Comic Lab

Better late than never, Brad learns to share. On social media, that is. And, using what he learned after weeks of analysis, he has a challenge for you: Try — just try — to find something worth sharing on social media.

ON TODAY'S SHOW

• Searching for an effective social media strategy
• A new social-media experiment — Try... just TRY to find a post worth sharing
• Dave's experiment: Deleting people from the Free Membership tier. Please note: we do not, nor have we ever, endorsed this as something you should do.
• Patreon delays its IPO

You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon

• $2 — Early access to episodes
• $5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards.

Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook. Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive.

Veteran cartoonists Dave Kellett and Brad Guigar look back on their predictions for 2023. They nailed a few and failed a few!

PREDICTION SCORECARD

• Patreon will slowly entice people away from the Founder's level -- WRONG
• TikTok will be banned in the US -- WRONG
• CSP will unveil amazing features / Webtoons publishing -- RIGHT
• Webtoons publishing -- RIGHT
• Twitter fade -- RIGHT
• DC Comics implosion -- RIGHT
• No one will be using Mastodon (in large enough numbers to replace Twitter) -- RIGHT
• GPT 3.5 will be used for brainstorming and co-writing scripts using AI writing -- RIGHT?
• We'll see the first AI writing-art webcomic... and it will be good --WRONG
• Copyright law will catch up to AI art -- WRONG
• Blockchain is coming back -- WRONG
• Original art will become more valuable.

What we DIDN'T predict!

• Patreon's switch to social media
• Comic-Con loses its Hall H guests — and it was a big win for comics artists
• No replacement for Twitter... not BlueSky, not Threads (and definitely not Mastodon!)

You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon

• $2 — Early access to episodes
• $5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards.

Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook. Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive.

While we were at the National Cartoonists Society Rueben Awards Weekend, we stopped cartoonists and asked them one question: When you need to spark creativity — and nothing is happening — how do you find ideas? Today's show is a compilation of those responses.

You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon

• $2 — Early access to episodes
• $5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards.

Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook. Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive.

Patreon unveiled a free membership tier, and it's really throwing a monkey wrench into things.

ON THIS WEEK'S SHOW...

• It's official. We hate Patreon's Free Membership Tier
• Understanding Parody & Free Use
• Do Dave and Brad ever fight?!

You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon

• $2 —Early access to episodes
• $5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards.

Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook. Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive.

You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon

• $2 — Early access to episodes
• $5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards.

Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook. Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive.

Dave brings in a new concept for the holidays — declaring organizational bankruptcy.

ON THIS WEEK'S SHOW...

• Declaring organizational bankruptcy
• A scaled-back Kickstarter?
• UPDATE: Mastodon
• Posting schedule?

You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon

• $2 —Early access to episodes
• $5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards.

Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook. Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive.

You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon

• $2 — Early access to episodes
• $5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards.

Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook. Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive.

Referring to current events may give your comic an edge today, but it can also make your work harder for future generations to enjoy.

ON THIS WEEK'S SHOW...

• Writing comics with a shelf life
• YouTube instead of Patreon?
• Amazon KDP
• Using Patreon as an archive

You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon

• $2 —Early access to episodes
• $5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards.

Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook. Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive.

You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon

• $2 — Early access to episodes
• $5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards.

Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook. Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive.

A ComicLab listener would like his friends to give him feedback on his comic — and he wants them to subscribe to his Patreon to do it.

ON THIS WEEK'S SHOW...

• A Patreon level for constructive feedback
• Dave at WorldCon?
• UPDATE: Clip Studio update... feeling kinda screwed
• What happens to your books after you die
• What extras should go into a digital book?

You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon

• $2 —Early access to episodes
• $5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards.

Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook. Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive.

You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon

• $2 — Early access to episodes
• $5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards.

Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook. Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive.

Is it wise to exploit parasocial relationships to get more Patreon backers?

ON THIS WEEK'S SHOW...

• Drunk ComicLab
• Parasocial relationships on Patreon
• Are ads making a comeback?
• After the Thanos Snap — would Brad and Dave do a podcast?

You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon

• $2 —Early access to episodes
• $5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards.

Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook. Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive.

Patreon has unveiled a massive update to its service, and we'll discuss the good, the bad, and the ugly.

ON THIS WEEK'S SHOW...

The Good

• The user experience has some significant improvements
• Collections
• eStore — Buy digital goods.
• Find Creators You Love — a somewhat improved attempt at discoverability
• Member Posts section is being sunsetted

The Bad

• Anemic analytics. Graphtreon still beats Patreon's own data.
• Patreon's pivot to social media. I have lots of places to talk to my fans. Social media is where I go to make NEW fans. That means Discoverability. Where's that??
• Patreon Chat. It's a straight 50-50 split. Half of my patrons can't see/access the chat, and the other half don't care.
• Making a new post: BAD interface. Separates different parts of the process to different screens. It makes it super awkward to select tiers.

The Ugly

• That logo is laughable. Whoever designed it belongs in the Witless Protection Program.

You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon

• $2 —Early access to episodes
• $5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards.

Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook. Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive.

Sure, making comics is fun, but do we ever do serious work, like painting, sculpting, or other classical art forms?

ON THIS WEEK'S SHOW...

• Do we ever do "classical" work?
• If tenacity is #1, what's #2?
• UPDATE: Dave's booth cost for SDCC '24
• UPDATE: NCS networking
• UPDATE: Alaska Comics Camp
• Which to work on... popular, fun Series A or almost-done Series B?
• Black gutters

You get great rewards when you join the ComicLab Community on Patreon

• $2 —Early access to episodes
• $5 — Submit a question for possible use on the show AND get the exclusive ProTips podcast. Plus $2-tier rewards.

Brad Guigar is the creator of Evil Inc and the author of The Webcomics Handbook. Dave Kellett is the creator of Sheldon and Drive.