You only need two things to make a webcomic: a comic to publish, and a site to publish it on.

From the word “webcomic” alone you will agree that it’s basic meaning is that it is a comic page or strip that is published on the web. So if it’s not published on the web, it’s just a “comic”, right? Of course, it will take much more to make the actual comics and the actual site that it will be published on but the main thing to learn here is that if you’re not comfortable making traditional comics then there’s no reason for you to make webcomics.

I believe that the the discipline of making comics and the discipline of making webcomics is just the same. It’s just the medium that is different. The web just gives creators a lot more freedom in presenting their comics and the potential to reach a world wide audience. I won’t dive into discussing the differences between traditional comics and webcomics, you can go to Wikipedia for that. All I want to point out is that webcomics are, in the simplest sense, just comics on the web.

So does that make Dilbert, Garfield, Snoopy, and all those other comics that started in newspapers webcomics now that they are being published on the web? My answer is yes, because they fulfill the two essential things that makes a webcomic a webcomic. The only difference that Penny Arcade, PVP, and Ctrl+Alt+Del has with the other comics I mentioned is that they started publishing entirely on the web as opposed to being published in print first.

You might ask why I need to take away the distinction between traditional comics and webcomics, I believe that before you educate yourself in creating webcomics you must first educate yourself in creating “just comics”. Surely, without a proper comic to publish, the site you will publish your comic on will just be put to waste.

Now you know what makes a webcomic, we can start learning how to make the actual comics and the actual site that it will be published on.

This entry was posted on Thursday, December 13th, 2007 at 10:37 am and is filed under Webcomics.You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.