Posting Comics to the Web Part 1: Online Galleries and Comic Hosting Sites
I don't believe I can begin this article without addressing the proverbial elephant in the room: the Art in Webcomics fiasco. A few months ago, I wrote an article stating some opinions on what I felt made for good art in comics, opinions which were met with vehement opposition. My intent was not to slander any webcomics in general or any of the creators involved and I've already apologized to the offended parties (God, if I had a dime for every time I've said that...). I appreciate everyone who took the time to carefully think through their responses and to voice their opinions clearly and intelligently.
...And for the rest of you who insisted I am an elitist, arrogant bitch, allow me to make some clarifications. I've been working on webcomics for a long time and I've gained a lot of knowledge along the way. I have confidence in my experiences. And sometimes that confidence comes across as overconfidence. Sometimes, I might not have the highest opinion of something, but telling me I'm wrong because you don't share that opinion doesn't get anyone anywhere. This is all a learning and teaching process. We all learn from each other everyday and that's a process I want to keep going. That said, the one thing I'm not is a bitch (at least bitch is not my default setting). While I'm pretty opinionated, the word 'bitch' doesn't quite fit. Bitches are withholding and don't share information, especially if it's to someone else's benefit. However, I'm here to do that because I still want us all to learn something, myself included. So let's get back to that learning, shall we?
When discussing webcomics, the "web" part of the process is very, very crucial. After all, a comic that's not posted to the web cannot be called a webcomic. It's just...well, it's just a comic. So how does one go about posting comics to the web? What are some of the best methods for accomplishing this? Should you use a hosting service? Should you post to Deviant Art? Should you write HTML code? There's no right or wrong answer in this and thankfully, there areplenty of options for everyone these days to put their work out on the web and get their story out to potential readers. This is the start of a series of articles that is a collaborative effort between myself and the authors willing to offer their opinions on these systems and in advance I want to thank those authors for their contributions. So without further ado, let's explore Posting Comics to the Web: Online Galleries and Comic Hosting Sites.
Art/Comic Gallery Sites
Deviant Art
http://www.deviantart.com/
Deviant Art has been a popular destination for artists both amateur and professional for years. DeviantArt allow for easy posting of one's artwork to display to the world forfeedback or even potential fans. I actually started posting the earliest pages of the current Marsh Rocket run on Deviant art, mainly because I was starting over with my comic and wanted to get some feedback on whether I was going in the right direction. This was a great way to get useful feedback and tips in improving my artwork from other experienced creators.
The system itself is fairly easy and intuitive to use and you get the option to turn your pages into prints for sale. Also, you get a domain that's easy to remember so you can tell others to get the word out (example: http://yourcomic.deviantart.com). There's a lot to like about DeviantArt as a means of uploading images, but when it comes to reader usability, I have my doubts. Lacking from the user interface is the crucial "First","Next", "Previous" and "Last" buttons so familiar in webcomics. Without a user-friendly interface, viewing a webcomic on Deviant Art can be really, really tedious and could cost you valuable readers. It's a great system for those of you getting started and looking for advice, but when it comes to posting regular comics, I recommend finding an alternative to Deviant Art.
Comic Space
http://www.comicspace.com
Comic Space is sort of a comicker's version of MySpace. It was established a few years ago to be a social network for comic creators to be able to share their work, but also showcase their comics. The interface is fairly easy to use if you're familiar with a social network, and unlike Deviant art, pages do include those ever-important "Previous" and"Next" Buttons. However, the layout of any given user's website still looks like MySpace, which is a problem if you want your comic to get all the attention. Comic links are reduced to mere icons swept off to the side of thescreen, giving more attention to informationnot necessarily related to your comic, like your interests and alternate user galleries. It's the next logical step in online galleries. It offers tools for comic creators such as gallery options and social networking abilities, but at base level it's still a social networking site. I used to have an account on this site several years ago, but having my own dedicated website elsewhere, I found that this one was more trouble than it was worth. It's a step up from Deviant Art in terms of reader usability(Previous/Next are your friends!), the MySpace-like layout may mar your webcomic's credibility. If you really want to be taken seriously, you would do better going to a site that is dedicated to hosting webcomics.
DrunkDuck
http://www.drunkduck.com
Drunk Duck is a webcomics community that hosts comic sites for free (or for pay if you want the benefits of a premium subscription). It was founded in 2002 and has become one of the biggest webcomic communities hosting over 7,000 comic sites. Having little experience with this system myself, I decided to ask around for other creators' thoughts on Drunk Duck.
"Drunkduck was a great place for me to start Rival Angels. Drunkduck had a very strong community in their forums and in visiting multiple webcomics. By interacting with this community, I was able to attract people to Rival Angels and get instant feedback. Drunkduck also boasts a pretty intuitivecomic system, for uploading, chapter marking and customization.
Drunkduck has lost some of its shine lately. Platinum seems to have abandoned the site and not as many people frequent it so interaction is down from what it used to be. I know a few creators that have outgrown Drunkduck and moved on but I think it's a great place for new creators to begin their webcomics, especially if they don't want to get their hands dirty with Wordpress/Comicpress."
Alan Evans, creator, Rival Angels
Joanna Piechowiak, of Seclusion Inn also weighed in on her experience with Drunk Duck:
DrunkDuck - before all upgrades onSmackJeeves, one could compare the two. Now Drunckduck is much behind. I'm not really sure why I am still sticking with it as my mirror. Managing the comic is really lousy; in the past it won over SJ with multiple page upload and scheduled updates, but not SJ has it too. The ONLY thing that speaks for me FOR DD is the community, although the forums seem slow. Apart from that I think it's a nightmare: there are no notifications on new comments (you have to go through all your pages to see them), statistics are lousy, no information on your readership. Also, from what I know, there haven't been any improvements made for quite a few years. Your address is http://www.drunkduck.com/
Joanna Piechowiak, creator, Seclusion Inn
SmackJeeves
http://www.smackjeeves.com
SmackJeeves has become an alternative to DrunkDuck. Established in 2005, SmackJeeves is the host to thousands of webcomics. SmackJeeves can be a free service, but you can get additional features if you are willing to pay the subscription fees. Here are some thoughts from user Joanna Piechowiak:
Smackjeeves - is my primary webcomic hosting at the moment. It used to be quite simple and limiting, and a lot of people hold it for that even now, but in recent months it has undergone a lot of changes and is still being improved. For comic creators: the menu is easy to navigate, you can easily add your own template, but there are also quite a few templates you can choose from. You can add and edit additional pages (like FAQ etc.), you can add multiple pages and set the date when the comic goes live, you've got RSS and probably some features I forgot about. You get (if you want) notifications for new comments. Also, SJ has nice statistics including pageviews, visitors and watchers (number of people who faved your comic - you can even check who those people are which sometimes leads to discovering new comics). The drawback would be the fact that, in the free option, all additional pictures (e.g. portraits on cast page) you have to host elsewhere (this does NOT concern comic pages). Also, to add your own domain you have to get premium subscription (which actually works like normal hosting); by default you get http://yourcomicname.smackjeeves.com. Nice bonus to smackjeeves are the flourishing forums, easy searching for comics and recommendations based on the comics you read. Generally, with present smackjeeves you can easily find comics and allow your comic to be found.
I must say I really recommend smackjeeves and really do not recommend DrunkDuck. I think smackjeeves gives really good experience both to readers and creators (especially those that want their comic to be presented well but have no talent in maintaining a website). I've read opinions that DD has more members, but the truth is I got much more readers on SJ (even though for some time I was more active on DD forums to check this "amazing community"; I think it's old news, I never go back to that forum now while on SJ forums there is always something going on, you can learn or share your knowledge). Also, with all the features now I am positive SJ members are groing in number now.
Joanna Piechowiak , creator, Seclusion Inn
ComicDish
http://www.comicdish.com
Established in 2006, Comic Dish is an additional choice in the array of webcomics hosting sites out there. It seems to be a much smaller operation than the likes of DrunkDuck or SmackJeeves, but it attracts users nonetheless with its usability and lack of pay function. All the features of this tool are available to all users, regardless of financial contribution. I caught up with Xade of Insanity of Xade to get a feel for her experiences with the system.
Comicdish is not very popular, I'll tell you that right now. It can be awkward to use, the interface does take some small getting used to. The archive links in the control panel itself are at the bottom, so if you want to edit the beginning you have to scroll down and chose the button. However, it's actually pretty neat how they use hover menus for navigation instead of drop downs. Lets say you want to add a page and you are on the forums. You simply click on Comic Account then you hover over "account", and navigate the menu to "My Comics" "Comic Name" and finally "Manage Pages" Clicking on any of those aforementioned links will allow you to navigate via pages to what you want, so even if you have a snarky browser that snubs the hover menu then the dish has it covered.
The best thing about Comicdish is its ability to link to DrunkDuck and Smackjeeves, allowing you to post to the dish and update the mirrors automatically. Personally, I use it to allow me to update to the duck with ease, because I actually have no readers on the dish. The duck has a rather difficult dating system. It uses numerical drop downs that makes it really easy to click on the wrong date and have it update too early or too late if you want to schedule in advance. With Comicdish I just update it, make sure the links are bbs parsed (It can handle both html and bbs code) and use the popup calender to visually chose my date. I currently update on Tuesday's and Fridays, so that makes it really easy to chose the date I want. Comicdish then logs into my drunkduck account, choses the linked comic and pastes the data in, uploading it from their server. When I log back in (you can only be logged in once per account) the page is right there, ready to update, or edit, as the case may be because the dish cannot edit the mirrors. It can also build mirror archives, and even transfer comic images via ftp, which is how I got my comicdish mirror started. I would recommend it for managing mirrors but since I havent advertised it much people simply visit me at my drunk duck mirror or at http://insanityofxade.com where they can get the full Xadian experience.
Xade, creator Insanity of Xade
As you can see there are plenty of options out there. Some are great for beginners, while others work best for serious creators. Whichever you decide, take comfort in knowing there are plenty of options.
Special thanks to Alan Evans, Joanna Plechowiak and Xade for their contributions. Please be reminded that these quotes are their opinions and experiences and are in no way to be taken as fact or the Word of God. They are simply words to help guide you on this webcomicking journey.
Next time, we will explore Posting Comics to the Web Part 2: WordPress Plugins
- Jules Rivera
Check out Jules Rivera's Series
www.marsh-rocket.com
Marsh Rocket is an action/black comedy web comic that takes place several centuries into the future. Marsh, a corporate hitman, must retrieve a mysterious briefcase for a sleazy loan shark at the risk of betraying his own people. With warring factions after Marsh, the briefcase, and each other, the blood, knives, and even breakfast foods are bound to fly.
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