12 February 2012

Webcomic of Dooooom! Summing up.

Okay.  So, that's five candidates for further development, and hopefully, in six months or a year, I'll have developed one of them into a script, which I'll then illustrate, and post at a rate of a page a week.  I am inspired by Gina Biggs' Red String, if you'd like an example of what I'm talking about.

I see that people have looked at them, but with the exception of Abby, no one has commented here.  (By the bye, if you don't know her, Abby Arsenic is a player for the Arizona Derby Dames banked-track roller derby league.  I love roller derby.  The women who play it are tough, and sexy, and confident, and it just rocks my small, self-centered world).

So let me talk a little about the considerations, here.  I am not a great artist.  Of course, many web comics start with substandard art, and XKCD is virtually defined by its poor art. I am a good writer, having spent many years honing those skills. Is a well-written but badly-drawn comic worth reading?  You tell me.  (No, really, I mean it... tell me!)

Do you really have no opinion about which of the teasers I've posted should be developed?  Do they all suck so much that you wouldn't read a web-published graphic novel developed from any of them? Tell me.

I have some experience with LightWave, and if I were to develop either #2 or #5, I might use it for the graphics, instead of drawing them.  Indeed, in my mind's eye, I see Blackrock Fief as being done in a sort of Ukiyo-e woodblock style that I'm fairly certain LightWave could do with the right shaders.

But I need encouragement... and raising page counts with no comments aren't very encouraging.

3 comments:

Susan said...

As long as you don't ask me to rank the starts, I'm good. I've long been a fan of your writing, which you well know, and I'm willing to "suffer through" your art learning, though I imagine you will develop a style that works quite well for you, having seen some of your tiny cartoon characters over the years. Just a suggestion of who and what and where is all the human mind needs. No matter about the drawing, I'd be reading for story every time.

Mostly, I would simply say, do what pleases YOU.

Susan Vollenweider said...

I just wanted to comment because, yes, I did read them all and hard work like that needs to be commented upon!I don't know if your genre is my thing, but I do like the way you write so I will probably read what you put out here.Whatever that is. I do, however, have a little speech about giving hard work away for free. I also have one about honing your craft in a public forum with kind and constructive criticism from people who want to support you. These two speeches pretty much cancel each other out...so that is a decision you need to make for yourself.

And lack of art skill is in the eye of the beholder.

Jenny said...

I really do believe that the era of the traditional printing house is ending. Traditional book distribution is dying. The question is, what comes next, and how do I make a living off it?