The "How To Make A GOOD Sprite Comic" Thread

The "How To Make A GOOD Sprite Comic" Thread
Where the hardest lesson will be taught!

Introduction

Hello! My name is Flying Dutchman *points to his name* and me and my friend Lost Darkness are gonna help YOU.. Yes you! To make a GOOD sprite comic.

Of course, why would you want to make a sprite comic? Well, look around. ZU made a whole side-forum pure for Sprite Comics. Everybody's doing it. Everybody wants to be amazing and funny. OR. You could do it to entertain people. To show off your sense of humor, make some friends who are also into sprite comics or whatever, I don't know! I remember doing it to entertain myself and others, though there were better people to do that maybe. Anyways, if you're DETERMINED to do it, then you can read on! This is gonna be a hard lesson, so shut your trap and listen!

Let's get started!

Anyways, we're gonna start with a STORYLINE. Might be handy, don't you agree? Yes. So, what IS this comic gonna be about? What has been used, and what hasn't been? Let's see:

Here at ZU, these stories have been over-used:

- Crossover comics, comics that feature stars from various video games.
- Stuff with characters from the Legend of Zelda, this is obvious. Just because it's Zelda Universe doesn't mean you HAVE to make a sprite comic with Link in it!
- Just characters hanging out and going on a crazy adventure. Woo. NOT. Clichéd and stupid.

However, this doesn't mean that every story with any of those three elements are crappy. BUT, you're gonna have to do your best to get it right. A good example of a crossover comic is Heroes, Inc., and not the ZU one here.

So, you need to brainstorm to get an idea. You could go from existing stories, cross them over, get an idea, put other characters in them or just go your way. Think of something original, but something that can be funny and easily understandable as well.

Anyway, you have your story! Great! But, a comic with a great story can still be crap if the rest sucks. So we're gonna have to work on this. I'm going to show you the classic examples of good and bad.

The Good and The Bad

Bad:


This is the CRAPPY comic. It's a crossover, we see that now (though a story develops, so maybe it'll go in a good direction), the backgrounds are ABSOLUTELY terrible (the same background all the damn time), and it was gone over with crappy Paint stuff. Oh yeah, that brings me to a new point: PAINT DOES NOT SUCK. You suck cuz you can't make anything good with it! Oh yeah, the text boxes are crap, I can't read the text and and... Maybe I should put it a list!

Sprites:
- Here he did good for a first try. The sprites aren't malformed, and they don't clash. Clashing sprites is when you put sprites of a different bittage together: like putting an 8-bit Link with a 32-bit Megaman. You can recognize bittages by the amount of colors: 8-bit has 5 colors max, 16-bit has 16 colors max, and 32 bit has around 30. Also, you can look at the time periods:
8-bit = NES, GameBoy Color
16-bit = SNES, Saturn and GBA sometimes
32-bit = PSX, GBA, DS

Backgrounds:
- Crappy. Very crappy. The same over-used Hylian Temple background from the Spriter's Resource. And he changed it with a fill tool and spraypaint. GODS. Terrible. My advice is to use a different background, not the same over and over. For an instance, when Sonic is running, the background could've changed to make it seem that Sonic is actually somewhere different. Not right next to Shadow.

Text:
- ****. I can't read the text in the second panel, there's hardly no difference between talked text and non-talked text, there are some spelling errors (hardly any and minor ones, so meh) and it's hard to see who's saying what when. How to imrpove on this? Easy:

• Use a spellchecker. Word will do fine, or you could get a beta-reader.
• Make white textboxes. You do this by making the text UNDERNEATH the comic (in white), then make a box around it (it can be a pixel thick, but can be thicker as well). Then you drag it into your comic, make TWO lines, with their upper ends attached to the box, and their down ends attached to each other, pointing at the character saying it. Make it white on the inside, and you have yourself a tail, and a speaking character.
• Make a yellow textbox attached to the panel and put text in there for non-spoken text. The words 'meanwhile', 'Hyrule' and 'prologue' should've done this.
• Don't forget to open your characters' mouths, or it'll look weird.

Effects:
- Effects? With Paint? YES. There are tons of stuff you can achieve with paint. For an instance, if Protoman blasts a shot, you can give him lighter colors (and the sprited blast as well). It's easy and rather effective. Of course, for REAL effects, you'd best use Photoshop.
For this comic, he uses 'smoke', a purple line. Right. Well. There's tons of smoke sprites which you can recolor purple and use.

Panels:
- Ohh, here we are. Standard panels, which is okay. I always make panels thicker, but that's just me. Thin is good as well. However, the horrible WHITE is around it. Put your panels right next to each other, and clip out the white! This really helps a lot.

Story:
- Of course, this is the first comic, so I can't say much. It's a crossover comic, of course, so unless it develops well, this comic is completly terminated.

And I also took the time to read the last two comics of "Heroes Unite", where the author has improved on many points. Reign and Kisiro, your first comic was just used as an example to help people get better. Don't be offended. Please.

Now, it's time to look at an example of a good... No, EXCELLENT comic. I don't expect any of you to do this, unless you've been at sprite comics for over five years or so.

#784 from "8-Bit Theater":


What is this comic doing correct? Everything.

Sprites:
- No bittage mixing. The canon is blurred out kinda to be part of the background, and still mixes in well with the characters.
- Notice that the sprites move their position with their arms and stuff to add drama. Small detail, but it adds to the experience.
- The sprites are enlarged to put the focus on the characters, rather than the background.

Backgrounds:
- A seemingly blurred out photograph. It mixes in fine with the characters, and even though it's the same thing over and over it doesn't seem cliched, or horrible. However, would they moving to another position, the background would obviously have to change.

Text:
- No spelling errors.
- Nice textboxes that make the text easy to read.
- The text is in the correct order, there's no trouble figuring out who says what and when.

Panels:
- The panels are connected with black. No useless leftover of space.
- The layout makes it easier to read.

Story:
- Since it's Episode 784, you need to know the backstory. Basically, the author parodies Final Fantasy 1, using a unique sense of humor and personalities that stick to you. This is the original comic that spawned the other Final Fantasy parodies after all.

Effects:
- Smoke generated by Photoshop.
- Background by Photoshop.
- Textboxes by Photoshop.
- Actually, everything's made in Photoshop. YOU, however, should start with Paint, and nothing else but Paint. Photoshop takes time to master, and if you don't master it, it's simply to hard to use. Also, why spend 500 US Dollars for a program to just make sprite comics with?

Teachings by others!

Here are teachings by others. If you want to add a teaching to this guide, just PM me or Lost Darkness, and we'll get it up for you (if we think it fits in of course).

Teachings by Mr. Fish

"Since this thread is stickied, I thought "What the hell, might as well add to it." So I'm giving pointers myself on how to make a good sprite comics with a focus on content instead of the look of the comic. Add the stuff below to the first post, please, with a note it was written by me. If we build this guide up, we can really have something.

Dialogue: Remember back in your 5th grade English when your teacher lectured you about structuring dialogue? You don’t? Well, you weren’t listening, but that sort of stuff could actually help you with your sprite comics.

Dialogue is a key element in sprite comics, and smooth flowing dialogue is yet another one of those things that can make or break a comic. Your dialogue should sound smooth, not forced, and it should fit your characters personality. When thinking about dialogue, ask yourself “What would this character say in this situation?” and take it from there. Rough dialogue makes your comic awkward, but smooth dialogue aids your comic’s readability and overall goodness.

Here’s an example:



You notice in the first panel, the dialogue seems forced and dry. In the second panel, the dialogue is “dressed up” to include more details. Notice that Penguin’s dialogue suits his personality and Fish’s dialogue suits his. This is important, smart people should talk smart and dumb people dumb. Smart-alecky characters should talk that way and serious characters should talk seriously.

As far as actually fitting your dialogue into dialogue boxes, there are a couple things to say on it. First, when your character is saying to different things that embrace to different ideas, like “Hi, how are you?...By the way, do you smell pizza” you should separate it into two text boxes right after the other instead of just putting three dots in between the phrases in one textbox. It really helps the ready differentiate the ideas.

The second is to put your dialogue boxes in the right order. In English, we read from the upper left hand corner to the right and the keep going down rows until we hit the lower right corner. The same goes for panels. Put the dialogue you want your reader to read first to the upper left, then put all the other dialogue more towards the right or bottom right. In the bad example comic above in the 3rd panel, Shadow says “Do I look like I'm kidding?” in response to the ghost's "Are you joking?", but the ghost's words are to the right of Shadow’s, so the reader ends up reading Shadow's dialogue before the ghost's, which is really confusing. DON’T DO IT!

There will be more to come...up next: Forming Character Personalities."

"Character Personality: “What’s your favorite 8-bit theater character?” That’s a tough question for any 8-bit Theater fan, since all the characters are well crafted and interesting (I would have to say Fighter wins, though). The personality of the characters in your sprite comics is an important element that can really make a sprite comic dull or interesting.

First off, let’s talk characters. You’re likely going to be using recurring characters in your comics, that is, characters that appear over and over again. Often these characters are edited or obscure sprites that take on the name of the sprite comic maker. Other times they are simply video game characters going on another adventure. Throughout a sprite comic, you can add new characters and drop old ones. A good idea, however, is usually to keep one or two characters throughout your series.

Now we go onto your personalities for your characters. Since we all are unique and not robots, we all have distinct, unique personalities (but that doesn’t mean we can’t have creepily similar personalities). So should your sprite comic characters. Whenever you introduce a character into your comic, decide beforehand what sort of personality he or she will have. Optimist or pessimist? Smart or stupid? Strong or weak? Carefree or worried? You must decide this all.

Once you have a character’s personality decided, go through with it. That means a character’s dialogue, actions, thinking, and everything they do should reflect their personality. Simply ask yourself “What would this character do in this situation?” or “Would this character do this in this situation?” to help you with keeping your character’s personalities in order. Look at the 8-bit theater example above. Fighter talks like a retarded three year old with an unhealthy craving for swords and accepts an obviously unwise fate because he’s stupid. Red mage talks intelligently because he’s smart. The cannon operator talks and acts like a con man…well, because he is one. See what I’m getting at?

So before I conclude this, here are a few extra pointers:

-Don’t worry about “cliché” personalities.
-When choosing personalities more multiple sprite comics, try to choose various ones. For example do not choose to have two serious and sarcastic characters. Rather, have one serious and sarcastic one and another stupid and carefree one (the latter combination is a very effective one for humor purposes, like Fighter and Black Mage).
-The jokes and humor through your comic will very much hinge on the personalities of your characters, so be sure to make interesting or funny characters.
-The more a character appears in your comic series, the more developed that character should be. If you’re simply crafting an minor character for use in one or two comics, don’t even bother developing a Nobel winning personality. If you’re crafting a character for use in ALL of your comics, do very much bother.

And lastly, don’t sweat it too much from the onset. Your characters won’t seem to developed with the first few comics, but as time goes on, your characters will become truly unique. All you have to do is be consistent and creative.

Coming up next...Humor in Sprite Comics."

"Humor in Sprite Comics: The most sought after prize in spriting, the grand prize and true goal, is the humor. The witty dialogue, the strange faces, and the sudden punchlines are a sure way to keep your readers entertained and coming back for more. If my own sprite comics have been praised for anything, it would be their humor. So what’s my secret? There is none. Making jokes and other objects of hilarity are a process of a pure creative act, and there really are no “do’s” or “don’ts.” However, there are some guidelines you can follow if you’re having trouble putting the laughter in your comics. If you think your comic could be funnier, read on. If it’s already quite hilarious, do what you were doing before.

So, what is humor? Humor is anything that makes your readers laugh. What makes your reader laugh? Why, humor, of course. In lieu of the vicarious question and answers, humor has generally been defined, as Aristotle described comedy in his Poetics, as the unexpected. For sprite comics, that means your characters doing the unexpected in usual situations or even doing the expected in unusual situations. A character doing the unexpected in unusual situations, as long as it is not presented in an overly random or confusing manner, is the apex of comedy. Characters doing the expected in usual situations is not funny at all, but quite boring and serious, but it may help move a story along.

So then how do you come up with humor or the “unexpected” in your sprite comics? Well, it’s not easy. First, you have to ask yourself what your comic will be about. Once you take into account your characters personalities and the situation they will be in, you can start brainstorming for jokes. This involves thinking for a while of what sort of hilarity you could craft out of what you have. If your characters will be in a desert, imagine what funny things about a desert you have noticed. Perhaps you notice that the word “desert” is like the word “dessert,” so you can have one of your less-than-bright (if you have one) characters say something like “Soo…where’s all the cake and pastry?”

And that’s about all there is to it. Here’s an easy flowchart for those who are BS-o-phobic:

1: Consider the situation your characters will be in and the personalities of the characters.
2: Brainstorm for funny things you have noticed or do notice about your characters and the situation they are in.
3: Come up with funny idea as a result of step 2.
4: Apply idea to your sprite comic in an appropriate manner, using the dialogue, personality, and other guides above.
5: Go back to step one, lather, rinse, and repeat until you feel your comic has sufficient jokes.

Before I leave this topic, there are a few minor issues I’d like to go over:

-RANDOM IS NOT FUNNY! Random events may be used as a springboard for jokes, but total randomness is confusing and a pain to read.
-Not every comic you make will be drastically funny. There will be ones that are less or more funny than others, but if you at least TRY to put at least something obviously funny in your comics, you will sometimes get excellent results, but you will certainly never get bad ones.
-People’s senses of humor vary, so what makes one person laugh can make others yawn. Some people laugh at everything (Cio) and other laugh at nothing (sea). You can generally be an effective judge of how funny your own comic is, but be honest with yourself. If you want, you can have your comic reviewed by a friend or relative to gauge its funniness before launching it on the internetz for all to see.
-The words above are not a set in stone law of spriting. Rather, they are a guideline for the puzzled and inquisitive. As I said before, humor is a purely 100% creative act. “Creative” generally means “Completely novel and uninvolved with any previous thought or idea.” So feel free to come up with your own method of comedy, whatever works for you. My guide is not meant as a prison to bind the imaginations of writers, but as a venue into which people can explore more possibilities within themselves."

Teachings by Blizzaga

I was going to wait a while, but I guess I could give a bit of insight of the personalities of the main characters of Zeldish as an example to reinforce Mr. Fish's Character Personality lecture. This example is largely watered down so I don't give anything away.

Green: Cool and patient.
Red: Temperamental and impulsive.
Blue: Optimistic and carefree.
Violet: Tends to be pessimistic and sarcastic.

Note: Green and Red are complete opposites of each other, while Blue and Violet are opposites as well.

Also Note: These personality traits won't always be there. The characters won't be confined to their traits but instead use them as guidelines. Also, Violet probably will be the least to follow his traits.

Also Also Note: The Humor of your comic can be mostly drawn from how your characters and their personalities will react to each other and the environments they are in. So if you're lacking humor to your next comic, just think of how your characters will react and try to act upon it.

FAQ Time!

Q: Is it possible to make a good, serious sprite comic?
A: Yes. This is possible. It's hard, since you need to work on character development more than in a less serious comic. Also, you need to keep your reader entertained and interested in your story. You need to put casual jokes in it, without making it seem stupid and useless. Plot development, character development, action AND a joke here and then? Good news: you won't need a punchline every comic.

Q: Why do I need to check on spelling errors?
A: That's because they're an eyesore and take away the experience of reading. If you're watching TV, and you don't understand what they're saying it's not fun. This is the exact same thing.

Q: You seem very pro-Paint. Why is that? Photoshop is a good program.
A: True, Photoshop is an excellent program. Let's make a PRO/CON list.

PRO for Paint:
1. Easy to use.
2. Everybody has it.
3. Simple, straightforward.

PRO for Photoshop:
1. You can do TONS with this.
2. You can put everything on a seperate layer and control everything.
3. Good for special effects, lots of tools for every small detail.

CON for Paint:
1. Lame effects.
2. Hard to make cool things with.

CON for Photoshop:
1. Hard to use for everything. You need to know how to work this program BEFOREHAND.
2. 500 US Dollars is a LOT of money.

In short, I'm not anti-Photoshop. I just find Paint an easier to use program, and for beginners, it's not smart to use Photoshop. However, if you're already very good with Photoshop, you should use it. I just prefer Paint.

Review List

Comic: Legend of Zelda: Battle for Hyrule by Goldstud
Grade: 94/100

Comic: Zeldish by Blizzaga
Grade: 92/100

Comic: Heroes Unite by Reign and Kisiro.
Grade: 78/100

Comic: The Adventures of Mr. Fish and Penguin by Mr. Fish
Grade: 72/100

Comic: Legend of Zelda: Incoherant Times by Magic-Tech
Grade: 52/100

Comic: Legend of Zelda: Parodic Demise by Twili Knight
Grade: 66/100

Reviews by Lost Darkness:

Comic: Legends of Shadow by ShadowVaati
Grade: 79/100

Comic: D.I.V.I.N.E. by Flying Dutchman
Grade: 98/100 (plus Leonidas' approval)

Do you want to get reviewed by me or Lost? Of course you do. You wanna be GOOD, like us! So GO! Ask for a review!

List of sites with sprites and backgrounds

The Spriters Resource
The ShyGuy Kingdom
Sprites Inc.
Sprite Database
Background HQ
The Mystical Forest Zone

How I make review?

Blizzaga asked me to post this: so here it is. How do I make a review.

Sprites:
The most important part. This should be looked at with a good eye, you need to spot and trace every pixel, possibly having a sheet of the character for reference. Enlarging also counts in this.

Backgrounds:
Fairly obvious. Do they fit the sprites? Do they fit the setting? Are they enlarged properly? Again, a good eye is neccesary.

Text and Boxes:
This is more 'The eye wants something' then anything else, it's about how good the text and textboxes look with the comic. Are they crappy, or do they fit in well? Color-coding? Shadows? Transparency? You name it.

Spelling and Grammar:
Exactly what it is. It's time for Mr. Spellcheck.

Panels:
Are the panels executed well? Are they a good size? Are they seperated too far? Is the layout readable? There you go.

Story/Humor:
The most complicated part - humor is a very wide idea. Look at how the jokes are build up. Don't just go with if it made you laugh or not - this changes for everyone. Story is.. Well. Story. Is it cliché? Well elaborated? Original? Tons of questions you can ask yourself.

Characters:
A whole new section - characters are the most important part of the story. Search for originality and non-cliché characters. And, of course, are the characters well worked out, and how do they interact with each other? Not the easiest section, so try hard.

You can use whatever point system you like.

That should be all. For more questions, just PM me or Lost.

The End

Lastly, notice that this is a guide on how to make a GOOD sprite comic. Cuz a sprite comic is the same as a normal comic: everyone can make a comic, but it takes talent, patience and guts to make a GOOD one. This is simply advice on how to improve.

Now that that's all over, you can always ask me and my friend Lost Darkness for advice on sprite comics, on every front. Or you can get your comic rated by one of us, or... Anything sprite-related. Just post here, and we'll answer your questions.

Thank you for reading! ^^

I'm going to sticky this. Well Done!

Hopefully people will read this and learn, this is a good reference source.

O.O Wow. Thank you muchly! ^^

You said you'd show us bad and good, where's the good comic? Anyway, this is a good way to show people on here what not to do (which is basically everything in some comics) and I look forward to reading more.

AM~

All credit of this guide goes to Flying Dutchman. I did nothing. Nyeh.

I, Lost Darkness, am a retired spriter. Yet I can still pass on what knowledge and critism I have, should anyone want any.
I may return to the art of spriting but that does not seem likely at this time.

Any questions, just ask.

Originally Posted by Agent Mothman

You said you'd show us bad and good, where's the good comic? Anyway, this is a good way to show people on here what not to do (which is basically everything in some comics) and I look forward to reading more.

AM~

Good to see you read through the whole thing. The good comic is added.

You're absolutely right. You're good and bad examples (sorry R&K) are perfect and you covered every point. I was glad that you pointed out that speech bubbles and zooming up on characters were important. I read your review and said "Yes!" You've got it right. Thank you for being smart.

If I posted a comic (just a link, I don't want to blow this thread over) would you rate it and tell me how I need to improve? My comic making is slipping and I need some good critisizm.

Also, I'd like to know how (if possible) to make a serious comic that is good. How to make entertaining action and story. That's what I struggle with.

I admit my first comic was bad, Anti Effect, but that was extremely offensive. At the very least, you oculd have asked my permission for it's use. And although these tips are all true, you must realise that not all, but the majority, of these crossover comics, such as mine, were created before they were considered cliche here.

And had you read, you would know. My comic may use the same backgroud repeatedly, but it now does have text boxes. And I use other backgrounds, a more variety, along with more than Paint effects. Had you read it all through, you would realise it was one of the most popular comics on the Forums.

However, I do agree with your points. People do need to focus more on the Sprites now. I did not realise that until about 6 months after my comic went up, November 15, 2005.

Originally Posted by GoldStud

If I posted a comic (just a link, I don't want to blow this thread over) would you rate it and tell me how I need to improve? My comic making is slipping and I need some good critisizm.

I believe this is what this thread has been made for. I have no objection if you wish to post your comic.
We welcome requests for advice and criticism.

Originally Posted by GoldStud

Also, I'd like to know how (if possible) to make a serious comic that is good. How to make entertaining action and story. That's what I struggle with.

I will leave that one with Flying Dutchman.

I'm lovin' this thread! I think this one will prove to be more successful than previous attempts. It's really neat that you decided to use 8-bit Theatre (my most favorite sprite comic) as an example for a good comic. There is one thing that I slighty disagree on, however.

Originally Posted by Anti Effect

Actually, everything's made in Photoshop. YOU, however, should start with Paint, and nothing else but Paint. Photoshop takes time to master, and if you don't master it, it's simply to hard to use. Also, why spend 500 US Dollars for a program to just make sprite comics with?

1. You seem more favorable of Microsoft Paint than Adobe Photoshop. I don't mind that, but people shouldn't have to use Paint if they don't want to. If Paint is all a person has to use, that's a different matter entirely. I'm a graphic artist and love to use Photoshop, especially with my sprite comics. Also, I love to work with layers, and you can't do that with Paint. I'd go nuts if I weren't able to manipulate as many layers as I please. There are many features in Photoshop that I use for my comics that I would sorely miss. But since I'm experienced with both Paint and Photoshop (I use them both and they walk hand-in-hand at times), I guess this doesn't really apply to me. On to my point: if you have Photoshop and wish to use it for your comic, I think you should go right on ahead. It's a good way to gain experience and learn how use layers to your advantage.

Originally Posted by Anti Effect

Lastly, notice that this is a guide on how to make a GOOD sprite comic. Cuz a sprite comic is the same as a normal comic: everyone can make a comic, but it takes talent, patience and guts to make a GOOD one. This is simply advice on how to improve.

I can testify to this. In Zeldish, you can easily tell that my fourth comic has greatly improved from the first comic. How? Hard work, determination, patience, and raising the bar higher each time. With each new comic I want to push myself to the limit and beyond. After I realize what I could have done better, I try to implement that into my next comic. These are goals, that when used, can lead to very surprising results. Now if only I learned how to do that with my homework! :p

I guess I can teasingly blame Brian Clevinger for me doing bad with my homework. 8-bit Theatre was the first sprite comic I ever read. Earlier this year, I decided why not make one of my own sprite comics? Some people didn't think I could do it, and it would just be a rip off of 8-bit Theatre. Boy did I prove them wrong. Through hard work and determination, I started the first chapter of what was to become one of my favorite hobbies.

Here's some advice that I would like to share on this thread: spriting would be much easier for you if you enjoyed doing it. If you don't enjoy doing something, than why bother doing it (unless it's a neccessary evil like school and homework ^_^' )? If you are going to make a sprite comic, try to have fun doing it.

Fun isn't everything, of course. Sprite comics also require determination and effort. When I first came here, I thought this would be the best place to share Zeldish. I had a look around, came to the Ghetto, and thought oh crap... There are already a bunch of Zelda comics! Luckily for me, most of them use the infamous Semi-Jugallo Link. Most of them all seemed the same to me too. This helped fuel my determination that Zeldish wouldn't be just another Zelda sprite comic, hence my motto: dare to be different. Some people (and yes, you too, GS) have misinterpreted the way I use my motto and try to point out what they think is my hypocrisy. How immature. Anyways, trying to be unique will definately help you out.

This is a wonderful thread that deserves to be stickied and I'm glad that it has been. It has many points that every spriter should read over. Awesome job, Anti Effect! I would like to know what you think of my comics as well. You can find the links here. Also, can you and Lost Darkness share some of your work with us?

Originally Posted by Blizzaga

1. You seem more favorable of Microsoft Paint than Adobe Photoshop. I don't mind that, but people shouldn't have to use Paint if they don't want to. If Paint is all a person has to use, that's a different matter entirely. I'm a graphic artist and love to use Photoshop, especially with my sprite comics. Also, I love to work with layers, and you can't do that with Paint. I'd go nuts if I weren't able to manipulate as many layers as I please. There are many features in Photoshop that I use for my comics that I would sorely miss. But since I'm experienced with both Paint and Photoshop (I use them both and they walk hand-in-hand at times), I guess this doesn't really apply to me. On to my point: if you have Photoshop and wish to use it for your comic, I think you should go right on ahead. It's a good way to gain experience and learn how use layers to your advantage.

Agreed. Photoshop is an amazing program. However I believe that Paint must first be familiarised with in the art of spriting before moving on the Photoshop. Once the comic making has been perfected and practiced with Paint, Photoshop is a welcome addition.

I prefer Paint, however making a sprite comic has never been something I have truly practised. So I do not know how effective it is with Photoshop. Heh.

Originally Posted by Blizzaga

I can testify to this. In Zeldish, you can easily tell that my fourth comic has greatly improved from the first comic. How? Hard work, determination, patience, and raising the bar higher each time. With each new comic I want to push myself to the limit and beyond. After I realize what I could have done better, I try to implement that into my next comic. These are goals, that when used, can lead to very surprising results. Now if only I learned how to do that with my homework! :p

Spriting and comic-making are not going to come naturally. It takes much practise to even become remotely good at it. Later attempts with much more practice are naturally going to win compared to first attempts with little or none.

Originally Posted by Blizzaga

Here's some advice that I would like to share on this thread: spriting would be much easier for you if you enjoyed doing it. If you don't enjoy doing something, than why bother doing it (unless it's a neccessary evil like school and homework ^_^' )? If you are going to make a sprite comic, try to have fun doing it.

I have never known a situation where someone is forced to sprite. Heh.

But it is true, if you do not have fun spriting, what is the point?

Originally Posted by Blizzaga

Fun isn't everything, of course. Sprite comics also require determination and effort. When I first came here, I thought this would be the best place to share Zeldish. I had a look around, came to the Ghetto, and thought oh crap... There are already a bunch of Zelda comics! Luckily for me, most of them use the infamous Semi-Jugallo Link. Most of them all seemed the same to me too. This helped fuel my determination that Zeldish wouldn't be just another Zelda sprite comic, hence my motto: dare to be different. Some people (and yes, you too, GS) have misinterpreted the way I use my motto and try to point out what they think is my hypocrisy. How immature. Anyways, trying to be unique will definately help you out.

I have noticed that most comics made in this forum are all not as good as people appear to say. I say Most, because there are quite a few comics around which I quite enjoy.

It is best to have something original. If one is to make a comic which bears extreme similarities to others, it is just boring. Something original with a good storyline will definitely entertain.

Originally Posted by Blizzaga

This is a wonderful thread that deserves to be stickied and I'm glad that it has been. It has many points that every spriter should read over. Awesome job, Anti Effect! I would like to know what you think of my comics as well. You can find the links here. Also, can you and Lost Darkness share some of your work with us?

Anti Effect is an awesome spriter, I am happy that his skills have been recognised. 'Tis a pity Sigve does not post any longer. Now he was a legend.

As for my work? I have not made any comics in my time, but I have my previous sprite sheet I made a very long while ago, should anyone wish to look at it.
Now, from what I can see, it needs much improvement. Heh.