10 Things You Should NEVER Do In Your Webcomic

"Never draw in 72dpi!" *Draws comics traditionally* Never let them know your next move

Another tip do not make your main characters design overly complicated. You will be drawing them hundreds of times and you don’t want it to take up the entirety of your time to just draw that one character.

i think the lore dump prologue is tempting bc webcomics take so long that it can be hard to feel confident that you'll ever get to the part of the story where the lore matters, but it's really a disservice to your own motivation to blow all the stuff you're excited about early

Also DON'T have your characters going through a miscarriage in your COMEDY gaming comic.

I'd love to see a "Things you should absolutely do in a webcomic" video eventually! I just finished a comic for my final assignment of my degree and am admittedly deathly afraid of posting it online and expected to fall into every single one of these 10 pitfalls (I didn't, but a lot of these things you also don't just run into without actually publishing your work) so learning that I didn't was oddly comforting — and if I ever do decide to work on a webcomic I'll definitely be better prepped going into it now!

The very first fact you provided on lore dumping is... pretty much the very thing I'm doing in my fan Murder Drones comic. Might have to rethink things ;w;

=Video tips/timestamps= 2:13 Don't start with a long infodump/expostion-heavy prologue 5:10 Don't draw at 72DPI 8:00 Don't have bad lettering 10:24 Don't pick a genre just because it's popular 13:21 Don't make a comic just for the money 16:05 Don't run a crowdfunding campaign before you've made the comic 18:53 Don't aim to make the perfect webcomic that everyone loves 21:10 Don't redraw old pages 24:31 Don't sign a contract with a publisher without understanding the terms 28:04 Don't rely on external validation for motivation

On the topic of not redrawing old pages, personally I love watching a person's style and skills improve as the comic continues. It's inspiring. If you'd like to go back and redraw a page after like a month to show how things have improved, that's alright, but IMO don't replace your old pages with new ones.

Regarding Number 8: As my friends, McKay and Gray would say—"Save it for the Blu-ray." Don't redo any pages until you're polishing up for a physical or e-book release, just as an anime typically won't polish up episodes until they have a Blu-ray release.

Honestly, this was weirdly comforting for me. Especially the part that you should enjoy doing your webcomic despite it not being extremely popular. My motivation for a really long time was to have something that I could read in 10 years and it has worked for about a year. And I really do love making them. I guess a fear of losing readers etc has been killing my motivation recently but getting told directly that popularity doesn't matter is so comforting.

Regarding the redrawing: I love about webcomics that the drawings often start amaturish, but then when you are a couple tens of pages in, it is a beautiful professional looking style. That is super endearing. It need not be removed.

a “things you should Definitely do if you’re making a webcomic” would be a nice video, as i rarely see the ‘do’s side of ‘don’t’s ! besides webcomic making can be pretty scary with how daunting it is so it’s nice when there’s something to ease the pressure

All of these are so good, but the crowdfunding one has me cackling because an ex-friend from back when I was an art student did exactly that! She also tried to get me to write the whole comic for her, so no prizes for guessing how it turned out haha.

Currently making an indie game, but I decided to watch this because I'm thinking of doing a webcomic for another story of mine once I'm done with my current project. I was surprised by how much of this was applicable to developing my game, especially since I'm releasing it serially in chapters! A lot of these are just good tips for indie content creation in general.

Fellow Fire Alpaca users great news! The dpi is automatically set to 350 and can be raised to 600! If you want to check, for me it was right underneath the paper size option when you go to make a new file. Great video btw!

"Dont start with a wall of exposition" Star Wars:

It's like Lackadaisy. Tracy Butler has been making the comic since I was 11 or 12. Now I'm 30, and the comic hasn't even finished it's first arc. Things take time. Things Happen. Sometimes there are losses of loved ones. And you can't work for half a year from depression. Just keep trotting forward! The work will be done before your eyes. Almost like magic. Also, just start a webcomic. It doesn't matter if you are good. Learn as you go.

You should absolutely make a “Thing to do right” video. This video was honestly more helpful than any other webcomic help video ever

Star: So you want to make a webcomic, do you? Me, a game developer who randomly came a cross this video: D-do I?

1. Do NOT lore dump in the beginning. Introduce a hook to lure your reader into the world. 2. Set your DPI to 300. Any lower and it'll ruin any printed copies. Check the page resolutions before you draw. 3. Avoid bad lettering. Pick an easily readable font, space your lines well and give your words space within the word balloons (Hint: A capital H should be able to fit in each corner.) 4. Don't pick a genre just because it's popular. Passion helps to boost your popularity and portfolio. 5. Don't make a comic just for the money. You'll likely not make much. Try your hardest, but have a backup plan ready. 6. Don't run a crowdfunding campaign before you actually make the comic. Are you trying to look like a scam artist?! You need proof of your work before you try for a Kickstarter. 7. DO NOT TRY TO MAKE IT PERFECT. NOT EVERYONE WILL LIKE WHAT YOU MAKE. Make something that makes you happy and excited and you'll find your own audience/niche. 8. NEVER remake your old pages!! You WILL get stuck in an infinite loop and never get future pages done! You can make changes to old pages if and ONLY IF there is issues with clarity and/or composition. 9. Do NOT sign a contract (ESPECIALLY WITH A PUBLISHING COMPANY) without knowing the full terms. Having money given to you can be tempting, but they WILL try to swindle you. Review any contract handed to you with a third party, especially with a legal party. Focus on weighing pros and cons. 10. Don't rely on external validation for motivation. It can be gratifying for other people to enjoy and praise what you do, but using it as a crutch can ruin you. Remember- You should be your own biggest fan. Even if you have a million followers or just one, the best love you can get for your comic comes from you.