Alectric of Estrangel says "Hi."

[Alectric]

This site bid on my adspace, and it looks interesting, so I figure I'll join. :)

I have a fairly new webcomic going called Estrangel, about a boy and his guardian angel.  It's been a learning process, and I'm still trying to find a balance between frequent updates and high-quality work.  I'd also like to learn ways of both keeping readers (I spent about $50 on advertising and I'm already back down to like 25 readers), and getting them to comment.  I like getting comments, because I'm obviously not going to make any money off of my comic, so what do I do it for?  To see that if affects people, that they enjoy it.  But maybe those are issues for another thread.

Anyway, glad to meet you all.  I look forward to seeing this site take-off.

[jeffa]

"So, did you find him?"

That was really funny. I like your characters and enjoyed your comic.

[Nuke]

Hello! Nice to meet you as well.

First off, that's an interesting comic you have there! The premise is really fresh, and the characters seem interesting.

I have a little to say about the readership thing. You could probably write a book on how to get the most out of Project Wonderful advertising - I bet someone has - but until you get a better feel for that, I'd recommend that you don't spend much more than you make.

For me, it's been much more effective to, well, do what you just did - post in forums, join communities, and try to get your work recognized there. Like topwebcomics, the webcomic list, belfry, deviantart, and so forth, as well as their respective forums. Places like that are a lot more likely to attract people who are actively looking for webcomics that they'll be following consistently for a while. If you are going to advertise, try and stick only to relevant sites.

On a tangent, you could try to clean up the image quality a little bit. There's a little bit of 'stair stepping' on the text and some of the comics - and on your signature image! Try drawing the image two or four times bigger than you plan on publishing it, then shrinking it down. If you work at an even multiple like that, the image should stay crisp even after you resize it.

I hope some of that helped! And I hope you stick with it, I'd like to see where that story goes.

[Mutt]

Hi!  I read your comic and I like where you are going with it.  Great concept, keep up the good work! :)

[Rob]

You have a compelling story. The art could use some brushup (and only some... specifically I might do something with your palette choice) and you might want to submit your site to a review from our resident expert Corvis simply because I am no expert and I see a few things I think you could do better.

Lot's of good advice for this new member. Thanks guys!

and Welcome Alectric

[Alectric]

Wow, thanks for all the positive feedback!

I have a little to say about the readership thing. You could probably write a book on how to get the most out of Project Wonderful advertising - I bet someone has - but until you get a better feel for that, I'd recommend that you don't spend much more than you make.

For me, it's been much more effective to, well, do what you just did - post in forums, join communities, and try to get your work recognized there. Like topwebcomics, the webcomic list, belfry, deviantart, and so forth, as well as their respective forums. Places like that are a lot more likely to attract people who are actively looking for webcomics that they'll be following consistently for a while. If you are going to advertise, try and stick only to relevant sites.

On a tangent, you could try to clean up the image quality a little bit. There's a little bit of 'stair stepping' on the text and some of the comics - and on your signature image! Try drawing the image two or four times bigger than you plan on publishing it, then shrinking it down. If you work at an even multiple like that, the image should stay crisp even after you resize it.

I'm already a member of The Webcomic List, and I just recently joined WebcomicZ.  I don't think I really ought to join Top Webcomics unless I'm prepared to do frequent vote incentives, and actually have a feasible chance of making it fairly high on the list.  And there's not much point for me to join DeviantArt, since I don't really consider myself an artist.  I can barely manage to make passable comic pages on a schedule, and I'm not really in the habit of creating random pieces of art for their own sake.

And I definitely stuck to relevant sites...all the sites I advertised on were other webcomics that weren't, you know, totally different from my own.  I got a lot of hits on my ads, its just that none of them seemed to want to stay. :-[

For my image banner, yes I made the mistake of drawing it in its exact size rather than a larger one, I only realized it too late.  But I really didn't want to redraw it just to make it a little less pixelated. :-\

As for my actual comic pages, I certainly did those in a larger size and then scaled them.  So I'm not sure what you'd be referring to, though I hope it's at least the early pages and not the later ones.

The art could use some brushup (and only some... specifically I might do something with your palette choice) and you might want to submit your site to a review from our resident expert Corvis simply because I am no expert and I see a few things I think you could do better.

What about my palette choice, exactly?  I'm inexperienced, so I can't tell what you're referring to.

You know I think I will submit my site for review, I'm just worried I might take any criticism too personally.  But hey, it's worth a shot.

[Rob]

Criticism should NEVER be taken personally. Either it is useful as constructive or informational to give you options or it is not and it is worthless. As long as you keep that in mind and look to find the value in whatever criticism you receive your feelings will never get hurt.

As for your palette I was referring to the color choices you make when coloring the comic. Many of them border on the "so neon I feel like my eyes are going to explode" zone. Not all, but a lot of your shirts and backgrounds are in that area and I can tell you from what little experience I have that if you ever want to print in those colors there will most likely be... issues. I can't imagine that you are doing those colors in CMYK although I suppose it's possible.

But realistically speaking this just me offering an opinion and saying "you've got a great story and an interesting premise... your dialog is decent, I think the thing that's holding you back is a lot of folks might hesitate to look at a comic with those outrageous colors and take it seriously."

Like all advice, it is free and worth exactly what you paid for it. LOL

It's up to you to decide if it has any value.

The website stuff though is far more quantifiable and I think Corvis might be able to give you some simple tips to make things a bit better. You are using a fairly standard template so without a serious revamp your site is never going to "WOW" but with some smaller changes it can be more welcoming and user friendly.
;)

[Alectric]

As for your palette I was referring to the color choices you make when coloring the comic. Many of them border on the "so neon I feel like my eyes are going to explode" zone. Not all, but a lot of your shirts and backgrounds are in that area and I can tell you from what little experience I have that if you ever want to print in those colors there will most likely be... issues. I can't imagine that you are doing those colors in CMYK although I suppose it's possible.

But realistically speaking this just me offering an opinion and saying "you've got a great story and an interesting premise... your dialog is decent, I think the thing that's holding you back is a lot of folks might hesitate to look at a comic with those outrageous colors and take it seriously."

I didn't realize the colors were so bright.  Maybe your monitor settings are brighter and more saturated than mine, but I'll try to tone it down a bit regardless.  I really don't have any plans to print anything, and I don't even know what CMYK is.  I just like to have the pages be colorful, I find it nice to look at.  I worry that if it's too pale or bland, it won't be eyecatching or pleasant.  But yeah I'll definitely keep your advice in mind.