I think it's time to take the plunge :) Does anybody have any interesting links about making online 3Dcomics? (that isn't the 3DCC - been there already (Hi Doug!)) What do you want to see in an online comic? what are some problems you have seen? what works, what didn't work? Are there any photoshop resources for this? (speech bubbles, etc.) Any info much appreciated :) Lyrra

Attached Link: http://www.sturkwurk.com

Hi! There's a tutorial at the 3dcc for word balloons in PhotoShop... these days I use Illustrator for the word balloons and text. Let's see... I do my renders in Poser and Vue. Then layout in Illustrator, along with text balloons then PhotoShop for text effects. Doug

Here's a classic example of my work...

Cool work, Doug. I really ought to make time to check out more of your stuff.

Everything I learned about online comic making I learned from Sturk's site. Wewt! - Gazzy

ah sheesh... cut it out Gazzy. Ajax, You've never checked out my site? I'm hurt ;) Here's one of my latest pages from "Shirtless Girl" I don't think I've shown this one anywhere else yet.

Depend's what you mean by "my site". I've looked at 3d-CC and I've looked through your gallery here at Rendo. I'm obviously missing something though, because I've never seen any of this stuff before.

try www.sturkwurk.com and my comic is slated to start running at www.bobandtom.com

Hey, you mean www.sturkwurk.com ! D'oh. You know I didn't even know that site existed :-O

...sturkwurk... That's from The Bob and Tom show! Do you do work for them?

Hey sturkwurk, I really admire your on-line work, and particularly love the "standard comics page" layout you use. I made comix for many years "the old fashioned way" and, of course, used that format. I see many many folks use other formats online, i.e., the one/two sometimes three panel per screen method, usually using frames but the "standard" way is what I prefer the most! I have done some stuff using this preferred format myself but would be most interested in learning what exact steps you take when making the various panels, then - I imagine - "compositing" them into the final page. Any info appreciated and, hey, it's true what they say - You rock! Larry F

Ajax, you're kidding right? Oh well... I still find cool sites all the time (for the first time) and am blown away. snabald... I've been the artist for Shirtless Girl's comic strip since last October or so. Heck, I'm the only artist for the comic, now that I think about it... there's been some fan art sent in the past, but I do the comic. There's a sub site set up at SturkWurk.com just click on Shirtless Girl's face on the homepage. Check out my gallery here at Renderosity and you'll see lots of Shirtless Girl artwork. The upcoming "Revenge of the Jiggler" is my own story that will soon run at Bob & Tom... you can actually go to their "oddities" page and see a preview... and read the original SG series from that same page too. If you look on the left side of the homepage you'll see my SG Wallpaper image. LarryF... name a page of mine and I'll fill in the blanks if I can.

Hey, that's easy, with so much to choose from. How about a rundown on the creation of the page in post No. 3 above? Just curious to explore your methods! And thanks! Larry "A fan" F

Y'all can discuss shirtless girls in another thread :) I want to know the technical stuff - Ok I see the three different kinds of layout. What are they called? which is the 'classic' that Larry mentioned? (post 3?) why use one over the others? What are 'beginner' mistakes to avoid? Lyrra

Well Lyrra... you can learn a lot from comics themselves... and a couple wonderful books by Scott McCloud. (Understanding Comics and Reinventing Comics) Ask yourself... Who are your favorite comic artist? What's your favorite style... How do I want to tell my story. In the third example above (Shirtless Girl Page 8... the one with the Green top and bottom panels) I wanted to relay a quick cenimatic scene to the viewer without using any dialogue or narrative. So I created the top and bottom pieces of art at a frame for the quick story... then figured out the best ammount of squares to fill the inner gap, and have them big enough to show the scenes. The first square had to tie the reader into the story so I used the guy in the green light (since the "id" scanner is reading his mind) then I had 11 more panles to create. With most of my pages I set up visual references... I'll use small panels to build up the action to a larger panel. Beginner problems... the Story is the most important element. Even the best artwork can fall flat if the reader dosent care about the characters and what they are going through.

Lyrra, that "classic" thing I mentioned is just a reference to the page layout of an actual printed comic, meaning in a format mostly 7 x 10 inches when folded into book form with the print area being (usually) about 6 inches wide x 9 inches deep. There are variations of course, you know, the magazine style of the original Vampirella, Creepy, Eerie, etc., but this should give the picture. My question is related more to the creating of the individual renders that would become the "panels" on such a page. They have to be composited, of course, in another program, i.e., Photoshop, PSP, etc., which I already know how to do, just would like to know what approach others, especially those of sturkwurk's deservedly respected stature, take. More than one way to skin a cat. I think a prevalent format one sees is the one panel per screen then click on picture or "next" for the next frame in the sequence. Then, one of my favorites, weirdass.net, tends to use the classic daily strip format, i.e., usually about 3 panels on a screen, oriented more horizontally. As well as the absolutely fantastic Astounding Space Thrills, among others! There are other approaches as well, especially with Flash and stuff like that, but my personal favorite is still the aformentioned "classic", which Doug certainly does well. I love comics and spent decades collecting them, though those days are long gone. Larry F Oh, and I think a "beginner" ought to make all the mistakes he or she can. Very educational!

Here's some random notes... so I can sound like a smart guy... don't be fooled. as far as my rendered content goes... I cheat. I tend to think in cinematic references... moving cameras in and out to create or relieve tension etc. In the third example above I had to set up the quick tale of the escape of the Jiggler... so I used my camera as the "guards" point of view... he opens the cell door and finds the Jiggler... uh... busy. I don't explain to the reader that the Jiggler can hypnotize her victims by "getting their interest" but it's implied and explained later... hopefully the images tell the story for me. I rendered each of the "video" images in poser with just a couple spotlights... then came up with a post trick in PhotoShop to create the "video" lines. I purposely kept the setting mostly grey so that the Jiggler would pop right off the page (screen) and the images would be stimulating and hopefully easy to follow. Since the dayglow colors will be the Jigglers colors through out my story, I used the bright greens in the top and bottom panels to set up the reader for a Jiggler scene. Another note for LarryF... With this particular Shirtless Girl story, I plan on releasing the final version as a pdf, so anybody could then print it out and it would be close to a comic book in scale. I'm enjoying using the standard comic size... heck, it's been imbedded in my brain since I was four years old. (that's 31 years ago in Doug years)

Doug, That's great! Thanks so much for taking the time! Looking forward to that pdf version. I also deeply understand tht "imbedded in my brain" concept, having some of my own that are at least 30 years old! Thanks again. Larry F

For information on how to tell a story graphically, check out Will Eisner's books on Graphic Storytelling. I started creating an interactive online horror comic, then caught a computer virus and lost all my jpegs (waaahhh!). (Included above is an image from that project.) So all I have right now are opinions on the subject. People who access the Net aren't necessarily looking for something to read on their screen -- too many words can turn people off. Where I think too many online comics go wrong is that they try to simply recreate paper comic book pages on their sites. The Web is an interactive media in which the viewer can make choices as to where to click, so I'm looking forward to more of that kind of storytelling in the future. In terms of being practical, remember that the person whose viewing your comic may not have the biggest fastest computer. You may be sacrificing a little something in terms of picture quality by optimizing your graphics and shrinking the size of the images, but you will be enabling more people to view your site. A good portion of potential viewers will click off your site if they haven't seen anything withing the first 7 seconds. Learning how to create a webpage that will enable certain portions to appear quickly while the others are coming through will be mot beneficial. I can't tell you how many times I went to an online comic and sat there and had to wait and wait and wait. Instead of an entire page, you can try just using a few frames at a time. And make sure you have an interesting story to tell. People will be forgiving in graphics if your story is interesting and makes them want to click on. Also, while things like Flash are fun additions to any Web site, don't get carried away with them so that it takes half an hour to get your site to appear. Any special effects with Flash should be done in moderation. Mike