Scanning and coloring lineart

As we discussed last week, preparing your images for CMYK printing is going to factor into your future as you grow your webcomic business. As such, let's take a detailed look at some of the specific challenges faced when trying to print comics in color.

First, I'm going to assume that you're scanning black-and-white lineart in for coloring via Photoshop or some other image-manipulation software. If you're working in Photoshop using a tablet, feel free to skip ahead.

Log in to read the entire post.

Friday Archive Dive: The Loss Leader

Today's Archive Dive comes from Oct. 27, 2009, when I wrote a piece in favor of the loss leader.

When your local grocery store offers an item -- say a loaf of bread -- at an extra low price, that item is being used as a loss leader.

A loss leader is an item that is sold for little or no profit (even, literally, at a loss) for one reason and one reason only. To encourage you to walk into the store. Because, the grocer knows that once you walk into the store, you're not only going to buy bread, but you're going to probably buy milk, eggs and maybe even those little cookies with the chessmen on the

When the total sale is rung up, the grocer had made a tidy little profit. All because he was willing to take a loss on one of the items.

And you can, too.

Read the rest of the post and comment.

Color Primer: CMYK vs RGB

Building on an excellent discussion of color in the Private Forum, I want to take a moment to bring the topic out front and try to drill a little deeper. I'm going to discuss color mode today. Next week, I'll hit scanning/coloring and image resolution.

First, we'll start with the age-old conundrum of CMYK vs RGB.

Log in to read the entire post.

Christmas Cards

Last year, I launched a couple of Christmas cards and the response was so overwhelming, I vowed to start earlier next year so I could take advantage of this opportunity better.

Aaaaaaand it's already late-October, so this post is as much for me as it is for you. People tend to purchase their Christmas cards in late-November, so if you want to maximize your sales, you'd better get into the spirit now.

Log in to read the entire post.

Breaking the Fourth Wall

I think sometime around 2003, the Mayor of the Internet passed a mandate that declared that every new webcomic had to begin with the characters speaking directly to the reader, explaining that they were cartoon characters and the reader was reading a comic. 

So, having seen it done so often, I might be a little harsh on the concept of breaking the fourth wall. I think it should be done as seldom as possible.

Log in to read the entire post.