Filler page
By Peter
We’re taking a break this week to let Amanda catch her breath after the holidays. Here’s an example of page going from sketch to final version.
Comments Off on Filler Page
End of Chapter 3
This ends chapter 3. You’ve now seen all of the main characters. (Well, except for Joshua’s mom, whom you’ll meet in flashbacks.)
This is actually a huge milestone for us. When I set out to create this graphical novel, I took the (not very good) young adult novel that I had started and began converting it into a script. I did the prologue and the first three chapters and then started looking for an artist, and now we’ve gone through that original script. In other words, starting next week, we are venturing out into new territory.
Comments Off on Chapter 3 Page 7
Notice: Next week’s page may be late!
I am traveling with limited internet access next week. It’ll be up by Friday for sure.
Recommended Graphic Novels: Union of Heroes
By Peter
I recently came across a German “photocomic” called Union of Heroes. A photocomic is just what is sounds like: a comic strip that uses photography rather than drawn art. I’ve seen attempts at this before, and they always look stupid, but Union of Heros makes it work. Every so often, a page is animated, often with special effects. This is a technique that I find annoying in regular comics, but in Union of Heros, it’s extremely effective, making the photographs come alive.
The plot is that a young man is offered a chance to go to a parallel universe where he will replace the superhero who is that universe’s version of himself. In coming into the parallel universe, he gains the power to change parts of his body into metal, becoming the Erzangle (which can be translated as either Archangel or Ore-Angel).
It’s not a sophisticated plot, and the characters are pretty flat. (Ironically, the realism of the medium somehow makes the characters flatter.) But the photography is so beautiful, and many of the models look so natural, that I found myself drawn to it. The English dialog reads like subtitles in a German movie – not quite natural, but good enough that you know what they mean. And it gives you a little view into what life is like for young people in Germany today. If you have a chance, check it out.
Comments Off on Chapter 3 Page 6
Webcomics.com, Cast of Characters Page, and Easy Sharing
By Peter
We posted a question on webcomics.com asking for marketing advice for comics like ours in a very early stage. I was totally surprised by how many people answered and how many suggestions were thrown our way. It’ll take quite a while to implement all the new ideas.
One that I implemented right away is a Cast page. One of the people on webcomics.com said that they read the strip so far and they got kind of lost. Given how much the plot jumps around without explaining anything, it’s not too surprising. I intended the story to be a bit confusing so far — it’s supposed to intrigue you and motivate you to keep reading until you figure out what the heck is going on. The Cast page gives you some extra information that will help things fall more into place. If you’d rather keep things more of a mystery for a little while, then don’t visit it.
I also implemented a little sharing toolbar to the left of the comic. It’s designed to show the four most common ways of sharing by reacting to how people use it. Right now its default settings are kind of lame (printing, for example), so please use it so that it starts consistently showing Facebook and Twitter and other modern types of sharing technology.
Comments Off on Chapter 3 Page 5
Project Wonderful
By Peter
You may have noticed that we are now running advertisements from Project Wonderful. It’s a really cool advertising system where people create ads and bid on where they want them placed. A lot of webcomics use them, both as revenue and to advertise.
With the Google ads, we would only get paid if you clicked on the ad, which meant that we couldn’t encourage you to click on them without getting in trouble with Google. Project Wonderful ads we get paid by the day, so we are free to encourage you to click as much as you can. There have been some pretty cool things advertised on Coiled already, especially some fun webcomics to check out. We limit our ads to sites that are appropriate for children.
So far we are making about $0.01 a day. Big money! If we can get more people looking at it every day, then the bidding wars will bring that price up. Tell all your friends about Coiled!
Comments Off on Chapter 3 Page 4