Hello all, I have FINALLY gotten a program for editing/coloring, which means I am going to be ready to begin posting my comic soon. I would like to ask for some advice on the following things, because this is my first ever webcomic and I'm a noob. :P

1. I originally had the idea to make the panel borders fairly thick, and in black. I felt this would better fit the feel of the comic (heavy/dark). But by doing this I am sacraficing a bit of space. Also I am worried that people might think I only did it so that I would have to draw less panels, meaning less work.. While that did cross my mind, that wasn't the main reason for doing it obviously. My question is will people be happier if I used smaller panel borders? I may be able to get an extra panel or two in per page if I used smaller borders.

The panel borders are about this size right now:
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2. In an average webcomic, about how many pages per chapter are there?

3. How do people get music to play automatically on a comic page? Do they rip it from a CD? Or download it maybe? A link would be appreciated if I need to download something. :)

(FYI I am 100% aware that songs on comic pages tend to annoy people, but I found a perfect one for my comic.. its not really a "song", more like Dark ambient music that can really help give the spooky feel.)

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. :-D

1. I originally had the idea to make the panel borders fairly thick, and in black. I felt this would better fit the feel of the comic (heavy/dark). But by doing this I am sacraficing a bit of space. Also I am worried that people might think I only did it so that I would have to draw less panels, meaning less work.. While that did cross my mind, that wasn't the main reason for doing it obviously. My question is will people be happier if I used smaller panel borders? I may be able to get an extra panel or two in per page if I used smaller borders.

The panel borders are about this size right now:
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Generally there are no rules about this, but I find that very large (thick) gutters (ooh, I'm being all technical 'n stuff) do tend to detract from the look of the page. You want the focus to be the art. That said, sometimes it can work if you want to pace things out a bit more.

The thickness you have there seems okay to me, though.

2. In an average webcomic, about how many pages per chapter are there?

No real answer here, you can basically do whatever you want. I (and many others I'd say) try to stick close to the print standard of 22 pages an "issue" give or take. But really, since we don't have the constraints of actually printing this stuff you can do whatever works for the story. Keep in mind that you want a chapter to be just long enough to get people involved and convey all the information, but not long enough for people to wish it was over.

3. How do people get music to play automatically on a comic page? Do they rip it from a CD? Or download it maybe? A link would be appreciated if I need to download something.

I'll wait for Myx to inevitably answer this. But as a general rule AUTOMATIC music on webpages makes people want to eat your face, and not in the good way.

Hope that helps. :-D

Please don't add auto music. If you do add it, please have it be something I can choose to turn on or not. Nothing ruins a comic like having my own music playing raped by someone's taste in music, even if it fits the comics.

I like the thick boarders, if you're going creepy, more black adds mood.

I'd say around 20-30 pages in a chapter. Just make sure to start and end chapters with a big climax. Have something in the plot wrapped up and something new start. Make the reader feel like they've gotten something from the chapter, but keep them there with a shock at the end.

Skulldog
Please don't add auto music. If you do add it, please have it be something I can choose to turn on or not. Nothing ruins a comic like having my own music playing raped by someone's taste in music, even if it fits the comics.

I like the thick boarders, if you're going creepy, more black adds mood.

I'd say around 20-30 pages in a chapter. Just make sure to start and end chapters with a big climax. Have something in the plot wrapped up and something new start. Make the reader feel like they've gotten something from the chapter, but keep them there with a shock at the end.

yep, creepy is what I'm going for. Its a PURELY horror comic... which is why I feel so compelled to add a bit of creepy backround music.... Because in my personal experience, it is impossible to make a shiver run down someone's spine with pictures alone, even if youre a pro... (which I am far from).

Well, I don't know how to add music at all yet, but If someone would be willing to show me how to include music, and then show me how to make the option to turn it off I'd be more than happy to add it. :)

1. I think your borders are fine, though a little thicker than usual, yes. I think there are other ways to add heaviness and darkness to a page than giving it artificially large gutters though - like in the artwork. Check out some pages by Mike Mignola (Hellboy) - his style uses lots of black and his pages send shivers up people's spines all the time. That said, it's your comic and you should use the artistic decisions you think are best - if you subject a bunch of decisions about your comic to other people you might end up with a mess on your hands. :)

2. There's no rule. Traditional print comics are between 22-28 pages (sometimes a bit more or less) but that is sometimes considered a bit long for webcomics, where you only read at the pace of 1-3 pages a week. I'd suggest you just go with however many pages the story needs. :) Some stories only need 5 or 6 pages, some need 30. I wouldn't worry about restricting yourself too much because of chapter length. That's one of the benefits of doing a webcomic.

3. Do a search on the forums, I know there are at least 3 threads answering this int he "Help" forum. Again though, despite what the author might think of the music, most people don't appreciate it starting automatically (and a lot of them like me will knee-jerk and just shut the page without looking at anything on it ;-) ) One thing you'll want to realize though, is that each time a page loads the music will start over. It won't be continuous. So someone reading your archive will only be listening to the beginning of your song over and over.

1. I think your borders are fine, though a little thicker than usual, yes. I think there are other ways to add heaviness and darkness to a page than giving it artificially large gutters though - like in the artwork. Check out some pages by Mike Mignola (Hellboy) - his style uses lots of black and his pages send shivers up people's spines all the time. That said, it's your comic and you should use the artistic decisions you think are best - if you subject a bunch of decisions about your comic to other people you might end up with a mess on your hands. :)

Yeah... its not so much to make up for the rest of the page as it is to compliment it you know? :)

But yeah, I understand what you mean bout the mess on my hands hah ^^;

2. There's no rule. Traditional print comics are between 22-28 pages (sometimes a bit more or less) but that is sometimes considered a bit long for webcomics, where you only read at the pace of 1-3 pages a week. I'd suggest you just go with however many pages the story needs. :) Some stories only need 5 or 6 pages, some need 30. I wouldn't worry about restricting yourself too much because of chapter length. That's one of the benefits of doing a webcomic.

K.. so it just depends on my own pacing. thanks :-D

3. Do a search on the forums, I know there are at least 3 threads answering this int he "Help" forum. Again though, despite what the author might think of the music, most people don't appreciate it starting automatically (and a lot of them like me will knee-jerk and just shut the page without looking at anything on it ;-) ) One thing you'll want to realize though, is that each time a page loads the music will start over. It won't be continuous. So someone reading your archive will only be listening to the beginning of your song over and over.

Thats okay actually... because its basically sorta kinda like a pulsing sound played over and over again with a short creepy keyboard segment repeated every now and again... heh. Ill have it defaulted as "off", and then if people want to hear it they can just turn it on, everyone wins heh. :) Thanks, I'll take a look around the help forums for the music.

Okay, forget the music thing... heh. Was looking through the help forum, and it seems like people on this site are more biased toward it than I thought... Which sucks because I dont know if a horror comic by itself that actually gives people the creeps is even possible. : / Oh well heh, I'll try. :)