Webcomic hosting

[Blarghagh]

Pretty good. Think about the speech bubbles though. Try to evenly space everything out. Here's a tip: start with a little text-box you can write in, and then draw the bubble around it's corners. It's not very artistic, but it almost always works.

Edited April 15, 2010 by TrueNeutral

[Hurlshort]

Dear Mr Walters.

 

I feel bad for Catherine. I hope her appearance in the latest web comic doesn't effect her self esteem too badly.

 

Love Hell Kitty.

 

P.S. Are you as angry looking in real life? You kind of look like a devil.

 

Apparently that is how the students see me. It has its uses, discipline is fairly easy.

 

"Catherine" actually was the one who suggested it would be a funny comic after I said it in class. Some of my kids have remarkably thick skin.

[Tigranes]

Curious, so you've got the student drawing it in morning break, but once you get a tablet, does that mean you'll be doing the drawing? Or you'll take it to said student and do it in morning break still?

[I want teh kotor 3]

Some of those are really funny. I have all the artistic talent of a dying monkey, so I can't really comment about that...

 

It doesn't really matter who you are. You are not a real person. You are playing a character here, like this is some role playing game. But you really aren't a part of this community, so your opinion, while a nuisance, is unimportant. So good luck with your imaginary quests and stuff.

 

Any constructive criticism from real people would be wonderful

 

 

Siggy quote time?

[Hurlshort]

Curious, so you've got the student drawing it in morning break, but once you get a tablet, does that mean you'll be doing the drawing? Or you'll take it to said student and do it in morning break still?

 

Unfortunately I don't believe a tablet will help my absolute rubbish art skills, so I would let my student use it. I think I might start a comic club that will meet once a week for an hour after school, because a lot of my kids are getting into the project. It's like a big brainstorm session in my room at brunch lately.

[Walsingham]

It doesn't really matter who you are. You are not a real person. You are playing a character here, like this is some role playing game. But you really aren't a part of this community, so your opinion, while a nuisance, is unimportant. So good luck with your imaginary quests and stuff.

 

Any constructive criticism from real people would be wonderful

 

I actually quite like the artwork. I prefer it to some of the more accomplished ones where characters have a mass-manufactured feel.

 

I was, however, surprised and by inference (because I am aged) alarmed by the two panel gags. I'm used to three panel gags. But that doesn't mean three panels is right. I just thought I'd mention it.

[Hurlshort]

Going forward, I also want to make more three panel comics. It's kind of an evolutionary process. Although I do appreciate the Rhymes with Orange style of comic.

[Hurlshort]

I finally got the forums up and running somewhat correctly and have started activating accounts.

[Blarghagh]

This is actually pretty fantastic. I really enjoy it. Do you have a specific update schedule or do you just post them as you get them? Schedules breed loyal readers who always check in on that day, but add time pressure. No schedule leads to people only occasionally checking it though.

 

Nonetheless, I'm adding it to my bookmarks. It's fun.

Edited April 20, 2010 by TrueNeutral

[Hurlshort]

I'm on a Monday, Wednesday, Friday schedule. Glad to hear you like it!

[Hurlshort]

Anyone have any good ideas for getting more visibility? I have about a dozen viewers now, but I'd like to expand that a bit.

[Deadly_Nightshade]

Anyone have any good ideas for getting more visibility? I have about a dozen viewers now, but I'd like to expand that a bit.

 

Have you tried a link exchange?

[Calax]

just once ask your class "how many of you are sentient"

[Blarghagh]

Anyone have any good ideas for getting more visibility? I have about a dozen viewers now, but I'd like to expand that a bit.

 

Have you tried a link exchange?

 

Link exchanges work wonders in the webcomic world. You could try sending an e-mail to some of the not-quite-famous but decently popular webcomics asking for a link exchange. I bet many of them will dig the concept of a classroom comic for and partially by kids.

 

EDIT: I sent an e-mail to the guys from Fleen, the internet's foremost webcomic journalism blog, telling them about your project. They have a stance on usually not plugging comics that have only just started, though, so it might not help. But it never hurts to try.

Edited April 24, 2010 by TrueNeutral

[Hurlshort]

Thanks TN. You are like my marketing department!

[LadyCrimson]

Neat-O, Hurlshot. I like it.

Who cares if the drawing isn't all fancy-pants artistic. That's not everything.

 

You could try Twitter for casual marketing purposes. Link to archive pages using the #webcomic or other similar hashtags in posts. But link exchanges are probably better/more reliable.

 

I know this is the age of high-speed internet but you might think about compressing those scans a bit more. Your blog seems to scale them to fit the blog window but it's not actually compressing/resizing them, and the download size remains the original file (500kb-800kb). Kinda big for such simple blk/wht drawings. I'm probably one of the last in that 'resize/compress your images' minority tho.

[Hurlshort]

I'll look into the resizing issue, thanks. I hadn't really messed with it since Comicpress does such a nifty job getting them to work within the page. I hadn't even contemplated that someone might want to download them either

[Tigranes]

Are you a regular in any other forum than here, e.g. with your LOTRO stuff? Word of mouth has to start from somewhere.

 

Will we eventually be introduced to some of the classroom characters?

[Walsingham]

I still really like the artwork, but you REALLY need to punch up the stories a bit. It's fine to be inspired by the normal, but your grass walking one, for example, has nothing really happening in it to my mind. The only way it would work is to massively exaggerrate reactions and staring. Or to have something incredibly unexpected happen. Or to show the glaring from their perspective, as you did with the parabola head (which does work).

 

That's my two penn'orth.

Edited April 26, 2010 by Walsingham

[Hurlshort]

Thanks for the feedback folks. I'm going to storyboard some of the classroom characters and hopefully get some good variety going. It's also great to get a different perspective than my 7th graders. They can be pretty funny, but they haven't really developed a refined sense of humor.

[Hurlshort]

I'm going to be running my first actual storyline in about two weeks as part of Zombie Appreciation week. I've also added a like button to the site which...does very little. Apparently there is also a plugin that will link the like button with your facebook account, so you press like and it shows up in facebook or something. It sounded a bit invasive, actually, so I haven't decided whether to give it a run.

 

I've got an open competition going in my classroom for a header and banner design, so those should be up by next week.

[Tigranes]

Sounds good. If you keep this up for another few months it'll really get a solid grounding.

 

One thing is the enthusiasm of your students may not last forever, so you might need to have that in the back fo your head.

[Hurlshort]

Sounds good. If you keep this up for another few months it'll really get a solid grounding.

 

One thing is the enthusiasm of your students may not last forever, so you might need to have that in the back fo your head.

 

I do get new students every year

 

There is a chance that my artists will change with the seasons, which will be a shame. But I'm enjoying it so much, I plan on spending my free time this summer trying out some graphics programs and purchasing a drawing tablet.

[Hurlshort]

I bought a tablet today (Bamboo Pen) and I've started playing around with it. It came with Corel Painter Essentials, which seems like a fairly decent product. So far it is pretty sweet, but I have a lot to learn about it. My first goal is to create a decent looking banner for the top of my site, then maybe make a couple ad banners. I have some students doing them too, but they are taking a bit too long.

 

As Tig mentioned, the student enthusiasm will likely wane eventually, so I am trying to get ahead of the potential loss of my artist by doing a little art myself.

 

Oh yeah, I'm in the top 200 for Top Web Comics, so feel free to vote for me

[Walsingham]

What the hell was that about samurai?

 

EDIT: I loved the homework eating one.

 

 

When I was at boarding school I had one of the junior years enter my study, looking distracted. Thinking he needed support I offerred him a handful of mixed raisins, nuts and chocolate chips from my desk. He accepted the entire bag and left. I was in teh middle of work so I left it at that. Then, one hour later, he cameback in and handed me the bag. Working on a hunch I fast established he'd been through and systematically eaten all the chocolate chips and NOTHING ELSE. Of course I accused him of being stark raving mad to which he shrugged his shoulders and said "It's a dog eat other dog's sweeties world." Then left.

Edited May 8, 2010 by Walsingham