there.
DJ espouses getting Wordpress with the Comicpress theme. I’ve not used anything else, being relatively new to webcomics, but I can tell you that his instructions work, as long as you follow them to the letter. Even if it seems like they don’t make sense, follow the directions. (Sounds like you didn’t.) Hey, I never claimed to be smart! But following the directions will save you a hell of a lot of headache.
Now, Wordpress is blogging software, and the Comicpress theme allows you to put up webcomics with your blog and archive them. The great thing about Wordpress is that it is customizable. The bad thing about Wordpress is that if you don’t know some scripting/tech speak, you’ll have a learning curve when it comes to customizing your site.
Very early readers of my webcomic Group (http://www.group.stevedforbes.com)will remember that the site looked pretty generic to start with. Not that it doesn’t look generic now, but it looked VERY generic to start with. The background was a beige-like color, and the header wasn’t the logo I have there, and the logo itself didn’t look like that. After banging my head against the wall for a few hours, I enlisted the help of a friend who helped whip it into shape, to include the logo across the top, and the creation of a button out of that logo that I will be using on my other sites when they get up and running. So, it is possible to customize it. You just need to know what you’re doing, or have a friend who does.
When it comes to the Comicpress theme, you’re going to have a few choices. Three, actually. If you’re doing something like a longform comic, I suggest using the Graphic Novel theme of Comicpress. This will allow you to show the full page of your comic with little problem. There are a couple of things I want you to do first, though.
The first thing I want you to do is to oversize the letters. (Oversize?) Oversize. No matter what pitch you’re using, I want you to go up about five points in it, at the very least. (But wh-) DON’T ASK QUESTIONS! Nah, I’m joking. The reason why will become evident in a moment. But don’t forget, oversize the letters. [You ARE learning to letter, right? I cannot stress the importance of learning to do this for yourself. You’re not trying to be good enough to go and letter a Marvel book. You’re trying to save yourself money. If you haven’t done so already, go get two books: the DC Guide to Coloring and Lettering, and the ComiCraft book. Use these books in tandem. You’ll thank me for it.]
Now, I want you to save that lettering file. You’ll need it later, and will have to do more work with it when it comes to printing up the graphic novel. Trust me. [Oh! The DC guide will tell you to delete the art file before you save the letters, because you’ll just be saving the EPS file. DON’T! Leave the art layer right in there. You may not know what I’m talking about now, but when you get the DC guide and read it from cover to cover, you’ll understand what I’m talking about then.]
Next, I want you to go into Photoshop and open up your file with the oversized letters. Now, I want you to diminish the image to 730 pixels wide. Don’t worry about the height. That’ll change automatically. 730 pixels will reduce the size to fit comfortably on the screen, and your readers will not have to strain their eyes to read the dialogue because you’ve oversized the letters. You will save this file as a JPG or JPEG. I recommend making a folder somewhere for each step of your webcomic making process: raw art, tiff, eps, jpg, and webcomics. The webcomic folder will be for your 730 pixel pages, and everything else will be at print size. This will save you work later.
While I’m at it, I’m going to echo something said in How To Make Webcomics. I want you to backup your files! I suggest two backups. One on an external drive, and one on some sort of removable media, such as a cd or information dvd. After you’ve made these backups, especially for the removable media, get them out of your house. (Crazy talk!) Nope. I want you to get them out of your house. Give them to your reliable friend to hold, give them to your Aunt Bunny, or, which is best but may cost you something for maintenance, get a safety deposit box and put them in there. (I think I may need to take over the column from here. You’ve finally lost it.) No, really. Listen.
If you’ve been listening to my advice, you’ve already started using some sort of RSS feed. [Wordpress allows for an RSS feed, so people can get your updates automatically!] If you’ve been watching the comic news, you know that there was a fire in Len Wein’s home. Thankfully, Len and family are all fine, but Len’s work is lost. You know, original pages from X-Men that he worked on, which would definitely be archival and are totally irreplaceable. House fires, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, alien invasions from the twelfth dimension…these can occur anywhere. You want to keep your backups as safe as possible. External drives and removable media are only the first step. The second step is to get them out of your home and into a safe place. Like I said, a safety deposit box would be best, but barring that, give them to Aunt Bunny or a reliable friend. If your computer crashes and you’ve listened to this advice, then you shouldn’t have lost much. To get it closer to home, our own Matthew Grant recently had computer issues with a crash. Did he back up? Matt?
Back up your files, folks, then get them out of the house.
Okay, I’m running long. We’ll talk about money next week. Homework for this week is to investigate various webcomics communities, as well as other webcomics that are individually hosted, and see which one is right for you. Start formulating your plan of attack.
And there’s the bell. See you next week.
Last week, I started talking about webcomics. I said that this is the outlet that many creators are more than likely going to take in order to get their work noticed, especially since Diamond changed their benchmarks. I also said that it was important to update consistently, no matter the format you choose, be it a strip or longform. Not updating regularly hurts your credibility. (You said the only excuse I had for not updating regularly was nuclear proliferation.) True! It was true last week, and it is true this week, too.
Let’s get into some of the topics I spoke about last week. One of them is webhosting.
Before we get too far into this, I’m going to direct you to all around nice guy, DJ Coffman. He put up a basic how-to when it comes to HOSTING YOUR OWN WEBCOMICS (http://www.djcoffman.com/tikibar/2008/09/17/host-your-own-friggin-webcomic/). I’m going to tell you right now, I think you should listen to the man. (Duh. You linked to him, so I kinda figgered that…) [Fair enough. Now go read it. Let me know when you’re done. I’m gonna have some tea.]
(Back.) [Wow. That was fast.] (I bookmarked it.) [Great call!]
Okay, that’s one way to do it. Hosting your own comics. I’m going to get into that in just a bit. I’m going to talk about another way first, though. (Gah! I knew it!) Compare and contrast. That’s what it’s all about.
There are basically two different methods when it comes to web hosting: you can do it yourself, or you could join a collective such as Drunk Duck or Webcomics Nation. There are pros and cons to both. Let’s talk about collectives first.
The problem with collectives, in my opinion, is that there are so many webcomics that it becomes hard to stand out in the crowd, because EVERYONE’s trying to stand out and be seen. They’re all trying to stand out in the same place, so it all becomes noise. And there can [and often are] literally thousands of webcomics up on these collectives. Try being seen in all of that!
These collectives usually aren’t that customizable. They may offer you some customization options, but you won’t have the full amount of customization you could be looking for. If you have a vision in your head as to how your site should look, then a collective may not be for you.
The pros, though, are that you have a much greater chance of being seen at a collective. The audience is already there—now, they just have to find you. The chances of just being stumbled upon are much higher as part of a collective. Just because I don’t subscribe to them doesn’t mean they don’t serve a purpose. I just like doing things the hard way.
Time now for a small aside, dedicated to Drunk Duck. This started out as an independent collective, but was then bought out by Platinum Studios. Platinum Studios is the company that was something of a joke for years, being the only comics publisher that didn’t publish anything. They have a couple of major windfalls to their name, the biggest being the Men in Black movies [well, at least the first one], the second being a show called Jericho that was on Showtime a few years ago. Platinum Studios recently made a few splashes in the news, and not all of them good.
They have a book out called Cowboys and Aliens, and have been touting it as a tentpole summer blockbuster to be coming out soon. [A little of that is Hollywood-speak. Stay in comics long enough nowadays, you’ll pick this up. No worries, babe.] This book made some news when it first came out, because it seemed like it was everywhere because of the numbers ordered. They made it seem like the book hit hard everywhere. (Hm. I don’t have a copy.) Me either. (I don’t recall it being for sale…) I hope you noticed the use of the word “seem.” (Yeah, you did say that.) Let’s suffice it to say that there were some creative accounting practices going on when it came to the numbers they were touting.
But hey! At least they finally started publishing books! One of them, Hero By Night, a creation of the aforementioned DJ Coffman, was one of their success stories. They were publishing books, getting the word of their viability out, and things seemed to be looking up. They even brought on their greatest cheerleader, DJ, into the fold.
Well, things went south.
Rumors of non-payment started to surface, and then that situation stretched out. Fun, right? Then, even though they were in breach of their own contract, they then started to threaten their creators with the non-disclosure portion of the contracts, basically saying if they spoke out, they wouldn’t get paid. (Whoa.) Yep. Gets worse, too.
Their biggest cheerleader, DJ, spoke out against their practices. Then he subsequently got screwed. His comic, Hero by Night, was optioned for a live-action show, and he was never consulted about it. He had to hear about it from other sources. Why? Because Platinum Studios is an Intellectual Property [IP] farm.
They tout a library of over 4500 characters or somesuch. Sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? Think about it like this, then: Martha Jameson. (Huh?) Exactly. Martha Jameson. Wife of J. Jonah Jameson. How important is she to the rest of the Marvel Universe? (Well, I barely recognize the name, so I’m going to say not very.) Exactly. But she’s a character in the library of the MU, and if they wanted, they could make a comic or a movie around her. (Wouldn’t be too interesting.) Yup. Same thing with Platinum.
What does this have to do with webcomics? Again, Platinum Studios owns Drunk Duck. Because of their practices and management methods, there are a lot of creators that won’t go anywhere near them. There are allegations by some that they are also using Drunk Duck as a way to troll for more IP’s. True or not, some people just don’t put their webcomics up there. Then, there is the fact that it was recently revealed that Platinum Studios are $20 million in debt. If they stop paying the hosting fees, Drunk Duck could be gone in the blink of an eye. The decision is yours.
I’m not trying to scare you. There are others out there, such as Webcomics Nation, that some creators absolutely love. As always, do your research. As a creator, research will ALWAYS be your friend.
Now, when it comes to hosting your own webcomics, things are harder for you. While you have complete control over the look of your site [it is yours, after all], it will be up to you to drum up business for your site. Just because you make it, people will not automatically come. You have to get readers there by hook or by crook, and even then, you have to keep them coming back. Which means you have to be good.
Hosting your own webcomics nowadays is a pretty cheap affair (http://www.dreamhost.com/). (You’re right! I didn’t know it could be that cheap!) Neither did I, when I first looked in on it. I was expecting to have to give up at least a toe, but when I found out it would be just a clipped nail, I was pretty pleased. (You’re also pretty nasty.) [If’n you say so.]
Now, there are programs out there that will allow you to put up your creations with little fuss, and archive them for you. Remember last week when I said to go get How To Make Webcomics? They’re listed in there.
DJ espouses getting Wordpress with the Comicpress theme. I’ve not used anything else, being relatively new to webcomics, but I can tell you that his instructions work, as long as you follow them to the letter. Even if it seems like they don’t make sense, follow the directions. (Sounds like you didn’t.) Hey, I never claimed to be smart! But following the directions will save you a hell of a lot of headache.
Now, Wordpress is blogging software, and the Comicpress theme allows you to put up webcomics with your blog and archive them. The great thing about Wordpress is that it is customizable. The bad thing about Wordpress is that if you don’t know some scripting/tech speak, you’ll have a learning curve when it comes to customizing your site.
Very early readers of my webcomic Group (http://www.group.stevedforbes.com)will remember that the site looked pretty generic to start with. Not that it doesn’t look generic now, but it looked VERY generic to start with. The background was a beige-like color, and the header wasn’t the logo I have there, and the logo itself didn’t look like that. After banging my head against the wall for a few hours, I enlisted the help of a friend who helped whip it into shape, to include the logo across the top, and the creation of a button out of that logo that I will be using on my other sites when they get up and running. So, it is possible to customize it. You just need to know what you’re doing, or have a friend who does.
When it comes to the Comicpress theme, you’re going to have a few choices. Three, actually. If you’re doing something like a longform comic, I suggest using the Graphic Novel theme of Comicpress. This will allow you to show the full page of your comic with little problem. There are a couple of things I want you to do first, though.
The first thing I want you to do is to oversize the letters. (Oversize?) Oversize. No matter what pitch you’re using, I want you to go up about five points in it, at the very least. (But wh-) DON’T ASK QUESTIONS! Nah, I’m joking. The reason why will become evident in a moment. But don’t forget, oversize the letters. [You ARE learning to letter, right? I cannot stress the importance of learning to do this for yourself. You’re not trying to be good enough to go and letter a Marvel book. You’re trying to save yourself money. If you haven’t done so already, go get two books: the DC Guide to Coloring and Lettering, and the ComiCraft book. Use these books in tandem. You’ll thank me for it.]
Now, I want you to save that lettering file. You’ll need it later, and will have to do more work with it when it comes to printing up the graphic novel. Trust me. [Oh! The DC guide will tell you to delete the art file before you save the letters, because you’ll just be saving the EPS file. DON’T! Leave the art layer right in there. You may not know what I’m talking about now, but when you get the DC guide and read it from cover to cover, you’ll understand what I’m talking about then.]
Next, I want you to go into Photoshop and open up your file with the oversized letters. Now, I want you to diminish the image to 730 pixels wide. Don’t worry about the height. That’ll change automatically. 730 pixels will reduce the size to fit comfortably on the screen, and your readers will not have to strain their eyes to read the dialogue because you’ve oversized the letters. You will save this file as a JPG or JPEG. I recommend making a folder somewhere for each step of your webcomic making process: raw art, tiff, eps, jpg, and webcomics. The webcomic folder will be for your 730 pixel pages, and everything else will be at print size. This will save you work later.
While I’m at it, I’m going to echo something said in How To Make Webcomics. I want you to backup your files! I suggest two backups. One on an external drive, and one on some sort of removable media, such as a cd or information dvd. After you’ve made these backups, especially for the removable media, get them out of your house. (Crazy talk!) Nope. I want you to get them out of your house. Give them to your reliable friend to hold, give them to your Aunt Bunny, or, which is best but may cost you something for maintenance, get a safety deposit box and put them in there. (I think I may need to take over the column from here. You’ve finally lost it.) No, really. Listen.
If you’ve been listening to my advice, you’ve already started using some sort of RSS feed. [Wordpress allows for an RSS feed, so people can get your updates automatically!] If you’ve been watching the comic news, you know that there was a fire in Len Wein’s home. Thankfully, Len and family are all fine, but Len’s work is lost. You know, original pages from X-Men that he worked on, which would definitely be archival and are totally irreplaceable. House fires, floods, tornadoes, earthquakes, alien invasions from the twelfth dimension…these can occur anywhere. You want to keep your backups as safe as possible. External drives and removable media are only the first step. The second step is to get them out of your home and into a safe place. Like I said, a safety deposit box would be best, but barring that, give them to Aunt Bunny or a reliable friend. If your computer crashes and you’ve listened to this advice, then you shouldn’t have lost much. To get it closer to home, our own Matthew Grant recently had computer issues with a crash. Did he back up? Matt?
Back up your files, folks, then get them out of the house.
Okay, I’m running long. We’ll talk about money next week. Homework for this week is to investigate various webcomics communities, as well as other webcomics that are individually hosted, and see which one is right for you. Start formulating your plan of attack.
And there’s the bell. See you next week.