My comic could use some constructive criticism, please!

[PixyByte]

Hi!
I could really use some feedback. I'm only a couple episodes in and I feel like improvement is definitely needed. It's my first try at a comic strip, so I'm going in blind! lol
My comic Pixy Byte, is about Pixy, Penguin, Flippers, and Poot, and the daily life they go through with the occasional unexpected adventure. It is a "slice of life" comic.
Don't be afraid to be harsh (constructive, not cruel), I'm looking to learn and improve! I figure if I'm doing something horribly wrong, I'd rather know about it now and not 20+ episodes in thinking what's going on.

[zoonland]

I think it's too early to give a good critique on your work.
For the moment, I can say that I like the drawings and the characters look very nice. I think you can have some good slice of life episodes out of them.
But, I don't really like the baloons. I don't understand why they look so pixelated, it creates a not-so-good contrast with the "smooth" cartoon lines of the characters and it's a pity, in my opinion.
What program do you use for the lettering? Do you use customized baloons or you got them from internet?

[wbparham247]

So far so good, I like the use of colors and the level of detail you put in your characters. As far as any criticizims I would maybe suggest adding a little to the background. This might just be a personal thing, I know a lot of comics have simplified or nonexistent backgrounds and it definitely keeps the focus on the characters, just don't be afraid to expand the world in which they live and interact.

[PixyByte]

@zoonland Yeah, now that you mention the balloons, I had to go see what you mean. They are oddly pixelated, and maybe something's happening when I save them. I made the balloons in Photoshop.

@wbparham247 Thank you! I wanted to keep everything simplified, and only add detail to the background when needed, but there seems to be so much empty space. I know you suggested expanding the world in which they are in (and I plan to) but should I make the panels smaller?

[wbparham247]

I wouldn't necessarily say the panels need to be smaller, I feel like you make good use of the space. But it never hurts to test out different structuring so you could always try a few different versions and angles of the characters and maybe one will feel right.

[shazzbaa]

I think your best strip is the New Year's Resolution episode! The punchline is cute and funny and each resolution in this episode helps us get to know these characters. The cats' resolutions are also cute and speak to their personalities (and the idea of cats having resolutions and these being EXACTLY THE KINDS OF RESOLUTIONS CATS WOULD HAVE is fun to me!)

The one that confused me was the last episode! W-what happened? Why was there that much water in the attic?? If you're planning to continue that plot thread, it's okay that it doesn't get explained right away, but
THAT SAID:
I think it's important in this kind of cute/silly slice-of-life comic to find fun moments for your characters even when there aren't wacky antics, just by the way characters interact with each other.
So like, for example, in the Ceiling episode, what if instead of sitting around waiting for the goofy thing to happen, what if Pixie is trying to do something (what does she do for fun?) -- like what if she's working on something or trying to play a game and Penguin walks in casually like "huh, what's that dripping? Ehhh probably no big deal" and then we see that she CANNOT FOCUS ON HER WORK/GAME NOW THAT HE'S POINTED IT OUT, and that's when she starts asking about it.
If you have little moments like this of the characters' personalities playing off of each other, there's a little cute/funny moment in the comic even when there's not a real "punchline," and I think that's the real strength of these kinds of comics!
I used to joke with people who said "I can't do a journal comic because my life is boring" by telling them that my journal comic did an entire strip about me learning to crack eggs. Cracking eggs isn't that interesting, but it was cute and funny because it kinda poked fun at how I had never done anything resembling cooking before, plus someone being VERY INTENSE ABOUT EGG CRACKING AS IF IT IS A DIFFICULT ASSIGNMENT was fun. So it's not always how funny a situation is, but your characters' personalities and interactions, the things you can tease them about (lovingly of course) and the things that make them endearing and the moments they poke fun at each other, that will make the comic shine as you make more episodes!

[PixyByte]

Thank you very much. That is incredibly helpful, I never thought of highlighting the character's personalities quite like that. The last episode was actually based off of a real life problem where our attic did indeed have a massive leak and our ceiling fell in . I probably could have illustrated it better, now that you mention it. I will keep all your tips in mind for future episodes! Very good stuff

[shazzbaa]

The last episode was actually based off of a real life problem where our attic did indeed have a massive leak and our ceiling fell in . I probably could have illustrated it better, now that you mention it.

Okay first off: THAT'S HORRIBLE, I'M SO SORRY

Second: I kind of had the feeling a couple of these were based on real life! xD Something I had to think about a LOT when I was doing my journal comic was avoiding the "you had to be there" jokes, where it was funny when it happened, but you don't tell your readers enough to get why it was funny. You need to make sure to let your readers in on the joke! Think about why something was funny, or how you can make it funny when you tell it as a story.

So using the ceiling one as an example, I'm sure in real life it was SUPER CONFUSING when it happened if you didn't know about the attic leak. The story is funny, looking back on it, because you found out that it was such a bad attic leak that it MADE THE CEILING FALL IN, which is so horrible and absurd that you have to laugh.
But if you make the comic strip exactly what you experienced ("what's that dripping?" CEILING FALLS IN) then your readers are just going to be as confused as they would be if their living room was suddenly full of water for no reason. To let your readers in on the joke, you need to tell them what it was. And there's a bunch of ways you can do that!

It'd also help to have "there must be a leak in the attic" be more certain when Pixie brings it up. Once your readers know it totally was a leak in the attic, they can laugh at the absurdity of it, too!

Or, here's another, more blatant option:

Readers are still going to be surprised when the entire ceiling caves in, but the cool thing about this one is that while Pixie and Penguin are going back and forth trying to figure out what's going on, the readers are in on the joke the whole time because you already told them what it really is. It's not that you needed to illustrate it better -- I think the sudden WHOOSH of water coming through the ceiling is a great punch, in fact! xD -- you just need to make sure to let your readers in on the joke, so that they know what's going on and can laugh at it too!

OKAY NOW I PROMISE I WILL HUSH AND STOP OVERANALYSING THIS EPISODE AND LET YOU DRAW YOUR COMIC xD <3

[PixyByte]

Thank you for explaining it so well to me! Yeah it was a pretty bad experience. I didn't realize that it would come off as a "you had to be there" joke, but I get how explaining it more would add to the hilarity thanks so much for explaining it to me and drawing examples
Would redoing it or adding a part 2 be necessary or should I just add it to experience for future episodes?

[shazzbaa]

Nah, if it were me I'd just add it to experience! :> I don't think it's necessary to redo and, besides, I think for the type of comic you're doing you have a lot of room to go "dang that strip was funnier in my head, OH WELL, NEXT TIME!!!" b/c that has definitely happened with me and my journal comic. xD

[CPY]

I'll probably not be much of a help as I am a beginner but someone's criticism had helped me see my problems and made me see things differently. SO I'll give my 2 cents too, hoping they may help you.

First of all, to be honest, I do find the watermark a little distracting ... I know you wanna protect your work but maybe you can tone it down a little or not have it right in the middle?

Art wise. I like the simplicity of your art and the characters are interesting. But I think some panels could be done better. I am sorry but it took me a while to realise that the water is falling from the cracked ceiling. It's not that clear in terms of art. And I think someone already mentioned the bubbles.
I don't known how you create them in photoshop; if you're using the Marquee tool maybe you can try the pen tool instead. It easier and neater to resize vector than pixels.

Story wise. I guess its due to different region we're from that I don't get some of your jokes. So I can't give much on this area.

Anyway, it's just my personal opinion and you can ignore them if it doesn't apply.

[Cade]

I dunno, it's pretty good honestly. I'd like to see more. You're starting out kind of like me, I'm doing a simialr style comic, but it's a bit different in a few ways. I think we share a similarity in humor and style, my comic is Wade http://tapastic.com/series/Wade And I'll be uploading a new comic every Friday and Saturday. I subscribed and like I said, I like to see more. But I agree with previous commentators, the watermark is distracting.

[PixyByte]

@CPY I see what you mean by the watermark, I guess I'm just a little too paranoid. I've had my work stolen and copied before, so I guess that kind of blinded me to how others would view my use of over-watermarking lol. I'll figure out a way to make it so it isn't bothering the viewers but still gives me peace of mind thank you for mentioning that. As for the ceiling falling episode, it was a bit bold of me to draw, I should have chosen something easier to go with. For the bubbles, I think I'm going to make either the lines thinner, or do as I've seen in other comics, just do without the border and have a white bubble instead or something. I'll figure it out I appreciate the input!

@Cade I do think your comic is similar in humor, I like it. I will find a way to handle the watermark issue, I don't mean to have it be distracting, I'm just paranoid when it comes to people stealing my art.