My Comic
 

Practice is good, have a script, shade if higher than 8 bits, do it for fun not for money.

Someone should link a website giving a bunch of useful tips. I may link it myself if I find it.

yeah. when a web comic is no longer fun, it becomes harder and harder to do, (e tu, Machall?)

hmmm tips... well, write the type of comic you want to read, don't over advertise your comic to a point where people hate you and don't expect to become a over night sensation or anything like that. I get probably less than 1% the amount of hits that established webcomics get but that doesn't make working on it any less fun. Sure I'd like to work my way up to some level of status but just understand those things take time and just be happy that there are some people out there who are willing to take time out of their day and read your comic. Also, make sure to be as consistent as possible, try not to miss updates (it's a bad habit to get into) and work at a steady pace, don't bite off more then you can chew (especially starting out).

Thanks for the tips, if anyone has anymore, I'd be glad to listen.:fighter:

*I have one more tip, watching team america while working on your comic and then scream out "MATTT DAMONNNNN1!!"(yes i know this means no sense but trust me this is the type energy of a good webcomic, nonsensitcal(sp) random nonsense, go for it, it's a blast)

Nonsensical random nonsense is a good basis for a mess no one can stand to read for longer than five strips.

A good plot, likeable characters and well-written dialogue is a good basis for a good webcomic.

However, surreal jokes are a good basis for a good webcomic as well. Just don't mix it up with random nonsense.

That said:
- Always resize sprites in whole increments, i.e. by 100%, by 200% etc. Otherwise they will look very ugly.
- Use good backgrounds. They can be simple, they can even be relatively featureless like in earlier Bob and george comics, but they have to be well made.
- Speech bubbles and spell checking are your friends.

Of course you can ignore all that if you're going for a different approach and want to do something akin to White Ninja Comics. Your call, really.

My fiance and I put together a good sprite tutorial.

Characters. Characters. Characters. Your characters should be more than one word descriptions- an idiot, a evil-man, a stoner, etc. They drive the plot, not the other way around.

If you make backgrounds that are essentially a horizontal line to separate one color (the sky) from another (the ground), reconsider things. People will respect it more if it looks like you put effort into it.

Experiment. I could never get into Bob and George because each episode was as visually uninteresting as the last. I should never be able to scroll through your archive and think that there is a scripting error because all the episodes look the same.

As a personal preference, I don't like it when people mix sprite genres. I've seen Mario- which is a profile view sprite- on the same panel as Link- a top-view sprite- and it completely destroys the perspective and cohesiveness of the world.
Another problem I have with a lot of sprite comics is that the writer tries to take an existing character and replace his/her personality with something completely alien. It's a tough pill to swallow.

If you can't afford Photoshop, use a program called the GIMP. It's very good, and you should need a program as powerful as the GIMP if you want to make a good sprite comic.

And so ends my short rant on the dos and don'ts of sprite comicry.

Make sure that you're not using sprites as a work-around for not being able to actually draw, or because you think it would be faster. There should be an artistic reason for choosing sprites vs. hand-drawing, photochopping, or other form of media in your comic.

Wouldn't that rule out pretty much, like, every sprite comic ever made?

...Not that I'm saying that's a bad thing.