I like the community site because I hate web design. Plus its fun to be a part of a community.

I'm pretty much in the same boat as HPKomic I have my own site, plus I mirror my comic here and on smackjeeves. I prefer my own site though, it's easiest to edit and I can make any changes I want, the community bit is the only thing that's really missing.

I love your avatar Kytri. Other then that I have nothing relevent to say other then I'm jealous of people who can get their own site.

I really, really, like having my own site.

I made all the graphics for the site in a month, but it took a buddy of mine a year to design it, and he did a mega-awesome job. We're very proud of it :) Things like an admin interface, an internal forum, a callendar with thumbs for each page, and a section for my extras are totally indespensable. I could never go back.

A very popular webcomic artist once told me that you can't go big with webcomics unless you have your own site. He wanted me to get a site of my own and wondered with a surprised look on his face "What.. you're still at drunkduck?"



I am here instead of my own site big partly because I can't edit sites decently at all. And I think being solo at a site kills motivation ( no nice DD comments and all).

Here's something I'm wondering.. do you have to have your own site to be considered a big time webcomic?

After being on drunkduck I'd have to say, hosted.

I suck at html. I can only do basic html, so I'd be terrible to make a website.

not to mention, website providers usually make you pay.

JillyFoo
Here's something I'm wondering.. do you have to have your own site to be considered a big time webcomic?

No matter what type of site you run (webcomic or anything else), people consider you more credible if you have your own domain. Why? Must be money. That's the only difference. People with money are just better. ;)

Well, I'm absolute rubbish at actually building sites, so I'd have to say hosted sites. If that means I'll never be a "big webcomic" or whatever, that's fine. I prefer the community in places like this, anyway.

I actually do own purgatorytower.com, but the chances of me actually making it into a site are pretty slim, lol.

usedbooks made me sad. Makin fun of poor people like me. TT__TT. But I do agree people seem to take you more seriously.

Sidwarrious
I love your avatar Kytri. Other then that I have nothing relevent to say other then I'm jealous of people who can get their own site.

LOL thanks.

Actually building a site isn't as hard as most people think. I'm borderline retarded at programming and was able to make a functioning one with little trouble. It's even easier if you use comicpress or a similar program.

I think the idea that you can't become a "big" comic at a hosted site like DD is probably largely true. Hosting yourself gives off more an air of professionalism, and I guess if you're looking to get noticed outside of DrunkDuck or wherever you'll have a better chance if you host yourself.

when i first started about a year ago i got dedicated hosting for my comic because i really didn't know the first thing about webcomics. i knew there were some hosting sites but i didn't want people going to the hosted site, rather than my own, so i stayed clear of using them. as i spoke with d.j. coffman at wizard world, he suggested mirroring on hosted sites for promoting it. i've stuck with the dedicated site because i do feel it is more professional, but i enjoy a lot of the perks to also having hosting. i agree, starting out, and less serious comics should use hosted sites but i do enjoy the idea of having a website that truly is mine.

I'm terrible with coding my own site... but that doesn't mean I don't have one :P

I DO, however, enjoy being on DD too. A lot of it stems from the community and the fact that I get instant feedback on pages. The feedback is important to keep me motivated >.> lol

kytri
I think the idea that you can't become a "big" comic at a hosted site like DD is probably largely true.

It's not. :)

You can make it big in a lot of ways. How you host, just affects your own perception and the perception of maybe some readers. A BIGGER part of it is the way your site looks. If your site looks crappy, then that'll affect your comic a bit...

The fact is now that these days sites like Drunk Duck are pro. Many comic artists who are excellent traditional comic artists have realised that and have joined up to show of their work and hope it gets noticed. We have thousands of artists here with work at all levels, but don't be fooled any longer into thinking it's all sprites. No, "all levels" means both extremes of the skill spectrum and all in between.

...But if your site template here looks crappy, or you have a lame looking website somewhere else, you're never going to look "pro", no matter how nice your art.

I don't think it's important how garish one's site backgrounds look. As long as it's easy on the eyes and don't distract from the actual comics, it's good enough for me. Unless I really like the comic (which means the pages were the important thing), I never even glance at all the extraneous stuff.

You can see how long a person loiters on your page via counters. Very often it's under a minute. They're there to read the new page, not to gawk at your backgrounds and icons.

I take a long time to read a page, because I read both the art and the story. But most readers don't seem to be like that.

lol! Of course Mlai, but that's not what I mean... Not at all. Why would it be?

No, it's simple initial presentation that can make or break many a first impression. It's the same reason books have great bindings, well presented portfolios get more of a look from prospective clients, why businessmen wear smart suits, or why a G5 Mac computer comes in such a fantastic looking case: What's inside isn't enough if what's outside never gets the people interested/impressed/accepting/or even willing to give it a go to start with in the first place.

And that's my contention with why the look of a site is more important than the fact that it's hosted by DD or on a site that's your own. -nothing at all to do with web design being some sort of substitute for a decent comic to start with...

Hosted sites rock. Especially if you host it on drunkduck.

So, Xylia is moving from DD to Keenspot. She says she's moving because she needs to make money. My question is this:

Isn't Keenspot just Comic Genesis? How does it make money for her (and others)? Wiki didn't tell me much.

I dunno. Keen spot pays the "spotted" artists. I think it's a portion of the advertising revenue. And I think the "spotted" artists get to decide who gets spotted... But I dunno. :)
In Barb's case, her comic got accepted by keen (I think she'd had that before with Donnelly, so that probably had some bearing), so now she can make money from doing it, but the deal is exclusive so it can't also stay on DD.
:(

That's all I know. Anyway, it's good luck to Barb ^__^

If that's its practice, then why doesn't it just come to DD and SJ every other week and email the #1 comic title on the sites for this exclusive pay offer? I'm sure 90% of solicited artists would do it. Hey it's money, without IP handover like in Zuda. For example, they could do it for Craving Control and Charby and Pinky.

It doesn't hurt them because it's not money out of their pocket, if it's just a cut of the ad revenues generated by that comic itself. It only helps.