Thread: Not Lots

Actually, a fantastic example of beautifully drawn narrative coupled with a few non-sensical one offs is the Abominable Charles Christopher.

An important resource as an artist is also collaborating with others. This doesn't necessarily mean you work with them, just find things you like in your medium and talk to the people who made them about what you liked. You'd be amazed at how much you can pick up that way.

Originally Posted by Atmoscheer

..there must be a medium which better fits yours talents and comics just don't seem to be it.

I am quite new to the whole idea of comics, at least in a more deliberate form (I'm sure everyone has scribbled a comic down in a school book) so it is taking a while to get used to. Also in the other sense of medium, I am currently using inks and brushes which is once again a novelty... I never enjoyed painting very much, preferring the better control that pencils offer, but am now finally beginning to enjoy the challenge and different results it produces. That said I might try out using pens/markers which seem to be the more popular choice amongst most contemporary comic artists.. still very much at an experimental stage.

Originally Posted by mutton

increase the number of comics shown under "Latest Comics"

make the subtitle "hand-drawn comics by woofness" or something

i'm not sure about linking each comic to the next one - visitors may tend to browse backwards given they get shown the most recent comic first, plus nothing happens when you click on that

there is a typo "subjec" on the contact page

layout: having the title below the comic is fine in itself but the title is also at the left which spoils it and it's awkwardly separated by the date, which appears both above and below the title, and the navigation links, and but now that i'm scrutinizing all this stuff having nothing to do with the comics themselves, the varying font sizes are bugging me out

i think it'd be better if the vertical scrollbar is eliminated completely for people browsing in reasonably sized windows by re-arranging stuff

Thanks for pointing these things out. I have changed the subtitle, and corrected the typo. As to the alignment, text, etc.. I really am a complete novice when it comes to website design. I have very little idea of how to correct even the simplest things.
If you had the time or inclination I could allow you access to change the few things you mentioned? I am trying to keep the site as basic and uncomplicated as possible at the moment, rather if it worked simply and well than be cluttered with unnecessary links, and and so on.

Originally Posted by coqauvin

Woofness, your comics are fine. IMO, I think you need a little more focus on what direction you're going to take your concept in.

Broadly speaking, having a narrative or some sort of continuity between each comic (beyond all of them are from roman), because people generally prefer to get drawn into a story that is slowly revealed. This is why poorly drawn comics (like early questionable content, OotS, etc.) still managed to have a stronger draw on people.
The successful comics that lack continuity generally have much stronger foci than small misunderstandings (the mosaic is still my favourite, and a pretty good example). Think the Far Side, xkcd or SMBC. The art is generally lacking, but there's much more in those comics to pull someone in, generally through dialogue and playing with the reveal.

It's not as though you haven't demonstrated capability with the batch of comics you've released thus far, though. There's nothing that's bad about them, they just feel unfocused, which distracts from their conceptual potential.

Thank you for all the feedback. I see what you and atmosphere mean about lack of focus or direction. My initial idea was to have each comic as a standalone strip. I am personally quite lazy when it comes to browsing webcomics and prefer something which I can just drop into at any point and be amused by. I really like the Far Side, and wanted to be able to do something similar in the sense of simplicity..most of Larsons cartoons are a single panel. I like the challenge of condensing a fairly complex joke or idea to a form where it is easily read but loses none of its intended impact (not to say that many of the ideas in my comics so far are complex, only that I could technically have doubled the number of panels for each idea)
To begin with I was preferring to use no or as little dialogue as possible, but with the more recent concepts I have had I am using more. I was also thinking of bringing in recurring characters, without going so far as a storyline.

Originally Posted by coqauvin

Actually, a fantastic example of beautifully drawn narrative coupled with a few non-sensical one offs is the Abominable Charles Christopher

Really like this. Have only skimmed it before but a more in depth read today and it has grown on me.

One of my favourite comics is probably Buttercup Festival which doesn't really have a story line but is I think very nicely drawn.

TL;DR: Once again thank you all for you comments, I will give them all some thought.

woof