Industry Elites Added As Judges for Webcomic Contest

RetroRobot

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LACKT said:
Is it me or everyone's dropping doubt bombs before saying good luck?
Not so much a doubt bomb from me, I'm happy with what I submitted, it's just that art is in the eye of the beholder they say, so what others will make of it is always hit or miss.
Everyone would like to win, so a good luck message to all is good courtesy.
Sure I'm nervous... but I'm pretty sure any one who isn't is either over confident or telling fibs! :p
 

Satoshii

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Feb 7, 2010
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I spent about two weeks coming up with an idea, creating characters/setting/back-story, and generally fleshing out enough strip ideas to last me a few months. I then took my time drawing the comic, and foolishly took a little too long trying to improve them and decided at the last minute I wanted to change some things which might cost me my entry. ^_^

But hey, I'm pretty chill atm. I've had fun making this comic, and worrying about details or choice of strips/jokes/storylines I did isn't going to help me one bit, although the strips I submitted were more general and less specific to the characters I wrote and I think that in my haste one of my characters is floating in mid air (haha), but what's done is done. Hopefully the whoever judges this will look the potential of the strip (He hopes! lol).

Although I've drawn many other webcomics before, this was my first gaming strip. I had a couple of ideas i'm working on atm, but since they wanted new stuff, I thought it'd be in my best interest to stick with something gaming related.

And yet despite having drawn many a comic strip before, I still amaze myself with how much time I waste drawing stuff that is only going to be covered with speech bubbles! Anyone else do stuff like that?
 

RetroRobot

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Satoshii said:
And yet despite having drawn many a comic strip before, I still amaze myself with how much time I waste drawing stuff that is only going to be covered with speech bubbles! Anyone else do stuff like that?
Ha, been there before...
I've been "comicing" for years, yet even when you plan out EXACTLY where the text goes, there's always the opportunity to think:
"Hey, that would look much better over here"

But hey, It leaves you open for options when it comes to last minute changes and edits! :D
 

titankore

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It is more important to do something you love over what seems popular. Your affection for your own work can move towards your audience. That's why I chose the style I did, I love adorable cute things, film noir, literature and many other things and I put those into my entree.

If your truly happy with your work then it doesn't matter what happens, although if your like me then your still as nervous as hell.

you know what would be fun, an all comic artist/writer game of Halo or something now that would be sweet.
 

Ritzbot

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Feb 12, 2010
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aeroz said:
Though I do regret the names. Like many webcomics I used our handles for character names, but I meant them as place holders because names are a weakness of mine. That ended up being what we went with. It concerns me because its a staple of the "two guys on a couch" genre of webcomic, which mine is not.
My first paid comic series was for my college newspaper. I named the characters after faucet, pipe, and valve companies... whatever I could find in the bathroom. The hero was Ethan Moen; the evil teacher was Steve Kohler; the bad-attitude sidekick was Jacob Sloan. I never came up with an official name for the female lead, but I always referred to her as Georgia Pacific.

I feel a little disappointed that all the ideas for this webcomic had to be totally new. I took a web design class a year ago, and I used a webcomic as the format for my project. I called it, "Gamers Never Die" (with 'die' being a pun). I didn't draw anything for it except for a logo. I just put my old newspaper comic up as filler space. "Gamers Never Die" is a cooler title than "Save State."
 

Satoshii

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titankore said:
It is more important to do something you love over what seems popular. Your affection for your own work can move towards your audience. That's why I chose the style I did, I love adorable cute things, film noir, literature and many other things and I put those into my entree.

If your truly happy with your work then it doesn't matter what happens, although if your like me then your still as nervous as hell.

you know what would be fun, an all comic artist/writer game of Halo or something now that would be sweet.
Oh yeah, certainly. I've enjoyed making the strip related to gaming and although it wouldn't have been my first choice of subject in a more general contest, it's opened up a lot of ideas for me and I think it'll be appealing to the audience/readers of the Escapist. I'd rather do something they prefer to read than I do. Not that I don't like it or anything, but my preferences can be satisfied elsewhere. Plus, it was nice to do something new and different for a change!

That being said, I also drew in a new style so that took a bit of practice. I think i've just got the hang of it now, haha, ironically *after* the contest has finished...

Addendum:

I understand that having a greater interest in the subject matter may lead to some people putting more love and effort into the comic, but at the end of the day this is a professional gig, and thus we have to act professional about it and put the effort in regardless. I like the subject matter don't get me wrong (more of a casual gamer / hardcore 90's gamer), but it wouldn't be my first choice. That being said, i'd put in 150% into the comic regardless.
 

Archemetis

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Aug 13, 2008
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March 1st:

The official moment that most of us can start really panicking about this has arrived. xD
 

aeroz

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Ritzbot said:
aeroz said:
Though I do regret the names. Like many webcomics I used our handles for character names, but I meant them as place holders because names are a weakness of mine. That ended up being what we went with. It concerns me because its a staple of the "two guys on a couch" genre of webcomic, which mine is not.
My first paid comic series was for my college newspaper. I named the characters after faucet, pipe, and valve companies... whatever I could find in the bathroom. The hero was Ethan Moen; the evil teacher was Steve Kohler; the bad-attitude sidekick was Jacob Sloan. I never came up with an official name for the female lead, but I always referred to her as Georgia Pacific.
yea but those actually sound pretty good to me. I think my name for this forum is good actually, but that was refined after a long time. last names I've always been worse with, only ones I can ever think of are common ones
 

isjusterin

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Ritzbot said:
My first paid comic series was for my college newspaper
Lucky >_> They won't pay me for mine and I'm not getting credit... at least I typically only spend 3 hours or so on each one.

My question for everyone is, if you don't win (which is a 99% chance for everyone I suppose), what do you plan to do with your comic? Or are you planning to do something else? It seems like this contest has gotten everyone motivated...

It showed me that I can definitely make time for working on a comic, so if I lose I'm probably going to continue on this one for a while on my own site while working on a more realistic/dramatic comic that I've been planning out for a little while now.

EDIT: Also... did any other girls out there enter this contest? I'm always curious about the boy/girl ratio with these sort of things.
 

aeroz

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isjusterin said:
Ritzbot said:
My first paid comic series was for my college newspaper
Lucky >_> They won't pay me for mine and I'm not getting credit... at least I typically only spend 3 hours or so on each one.

My question for everyone is, if you don't win (which is a 99% chance for everyone I suppose), what do you plan to do with your comic? Or are you planning to do something else? It seems like this contest has gotten everyone motivated...

It showed me that I can definitely make time for working on a comic, so if I lose I'm probably going to continue on this one for a while on my own site while working on a more realistic/dramatic comic that I've been planning out for a little while now.

EDIT: Also... did any other girls out there enter this contest? I'm always curious about the boy/girl ratio with these sort of things.
well I'm working with someone so not all up to me. But I'd like to continue reguardless. I think I got something good going.

oh and while I'm a guy, my artist is a girl
 

CarlsonAndPeeters

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aeroz said:
Though I do regret the names. Like many webcomics I used our handles for character names, but I meant them as place holders because names are a weakness of mine. That ended up being what we went with. It concerns me because its a staple of the "two guys on a couch" genre of webcomic, which mine is not.
My trick for naming people: Movie credits. Best Boy first name, Key Grip last name. Works every time.
 

Daigerus

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Feb 24, 2010
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While we're still here talking about our personal experiences during February, I might as well throw in my two cents.

Like everyone else, I had some semblance of fun working on entirely new characters and plot, mentally exploring possibilities and directions that I could take. In fact, you could say I was almost daydreaming my webcomic, to the point that I made out some general outlines for supposedly a few "books", "seasons" or whichever you prefer to call those huge story arcs, and already making several plot twists and climaxes that might last me at least a year or so, but that's just me being wishful and ambitious. Once I get hooked on a character idea I like, everything else just kind of clicked into place. Except for punchlines - they're really hard to come up with.

To be honest, this contest reminded me of an Original Character Tournament (OCT), where the goal was making a new character and creating a better entry than your opponent's in that round, and doing that every round until only one person was left to win that OCT, and having his entry and story declared as canon for that OCT. Even the time formats are similar, though the page requirements and rules are vastly different. But the core experience was still the same - you pit your ideas against someone else's (or in this case, everyone else's) and hope that the judges like yours the best.

Either way, it was awesome getting to know new artists and writers through contests like these and even more awesome to see a few more familiar faces here - guess it's a small world after all.
 

titankore

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I plan on finding a place to post my comics afterward but then again I'm in my confident stage so I'm feeling good about my chances before I crash into nervousness again.

I'm a guy but I dress up for Rocky Horror Picture show, I like adorable things, teddy bears and shojo manga so does that change it?
 

isjusterin

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titankore said:
I'm a guy but I dress up for Rocky Horror Picture show, I like adorable things, teddy bears and shojo manga so does that change it?
XD I detest all those things except the dressing up for Rocky Horror Picture show, so sure, why not.
 

Zemalac

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I've been staying away from this thread for most of the contest, mostly because at first it was almost completely comprised of questions that had already been answered, but now that the deadline has passed (and it seems some intelligent conversation is going on) I suppose I'll rejoin the discussion.

isjusterin said:
My question for everyone is, if you don't win (which is a 99% chance for everyone I suppose), what do you plan to do with your comic? Or are you planning to do something else? It seems like this contest has gotten everyone motivated...

It showed me that I can definitely make time for working on a comic, so if I lose I'm probably going to continue on this one for a while on my own site while working on a more realistic/dramatic comic that I've been planning out for a little while now.

EDIT: Also... did any other girls out there enter this contest? I'm always curious about the boy/girl ratio with these sort of things.
Interesting question, actually. I really like the concept I submitted, and since I don't expect I'll win (what with so many people entering) I think I'll probably try to find somewhere to post them. If only in the Art thread on the Escapist forums.

Daigerus said:
That Original Character Tournament you describe sounds a lot like the Ratings War [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/362.162869-The-Ratings-War-IV-Paradise-City]. Probably where Sorrow got the idea from, actually...

Not really related to comics, that just reminded me of it.
 

aeroz

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Dec 14, 2008
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I hope there are ways around the e-mail notification thing. I set mine for the strict "junk anyone I dont know" and not sure if escapist is in my address book
 

Satoshii

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Feb 7, 2010
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isjusterin said:
Ritzbot said:
My first paid comic series was for my college newspaper
Lucky >_> They won't pay me for mine and I'm not getting credit... at least I typically only spend 3 hours or so on each one.

My question for everyone is, if you don't win (which is a 99% chance for everyone I suppose), what do you plan to do with your comic? Or are you planning to do something else? It seems like this contest has gotten everyone motivated...

It showed me that I can definitely make time for working on a comic, so if I lose I'm probably going to continue on this one for a while on my own site while working on a more realistic/dramatic comic that I've been planning out for a little while now.

EDIT: Also... did any other girls out there enter this contest? I'm always curious about the boy/girl ratio with these sort of things.
If I don't win (touch wood), I'll probably continue the series anyways. I am currently drawing up the other ideas I came up with whilst waiting for the results. Either I have a surplus ready for the Escapist in advance, or I have enough that I can post them to my website with my other comics (once I finish coding the darn thing!).

Btw, no gals here, I'm a guy. Sorry!
 

toadking07

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Sep 10, 2009
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titankore said:
I think its anyone's game right now. I think they will be looking as much on the longevity and potential of the author as the current artwork. I hope that everyone will keep up making comics that are new and original and that we can see them when the contest is over.
Should get a new a thread going after this for everyone to post their comics or links to where their comics will be for all to see! (at least for those of us planning on continuing our comics)

Phillip C said:
You can also stroke your ego for a while by pour yourself some wine while sitting by a fireplace and saying "I'm so much better than everybody else" until the day the winner is chosen, in which case you come crashing back down into reality and realize that there's somebody more skilled than you'll ever be and you never even had a chance to win! That's what I'm doing right now :3


o_o;
Yeah, you can be as confident or as nervous as you want to be, but in the end, it all comes down to when the announce the winner. It's out of our hands now, to which I say, thank goodness!