What do YOU do about filler?

Netpoet · Post by **Netpoet** » Sun Apr 29, 2007 5:50 pm

Filler?

What is this alien concept?

Rcmonroe · Post by **Rcmonroe** » Mon Apr 30, 2007 8:57 am

Jackhass wrote:I don't have any filler in my comic. Never missed an update...but if I had to I'd rather just skip the update and not do filler.

Filler is amateurish...and yes, most of us are amateurs, but if you want your comic to be succesful it shouldn't seem that way. Do you ever open up the comics section of your paper and see a crude sketch with "Sorry guys! I've totally been sick this week!" written beside it in the place of your favourite strip? No...it wouldn't fly there, and if you're serious about your comic it really shouldn't fly on your own site either.

I essentially agree with this, but I'm glad someone else said it so I don't have to sound like a pompous jackass…if you'll excuse the expression…

That being said, I have, at times, considered using what might be termed "filler" in my strip; not the amateurish, 5-minute "I'm a loser sorry lol" sketch type of filler, but a well-executed piece or series of pieces that just doesn't happen to fit into my storyline. Like what yeahduff did here.

Haven't had time to do one, though. Maybe some day.

Tarts · Post by **Tarts** » Tue May 01, 2007 8:39 am

Hmmm, I recall someone mentioning that random gags can also be considered filler. It doesn't really count as bad or disappointing for the audiences though. >.<

TharanFayth · Post by **TharanFayth** » Tue May 01, 2007 9:16 am

As long as it's decent I think pretty much anything related to your comic can be a filler, even if it's just art and no joke. Honestly, I just keep'em in the archives, it's not really bothersome and kind of shows a nice little historical time line of how your comic progressed and where you took breaks =P Just don't use too many close together, or else it'd probably get boring.

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Tue May 01, 2007 9:46 am

I don't put up fillers, when I don't have time to do a comic, I don't have it for fillers either. Sketches of characters and similar stuff usually don't mean anything to me as replacements for actual comics, so I just assume that my readers think so too.
Incidentally if a comic has a lot of fillers from archive, I prefere that they remove them once in a while because they really break the flow of the story. I also hate to see fillers in bigshot webcomics that get their authors decent money.

Brigid · Post by **Brigid** » Tue May 01, 2007 1:19 pm

Wow. I didn't know this was such an issue.

I haven't had any filler yet, except for a notice that my computer was sick so I couldn't make updates for a week. There was an offer, but I never got the gueststrips.

Anyway, I'd personally prefer to have a seperate section for them, since it can get confusing sometimes when the art and story take complete 180 degree turns. But I really don't mind guestcomics as long as they're labeled as such. I confuse easily.

Geekblather · Post by **Geekblather** » Wed May 02, 2007 7:29 pm

I have a day built into my schedule for fluffy things. Saturdays I post a bonus "gag" kind of strip, which is non-storyline. I also use that day to post guest comics, and yeah, it stays in the archive. Some of them do relate to the rest of the strip, so they kind of need to stay.
Other than that, I also put up goodie art for upping hit numbers, or people joining communities I have for the comic, but they go up on their own day, and they also stay in.
Frankly, seeing filler in other strips doesn't bother me, unless it starts to be ALL filler (I've noticed that Krakow will run filler for weeks at a time, and then post two strips, and then more weeks of filler) then it gets irritating. Other than that, I actually kind of like it. I like seeing behind the scenes things.

Komiyan · Post by **Komiyan** » Thu May 03, 2007 7:08 am

Never filler. Comic or nothing, especially if you run a story comic. I hate hate HATE trying to read a story only to have it cut into sections by random pinups of whatever girl charatcer in a bikini.
It's actually put me off many a comic, to be honest. 'I cant update today but I can take time out to draw these BOOBS tee hee'.

Lunar · Post by **Lunar** » Thu May 03, 2007 7:22 am

Update of no update, Cause if for whatever reason I can't get a comic up (be it laziness, lack of motivation, whatever) that also impacts my ability to do filler. So if I have the time or drive to do one or the other I might as well get a new comic up

Komiyan · Post by **Komiyan** » Thu May 03, 2007 7:24 am

Lunar wrote:Update of no update, Cause if for whatever reason I can't get a comic up (be it laziness, lack of motivation, whatever) that also impacts my ability to do filler. So if I have the time or drive to do one or the other I might as well get a new comic up

EXACTLY.

Yeahduff · Post by **Yeahduff** » Thu May 03, 2007 8:56 am

Komiyan wrote:
Lunar wrote:Update of no update, Cause if for whatever reason I can't get a comic up (be it laziness, lack of motivation, whatever) that also impacts my ability to do filler. So if I have the time or drive to do one or the other I might as well get a new comic up
EXACTLY.

Unless you happen to have images lying around. Or if you have time but you can't get the writing aspect of it right, so what the hell, I'll draw something.

Brigid · Post by **Brigid** » Thu May 03, 2007 8:58 am

Some people have reserves of random art they've done of the characters or someone submits fanart. In that case it's a pretty easy thing to do to just upload this 'filler' for however long they're unable to make more comic.

That is, of course, if said individual has access to his or her computer during that time, which is probably the only way I'd end up missing a lot of updates.

Even sick I can manage to draw. (Heck, sometimes when I'm sick, that's all I *can* do.)

But like I said, filler really doesn't bother me. Though if it got to be all filler, I guess it probably would.

Dr Legostar · Post by **Dr Legostar** » Thu May 03, 2007 10:34 am

the guest comics and art in my archive are there to give traffic to those people who submitted it when it was originally posted and when new readers go through, which is why i leave it there, in hopes they will get new readers.

MaskedLioness · Post by **MaskedLioness** » Thu May 03, 2007 2:49 pm

I don't mind filler unless it gets excessive (as has been mentioned before). I actually like the way it's handled at El Goonish Shive where he has a seperate archive for the filler so some sense of the passage of time is maintained and it doesn't muck up the story.

Now, I'm guilty of doing filler and sometimes feel bad working on it instead of the comic, but my fillers on the whole are one panel affairs instead of 6-10 panels. Plus, my author felt that a filler update was better than no update. We actually finally just went on hiatus over this last semester because I didn't feel right posting gobs of non-story material.

Komiyan · Post by **Komiyan** » Thu May 03, 2007 2:54 pm

yeahduff wrote:
Komiyan wrote:
Lunar wrote:Update of no update, Cause if for whatever reason I can't get a comic up (be it laziness, lack of motivation, whatever) that also impacts my ability to do filler. So if I have the time or drive to do one or the other I might as well get a new comic up
EXACTLY.
Unless you happen to have images lying around. Or if you have time but you can't get the writing aspect of it right, so what the hell, I'll draw something.

But I don't want to see a random drawing, I want to see more of the story. If it starts to load and it's different, I'll think 'ooh new page!' then get disappointed.

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Thu May 03, 2007 5:01 pm

Yeah, as a reader, I don't care to see a random drawing instead of story. It's worth as much as no comic to me, so author might as well save energy for a real update when he gets to it.
As artist though, very often erasing pencils, scanning, post-production and uploading is the most tiresome, boring part of the job (not to mention times when I don't have access to scanner), so when I skip an update, ironically or not, I usually still have mostly finished page.

Yeahduff · Post by **Yeahduff** » Thu May 03, 2007 7:56 pm

Like I said earlier, when I see people do it, I figure it is better than nothing. At least I'm seeing new work, even if it's not story progression, even if it's not the same. I guess we all view it differently.

Guyford · Post by **Guyford** » Thu May 03, 2007 7:59 pm

If it's every once in a while (like a piece in between story arcs) or there aren't enough filler images to warrant a separate gallery, I think it's ok to leave that stuff in the archives.

I like the approach that some folks use where they have the filler up for a few days then pop it into a dedicated section and leave the archives dedicated to the actual comic.

As for me, it takes me long enough to a normal page, so if I don't have time to put a page up, I'm not going to spend extra time drawing something that doesn't contribute to the story.

Adobedragon · Post by **Adobedragon** » Fri May 04, 2007 7:15 am

But I don't want to see a random drawing, I want to see more of the story. If it starts to load and it's different, I'll think 'ooh new page!' then get disappointed.

Me too.

As for me, it takes me long enough to a normal page, so if I don't have time to put a page up, I'm not going to spend extra time drawing something that doesn't contribute to the story.

Ditto. Also, I'm easily distracted. Especially once a project gets older and looses some of the excitement that comes with a new project. I stay on track by treating the comic sort of like a job: I do the work and get it done on time. Working on the comic thus becomes a habit. If I started putting time into filler, I'd fall out of the habit of working on the comic.

Yeahduff · Post by **Yeahduff** » Fri May 04, 2007 7:31 am

Wait, you guys don't just draw stuff? Like, for no reason at all? Man, I can't even imagine that.