Comment My response (Score 1) 69
I've posted a response to the thread on the site. I've cut an pasted it below:
It's amazing how much traffic a post to the backpage of slashdot can generate. I feel sorry for the people who get their small university-hosted site posted to the front page without warning :)
Anyways, thanks to everyone who gave advice. I think that I will commit to a more frequent update schedule. I'll start at two a week, and see how hard that is. I do the strip in my spare time, and I'm trying to write up my Master's thesis, so I can't do daily. Maybe when I graduate.
I won't be depending upon recurring characters any time soon. I realize that writing standalone jokes is harder, and while my strips aren't everyone's cup of tea, I kind of like them. It's actually a bit of a pet peeve of mine when comics writers lean on their characters too much. We all know that Garfield likes lasagne - the joke dies after the 3rd or 4th telling.
As for the the less, um, encouraging comments on the Slashdot thread: I respect the fact that you don't like my comic. Humour is a very subjective thing. Some people (jebus help them) even like the Family Circus. I realize that my drawing style is still a bit inconsistent, but this is a learning experience. As one poster said, look at the early strips from any established web comic - people learn by doing.
If you don't find any of my strips funny, that OK with me. Constructive criticism is a very helpful thing, and I thank you for it. Snarky insults aren't as helpful, but whatever :) I kind of opened myself up for that kind of thing when I posted the story to slashdot, and I'll take it with a grain of salt.
As for my motivations in posting - I really did want advice, and I am going to follow some of it. But a large part of it was tongue in cheek, hence the foot. I mean, what better way to generate traffic than to invoke the slashdot effect. I honestly didn't think that the editors would approve the story :) I also think that the discussion will be useful for others trying to start out, if only as a warning. The field is full. People like established comics about wacky college roommates, and it's hard to break in without selling out to the video-game or geek niche. Hell, it's hard to break in at all. Unlike some of the posters, though, I think its worth trying. If you like writing comics, you should do it, even if you aren't successful at first, or even ever. It is just a hobby after all :)
Anyways, here's an RSS feed for the blog, which updates with every comic: http://thekrf.com//blogs/xmlsrv/rss2.php?blog=5 There's also some stop-motion animation stuff over there, if anyone is interested.
It's amazing how much traffic a post to the backpage of slashdot can generate. I feel sorry for the people who get their small university-hosted site posted to the front page without warning
Anyways, thanks to everyone who gave advice. I think that I will commit to a more frequent update schedule. I'll start at two a week, and see how hard that is. I do the strip in my spare time, and I'm trying to write up my Master's thesis, so I can't do daily. Maybe when I graduate.
I won't be depending upon recurring characters any time soon. I realize that writing standalone jokes is harder, and while my strips aren't everyone's cup of tea, I kind of like them. It's actually a bit of a pet peeve of mine when comics writers lean on their characters too much. We all know that Garfield likes lasagne - the joke dies after the 3rd or 4th telling.
As for the the less, um, encouraging comments on the Slashdot thread: I respect the fact that you don't like my comic. Humour is a very subjective thing. Some people (jebus help them) even like the Family Circus. I realize that my drawing style is still a bit inconsistent, but this is a learning experience. As one poster said, look at the early strips from any established web comic - people learn by doing.
If you don't find any of my strips funny, that OK with me. Constructive criticism is a very helpful thing, and I thank you for it. Snarky insults aren't as helpful, but whatever
As for my motivations in posting - I really did want advice, and I am going to follow some of it. But a large part of it was tongue in cheek, hence the foot. I mean, what better way to generate traffic than to invoke the slashdot effect. I honestly didn't think that the editors would approve the story
Anyways, here's an RSS feed for the blog, which updates with every comic: http://thekrf.com//blogs/xmlsrv/rss2.php?blog=5 There's also some stop-motion animation stuff over there, if anyone is interested.
