SoulCanon

6 Degrees Can Be a Cold Idea

2005-11-30T13:04:00.000-05:00

Star Wars made ludicrous amounts of money. Want to know who made out on that one? George Lucas, the creator and writer. Why? He was unwilling to sell the idea to the highest bidder. Now, how many times have you heard of that happening, the creator makes most if not all of the money? How about the number of times the creator gets screwed? Or, how about the number of times do you hear about someone suing because the idea was stolen? That should put into perspective how important it is to protect your idea.

A year ago I was asked to create some creatures for a coworker. She approached me with a great idea for a children's product, The Fossibles. She had a relative that got the small marketing company she worked for interested in what she was doing. At the time it was just a pipe-dream idea. Even so, before I got see anything I had to sign a release agreement. Shortly after I finished creating the character turn-arounds for the Fossible characters... she and the small marketing company had talks lined up with people like Seth Macfarlane and Steven Spielberg. Yes, literally. Now, the The Fossibles is currently in production ( even though they decided to go in a different direction ). Six degrees of separation is not as far as it would seem.

The point I am trying to make ( and a lesson I learned ) is that you NEVER know where an idea can go, or where connections can go. Imagine what would happen if someone in that line of connections stole the idea? If you don't have some sort of record that you created the work or that they stole it, someone else would be rich. Always! Always! Always! Protect your stuff. You may know someone, who knows someone, who knows George Lucas. But you may also know someone, who knows someone who would love to present your idea as his to his friend George Lucas.

DO your research people, here's a start for you...

http://www.copyright.gov
Patents.com
WhatIsCopyright.org
Copyright.com
CopyrightProtection.com

Want to keep up with copyright info? Check out ChillingEffect.org

Lastly, here is a link I think will soon revolutionize the online industry...
Creative Commons ( Edit: Found a related article over at Comixpedia.com )

Webcomics - A Business Plan

2005-11-28T11:40:00.000-05:00

"If you want to do something, do it all out."

"If you're going to do something, do it right."

" If you want something done right then do it yourself."

They may seem cliche but that's only because people make the same mistake over and over and over! My first couple of goes at creating a business kind of fizzled because I didn't follow this motto. Specifically speaking, research.

Here comes another cliche... "Knowledge is power". The thing is, its all too true. If you don't know how to do something, what are your chances for success the first time? The second time? The third time? On the other hand, what are your chances if you not only know how to do it but you have practiced it?

Intertwined with the last of the Exploring Webcomics Marketing Strategies articles, I will be posting articles about my research on creating a business plan and how I plan to adopt it to my webcomic.

A WIN / WIN Situation

2005-11-23T11:23:00.000-05:00

Making business does not mean there have to be winners and losers. A long time ago I used to work for a small company. It was run by a very ambitious man. He was professional, never missed a deadline and worked until the wee hours of the morning and he always seemed to be able to land the big account. It would seem his strength was making business and he was a rich man.

When I was working for him, I was quite impressed with this ability make business. However, it was not as it would seem. I found later that many people left the professional relationship feeling like they got the raw end of the deal.... almost like they lost a competition. Many people in the corporate world feel that in all business relationships there is a winner and a loser.. that business is a competition. The problem with this? Many of the people he worked with didn't want to business with him again.

How does this apply to webcomics? Well, think of it this way, how many times would a patron come back to your webcomic if they felt like they had been cheated by you? Or by the quality of the products you sell? How about the quality of your work?

A principal I try to live by, is to work to make any relationship a WIN/WIN situation. I think this will every one of my patrons a reader and not just a 'hit/pageview'. Make every patron feel like working with you means they win as well as you.

With that being said, I want to announce that this blog's schedule will be reduced to Mondays ( This will be the final schedule change ). Why? Well, as I have written these blogs I am finding that it is far more important to take the time create quality posts ( more research, more links to resources etc ) with the best research/writing I can do. This way the blog will be more useful to me AND you.

Webcomic Marketing Strategies: Press Releases

2005-11-21T11:04:00.000-05:00

Press Releases
Part of a 13 part series: Exploring Webcomics Marketing Strategies

Press releases seem to be a real great way to add legitimacy to your website's intentions plus it is great 'free' marketing. That as we know is magic to a webcomic creators ears. Now, I am by no means a Public Relations guru, so for this installment I have decided to refer to the experts I found as a result of my research...

- Where to start when writing a press release ( Anatomy of a Press Release )

- Being Newsworthy

- 2 Press release examples

- 10 Essential Tips for Writing Press Release

- 5 Killer Tips for writing a press release

- Digitalwebbing's PR guy's tips posted in Digitalwebbing' s Forums ( a press release spelled out, very good resource )

Webcomics Marketing Strategies : Forums

2005-11-18T10:23:00.000-05:00

Discussion Forums
Part of a 13 part series: Exploring Webcomics Marketing Strategies

Webcomics are successful because they have an army of patrons who want to see it become successful. Community is a successful webcomics life blood. Fostering that community should be priority one for the creator. One of the best ways to foster that sense of community is to have a forum on your website...

They allow the patrons to share their common experience with your webcomic
It also allows you to interact with them
It gives them a sense of belonging and contributing in a positive way
Adds credibility to your website
You get to know the people who enjoy your site
Adds usable, sellable advertising space

Here are some great articles on the benefits of forums:

Pros and Cons of Forums
Forum "Sticky" Factor

Hosting and free forums are all over the place. The most common one is phpBB, a forum built on open source php technology that you can download to your server. They also offer hosting.

If you don't have a server but you have an online comic you can also get a free forum service over at TalkAboutComics.com. Here are the instructions for getting one.

So off with you, create your online army marching to battle for you ;)

Webcomics Marketing Strategies : Affiliates

2005-11-16T09:50:00.000-05:00

Affiliates
Part of a 13 part series: Exploring Webcomics Marketing Strategies

One of the main principles I have tried to maintain during this process of Exploring Webcomics Marketing Strategies is to be 'creatively spinful' with my approach towards marketing my webcomic. I do not want to just do what experts in the process of marketing tell me what to do and leave it at that. It limits me. This includes the old favorite, website affiliates.

Affiliates, almost all website creators have been one. It seems like an easy way to make money. It's as easy as putting a link/image on our website. Its a win/win situation and we've seen many sites' popularity explode because of these.

Now, I am sure most webcomic creators have thought of creating an affiliate program on their websites and then immediately dismissed it. Even if you could create a affiliate program through a third party application, it could cost money ... lots. This is not what a webcomic creator wants to hear. We're on a generous budget of pocket lint and mothballs.

On the other hand, this could be where we try a creative spin. Low-budget does not mean no affiliate program. Could we create an affiliate program without paying money? The reality is, all you have to do is create a win/win situation for you and the patrons you already have. Try the spin, you may surprise yourself with some really great ideas ;)

I have found that doing a little research helps me to think of creative ways to spin an old way. Here are a few articles that may help you put the spin on the old 'Affiliate Program'...

The cost of an Affiliate Program
Internet Basics: Affiliate Programs
Taming the Beast: Affiliate Strategies
Taming the Beast: Affiliate Programs

Do I need a business manager for a webcomic?

2005-11-14T11:47:00.000-05:00

As I trudge through all of the work needed to be done to create my webcomic, I have run into the issue of time. Apparently there are only 24 hours in a day to make the comic AND create/run the business. This is a dilemma every start up business has but in the case of a webcomic and intellectual properties can be quite a patch of quick sand.

There are so many things I need to do for the actual webcomic, I barely have enough time to get any of the business end together. Or, is it the other way around? It depends on the week. The dangerous part is that a lot can be lost if any of this is ignored. Check out Penny-Arcade's debacle. So, what can I do? Some would say get a business manager. However, this may not be as easy as one would assume.

A few webcomic sites have successfully found solutions to business management. Penny-Arcade got lucky and ran into a guy in happenstance. CTRL-ALT-DEL, VGCats and NuklearPower have their guy Pierre that happened to run ZeStuff and PVP has his wife as a business manager. Other solutions like collectives such as BlankLabel comics splits this work between them. However, they all got lucky or had it sitting right in front of them. Regrettably I do not have any of these options available to me. So, where do you find a business manager A) Likes and works with webcomics, B) Start working for no money, C) I can trust?

I am afraid so far my research has found that luck is 90% of that webcomics game. The other 10% is recognizing it when it comes along. What surprises me is that no one has tried making a business out of being a business manager for webcomics. Seems like a no-brainer to me. I know I would bite on that.

A Delicious Webcomics Subplot

2005-11-09T23:07:00.000-05:00

Since I made the serious commitment to make my webcomic, I have been spending a lot of time writing the story. It hurts because I want to spend that time drawing the ACTUAL webcomic. But I know, in my previous attempts, I would just start the drawing the story and immediately write/draw myself into a corner, get frustrated, and start over wasting all that energy. After many many attempts, my fiancee and I came to the conclusion that I was very good at starting a project and very bad at finishing it. I realize now, as a hard lesson learned, that it is a very important part of successfully creating a story especially one that communicates to the reader more than "what you see is what you get".

Sure, I took all sorts of English classes, and creative writing classes in high school and college imparting on me an ostensible awareness of writings tools; plots, subplots, subtext and metaphors, both conceptual and physical. The problem with this was that I could articulate but not truly speak. My stories became stories only enjoyable to me. But, recently the more time I commit to this writing stage the more I find that I understand this mistake. My grasp of this, is letting me impart little parts of the story's world like little hidden flavors. I love the idea of applying this concept to my webcomic.

The reality is that the webcomics which update a page at a time, especially dramatic/scifi/action get so little space to give to the reader something they can take away from that single page satisfied ( Webcomics such as Penny-Arcade and PVP have the luxury because they just need a good joke and a well executed punchline ). I think that adding this type of texture to a long form/graphic novel type webcomic can really make it more valuable longer lasting experience for the reader.

"Generally I was reading the most poppy, soapy, long-running superhero stuff you could get," he says. "Clairmont's X-Men, especially, because he was shameless in terms of throwing in any tiny little subplot he could wedge into the main storyline. And, honestly, the people in pop culture who are most like those that read the X-Men are those who watch Days of Our Lives, because the two have so much in common in the sense that everybody's connected to somebody else. It would reward you for being a constant reader with little asides and very complicated overarching storylines and then your reward for paying attention to the whole, extended soap opera was a giddy sort of excitement on the part of the reader when they made one of those connections."

-Jason Henderson
quote from The Austin Chronicle online article 'Overnight Sensation' by Marc Savlov

This insight, in turn, may create more readers than pageviews for the webcomic. That in my opinion is the food of webcomic creators, for profit or fun ;)

Webcomic Marketing Strategies : Blogging

2005-11-07T10:00:00.000-05:00

Starting a Blog...
Part of a 13 part series: Exploring Webcomics Marketing Strategies

One of the many reasons I have started a blog detailing the creation of my webcomic business plan is to market the webcomic in an 'accessible' way. A lot of my research backs this idea. One article I found testifies to this concept: 'Why are blogs so great anyway?'. To summarize what the article says...

Blogs are usually written in plain english making them easily accessible
Anyone can post the information, even the internet non-savvy
The information is easily used by other systems making them easy to disseminate

This 'plain' language idea allows for 'plain language' searches. Which for people, I imagine, is how they intuitively do searches and would expect to get results. If this is true, this can make blogs a great tool for marketing your webcomic blog and/or webcomic to more people. Especially for people who are not exposed to webcomics. With this is mind here are ...

8 tips I found on the web for increasing hits on your blog:

1. Blog with keywords

2. Post on Current News

3. Post Your Own thoughts

4. Link Out
Link outs to other sites are tracked on blogging sites like Blogger.com

5. Link In
Pingoat.com: I ran into this researching blogs, this links to all the blog listers I have heard of. Go there to get 'Add Blog' links to the respective sites.

6. Track Backs

7. Guest Blog

8. Make Comments

Now these are great points however, I don't get the impression that simply creating a blog will not necessarily drive traffic to your webcomic. But it can if it is relevant AND good. It's got to be a site people will be able to get good information or has "illuminating" opinions. If you want to see more of what I found on creating/maintaining a good blog go to UseIt's Weblog Usability article: Top Ten [ blog ] Design Mistakes

Webcomics Marketing Strategies : Feeds

2005-11-04T10:00:00.000-05:00

RSS Feeds
Part of a 13 part series: Exploring Webcomics Marketing Strategies

Many predict that emails validity as a marketing tool quickly fading because of spam and I would say there is a good case for it. The good news is there is a replacement that could make a webcomics a little easier to market to a targeted audience. It's called RSS.

RSS stands for 'Real Simple Syndication', a XML standard for publishing content . Now for those of you who don't know 'diddly' about XML, think of it as 'customizable standard' for formatting information into a plain text making it readable by any system. This 'readability' makes information easily disseminated in any way that can be imagined. Why is this good? If the information is good it can spread as fast.

Many applications are already on the market designed for reading rss
Right now 1%* of internet users use an RSS reader or aggregator ( they read RSS ). It is expected to explode in the near future as users discover the benefits of RSS
FireFox already has 'Live Booking' ( RSS reader ) built into the browser and the other browser are already building it into their next releases
RSS readers can't be spammed since the reader/aggregator is retrieving the information rather than having it sent to them.
RSS is like sending an email to the people and only the people who are interested in what you are marketing because they choose what is retrieved by the reader/aggregator/browser

How does this apply to webcomics?

Search Engines spider RSS more often than html
No more 'memory leaks': Imagine you have a site that updates sporadically. What if they were instantly notified every time you made a post? No more 'remembering' what day your webcomic updates or patrons forgetting about your website completely when you have long periods between posts.

Good sites about RSS feeds:
Corporate Website Marketing
NewsGator
Web Marketing Today: Using RSS Feeds
Web Marketing Today: A Case for Publishing via RSS Feed and E-Mail
Web Marketing Today: How to Set Up an RSS Feed to Syndicate Your Headlines
Web Marketing Today: RSS Feeds ( links to more info )

Webcomics Marketing Strategies : Philosophy

2005-11-02T11:04:00.000-05:00

A commentary on my 13 part series: Exploring Webcomics Marketing Strategies

Creating a webcomic business is a very difficult thing to do. The market is small, flooded and has its unique challenges. This makes marketing to make a webcomic business successful 'uniquely challenging'. Developing a philosophy might be a good idea...

Comics in general have a stigma attached to them. "They're only for children" and "Comics are for people too lazy to read" are two very common perceptions of comics. I know we have all heard them. Even my family members say these things and hold onto those perceptions tightly for fear of becoming "geeky" and then say, "But we love your stuff" ( I make comics ;) . I love them but they "know not what they say".

Webcomics have the potential to bridge some of this gap. A webcomic circumvents some of the fears attached to reading comics for 'noobs'. There's no more fear of the comicbook domain of the specialty store. People can secretly indulge in their like for a comic in the privacy of their own home. Getting a comic is now as easy as getting the news on the internet. These alleviates in turn open up new avenues to the people that have never read or never allowed themselves to read a comic to give it a chance.

ON the other hand, this also makes marketing challenging because targeted efficient marketing is difficult. Advertising on CNN isn't going to get you readers. I know, I know, you could always advertise on other webcomics or webcomic related websites. However, isn't that a little inc3stuous? You can't reach new members, you are just stealing time from other webcomics.

I think that when attempting to develop a marketing plan the philosophy I try to stick to is, "think outside the box". Most of the marketing information I have found only relates to people trying to just sell products. So when I find marketing information, no matter how irrelevant it is to webcomics, I try to give it a spin. Try it, no matter what business you are in, you might be surprised how many good ideas you will get out of spinning the irrelevant information into new relevant ideas.

A couple of marketing sites that may spark your creativity...

About.Marketing.com
TamingTheBeast

Webcomics AS Product

2005-10-31T10:53:00.000-05:00

One of the things I remember about my dad was he NEVER EVER went back to a company that sold him a lemon. Not only that he would tell everyone he knew WITH MILITANT FERVOR. Every chance he got. You know the saying about business, if you treat a customer right they will tell 3 people, if you do them wrong they will tell six, well my Dad took it to whole new levels. I think he alone put a car company or two out of business ( ALright maybe I made that up ). On the other hand, he ALWAYS went back to the company that sold him a good product, year after year after year. I am sure you all know a person like this if you aren't like that yourself.

No what matter business you are trying to create, the one thing I think it boils down to is the product. In my case it is a comicbook story. The comic product is comprised of two things, 'word' and 'picture' that add into one*, 'experience'. So unless you are selling a necessity ( water, food, shelter ) that's exactly what you are selling ( and even those are sold as experience ). The product ( experience ) must be completely considered. It needs to be well thought out, including plot, art style, colors, dialogue. If you want people to part with their well earned money to support what you produce you have to consider every little thing ... I mean I am talking every little prop that shows in the background**. Do everything you can to enrich the story. Think about it would you part with your money for ok stuff, good stuff or great stuff? In my opinion, to have the best chance for success the product must be of the highest quality.

* Check out Scott McCloud's book 'Understanding Comics", I have read it 6 times already, I highly recommend it!

** Props are usually very carefully considered for movies, a good example is 'Citizen Kane'

Lastly, I want to note that I have started a second blog called Fish Story. It just seemed more appropriate to separate the art & story & personal notes from the business end here at this SoulCanon blog so I created a behind the scenes blog. Besides some subscribers might like the content separated into two discernible feeds. I would also like to note that this blog will go to a 3x a week posting schedule ( M, W, F )

Later gator!

Webcomics Marketing Strategies : Tutorials

2005-10-28T09:51:00.000-05:00

Tutorials
Part of a 13 part series: Exploring Webcomics Marketing Strategies

I explored something about tutorials earlier but I thought I would expand on this subject even further in this post. Tutorials are like articles but for 'noobs' ( inexperienced people ) who want to learn how to do something. Personally, I use the web for every kind of research I can think of (I use tutorials all the time). Its what makes the web so powerful, information, you can learn how to do just about anything. The great thing about tutorials for your webcomic website or even regular comics website is three-fold.

It builds a certain intimacy and trust between you and your patron ( getting to see the 'magic' lets your patrons relate to you )
Really good ones can be viral in that people will posts links to it
There are quite a few tutorial sites that allow you to add your tutorial to their listings*

Tutorials will get you search hits on it for a long time to come since there an unending number of 'noobs'. Tutorial sites can get you hits from people who like art and might be interested in your comic. Tutorials can give you a nice lasting presence.

Just about anything is fair game for tutorials. Check out PolyKarbon it is a good example of how tutorials can help your webcomic. Another might be BlamBot, they have some tutorials on things related to comic lettering.

Lastly, just a tip, the better and the clearer the tutorial, the more mileage you will get out of it ;)

*Here are some good tutorial websites to submit to...
Good-Tutorials.com
TutorialGuide.net

Webcomics and Website Integrity

2005-10-27T12:44:00.000-05:00

I saw a little news post on Comixpedia. There seems to be a dispute about the results of a sketchbattle. Now, I'm sure there all all sorts of arguments about how who does or who does not want popularity. The real issue is the integrity of the website and the polls at sketchbattle.

This is why it actually blows me away that the admin for sketchbattle admits to changing the results. He 'says' he added them back in. But how do we really know this? I mean, now that he has changed them in any way, how can you trust the votes now that he has done something like that? Now the site seems like nothing but a spam magnet to me. It was interesting idea but who knows if any vote counts?

This is where I rope it into webcomics. It sooooo important that to your patrons feel you are reputable. If they for any reason think you cannot be trusted, do you think that any items sold in your store will get sold? Or that you are really the one doing your comic? Or, if they would even provide you with their email for the forum? I sure as hell won't be submitting any of my information to them.

Webcomics Marketing Strategies : Giveaways

2005-10-27T08:38:00.000-05:00

Free Giveaways
Part of a 13 part series: Exploring Webcomics Marketing Strategies

Free giveaways have been a staple of the internet business model since its inception ( Free email addresses, free searches, free etc etc ). This has been no different for webcomics. Webcomics have been giving away the work on their front page for years and its been successful, people like comics and well, they're free. The 'If you build it they will come' business model has worked very well in a few certain ways. However, since then a 'tsunami' of webcomics has flooded the market. Attention is a much more difficult to achieve. One of the ways to get more attention is free givaways. This may seem silly, in light of all that has been given by the big websites, however it can work very well with a little imagination. You just have to be creative and innovative...

Here are a couple of sites that gave me a spark:

Webcomics Marketing Strategies : Articles

2005-10-26T08:13:00.000-05:00

Writing Articles
Part of a 13 part series: Exploring Webcomics Marketing Strategies

Out of all of the research I did on this topic, I found that it was seen as a great way to promote your website. All you do is write an article on a subject of interest and make it available for anyone to post to their website or link to the article. It can even be viral since a lot of websites are hungry for free content. However, the caveat to writing articles is that it requires a position of authority on the topic being discussed. The only real way I can think of that this would be useful to a webcomic is if you have an area of experise that relates to webcomics. My area of expertise that relates to webcomics is probably photoshop. I have been using photoshop for 12 years now. I have been designing, painting and optimizing the whole time and I have a BFA in Illustration. Plus, its my job. I use it almost everyday as a multimedia designer. I believe it makes me somewhat of an expert on the subject. So I think that I will create articles/tutorials on using photoshop to make webcomics.

Here is a bunch of tips on writing articles to promote your website...

Webcomic Tips for Making Money

2005-10-25T12:45:00.000-05:00

DJ Coffman has started a blog on webcomics. His is a bit different than mine. My blog is a journal about trying to create a webcomic business while he is an established creator and 'money maker' sharing tips. He's doing it to help others who want to create a business out of webcomics ( at least a part time one ). Annnnnnd he's book marked annnnnnd now he's o'me feeds. Pretty friggin' cool!

You can also visit his webcomic here.

Webcomics Marketing Strategies : Newsletters

2005-10-25T09:02:00.000-05:00

Newsletters and Magazines
Part of a 13 part series: Exploring Webcomics Marketing Strategies

I believe one of the things that makes the most successful webcomics is that they are aimed at a niche. Penny-Arcade, CTRL-ALT-DEL and PVP are all aimed at a specific niche, video games. The advantage to aiming at a niche is the availability of niche media. Video magazines are great places for media exposure. I believe if I want to give my webcomic the best chance for success I have to have a niche. My webcomic is a scifi/fantasy story so it would seem the niche would be scifi/fantasy. However, there is a problem with this. There aren't anywhere near that number of scifi magazines that video games cultivate. This presented a problem. After some research I found there was a lot of scifi newsletters/magazines and hobby/fantasy magazines. My research also revealed that the advertising in newsletters and small magazines is cheap and they tend to hungry for free news and stories. A ha, there's my niche ( better than I thought )!

(Added 10:26am)
Ah, it did not occur to me until now, e-Zines and email newsletters. There is a ton out there emailed to people who are actually interested in the scifi niche. A lot of them have been around for years and years. Hmmm...

Webcomics Marketing Strategies : SEO

2005-10-24T09:11:00.000-05:00

SEO or "Search Engine Optimization"
Part of a 13 part series: Exploring Webcomics Marketing Strategies

During my research exploring webcomics marketing strategies I discovered a lot can be found on search engine optimization. This makes sense since there are billions of pages competing for users. SEOs or 'Search Engine Optimizers" are businesses that offer better page ranking using a variety of techniques:

Computer aided submission to 1000's of search engines
Extra sites used to forward the user to your domain
fooling the search engines

However, as you can see most of it is just spam and businesses that blow smoke. They really just take your money or get you banned from search engines or even both. Be careful what you do.

The good thing is my research got me a lot of good resources for good SEO I can share...

Pandia: Get your SEO Basic training here
Wiki: They have an article for more basics
Search Engine Optimization --- An Overview
Google's advice on SEO
Linkage!: SearchGuild.com has a huge listing of great SEO advice including...

Lastly, here is one of the major search results that got me all the info...

Webcomic : World Design : Nirvana 4

2005-10-22T07:21:00.000-05:00

Nirvana Final!

Here is the final version of the sky city 'Nirvana' (from my webcomic) that I started posting back back in this post. I gotta say I'm happy with it. Not so much for its "beauty" but what I got out of it. I think one of the reasons is a tip I found reading the game guide Myst Uru Complete Chronicles a year or so ago. The guide included a behind the scenes section in the end which included an interview with the head artist for UbiSoft's Myst series ( At least that's what I remember ). In the interview he said something that didn't catch my attention at first. "...you look at all the structures, and they're very simple, structural, geometrical. You're talking about very pure and direct shapes, like squares and circles that are powerful in terms of civilization" My interpretation is that simple shapes are easily recognizable and therefore easily assessed by the reader on an emotional/subconscious level. Therefore they are iconic. Now at first, as most people do when we receive advice, listen on only the most superficial level.

A few weeks ago, when I started the drawing of "Nirvana", I imagined a giant city with hundreds of buildings on a platform. So, my first few attempts at the city were similar to the Scifi channel's Stargate: Atlantis. However, it never seemed right. It just didn't touch me on a emotional level. Then a week ago, I was brainstorming and I saw the book in the corner of the room and that's when it hit me. The shape of the building needs to be simple. Not complicated with pipes and tons of details. Details only engage the conscious, technical mind as it explores how all the details come together. Simple shapes ARE better because it reaches the part of the human story tellers/artists are trying to appeal to the subconscious emotional level.

Please make comments, I would love to hear any opinions on the digital painting!

Webcomics Marketing Strategies : Media Relations

2005-10-20T23:07:00.000-05:00

Part of a 13 part series: Exploring Webcomics Marketing Strategies

What my research got me...
I went out to research media relations for webcomics. I found almost nothing on the web. Which is kind of surprising considering the number of webcomics out there. On the other hand, its not so surprising since it is a medium that is still trying to figure itself out. Never mind pitching its newsworthiness to non-webcomics focused news sites. So, I went on a more general search, media relations to see what I could find. After sifting through a lot of websites covering the big business or product/store/service related small business I found a couple of good articles that can be applied to webcomics. One asks, Can Media Coverage Build An Online Business?. I also found a very good article that reviews how to foster connections we make with the media. I'll talk about the concepts I took away from these articles...

Media Coverage is free advertising
Media Coverage makes you and your online business real
Media coverage is important for a online start-ups
Foster relationships with reporters
Just say yes to any interviews requested
Create a database of media contacts

Expanding on those...
Media Coverage is free: How you gonna beat that?

Media Coverage make you and your online business real: What is meant by 'real' is it makes your business 'real' to your potential patronage. Media coverage validates your online business in a positive way.

Media Coverage is important for online start-ups: Try finding a new site on a search engine with generic key words. Try searching on webcomic, do you see your webcomic on the first page or page #2,360,000 ( the results count )?

Fostering relationships with reporters. One of the things I remember most about my research is something I never thought about but makes perfect sense. Most of the news-tips reporters get is from the people they know. It's no different than the business world. To me, it seems especially important in a community like the webcomics.

Just say yes to interviews: Why would you say no? Its free advertising!

Create a Database of Media Contacts: It's just good business, it makes press releases easier, and helps you keep tabs on your media relationships

Next: SEO or Search Engine Optimization

Webcomics Marketing Strategies

2005-10-20T08:01:00.000-05:00

I was doing some exploring in the Comixpedia forums the other day and found a thread on 'Advertising Frontiers'. It discussed trying to market to fresh audiences. This sparked a thread in my own mind. How do I plan to market this blog and eventually my webcomic? I decided I needed a plan, so off I went, searching the web for ways to promote my blog and strategies for the webcomic-to-be. I did a fair amount of research and found some great stuff ( I also found lots of crap! ). In the coming weeks I plan to detail what I found in a series of blog posts called "Addressing Webcomic Marketing Strategies". Each post will explore in detail the research results and how I plan to address them. The posts will follow this format I found on seo-writer.net ( a freelance marketing resource site )...

Media relations, including news releases and canned stories.
Search engine optimization
Writing articles for online and/or offline distribution
Newsletters
Free giveaways, including e-books or custom software
Online classes ( tutorials )
Affiliate programs
RSS feeds (online syndication)
Blogs
Paid advertising or PPC placement (pay-per-click ads in search engines and elsewhere)

A testimonials strategy
Free samples
Classified ads (offline).
Business cards
Pamphlets
Discussion forums

Next: First on the series docket, Media Relations

Webcomic : World Design : Nirvana Stage3

2005-10-19T08:44:00.000-05:00

At this stage I have added all the building below, developed all the major forms, and added a few minor details...

Buildings below the towers...
I finished the blocking out the shapes of the buildings below the towers... even at this 'block' stage they took a lot of time. I am willing to spend it though. The detail in there will be a key to making the towers look as massive as I see them in my head. If I don't the towers will seem like toys in a puddle. My next post of 'Nirvana' will show the finished ( or near finished ) version. If you think you might like it enough that you would buy a print, shoot me an email

I love digital painting...
Yeehaws, I now officially love the smudge tool. It acts like a finger smudging an oil painting only with the access to 'Undo'. Plus, no messy paints on the digits!

I have used smudge before. It didn't seem THAT useful, however, when I used it on the clouds, it really added a beautiful vapory feel to the clouds! Clouds usually takes a lot of time for me to render by hand and look good. Hats off the smudge tool, my new reason to love digital painting ;)

A little tip....

2005-10-18T12:19:00.000-05:00

Digital Painting Tip
As a little addition to the last post, I thought I would post a little digital painting tip... Making really loooooong straight lines with a wacom tablet is really hard. In photoshop use the pen tool or the selection lasso ( set for straight lines ) to create a silouette of the entire building using the shading/modeling color, then block out the highlite color ( In the digital painting below, I used the lasso, set for straight lines and a gradient ). This will not only give you nice straight lines. It is also waaaaaaay quicker ;)

Webcomic : World Design : Nirvana (Pt.2)

2005-10-18T07:56:00.000-05:00

I can be a bit of a bore...
As an artist I try to take every opportunity to look at other creator's creation process. My fiancee, Melinda, can't stand to sit around after the movie as I dissect the 'Extras' sections of DVD's or rant for hours about how I found a new process that will expand my skills as an artist. I can be, to people who don't do what I do, a big bore, even the to the ones that love me. I can be quite the incessant. But that's the good thing about this blog, you can shut me off anytime you want ;) Now onto my little process rant...

A couple of years ago, I saw a disney movie, I think it was called, 'Treasure Planet'. As I remember, in the extras sections ( It may have been paintings in the credits ) , there were a bunch of behind the scenes paintings. Some showed paintings that depicted scenes that were actually in the movie and others that never were. At first, it seemed strange that some of the painted scenes did not fit into the movie's plot. My first guess was that these were 'cut', however, it then occurred to me, maybe they were never meant to be in the movie. Maybe, the paintings were purely created to get a feel for the look of the story. Experimental in nature. They just developed a clear idea of how the story will feel and look. Kind of like a writer's synopsis. I have found that this process helps me a LOT. Story and design ideas just flow from my head when I do this sort of stuff versus trying to pull it out of thin air. This digital painting, is my experiment with the The Order's sky city 'Nirvana'.

More about 'The Order'
The people of The Order believe in 'control'. Their society prides itself on being able to use technology to control their world, or to give it 'order'. This includes everything from their daily lives their genetic make-up. The weather however, is a topic of contention and not something they like to discuss ( seriously ), since it is one of those things they cannot control ( oh the irony ).

Artistic Comments
This is the second stage of this digital painting. My goal was to block out base shapes, colors and gradations ( if you notice, the clouds are just gray blobs ). In the next stage, I will finish out the ruins below the towers. I think a moon in the background might be in order but I think it will be very small. This should help depict the sheer size of these towers.