Web Publishers: Other than Modern Tales/Serializer...?

losttoy · Post by **losttoy** » Sun Mar 30, 2003 1:39 am

Other than Modern Tales/Serializer is there any sites that publish web comics and actualy pay thier artists? Over the last year I have experiemented in different styles and genres and now feel comfortable saying that it might be close to professional level (semi-professional as Drew Weing says). I have sent an e-mail to Joey submitting an comic but I just want to know what kind of options are there if he is not looking for new submissions, or if my comic doesn't fit with the sites, etc.

Wikkit · Post by **Wikkit** » Sun Mar 30, 2003 1:04 pm

There's Girlamatic, but I don't think you'll fit in.

I also don't think your art is at a professional level, but that's not what you asked.

ragtag · Post by **ragtag** » Mon Mar 31, 2003 3:52 am

There is http://www.unboundcomics.com/. I haven't heard much about them, but it might be an alternative for you.

Ragnar

losttoy · Post by **losttoy** » Mon Mar 31, 2003 7:45 pm

Okay, maybe I'm not that professional, but I am aspiring to be at least semi-prossional. I want my comic to be seen by more people and be appreciated for the work I do.

I finaly feel comfortable with my art styles and techniques. It was not always like that. I went through a lot of experimentation before getting to where I feel my art reflects the image I want. I ask what I can do to get my comics and illustrations seen by more people. After, why else do I have a website? For years and years I have been drawing and painting. I do not do art for money, but for self expression. I am a graphic designer as a living which merges my computer skills with my artistic eye. When it comes down to why I do my website, no it not for money, but for expression. However, that is when things change.

I mean, what is the point of this expression if nobody hears or sees it? We all have this hidden need to show our art to people and have that self expression validated to one point or another. I want people to see my art.

Furthermore, I have dreams and asipirations. With the economy the way it is today, I am not getting a lot of work as a freelance graphic designer. I'm out of work more offen than I am. As a responsible husband with a child on the way, I want to make enough money to support my family. The state of the graphic design industry is not helping me do that and I no longer have the passion for the work I do. Although I have my comics and illustrations to act as an personal expression, it something I love and enjoy and sometimes wish I could get paid for doing so.

I want to start a shop page on my site to make a buck or two. I want to submit my comic to sites like Modern Tales or Serializer to see if I could actualy be picked up where more people could see my work and I could actualy get some cash. I want some day for my art to be recongized enough that I could get a large print run comic and maybe even make some money doing so. I realize these are only dreams and they will probably never see the light, but is it wrong for me to want these things?

Right now I'm doing comic strips. I feel that I do not have the experience or the disapline to draw a daily comic strip for one of those sydication type deals that run in newspapers. However, what I have been struggling with is where do I get that experience without actualy doing?

Why can't there be a place in the middle? Not amature, but not professional. A trying ground that has more reader feedback and exposure than a crappy geocities website. Is this something we have to create? Joey did that with Modern Tales, but now it's too big for us little people. Isn't our work worth something???

Alexander D. · Post by **Alexander D.** » Thu Apr 17, 2003 4:02 pm

losttoy wrote:Right now I'm doing comic strips. I feel that I do not have the experience or the disapline to draw a daily comic strip for one of those sydication type deals that run in newspapers. However, what I have been struggling with is where do I get that experience without actualy doing?

Why can't there be a place in the middle? Not amature, but not professional.

I think that place in the middle exists, but it's just as DIY as the amature level. Look at most of the people on Modern Tales and its spinoffs -- before they came to Modern Tales, most of them were successful semi-professional comics creators. But they got there by publishing on their own Web sites, just like a beginner does.

A trying ground that has more reader feedback and exposure than a crappy geocities website. Is this something we have to create?

What you're really talking about, I think, is a workshop. In a workshop, the whole point is to gather an intense pile of feedback. In my experience, a good workshop can improve a piece of writing far faster than any other kind of reader feedback. My recommendation is to find some other creators in your area and start having regular meetings with them to discuss your work. And I do urge you to go for face-to-face meetings -- I've participated in online workshops as well, and I've never found them to be as fruitful.

Isn't our work worth something???

Absolutely, it's worth something -- to us, its creators. But that doesn't mean it has value for other people. But it's important not to take this as an insult. We've set very difficult goals for ourselves as artists seeking to form a bond with the outside world, and frustrating as it may be, we have to remember that no one is automatically entitled to an audience, no matter how hard we work or how good we think our work is.

Also, bear in mind that even the pros bearly get paid in this industry. James Kochalka, one of the highest paid creators in modern tales, has said that he's *hoping* that by next year he'll earn enough money to cover his rent. And he lives in Vermont, which isn't a state known for high property prices. With even the pros making so little, you have to understand that it's unrealistic to expect to get much, if any, pay from mid range work.

Mind you, I'm not saying you shouldn't try. I'm just saying that you need to understand the climate you're working in, and temper lofty goals with realistic expectations.