Sta.sh
Now that you've seen tutorials on making your comics, how to draw dynamic poses and create believable characters and even a little on perspective and environments you're ready to start your comic and get involved in the Online comics Community.
There are several Places for you to Post, share and network with other online comic artists, I'll list a few for you!
If you don't have your own website, don't fret. These are several places that'll allow you to post all your comic pages and create archives.
:comic:Deviantart
Yeah thats right, I said Deviantart! I encourage you to post your comics on DA, archive them elsewhere if you must, but DA is the hugest online art community, you cant beat this traffic and exposure.
Gallery folders are the greatest thing since... well devpack...
Anyway, make use of your gallery folders! Make a folder for your comic and keep it only for pages! You can reorder the pages by dragging and dropping and on the deviations there are prev & Next buttons for people to read from page to page. Theres a space for a synopsis, all you need.
It may not be ideal, but I have made suggestions for something better for us online comicers, so just stay with us! Its much easier to feature comics on DA than to do it offsite and you really cant beat the traffic and Prints service.
:comic:<a href="[link]Paper Demon
This place is actually an art site similar to DA (but quite different in approach and setup) with a specialized comics area. The comics are a bit separate from your gallery and the setup is awesome. This is one of my favorite places for the online comic setup. You can have multiple comics in your comics gallery and each comic is set up in an easy to read, browse and comment fashion.
I'll use *bonbon3272's comic as an example:
Comics gallery page- This is where all of your comics would be available, you can choose between the cover or latest page
Clicking on the Thumbnail you are taken to the cover image and as you can see the setup is clean and easy to understand.
*bonbon3272 comic "Wisdom" is also available on Deviantart here: [link]
:comic:Smackjeeves
Seems nice enough, the layout of the website seems a bit messy but some of the comics seem to get a fair bit of traffic. It's nice to be able to see a few pages at once rather than always getting tossed to the latest page.
All in all a nice site, the graphics just could use a little streamlining, smaller avatars and fonts as well.
:comic:Drunk Duck
Probably the most popular online comics hosting site available at the moment, but be prepared for a lot of ads.
The comic reading layouts fairly simple and seems very customizable however, there is a large drunk duck banner across the top that's a little off putting.
I think thats the price you pay for ultimate traffic.
:comic:Comic Genesis (formally Keenspace)
Right now, the website seems to be unavailable. At one point this site was extremely popular. The downtime could be temporary, who knows.
:comic:Comic Space
Your first thought was "UGH sounds like myspace!" wasn't it? I know I know, but don't dismiss it right yet! It's a great networking opportunity, and you can host and list your site with them, and it's free. If you buy a membership you can sell your original work. It's not nearly as invasive as myspace and it's not run by the same people as myspace, it's run by the people at onlinecomics.net, so your safe.
Many listing places are based on popularity, you need to be popular or sponsor the site to get real attention. Some more than others, but they are all very important to join and list your comic because the more your name and the name of your comic is found, the more popular your comic will become.
:comic:Online Comics
This is probably the best place to start off. You create a profile, add sample pages, fav other comics and you can raise up in popularity through a fanbase. This place spotlights new comics, so it's a great start. The auto updates are easy to set up and there are several methods to do so. You can also get updates on when your favorite comics have been updated. In my opinion they are the best there is, the sites easy to use and they have the best search ability.
GET YOUR START HERE.
:comic:Top Web Comics
This is one of those typical topsites kinda deals. You add your comics to the list and beg people to vote for your comic. They are good traffic bringers, byt you need to get votes, so they are something to get into early, so as your comic grows and becomes more popular you'll rise to the top.
:comic:Buzz Comics
Same idea as Top Web Comics.
:comic:The Belfry
I'm not sure on the traffic level on this site, I only found it today, but I didn't need to sign up to add my comic, so that was a plus. Seems to be high furry content, but you can sort by furry and non furry (funny that you cant sort out other things though). Probably a good place to add your comic and just bugger off.
:comic:Webcomic List
A huge listing, probably the biggest, and easy to add your comic in and edit. I've had trouble getting the automatic update notification to work for my comic, which is a little annoying, but other people have managed to get it to work so it's not impossible. The problem is that the listing is so huge, if you cant get the auto updates to work your comic just disappears into the chaos, while other peoples show in the recently updated section.
Worth it to add though, even without the auto updates.
:comic: Tomgeeks - for female comic artists only
This is a fairly small listing for comics made by girls, but some of the comics listed there are very high profile comics. They have a forum and community in there as well, and the site is nicely put together and run.
Females only though, sorry guys.
Thought I'd throw this in here too, since some indy comic artists aren't interested so much in online publication, and also, after your comics been online and you've gotten it popular, you might want to see it in print.
:comic:Comixpress
Fairly affordable saddle stitched and paperback (perfect bound) printing, but there is a setup fee for each new book. Once your book is printed you can have it offered through their website as a Print on Demand sale as well, where you'd get the profits and they keep the cost. I've not heard anything bad about them.
:comic:Ka Blam
SO far, I've heard nothing but good things from this printing service, from what I hear they are the best. They also have the ability to sell work through their site and their prices are reasonable. They have a wider variety of products for custom printing aside from the standard comics and paperbacks they have posters and even personalized comic art board. Whats best of all is no setup fee.
:comic: 01Comics
They appear to be the same company as Ka Blam and Indy Planet and 01comics appears to be an independent comic publisher and printer (ka-blam) which allows the creators and artists to retain complete rights to the work. I haven't researched it too intensely, but if that sounds like a route for you, I'd suggest taking a closer look.
:comic:Lulu/Cafepress
I group these two together because they appear to be pretty much the same in quality and product availability. First of all, EXPENSIVE. Yeah yeah free set up, free shop, blah blah! Have you ever tried buying things form there? Okay, have you ever tried buying your own things? If you are wanting to get some merchandise for a convention, this is NOT the way to go. I was on Cafepress a while ago and the quality was fairly poor (stickers slapped on generic blank product, what seemed like iron on transfers for t-shirts), the ship time was slow. I also tried to get a comic printed through them, the screentones were terrible (after they assured me they were capable of printing them) and the cover image was over saturated all to hell. It was AWFUL.
This is something I would only recommend if you want to set up products in the hopes that someone might buy it. I don't recommend it for anyone serious about making money with comics and connecting products.
For tshirts and things, try and find someone local, for printing comics, check the above links.
If you know of other places to host, list and print comics, comment below with some links and I'll include them in future issues.
There are several Places for you to Post, share and network with other online comic artists, I'll list a few for you!
Places to Host Comics
If you don't have your own website, don't fret. These are several places that'll allow you to post all your comic pages and create archives.
:comic:Deviantart
Yeah thats right, I said Deviantart! I encourage you to post your comics on DA, archive them elsewhere if you must, but DA is the hugest online art community, you cant beat this traffic and exposure.
Gallery folders are the greatest thing since... well devpack...
Anyway, make use of your gallery folders! Make a folder for your comic and keep it only for pages! You can reorder the pages by dragging and dropping and on the deviations there are prev & Next buttons for people to read from page to page. Theres a space for a synopsis, all you need.
It may not be ideal, but I have made suggestions for something better for us online comicers, so just stay with us! Its much easier to feature comics on DA than to do it offsite and you really cant beat the traffic and Prints service.
:comic:<a href="[link]Paper Demon
This place is actually an art site similar to DA (but quite different in approach and setup) with a specialized comics area. The comics are a bit separate from your gallery and the setup is awesome. This is one of my favorite places for the online comic setup. You can have multiple comics in your comics gallery and each comic is set up in an easy to read, browse and comment fashion.
I'll use *bonbon3272's comic as an example:
Comics gallery page- This is where all of your comics would be available, you can choose between the cover or latest page
Clicking on the Thumbnail you are taken to the cover image and as you can see the setup is clean and easy to understand.
*bonbon3272 comic "Wisdom" is also available on Deviantart here: [link]
:comic:Smackjeeves
Seems nice enough, the layout of the website seems a bit messy but some of the comics seem to get a fair bit of traffic. It's nice to be able to see a few pages at once rather than always getting tossed to the latest page.
All in all a nice site, the graphics just could use a little streamlining, smaller avatars and fonts as well.
:comic:Drunk Duck
Probably the most popular online comics hosting site available at the moment, but be prepared for a lot of ads.
The comic reading layouts fairly simple and seems very customizable however, there is a large drunk duck banner across the top that's a little off putting.
I think thats the price you pay for ultimate traffic.
:comic:Comic Genesis (formally Keenspace)
Right now, the website seems to be unavailable. At one point this site was extremely popular. The downtime could be temporary, who knows.
:comic:Comic Space
Your first thought was "UGH sounds like myspace!" wasn't it? I know I know, but don't dismiss it right yet! It's a great networking opportunity, and you can host and list your site with them, and it's free. If you buy a membership you can sell your original work. It's not nearly as invasive as myspace and it's not run by the same people as myspace, it's run by the people at onlinecomics.net, so your safe.
Listings
Many listing places are based on popularity, you need to be popular or sponsor the site to get real attention. Some more than others, but they are all very important to join and list your comic because the more your name and the name of your comic is found, the more popular your comic will become.
:comic:Online Comics
This is probably the best place to start off. You create a profile, add sample pages, fav other comics and you can raise up in popularity through a fanbase. This place spotlights new comics, so it's a great start. The auto updates are easy to set up and there are several methods to do so. You can also get updates on when your favorite comics have been updated. In my opinion they are the best there is, the sites easy to use and they have the best search ability.
GET YOUR START HERE.
:comic:Top Web Comics
This is one of those typical topsites kinda deals. You add your comics to the list and beg people to vote for your comic. They are good traffic bringers, byt you need to get votes, so they are something to get into early, so as your comic grows and becomes more popular you'll rise to the top.
:comic:Buzz Comics
Same idea as Top Web Comics.
:comic:The Belfry
I'm not sure on the traffic level on this site, I only found it today, but I didn't need to sign up to add my comic, so that was a plus. Seems to be high furry content, but you can sort by furry and non furry (funny that you cant sort out other things though). Probably a good place to add your comic and just bugger off.
:comic:Webcomic List
A huge listing, probably the biggest, and easy to add your comic in and edit. I've had trouble getting the automatic update notification to work for my comic, which is a little annoying, but other people have managed to get it to work so it's not impossible. The problem is that the listing is so huge, if you cant get the auto updates to work your comic just disappears into the chaos, while other peoples show in the recently updated section.
Worth it to add though, even without the auto updates.
:comic: Tomgeeks - for female comic artists only
This is a fairly small listing for comics made by girls, but some of the comics listed there are very high profile comics. They have a forum and community in there as well, and the site is nicely put together and run.
Females only though, sorry guys.
Printing and Publishing
Thought I'd throw this in here too, since some indy comic artists aren't interested so much in online publication, and also, after your comics been online and you've gotten it popular, you might want to see it in print.
:comic:Comixpress
Fairly affordable saddle stitched and paperback (perfect bound) printing, but there is a setup fee for each new book. Once your book is printed you can have it offered through their website as a Print on Demand sale as well, where you'd get the profits and they keep the cost. I've not heard anything bad about them.
:comic:Ka Blam
SO far, I've heard nothing but good things from this printing service, from what I hear they are the best. They also have the ability to sell work through their site and their prices are reasonable. They have a wider variety of products for custom printing aside from the standard comics and paperbacks they have posters and even personalized comic art board. Whats best of all is no setup fee.
:comic: 01Comics
They appear to be the same company as Ka Blam and Indy Planet and 01comics appears to be an independent comic publisher and printer (ka-blam) which allows the creators and artists to retain complete rights to the work. I haven't researched it too intensely, but if that sounds like a route for you, I'd suggest taking a closer look.
:comic:Lulu/Cafepress
I group these two together because they appear to be pretty much the same in quality and product availability. First of all, EXPENSIVE. Yeah yeah free set up, free shop, blah blah! Have you ever tried buying things form there? Okay, have you ever tried buying your own things? If you are wanting to get some merchandise for a convention, this is NOT the way to go. I was on Cafepress a while ago and the quality was fairly poor (stickers slapped on generic blank product, what seemed like iron on transfers for t-shirts), the ship time was slow. I also tried to get a comic printed through them, the screentones were terrible (after they assured me they were capable of printing them) and the cover image was over saturated all to hell. It was AWFUL.
This is something I would only recommend if you want to set up products in the hopes that someone might buy it. I don't recommend it for anyone serious about making money with comics and connecting products.
For tshirts and things, try and find someone local, for printing comics, check the above links.
If you know of other places to host, list and print comics, comment below with some links and I'll include them in future issues.
This is the beginning of something great!