For aspiring artists and writers who can’t or won’t break into the mainstream comic industry, the web allows indie comic creators to publish on a shoe-string. In room 4 at San Diego Comic-Con, the ‘Action Webcomics’ panel, delved into the world of web comic creation.
The creative team behind Blueshift (www.blueshiftworld.com) talked in-depth about how to collaborate remotely with colorists, writers, editors, and some critical tips for those who aspire to launch their comic digitally. John Van Fleet (Marvel, DC), Dave DeVries (Marvel, DC) and Alex Jiminez (Capcom, Seed Studio) offered up valuable advice based on their hard-won experience creating a direct-to-web franchise.
From putting together a far-flung creative team and keeping them connected using Skype and a robust FTP site, to finding a friend who can help you build your web site, the Blueshift panel really talked the nuts and bolts of their operation as well a some key things to pay attention to.
For instance, even though you may be tempted to produce your comic at web resolution, doing so will preclude you from ever printing your franchise should it become popular enough to warrant such an expense. So the prudent web comic creator should always produce at print resolutions (300dpi) and in CMYK color mode to facilitate quality printing.
Beyond some of the technical points, the panel also touched on the importance of starting with a quality script, generating interesting and unique characters who are sure to be memorable, and the importance of turning points of various types (emotional, action, dialogue and plot).
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