Advice and Critiques to Creators

[whispwill]

I am Whispwill, the creator of Kings Folly here on Tapastic. ( proof I some what know what I'm talking about ahah: https://tapastic.com/series/Kings-Folly )

I both write an illustrate my webcomic in addition to publishing, merchandising, and advertising. Lately I've been getting a lot of requests for advice and I've been doing my best to answer but it has all been very individual. Therefore I thought I'd start a forum thread to help answer peoples questions and make it a bit more public.

• If you would like a critique on your writing, artwork, paneling, etc... just send a link my way here and I'll do my best to check everything out and give some advice.
• If you have just general questions in regards to the webcomic/comic process I am also happy to
  answer those.

Also if others have advice for people asking questions and you can answer them before I can, please feel free to. Just opening this up as a general help forum and using my position as semi successful webcomic publisher as some leverage.

Looking forward to hearing from you guys and seeing your work!

[KoreanTacos]

Sure I'll take any critique you might have to give for my series JODDAS VAPD

[Sleepyowl]

I would love it if you critiqued my webcomic!!

[Aspie_Gamer]

Hmm...I already know that my art needs a good overhaul. How about you give the writing for my comic Life of an Aspie a fair look? That's been near universally praised compared to my art, but I'd like to hear your personal thoughts.

[whispwill]

Right off the bat, your text is way too small and there is too much of it. Keep your speech bubbles short and concise. Create a new speech for every pause that would occur if you were actually speaking it in a conversation.

For example, rather than writing "You're right. This is a waste of time. I should have bought this on thursday instead of waiting until now" in a single speech bubble divide it into "You're right." "This is a waste of time." "I should have bought this on thursday instead of waiting until now". You might need more panels to explain your story rather than more dialogue some times.

Also less is more. Generally in a conversation you don't explain every little detail of an event, that's what the art is there for. Comics aren't like a book where everything needs to be explained. If it wouldn't be said naturally in a conversation with you're friend, it probably shouldn't appear in a speech bubble.

[whispwill]

I give you the same advice as @KoreanTacos

Advice and Critiques to Creators

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[whispwill]

Interesting concept and your art is pretty good, I also don't have any comments on your text/speech bubbles.

However you should take more time to consider your paneling.
This page for example: https://tapastic.com/episode/506633
Your panels are practically the same size and yet they are not lined up. This kind of stuff does matter as if it's off even a little bit people will take notice and it will make your pages feel a bit sloppy.

Also vary up the sizes/amount of space your characters take up in a page.
This page: https://tapastic.com/episode/523869
You have a lot of characters all drawn with the exact same angle, with the same dimensions, with similar poses. Change it up! It will help your comic flow and feel more natural.

I'm only saying this because it feels like you're not trying to make a panel comic... if you are trying to make a flat panel comic then you can ignore all of this ahah.

[kirahaydenyin]

I would appreciated if you can critique my manga as well Witch Spine, being new here it's really hard to find people to comment on my work so thank you in advance. Also fan of your work.

[Sleepyowl]

Ahh yes, I agree that the earlier pages are quite bland looking. I drew these pages very early into the project, and I assure you the future pages much better in comparison!! I will keep your tips in mind for future updates!a

What did you mean about a flat panel comic? What is that?

[Quinineer]

I'd love any advice on my comic Faery Tales.

The art in my buffer is a few months ahead and (in my opinion) much better than what's being posted now. To tell the truth, I'm slightly embarrassed of what I'm uploading. I know it's not really beneficial to keep on going to redo old pages, but is there any kind of advice you have for feeling less guilty about older art/writing?

Thanks. ^_^

[UzukiCheverie]

I don't usually throw my name in for critiques on the forums just because there are so many people usually giving them, but I dig your work and I'd love to hear what you have to say about Time Gate: Reaper :>

DESTROY ME

[Damatris]

I'd really love to get a critique for Fallacy. I'd like to mention that the early pages are really, really different looking than the current style and I'm actually reworking them atm even if they aren't up yet. So for art critique from the latest chapter would be a lot more useful. Wreck it. : D

Thank you so much!

[SynCypher]

Salutations! If you have time, I would actually love some advice and critique for my comic: The Awlers. One of the problems I'm up against right now is making my paneling more dynamic (especially for action scenes) but for some reason I just can't quite get it. (It's not the only thing I'm running into, either XD) Any advise would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you for your time!

[genjiOtori]

Wow, thanks for the opportunity and your hard work. It's great to see a talented creator like you helping others out

For me the hardest part of making webcomic is the marketing process. I think I'm stuck at some point - maybe its the format because I get the feeling my story is better read as a book, or maybe it's the genre: action, long-form, not cute story.
You can have a look at my newest upload to get a glimpse of what I'm doing. I would appreciate any advice and would like to hear if I'm too impatient or I should change the way of publishing.

PS: forgot to mention to read from right to left. Sorry ^^°

[madazu]

Hi!
I have just three simple questions about your work.

1. How long do you sit on one page? From the sketch to the final colored page.
2. You create the panels with photoshop, correct? Everything else is done in SAI, is that right?
3. Are the speech bubbles are done in Photoshop?

I started my first colored comic a few months ago and did almost everything with SAI.
(texted in Photoshop) I had problems with the background. (Tried out Krita for the background, but
it has to many problems. And I am not really used to Photoshop.)
So when I saw you work I was encouraged to continue with SAI even if I had many difficulties with some things.
My story Evoan - New Life was a test run for the main story. So that I can stabilize in the coloring process and test out some tricks.
I made many mistakes but I leard from them.
A big thank you for your work. I try to finish one page in 5 hours, thats why I asked how long you need.
When I tried to color the characters more like you did, I needed almost twice the time. For me a huge difference.

[sauropasquini]

I could be honored if you will give a look to my webcomic. Before you start, I shall tell you that If you start from the beginning, you will find a poorly designed weekly strip in black and white that slowly evolved into the actual long-story graphic novel, that will see the last page published tomorrow.

The Graphic novel starts here: Gang of Atomics and lasts for 52 pages, ending tomorrow.
Consider that from the first page to the last, 1 year has last, so my style is quietly evolved.

About the advices, I appreciate very much that you will answer to questions, but try to considerate which arguments are asked more frequently and write down a paged tutorial so as when someone has the same question, everything is already planned and wrote down.

[StevenDacasin]

I would love a critique for my comic Simon Nero. One question I have is how do you handle publishing, merchandising, and advertising? Seems like a lot to handle.

[LymeThyme]

Just going to say that I love all that you do and mad respect for the quality of work you put out!
If you could give me some tips specifically on my art and panel orientation that would mean the world. Speechless is my comic, there is no dialogue in it so I often worry that the story is unclear.

[twotheswain]

Hey Hey!
I would like you to critique my comic Latertale Please and thank you!

[BubooSenchan]

Iwould be honored if you will give a look to my webcomic Gloomy Night
It would be so wondeful have a critique from you
It's my fisrt web comic, and it's BL
Thank you so much!!