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The Wages of Sin!

Keith BrownKeith Brown Registered User regular
edited March 2013 in Artist's Corner
Hi everyone. My name is Keith Brown, creator of The Wages of Sin! I would love to hear your thoughts and advice.
I'm having trouble posting a single pic but here's my site.

Grifter on

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    IrukaIruka Registered User, Moderator mod
    You need to post a URL with .jpg at the end, linking directly to image.

    [ IMG ]http://example.com/comic/123.jpg[ / IMG] without the spaces in the tags.

    Twitter|Insta
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    Keith BrownKeith Brown Registered User regular
    comic-162

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    Keith BrownKeith Brown Registered User regular
    www.thewagesofsin.net

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    IrukaIruka Registered User, Moderator mod
    nope.
    you need this url:
    http://www.thewagesofsin.net/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/twos162.jpg

    in img tags, like so
    twos162.jpg
    twos176.jpg

    Twitter|Insta
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    Keith BrownKeith Brown Registered User regular
    Thanks for that. I just copied the url of the whole page when I had up the pic I wanted.

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    Keith BrownKeith Brown Registered User regular
    twos177.jpg

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    Keith BrownKeith Brown Registered User regular
    Got it! Thank you Iruka!

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    Keith BrownKeith Brown Registered User regular
    twos178.jpg

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    DMACDMAC Come at me, bro! Moderator mod
    edited March 2013
    These have a pretty classic newspaper strip feel to them which could be a good thing or a bad thing depending on your audience. The jokes are basically standard setup --> response --> punchline. It has a classic feel to it but there isn't really anything there that doesn't feel like it has been done a thousand times before. On the other hand, not everyone is looking for edgy or weird in their Webcomics. There's a reason strips like B.C. or The Wizard of ID have been around forever.

    The art works for these sorts of strips and there's enough variety between panels so that it doesn't just feel like you're tracing the same characters over and over. The way the tall devil character holds his pitchfork straight out right next to his head creates some weird shapes/tangents, you might want to watch that. All three of the devil strips also have the tall devil making a O_o face in response to the joke which gets a bit repetitive.

    Again, it's sort of hard to know what criteria to judge these on. It might help to know a bit more about your goals with the strip.

    DMAC on
    forum_sigdeviantART | Twitter | Tumblr | Facebook | Instagram
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    Keith BrownKeith Brown Registered User regular
    Thanks for the input. It just happened those strips posted had the devil making that face but in my library they aren't in sequence. My goal is that hopefully I get a chuckle. I was goinf for exactly a set-up, puchline style gag. I what I enjoy doing. Thanks for taking the time, I appreciate it.

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    EncEnc A Fool with Compassion Pronouns: He, Him, HisRegistered User regular
    You have the delivery patter for a standard three panel pretty solid and familiar, which is good. I would suggest pushing your expectation gap a lot further with your skips from panel two to three. Typically where comedy spawns from is breaking the expectations you have between the setup/response and the unusual or unexpected in the punchline. I think the reason most of your stuff comes off as played out to DMAC and myself is because you are staying within a comfort zone frequented by newspaper comics for their gags.

    In newspaper print, the goal of the comic is to get as mild a joke as possible without alienating or offending anyone. This works if you are lucky enough to have been a syndicated comic artist in the 60s-early 90s when there was a market for such. Online, though, you have to push a bit farther or exploit a specific niche to gain audience. As is, if I were to stumble upon one of your comics on tumbler, I probably wouldn't read your archives or track down your site for more. There just isn't a strong enough reaction from your comics to warrant extra energy.

    That said, you do seem to have a solid grasp of pacing which is something the majority of folks trying for the comedy lack. Just push the envelope more and feel out a specific audience you can reach with it and you will likely be in a good place. I think the strongest here is the "fetus dance off" one, which has enough shock value to pull a smile. You'll need more than that for an audience, but it's a pretty good start!

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    Keith BrownKeith Brown Registered User regular
    Enc, thanks for the input and thanks for taking time to comment.

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