Hello I am a brooding-minded amateur who has no notable experience for webcomicking, however I seek information and have stumbled upon this free forum.
I read all the standard funnies. XKCD, SMBC, A Softer World, Johnny Ryan, Pictures for Sad Children among other classic series that may or may not be updated frequently any longer.
I'm just looking for my own way to start up my own project. The further underground it begins the better because I figure I'm gonna have to make my way through a hell of a lot of hell to reach something publishable. I think I'll give up my pursuit of fame to focus on the more important aspect of my ideal webcomic, that is, the funnies.
My real name is Jay Miller and I am excited to join a forum here today. It's been a good long while since I've done that! Cheers to ideas.
My portfolio is right here: http://reclinertron.com
Jay,
I don't know that I would call that a portfolio as much as confusing (and I'm only saying this because I love you). You have some great website names, Reclinertron, Jay Daily, Super Nerd Party. But the sites themselves seem to load really slowly (I got the dreaded "site not available" and "site under maintenance" errors a couple times too) and are rather disorganized. I could not tell what was a button on Reclinertron at all. I eventually figured it out but after several minutes of looking for your "portfolio" which I assume to be art or graphic design of some sort I gave up. I found a sign and some nice photos at Super Nerd Party but I never did discover what I (and I think most folks) would consider a "portfolio."
I suppose it could be a browser issue. I'm using Chrome. If it isn't a browser issue I hope you aren't giving that link out for prospective employers and calling it your portfolio. It probably won't go over well.
If you are talking about starting a webcomic from scratch I'm sure there are lots of things you want to know. And the believe me when I tell you, this is the crowd to ask. Head on over to the main forums and ask away. You might want to start with web design first and get some tips on setting up something in wordpress (I think one of your sites was in wordpress but the comicpress plug in, from what I have been told, can be a wily mistress... seemingly easy to use and then suddenly breaking your spirit with a massive failure).
I hope you find what you are looking for here Jay. The resources are here. ;)
The link doesn't load for me either. I see the lego-face icon on the toolbar, but the site itself is blank.
Welcome to the fun, Jay ^.^ Your site is really cute, but I do have to agree with the others that the navigation is a bit confusing.
In regards to starting your own comic project, that's awesome! It's always nice to see new faces pop up on the scene, so I definitely hope you pursue that aim. You might start with publishing your comic on a free hosting site like Drunk Duck (http://www.drunkduck.com/) or Smack Jeeves (http://www.smackjeeves.com) before shelling out the money for a URL and hosting. Not only will you be able to test the waters freely, you'll also benefit from the community aspect of those sites for support and critique.
Finally a reason to live! Yes my host is terrible (an "N" to the "-etfirms".) I do run Wordpress and thankfully I am switching both hosts and designs for Reclinertron itself come March. I have just been waiting for the hosting to die out and I haven't had any dying need to switch hosts immediately just because of the speed. Jay Daily is ending in March, Reclinertron is static (or stagnant if you prefer a more suitable adjective), Super Nerd Party is gearing for a community event and there are several behind the scenes projects which advance slowly under the black hand of slow hosting, Netfirms. Yea, I don't like them at all and I am glad that you guys have prompted change in that but also the "portfolio" as you've mentioned. Reclinertron was my jab at a portfolio that didn't really work. Sure all the kids at school were candy-eyed and couldn't put it down but I'm no coder. That's why I use Wordpress, I've been playing with CMSes since I was 8 years old and I shouldn't have stopped short of a wannabe "portfolio". So, I'll take 'er down for now and re-raise mast in March after my exams.
I can tell I'm gonna like this place. :) Oh, and Jay Daily is heck to load, so I suggest if you're keen on peering into my personal life that you hook up to the Youtube channel which contains most of the updates I've uploaded daily since March 2009: http://youtube.com/jaydailyblog