Gary
Author Comments aka Comic News
Denver Comic Con 2014 Notes part 1
For those of you who have been with the comic for a while, thank you, and I want to let you know that there are going to be changes with it (or so I plan). I'm going to try and make the world more consistent. In order to get to the point, there will probably be some story arcs to get me to a place where it's solid. I'm going to try and avoid continuity errors, but since I only kind of kept track of that in the past, I'm not positive that I'll be able to do so. These changes will take place over the year. My goal is to have the following before June 2015 (we'll see if that's possible):
- Homes with a blue prints
- Workplace blue prints
- Well defined workplace jobs
- Blue prints for several common haunts
- A rough map
- A solid idea of how each of them gets where they're going
- A rough plan of where each character is heading
At the same time, my art style will be changing. There's not a lot I can do story wise to enact this, so it might be a little jarring. I apologize for that. The goal is to make the comic better all around. I hope you don't mind, and actually enjoy it.
Now, onto my notes... (well, the notes from the first talk, because it's 1am)
Denver Comic Con 2014 panel notes
I'm going to try and remember who did each panel, but I didn't write it down because I thought it would be in the program, it's not. Sorry for any mistakes I make here.
Indie Comics of Colorado
Local talent will share their views on creating comics in Colorado
Joshua Catalanotto,
Dan Conner,
Scooter Hughes,
Shane Rodriguez,
Liam Tigh,
(and I think one more, if any of you know who, let me know)
- If you want to meet other artists, get involved in the local community, in Denver there are things like "Drink and Draw".
- Output a pdf/e-reader version of your work. It's easy, and it allows people to read it offline. If you want to sell it, ComiXology makes it very simple to do that.
- Conventions in different parts of the country have very different feels, for example, conventions on the east coast tend to want originals, and they often don't want to talk to the artist. Conventions in the midwest then to be more social, and people want tot talk to the artist. Since the conventions are different, do you research before getting a booth at one, aka ask an artist that's attended a previous year, or go as an attendee and talk to the artists and see what's selling for them.
- How do you build an audience?
- Give your readers a means of input, give them a voice.
- Know the audience you want, and know how much of your personal life you want to/are willing to share with them.
- Make two brands, one for your comic, and one for yourself.
- Make something you'd want to read
- How do you print a comic?
- Printing a comic is a big commitment, but there are some short run companies out there, like Ka-Blam and Comix Well Spring
- Another option would be to find a local printer, many of them have competitive prices, and you don't have to pay for shipping.
- Lastly, if you're just testing the waters, then get a laser printer and print out a simple comic.
- How do you handle marketing?
- Put your work up digitally in more than one place
- Do guest comics on other people's sites. Ask sites you like if you can do a guest comic for them.
- Donate art to community outreach kind of things, like Aurora Rise
- Do fan art for comics you like and send them to the sites of those comics, or for larger company characters, post your fan art on places like deviantART.
- Collaborate with other artists and writers
- Take advantage of any and all opportunities, you never know where work might lead.
- Put (c), your name, and your site on all of you work. There's nothing more tragic than seeing something go viral, and no one gets credit for the work.
- Trademark your brand, don't file for a copyright on each comic.
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