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How to search the archive for a specific strip?
OhNoRobot

Where did you get your boots?
New Rocks

Where did you get your cards, shirts, etc, printed?
Here: Customized Playing Cards, Puzzle, T-shirts, Patches, Dogtags, Banner, Buttons, Mugs, bracelet, lanyard, Pin

Have you thought of doing a Tarot deck?
Each Tarot card has a diferent meaning and history and power behind it. I'm not going to mess with that. Sorry.

Where did the title come from?
I had a list of titles for the comic. I asked friends what I should name it. My friend DJ had a title she was doing to use for her band (she doesn’t play an instrument, but just in case she was ever in a band she had a name picked out). “The Devil’s Panties”. I wanted to call it “Realities victim” but everyone who heard “The Devil’s Panties” would stop and say “I don’t know what that is but I want to find out”. Only years later did I find out that it was taken from “Miss Congeniality”. “I wanted to get the red undies but my mother said that they were the Satans Panties!”

What ever happened to that Darcy/Smack character?
Life happens, things change, friends move away.

How much of the comic is taken from real life?
Heh heh
Pretty much all of it. Obviously I’m not necessarily on first name basis with Jesus or Satan but other than that I wrote everything else down as it happened. I carry a recorder around with me and when something happens and everyone laughs I click it on and say “do that again!”

What got you started in comics?
I have two older brothers. I used Conan as a coloring book (my brother still grumbles about that every Christmas) and I learned to read with Elf Quest. My best friend in first grade got me into X-men and she kept me up to date on the latest trends. I grew up on Asterix and Obelix, TinTin, X-men, DP7 and I learned the birds and bees from Heavy Mettle. So it was inevitable that I would start drawing pictures to tell a story. Especially coming from an art family. My mother does stained glass, father is a soap stone sculter, sister is poet and pupetry, brother is music and sculpture. It was inevitable that I went to an art college, I just found one that offered sequential art. My mother loves that I follow my dream. In college I would draw cartoons about what happened to friends and school as aposed to keeping a journal. My third year of college I was rooming with Chris Daily of Striptesecomic.com and he showed me how to set up a webcomic. I initially used it as a way to keep in practice. I saw so many of my classmates falling out of art after college when they had to get the “day job” to pay off loans. Waitressing and bank teller doesn’t leave much room for art so I used the webcomic as a way to force me to keep drawing every day.

What advice would you give to someone who wants to do webcomics?
Okay

Comit four years. At least four years of keeping your day job and spending all your “spare” time on the comic. Four years of not breaking even and doing it as a labor of love.

Still with me?

If you’re going to do a daily comic then avoid having a social life, significant other comes second (sorry honny), and get used to eating ramen.

I still haven’t scared you off yet?

Okay

The first year is just figuring it out. None of us know what we’re doing. You learn as you go. The Most Important Thing to do for a webcoomic is to STICK TO YOUR SCHEDULE! If you’re going to post once a week or three times or every day then DO IT! Even if it’s a sketch or squiggle. Some of my best work has been “cop outs” like “what not to say in the bedroom” or “famouse last words”. The playing cards were filler and they’re insanely popular. I’ve even posted a squiggle on the back of an envelope that sayd “I’m drunk!”. Yes, life happens, but that’s why god made filler. If you post every day then it doesn’t matter if you’re drawing spoons, you’ll get hits.

My first year I didn’t know how I was laying the strips out or what I was drawing about or how I was drawing it. It took about three years before I found a style and format that I’m comfortable with. So you have no excuse, go start drawing. I don’t care what it is, just do it!

First year

I started going to conventions. I had a years worth of material (not the best material. Actually, some of the worst material because I still had no idea what I was doing but it was material) I printed it off of my computer and folded it over and stapled it. (it was bent in the middle because I didn’t have a long handled stapler yet) but I printed up some flyers with my name and webaddress and some cartoons on it and handed it out at conventions. I looked at what other people were doing, how they marketed themselves, what merchandise they had and how they did it, who they were using. Some people hand made buttons, some printed their logo on candy wrappers. Some conventions are more indy friendly than others. Heros con, Small Press Expo, Mocca, Ape. You might find that anime cons are more your gamer conventions. To cut down on conventions then find ones in your area or carpool with some friends and pack a lunch (convention food is greesy and over priced). Find out if you have friends or family who live in the area or if you can crash on the floor of someones hotel room. Girls, make sure there’s someone you know and trust there. Con people are nice but just be awair of a potentaly bad situation. Always make sure someone knows where you are. Plan for the best but expect the worst. If you’re looking for a publisher or artist then bring samples of your work, sign up for portfolio reviews, get there early and only bring about 6-12 pieces of your most recent and divers work. Be polite! Even if you are the greatest artist ever, no one will want to work with you if you’re an ass. And it’s a small industry. You never know if the guy who cut you off in line is going to be the guy reviewing your portfolio later. Remember those flyers hand those out and leave them with publishers, artists, empty tables, bathrooms, ect. Don’t print up stickers and stick them everywhere because that’s vandalism but you could tape some cartoons up in front of the urinals to give people some reading material. Remember to put the web address on there.

Second Year

Get a table. Usualy you can get a half table in artist ally for about $50. Wizard usually has some pretty divers conventions. By this time you probably have a handle on printing (dpi, bleed, resolution) from those flyers. My first convention I just had flyers and prints. I printed cartoons off of my inkjet and put them in magazine bags and boards to make them look nice. Most artists sell prints for $10 but you’re just starting out so try for 8$. Go by office max and pick up sticker paper, magnets, stuff you can put through your printer. This isn’t the cheapest stuff but it’s a good way to figure out what’s going to sell. Bring some big blank flash cards and sell portraits or cartoons for $5 (if you do anime style then offer cheebee portraits). You’re not going to make table your first con but this is just a way to get your name out there. HAND OUT FLYERS! Grab a stack of that burn-your-eye-bright paper and print off business card size flyers and eather cut them by hand or have office max or kinkos do that big 50 cut for a dollar thing…or is it 200 cut whatever. I still do that. As long as you have something to catch the eye. That bright color helps and with me, just having “the devils panties” on it helps. I also have “it’s not satanic porn, honest!” I hand out one of those to anyone who- no, wait, I don’t give them to anyone who looks under 16 or anyone with a giant cross on their chest. Be polite, and don’t get offended when they don’t take a card or you find it in the trash or on the floor. You cant please everyone. But the card lets them get home, decompress from the con, and then check out the webcomic. I hand them a card and say “check it out, it’s a webcomic.” They’re walking by, you only get about two seconds to sell it. And let them walk away, if you pounce and don’t let go then people will avoid your table. If they slow down and look then you can elaborate a little “it’s autobiographical so it’s about clubs, conventions, comic shops.” And let them go. If they turn around and start flipping through books then you give them the long speech “because there’s nothing more bizzar than reality, I mean, look at this convention.” If it’s a guy “There’s this pirate who’s always getting drunk and laid” if it’s a girl “it’s about dating the geek that won’t get off the computer” if it’s a parent “I’ve got a bunch of cartoons about the adventure of home ownership.” Look at who you’re pitching it to. If it’s a kid then I say “wait a few years. It’s for your parents. Look at the sparkly buttons!”

And it helps if your merchandise is universal. If you’ve got fairies in the comic those sell well or a tag line “why be good?” or monkeys. Monkeys always sell.

Same cost saving tricks as last year. Carpool, find friends or family to stay with, share hotel room, pack a lunch. Share the table space if you know someone who wants to put some flyers down.

Third year

You’ve handed out a ton of flyers last year so some people might say “oh yeah, I remember this bright yellow “special people” flyer from last year.” You now have more material. You’ve found some buttons that work. Tecre has good button parts, badge a minute has cheep button makers. Lulu.com has print on demand if you just want to print up three books. Dreamweaverpress.com is good for digest size. Comixpress.com is good for 24 page comic books. You want a variety of costs. One dollar pins, two dollar flyer books (folded over stapled five page booklet made at home) five dollar digest book and 15 dollar graphic novel. This gives people choices. If they’re interested in the comic they just want to spend a buck or two but aren’t going to shell out 15 for something they don’t know about. You give them a tast and when they’re addicted they come back for the 15 dollar book. You mght also have fans who come up and say “I’ll take one of everything!” and this helps pay for the table and travel. I usually spend between 200 and 500$ going to a convention depending on if I had to buy a plane ticket, hotel room, and if I could find a grocery store as aposed to starbucks for breakfast. Pocket the muffins at your complementary breakfast. Bring a bottle and find a water fountain. Avoid candy. It’s good for a rush but then you crash for the next 8 hours of the convention.

CONVENTION EDICET!

Don’t piss off your neighbor! It’s a small industry, don’t piss off the guy next to you. Don’t grab someone with your flyer until they have passed the table next to you. It’s VERY bad manner to steel a sale from your naighber. Try not to repeat yourself too much because they have to listen to you too. Introduce yourself and apologize in advance for the redundant pitch that they’re going to be listening to. If you’re going on a food run offer to get them something. Keep within your four foot space, don’t put boxes on their side under the table. We’re all shoulder to shoulder with each other and we have to respect the other persons space that they paid for. If you HAVE to have a laptop playing a short of your stuff then keep it varied (again with the repeated pitch. It’ll drive everyone within hearing NUTS to hear that over and over for 10 hours for three days)

Be respectfull of others. We’re all in this together.

Fourth year

You’re now just starting to break even. You’ve still got a day job. You’re still posting on time every time. You’ve built up your readership. People can find you at conventions. You have books out, about a graphic novel a year if you’re posting daily. You’re looking into merchandise, posters, stickers, buttons. But still on a small scale. About a hundred dollars for printing up your books. The sale of merchandise is just paying for printing the merchandise.

Ways to build up your hits; links. Once you’ve got a couple months worth of regular updates then you can e-mail other webcomics and ask for some input. If you haven’t updated regularly then wait until you’ve got a good stack of comics before asking. Ask for advice, suggestions, and send a link. Find comics that people read along with yours so you find similar readers. Some hit counters will let you know where your readers are coming from, this will let you know what your readers like. You can also buy advertising space with related comics. Post your comic with multiple search ingens. Drunkduck and comic genesis, live journal, smackjeeves.com, myspace.

Fifth year

I’m now on my fifth year September 2006 as I write this. I just put in my notice at work but they keep scheduling me. I’m getting most of my income from conventions and a good bit from online sales of books. I’m branching out into more merchandise but am shocked at what sells so I keep it small at first. I’ll print up a few stickers to figure out what’s popular before I put in a big order. Aparently playing cards are big but mugs are not. This is just from personal experience. I still try and keep a couple books at 5$ so people can test it out. My flyers are still printed off the computer on hot pink paper and thrown at people. I pack my lunch at conventions and share a bed in whatever hotel. I’ve slept in a van in the parking lot and carpooled 14 hours with people I never met before. I’m still steeling muffins from the complementary breakfast. But I’m printing up more books and spending less time pitching my comic and more time selling it to people who have come to hunt me down at the conventions that I do every year.

Baby steps to world domination, baby steps to world domination…

Technical stuff.

I record ideas and scribble them down on post-its. I print out light gray lines on high quality printer paper. Bright white 28lb color lazer paper. The gray lines mark where the panel boxes are and lines for the text. On my day off of work I write down the dialogue from the tape recorder and scraps of paper. Then I pencil the figures. I use a sharpie to letter it and draw the panel boarders and word bloons. I use a dip nib from michales you can find it in the calligraphy section in a “cartoonist” pack. And a big jug of Higgins ink that I poored into a film canister (I know, really old, can’t find those any more) for better transportation. Leave the lid off of the canister for a day to let the ink thicken. I use a paper towel and spit (yes, ew, spit but oddly it works better than water and I’m lazy) to clean the nib. The nib usually lasts for a couple weeks before it becomes too loose to hold ink. See nib demo. I use the nib for figures and organic shapes. Microns for background. 08 and 05 or 03 for forground. 01 or, if you can find it 005 for background. I leave the big blacks empty and just fill those on the computer. I scan it in at about 600dpi and, I know this gets redundant but bear with me, I beef it up to 1200dpi and adjust levels and switch it to bitmap to get rid of all the pencil marks (but good god, why 1200!? Well, in theory that keeps it smooth. This might be just my own crazyness though) then I change it back to grayscale and bring it back down to 600dpi and fill in the blacks. Save it at 600dpi (I lost my first year because I was archiving it all at 72dpi) most people save it in the program they used, like photoshop. I’m saving all my stuff as tiff. Archive this and back it up with a disc if you can. For the internet you want it at 72dpi and back when I started a standard screen was 450x600dpi so I still save them at 600 across.

There are many many other ways to do this. This is just how I do it.

Keep in mind that I have no idea what I’m doing.

Do whatever works for you.