I have seen many many many many webcomics in my time. I must say, LFG is in my top 5. As a matter of fact, I love it so much, I've been curious about how I might start my own. How does it all work out? I don't even know where to begin. This is more a question to be answered by the web/business gurus out there. Not that I want to compete or anything... I think I've found a decent web hosting server, I'm gonna learn html, I can't draw to save my life, but I know people who can. Then what? Be honest, is this profitable, or is it for the sole purpose of fun? How much would a good advertising umbrella group like BFE pay to advertise on a popular webcomic? And how do you merchandise online? Sounds like a real pain in the you know where to mail T-shirts and such to fans. Clearly if you can make a site this sophisticated, you're either brilliant, have a LOT of time on your hands, know everything anyone could ever want to know about programming or D, all of the above. Please reply. Don't leave a diehard LFG fan hanging. Thanks!

Umm... Bob, is it?

You're so coming at this from the wrong direction. Yes, all those things you've mentioned are important, and necessary to have a stable, functioning website. But what's the point of setting the table if you've got no food to serve?

You say you can't draw. Can you write? Do you have an idea that would sustainable over a long period? Do you have the discipline to maintain your product - update on a regular basis, interact with your emails/fans/advertisers? Since you're going to have to work with an artist, can you play well with others?

Is this fun? Yes. This is so much fun I wonder if it's legal. Is it profitable? Well, no one I know is retiring anytime soon!!! Is it hard work? HELL YES!!!

Is it worth it?

It is for me.

I don't know if it will be for you.

But I don't know any artist, online or off, who chooses their path as a 'get rich and famous' scenario. Success comes with time and hard work, but if you're doing something only to please others, and not yourself I think you'll burn out on it fast. Sohmer and I aim to make ourselves happy first. We laugh at our own jokes and get excited about the characters adventures. The fact that others can enjoy it as much is just icing on the cake.

Not a direct answer to some of your questions, but I hope this post helps you out. Later!

My head is swarmiing with so many ideas, if you gave me just one more I fear it might explode, shooting every thought in my head out like shrapnel. Not to toot my own horn, but I feel I'm an excellent writer. As a matter of fact, so are my co-workers. They just possess a mastery over the illustrated arts that I lack. It sure seems like fun, and I've got a whole summer to work with ahead of me. But is it worthwhile fun? I get a kick out of reading books and playing games too. Why spend money and devote time to this when I could be doing something equally enjoyable? I don't want my efforts to go to waste. I want to know what I'm going up against, what my odds of success are. If my webcomic is almost certainly going to flop, why bother? I'm sure that the entire LFG team knows what they're doing. Everything is so professional. But what's it like for a beginner?

well if you want a second opinion i can give you one as being a webcomic artist myself.
I draw a comic which is hosted on the free web comic site DrunkDuck (it's ten times more simpler than keenspace. (comicgenisus or whatever it's renamed now))
In my professional opinion a webcomic is always first about the writing. you can have the most wonderful drawing in the entire world but if you don't have the writing skill to back it up then your comic will full downhill. Art dosn't have to be very good, look at adventurers, that was a highly successful comic and the art is crap! my own comic starts off with crappy style on purpose because i was A) lazy, busy with three other comics C) couldn't be bothered to waste more time on a project that I'd probably give up on in a month. but my comic hit it right off in the drunk duck community because even though the art was crap and simple, the idea was original and the jokes were funny. (well they say they are, I'm not personally convinced)
I have now been drawing my webcomic for two years even though i thought it wouldn't even last an month. i have two thousand readers per day (probably more all together) , I have 193 comics and i must say i have no intension of giving it up ever. because like Lar says. making comics is allot of fun. it is probably one of the most enjoyable hobbies you can have. I enjoy making my comics and thousands of people enjoy reading them.
sure don't expect to be a hit off on the first day. it can takes months even years to get noticed, but once you do you do hit high. don't start think of merchandising until you actually have a fan base. it's a waste of time otherwise.
and when you start a webcomic, decide at the beginning whether you want it to be a story or a comic, and then bae you layout around it. it'll pay off later if you want to publish it. i didn't make these decitions and now i have to redraw the first hundred and so strips if i ever want my work published XD if i had known I'd still be drawing NPC two years ago i so would have started off better. :3

Art is a major factor in making a webcomic and is on level with the writing of it. A webcomic should have good art as much as it should have a good script. Sometimes that will be the determining factor as to whether or not I'm going to read a webcomic. If it looks like crap, I'm not going to waste my time with it.

Luckily, I have a team assembled. Everyone is brilliant and has contributed great ideas. My artists are good, though they are better at sketching than real drawing, and I know how to write. How do you attract visitors and make it popular? We could make the best comic ever and it might not be discovered. And it would be nice to at least break even from the web hosting expenses. What's a guy gotta do?

Two things:
1. Buy two or three days worth of ads on other webcomics and sites that involve what ever your comic is about.
2. word of mouth, if the people that see the ads like it they will tell their friends.

Fan art. i got loads of new viewers after i did some fan art for true magic. go steal other peoples fans.

and as for your art problem. get someone who is good at drawing, then get someone good at inking and then find someone good at coloring on the computer. it would be good too if your inker had a tablet to do the inking on. it always pisses me off when i make a mistake with ink pens when inking a comic. which is why i always ink via computer now. (thus robin crys when computer breaks after two long hours of comic making and no saving T_T)

How much do ads cost? And I know nothing about art. I'm hoping my artists do, otherwise we're in serious trouble.

Email the sites and ask them how much their ad space is for a day.

Well, what kind of sites? Like LFG and vgcats? I doubt it's cheap. I have a semi-budget. You've got to draw the line when it gets overwhelmingly expensive.

Well thats what I did say yesterday, so email them and see what the rates are. It costs money to make money or entertainment.

Two things. First of all, WOO7S TO THE MOTHER FREAKING NOOCH7S (vgcats reference) I'M AN ADVANCED MEMBER. Secondly, does anybody have any hilarious ad ideas that I can plagerize, or are you going to make me do it myself? I found LFG because the "You all saw it. That orphanage attacked me." ad was too hilarious to pass up.

Without trying to be cruel, if you can't come up with a single good joke for an ad, then webcomics may not be your field of expertise.

I've got plenty of ideas for webcomics, planned a few out at one point. Pity my drawing skills compare unfavourably with those of an echidna.

Who says a webcomic has to be funny? He might be creating something less humor-oriented.

Looks like it's going to be humour orientated to me.



If you want to start a webcomic I'd advise you build up a decent archive first. Get 20 or so comics done, at least, ask a few friends to take a look at them. If most people come back positively, THEN consider paying for advertising, and seriously getting into it.

I have a friend who knows java. Why not just put games on the webcomic? (in addition to the comic of course)

getting a wee bit ahead of yourself aren't you?

Heh. True. Get the comic out and established before knocking yourself out too much on extras

Later!

I guess you've got a point...but at this point the ideas are all layed out. All we need to do now is put it down on paper. Nothing more I can do really. Speaking of which, how do you get your comics on to the site? I was thinking about just scanning them in to iphoto and going through the whole FTP thing. Do you do it differently?