March 18th, 2009
Nameology
Okay guys. Good news and bad news. Bad news is I’m only able to post half a page today. Sorry! The good news is I’ll post the other half later this week. Probably by Friday.
I’m not sure if this will become the norm or not. Common sense tells me posting more than once a week would bring in more traffic. But obviously this wouldn’t work on pages where I play with the panel layouts.
I’d love to know what you guys think. Swoop more than once a week in smaller installments? Or is the full page format half the draw? Sorry, that’s a potentially confusing pun.
At any rate, check back in later this week!
March 19th, 2009 at 3:44 am
I don’t mind. You can alternate, making half-pages if it’s suitable & full-pages if it’s not.
The bad side is that, yes, it seems that it would discourage you being inventive with the panel layouts.
Just out of curiosity, what benefit do you get from increased traffic, considering that it’s the same people who will be visiting? I’m considering starting a webcomic in the future, so I’m just wondering about these little details…
March 19th, 2009 at 5:04 am
… yep, ditto… whatever feels right for you the storyteller, and doesn’t take inordinate chunks out of your time… such variety will maintain a certain suspense/interest in and of itself, and Karl Kerschl’s TACC bobbles along quite nicely because of (despite?) it…
… Mike, your graphic style has an inherent value which sets it above most others anyway… so, it needn’t be either/or - it could well be either/and… (don’t fret)…
March 19th, 2009 at 7:41 am
I love his nature! Topo is a legitimately cool bear. I’m enjoying their interaction as well; plain to see Topo is a great match for the adventurous, world hungry Mari. It seems very natural, without the stress nor unfamiliarity of introductions. “A” for first impressions!
March 19th, 2009 at 8:21 am
Regarding suggestions on frequency of updates, one of the things I enjoy about this story is that you, the artist, make the updates as long or as short as you want. Panels are not condemned to a certain width or the “3 panel” tradition. What comes out is exactly what you want to convey.
With this in mind, would posting twice a week affect your style? Would you alter the freedom to have 18 panels or just 4? I believe a giant factor to take into account is your artistic ability; this is not a normal web comic, where two guys shoot smart remarks at each other for a whole three colorful/colorless panels, or where the writer’s wit is the life of the show, and everything else can be sacrificed to the Unimportance God. To better illustrate it, take this strip, for example: http://oneswoopfell.com/?p=96. Now this one: http://oneswoopfell.com/?p=84. I tune in on the dot because of what you can do with your creativity. Also, historically speaking, you tend to have an odd number of rows. I would hate for more updates to compromise the uniqueness of it all. Don’t get me wrong, I would love nothing more than indulging in two or three updates a week, but the freedom of format is one of the features I really enjoy.
My two cents are Topo’s.
March 19th, 2009 at 10:13 am
When I moved to twice a week, my readership definitely increased. It creates a certain feel of ongoing activity that once a week can’t seem to do. But there’s something about your full page stuff that is just really great. And it will change your storytelling style. In the end, you are the only one who can say what is best for you and your comic. It might be some kind of mix. For a long time I experimented with a different format almost strip by strip, until I found where I needed to be.
The great thing about webcomics is you can experiment all you want. Change it, push it, poke it, until you find what you want. You’re telling a fun story with great artwork, so regardless what you do, people are going to dig it.
Roll on.
March 19th, 2009 at 12:08 pm
I’ll read OSF no matter what since I tend to read it via RSS feed. I really do like the full page layout best. It “fills me up” more than the small bits. Occasionally posting twice a week would certainly not keep me from reading; although, I understand you’re trying to go for consistency.
Keep up the great work!
March 19th, 2009 at 3:31 pm
However you do it will work fine I’m sure. Saying that, twice a week would be more fun, I like manually clicking each link to read my favourite comics, and being able to do that more would be fun! Its also easier to read the shorter comics. But you could mess about with it a bit, no need to have X panels one day and Y panels the next. Play about see what’s easiest for you!
March 20th, 2009 at 10:11 pm
So long as it still works with what you want to do Mike. If it’s too time consuming to do full pages, do strips, but if you need a page to get funky then get funky.
Personally, I prefer the stylistic approach but if it’s not a necessity for the layout it’s not a requirement. On the other hand though, smaller installments mean that there’s more OSF to look forward to on a weekly basis.
The problem I can see happening though is if you do start to do things this way and the comic gets in print the flow is going to possibly unintentionally feel different. This may or may not happen but I’ll point it out if it does happen when the next strip is posted.
Also…are fish tacos so good that it’ll make a cat totally forget about eating a bird? According to this strip they must be o-o
March 20th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
I’m hooked, so if you update twice as much I’ll be here twice as much, simple as that.
You should do what serves the story best, plus what keeps you from getting burned out. Updating more often can be helpful for keeping the story moving. But it definitely gives the writing a different rhythm, which is something to keep in mind if you ever want to do a print edition.
March 29th, 2009 at 3:40 am
I think you should go with what feels right, I would like to see it more often, but the fact that you do play around with the layout, helps to add to the artistic draw of the whole thing.
P.s. Great story so far.