For a low subscription of $30 per year, you will have access to this site plus the entire Webcomics.com archives, one of the most helpful and supportive forums for creative people on the Web, and many members-only offers. Learn More!
Webcomics Weekly is archived at libsyn.com
Friday, June 25, 2010 at 5:00AM Today's dive into the archive brings us to March 29, 2009.
Webcartoonists are always on the lookout for ways to expose their work to more potential readers.
It stands to reason that one of the obvious places to find them are at other webcomic sites. But link exchanges went out in the nineties. And does anyone even remember link chain?
Thursday, June 24, 2010 at 5:00AM This is the last of a four-part Q&A session with Scott Kurtz.
Q) I have a totally different business model than webcomics in that I sell my cartoons to people for usage in presentations, newsletters, books, etc. Business is good, but of course I'd like to expand my reader/customer base. I don't have recurring characters or story lines, so there's not that sort of thing for readers to connect with. Any suggestions?
Q) I'm currently working on a webcomic that'll be a fantasy adventure geared towards younger audiences, though will still hopefully be appealing to older ones as well. One issue I find myself dealing with when it comes to building the world, characters, and story elements is trying to avoid clichés of the fantasy genre. While I already have ideas on how to keep things interesting and put my own personal spin on the genre, I was curious; what do you think are the big three fantasy clichés that I should avoid to keep my comic interesting and unique? Thank you very much for your time!
Q)You have cultivated yourself a very distinct public personality. How much do you feel this plays in to your continued success and/or popularity?
Q) A while ago you tweeted that you were almost done with freelance jobs on the whiteboard. What sort of freelance jobs do you do these days, and why do you do them?
Q) You are an outspoken proponent of owning your work (it's created by your effort, and you want to keep control of it). However, the Internet is essentially the world's biggest copy machine (if copies of data couldn't be made, it literally wouldn't work). My question: what is your opinion of Creative Commons licenses, if any? Ordinary copyright has worked very well for you, but are there any circumstances under which you would consider using one of the Creative Commons licenses, and trust your audience to spread your images -- and support you financially -- by letting them actually use your comics, themselves?
Q) Do you like printing your books with Image? Would you recommend other webcartoonists look for willing publishers like Image or Dark Horse before trying to self-publish work, or is self publishing fine if you don't mind the logistical hassle?
Q) What do you do in those times of doubt, when you can even wonder if you want to be doing this at all?
Q) My question is if you have any tips or suggestions about transitioning from traditional (pencil/pen & ink) to working with a Wacom tablet (I know you've got the daddy of 'em all with a Cintiq)? I know like any new medium it takes time to get the hang of it, and just wondered if you had any words of wisdom to share with Wacom newbies?
Wednesday, June 23, 2010 at 5:00AM This is the third of a four-part Q&A session with Scott Kurtz.
Q) Also I would like to hear some history of what you feel were the turning points in your career, those certain things that helped get your name out there more, and what gave you an artistic leap ahead; experiences that helped you become a better artist, and a better business person.
Q) What you think was your single best decision, and worst mistake that helped or hindered PVP either artistically or business-wise.
Q) You have, on numerous occasions, broken up the regular PVP narrative with things like LOLBat (until he became a PVP regular) and your pop culture parodies. What are the pros and cons of doing things like that in your main strip vs doing a separate strip? Is working those into PVP something you have found you can only do now that you're a well-established creator?
Q) Guest strips should be done on the side, but what comics should we invest in if we make the time to draw guest strips? Also, what do you look for in a guest strip when you receive submissions?
Q) Who did your plushes and would you recommend them?
Q) If you had to name the five greatest creative sins of webcartooning, as in mistakes or things creators do wrong, what would they be? Feel free to name more if you like.
Q) Possibly redundant to above, but if you had name five or more creative virtures, or things the best creators do, what would they be?
Q) If you only could give one piece of advice to webcartoonists, then have to be forever silent, what would it be, and why?
Q) I know most of your career has been as a solo creator, but either through observation or your work on things like the Blams, do you have any advice on working as a creative pair?
Q) Do you have any advice for book creation? Logistical, creative and/or technical tips would be much appreciated.
Tuesday, June 22, 2010 at 8:13AM This is the second of a four-part Q&A session with Scott Kurtz.
Q) When you're writing strips that are part of a storyline, how do you balance keeping the storyline moving forward with keeping the strip accessible to a newcomer? How do you keep the jokes from falling flat unless you know the backstory?
Q) As a creative, how was your ramp-up into becoming a businessperson? Was it as hard and as intimidating as it looks to some of us other creatives?
Q) I find a poorly designed site is enough for me to be turned off to a webcomic, no matter how good it is. Do you have any tips on how to design a site that compliments one's webcomic?
Q) I would love to hear you expound on the importance of branding. You talked about it in an early Webcomics Weekly and since then have extended your brand to several podcasts, Blamimations, more frequent UStreaming, and even hosting award ceremonies. These are in addition to PVP, convention appearances, and your out-spokenness on forums where Ted Rall happens to be. Are all of your various creative outlets simply interconnected parts of the Scott Kurtz Brand, or are they in support of PVP? What's ultimately more important to you, your brand or your comic?
Q) You and Ted -- who started it?
Q) I'm really interested in the technical part of your work and I have a few questions. What size do you work at (inches or pixels)? What is the ppi of your original size? What size do you scale the final size to (inches and ppi)? When you set your copy, what type size/leadding are you working at? What sizes are the brushes you're working with in Photoshop? And did you create any special brushes to work with in Photoshop?
Q) I know you've been tempted at various times throughout your career to "go blue," but have maintained PvP's self-imposed PG-13 rating diligently. I think that's wise, but I do wonder what your opinion is of webcomics that specifically cater to the adult audience beyond dropping occasional F-bombs. I'm thinking of comics that incorporate sex, either depicted or implied with detail, as a major plot point. This covers everything from comics that talk frankly about the subject but don't usually show it, to something that gets more explicit like “Menage a 3,” and on to all-out porn comics like those collected at Slipshine. Do they work? Is it a cheap pop? Can they ever be taken seriously when compared to more mainstream works? Does the traditional webcomics business model still apply?
Q) As much as I'd like to be successful at this webcomics game someday. As an artist, I can't get over the idea that multitudes of people will look at my drawings. How do you deal with putting up artwork that you aren't necessarily happy with?
Q) Since you transitioned from black-and-white to color over the course of a year, I was wondering what you plan to do for the print version of that year. Will it all be on the same color-ready paper, but the older strips will still be b&w (and then grayscale)? What would you recommend to other people who might make the same art upgrade?
Q) How do you work on pacing the storyline across your updates to walk the line between belaboring the point/joke/action and not missing opportunities to express things by covering them up with "two hours later" or talking head exposition.
Q) I am wondering how you typically balance your work week: How many hours a day you spend on the comic, and how is that broken down between the various tasks for it. Do you just write one day, then art the next or what?
Monday, June 21, 2010 at 7:40AM 
We asked for questions for Scott Kurtz and you responded with queries that covered everything from Cintiq to Ted Rall.
There's just way too much for one post, so this will be a four-part series.
Here are the questions he answered today.
Q) I was wondering how you come up with your storylines. Are they evolving as you go or do you think them out before even starting them? And do you have any tips how to come up with new storylines? What works for you? What sparks your creative brain?
Q) Which artists do you look up to creatively? (Living or dead, comic or cartoon).
Q) Are iPads and iPhones really "game changers" for Web content/comics?
Q) Why did you start Blamimations? Do you think we as comic creators should being thinking of new forms of entertainment? (video/podcasts/etc.) What's next?
Q) I have a few stylistically different stories rattling around in my head and I'm having difficulty deciding which one to pursue fully. I would like to eventually see all these stories created at some point but I think really focusing and devoting myself to one of them is the only way to do it justice. Have you had this problem before, and if so, how did you resolve it?
Q) Could you speak to us a bit about your process for character development (initial stages) and then how you take an idea and flesh it out into a joke or story arc.
Q) I'd like to get your opinion on using animation within webcomics? This is something I've experimented with briefly, and want to explore more of. If done well, I think animation can be used within webcomics to make the story more immersive. Your thoughts?
Q) Do you feel the capacity for public critique and commentary has diminished in the webcomics community over the years? I don't mean Web sites like Websnark, where the writers often have little connection to comics beyond writing reviews, but rather creators making open and honest appraisals of their peers' work in an effort to bring the quality of the material being created up over all.
Q) When do you feel its necessary to write yourself into a corner?
Q) Your Ustreams show that you draw your comic with great confidence and speed. Was it always so? Is there any hope for me to get faster as I am also striving to improve?
