Sprite or Draw?
 

Lots of people I know think that drawn comic are better that sprite comics.

With drawn, you can show a character's emotions with better accuracy than with a sprite comic. And some really good web comics are drawn, too, such as VG Cats and Penny Arcade, and good ol' fashon comic books. And I think drawn comics are focused more on art that writing, but thats just my opinion.

But there are other great comics out, such as Bob and George and 8-bit Theater, that are sprite comics. The advantage of sprite comics is that you have focus on writing more than art, again, in my opinion. And the sprite comic is a good alternative for the people who can't draw.

So, Which is better in your opinion, drawn or sprite? I lean toward sprite, since I can't draw worth a lick.

Sprite: Good for more text driven humor with the occasional odd expression.

Hand drawn: Good for more visual based humor.

I have no real opinion.

I couldn't draw a stick figure if you gave me a ruler, but that doesn't mean I can't distinguish good art from bad. At least that's what I like to think. I do make a mean sprite comic though.

I took your question as one for preference in reading though, and in that I'm unbiased. There are great hand-drawn comics as well as shitty ones, and the same goes for sprite comics, although in relation there seems to be a greater number of shitty sprite comics. That's probably what puts a lot of people off them. You have to dig deeper for the good sprite comics.

I enjoy both sprite based and drawn comics. They both have their ups and downs but in the end it evens out (for me at least). Though I go to more drawn comics then sprite ones...

I like drawn comics that are well drawn.

That's because any moron with MS Paint and a link to shyguy kingdom can slap together a sprite comic whereas any moron who can draw a stick figure has to figure out how to obtain and use a scanner.

I have no preferance really, I look more for content with a good visual to supplement it.

Another advantage drawn has over sprite: Copyright and such.

If the sprite is from a game, you could get in trouble from the company that made the character if you don't give credit, or if you claim that the sprite is yours. And if the sprite is made by another person, you have to give them credit.

With a drawn comic, you can make a totally original character, and bypass the legal stuff.

Bad sprite comics are linked in every one of these words.

It's comics like the ones I've linked up there that give sprite comics a bad name. You can't Google for sprite comics without 20,000 of those crowding the area. And it's a shame, really. Good sprite comics have this kind of charm to them, something you can't get from drawn comics.

With drawn comics, the artist needs to have a style that people can appreciate. Sometimes this means something with complexity. Other times it's something with simplicity. All times it's something that requires more work. Hand-drawn art leaves room for a lot of poses and expressions, and variation on character design if needed.

Because of the hand-drawn-ness, it usually means that expressions can be used to convey humor. But that isn't to say that drawn comics are without text humor. A lot of drawn comics have witty comments and quotable lines. The advantage there is that an artist can use the character to further enhance the meaning or tone intended in the text.

With sprite comics, however, it's different. A lot of sprite comic authors will use characters from video games from the NES, SNES, Neo Geo, Gameboy, Gameboy Advance, etc. as the main and sub characters. But the amount of poses for a character will often increase as time goes on. So, say a Gameboy character has only 12 or so poses. Over time, that character could end up with over 30 or 40 different stances for use in a comic.

In a number of cases, completely new characters will be created from original game characters. Sometimes it only takes a quick character mix-'n-match. Others, it's a complete recolor and pixel makeover. In some cases, it's a combination of mixing, recoloring, reworking, and even adding some original bits in. Some authors even make their own sprites from scratch.

Sprite comics have to rely on the text a lot more, though. That's where the good sprite comics have the advantage. If a sprite comic author has good writing, uses wit, can run an image program (Photoshop, GIMP, even Paint) with ease, and knows comedic timing, then that author stands a better chance at success.

This is where it ties in with "Art over Text over Art". I've only ever stuck with one game-sprited comic, and that's 8-Bit Theater, as it was the first webcomic I ever encountered, and the only one I can hold an obsession over. I've stuck with vector-sprited comics ([Order Of The Stick], [Scary Go Round] to an extent) and hand-drawn comics ([VG Cats], [Commander Kitty] which is having some server troubles, [Paradox Lost], [Powerpuff Girls Doujinshi], [Sabrina Online]), and find all three styles enjoyable, with no preference over which is better.

Although I can draw, I'd make a sprite comic. Sprite comics are less time consuming to make, as the sprites don't need to be redrawn over and over, plus it was 8-Bit Theater that got me into webcomics.

In my opinion, it really doesn't matter which media comics are made in. To me, it's all about the written content. I can stand reading a fuggly comic as long as it has good content, story-wise and/or humor-wise, provided that it doesn't rely on visual comedy.

Moved to comics section. Continue as ye please.