Messages

Ingenious.

to be honest, I like macs, especially their notebooks, but the cheapest viable one is the $1300 Intel Core Duo, and you can get those specs on a PC laptop for about $400-$500 less. They just plain cost more. It's a decent machine, and I definitly agree you should replace your old one, but I say no on the mac if you're thinking moneywise. This is especially true if you're using this for web browsing/updating your site, word processing, media viewing. Unless you're planning on doing a whole bunch of media creation, I would skip the mac.

...http://www.the-underdogs.info/...

that's where I get my stuff

The newbie hero one...that's all over the place, although more in anime than manga. Regradless, you're looking at a similar audience, and we've all seen an inexperiance heroic character that overcomes odds or learns to use his powers, or realizes some big truth about himself, etc...

This dynamic is hard to shake off because it's so ingrained in our thinking. I mean, deeper discovery of one's self is a universal theme, and if you save the world while doing it, well...bonus.

Some very successful manga and anime have avoided this with a character that doesn't get explained in excess for the sake of the audience, but let's the audience figure it out on their own.

-Rouroni Kenshin: Kenshin, Saito Hajime
-Appleseed:Deunan
-Cowboy Bebop: Almost every character

Letting the reader infer backstory through hints rather than flat out telling them is always better. It's hard, I know, because you don't want them to miss something subtle, but give them some credit and you'll be rewarded.

[gold]

Ok, after reading all of this and taking a look around at your site...

You seem to have a decent eye for web layout, as Xeph said, and your art is actually coming along. In fact, your panel layout is downright good, but the content thing has got to be killing everyone. 3 pages is just hard to get over, you know?

As far as plot goes...I'm never one to down someone else's story-writing cause I feel like my own stuff is hackneyed, but it really does remind me of a bunch of generic manga (the main elements of these kinds of stories are redone every time I turn around) which is not bad necessarily, but it won't convince the Xephster to give up hosting space.

I don't really have an issue with the whole "candyz Pop" thing, because the Manga's name is not that. But if you are gonna have a comic be the main feature of a site, name the site after it. It's just less confusing to random visitors who might wanna come back. Having a different name for the site as a whole would make more sense if there were two or three equally updated comics, but I only see project KROW so...

You are now Asian, not Azn, so thanks for the timely update. If griever hadn't said it I would have. I don't really take offense when people use that around me, but "z"'s are not inherently cool either.

I hope you do come back with more stuff later, because there's a lot of room to grow with what you've got, you just gotta buckle down and get some of it done. In the meantime, hanging around the boards is a great idea. Get to know the people, get ideas, learn the dynamics, etc.

Oh yeah, if you end up making a Deviant Art account, remember this rule if someone compliments/critiques you:
-if your art skills are further along than theirs, take it half as serious
-if their art skills are further along than yours, take it doubly serious

because there are a lot of people going around complimenting DA's on their "Mad arts skillllz!!!111" (sorry) who don't really draw themselves, but real critiques are gold. Look for me there. And good luck with the comic.

[WOULD]

Good point data, I had not thought about the search engine aspect. I guess I just get an uneasy feeling thinking about a folder with that many HTML pages.

But once a site is big enough, the need to draw people from search engines WOULD be an issue, so I think you've got something there. Google's and Yahoo's should always be kept in mind.

so tired, can't post code now, but I will get into why you need PHP and not just HTML for those comic pages and not just the index (which technically only needs the Xepher box as far as PHP goes)

if you only use HTML, 10 comics means each comic must have it's own page, and the links to those 10 comics point to the 10 different pages. This is a problem when you get around comic #100 or #1000, then you'll have a thousand pages, each with just one comic on it. Imagine if you change your background or banner, you'd have to do it a hundred times!

A PHP page is one page that can change to display different content, like different comics. One page, no fuss...ok some fuss, but more on that in the morning, I'll be back.......

Update your comic index page to point to your current newest comic, then use the navigation buttons with PHP to minus or plus the current comic's number for the page refresh

(ie: the "next" button will generate the same webpage but the comic variable will be "[comicvariable]+1" so comic #7 would become comic #8 if you hit "next")

if you need code examples let me know.

Oh I love the style! You did a good job.

Why thank you! I'm glad you like it. I'm a big fan of the Dark colored lines style

Man, I remember from the time when I first got into college to about 6 months ago, I was a vegetarian by budget not by choice. I wasn't making a social comment, I just couldn't afford meat all the time!

Then I learned the REAL way to eat Ramen, with thin slices of meat and veggies in with the noodles. I'll tell you what, I ate for a week on less than $20!

Yippie... welcome~! *tackles* I think we might of moved in next door to each other! =P

Thanks for the warm greeting!

Lemme return the favor by passing this along. I saw in your DA gallery that you seem to like the 4-legged companions with the pointy ears and the late night moon howling and such, so I figured you'd enjoy it. I did it for another friend with an affinity for wolves.

I'm on cursed dial up, but I clicked two comics that weren't in a row and I can see a big progression. ^_^

Thanks! I'm trying to grow, but it's scary changing one's style. I need to start doodling like a fiend, I think. Hopefully in a few months you'll be able to say that again!

well, in the time since the applications were closed and now, I reworked the site a bit and got my comics to a more standardized size (the old ones are still huge-tastic). The art is (I think) coming along, but more importantly I'm starting to get my characters established and I'm finally delving into a little storyline. Wish me luck and give it a critical look if you get a chance I'd love to know what you guys think

Very true. That said, you should play around in dreamweaver or ::shudder:: frontpage to see what you can come up with.

Thanks for visiting my site from time to time guys, I know my updates have been....well, lacking recently. I have a crapload of things going on right now, and when I don't have time to move ahead with a comic issue, I tend to just do art work for my DA gallery.

I know, this is procrastination at it's worst....