Episodes
Receiving & Processing Critique
Webcomics have a lot of moving pieces, and constructive critique can be an excellent way to troubleshoot those pieces or get around road blocks. We understand that it can be scary to ask for a critique of your work, but learning how to receive and process critique can help you, and your webcomic, to improve and grow. Today we're going to talk about how to be on the receiving end of critique.
Characters as Tools
We all love creating characters, and we want to make them feel like they could be real people. But at the end of the day, characters aren’t real people - they act as tools to help tell our stories, while hopefully still coming across as having a three-dimensional history and personality. Today we wanted to talk about how to interpret characters as storytelling tools - and what to do when your audience gets a little too invested.
Starting with the Big Idea
If you’re like… well… everyone on this podcast, you’ve had some pretty epic webcomic ideas. They’re really cool and exciting, maybe you’ve even been developing them for years without even drawing a page, and it's such an expansive idea it's probably going to even longer to draw, maybe even ten years! (if you’re lucky). This is a situation that can be both exciting and scary, and today we're going to talk about taking this BIG idea and using it to start your webcomic journey.
Beginnings
The beginning hooks of your webcomic are what's going to inspire a reader to keep reading, and there are lots of approaches to starting out, depending on the story you're trying to tell. Today, we're going to talk about the many ways to begin a beginning.
Sticking With One Idea
Do you have a bunch of ideas, but you can never stay fixated on just one? It can be tricky to stay focused for a project as long as a webcomic, especially when everything else starts to look SO MUCH SHINIER. But there are things you can do to increase your chances of seeing it through to the end and resisting the Plot Bunnies, so today we're going to talk about that!
Alternate Formats
Webcomics are pretty great in our opinion, but they're not the only way to get a narrative story out into the world. Prose has been an option forever, but today, with so many new technologies, there are so many more options available! You could use anything from video games to podcasts to tell a story. But each option has its own pros and cons depending on what sort of project you're building, and today we're going to talk about them!
Plotting a Webcomic
Coming up with characters and scenarios is one thing, but when you're working in a longform narrative comic, you're going to want to think about a plot. Planning out your plot in a webcomic is a unique challenge compared to some other mediums, so today we're going to talk about it!
3D Models
One tool that webcomic artists can take advantage of, to help save time and sanity, is 3D models. Whether tracing directly or using them for reference, they can help you visualize complex places, objects, or poses from different angles. So let's talk about them!
Blorbology
If you are on any social media platform with artists, you may have heard the terms "OC", which stands for "original character", or "blorbo" which stands for... I don't know, I think Tumblr just made that one up. The terms evolved because creators needed a way to talk about freeform character concepting. Whether they're part of a fanfiction or just the guy you always seem to end up doodling in your sketchbook, it's often the case that in the process of drawing and experimenting with scenes for these characters for fun, they really can develop cool backstories and deep emotional meaning in the creators' minds, and that's what we're calling "Blorbology".
Tragic Backstories
Let's not lie to ourselves: we've all been in the misery pit before, thinking about the poignant and tragic beginnings to our character's stories. Tragic backstories are a trope for a reason: painful experiences can add depth and catharsis to characters. But how do we make them resonate with our audiences emotionally?
Backgrounds
I think we've all heard someone make the joke of setting their comic in a white void before. When asking around, backgrounds seem to be one of the biggest challenges when creating a comic. In today's episode we're going to give our five cents on why this might be and talk about tips and tricks that make working on them more fun!
Writing a Synopsis (with Eli!)
A synopsis is one of the most powerful tools we have for hooking potential readers into our story. But sometimes summing up your big ideas into an understandable, compelling short statement is really challenging! So we’re here to break down the elements, look into what you do and don’t need, and hopefully give you some good ideas to work with!
AI is Bad, Actually
Welcome, fellow artists and storytellers, to the vibrant world of Screentones, where the lines between imagination and reality blur with every stroke. Join us as we delve into the colorful palette of comics, exploring the intricate layers of storytelling, character dynamics, and the magic of visual narrative. Whether you're a seasoned creator or an eager enthusiast, prepare to be immersed in discussions, interviews, and insights that ignite your passion and ignite your creativity. This is Screentones, where every pixel holds a story.
Burnout
Burnout is the accumulation of unchecked and built up chronic stress over a period of time. And it takes some interesting forms that you might not expect, it can come from other places in your life OR from the making of your comic itself. But preventing it from creeping up on you in the great marathon of webcomics is critical to keeping healthy and happy, so let’s talk about our experiences!
RP and Webcomics
Roleplay has been with us since the dawn of the internet, and many of us have created original characters in RPs on forums or chats that later found their way into our comic work. It can be a great way to get the ball rolling on creating a webcomic, so today we’re going to talk about our experiences with it!
The Intro "DO IT (feat. Shia LaBeouf)", and the Outro "It's Good To See You Again!!", both by Adrianwave, have been used and modified in good faith under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Licensed. Edits include: Fade IN/OUT, and a repeat added to the beginning of "It's Good To See You Again!!". For more information on this creative commons use, please reference https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/