strip

After After Party: RIP Jags The After Party Merch store is now open! Check out afterpartyinc.com and peep the new drops. We’re back with another edition of the After After Party and on this one we reminisce on some good times at Jaguars Gentlemen’s Club (Rest In Peace) including the time I partied with Oscar De La Hoya. Plus we recap a night out on the town in Juarez, our margarita crawl and we take a look back at our trip to Puerto Penasco. Make sure to subscribe and follow our socials @AaronScene and @AaronScenesAfterParty. www.linktree.com/aaronscene

TikTok and Instagram reels are moving to the forefront of social media. Is it time to learn video/animation so you can promote your webcomic?

ON THIS WEEK'S SHOW...

• Using animation to promote
• UPDATE: Short Story Challenge
• UPDATE: Eisner deadline
• UPDATE: AI Art
• A digital-exclusive eComic

You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon

• $2 — Early access to episodes
• $5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards.

Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook. Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive.

The After Party Merch store is now open! Check out afterpartyinc.com and peep the new drops. For this episode we welcome the legend himself Joe Dorgan! He comes on and tells us about how he got started in the nightlife industry, his first shows at Club 101, the legendary Nine Inch Nails show, meeting and hanging with Snoop Dogg and he ranks off his top 5 favorite shows he ever brought to the Sun City. Make sure to subscribe and follow our socials @AaronScene and @AaronScenesAfterParty. www.linktree.com/aaronscene

Every once in a while, someone asks if it's possible actually to make a living in comics. It's a fair question, and it deserves an honest answer.

SPONSORED BY...

 ComicLab is brought to you this week by the book "How Comics Were Made, a Visual History from the Drawing Board to the Printed Page." Comics historian and ComicLab fan Glenn Fleishman has spent years researching the history of newspaper comic strip production and reproduction and is bringing his expertise to this printed work full of comics from Yellow Kid through Krazy Kat, Doonesbury, Peanuts, and, yes, Dave's own Drive! It will feature never-before-seen original drawings and printing artifacts, such as "flongs," the hilarious old-fashioned name for printing molds. The book draws from museum collections like the Billy Ireland Library and the Charles M Schulz Library, generous access to artists' own archives, and Glenn's personal collection. Glenn's taking the book to crowdfunding in February, using lessons drawn from this very podcast! You can read more about the book or sign up to get an alert when the campaign launches by going to howcomicsweremade.ink.

ON THIS WEEK'S SHOW...

• Is it possible to make a living in comics?
• how to write a longform comic
• Size and DPI — preparing files for web and print

You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon

• $2 — Early access to episodes
• $5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards.

Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook. Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive.

The After Party Merch store is now open! Check out afterpartyinc.com and peep the new drops. We’re back with another edition of the After After! Chavez ya tu saves (my now ON camera cohost) crack open some cold ones, recap super bowl weekend, Mardi Gras and good times at the Sunland Park Derby. Plus Chavez lets us in on his secrets to staying off the streets. Make sure to subscribe and follow our socials @AaronScene and @AaronScenesAfterParty. www.linktree.com/aaronscene

A listener asks if they should write one big, successful comic or several mediocre ones. We have a bigger question: What makes you think you have a choice?! Also, it turns out the whole "Substack nazi" thing was yet another case of Platform Panic.

SPONSORED BY...

 ComicLab is brought to you this week by the book "How Comics Were Made, a Visual History from the Drawing Board to the Printed Page." Comics historian and ComicLab fan Glenn Fleishman has spent years researching the history of newspaper comic strip production and reproduction and is bringing his expertise to this printed work full of comics from Yellow Kid through Krazy Kat, Doonesbury, Peanuts, and, yes, Dave's own Drive! It will feature never-before-seen original drawings and printing artifacts, such as "flongs," the hilarious old-fashioned name for printing molds. The book draws from museum collections like the Billy Ireland Library and the Charles M Schulz Library, generous access to artists' own archives, and Glenn's personal collection. Glenn's taking the book to crowdfunding in February, using lessons drawn from this very podcast! You can read more about the book or sign up to get an alert when the campaign launches by going to howcomicsweremade.ink.

ON THIS WEEK'S SHOW...

• Which is better... one big success or multiple mediocre ones?
• UPDATE: Kindle Direct Publishing
• UPDATE: Patreon is fixing free membership
• UPDATE: Substack didn't have such a big Nazi problem after all
• Fighting AI with Nightshade (https://nightshade.cs.uchicago.edu/)

Substack's Platform Panic

For more information on this topic, please check out these posts:

• freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/these-rules-about-platforming-nazis
• freddiedeboer.substack.com/p/how-to-quit-substack

Many of the people who were making the most noise on this issue are switching to Ghost. Check out Ghost's TOS — in which they've even highlighted their clause on refusing to moderate content! And, on top of that, the total number of nazi accounts that were found on Substack was only 5 or 6, none of them monetized, and collectively had fewer than 200 followers-- and most of them wound up being taken down by Substack anyway. 

You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon

• $2 — Early access to episodes
• $5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards.

Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook. Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive.

The After Party Merch store is now open! Check out afterpartyinc.com and peep the new drops. For this episode we bring you Cinci Street’s finest: Adriana and Kayla! They come on and share how they met, their wild and horny times bartending at the Ozark’s and Adriana tells us about her new (ish) single life. And of course Kayla and I hit her with some heavy hitting horny questions! Make sure to subscribe and follow our socials @AaronScene and @AaronScenesAfterParty. www.linktree.com/aaronscene

BE ADVISED: We'll be discussing issues like death and dying in this episode. Dave turns fifty years old, and it has us talking about cartooning in the second half of one's life. And we're not the only ones asking existential questions. Our first question asker is worried that they're not going to have time to work on all of their ideas in one lifetime! Finally, we break down Wacom's troubling use of AI art in a promotional image!

ON THIS WEEK'S SHOW...

• Dave turns 50 years old
• Too many ideas for one lifetime
• ComicLab 500
• UPDATE: Wacom uses AI art in a promo

You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon

• $2 — Early access to episodes
• $5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards.

Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook. Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive.

We are back with a brand new episode with our boy Chadwick! He joins us and we answer your instagram questions, find out just how horny Chad is, his journey as a DJ in the El Paso scene and we share some wild stories. Make sure to subscribe and follow our socials @AaronScene and @AaronScenesAfterParty. www.linktree.com/aaronscene

We often advise that beginners write a few short stories to sharpen their comics-making skills before they tackle that 200-page epic that they're burning to produce! But how do you write a short story? Today's show offers an easy-to-follow, step-by-step guide! Use this blueprint to participate in the ComicLab Short Story Challenge! PLUS... if it's a benefit to list your comic on as many eStores as possible, why is it a bad idea to do the same with crowdfunding platforms?

ON THIS WEEK'S SHOW...

• How to Write a Short Story
• The ComicLab Short Story Challenge
• Using pre-readers
• The More the Merrier, part 1 —Multiple eStores?
• The More the Merrier, part 2 — Multiple subscription sites?

THE COMICLAB SHORT STORY CHALLENGE

Write a comic between eight and 16 pages using the Story Circle as a guide. The Story Circle has eight steps: You / Need / Go / Search / Find / Take / Return / Change. There is more information on the Story Circle in the links below. You may spend up to two pages on each step. No more. Each written page must translate directly into a page of comics, so be sure to take that into account when you're writing! Your final comic must tell a complete story — no cliffhangers; no open-ended conclusions! It must have a beginning, a middle, and an end. When you're finished, post it in the #Imadethis channel on the ComicLab Discord server so we can all marvel at your prowess!

• Dan Harmon's Story Circle
• The Story Circle / Batman Begins
• The Butso Method of Writing
• Editing a comic
• Is your idea too similar to someone else's idea?
• Got Writer's Block?

You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon

• $2 — Early access to episodes
• $5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards.

Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook. Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive.

Welcome to another edition of the After After and for this episode I bring on the boys Chavez ya tu Sabes and Ivan after a long Sunday Funday as we break down Championship Sunday, the highs and the lows and we go into a full blown discussion on who the NFL and NBA GOAT is. Make sure to subscribe and follow our socials @AaronScene and @AaronScenesAfterParty. www.linktree.com/aaronscene

As last year came to a close, it was becoming very clear that social media has been failing to deliver what we traditionally relied on it for — reaching our current readers and finding new ones. So this year Brad is trying out a new platform — Subsack. But that comes with a whole new learning curve — and more than a few ethical issues to wrestle with!

SHOW NOTES: Two points of clarification. First, the question is raised whether a user can export an email list from Substack. This is, indeed a feature. Secondly, Dave asked Brad which of his social media platforms has the biggest user base. Brad's answer was Twitter, but upon further review, it's TikTok. That fact puts the ensuing discussion into a slightly different framework.

ON THIS WEEK'S SHOW...

• Substack
• Steamboat Willie in the public domain

You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon

• $2 — Early access to episodes
• $5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards.

Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook. Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive.

One of our most often-requested topics is "How do I start a webcomic?" We're going to give you some step-by-step instructions — updated for the new year! Plus... we always stress the importance of doing a good comic. That begs another question: "How do I know if my comic is good?"

ON THIS WEEK'S SHOW...

• How to start a webcomic in 2024
• "How do I know if my comic is good?"
• UPDATE: Kindle Direct Publishing

You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon

• $2 — Early access to episodes
• $5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards.

Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook. Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive.

Veteran cartoonists Dave Kellett and Brad Guigar make some predictions and discuss their goals for the new year.

2024 Predictions

• BRAD: Twitter will crash in 2024
• DAVE: Social media will remain distributed over five or six platforms
• BRAD: Web users will begin to pivot away from social media
• DAVE: Patreon will move closer to an IPO
• BRAD: Kickstarter will remain #1 by continuing to avoid mentioning blockchain
• DAVE: SDCC will return to normal after an abnormal '23... and profits will plummet for creators

2024 Goals

• DAVE: Launch "Pickles" Kickstarter in Jan/Feb, launch "Drive 4" Kickstarter in summer
• BRAD: In Q1, Kickstart an Evil Inc book paired with an After Dark edition. Kickstart another book — WebcomicsHandbook, Evil Inc After Dark or collection of single-panel comics — in Q2/Q3
• DAVE: Prepare for a 5-15% sales drop at Comic-Con International
• BRAD: Personal appearances, including SDCC and NCS
• DAVE: ComicLab Across America
• BRAD: Use NON-social-media alternatives to drive Patreon.
• DAVE: Revisit KIndle Direct Publishing
• BRAD: Start prepping website for a post-Patreon future
• DAVE: Build the ComicLab Patreon to 500 members

You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon

• $2 — Early access to episodes
• $5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards.

Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook. Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive.

Better late than never, Brad learns to share. On social media, that is. And, using what he learned after weeks of analysis, he has a challenge for you: Try — just try — to find something worth sharing on social media. 

ON TODAY'S SHOW

• Searching for an effective social media strategy
• A new social-media experiment — Try... just TRY to find a post worth sharing
• Dave's experiment: Deleting people from the Free Membership tier. Please note: we do not, nor have we ever, endorsed this as something you should do.
• Patreon delays its IPO

You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon

• $2 — Early access to episodes
• $5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards.

Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook. Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive.

Veteran cartoonists Dave Kellett and Brad Guigar look back on their predictions for 2023. They nailed a few and failed a few!

PREDICTION SCORECARD

• Patreon will slowly entice people away from the Founder's level -- WRONG
• TikTok will be banned in the US -- WRONG
• CSP will unveil amazing features / Webtoons publishing -- RIGHT
• Webtoons publishing -- RIGHT
• Twitter fade -- RIGHT
• DC Comics implosion -- RIGHT
• No one will be using Mastodon (in large enough numbers to replace Twitter) -- RIGHT
• GPT 3.5 will be used for brainstorming and co-writing scripts using AI writing -- RIGHT?
• We'll see the first AI writing-art webcomic... and it will be good --WRONG
• Copyright law will catch up to AI art -- WRONG
• Blockchain is coming back -- WRONG
• Original art will become more valuable.

What we DIDN'T predict!

• Patreon's switch to social media
• Comic-Con loses its Hall H guests — and it was a big win for comics artists
• No replacement for Twitter... not BlueSky, not Threads (and definitely not Mastodon!)

You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon

• $2 — Early access to episodes
• $5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards.

Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook. Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive.

While we were at the National Cartoonists Society Rueben Awards Weekend, we stopped cartoonists and asked them one question: When you need to spark creativity — and nothing is happening — how do you find ideas? Today's show is a compilation of those responses.

You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon

• $2 — Early access to episodes
• $5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards.

Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook. Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive.

Patreon unveiled a free membership tier, and it's really throwing a monkey wrench into things.

ON THIS WEEK'S SHOW...

• It's official. We hate Patreon's Free Membership Tier
• Understanding Parody & Free Use
• Do Dave and Brad ever fight?!

You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon

• $2 — Early access to episodes
• $5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards.

Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook. Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive.

You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon

• $2 — Early access to episodes
• $5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards.

Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook. Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive.

Welcome to a brand new episode of the after after party! Myself and my off camera cohost chop it up over some tall boys, recap our most recent Sunday Funday, talk about the meaning of Christmas (yes we were a bit wholesome) and we dive into cuffin season! Make sure to subscribe and follow me on socials @AaronScene! www.linktree.com/aaronscene