This is a tutorial on how to slap together a webcomic using very little artistic talent. This technique relies entirely on using digital photos and a graphics editor. This particular comic was put together in about an hour. It actually took longer to write the instructions.
You'll need:
- some digital photos
- a graphics editor (I use GIMP)
- a Blogger account
You'll need:
- some digital photos
- a graphics editor (I use GIMP)
- a Blogger account
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Typically you'll have a background image and some characters. In this case, the background is a magnolia tree near my house and the characters are a plastic lobster ( for reasons that are unlikely to become clear at this point ). The lobster image was cleaned up and its background was erased.
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Besides, some of the best comics are stylistically primitive. Two of my favorites are xkcd which uses stick figures and dinosaur comics which uses the same drawings over and over. On the other end of the spectrum is something like For Better or For Worse, which is well-drawn but is depressingly poorly-written. Of course, the best of both worlds would be Calvin and Hobbes but most of us don't have anything near that kind of talent.
And I'm definitely aware that the Tree Lobsters comic is not even in the same league as any of the comics I mentioned. I created it as a joke and it turned out to be popular enough within a small group of readers that I'm keeping it alive for now.
I do agree, though, that this technique would make it easy to make a large number of terrible webcomics. They don't have to be terrible but there's certainly nothing to prevent it. :-)