Comic Genesis Forums

For characters, I'll often start with a type...I want a politician, a thief, a king, a beggar....that fits the demands of the story, and then build the character from there. Various things inside and outside the story then determine what the character looks like, what their backstory is, etc. Someti...

Much of my own work is music inspired. A song or body of work will strike home and I'll think, "Hey, I can build a story around that!". So, very often, the names of my characters come from songs or song titles. For example, my current story, "Angeline", comes from the title of a long-forgotten 80's ...

I don't care for any of the alternatives offered to date. I'd just like to go on record as recommending something shorter and easier for people to remember. As it is, if I give my website address to anyone in the real world, they quickly forget it because there's too many syllables. I know you need ...

This is good! This is very good! I've seen stuff published by so-called pros that was not this good. I'm not big on manga styles, but this is very crisp and interesting. I especially like the fact that you don't overuse the manga cliches. The writing on a couple of pages was a bit "meh", but overall...

David...I like your work. Sure, it's not the best art style out there, but your character is immediately recognizable and unique. Your strip is technically clean, and the writing is actually kind of funny at times. It looks like you've actually put some effort into making it look good, which helps o...

Sigh...OK. To be constructive then..... 1) Use a ruler to draw your panel borders. A (presumably) deliberately sloppy style, with deliberately sloppy lettering with deliberately sloppy borders just makes the whole thing look...well, sloppy. Using a straight edge for the panels will provide a clean s...

Also, you're expecting far too much from a webcomic. And there, I think, is the gist of my argument. Let me tell you a brief story (I like stories...): It was not my idea to bring my work to Keenspace; it was recommended to me by an established webcartoonist friend of mine. Having failed to get my ...

Since posting this, I've received a few private messages, some in support of my comments, and one that raised two points I'd like to reply to: 1) The creator of this strip is just out of high school and is trying to improve, and my original post is going to hurt his feelings. I don't think that his ...

I've only browsed them, but there's some links to articles and tutorials on screentones over at OniKimono (http://www.onikimono.com/links/#scr); maybe you will find something useful there.

OK, what's the joke? Do you folks actually enjoy this? I'm going to sound like such a troll for saying this, I suppose, but the art is crude, the lettering is awful, and the writing leaves me with a profound sense of "huh?" Is the visual style supposed to be some kind of post-modern comment on the c...

OK...not bad. I don't know that I would use many extreme adjectives for it; "unusually good" might work if it was stacked against many other webcartoons. I like the writing more than the art; it's intelligent without being too wordy, a tough tightrope to walk. I like your palette for this strip more...

I like this strip. It's clear, readable, and the art is above average. It's still got a few rough edges, but those are part of its charm. You've got some interesting characters here, and seem to be able to write a decent daily strip without tipping too far into either the ridiculous or the saccharin...

Fair enough. I just thought there might be some technical aspect of fontography (is that a word?) regarding Comic Sans MS that I was not aware of. I can appreciate the argument that it is overused...I've seen everything from bad webcomics to supposedly professional resumes in that font. Good thing t...

I can't say I hate anime...or manga, for that matter. It's a style and a genre, and like any style/genre, it has good and bad. Kat Otomo knocks me on my ass, as does Hiyao Miyazaki. Ghost in the Shell was inspired. Grave of the Fireflies is one of my favorite films. On the other hand, Samurai X, Vam...

Wow...I didn't realize how many people were using Letter-O-Matic. And here I thought I'd found something new. Fortunately, I tend to vary my font depending on what I think the story requires. I've used Times New Roman, Comic Sans MS, and even hand lettering. I think my hand lettering stinks, so it's...

As a cartoonist, you make a great plumber. Seriously...I don't like to tear anybody down, but a dose of realism never hurts. Leaving aside the technical issues of bad scanning, balance and contrast, the art is really, really bad. The characters are inconsistent and crudely rendered. The perspective ...

I'm not a big fan of manga of any stripe, but this has an interesting art style. It looks like something that could grow into a unique set of visuals over time. My one suggestion would be to do something about the lettering. I'm viewing on a 17" screen at 1024 x 768 and I find the text a little diff...

Sorry to interrupt, but to get back to the question of painting with tea...my wife introduced me to the idea of tea staining a few years ago, and I was quite impressed with it. She took a heavy, textured paper...like a watercolor arch, but sturdier...and just dipped a brush in strong pekoe tea and s...

I'm probably going to get slammed big time for this, but I find that surfing some of the "girlie" art and soft porn sites on the Net has helped me a lot with learning to draw women. Now, just to clarify that statement, and before the howling mob shows up on my doorstep with tar, feathers and iron bo...

Get The GIMP (http://www.gimp.org). It's the best tool since Photoshop, and it's free...no bundle of cash or illegal filesharing necessary. <brag>I've used it to produce work for my own comic, as well as Bruno the Bandit and some of the color work on Sluggy's Saturday strips <end brag>. Draw much bi...