Any Comic Books creaters?
d-j-o
Posts: 345
I've started to create a comic book using Carrara, and my question to any of you creators is a finished item question. I'm curious how you are showing your finished comic. Like Wordpress, Xoops or do you link to a PDF file?
I would like to see examples of your web pages.
Thanks
Dan
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one here -
http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/17310/
Hi Dan,
I'm a graphic novelist who uses Poser. Most of my books have been picked up by a publisher, so I don't have them available on my website. You can see some sample images on the front page of my website, though.
But I have had some experience with the world of webcomics. Wordpress is a pretty easy-to-use platform for putting up a webcomic, especially if you use the Comicpress theme and plugin. Downside of Wordpress is that it's prone to hacking, so load up on security plugins too.
In terms of submitting to publishers, PDF is the way to go. You might then have to provide individual pages in a lossless image format if you get picked up.
All the best!
I publish through Drivethrucomics, Amazon, and Smashwords (drivethrucomics is the easiest to work with, though). If you're going the digital route, be prepared to distribute it in multiple formats. PDF is the preferred, but other options like CBZ, CBR, EPUB, and MOBI, as well as good old fashioned Word documents (with the images pasted on) are often necessary (especially in sites like Amazon, Comixology, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, etc.).
Publishing webcomics using Wordpress is also viable, but be ready to do much more work (especially if you want to avoid hacking). Monetizing it is also a matter of getting the right affiliate links and ads. Choose wisely.
You can check my comic here http://comics.drivethrustuff.com/product/102925/Servant-#1 or the link in my sig. The First issue is free. It might help you get a feel for how a CGI comic can look. Good luck to your efforts! :coolsmile:
Borgy, do you know if a video/animation can be uploaded to Amazon or iTunes? The story I'm going to make will be hand-drawn and animated like a motion comic, but I have not been able to find a clear answer to how motion comics are published (besides just posting it on Youtube, where it will just be lost). E-books still don't seem like the best way if your book contains a lot of multimedia.
Any information is appreciated. Thanks very much.
Not sure about Amazon. I have yet to see any motion comic there. Only e-books, and the mobi format for kindle wouldn't work for motion comics. As for iTunes, you could probably do an animation, but it wouldn't fall under the comic book/book lineup. It would be classified as a video.
E-books are mostly limited to static pages. If you really want to do a motion comic, you'd have a better chance of hosting it yourself with your own site. However, that entails more work coding and regularly monitoring. Costs more, too.
I did a trailer over a year ago for Servant and uploaded it in YouTube. Nothing fancy, just using Windows Movie maker. It's still up, so not sure if you can lose it unless you don't maintain it or something. You can check it out here. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=noSusLlRT-s&list=PL57BD5CBCF844061F
What do you guys who make comics use to put it together? I have an idea for a comic and was thinking about taking advantage of the SM offer on MS4EX so I could make use of the templates in there.
I use Photoshop. Has everything I need to lay things out, add dialogue, adjust effects and so on.
I've seen how Manga Studio handles it, but I don't see the need for getting that particular software. It certainly makes things simpler, since it already has templates and plugins for laying out pages, balloons, captions, and such.
Here's a sample of what you can produce with just any version of Photoshop (I use CS4, but CS2 onward should be more than enough if you know how to maximize it). This is a page from the second issue of Servant:
I've used Paint Shop Pro for everything usually, but I did take advantage of that SM offer. Manga Studio is quite robust for speech bubbles... and I'm sure I'll discover that it's good at other things too.
I didn't think about publishing it to anywhere, just getting it up to read. It's one of those stories I just want to get out of my system, and hopfelly good enough that others will want to read.
I picked up Comic book creator http://www.summitsoftcorp.com/windows-software/lifestyle-software/comic-creator-comic-software-comic-book-creator.html
Pretty nice. If you work with a lot of different software it's fairly easy to pick up, took me a couple tries, it had a couple quirks at first because the "how to" is very limited. Comes with a lot of content, lettering, word ballons are real cool. The only bad thing really, is it doesn't appear that there is more addon content available which I'm not really using anyway. I edited my images in photoshop with effects if needed.
It does output, cbz, pdf, html, images, and movie, then of course it's only $8 this week, after I bought it a couple weeks ago not on sale.
Here are a couple pages from my comic using this software, most of the content should be easy to ID
Hi! I have MS5EX. Love playing with it. Just started learning how to use it. Will need more time with it though.
If that's the case, you can use one of the free webcomic hosting sites like comicfury, comic genesis, smackjeeves, or the duck (these are the most common sites for webcomic hosting). Their services have their pros and cons, but are generally pretty solid hosting sites.
If there is going to be a lot of conversation in your comic, Manga Studio EX4 makes creating word balloons a breeze. The tail of the word balloon is easily customized for length, direction, curvature.
You get a huge library of fonts with the software, but they tend to be just standard fonts. Since Smith Micro calls Manga Studio the Standard in Manga & Comic Illustration, I had expected fancy comic fonts like the spooky style fonts in Halloween pictures. But at the current discounted price of MSEX4, it's not a big deal.
As far as templates go, I can't really tell you anything about them. I customize my page layout based on what images I have and on the flow of the story, so I don't use their templates.
Since you make a black and white comic, EX4 has an enormous amount of tone and computone material that should come in handy.
Thanks Borgy, I wasn't even sure you could upload a video to iTunes. I imagine they must have some sort of requirements, otherwise every cat video and blog would be up there. :)
Thanks for the info guys.
Nah, there are no requirements. And every cat video and blog is up there! :P
Comics are perfect for book trailers, because the artwork is already there and ready to go.
Case in point: http://www.youtube.com/user/ShaneWSmithWriter
The descriptions in each of my trailers explain how the videos were made.
I use DAZStudio for the comic, GIMP for postwork, and ComicLife -- it's flexible, simple, and while it's the most expensive part of my software kit, at $30 that's still not saying much. :) (I lie -- DAZ is my biggest expense, because DAZ is crackware. The first taste is free. But everyone here already knows that....)
For publishing I started out on the free hosting site ComicDish before I ended up with free hosting from my collective... but ComicDish treated me pretty well, and I recommend them. If you're willing to put out the hosting yourself I have heard good things about WordPress, particularly the comic-specific Easel mod.
I haven't printed anything yet, partly from lack of time, partly because print is a pretty significant investment of money I don't really have. But if I do it'll be as a compliment to the webcomic, not a replacement. Possibly it's because I was looking for an audience more than to make a living, but the webcomic model has been a very good thing for me. I'm not moving worlds or anything, but I have a nice, quietly loyal readership and a lot of fun, and for me that's what counts.
You're welcome! Hope to see your work up in YouTube and iTunes and other places soon! :coolsmile:
I'm no Comic Books "Creater" - but I was a Comic Book Editor (for an unknown independent during the Glut in the 1980's) (ran all of 3 issues), and as such I would return the title of this thread for a spelling correction or two!
I keep reading it as Comic Book Craters!
It should read "Any Comic Book Creators?"
Don't intend to be harsh - but if you want to get published, such things are Very Important.
my comic is at pacefiction.com ongoing.
I had an old domain name parked, so I'm using that and the easel addon for wordpress looks awesome. It's amazing the features it offers. I really like the pacefiction.com site, that is perfect. Clean and to the point. That's what I'm going to try for.
Thanks everyone, once I have a full issue ready I will post for your feedback.
Dan
Over in the Star Trek Forum http://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/22399/#330053, we've been keeping track of each others 3D comics and stories for a few years (we're currently up to our 15th incarnation of the thread).
I'm currently up to 12 books myself in varying styles. Most of us use PDF format's as that is the easiest to distribute. In the future a few issues of mine will be in mobi, epub and pdf format for reading on tablets and ebook readers.
ALL,
We also have a ton of freebies we track from various creators. Outfits, hair, skins, props, sets and almost all of them are Poser first friendly and DAZ Studio second.
-Paul
Do the freebies come with licenses which permit commercial use?
Do the freebies come with licenses which permit commercial use?
There is a fine line in that questions.
useing likenesses, names and locations can tend to get you in trouble with the BORG....ie the lawyers. which is why none of the Star Trek graphic novels are available for purchase and are for free to read. Our projects are more like enhanced Fanfiction, but we also include disclaimer of some sort to Paramount or CBS depending on if it's a movie or tv show we are referenceing as the basis.
in the EULA's most state something can be used for commercial use (most are allowed), just check with the creator of the set or look at the readme files if there is one. PM's here or notes over at DeviantArt get answered pretty quick.
For me personally the pin used on the cover of IDW's Mirror mirror comic issue #15 was created by me, Shadowhawk1 and Fisty. the EULA allowed for commercial use. who know it would be the full dang cover and pins on spock's collar! http://comicbookrealm.com/cover-scan/7b43f6db1cd0474158b8cd9fb923a49b/xl/idw-publishing-star-trek-issue-15.jpg
-Paul
Do the freebies come with licenses which permit commercial use?
No most don't. None of my fanart items do. I have seen the occasional set, ship and comic book for sale and/or allowing for commercial use but AFAIK that's trending very dangerous waters, esp where it involves Klingons.
Thanks! The only thing I have on YouTube at the moment is this character animation test (not 3D though):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QNhdKPkxT6A
My full story won't be with chibi art, but I am going to animate the art however I can (which is what that test was for). Hope it's worth a look at least. ;)
Take care!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghastly's_Ghastly_Comic
I used to be a comic artist. Will probably return to comics sometime in the future if for no other reason than I kind of miss being invited to conventions as a guest. Getting free airfare, lodging, and meals to attend a con was a pretty damn sweet perk.
When I knew I had made it as an artist was when I was at a convention and a female fan came up and asked me to autograph her breast and draw a tentacle monster on it. I remember sitting at my table with artists from Marvel and D.C. on either side of me looking at me like "Oh COME ON! Why does THIS guy get to autograph boobies an not me." And I was all "yeah, that's right, I'm autographing boobies. I'm Ghastly. That's what I do."
My friend who is a writer was sitting beside me and said "You freaking artists! Nobody ever comes up to a writer and says 'could you write a short story on my breasts'?"
I've wondered if that was you. :P "Is that the same person as the tentacle monster comic?" But your forum avatar through me off.....
Anyway, Ghastly's a webcomic legend, and is STILL referenced my many of us that followed after him.
Yup that's me. Quietly enjoying life as a has been. :lol:
My avatar is Freddy.
Crackware? I find no reference in the Urban Dictionary to that!
However, it is true... cuz I can't get enough!
In keeping with the thread, I use Comic Life and Photoshop CS2 as well.