C.S. Jones, Author at Webcomicry

Tell Better Stories With Memes

…OK, both the title and the page image are pretty misleading on this one. I’m actually talking about memes as Richard Dawkins originally defined them: bits of knowledge passed from person to person via word of mouth and various media.

Figures of speech are memes, writing styles are memes, and tropes are some of the most persistent memes of all. In fact, you could argue that stories are just meme golems. Where do all these bits come from, though? Both reality and fantasy in equal measure: life inspires art inspires life and so on, and memes travel freely between them.

February 22, 2015 / 1 Comment

Linking Binge

Since full-length posts take so long to write, I’m going to be periodically doing posts featuring links from around the internet that should also be of interest to webcomic creators, just so something’s going up here in the interim.

Today: Monty Oum, life drawing, running, fonts, who’s linking to who, story arcs, and an email list.

February 17, 2015 / 17 Comments

The 2015 Webcomicker’s Market

First of all, you might want to bookmark this and check back periodically: it’s nowhere near done, and I plan to keep updating it until it has to be replaced by the 2016 version. In fact, it’s only being released in its current form because, basically, I ran out of time to continue working on it.

So…

What’s All This, Then?

Unlike the writer’s market, this is not a list of people who will pay you to make webcomics. Sorry, but I don’t think those exist.

This market traffics in another kind of online currency: publicity. In short, this is a list of writers, bloggers, vloggers, and podcasters willing to look at your creation.

December 24, 2014 / 5 Comments

All About Dialogue

What is dialogue?

“That’s easy: it’s when your characters talk.”

Fair enough. Technically, there’s nothing wrong with that definition. But let me tell you a story with which there’s also nothing technically wrong:

December 23, 2014

About the Ads…

No point in trying to pretend they’re not there.

I moved the blog from WordPress.com to a self-hosted WP install last night, so maintaining it is no longer free. Add to that the fact that regularly composing posts 5 to 7 times longer than the average blog entry takes a lot of time and effort, and I won’t be able to keep doing it for no money. That’s why you’ll notice the site has ads now. If you’re using AdBlock, I’d appreciate it if you add it to your exceptions list, but I understand if you choose not to. And in case you’re wondering, this is probably more painful for me than you.

Also, all links to the old Webcomicry’s posts will no longer work. I’m adding this as a footnote because not many people have been linking to them. But just in case you have, now you know.

Image from Romantically Apocalyptic. Drawn by IIDanmrak.

December 10, 2014 / 2 Comments

Schedules Pt. 2: Productivity

When I left my last day job and began freelancing full-time, what I was most looking forward to was having more time to work on my comic.

That initial excitement lasted about a day. Between sending out countless queries and project bids, coming up with ideas to pitch to people, building contact lists, and simply not feeling entitled to work on personal projects until all the job-related ones were done, I found myself having less time to spend on anything that wasn’t helping pay the bills.

But my worst problem, now that I didn’t have a micromanager breathing down my neck, was procrastination.

November 29, 2014 / 3 Comments

Schedules Pt. 1: Making Them, Sticking to Them, and What To Do When You Can’t

As anyone who follows any of my work might have noticed, I’m the worst person to talk about this. The worst. On Earth.

For one, I’m always late for everything in general. On top of that, my comic has neither a schedule nor a buffer, and I sometimes go weeks without even touching a pencil, knowing full well that I’ve promised readers I’m aiming for an update every Monday. I have no right to be giving anyone advice on scheduling.

Anyway, here’s some advice on scheduling…

November 5, 2014 / 13 Comments

Hosting: A Complete Guide

I’m sick of the ambiguity I’ve seen from most guides to comic hosting, so I decided to lay out the options I’m familiar with as thoroughly as possible.

In other words, this is long. But you can just skim it and read the bits on the sites that interest you.

The guide’s divided into two sections, one on free community sites like ComicGenesis, the other on the two forms of WordPress hosting.

Which one should you opt for? Your budget will largely determine that. If you don’t have one, go for a community site. If you do, you’re probably a professional who already has a plan, you don’t actually need advice on this, and you’ve already gone for paid hosting. But, you should also mirror on some community sites—their users are eager to read anything that doesn’t look like it was drawn by a blind child with a crayon clenched between his teeth.

On with the guide:

October 13, 2014 / 0 Comments

What is This?

This is a blog about webcomics, and how they can be improved. Topics planned include new ways to simplify perspective; programs and techniques that can be used to bump up your art; how we as creators can stop passing our comics between each other and find an outside audience; and what, if anything, can help webcomics advance as a medium.

Author: C.S. Jones (page 2 of 2)

What’s All This, Then?

What is dialogue?

Image from Romantically Apocalyptic. Drawn by IIDanmrak.