I've started a few webcomics over the years, all of which I've scrapped after I became filled with shame over how much they sucked. Now I'm more accepting of my terrible skills as an artist/writer, so I decided to start again. I have fun doodling this kind of stuff and I figured I may as well post a link here.
http://bic.smackjeeves.com/

I quite like these. Despite the fact that they look like a child has drawn them, which I actually think is charming. Got a couple of giggles out of me though.
Website could be a bit shinier though.
Keep it up!

Rorschach wrote:I quite like these. Despite the fact that they look like a child has drawn them, which I actually think is charming. Got a couple of giggles out of me though.
Website could be a bit shinier though.
Keep it up!

Thanks, I appreciate it
I'm not too too happy with the website, but the best I can do is pick one of their templates and hope it works without causing the readers' eyes to bleed.

I decided to donate to smackjeeves to get rid of the banner ads and up my bandwidth. I figure if I pay for the ability to have a comic I'll be more likely to keep up with it.

OK, so a quick bit of feedback that you need to know when making comics and is common to the vast majority of beginner comic artists: western audiences will tend to read things from left to right first, and then from top to bottom. So in the last panel of Wednesday's comic, I read "Do you hear sirens?" before the "Who the hell have I been spying on?" line, which doesn't seem to be the intended order. And in Thursday's comic, in the first panel, I read "Ja." before the "Are you Nietzsche?" question. And in the third panel, I read his exclamation before the "BLAM!" In the second panel of Friday's strip, it's not as bad, but her comment should really fit vertically between his two word balloons. Friday's bonus strip is just totally off all the way around.

You can fix this by crossing over word balloons, which isn't always as clear, but it generally works. You can switch the positions of the characters, but this can becomes somewhat confusing without changing the camera perspective. In 2D comics, that can be difficult. So try to position the characters in such a way that the dialog flows smoothly with the word balloons are over their heads and things still end up in the proper order, and think about how your dialog will fit into the panels. In the Nietzsche comic, for instance, why is Nietzsche on the left? He should be on the right. This recent Diesel Sweeties strip is a quick-n-dirty example of how to do it right. The first bit of dialog is initiated by the character on the left, and his word balloon is in the upper left. The responding character is on the right, and his word balloon is below and to the right.

Hey Deacon,
Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it. I'll be sure to keep your suggestions in mind for future comics, and I'll probably go back and fix the older ones accordingly. I like that you actually offer solutions and don't just point out flaws. You're what the internet needs more of: People who offer constructive criticism honestly. Also, it needs more people who don't have their heads so far up their asses that they wont accept advise from people who know more than them.

Oh yeah. You're still new here.

Wow, the Nietzsche one is SO MUCH improved. Wouldn't you say? And the others that have been corrected are so much easier to read, now, too...

Deacon wrote:Wow, the Nietzsche one is SO MUCH improved. Wouldn't you say? And the others that have been corrected are so much easier to read, now, too...

Yeah, they are much better now. There's a lot of little details in webcomics you don't really notice unless you look hard at them. I've been going through a bunch of my favourites and paying attention to the minute details, hopefully I can actually learn to apply the knowledge effectively. Thanks again for your help!

Muspar wrote:You're what the internet needs more of:

Oh, there's not enough room in the internet for any more Deacon. We'd have to build another one.

He's right though. It looks nice. I was actually a little disappointed by your turkey-based cop-out today, which is a good sign.

Muspar wrote:Hey Deacon,
Thanks for the feedback, I appreciate it. I'll be sure to keep your suggestions in mind for future comics, and I'll probably go back and fix the older ones accordingly. I like that you actually offer solutions and don't just point out flaws. You're what the internet needs more of: People who offer constructive criticism honestly. Also, it needs more people who don't have their heads so far up their asses that they wont accept advise from people who know more than them.

Oh poor little newbie I hope you don't cry when he bites you , and for God's sake don't feed him after midnight! lol I kid, I kid (srsly keep your eyes open )

Rorschach wrote:Oh, there's not enough room in the internet for any more Deacon. We'd have to build another one.

FirebirdNC wrote:Oh poor little newbie I hope you don't cry when he bites you , and for God's sake don't feed him after midnight! lol I kid, I kid (srsly keep your eyes open )

Hmm, it seems as though this "Deacon" fella has a bit of a reputation on here. I shall have to keep a good watch on him for to see if he lives up to the image of him that has been painted for me!

It was the damndest thing. I had been reading over a "how to make webcomics not suck on disgusting things" tutorial, specifically because I hated my font and wanted to know what to use. Lo and behold, the craptacularity of Comic Sans was the subject of today's comic. It was eerie... but now I'm picking up a few non-standard fonts so all future comics will be done with them. Hopefully I can avoid making all 12 of my readers' eyes bleed in the future!

Rorschach wrote:I was actually a little disappointed by your turkey-based cop-out today

Then you'll be doubly disappointed by today's cop-out image

On the subject of text might I suggest using either Paint.Net or GIMP; as both will do anti-aliasing on your fonts at all point sizes without you having to spend money. I realise you're not going for massively high production standards but it would add a lot for little effort.

I recommend you add a swashbuckling superhero from the future that goes by the name of Arc Orion.

Okay, I'm not much for productive suggestions....

BtEO wrote:On the subject of text might I suggest using either Paint.Net or GIMP; as both will do anti-aliasing on your fonts at all point sizes without you having to spend money. I realise you're not going for massively high production standards but it would add a lot for little effort.

Ok, so I downloaded and used GIMP to do today's comic and I used a comic-intended font from Blambot.com. The font definitely looks much better now and GIMP has some pretty nifty features (the best is that it's free). Maybe I'm just not used to it but GIMP seemed a lot more difficult to use and it seemed to be lacking some critical tools that even MS Paint had, though maybe I just couldn't find them. All I know is it took me 2 hours to do tonight's strip, and it really doesn't look like it's "2 hours worth of effort" quality. Urgh. I'll give Paint.net a try for tomorrow.