I'm not going to sum up The Ten Commandments of Webcomic Production except to say that you should check it out, as well as the rest of The Webcomic Beacon's podcasts. I might have chosen or emphasized different aspects of webcomic production for inclusion in such a list, but for the most part I agree with the basic tenets. What follows is what I believe are the most important parts of webcomic production (in addition to those already mentioned), sans the KJV language.

1. Be in contact with your readers. If something happens and you can't keep your update schedule, whether the break is small or a full blown hiatus, let your readers know what's going on. Shit happens in life, but I don't agree that all webcomic artists must adhere to a strict schedule with no variation. Things come up and sometimes updates will be missed. But if you let your readers know what's going on and what to expect, the missed update and/or hiatus will hurt a little less.

2. Make your navigation as clear and intuitive as possible. Navigation should require very little thought or struggle. If your readers have to search to find the comic's navigation, likely they will lose their patience with your work as a whole. In fact, try having many simultaneous methods of navigation at once. The more ways a reader can navigate, the easier it is for them to find the mode of doing so that is the most intuitive.

One neat thing to do, if you can, is to have each comic be a link to the next in addition to your regular navigation buttons. That way all the reader has to do is click the comic itself when reading through the archives, making the reading experience much more seamless. And in the end, that is exactly what you want.

3. Even if your art or writing isn't stellar, aim to be as clear as possible. Readers will put up with a lot if the gain is worthwhile, but the fastest way to turn a reader away is if they can't tell what the hell is going on. Here's a thing to keep in mind: if you have to write directional cues in your comic pages (labels, directional arrows), you're doing it wrong. Aim to make the comic as clear as possible without you having to spell it out.

4. This one isn't necessary, but it's something I really prefer as a reader. Have an "about" page where readers can get to know the people behind the work. If you really don't want anyone to know anything about you, or you don't feel like having information not directly related to the comic itself cluttering up the site, that's ok. But as a reader, I love having as much information about the creators as possible. I love knowing where the creators are coming from, what their experiences were, what their process of creation is, etc. It's also a nice way to make yourself more present for your readers.

5. Try not to lock up the main content under payment systems. This one, again, is more of a personal opinion and there are many reasons why one might choose to have their comics be subscription only (adult webcomics or subscription community works might choose to do this, for instance). But for the general webcomic, having the main comic itself require payment in order to read is a good way to alienate readers and make your work generally unaccessible. Have as much extra content, merchandise, donation incentives, etc. as you want, but try to keep the actual comic itself free.

That's it for now, but I will probably add more to this list in the future. Happy reading!

This is something that's been a long time coming, but seeing this essay by Jeph Jacques inspired me to finally get around to talking about something I feel is very important. Basically, it's the notion that webcomics should be paid for in order to be read.

There are those who feel that webcomics should be pay-only in order to make the money necessary to keep creating comics. I've seen many variations of this theme: some people have the current comics free with the archives restricted, some people have the archives free with the current content restricted for several months before becoming free, and some have only portions or extras of their work restricted. All of these models are fine for individuals, but for webcomics as a whole? This model would kill what makes them so beautiful: wide-spread availability.

Personally, if I see a comic I find interesting and want to check out more of it, but then find I have to pay, I won't do it. Why? Because how do I really know it's worth paying for if I can't see very much of the product? It takes me many pages of strips to decide if I like something. So giving me one or two free strips is going to make me pass you over quick.

I've seen this business ploy in many different places: they offer you a "teaser," whether that be a strip of the comic or a snippet of information or whatever. Nothing turns me off from a business faster than this, because a "snippet" is NEVER ENOUGH to give me a sense of what I'm supposed to be paying for. I hate this model, and I hate that there are people who want to see it applied to lucrative webcomics. If you have a product, you can't just assume that your brand name will be enough to sell it. You have to give people a real reason to want to buy your product, and they can't get that if you won't let them know what you're selling until they pay for it.

In his essay, Jeph makes a defense for merchandise as a means of income. This is, to me, the best model for making income, because it allows readers to support the work they love and get something cool in return. After all, they buy the merchandise because they like the comic. Best of all, they don't have to buy anything.

As I said, what becomes threatened in this "pay-restricted" model is wide-spread availability. You are alienating potential readers by making your comic accessible to only those who can afford it/are willing to pay. And that's a big if. Using the merchandise model makes it so that only the people who want to pay are able to do so. This takes the pressure off of those of us who just don't have the money and would rather spend our last 20 dollars on rice and bread than a month of archives.

Most importantly: comics are meant to be read and enjoyed. Period. As a comic artist, that is all I care about. I want to speak and have my ideas and thoughts read by others. Restricting my work to those who pay would be to take away my fundamental ability to communicate through this medium. Yes, I want to make money. Yes, I want to be supported by my work. But this is not the goal of storytelling. If it is, you're in the wrong profession.

I've discovered that I have very little patience for stories that rely on a surface characterization to carry the plot along. That is, characters who have some humorous interaction with each other due to their conflicting personalities, or whose obnoxious but loveable personalities keep the plot interesting. The characters are often referred to as "comic reliefs," but I usually find that writers who include them stop at the caricature of what a "comic relief" is supposed to be: funny, but endlessly loveable.

It isn't an issue I have with chosen personalities, since all personalities can be written well by an effective writer. The issue is the author relies on the personality as a mere plot element and never cares to take it further, never bothering to understand the underlaying workings of said character. The same goes for relationships between characters. Relationships are usually set up as plot elements with the idea of tension in mind: either sexual or personal. I'd use Love Hina as a good example of this, wherein the plot is dragged on so that two characters who are hilariously and awkwardly thrust into sexually tense situations can finally admit their love for each other. Again, it isn't the relationship or even the conflicting personalities, the humor, or the awkward sexual tension I'm necessarily against. It's the reliance on these elements, and these elements alone, to carry the story that bothers me.

Writers who rely too heavily on surface humor without bothering to go deeper into the human condition, or at least their characters' inner workings, offer little in value to me.

Hello, I'm Zeo. This is my new art blog, housing my comments, compliments, and complaints about art, webcomics, the webcomics community, and my work in general. This will be the blog that chronicles my struggles and observations as a person trying to communicate purpose through art in a growing community.

As I said in my bio, I'm mostly interested in comics and graphic novels. However, given that I'm also involved with writing and other things, I'll certainly comment on those as well. So, check back for more of my awesome thoughts and opinions, and...yeah. All that.