Character Art from "X-MEN: EVOLUTION" (2000 - 2003)
Webcomic platforms can help get your comic published when you want something quick and easy to start out! They generally share a few qualities:
They format everything in a basic way so you don't have to do much set up your own space to look nice on web/mobile
They have no fee to publish your comics there, because you are using their web hosting
They may get your comic in front of other readers with mobile apps or online catalogs
If you meet their criteria, you may also be able to find hosting with digital comic stores, publishers, and collectives, and this may get you a bit more in the way of money, promotional opportunities, or editor assistance.
Even if you choose to host your website on its own webhost with a comic CMS, you might also consider finding a platform that aligns with your comic goals and "mirroring" your pages there.
In this post, we look at all the webcomic platforms out there we could find in our research!
This post may be updated as time goes on as new platforms enter the hosting arena, or other important updates come to light.
💻 Everyone uses social media, could I just use that as a platform for my comic? - One-shot or strip comics without a continuous story that can be read in any order can do okay on social media, and people have adapted Tumblr to display a series of pages. But for continuous long-form stories, social media platforms are better for keeping your readers updated and general promotion.
📚 Wait, what if I want to build my own website and drive people there? - We have another masterlist of website hosts for that!
🕵️♀️What kinds of restrictions can I expect? - Many comic platforms have restrictions on NSFW content, links to other sites, or could be invite/application-only. We've tried to note those on the cards, as well as a list of comic platforms that have predatory business practices at the very end that we recommend avoiding. Always do your research!
Cheat Sheets for Writing Body Language
We are always told to use body language in our writing. Sometimes, it’s easier said than written. I decided to create these cheat sheets to help you show a character’s state of mind. Obviously, a character may exhibit a number of these behaviours. For example, he may be shocked and angry, or shocked and happy. Use these combinations as needed.
by Amanda Patterson
so i looked around for something like this but all the ones i found were like HEH SUCK YOUR OWN DICK DRAW YOUR OWN BORING OCS FOR 30 DAYS DRAW HOMESTUCK FOR 30 DAYS DRAW YOUR OWN BORING OCS AS HOMESTUCK FOR 30 DAYS etc which w/e is fun buddy but i don’t find that shit helpful so i made my own that i can do. these are meant to not be super heavy time investments since i have a full time job and i need something i can spend like 2 hours tops on anyway here
DAY 1. paint a BG
DAY 2. draw a figure in perspective
DAY 3. STILL-LIFE DAY don’t go crazy but you know, challenge yourself maybe do something a bit more complicated then a rubber ball in direct sunlight
DAY 4. draw a animal you’ve never drawn before
DAY 5. paint a picture using a limited palette, you can get those anywhere but here are some sites
DAY 6. draw a figure in: 1 hour, 30 min, 10 minutes, 5 minutes, 1 minute, 30 seconds
DAY 7. put your ipod on shuffle and play the first song it gives you. illustrate that song. if you have a zune get the fuck off my blog you heretic
DAY 8. 2 POINT PERSPECTIVE DAY
DAY 9. draw the same picture 3 times with 3 different compositions
DAY 10. STYLE DAY 1 - pick a artist with a unique style and emulate it!
DAY 11. STYLE DAY 2 - pick a artist with a unique style and emulate it!
DAY 12. STYLE DAY 3 - pick a artist with a unique style and emulate it!
DAY 13. watch a movie or episode of a show that you find visually appealing. while watching draw thumbnails of shots that catch your eye and try to articulate why it’s visually appealing/why it works
DAY 14. paint another BG but it has to be different than the one you did DAY 1 SO if you painted a outdoors scene, do a interior if you painted a tree try some water w/e
DAY 15. do a lineart, then swap with a friend who also did a lineart and color each other’s pictures. if you don’t have friends then make some ok
DAY 16. paint a portrait of your favorite celebrity (mine is adrian brody!!)
DAY 17. do another limited palette picture b/cuz they’re easy and fun but this time after you’re done INVERT THE PALETTE (CTRL + I in photoshop) AND PAINT A DIFFERENT PICTURE whoa
DAY 18. close your eyes and draw 3 random shapes with your non-dominant hand, then turn those shapes into legit draws
DAY 19. MAGICAL GIRL DAY FUCK ok go to here and draw the first 3 you get. i guess you could use any of the other generators but why would you want to?
DAY 20. pick a body part you have trouble with, find a bunch of photo references (or use yourself/a friend that you should have made by now) and fill up a whole page/canvas with studies
DAY 21. 3 POINT PERSPECTIVE DAY
DAY 22. random.org 1-648 3x. gijinka the corresponding pokemon no cheating yes metapod is 9 kinds of lame but do it anyway this is about growth i’m already trying to make it fun quit bitching. if you don’t like pokemon go to wikipedia and hit “random page” until you get 3 animals and gijinka them.
DAY 23. draw the keyframes of a walk cycle
DAY 24. this is a project i did in my intro to drawing for non-majors class (aka confused business majors who need a fine arts gen ed and couldn’t get into ceramics). pick a ancient culture that you’re interested in (aka not contemporary japan you giant child) and find a sculpture or piece of art (3D works best) that really speaks to your heart or some shit. render it as realistically as possible. this may seem odd but it was a weirdly engaging project for me except you have it easy b/cuz i had to recreate it on a 4ft x 8ft canvas in ink and, while engaged, i also wanted to fucking die the entire time (almost 2 weeks) so that’s the feeling you should be aiming for here
DAY 25. YOU’RE GETTING BETTER EVERY DAY DAY! find the oldest picture you have and redraw it for a quick and dirty self-esteem boost
DAY 26. have a friend draw you 3 very rough gestures and then you finish them. if you still don’t have friends you have bigger problems than needing to work on your art i gave you 10 days to find a buddy which is pretty generous i think
DAY 27. pick 3 basic geometric shapes, design 3 characters utilizing those shapes
DAY 28. find a book, open to a random page and draw the 2nd sentence
DAY 29. pick a character (whatever) and draw them happy, sad and angry. be consistent and push the expressions/pose
DAY 30. real talk nobody ever makes it to day 30 i could pretty much say anything here and it wouldn’t matter at all. i’m making this day about me, this is my day, national johre day. draw yourself god tier while listening to really cool music. pretend you are really a god wearing cool pajamas and have amazing powers and are not actually a disenchanted alcoholic woman lost in the financial abyss of post-university life christ almighty help me
Walt Explains Multiplane Camera
I’ll also do some notes on perspective and dynamic posing later. (We’ll see how dynamic posing goes considering I’m not too great at it myself so… yeahhhh.)
Hey friends, Meg here! Welcome to another TUTOR TUESDAY, recommended by the lovely potstickerninja22! Today we take a look at eyes! Remember, I always am open to recommendations for other tutorials. Send them here to to my personal blog! Keep practicing, have fun, and I’ll see you next Tuesday!
I didn’t include all because this post is already ridiculously long, but thank yall so much for all the support! It makes making art a lil easier haha.