Silly question....

[Alschroeder]

What is this "buffer" you speak of?
--Al
PS. I kid, I kid. Although I often live dangerously with MM and Flickerflame, Lewis knows how rigid I am wanting enough buffer for say, the CROSSOVERLORD.

[Linkara]

Hey, I was MORE rigid. ^_~ I had said we should wait until the thing is 3/4 complete before we start posting it.

[Alschroeder]

That's not rigid, that's INSANE. *Grin*
---Al

[Wandering Observer]

If I'm ever a webcomic artist, maybe I'll understand, but it seems like most of the really famous comics, (i.e. Penny Arcade, Megatokyo, Applegeeks, VG cats, Perry Bible Fellowship, ect) operate without buffers at all. If they can get along with out them, why is it so important that you folks have them at all?

[Linkara]

If I'm ever a webcomic artist, maybe I'll understand, but it seems like most of the really famous comics, (i.e. Penny Arcade, Megatokyo, Applegeeks, VG cats, Perry Bible Fellowship, ect) operate without buffers at all. If they can get along with out them, why is it so important that you folks have them at all?

Note that all of those are humor comics with very unique style. Especially in one or two of them, they style is VERY simple and easy to create and maintain. Some gag-a-day strips also tend to be smaller than what either Al or I do - i.e. three panels arranged horizontally vs. me with a full page or so, so there's more to be done in it. With comics like VG Cats or Penny Arcade, they already have a loyal and dedicated fanbase that's quite large, but it really started and worked when they WERE posting comics on time (VG Cats in particular). For the little people like us, buffer is important for maintaining a fanbase until we can get it larger, but it's not always easy.

[Alschroeder]

Having a buffer is a GOOD thing, but I confess on most of the stuff I do, I live dangerously. (Except CROSSOVERLORD, where we're trying to coordinate FIVE artists...there the bigger buffer the better.) OTOH, on both MM and Flickerflame, I do a synopsis of the whole story before I start the story, and storyboard it out at least several pages in advance. So it's not like I don't know where I'm going...

---Al

[Wandering Observer]

For the record Lewis, which of the comics I mentioned above have a simple drawing style?

[Linkara]

IMHO, Penny Arcade and VG Cats have very simple drawing styles. They got complicated when you go to coloring and effects and etc.

[Wandering Observer]

I would suggest going back and watching the Penny Arcade TV segments they have in the blog on how the comic is made. Furthermore, coloring is part of the style, and it's illogical not to consider that when making an argument about update times.