Comic Lab

Are you obligated to accept criticism from... anyone?? Also, we'll discuss Kickstarter's new Add-on feature and the benefits of both digital and traditional coloring techniques. Today is a great time to bump up your ComicLab membership to the $10 tier! Starting in June, $10 Patreon backers will get exclusive access to livestream recording sessions — and an archive of previous livestreams! Question...

Today is a great time to bump up your ComicLab membership to the $10 tier! Starting in June, $10 Patreon backers will get exclusive access to livestream recording sessions — and an archive of previous livestreams! If there was ever a pivotal year in webcomics, it was 2014. Ad-blockers, social media, crowdfunding, and so much more happened in exactly the right order to deliver independent cartoonis...

Today is a great time to bump up your ComicLab membership to the $10 tier! Starting in June, $10 Patreon backers will get exclusive access to livestream recording sessions — and an archive of previous livestreams! Impostor Syndrome — what is it, and how can we, as creative professionals, battle against it? In 2018, an art teacher wrote in to ask why it was that they could never seem to finish a co...

Today is a great time to bump up your ComicLab membership to the $10 tier! Starting in June, $10 Patreon backers will get exclusive access to livestream recording sessions — and an archive of previous livestreams! This week, exactly one week after Brad lectures on the dangers of getting distracted, one of his TikTok videos goes viral — and he spends the next two weeks... getting very, very distrac...

Today is a great time to bump up your ComicLab membership to the $10 tier! Starting in June, $10 Patreon backers will get exclusive access to livestream recording sessions — and an archive of previous livestreams! This week, Brad and Dave discuss the fine art of not getting distracted by "shiny objects!" Questions asked and topics covered... How to avoid getting distracted Should you be using vert...

Today is a great time to bump up your ComicLab membership to the $10 tier! Starting in June, $10 Patreon backers will get exclusive access to livestream recording sessions — and an archive of previous livestreams! This week, Brad and Dave discuss writing your comics with other media in mind. Also: Artfol... is it the next big social media for artists? Questions asked and topics covered... Seeing y...

Today is a great time to bump up your ComicLab membership to the $10 tier! Starting in June, $10 Patreon backers will get exclusive access to livestream recording sessions — and an archive of previous livestreams! This week, Brad and Dave discuss writing through story beats. Questions asked and topics covered... Story beats pencilling problems low reader interaction drug use in comics emphasizing...

Today is a great time to bump up your ComicLab membership to the $10 tier! Starting in June, $10 Patreon backers will get exclusive access to livestream recording sessions — and an archive of previous livestreams! This week, Brad and Dave discuss building a comics business with multiple revenue streams. Questions asked and topics covered... Suriving a 30% revenue dip Many legs under the table Judg...

Today's episode is sponsored by   Bonjoro  — an amazing app that enables you to quickly send personalized welcome and thank you videos to your readers, clients, patrons, or backers. This week, Brad and Dave talk comics with Nick Seluk, creator of The Awkward Yeti  and   Heart and Brain . Questions asked and topics covered... Nick Seluk Faceless comics Work/Life balance You get great rewards when y...

Today's episode is sponsored by   Bonjoro  — an amazing app that enables you to quickly send personalized welcome and thank you videos to your readers, clients, patrons, or backers. This week, Brad and Dave discuss how to get started when you're launching a new comic. Questions asked and topics covered... Launching a new comic: Where to start? "Essential Guide to Comic Book Lettering" by Nate Piek...

Today's episode is sponsored by   Bonjoro  — an amazing app that enables you to quickly send personalized welcome and thank you videos to your readers, clients, patrons, or backers. This week, Brad and Dave talk about the cartoonists who — knowingly or unknowingly — guided their careers. Plus — is it better to work on comics piece-by-piece or set up an assembly line? Questions asked and topics cov...

Today's episode is sponsored by   Bonjoro  — an amazing app that enables you to quickly send personalized welcome and thank you videos to your readers, clients, patrons, or backers. This week, Brad and Dave welcome "Crabgrass" creator Tauhid Bondia. Plus — how do you know if you're good? Questions asked and topics covered... How do you know if you're good? "Crabgrass" creator Tauhid Bondia Tax tim...

Today's episode is sponsored by   Bonjoro  — an amazing app that enables you to quickly send personalized welcome and thank you videos to your readers, clients, patrons, or backers. As Twitter launches a subscriber service, we discuss how every platform is introducing subscriptions. Also, after a decade of social-media dominance of the Internet, what happens NEXT? Then, we spend the rest of the ho...

Today's episode is sponsored by   Bonjoro  — an amazing app that enables you to quickly send personalized welcome and thank you videos to your readers, clients, patrons, or backers. This week,  Dave and Brad talk about a hot topic in art — NFTs. We'll discuss what it is and whether it's the future of valuing digital art. Questions asked and topics covered... NFTs — Nonfungible Tokens How to get st...

Today's episode is sponsored by   Bonjoro  — an amazing app that enables you to quickly send personalized welcome and thank you videos to your readers, clients, patrons, or backers. This week,  Dave and Brad talk about how bad their early comics were. Plus — the comics your readers love best can sometimes be the ones you put the least work into. Questions asked and topics covered... Dave's childho...

Today's episode is sponsored by   Bonjoro  — an amazing app that enables you to quickly send personalized welcome and thank you videos to your readers, clients, patrons, or backers. This week,  Dave and Brad discuss the difference between Mirror Research and Market Research. Questions asked and topics covered... Dave discovers the "meet cute" Mirror Research vs Market Research Clubhouse Texting so...

Today's episode is sponsored by   Bonjoro  — an amazing app that enables you to quickly send personalized welcome and thank you videos to your readers, clients, patrons, or backers. Dave and Brad share their favorite books about comics history, including: The Ten-Cent Plague Marvel Comics — The Untold Story Slugfest: Inside the Epic, 50-Year Battle Between Marvel and DC Comics, The Complete Collec...

We're thrilled to welcome our new sponsor, Bonjoro  — an amazing app that enables you to quickly send personalized welcome and thank you videos to your readers, clients, patrons, or backers. Dave and Brad discuss the difference between the Goal of an artist — and that artist's Job. The two aren't always the same, and resolving that conflict leads to better work. Questions asked and topics covered....

Dave and Brad discuss the importance of "luck" in your creative career — and how you can increase the chances of that happening. Questions asked and topics covered... Dave Kellett gives advice on getting lucky When it's OK if your work changes over time When it's not OK when your work changes over time Eisner submissions are due! The dangers of mixing friends and business Brad and Dave talk about...

Dave and Brad ask, "What's your motivation to create?" Are you doing this for the "right" reasons? Questions asked and topics covered... Creative motivation Line width Releasing a book exclusively on Amazon? 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 $1...

Dave and Brad  talk about the best advice they never wanted — those "truth hurts" moments that changed their careers. Questions asked and topics covered... Have you ever gotten advice  you didn't want to hear? How do you change specific aspects of your drawing style? Amazon Advantage Which syndicated cartoonist would have made a good webcartoonist Should you change the spelling of your name to inc...

This week, Dave and Brad  take several questions about self-publishing. From the best way to build an audience to handling overseas shipping — it's all about getting your work into print! Questions asked and topics covered... What's the best way to build an audience for a book release?  Is there a way to circumvent the rising prices of international shipping? Color printing — is it worth the incre...

This week, Dave and Brad  talk about making plans in 2021. Will there be a return to conventions? Will Kickstarter remain reliable? How will global finances affect independent creators? Questions asked and topics covered... Assessing 2021 and planning for success What didn't we accomplish in 2020? Is "webcomic" an outdated word? How to change a Patreon without angering current backers Selling digi...

This week, a listener asks about origins the "paying it forward" nature of Brad and Dave. So they spend the first part of the show talking about their mentorship philosophies. Questions asked and topics covered... Paying it forward If you were to name a living cartoonist for the MacArthur Genius Grant, who would you name? Quality vs. speed What to work on improving first You get great rewards when...

This week, Brad and Dave discuss "slice of life" comics — and why using that term might not be the best promotional strategy. Questions asked and topics covered... Slice of Life comics Creative page layout — and why to avoid it NSFW comics advice How to get into the mood for comics You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon $2 — Early access to episodes $5 — Submit a que...