My Wacom intuos3 3x6 is having some problems suddenly. Sometimes it would not detect my tablet and when i would go open the wacom properties file, it would give me an error stating "tablet driver not found". I tried updating the driver to no help. I searched google and found a technician saying that when his tablets do that he removes all the user's preference data via wacoms other file. When i did this, the tablet started to work right away, the pen was detecting all four corners wonderfully. Until i opened up photoshop (and same happens with corel's photo-paint). It acts as if only the top half of my screen is the screen and doesnt let me go any more down, and also some part of the right screen also cuts off. The proportions are bizarre. If i minimize the program, the four corners are perfect again, until i go back to the program. Even pressing the windows key enables the good proportions, until i click back into photoshop.
Lastly, the tip of the usb part of my tablet was bent a bit, and im having trouble determining if this is causing issues. Any ideas? I bought the table like a bit over year ago and its not under warranty and i really dont want to purchase another one
edit: oddly MS paint works fine.
super edit: Looks like downgrading the driver to the before-latest driver fixed my problem! I will email Wacom about their driver issue.
Awk on
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MustangArbiter of Unpopular OpinionsRegistered Userregular
edited August 2010
I'm having exactly the same problem "tablet driver not found", I think it's a windows 7 thing. I actually gave up on looking for a solution and now I just do a reinstall of the drivers every time it happens. It sucks because you lose all your setting but I haven't found anything else that works.
Instead of reinstalling the driver, open up the Wacom's Preference File Utility and under the "all users" remove the preferences. Should do the same effect.
Ok guys, can you do a mirror-type effect in photoshop?
I'm designing some helmets and want some symmetry, and was curious if there was a way to set some sort of mirror line to have all your work duplicate over that line. Or are there any similar techniques?
EDIT:
What I ended up doing is creating a guestimate half of the helmet, then select the half, duplicate and flip it over. Fix any seam issues - then duplicate the full helmet and make the duplicate layer a clipping mask so I can detail the helmet without messing up the silhouette.
hey! um, i've seen it suggested/done before to do an image entirely in greyscale in PS, then use a Color layer over that to handle the colors but.. it worked kinda wonky for me? it seemed to handle fine with certain colors but other ones (mostly light tones) it completely washed out to nothing, or it wanted to make something just plain oddly toned, orrr just made everything reddish/brownish. like no matter what i tried for the skin it came out bronze.
piece in question:
grey:
colory:
so i was wondering if i just plain messed up the steps? or do you use the grey layer as the top and draw below that? or mess with other layer styles?
exit on
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MustangArbiter of Unpopular OpinionsRegistered Userregular
What I ended up doing is creating a guestimate half of the helmet, then select the half, duplicate and flip it over. Fix any seam issues - then duplicate the full helmet and make the duplicate layer a clipping mask so I can detail the helmet without messing up the silhouette.
hey! um, i've seen it suggested/done before to do an image entirely in greyscale in PS, then use a Color layer over that to handle the colors but.. it worked kinda wonky for me? it seemed to handle fine with certain colors but other ones (mostly light tones) it completely washed out to nothing, or it wanted to make something just plain oddly toned, orrr just made everything reddish/brownish. like no matter what i tried for the skin it came out bronze.
piece in question:
grey:
colory:
so i was wondering if i just plain messed up the steps? or do you use the grey layer as the top and draw below that? or mess with other layer styles?
that looks like exactly what i did but it came out weeeird. even redoing it now if i use something like a light peach-ish tone on the top right dwarf's face it turns out bright orange when the layer is set to Color. if i try to make the tone even lighter, it turns a brownish grey. dark reds become neon pinks, too.
The only thing I can say is that essentially you're attempting a mock grisaille painting and if you don't understand how that works, then it might not be a good approach, let alone in photoshop. The only problem with that tutorial is that the resulting color looks entirely opaque which makes doing a grey scale layer redundant if it is to be entirely colored. The only reason to do it in the first place is to use it for the sake of transparency, especially in the shadow areas, whereas the lights would be more opaque.
i don't see anything weird in channels. RGB, red, green, blue. and opening a new document to mess with it produces the same results, and i'm assuming channels wouldn't carry over, right?
Exit, it actually looks to me like you did everything right, yes; It also doesn't look to me like the color layer is behaving at all oddly. With that method I think you often end up going in and painting in a few manual tweaks, especially if your grayscale values weren't all perfect. But then that's just my understanding of it as someone who still struggles with values.
Question for those of you who freelance either solely or on the side: are you incorporated as an S-Corp or an LLC or do you just bill individually? I'm just curious. I had a sudden attack of financial prudence where I contemplated the repercussions of ever getting sued.
See, the problem with working in greyscale first, and putting color over it...is that there are colors you won't be able to make...and chances are, you'll also end up realizing that your values aren't as accurate as they're supposed to be. So, basically, what squidbunny said. :P It can be a good method to play around with, though, as you'll learn pretty quickly if you keep on repeating a certain mistake (like making skintones too dark, or making the same value range for every material in the scene).
[edit] YESSSSSSS I found the picture I was thinking of that describes what I was trying to talk about:
oh nifty! thanks. maybe i should just keep doing this anyway since i'm shit with value ranges, even though painting over it will kinda hide the whole first half of the process .. idk! or i could just stop sucking ass with colors
however now i can say i was helped by something with "poopinmymouth" attached to it. the internet never ceases to be wonderful
exit on
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Muse Among MenSuburban Bunny Princess?Its time for a new shtick Registered Userregular
edited August 2010
I don't know why but I find standing poses to be difficult. In many cases they are useful but I find myself fretting over the lack of dynamism when that isn't the point to begin with.
"Gee that hand sure looks limp doesn't it?"
What an odd complaint. I do prefer dynamic poses, and here lies yet another complaint: sometimes you need reference and finding reference for such poses can be hard and getting people to model for you nearly impossible,
"You want me to contort my limbs about my torso while balancing atop a clothesline? Um, no."
I just made that up but that would be interesting to draw As such, are those wooden mannequins actually helpful or a waste of money and dangerous crutch?
I find wooden mannequins useless. You are much better off just practicing with live models or taking photo ref.
If you can't find a way to draw live models or take some photo ref... Well, you just need to find a way.
It is required.
wakkawa on
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Muse Among MenSuburban Bunny Princess?Its time for a new shtick Registered Userregular
edited August 2010
Art has led to the sad realization that real people are often frumpy and noodly, undynamic and limp-looking. We should all do our part and stand ala contrapposto to make the world a more beautiful place.
Okay, so...I put Corel Painter Essentials on my laptop. (I am not in possession of a desktop of any kind.) Everything I draw with it looks pixelated. I raised the ppi, and that helped a bit, but it doesn't fix the problem. If I got a better graphics card (or a desktop with a better graphics card), would that help? Or am I missing something simple?
Here's something I drew in the program - this is what I'm dealing with:
Are there any tutorials out there that help you make the 2d turn arounds to be used in 3d software? I'm having trouble getting everything to line up just right without tweaking a bunch.
I find wooden mannequins useless. You are much better off just practicing with live models or taking photo ref.
If you can't find a way to draw live models or take some photo ref... Well, you just need to find a way.
It is required.
Wooden models aren't useless, but they definitely aren't helpful until after you have done plenty of drawing from life. So either way, life drawing is the way to go.
rts on
skype: rtschutter
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Muse Among MenSuburban Bunny Princess?Its time for a new shtick Registered Userregular
edited August 2010
I wish I owned a camera so I could use myself as a reference
Muse Among Men on
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MustangArbiter of Unpopular OpinionsRegistered Userregular
I find wooden mannequins useless. You are much better off just practicing with live models or taking photo ref.
If you can't find a way to draw live models or take some photo ref... Well, you just need to find a way.
It is required.
Wooden models aren't useless, but they definitely aren't helpful until after you have done plenty of drawing from life. So either way, life drawing is the way to go.
I've yet to find a practical use for one, at least not the ones I have used. They're capable of poses the human body is incapable of, yet incapable of poses the human body is capable of.
Mustang on
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Muse Among MenSuburban Bunny Princess?Its time for a new shtick Registered Userregular
edited August 2010
Yeah! I've noticed, hence my asking. Most wooden mannies seem really badly made. I've heard of a set with several, several points of articulation but the models didn't look right anatomically so I wouldn't buy them despite the glowing reviews.
hey guys, so I must have done something to change a setting somewhere but i'm completely lost right now.
Whenever I use the alt button on my tablet to use the eyedropper tool in photoshop, it no longer selects the primary color, but the secondary (or eraser color.) Ive checked a bunch of sites and still cant find what i'm looking for so I figured I would post something here while my search continues. Thanks to anyone who can diagnose this!
Problem solved, The foreground color had to be selected in the color window on the color/styles/swatches tab, for anyone who might run into this problem in the future.
Well, my webcomic is about a year and a half old. I have 127 comics posted and feel like I have established a pretty good schedule (I update twice a week).
It started as a way to keep my hands busy after college since my job is not super art related. It is kind of a journal comic on a wordpress blog and I have really enjoyed doing it.
I know I shouldn't be concerned with page views, but I do feel like I should at least try to put it out there as much as I can. Right now I have my wordpress account linked to my facebook so people can see when I update, and a local paper that runs once a month publishes a strip of their chosing with my permission along with my web address. I don't know how much of a difference it will make, but I registered with http://www.thewebcomiclist.com/.
Are there any good groups that I should register with or try to become a part of? Besides puggng away, is there anything I should do to promote it?
The long and short answer is learn everything you can about internet marketing, how google and search engines work, backlinks,etc.. Even if you just want page views, but assuming you'd like to make some sort of revenue of your comic, you'll have to market it so it gets seen just like anything else.
A friend of mine from school is #20 on the Top Webcomics list...she told me that she used project wonderful once, got an extra couple of thousand hits per day for the duration she was on it, and that a few hundred people ended up staying and being regular-ish comic readers. I'm not sure how she gained the huge fanbase to begin with (probably helped that she was linked by lots of her SCAD friends, who also have comic sites...I think she told me once that one of her friends has a pretty popular webcomic site)...but yeah, Project Wonderful would be a great idea. You could also try changing your sig so it's more obvious that it links to your comic (I thought it just linked to the DA group).
Music is important, also surrounding yourself with inspirational work. The wall behind my computer and easel, is completely covered with the work of illustrators I admire. In the end, being an artist isn't about something magical, but the ability to sit down and create regardless of your mood.
How do you get back your drawing mojo? (Assuming you lost it)
If youve lost it wait for it to return naturally. You can't really force yourself to draw (unless you're doing it professionally). Its something you have to be in the mood to do. When im fed up with drawing, i look at random artists in the traditional or 'its finally finished' sections on the conceptart.org website. It might spark my interest again. Otherwise, do something else creative or productive. Read a novel (give you great ideas) do some sculpting, asseble a model kit.
In the end though, if it lasts a long time, perhaps drawing isnt as enjoyable as you may think.
Like cake said, surrounding yourself by illustrations you like is good. Ive done a similar thing and have a bunch of artwork of australian illustrators i like. Plus ive got a signed photo of jay leno which isnpires me to work hard. Love the guy.
winter_combat_knight on
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WearingglassesOf the friendly neighborhood varietyRegistered Userregular
edited August 2010
It's been a while, yeah.
To elaborate on my situation: I've been drawing as a hobby since I was a kid, and I've tapered off the past coupla years (mainly due to work). I still doodle on notebooks constantly as if to scratch an itch, but I never do any complete works.
I still have a ton of stuff stuck in my head (like, eventual plans for a webcomic, character designs, stuff I want to practice), but either I never get any time to myself, or nothing happens when I pick up my pencil. But I want to put those plans to paper. I don't like to think I've completely lost it, (however mediocre my skills are) 'cause it's like, riding a bike, right?
I've restarted bringing my pencil and drawing notebook so I can start the basics again wherever I am. I'll try your suggestions too, esp. the look at inspirational stuff and complete artworks bit. Thanks guys.
Well, my webcomic is about a year and a half old. I have 127 comics posted and feel like I have established a pretty good schedule (I update twice a week).
It started as a way to keep my hands busy after college since my job is not super art related. It is kind of a journal comic on a wordpress blog and I have really enjoyed doing it.
I know I shouldn't be concerned with page views, but I do feel like I should at least try to put it out there as much as I can. Right now I have my wordpress account linked to my facebook so people can see when I update, and a local paper that runs once a month publishes a strip of their chosing with my permission along with my web address. I don't know how much of a difference it will make, but I registered with http://www.thewebcomiclist.com/.
Are there any good groups that I should register with or try to become a part of? Besides puggng away, is there anything I should do to promote it?
Thanks in advance.
I'm just going to start writing stuff; hopefully some of it is of interest!
More than anything, I have to say PUT YOUR WEBSITE NAME ON EVERY COMIC! If somebody posts one somewhere at the moment, you have to rely on them also saying "I found this at brokecracker.wordpress.com", which generally isn't something people bother to do. Just find a way to insert it (not in an attention-grabbing way) so that when people laugh and go "I wonder where that is from" they can find your site without too much effort.
With regard to advertising, Project Wonderful has been pretty good to me so far! It certainly doesn't bring in the thousands of hits I expected, but if you put your adverts on other webcomic sites then at least you know that anyone who DOES click is part of your intended audience (e.g. more likely to enjoy/revisit your site).
Try not to be too disheartened if seemingly low numbers of visitors come in through your ads; one of the ads I pay for on another site has been viewed over a million times, and has only been clicked about 250 times! That said though, PW is the only place I advertise myself and yet my views have continued to steadily grow. The main thing I've learned is not to expect instant results; initially I advertised on a couple of major sites for a few days at a cost of about $50, and saw practically no new visitors or income as a result.
You're better off searching through available sites to advertise on (to find ones that you feel represent a similar style of humour), then trying to keep your spending as minimal as you can; i recommend depositing $20-50 into your advertising account initially, then try to only spend as much money as you make from ads on your own site. For a while you should continue to get a steady trickle of new visitors (and still break even money-wise), and then if anything crazy happens (i.e. getting featured/linked on a major site) you can splurge on more advertising for a while and get even MORE visitors. As long as you don't expect crazy amounts of instant cash/visitors, it will hopefully work out well for you.
One other source of new traffic: social news websites! Stumbleupon, Digg, Reddit etc. CAN be great for getting new visitors; the main thing you have to decide is whether you want to be constantly involved in them. Personally I just can't be bothered constantly submitting links to my own comics on any sites like that, but I realize that plenty of webcomic creators do. There is always a CHANCE that a bunch of people will go nuts over the links you submit (and your popularity will explode for a day or two as a result), but it is FAR from a guaranteed return for the (admittedly small) effort it takes to submit your comic to all of those sites whenever you post one. I prefer to just leave those sites alone, and let my readers decide for themselves if something is funny enough that they want to share it around.
And finally, one thing you might consider is switching to a site with the traditional "webcomic format" (i.e. an easy to remember .com site of your own, latest comic/comment on the main page, the typical "first previous next last" buttons, along with some form of archive/list for searching through older comics) The blog/list format is perfectly easy to read, but I think there is something to be said psychologically for visiting a webcomic site and finding a familiar navigation layout
I know absolutely nothing about html or css or anything (which is why my site turned out so barebones and unexciting visually). But following a LOT of googling, I managed to install Wordpress (and the Comicpress theme) on a website of my own, which is a LOT less complicated than actually doing the website design yourself. I paid to register a domain name of my own (about $25 for a couple of years) and some cheapo hosting ($7 monthly, but i'd recommend paying more for better quality hosting) and came out with a site of my very own.
I think it took like two days of fiddling about, but I have to say I really enjoy the feeling of having "a webcomic site" as opposed to "a place to put my comics". I think it's just vanity rather than anything particularly important, but I just thought I'd throw it out there!
ANYWAY if I don't stop now i'll probably just start repeating myself. I hope part of that rant was helpful in some way!
WOWZA! There is a wealth of information in there Fletcher! I feel like that should be sticky-ed somewhere because DAMN.
First things first, thanky you for taking the time to write all that down. It means a lot when you get a well thought out response to a question. You didn't have to give any advice at all, but you did. Thank you and you are awesome.
I changed my sig to be a little more clear about what it links to, and I am adding my web address to the bottom of my template page right after I write this. I don't know why I hadn't thought of those things before!
I have put my site on Stubleupon but can't remember if I have done Digg yet.
I am going to try and buy my domain from wordpress. I used to own www.brokecracker.com, but it was under google apps and I frankly got sick of fucking with their shitty layout. I learned some html over there and I can probably make a more tradition "webcomic format" happen with a little bit of work.
I still need to check out Project Wonderful today, it sounds like a great program.
Thanks everyone!
brokecracker on
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RankenphilePassersby were amazedby the unusually large amounts of blood.Registered User, Moderatormod
edited August 2010
Asked this over in H/A, but figured this would be a good place to ask, as well.
So I'm updating my resume and building a PDF of it in Illustrator CS4. I want to include icons at the bottom that link to my portfolio, my blog, my linkedin profile, etc, but I can't seem to get hyperlinks attached to the graphics to work properly. This is incredibly frustrating, because I've got text hyperlinks functioning fine in the PDF, just not image hyperlinks.
I've tried two methods so far - select the graphic and go to object>slice>make, then object>slice>slice options and inputting the necessary information in there, as well as selecting the graphic, using the Attributes window to set the image map to Rectangle and inputting the url from there. Either way, it still doesn't function.
Any ideas?
Rankenphile on
0
BroloBroseidonLord of the BroceanRegistered Userregular
Asked this over in H/A, but figured this would be a good place to ask, as well.
So I'm updating my resume and building a PDF of it in Illustrator CS4. I want to include icons at the bottom that link to my portfolio, my blog, my linkedin profile, etc, but I can't seem to get hyperlinks attached to the graphics to work properly. This is incredibly frustrating, because I've got text hyperlinks functioning fine in the PDF, just not image hyperlinks.
I've tried two methods so far - select the graphic and go to object>slice>make, then object>slice>slice options and inputting the necessary information in there, as well as selecting the graphic, using the Attributes window to set the image map to Rectangle and inputting the url from there. Either way, it still doesn't function.
Any ideas?
Have you tried doing it in InDesign? It's fairly easy to make image hyperlinks, and I've never had problems exporting them into PDF.
Illustrator has a lot of problems with its export feature, so you could just be running into a bug there.
Okay, so...I put Corel Painter Essentials on my laptop. (I am not in possession of a desktop of any kind.) Everything I draw with it looks pixelated. I raised the ppi, and that helped a bit, but it doesn't fix the problem. If I got a better graphics card (or a desktop with a better graphics card), would that help? Or am I missing something simple?
Here's something I drew in the program - this is what I'm dealing with:
Posts
Lastly, the tip of the usb part of my tablet was bent a bit, and im having trouble determining if this is causing issues. Any ideas? I bought the table like a bit over year ago and its not under warranty and i really dont want to purchase another one
OS: Win 7 32bit
Wacom PTZ-431W (with latest driver)
edit: oddly MS paint works fine.
super edit: Looks like downgrading the driver to the before-latest driver fixed my problem! I will email Wacom about their driver issue.
I'm designing some helmets and want some symmetry, and was curious if there was a way to set some sort of mirror line to have all your work duplicate over that line. Or are there any similar techniques?
EDIT:
What I ended up doing is creating a guestimate half of the helmet, then select the half, duplicate and flip it over. Fix any seam issues - then duplicate the full helmet and make the duplicate layer a clipping mask so I can detail the helmet without messing up the silhouette.
piece in question:
colory:
so i was wondering if i just plain messed up the steps? or do you use the grey layer as the top and draw below that? or mess with other layer styles?
That's exactly what I do to silhouette.
(Thanks to beavotron)
is my photoshop just on drugs?
Question for those of you who freelance either solely or on the side: are you incorporated as an S-Corp or an LLC or do you just bill individually? I'm just curious. I had a sudden attack of financial prudence where I contemplated the repercussions of ever getting sued.
[edit] YESSSSSSS I found the picture I was thinking of that describes what I was trying to talk about:
however now i can say i was helped by something with "poopinmymouth" attached to it. the internet never ceases to be wonderful
"Gee that hand sure looks limp doesn't it?"
What an odd complaint. I do prefer dynamic poses, and here lies yet another complaint: sometimes you need reference and finding reference for such poses can be hard and getting people to model for you nearly impossible,
"You want me to contort my limbs about my torso while balancing atop a clothesline? Um, no."
I just made that up but that would be interesting to draw
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contrapposto
I find wooden mannequins useless. You are much better off just practicing with live models or taking photo ref.
If you can't find a way to draw live models or take some photo ref... Well, you just need to find a way.
It is required.
Here's something I drew in the program - this is what I'm dealing with:
Wooden models aren't useless, but they definitely aren't helpful until after you have done plenty of drawing from life. So either way, life drawing is the way to go.
I've yet to find a practical use for one, at least not the ones I have used. They're capable of poses the human body is incapable of, yet incapable of poses the human body is capable of.
Whenever I use the alt button on my tablet to use the eyedropper tool in photoshop, it no longer selects the primary color, but the secondary (or eraser color.) Ive checked a bunch of sites and still cant find what i'm looking for so I figured I would post something here while my search continues. Thanks to anyone who can diagnose this!
Hiking Essentials
Hiking Essentials
Well, my webcomic is about a year and a half old. I have 127 comics posted and feel like I have established a pretty good schedule (I update twice a week).
It started as a way to keep my hands busy after college since my job is not super art related. It is kind of a journal comic on a wordpress blog and I have really enjoyed doing it.
I know I shouldn't be concerned with page views, but I do feel like I should at least try to put it out there as much as I can. Right now I have my wordpress account linked to my facebook so people can see when I update, and a local paper that runs once a month publishes a strip of their chosing with my permission along with my web address. I don't know how much of a difference it will make, but I registered with http://www.thewebcomiclist.com/.
Are there any good groups that I should register with or try to become a part of? Besides puggng away, is there anything I should do to promote it?
Thanks in advance.
I have been away from the intertubes all day, but will totally look up that Project Wonderful tomorrow. Sounds interesting and promising.
Oh yea, I will redesign my banner as well! That is great advice, I never really thought of it. I can be a bit of an air head that way.
How do you get back your drawing mojo? (Assuming you lost it)
If youve lost it wait for it to return naturally. You can't really force yourself to draw (unless you're doing it professionally). Its something you have to be in the mood to do. When im fed up with drawing, i look at random artists in the traditional or 'its finally finished' sections on the conceptart.org website. It might spark my interest again. Otherwise, do something else creative or productive. Read a novel (give you great ideas) do some sculpting, asseble a model kit.
In the end though, if it lasts a long time, perhaps drawing isnt as enjoyable as you may think.
Like cake said, surrounding yourself by illustrations you like is good. Ive done a similar thing and have a bunch of artwork of australian illustrators i like. Plus ive got a signed photo of jay leno which isnpires me to work hard. Love the guy.
To elaborate on my situation: I've been drawing as a hobby since I was a kid, and I've tapered off the past coupla years (mainly due to work). I still doodle on notebooks constantly as if to scratch an itch, but I never do any complete works.
I still have a ton of stuff stuck in my head (like, eventual plans for a webcomic, character designs, stuff I want to practice), but either I never get any time to myself, or nothing happens when I pick up my pencil. But I want to put those plans to paper. I don't like to think I've completely lost it, (however mediocre my skills are) 'cause it's like, riding a bike, right?
I've restarted bringing my pencil and drawing notebook so I can start the basics again wherever I am. I'll try your suggestions too, esp. the look at inspirational stuff and complete artworks bit. Thanks guys.
I'm just going to start writing stuff; hopefully some of it is of interest!
More than anything, I have to say PUT YOUR WEBSITE NAME ON EVERY COMIC! If somebody posts one somewhere at the moment, you have to rely on them also saying "I found this at brokecracker.wordpress.com", which generally isn't something people bother to do. Just find a way to insert it (not in an attention-grabbing way) so that when people laugh and go "I wonder where that is from" they can find your site without too much effort.
With regard to advertising, Project Wonderful has been pretty good to me so far! It certainly doesn't bring in the thousands of hits I expected, but if you put your adverts on other webcomic sites then at least you know that anyone who DOES click is part of your intended audience (e.g. more likely to enjoy/revisit your site).
Try not to be too disheartened if seemingly low numbers of visitors come in through your ads; one of the ads I pay for on another site has been viewed over a million times, and has only been clicked about 250 times! That said though, PW is the only place I advertise myself and yet my views have continued to steadily grow. The main thing I've learned is not to expect instant results; initially I advertised on a couple of major sites for a few days at a cost of about $50, and saw practically no new visitors or income as a result.
You're better off searching through available sites to advertise on (to find ones that you feel represent a similar style of humour), then trying to keep your spending as minimal as you can; i recommend depositing $20-50 into your advertising account initially, then try to only spend as much money as you make from ads on your own site. For a while you should continue to get a steady trickle of new visitors (and still break even money-wise), and then if anything crazy happens (i.e. getting featured/linked on a major site) you can splurge on more advertising for a while and get even MORE visitors. As long as you don't expect crazy amounts of instant cash/visitors, it will hopefully work out well for you.
One other source of new traffic: social news websites! Stumbleupon, Digg, Reddit etc. CAN be great for getting new visitors; the main thing you have to decide is whether you want to be constantly involved in them. Personally I just can't be bothered constantly submitting links to my own comics on any sites like that, but I realize that plenty of webcomic creators do. There is always a CHANCE that a bunch of people will go nuts over the links you submit (and your popularity will explode for a day or two as a result), but it is FAR from a guaranteed return for the (admittedly small) effort it takes to submit your comic to all of those sites whenever you post one. I prefer to just leave those sites alone, and let my readers decide for themselves if something is funny enough that they want to share it around.
And finally, one thing you might consider is switching to a site with the traditional "webcomic format" (i.e. an easy to remember .com site of your own, latest comic/comment on the main page, the typical "first previous next last" buttons, along with some form of archive/list for searching through older comics) The blog/list format is perfectly easy to read, but I think there is something to be said psychologically for visiting a webcomic site and finding a familiar navigation layout
I know absolutely nothing about html or css or anything (which is why my site turned out so barebones and unexciting visually). But following a LOT of googling, I managed to install Wordpress (and the Comicpress theme) on a website of my own, which is a LOT less complicated than actually doing the website design yourself. I paid to register a domain name of my own (about $25 for a couple of years) and some cheapo hosting ($7 monthly, but i'd recommend paying more for better quality hosting) and came out with a site of my very own.
I think it took like two days of fiddling about, but I have to say I really enjoy the feeling of having "a webcomic site" as opposed to "a place to put my comics". I think it's just vanity rather than anything particularly important, but I just thought I'd throw it out there!
ANYWAY if I don't stop now i'll probably just start repeating myself. I hope part of that rant was helpful in some way!
Webcomic Twitter Steam Wishlist SATAN
First things first, thanky you for taking the time to write all that down. It means a lot when you get a well thought out response to a question. You didn't have to give any advice at all, but you did. Thank you and you are awesome.
I changed my sig to be a little more clear about what it links to, and I am adding my web address to the bottom of my template page right after I write this. I don't know why I hadn't thought of those things before!
I have put my site on Stubleupon but can't remember if I have done Digg yet.
I am going to try and buy my domain from wordpress. I used to own www.brokecracker.com, but it was under google apps and I frankly got sick of fucking with their shitty layout. I learned some html over there and I can probably make a more tradition "webcomic format" happen with a little bit of work.
I still need to check out Project Wonderful today, it sounds like a great program.
Thanks everyone!
So I'm updating my resume and building a PDF of it in Illustrator CS4. I want to include icons at the bottom that link to my portfolio, my blog, my linkedin profile, etc, but I can't seem to get hyperlinks attached to the graphics to work properly. This is incredibly frustrating, because I've got text hyperlinks functioning fine in the PDF, just not image hyperlinks.
I've tried two methods so far - select the graphic and go to object>slice>make, then object>slice>slice options and inputting the necessary information in there, as well as selecting the graphic, using the Attributes window to set the image map to Rectangle and inputting the url from there. Either way, it still doesn't function.
Any ideas?
Have you tried doing it in InDesign? It's fairly easy to make image hyperlinks, and I've never had problems exporting them into PDF.
Illustrator has a lot of problems with its export feature, so you could just be running into a bug there.
Are you vectoring your resume so you can make it HUGE? Like building sized! That will definitely get a potential employer's attention.