comic
Trust me, You want to check this out!
Webcomics can come in a variety of art styles and mediums.
Examples being:
- Pencils
- Paintings
- Digital (drawn in software)
- Inks
- Photography
I personally underestimated the use of photography (until today) as a medium of webcomics. Stumbling upon this album of photos, I realize the possibilities photography gives to those that want to tell stories.
The best part is these are engagement photos.
If you enjoy this post as much as I do, please share it with your friends. There are share icons to the left of this text and at the bottom of this post.
Note: If you click the Pinterest share button, it gives a teaser for this post with some of my favorite photos.
This post is part 2, you can read part 1 here.
So, far we covered the first half of the 6 elements of a successful WebComic. The first three are: You, the Story & Art, and the Stage. For this article we will talk about Propaganda, the Audience, and Revenue.
Before we jump into these elements I wanted to take this opportunity to mention you can check out my webcomic at www.madmanofmagic.com. If you enjoy it, please share it with your friends and those who might also enjoy reading it.
Thanks!
Now back to the last 3 elements of a successful WebComic.
4: Propaganda
This is what brings an audience to your site. It is technically marketing, but I like the idea of not promoting your webcomic, but instead spreading propaganda. In my mind propaganda has more of a viral feel to it (technically it’s supposed to be on more of a political a political nature, but lets ignore that for this article).
Last week I asked my twitter followers to share with me the webComics they were reading and/or creating. The response was amazing and I still haven’t had a chance to visit them all, but the experience got me thinking about what makes a great webcomic.
A lot of new WebComic Creator thinks that if they make a comic and share it with a couple friends that it’ll get passed around & “TA-DA..!”, everyone will know about it and stardom ensues. Those of you that have been creating art online for a while are thinking, “I wish that’s how it went”, but we all know that there is a lot more involved.
In this article I will share with you the elements needed for you to not only create a successful WebComic, but to make an income from it as well.
Let’s get started….
There are 6 elements that make up a successful, engaging, webComic. They are (from most to least important): You (the creator/s), the story & art, the stage, propaganda, audience, & revenue. 
Of all the things I have covered in this blog about web comics, the one thing that seems to be asked the most is “how to start a webcomic“.
Since I have a blog about learning to be an independent comic book creator and starting a web comic is an important part of the independent comic world, I’ll go ahead give you a simple checklist to get started.
Read then ACT!
Before I jump into the list I want to give you a little heads up on most people reaction to this post.
Many of you will read this and never act on it.
I found Kings of Overgrove through twitter (@KingsOvergrove) while looking for other independent comic book creators. Kings of Overgrove caught my attention because the creator is giving away half his graphic novel for free. He also created a motion comic he published on YouTube.
The Website
What I love
From the first look at the website, we can tell that Kings of Overgrove is special. The site has a great design that reflects the story, is easy to navigate, promotes the viewer to share the site, and allows for comments. You can’t ask for anything more from a website. It looks great and it does its job!
For those of you who read this blog for my articles on Internet Marketing for Artists or are starting your own online comic book, you can probably learn a lot from this site. If you’re putting together your online portfolio, promoting your project, or publishing an online series this is a great website to explore before creating your own.
Reading the Comic
I got some more questions via facebook message and YouTube Comments that I felt others might find interesting. You can see my Last Q&A Session at
jasonloveslife.com/kickstarter-madman-of-magic
Question
How much would it cost to make the comic book in total.
Answer
It is a hard question to answer.
Easily $2,000. According to my research. A starting comic book writer would get paid $1800 and the artist around $2500 (I can find my references on this, but that is what I found online). So for a company hiring people to make the comic book it would be $4,300 (not including a colorist) plus publishing costs, marketing, fixed costs, etc. etc. For us to do it, the biggest cost is our time. For those using kickstarter you have to include Kickstarters 5%, Amazon’s 5%, cost to create rewards, postage, and other costs that pop up.
Not sure if this is what you meant, but I hope it helps.
Question
I love the project, but I am broke and can’t afford to back it.
