Scott Story
Trade Paperbacks, Continued...
Submitted by Scott Story on September 2, 2010 - 21:33
Hi, Folks! Now it’s time to fill out your trade paperback’s contents. It may seem a little unfair, because you’ve already spent the time to get all those comics created, but these are some of the considerations you need to take into account:
Trade Paperbacks
Submitted by Scott Story on September 2, 2010 - 12:35
So, you are ready to collect your comic into a trade paperback.
Fine Art vs. Illustration, the Eternal Battle...
Submitted by Scott Story on September 1, 2010 - 11:36
Hi, Folks—Scott Story here. I was going to write today about preparing your comics for a trade-paperback collection. Maybe I will tomorrow. Today, I’m going to write about a subject much closer to the heart: Fine Art vs. Illustration.
On "Long Form Comics..."
Submitted by Derik Badman on September 1, 2010 - 08:47
My co-guest blogger Scott Story (a pseudonym of some kind, surely) posted yesterday with some tips about long form comics on the web. While his advice has some merit for certain types of webcomics, I'm not at all in agreement that they are general rules or even good rules.
Some of his tips are all too focused on a webcomic that is based on the single episode/strip/page as the primary structure of the narrative. This is the traditional model that so many webcomics seem to work from, the comic strip model. Scott suggests each episodes have a "beat" and a "cliffhanger" the same type of advice you see in action when you read classic comic strips, particular those in the adventure genre: Roy Crane, Alex Raymond, Milton Caniff, etc. But I don't think this applies to webcomics working in more of a "graphic novel" mode where the work is considered as a single story/book not an series of episodes. Off the top of my head, I can think of a few webcomics that work in this latter mode, such as Family Man or Finder.
Long Form Comics, Short Attention Spans…
Submitted by Scott Story on August 31, 2010 - 10:33
When I got into comics, I figured that I knew how to write and draw comics pretty well—I had years of print comics under my belt, after all. But, I was wrong, because presenting a long-form comic on the web calls some special considerations into account.
Pixels and Panels...
Submitted by Scott Story on August 30, 2010 - 10:32
Hi, Folks—Scott Story here. You may know my work from “Johnny Saturn,” and if not I invite you to visit and check it out. Before I got into webcomics, I worked for a bunch of different print publishers, such as Amp Comics, Arrow Comics, Blue Line Productions, Digital Webbing Presents, Image Comics, Nifty Comics, Powerful Press, Rogue Wolf Entertainment, and Rorschach Entertainment. "Johnny Saturn" has been used as prop on a Nickelodian show, been reviewed in the "Comics Buyers Guide," and won two awards (1st and 3rd, respectfully) in the Webcomic Readers Choice Awards.
Blogging from the Beach
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on August 29, 2010 - 16:01
Our evening began in Peter Scharro's our comfortable study in his the beachhouse where the glowsticks were just right, the WiFi was in the background and the Red Bull was delicious... Anyhow blogging from the beach this weekend, A big thanks to last week's guest bloggers: Harknell, Onezumi, Sam Costello and Steve Troop.
This week (if memory serves, I lost my notes!) we have Brandon Carr, Scott Story and Derik Badman. I'm going to let them introduce themselves but all have been making comics online and off for quite awhile now and I think you'll enjoy their contributions to the site. (Brandon will be blogging next week actually)
I've been on an undead horror kick lately. Read World War Z, in the middle of Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, and just knocked off a bunch of The Walking Dead (not totally caught up yet though). Heck I even managed to watch Zombieworld earlier this summer. Any other recommendations for me -- comics in particular?
Guest Bloggers Week 2
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on August 16, 2010 - 04:17
Our esteemed guest bloggers this week are none other than Brian Moore, Alexander Danner, and Max Vaehling.
Brian Moore is an illustrator and cartoonist based in Massachusetts. His artwork has been published in Boston Globe Magazine, the Boston Phoenix, the Lowell Sun, the Middlesex Beat arts magazine,eWEEK magazine, and on various news and arts-focused websites. He has received two Massachusetts LCC Grants for his animation work, including the animated adventure serial Teddy & Anna. He was the primary artist on the webcomic Smithson from 2005-2008. His portfolio site is at BrianMooreDraws.com.
Alexander Danner has written many short comics, including Web Cartoonist’s Choice Award winners “The Discovery of Spoons” and “Five Ways to Love a Cockroach.” His most recent project, the novella “Gingerbread Houses,” is illustrated by Edward J. Grug III and published at PictureStoryTheater.com. His comics and other writings can be found via his website. Alexander is also co-author with Steven Withrow of the textbook Character Design for Graphic Novels, and has written numerous articles about comics for the online magazines Comixtalk and The Webcomics Examiner, among others. He teaches Writing the Graphic Novel at Emerson College, in addition to providing guest lectures on comics and graphic novels to various schools and libraries.
Max Vaehling, aka Jaehling, is a German comics creator and self-publisher. His most notable webcomic is Conny Van Ehlsing, Monster Hunter. In 2000, Vaehling developed his first web site at dreadful-gate.de. His first regular webcomic was terrain vague (2001-2002), an urban fantasy strip based on then-popular myths about street crime and video surveillance. In 2004, Vaehling developed a new title based on one of Reception Man's supporting characters, Conny Van Ehlsing. The German series Monsterjägerin Conny Van Ehlsing has been online at German web zineLOA since January, 2005. The English translation, Conny Van Ehlsing, Monster Hunter, was first published in early 2007.
Scheduled for the rest of the month are:
August 23rd: Steve Troop, and Sam Costello
August 30th: Brandon Carr, and Scott Story
Guest Bloggers Assemble
Submitted by Xaviar Xerexes on August 9, 2010 - 05:04
A big thanks to everyone who volunteered to do some posting while I'm galavanting around this month! This week we have three guest bloggers:
Daniel Potter is a mild mannered vascular biology researcher by day and a slightly deranged writer at night. He blames this unlikely combination on the fact that his right and left brain have filed for divorce citing irreconcilable differences and are seeing other people. Due to the quirks of biology both halves remain in Dan’s head where they are frequently heard shouting at each other by his loving wife. Dan resides in Maastricht, the Netherlands with his wife, two cats, and quarreling gray matter. To ease tensions Dan has created Walking the Lethe, a comic that asks the question: What happens when you ask a demoness to send you to Heaven?
Amanda Potter is the owner and operator of Fallen Kitten Services and the webmaster for Walking the Lethe. Amanda is an informational professional (yes, a librarian) who has harbored a not-so-secret love for comics in its various forms ever since reading Asterix and Elfquest as a child. After a long period of “serious” education, Amanda’s husband dragged her across the ocean to the Netherlands where she had no excuse not to pursue a business bringing together a love for comics and a passion for online organization.
Tovias (a.k.a. Ben McCormick) began making webcomics in August of 2003 and made every rookie mistake possible. After six years of attempted webcomic starts and stops, he left his job as a systems engineer and now works full-time on his latest comic, Reality Amuck. He currently lives in Southeastern Virginia with his wife, five kids, two cats, a studio full of comic books and action figures (“THEY’RE NOT DOLLS!”) where he writes and draws webcomics into the wee hours of the night.
Scheduled for the rest of the month are:
August 16th: Brian Moore, Alexander Danner, and Max Vaehling
August 23rd: Steve Troop, and Sam Costello
August 30th: Brandon Carr, and Scott Story
Amy Letts of Epic Fail writes about Johnny Saturn
Submitted by Scott Story on July 24, 2009 - 09:36
A short while ago Johnny Saturn spotlit Epic Fail, now it’s time for me to return the favour. I sincerely doubt I will do it justice but I’m gonna try!
