As you may know, Brad,
Scotty, Kris and I have been doing some side work this last year…talking about the nascent art and business of “webcomics”.
In our book, “How To Make Webcomics”, in our podcast, “Webcomics Weekly”, and in the university and convention talks we do, we’ve tried to share what we know about artists putting their work on the web.
The book was our first foot forward… but when you set something to print, it’s fixed in time. And the nature of the web is that fundamental things change every 6-12 months. So, with the podcast — and now, with this site — we’re doing our best to keep that conversation going.
The four of us like sharing the successes (and massive, massive mistakes) we’ve had over the past ten years. This thing we’re doing, as cartoonists, is still very, very new, even after a decade…and works in fundamentally different ways than traditional, mass-distributed art/entertainment. There are no schools for this, nor are there established, fixed ways of making it work. So we’re trying our best to help artists learn from other artists. It has its hiccup moments, of course, but overall it’s been a really rewarding culture of sharing.
Anyway, a few weeks/months back, the URL for webcomics.com came up for sale, and the Penny Arcade guys bought it for a princely sum. And, in a very generous move, they turned right around and gave it to Halfpixel to continue that community of sharing. I find that very classy — especially after the expenditure.
So, to work! The site will be a user-generated one, which means we’re looking for artists’ input! Webcomics.com has an open submission policy: We’re looking for ideas, articles, columns, tips, how-to-guides, production videos, success stories, and personal anecdotes. If it helps us all learn to be better artists or entrepreneurs, we want it on the site for others to benefit from. All artists are welcome to submit — not just webcartoonists! (In fact, some of the most rewarding e-mails we get are from musicians, painters, sculptors, etc, telling us that the learnings do cross over into other artforms. So we’re assuming the opposite is also true!)
From the submissions we get, we’ll post the best gems and conversation-starters on the main blog. But nothing needs to be wasted! Even if we don’t use it on the front page, we welcome you posting your ideas in the forums where the idea can still be shared and discussed.
So! If that sounds like something you, your kids, your students, or your neighbor Jim would be into, send ’em on over: webcomics.com.