Things You Need (Besides Determination) to Start a Webcomic

By Izzy “Strontium” Hall

After months, years or even decades of planning, you’re finally ready to put pen to paper (or stylus to tablet) and start your webcomic. But before you share your story with the world, there are practical matters to address. In this article, we’ll go over the five things you need (besides passion, vision and determination) to start a webcomic.

#1: A Name

Your webcomic’s name is its identity in a search engine, so you need it to be searchable. To that end, pick a name for your webcomic that isn’t already being used by another webcomic. You also want to avoid picking a name used by a popular piece of media in another genre; calling your vampire talk show comic “Interview with the Vampire” will get it buried by searches for the popular novel series, movie and TV adaptations of the same name.

Your webcomic can share its name with a search term with another meaning, but it puts it at risk of getting lost in search results. To improve your comic’s SEO, it’s a good practice to add “comic” or “webcomic” to its name and/or URL, boosting its results when searched with that term (e.g., searching “white noise” will pull up Youtube videos of relaxing sounds, but searching “white noise comic” puts the comic by Phooka at the first result).

#2: A Website

A webcomic needs a website. Back in the day, making a website for your webcomic required a good amount of web development knowledge. Today, there are free webcomic platforms that do the hard work of building a site for you. Our Webcomic Platform Masterlist goes into the most popular webcomic platforms and what to expect when hosting your comic there.

If you have the knowledge to build your own site, it’s still a great option. You have complete control over the look of the site, as well as total freedom to post whatever content you want. As an added bonus, you can generate revenue from your site by adding slots for advertisements.

#3: An Update Schedule

A webcomic updates when a new page is added. The frequency of updates and the days those updates happen on are the elements of an update schedule. Sticking to a consistent update schedule will help build community with readers, giving them something to look forward to.

How frequently you update your comic will depend on two factors: how long it takes to complete a page and how much time you have to dedicate to comic-making. Picking a pace you can stick to will help you avoid burnout. Don’t worry about taking it slow; many successful webcomics update just once a week.

Webcomics can update any day of the week. Generally, comics that update more than once a week update on two non-consecutive days, i.e. Mondays and Wednesdays; comics that update three times a week will almost always post on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Consider this a tried-and-true practice rather than a hard-and-fast rule.

#4: A Buffer

A buffer refers to a backlog of completed pages ready to be posted. A buffer helps maintain a consistent update schedule, giving you a cushion should your production slip. Building a buffer is one of the best things you can do to ensure the long-term success of your webcomic.

We acknowledge the temptation of posting your entire buffer at the start of your webcomic. You want to get to the good part sooner! But remember, webcomics are a marathon, not a sprint. Buffers help you maintain your pace so you can someday reach that finish line.

#5: An Organizational Structure

As you go about creating your webcomic, you’ll quickly find yourself inundated by files – finished pages, sketches, promotional images, rough drafts, etc. Organizing those files is a major factor in the longevity of your comic, whether you’re fixing typos in older pages, collecting pages for print or backing up your work.

File organization has become somewhat of a lost art in the modern day. It may be that you’ve never touched a file structure before. These simple best practices will help you get started in organizing your work:

• Create a folder within your file organizer to hold all files related to the comic.
• Name the files within the folder in a way that makes it clear what they contain.
  • For example, if the file is the second page of chapter 1, name it something like “ch1 pg2.”
• Maintain a version of each page with editable layers.
  • Make sure to “Save As” instead of Save after merging layers so you don’t lose your work!
• Regularly backup your comic’s folder to an external hard drive or cloud repository.
  • Putting all your comic work in one folder makes it easy to ensure you’ve backed up everything.

Izzy “Strontium” Hall is a cartoonist, writer and creator of Heroes of Thantopolis.