First Comic?

Ti-Phil · Post by **Ti-Phil** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 11:52 am

Hmm, I don't think webcomics are only for amateurs only... but more to have fun? If not why the shnout would I be doing this? It stimulates both drawing and story telling. Hmm.. how do we know what is amateur and what is pro anyway?

Post by **Mercury Hat** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 12:08 pm

Ti-Phil wrote:Hmm, I don't think webcomics are only for amateurs only... but more to have fun? If not why the shnout would I be doing this? It stimulates both drawing and story telling. Hmm.. how do we know what is amateur and what is pro anyway?

Pros get paid to do their work, amateurs do not. That's the black and white dividing line of it at any rate.

Luprand · Post by **Luprand** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 12:17 pm

Another way to look at it is by looking at the words themselves.

Amateur is from French or Latin, meaning "lover." In other words, an amateur does something because he/she loves to do it.

Professional, on the other hand, comes from "Profe," an archaic form of "proof," and "sion," an older spelling of "Zion." Thus, professionals want to prove that they have reached the Zion of their talent and you should give them more money.

Or maybe I made that up.

--Sij

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 2:45 pm

I believe you Luprand.

Mercury_Hat wrote:
Ti-Phil wrote:Hmm, I don't think webcomics are only for amateurs only... but more to have fun? If not why the shnout would I be doing this? It stimulates both drawing and story telling. Hmm.. how do we know what is amateur and what is pro anyway?
Pros get paid to do their work, amateurs do not. That's the black and white dividing line of it at any rate.

Or is it pros who live from drawing comic?

LAGtheNoggin · Post by **LAGtheNoggin** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 5:45 pm

How about if you've been a professional, lived for a year on it, and now out of work in the aims of trying to hone your craft to something even sharper? Do you keep your proffesional status (despite getting no pay for your current work) or do you become an amature (despite that field of professionalism still being your goal, and having more knowledge than most professionals of that type)?

Just, ya'know, something I've been wondering about my old games artist title...

Joel Fagin · Post by **Joel Fagin** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 5:59 pm

There are a few definitions of "professional" but the one most people seem to feel is correct is "someone you could believe could make a living from their work".

This means, firstly, anyone how does or has made a living or, secondly, simply someone who has a similar style and/or skill level of people who make a living.

So, anyone who draws like, say, superhero comic artists would be "professional", as would anyone who has demonstrated they can make a living from their art, no matter what it looks like.

Well, that's the vibe I get from context, anyway.

- Joel Fagin

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Fri Sep 17, 2004 6:11 am

Webcomics awfully stretched the definition. I've seen enough webartists who'd easily be pro's, at least as artists. On the other hand, alternative comics are stretching it to the other side - I mean, I deeply respect alternative comics, but some of them go as far as being totally blunt when it comes to art or writing technique.

Ti-Phil · Post by **Ti-Phil** » Fri Sep 17, 2004 10:25 am

I truly don't want to sound as a dumb person... but I have no idea what "alternative comics are".

Phact0rri · Post by **Phact0rri** » Fri Sep 17, 2004 11:36 am

mcDuffies wrote:Webcomics awfully stretched the definition. I've seen enough webartists who'd easily be pro's, at least as artists. On the other hand, alternative comics are stretching it to the other side - I mean, I deeply respect alternative comics, but some of them go as far as being totally blunt when it comes to art or writing technique.

Not to mention the professional webcomics out there now. not to beat a dead horse or anything but Stan Lee's Sunday comic, has Keith Griffen in thier stable, an artist I grew up reading.

Plus Keenspot, graphic smash, all the other pay sites which are artists getting paid for thier work.. they are technically "professional" cause they get paid?

all this makes my head hurt however.

ti-phil wrote:I truly don't want to sound as a dumb person... but I have no idea what "alternative comics are".

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Fri Sep 17, 2004 4:36 pm

[quote="Ti-Phil"]I truly don't want to sound as a dumb person... but I have no idea what "alternative comics are".

Leujin · Post by **Leujin** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 4:54 pm

Ah man... I hate looking at my archives, because most of the art really blows. Especially because for some reason I had this thing against anti-aliasing and scanning in my comics at an actually reasonable resolution. But I've learned from my mistakes, and now the only thing that hinders my comic getting more readers is the fact that I have to struggle for punchlines sometimes. I hate it when that happens.

Dr.Otto · Post by **Dr.Otto** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 7:31 pm

---Oh my LORD are my archives a wreck...the first few years were just awful in a visual sense. I never draw the same character the same way twice, and I think it's because of this that there's been a constant stream of change and evolution in the strip's appearance.

Leujin · Post by **Leujin** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 8:19 pm

I have that problem too. My biggest problem is the heights of the characters... this is pretty obvious with Satan. Really horrible. *shakes head in shame*

Okie · Post by **Okie** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 11:03 pm

How many people build a 1 page archive as they go along?

Everytime I update my comic, I add the new strip to a local file I call Massive.html. It shows all of my strips (actual images, not links), in order, on one page. Being able to scroll through my entire comic (224 strips currently) is very handy for reference, continuity, and observing improvement.

Someday I will show people what Roughies looked like in its 1st incarnation (small sketches in a storyboarding program), and its 2nd (badly inked, 4th wall breaking craziness). There has been much improvement.

Terotrous · Post by **Terotrous** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 11:09 pm

Yeah, I've got a big archive page that lists the strips by their title too. I think it's far superior to straight "by date" navigation. Especially if there's no calendar.

AndrewTaylor · Post by **AndrewTaylor** » Sun Sep 19, 2004 5:21 am

Terotrous wrote:Yeah, I've got a big archive page that lists the strips by their title too. I think it's far superior to straight "by date" navigation. Especially if there's no calendar.

I use date navigation. It means I avoid having to think of trite little titles for all the strips (I hate webcomit titles. They are almost invariably awful.), which don't give away the joke or sound totally lame. Better still, it's cumbersome and unhelpful, which does no harm at all to my usage stats

Joel Fagin · Post by **Joel Fagin** » Sun Sep 19, 2004 5:30 am

AndrewTaylor wrote:Better still, it's cumbersome and unhelpful

*twitch*

*resists urge to evicerate*

Gah.

Actually, on this subject, I just realised it's possible to have a link that opens every comic in a given story in seperate windows using Javascript. It'd save a lot of clicks. I must do one myself.

- Joel Fagin

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Mon Sep 20, 2004 1:01 pm

Okie wrote:How many people build a 1 page archive as they go along?

Everytime I update my comic, I add the new strip to a local file I call Massive.html. It shows all of my strips (actual images, not links), in order, on one page. Being able to scroll through my entire comic (224 strips currently) is very handy for reference, continuity, and observing improvement.

Someday I will show people what Roughies looked like in its 1st incarnation (small sketches in a storyboarding program), and its 2nd (badly inked, 4th wall breaking craziness). There has been much improvement.

*bookmarks roughies.keenspace.com/massive.html*