Okay,
I'm actually finding it difficult in the world of Sprite Comics. Now I totally get the whole down-on-sprite comics because it is an easy way to make a comic and technically, most of the Sprite Comics I've seen are absolutely awful.

The reason I do them is because I enjoy the easiness of creation and they tend to look a lot better than my own drawn comics. I can draw however they just don't come out the way I want them too.

I find it really difficult to be taken seriously as a sprite comic compared to fantastic artists out there who draw and write. I'll never be anything compared to them but I would like some recognition.

Is there anyway to help myself get a cut above the other sprite comics? What can I do so that people won't look at my comic and be like "oh god, another sprite comic."

make your own sprites and backgrounds

Break the boundaries. Don't do any psuedo sonic/megaman/Pokemon thing. That will get you nowhere. What subcultured said, use your own, not just simple edits/recolours. No 1337 speak. Please.

What the above said.

Think about it, the time you spend creating your own sprites, would be about 2 to 3 hours. The average time it takes someone to make a page of a drawn comic. However, you'd only be doing it once, so it's not a bad trade off in time.
No recolors, make your own sprites and characters.
That's the way you succeed.

deities
Okay,


Is there anyway to help myself get a cut above the other sprite comics? What can I do so that people won't look at my comic and be like "oh god, another sprite comic."

Google Image Search.

for the sprite comic generation...

it is all there, man.

check out my shitfest joke of a comic---

diamond must die or the BATMANG
both of those were so easy.

need a car...
type car in google image search...

6 kabijillion cars appear.

pick one...copy, paste edit...
SHAZAAM.

DONE.


Mega man is ok...


MEGA MAn driving a WWII Tank over Skeletor and Jason Vorhees ---wilst ingesting narcotics off Pamela Andersons TITS...
That...is the future of sprite comics.

the sky is the limit.

Dude what are you on?

I don't really get into sprite comics. I don't know why but I get fewer laghs out of them, 8-bit theatre is fine though.

Draw a huge cast of characters to put into your comics, then just pull them when you need to use them. Its how I do penis.

ungh, try to avoid Mario, Sonic, Pokemon, and Megaman >.> (i know it was said before, but I thought I should say it again) Be creative and different..do...Contra! or..Milon's Secret Castle! Yeah...and try to be funny. Most sprite comics aren't funny at all. Don't use obvious jokes, be random and if your inspirited in the tiniest way by something, remember it and play with it.

Assemble your sprite comic, but then draw it out properly using the sprite version as a guide. It will look better and you'll get some valuable experience.

Hey,
Thanks for all the advice. I currently use Ragnarok Online sprites and their backgrounds. I know it's also been used a lot but not as much as Pokemon/Sonic and Megaman. I tried to be unique and original. Unlike other sprite comics that follow the story of their characters I made up my own characters and put them in a completely new universe made by me. It's a little different.

The main reason I don't draw is because I spend all day at University drawing and I only have 4 hours freetime a night (my University is an hour away) and so I prefer something easy. I'll maybe consider doing my own sprites in the near future, I'll run with Deities until the stories wear off.

There are three things that will always limit a sprite comic:

1. Complete inability to depict subtlety.
You can't make subtle facial expressions or intricate details on a sprite. You can't embed emotions into the character's posture other than what the game maker has already given you. Heck, many game sprites have NO facial expressions at all. And even if you can manage out sadness on a sprite, where is loneliness? regret? despondence? They all look like "sad" on that tiny little sprite face.

2. Same angle all the time.
Different camera angles can be used to establish shots, invoke emotion, establish hierarchy, keep secrets, and more. With a sprite comic you're limited to whatever angle the game designers intended for the sprite... usually side view, top-down, or isometric. People get tired of having the same viewpoint for the entire comic.

By choosing to make a sprite comic you've already limited yourself by eliminating two of the more important comic-making tools. But then #3 comes:

3. Sprites come with baggage.
You can't make a sprite comic out of Sonic characters without people thinking of Sonic while they read it. Your story could be about a hedgehog who works at an accounting firm and gets fired, but people will always think about how fast he can run and when Knuckles is going to show up.


If you were to try to become a better sprite comic than all those other sprite comics, I'd think you would want to find some way to overcome these three problems. The most obvious solution is making your own sprites from scratch as mentioned before. But it will all come down to the fact that all sprite comics have a barrier that prevents them from getting better than they are... it's problems #1 and #2.

In other words, I'm saying there's probably little hope of clawing your way above 500 other videogame sprite comics when you're subject to the same limitations they are.

Well if you do your own sprite comic from scratch, you can depict subtlety (in a close up shot). You can also change the angle if you're making everything on your own. It just requires some more effort. So just run that extra mile and you should be fine.

Don't care what other people think. If you like it, it's a success.

Yeah,
I think I'm going to pass on the whole making my own comics. Lack of time and lack of will. I rely on Sprite Comics for their ease which is also their downfall. If I was going to spend as much time on creating my own sprites I'd rather sit down and draw my own comic.

However, I totally agree with the first limitation about lack of expressions and I've been finding that a lack of emotions have been playing havoc with me. However, I don't need loneliness or regret as my comic doesn't take itself seriously.

Finally, I have overcome the second limitation by using Ragnarok Online sprites and backgrounds, I can have a 360 degree angle of my surroundings at different heights and proximity.

The main problem I find with Sprite Comics is the horrific writing, the horrible cliche's and five year old ideas, such as Pokemon Acid Blue or whatever random colour you want to add in. I feel this brings down the rest of the genre and I want to step away from those type of comics. University consumes my life and I don't want to spend all day drawing Interiors at Uni to come home and spend all night doing the same.

Maybe you can say lack of commitment, sure. However, I feel it's just desire for ease. My writing isn't great but I know a good few people that have commented and so far I haven't received any majorly negative comments. I'll just have to keep what I'm doing and hope to get noticed.

Wolfer
Dude what are you on?

I don't really get into sprite comics.

High on life
:)

and I don't really get into them either...they are Sadly entertaining sometimes.

lol!

they get the E for effort.

the sprite variety remind me of the ROBOT CHICKEN of comic strips.

Hence the suggestion, it would be nice to see some people utilize more than video art...

I mean, if they are copy paste happy...RUN WITH IT.

Why?...Why stop with Video Graphics?

Someone
If I was going to spend as much time on creating my own sprites I'd rather sit down and draw my own comic.

there ya go.

that is the way.

just start drawing.
go with your bad ol self homie G funk Esquire

strong414bad
Don't care what other people think. If you like it, it's a success.

yes.

I agree.

deities
Yeah,
I think I'm going to pass on the whole making my own comics. Lack of time and lack of will. I rely on Sprite Comics for their ease which is also their downfall. If I was going to spend as much time on creating my own sprites I'd rather sit down and draw my own comic.

I don't know what to think of this response. It seems kind of contradictory to the whole reason you started this thread. You asked what you could do to make your sprite comic stand out, and we all gave suggestions, but it seems you're sticking to whatever you had in your head in the first place.
Just know, that you can't really stand out in the crowd without innovation, especially in the sprite realm. You just can't convey your personal anything through pre-made pixels. No matter how much better your writing is, people are going to automatically make assumptions when they see the sprites.

I'll just have to keep what I'm doing and hope to get noticed.

Don't take this wrong. I mean, your writing is really good, it's just not going to end the sprite stereotypes. If you're doing it for yourself, by all means go about your business, but I really feel that extra effort put into pages make huge differences. I know this from drawing experience. I used to be super lazy, but the more work I put into a page, the prouder I am of it. The more you go about being lazy and going for the easy way out, the more used to it you get.

Still, you did ask what you could do to put you ahead in the sprite world. I hope all the user responses helped you a little.

Oh PS: To comment on your first post in this thread, when you draw a page, it takes a while to get used to going about it. Your first page isn't going to look perfect, but it's part of the fun of drawing your comics. Seeing the progress and evolution of your style. Sprites can't evolve. :'(

-z

Yeah, plus use different backgrounds too.

In Golden Gamers, I use backgrounds from Sailor Moon, Gundam Wing, Killer Instinct and Art of Fighting games. I have yet to come across a comic that uses these. Also, for the characters, I use FFT sprites which aren't commonly found

Also, in Enter the Duck 2 I use Metroid Fusion and Batman Returns. They help imply the dark sense of the comic I want to come across. I also was given custom designed sprites from people I know. You will not find any of the sprites used in a video game (You'll find the bases, but not the characters)

By doing these, my comics are quite different to normal ones. They also have original plot lines (Becoming superheroes out of sheer laziness. A virus overtaking the site the comic's hosted on.)

Any way, just try these out and you should do fine

Think outside the box, see, at one point I made a sprite comic using Pac Man sprites.

Terminal
Think outside the box, see, at one point I made a sprite comic using Pac Man sprites.

And it was actually one of the most entertaining sprite comics I ever read.

hat
Well if you do your own sprite comic from scratch, you can depict subtlety (in a close up shot). You can also change the angle if you're making everything on your own. It just requires some more effort. So just run that extra mile and you should be fine.

You're right, you could do that. And it sure would require some effort. The further you go down that path, the closer you are to simply drawing out your comic.

Zac
I don't know what to think of this response. It seems kind of contradictory to the whole reason you started this thread. You asked what you could do to make your sprite comic stand out, and we all gave suggestions, but it seems you're sticking to whatever you had in your head in the first place.
Just know, that you can't really stand out in the crowd without innovation, especially in the sprite realm. You just can't convey your personal anything through pre-made pixels. No matter how much better your writing is, people are going to automatically make assumptions when they see the sprites.

Uh huh, I agree with that and noticed it yesterday. However, I have been fooling around with certain things, fiddling with this and that. The main offput was complex characters drawings with indepth drawings of hands and feet and such as but I've noticed I don't need to do that and I've had a few ideas in my head. A problem I face with that is lack of materials, no scanner for a start but I'm going to save up and buy a tablet cause I suck at mouse drawing. It seems if I want to move forward I need to be exceptionally good at Sprite comics or move away from them.

So, I'll stick with what I've got till I can get a hold of a tablet and start working from there. And I started the thread because I wanted to move away from the really awful Sprite Comics and be taken seriously and a lot of advice, including yours, has put some stuff in perspective.

I suggest you get a scanner before a tablet, but that's just me. It's cheaper and you'll be able to make use of it a lot more quickly than a tablet. Tablets have a learning curve, and even many good artists can't make good work directly from scratch with a tablet.

Don't get me wrong, tablets are awesome. But if I didn't have my tablet I could still make about the same quality of artwork with my scanner and mouse. It would just take a little longer.

Hawk
I suggest you get a scanner before a tablet, but that's just me. It's cheaper and you'll be able to make use of it a lot more quickly than a tablet. Tablets have a learning curve, and even many good artists can't make good work directly from scratch with a tablet.

Don't get me wrong, tablets are awesome. But if I didn't have my tablet I could still make about the same quality of artwork with my scanner and mouse. It would just take a little longer.

I completely agree with Hawk. Tablets take a bit of time getting used to. Make sure you can develop your characters and environments well on paper first, and learn how to letter and format your pages from there. Then when you decide to invest i a tablet, start cheap, get the feel for it, then really make the investment in the Super Tablet. When I first started doing comics online, I thought having a tablet would make it a lot easier, so I bought one. However, I ended up ditching it after a few weeks, and returning to pen,paper, and scanner, because I got the better results with it. When I started using the tablet again, I drew practice pictures, until I could immitate my pen work (somewhat). I still draw better on paper. I began with a 2x3 or 4x6 small? Wacom Graphire 3, and used it for a good year, and finally invested in a large Intuos 3 tablet. AFTER I knew I could work with it fairly decently.

I like the idea that "nothing can be something." I used Tetris blocks as a joke for a dramatic comic that bended them and positioned them in ways most sprite comics don't use. I also decided to do the blank backgrounds like in penis, because when its blank, you can imagine anything going on in the background.