How much investigation do you put into your webcomic?

[joshuashima]

Just wondering how much you research into your webcomic. I know you don't have to go and look for every little detail, but if you're doing a science fiction webcomic you'd at least have to do some research on how things work. If it's about space maybe about atmospheres of certain planets and a bit of basic physics and stuff like that. Maybe when you do a murder mystery you do some research on forensic procedures, even in romance there are complicated psychological implications that are going on, so all this stacks up. Personally, I really have to get a good grasp of what's going on before I start writing, so that takes me time.

Let me know! (Also if you have a comedy style webcomic I'd love to know how you go around writing!)

[Down_the_Rabbithole]

Well, my comic is set in period, so I do look up the slang, architecture, fashion, and technology of the time period. On top of that, I'm really into the psychology of each character, so I research that too. I guess that is quite a bit of research.

[Zetsubonii]

Jim's Days has roughly around 5 years of research in many different fields such as, color theory, visual comedy directing (especially Edgar Wright's methods), writing, art development, comic book layout, the psychology of grief (the 5 stages), in-depth analysis on different media such as comics, film and TV shows, cartoons inspired by noir, puns, how Tapastic functions, what makes a good mystery and so on and so forth.

[AnnaLandin]

I tend to research simply for the love of research (it's fun!), but the amount varies a bit, especially since I tend to draw comics set in fantasty-settings, where things like "historical accuracy" matters less.

I do a ton of visual research and worldbuilding, though! Even if it's a setting I've made up, it has to make sense, so I spend a ton of time working on inventing political systems, geography, the rules of magic, trade routes, currencies, religions and folklore, etc., etc.

... and all of that requires me to know stuff about political systems, geography, trade, currencies, religions and folklore, even if it's not to the extent of knowing precisely what happened in this specific real-world place at this specific time and exactly how and why people did what they did. I need a good general grasp on the principles, so I do a lot of reading. The more you learn and the more you know about the real world, the easier it is to make up a fictional one!

[punkarsenic]

it doesnt feel like it, but probably quite a lot. There was a War is a myth retelling, so at first i learnt a lot about celtic mythology. i found an indepth book, keeping the notes by my side, and just... checked wikipedia articles 1000 times. and sometimes the odd research spree. it helps that im pagan so i gotta research this stuff anyway.

then, its googling stuff like 'when were toothbrushes invented' and researching ancient irish culture and landscape. i used a trip to scotland to research landscape.
also, researching irish elk, these fuckers:

drawing animals actually turned out to be really fun. its convenient that irish elk are extinct, too, bc then no matter what i draw im kinda right.

[KSlinger]

As much as is necessary really. I like to be immersed in the world of the comic I'm making so research is a basic requirement, but I don't waste time looking up things that don't matter. I'm more of 'cross that bridge when I come to it' person, though some things I simply can't leave too late. Like boat research for example. Need to know what I'm doing there or it could royally screw up the story in the long run.

[jurinova]

Honestly, at the beginning of the comic I did a lot of research. I have a sci-fi comic, so I tried to learn as much as I could about science and other subjects related to the comic like politics and economy. Turns out I didn't need most of that information. However I actually enjoy learning, so it wasn't really time wasted. I still have huge gaps in my knowledge about the world I've build for my comic but now I'm not that worried about not knowing everything since (thankfully) my readers are more curious about the characters rather than things like what kind of engines do the space ships have, heh.

[heraclus]

I have a murder mystery and i do a lot of research , well my dad works on the forensic so i ask him a lot of stuff plus i want my comik to be realistik , so i'm trying not to put thinks that can't happen for real .A fantasy webcomic is the greatest one...you can do whatever you want there...it's fantasy man .My modest opion.

[mariusthered]

i do lots of research , however now the internet seems to policed more and more by big brother these days , I'm kinda put off researching facts about crime. hence the good old library where you can read books in peace and no government server keeping tabs.

[MichelleAntisocial]

A lot! My comic is set in the city that I live in, just a few years in the future so I already know a bunch about that, but anytime I'm concerned about ANYTHING not coming off as realistic (well, I mean, more or less...), I research it. This has lead me to all sorts of fun information... for instance, did you know you can dehydrate and then re-hydrate rice so you can store leftovers? I also know about how long it takes for a broken foot to start feeling better/heal, the stages of starvation and how long that generally takes, oh and where all the remaining pay phones in Philly are.. Yeah, my comic's a mess..

[AlkseeyaKC]

I look up what the genus names are for the creatures in my comic. I feel like I should probably do more research. lol

[inkorporate]

Good topic!

For Interface, which features giant crabs, googling pictures was simply not enough. So I bought a crab, cooked it and saved the shell as a reference. It was tremendously helpful in doing an accurate representation.

I'm working on a new comic now and I've made little models of the heads of my characters. It takes a while but it's really good to accurately represent shadows or weird angles. (I posted pictures in my Instagram feed)

As you improve and become better and better, it becomes less necessary to use reference but even pros like James Gurney or Dan Dos Santos use them.

[serverpanda]

It doesn't feel like I've done any research, but thinking on it I have to say that it has been more a matter of research accumulating over the years and just sort of... compiling into this one creation. I love science and SciFi, but I love Fantasy too. So what you get is an interesting mixture of concepts. I research not strictly for the comic but just because I like to know things. I'm always reading stuff and watching documentaries and shows on how stuff is made. That's just ME.

[Monomania]

I do next to zero.
My comic isn't about anything serious in the least. In the latest episode, I introduce a bear mask that a character wears for the remainder of the series....until she becomes a full-on bear.

It's uh....fun. Also has anyone seen the russian movie trailer for Guardians with the bear-man?

[agentfink]

MURDER MYSTERY HERE!

I was doing a lot of research for another comic before The Pale. Luckly, that wasn't time wasted and the information I had stored/read helped inspire certain elements for the characters and story.

We did what we could via google but we eventually planned a trip out to the "location" of where the story takes place. During our trip we spoke to the locales--- got a taste for how they talked and what life was like for them. Had a nice chance to talk to a cop, teacher, Navajo Tour Guide, hotel owners--- We write down conversations we've heard to be used later in the comic... I think it helps give The Pale the personality it has. We plan to take another trip to view another location we have for the characters as we want to reflect the culture of these areas but also make them more rounded-- these characters are more than the stereotype.

Because the story is in a small towns-- we wanted to get details as accurate as possible. ie, the size of a small town needed to have its own football team, population to law enforcement ratio, the time and distance to travel to the next town, our location is set in a fictional town based on real geographical locations-- so we also have/working on a small map so we know where the key locations are.

There some (will be more) foreign languages in the comic and I make it a point to make sure it is translated properly and not through google translate so I have some friends who I know can translate fluently and ask for their help.

Any props, clothing, tech I stumble across, I save links and photos in my reference folders for The Pale. (when my harddrive crashed -- the thought of loosing all that research was the thing that hit me the hardest- luckily I had my art file saved somehow).

So... um, yeah we do a lot of research!

[Shanny8]

Since my comic does revolve around mythologies & gods, I try to do as much research as I can. Also basing the hero's residence in a real life town, I've been doing as much research on that particular area as well. My comic isnt going to be hardcore 'by the book" factual laden, but some research makes for a good foundation.

[Mari]

My comic takes place in a generic ass place within a modern time period, so there's not that much to research when it comes to world building. I do however get anal about the characters' interests and whatnot, for example, I spent around five hours last week reading up on different maples and looking up their leaf shapes and nativity and whatever for a few lines of dialogue from a character who has an interest in botany.

[Chroma]

I'm not a comic person, I'm just a writer. But I put a TON of research into my books, although that's not always the path for everyone! I study whatever settings I need for the story or if I'm writing a specific genre, I study the types of work that were classics in that genre and what made those great, while trying to emulate those strategies.

[DMBrigman]

My comic is a fantasy adventure so I don't have to be completely accurate if I don't want to, but I still do take time to research things to help add realism.

For instance I did research Medieval costumes, saddles, weaponry, social systems. I also researched mythology and magic in order to build my world appropriately. I have books about mythical and magical creatures so I don't get stuck with just elves and dwarves.

I like to take the approach that if I am going to add fantastical elements I should add some mundane and realistic details. So that includes researching when forks were invented and the origin and spread of coffee and tobacco. I am also the type of person who enjoys learning new things and often have to get myself back on task after a research binge.

[ConradComics]

Quite a bit. What's nice is when the research forces me to change a plot-point/joke in the story to something better.

For example, I was going to have my titular character 'phase' into solid objects, but after doing research, I noticed physicists would rather have a sharp stick in the eye than use the terms 'phase' or 'phasing' to describe what amounts to quantum-tunneling. Even there, they balk at the idea of using quantum-tunneling to describe sci-fi 'phasing' because q-t, as postulated, would simply snap off whatever limb that went through someone/something, as opposed to sharing space with it.

So, I changed how my character's powers worked, which limited her abilities (a good thing) and led to a nice repartee (though a bit dry, as written) between her and the MC who was convinced 'phasing' was a thing.

Go, go research! LOL