Trollbabe comic strip artists' call

[Ron Edwards]

Hi there,

I'm thinking about a promotional device for the Trollbabe website, when it gets going.

Basically, I'm going to write a comic strip, three-panels like in the newspaper. I'll publish them once a week, with (say) the previous couple of weeks still linked. Strips previous to that will be gone.

At the end of a year, I'll publish the collection.

Now, here's my point. I am thinking that I will do this if I can get, oh, six to ten artists involved. That means each person will be responsible for six to eight strips.

See how fun this will be? Each artist gets a chapter. Each one pounds out six to eight strips. I happily post the strips once a week, maybe even set up an automatic engine for it or something.

I'm planning on taking a bit of time on the writing, of course, but I do not want to write + draw once a week - lead time and pre-pub finishing is crucial.

Anyone interested in doin' some T-Babe art?

Best,
Ron

[Valamir]

That sounds like a great idea!  Too bad I can't do more than doodle.  I would leave an entire chapter (1 artists work) up at a time though.  To only be able to read a couple strips of a 6 strip chapter might be frustrating.

[xiombarg]

If you're going to do that, I suggest checking out the webcomics community and trying to get those people to cross-link. Speaking as a webcomic addict, the potential crossover market there is amazing. Check the following sites out (check out the forums particularly, where they exist):

http://www.keenspot.com
http://htp://www.keenspace.com
http://www.pvponline.com
http://www.absurdnotions.org/clinks.html
http://www.plan9.org/
http://www.fleen.com
http://www.inktank.com
http://www.wigu.com
http://www.goats.com
http://www.moderntales.com

The indie spirit, as seen on the Forge, is very strong in the webcomics community. In fact, you may even want to consider asking some of the better artist in that community (the guy from Everything Jake or the gentleman from Bruno comes to mind, not to mention the guy from Sluggy Freelance, if you can get his attention, is pretty RPG-friendly) to get involved in the project (that is, do art for it): Cross-promotion and "guest" comics are a big part of the webcomic community, and getting even ONE well-known webcomic artist involved in the project will almost guarantee a lot of traffic from cross-linking, as first the artist will link it from his main comic, and then nearly all his friends (usually also webcomic artists as well) will link it as well.

There is really a lot of untapped potential for this sort of cross-fertilization between indie RPGs and indie webcomics, and the similar attitudes in the two communities (plus the larger size of the webcomic community) make this an excellent idea, IMHO, especially from the indie RPG side. (Tho, ironically, I believe indie RPG folks make more money than webcomic folks, despite the difference in audience size.)

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Kirt,

Good call. I love indie webcomics and have been wanting to generate cross-promotion between the fields for a long time. As comics are a more mature medium (as witness Understanding Comics and the well-publicized history of ownership), they have a lot to offer us.

Best,
Ron

[xiombarg]

Plus, as I mentioned in passing, most of the webcomics people are, well, poor. Now, I don't want to suggest exploiting these people, per se, but I'm assuming you're going to be paying the artists for their work, even just a little? Imagine the sort of work you can get out of someone when you pay them if they already do high-quality work for free...

Oh, and on a technical aside, I hear good things about Autokeen Lite for doing automatic updates, Keenspot-style. Of course, if you're as much of a webcomic fan as I am, you already know this. :)

If y'all haven't guessed, I'm really excited about this idea. Almost more than I'm excited about Trollbabe itself. :)

[Ron Edwards]

Hi Kirt,

I take a pretty Sim-like approach to ownership, especially when it comes to comics. I would establish complete ownership over the art with the artist, and either lease its use for commercial purposes, or perhaps even have them pay me as the writer, thus retaining all profits from the work now unto forever.

Or something like that.

Best,
Ron

editing for clarity: that is to say, the artist retains the profits, not me.

[xiombarg]

Interesting. Still, as I said, considering that the webcomic community generally does high quality (and low-quality -- the whole Sturgeon's Law thing) work for free, I'm going to be real interested in seeing where this project goes.

[Zak Arntson]

Ron, I'd love to supply some art. Let me know when you're closer to this as a reality and I'll see what freetime I have. (I'm guessing it's a volunteer thing, yeah?)

[Ron Edwards]

Hi everyone,

The project is a "Go" right this minute. I've already provided a 10-week script to one of the artists. If you don't jump on soon, the whole year's slots will be taken up.

Let me know how many weeks you're willing to do. Six minimum, ten maximum. I'd also like some assurance or examples of the kind of quickie-cartoon strip art; it should be dynamic and fun to look at, depicting actions, interactions, and changes in scenery in bite-sized chunks.

Payment at this point is totally up in the air, because we won't see any customer payment for this for a long time - as in a year from now. The idea is to roll the strips through the site for a full year, then collect'em. I imagine that I'll see very little profit, as it rightly should go to the artists (the true "authors" in my view). However, I'm still thinking about this policy, and all artist input about that is appreciated.

Best,
Ron

[James V. West]

I'm all over it. Trollbabe as a comic has always been a nagging in the back of my mind.

I've been doing a daily comic strip for the past month or so. Its fun as hell. But those strips are pure stream-of-consciousness journal-style drivel. I just do it to unwind and get my creative self motivated.

A Trollbabe weekly would be frigg-digglin' awesome.

[Prankster]

Hi. Name's A. Prosser, I'm an online comics guy. I write and draw comics for www.webcomix.net, though from an artistic point of view my most impressive stuff is Amazon Space Rangers (http://amazons.keenspace.com).

Anyway, I'd be interested in signing up for this ongoing strip you're doing. If you like my work, pencil me in for a slot. However, I'd like to get more information on you, your site, where I can see other comics you've been affiliated with, etc.

You say each strip is going to be three panels? Is there any further information you can send me?

Please email me at Prankster36@hotmail.com . Thanks.

A. P.

[offbeat!]

I'll do it, if you'll have me.

[Imp-Chan]

I would LOVE to get in on this project.  Someone told us about it on the Keenspace ML, and I think it could be a ton of fun.  I already have a weekly comic (updates Tuesdays and Fridays), and a less regularly updated 2 minute comic called Just Sisters.  You can get to each from my site.

[Ron Edwards]

Wow! Whoever it was tipped off all these great people, thanks! (Probably Kirt, if so, thanks Kirt!)

I'll be in touch with all the artists on Monday.

Best,
Ron

[kitten]

Hey. My email is kitten@mail.dodo.net.au and I would love to do this! I already have a webcomic http://harold.keenspace.com and my live journal is www.livejournal/users/dettrax

Email me with a 6-week script!! Bring it on!!