Having a webcomic

[Kyle20]

I can't believe I'm doing this, because at first glance, making a thread like this on a dead forum is completely stupid. It's more symbolic for me than anything, and just to give you guys a tidbit of an answer of what happened to one of the old ZaRWoCians.

Basically, since I was 9 (just before I joined this place) I've loved webcomics. Obviously I've changed since then, but loving webcomics has been my one constant, and wanting to have one has been a goal since back then. With role models like Zaku, Christi, Gen, and Nam I always wanted to have that feeling of internet-famous, even if it was just a small fanbase.

At the time I thought spriting was the answer but thankfully I realized it wasn't and switched to drawing.

I now have a drawn webcomic that will soon reach its 100th page and 1 year anniversary.

soulsymphonycomic.com/

It's just one step among hopefully many. I plan on going to college for art and will possibly have finished this series and started a new webcomic by then.

I am by no means satisfied and my goal/dream of webcomic stardom is not even close to feeling complete, but I figured I'd give you guys that update on what happened to me and how ZaRWoC still influences what I aim for today.

[Christi]

It's definitely nice to have seen someone else come back. The forum isn't entirely dead, just sleeping a little.

I'll definitely have to check the comic out when I can and if you can get into the college you want for art then I wish you all the best for that as well.

[8bitbluemage]

Took a quick glance and I got impressed. Shit man, fanart? Not many people I know ever make it that far. The art certainly looks interesting, so I'll be sure to check it out at some point.

[Kyle20]

Thanks Christi.

Nah, don't be fooled by the fanart. They're mostly from friends. It is still super cool to get fanart, though.

Yeah since in the past I was known to have a sprite comic for like 3 weeks and then give up, I forced myself to stick with this one. The only thing I fear is having so many pages that new readers won't want to read through the archives and hop on board.

[8bitbluemage]

Well you've also got a TV Tropes article, so unless you and your friends wrote the whole thing, that's at least got some merit behind it.

Just read up to page 90, as the Wii's my only access to the internet right now, and it acts like a mobile device.

Carl's a pretty fun character to read out loud, as I tend to come up with voices. I picture him having a sarcastically jerk ass tone all the time while talking. Particularly whenever he's pointing out things about Olivia.

[Gen Gravy]

I'm pretty proud of you, Kyle. I think you've succeeded where many of us fell short. I also saw that you had a character contest, and even though the deadline has passed, it inspired me to draw an old favorite.



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Frightman with a fiddle. I found it to be appropriate. I also just read through your entire archive, and I gotta say that I've enjoyed the comic.

[Kyle20]

Mage: Yeah sadly I DID make it myself, though I don't edit it myself anymore because it feels snobby, so I let my friends do it. I made it for the sake of advertising, not because I thought I warranted one. The numbers don't lie, I do get a new reader finding it through TV Tropes almost every 2 weeks.

Gen: It's nice to see you again. I had seen Zaku, Christi, and Mage around, and had seen Nam on AIM like twice, but I was becoming sure [and afraid] that there'd be no trace of you ever again.

That is pretty damn nice. I think you did more justice with that fiddle than I usually do with string instruments, especially since I'm usually rushing. Glad I could inspire.

Thanks for reading and for the kind words. I finally decided to take something way more seriously than the old sprite comics, but it's never stopped being fun. Realistically I think it's too late for this to boom with popularity [advertising ended up being harder than making the damn pages] but I don't mind too much. I'm not gonna quit. I enjoy it, and the evolution of the art and writing is pretty evident from just the first page to latest.

Still got a long way's to go, though.

[8bitbluemage]

Holy shit it's Gen. Never thought I'd see him again.

[Christi]

People do still pop in every now and then, even if they don't necessarily sign in

It's definitely an interesting story Kyle. I've added it to the list of comics I read. I look forward to seeing where you go with it :3

[Gen Gravy]

Yah, I did kinda just disappear for three years. But you can say the same about White-Jet. It's almost like she just fell off the Earth. Every once in a while if I am utterly stricken with boredom, or if my mind wanders back to the old RP days, I pop in the ol' TZaRWoC url to see if it's still kicking around. I'm happy to see that you decided to share your comic, it gave some incentive to log back in.

As for sprite comics, I think I left that a long time ago. Sprite comics lost their novelty after a while. My tastes have improved since then, and I don't really hold sprite comics in the same regard as I used to. But I used to write comics for my school newspaper, but there was a ton of red tape as to what I could do, so that relationship didn't last long. In fact, I think that Frightman drawing was the first time I've used my tablet in a while. So I also wanna give you some fanart:



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[Kyle20]

Thanks Christi.

I guess all it takes is a new thread with a little topic for discussion.

I still think about sprite comics, although I don't read any at the moment. I don't think it's impossible for a sprite comic to be good and original necessarily, but it'd have to not be video game-based and should probably have every sprite in every panel done from scratch. With little re-used poses [thus little use of an actual sprite "sheet."]

I've thought about it and I could probably make a decent one myself, but it'd take forever and would kind've be a waste of my time and effort.

Thanks dude, that's awesome. "Artist" is never the first thing to come to mind when thinking of you, even with those awesome forum comics you used to draw, but these 2 pictures are pretty impressive.

Who's the dude on the right, so I know what to title the picture when I throw the link up on my site? I definitely wanna put it up there with the others.

[Gen Gravy]

Eh. Sprites have become so... Trite.

But the guy on the right is a character of mine, Cole. He used to be an RP character and I intended to use him in a comic I had an idea for a while back. Never got around to it.

[8bitbluemage]

I'm still into sprites, I just don't read nearly as many sprite comics as I used to. Even then, it takes a lot of custom sprites to hold my interest for long. Kid Radd was a fairly good example, as it generally met the criteria mentioned by Kyle above. I'm mostly more interested in drawn stuff nowadays, though.

[Kyle20]

Yeah, Kid Radd was awesome.

Speaking of comic trends and stuff: Any comments on SS page 90? It was my first time using Flash at all so it's really bare bones, but I'm hoping to do more in the future that are a little more fancy.

In addition, page 100 is going to be a 2:30 minute flash animation with music I made myself for it.

In general I think it's a good idea for webcomics to stray away from being exactly like print comics. It's traditional but it's limiting the medium and kind've holding things back. I wanna experiment with incorporating Flash and stuff and see if I can make anything decent. I've never really been too afraid to be experimental with SS.

[8bitbluemage]

Seeing as how I don't have a computer (Whee for Wii), I'll have to wait until I have access to something that can play more than Flash 7. Once that's out of the way, I'll resume reading.