Hollowing Birds

[Viv]

Email: vivianrodgers @ bellsouth . net

Preferred url: hollowingbirds

Hi, I'm interested in applying for hosting for my webcomic, Hollowing Birds.  I'm afraid I'm a bit new to this whole thing, so there's no current website,  but you can see a couple of pages here: http://s664.photobucket.com/albums/vv6/Viv_028/?action=view&current=chp1_00.jpg, http://s664.photobucket.com/albums/vv6/Viv_028/?action=view&current=chp1_01.jpg.  It is, for the most part, a story about animals, though I'm not sure whether or not it would be considered a furry comic.  I'm trying to go with a less anthropomorphic, more "Watership Down" type style.  The main plot involves various unexplained phenomena (crop circles, cattle mutilation, etc) as seen through the eyes of a group of birds.  Sounds a bit odd, I know, but that's the best description I can think of for it.

As far as web design goes, I'm still fairly inexperienced.  However, I do have a pretty good idea of how to use html and css, and am currently in the process of putting together a webpage that, while simple, should work well enough for the time being.  Again, I've never done anything quite like this before, so it's all still a big learning process.

Thanks for your time reading this.  This looks to be a wonderful service and a very friendly community; I'm very much excited about the possibility of joining it.

[tickyhead]

I'm going to make this as short and concise as possible, because I don't have a lot of time nor energy at the moment.

1. How many comic pages have you made already?

2. How likely are you to keep working on this? (for example, how much have you planned out and/or scripted, how long have you had this idea, what other long-term projects have you done, etc.)

3. Will the website be ONLY about the comic, or do you intend to put up other art or content of some kind?

4. When is the soonest you can have a mock site made up? (We can't just take your word for it that you can code; we need to see it.)

5. You understand HTML and CSS, but do you know how to use FTP/SSH?

6. We're going to need a lot more than two pages if you want to make it in--at the very least we'd need an entire chapter (or half of one, if they're long) to get a good feel for your application.

That's all I can think of. Have at it.

[Viv]

Wow, I wasn't expecting any replies this quickly.  In answer to your questions:

1) Five pages completed, with several more sketched.

2) The idea and characters have been around for about four years, but it's only recently that I've been able to pull it together into something coherent enough that I could start making pages.  I have most of the first chapter thumbnailed and scripted, which comes out as about twenty pages.  It's definitely going to be a long-term project; I have the plot pretty well worked out for about two years worth of updates, and a rougher idea for after that.

3) The website will most likely be mainly about the comic, though I plan to have a section for unrelated art as well.

4) There's just a few more things left to do with the site, so I can probably have something to show within the week.

5) I haven't used FTP much, but I have a pretty good idea of how it works.  SSH I've never used.

6) I don't have that much complete just yet, but can post the sketches for a good portion of the first chapter.  Would that suffice?

Again, thank you so much for taking the time to reply.  I'll try to have all the necessary material ready as soon as possible.

[Xepher]

I'll say this, I like the art... but as mentioned, two pages just isn't much. I'd estimate 90% of webcomics start and then quit in less than 3 months, so what I tend to look for is some signs that you're not going to be one of them. Art archives showing how much draw... other comics or websites you've been running for a while... any of that sort of stuff helps to convince me that you might be one of the few who stick it out for the long term.

[Viv]

Okay, that makes sense.  Yeah, I know there isn't much in the way of competed pages yet, it's the coloring that takes so long.  But I do have a pretty good buffer of sketched and inked pages I could post, if those count for anything.

[Viv]

Here's the rest of the pages:

Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6 (sketch)
Page 7 (sketch)

And some of the related art:

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21

Edit: I finished several of the pages for the website as well:

http://s664.photobucket.com/albums/vv6/Viv_028/?action=view&current=HollowingBirds.jpg
http://s664.photobucket.com/albums/vv6/Viv_028/?action=view&current=HollowingBirds--Cast.jpg
http://s664.photobucket.com/albums/vv6/Viv_028/?action=view&current=HollowingBirds--Archive.jpg

[griever]

The art's nice although as Xepher has pointed out, longevity is key.  There are content-management scripts for web comics, which might help you focus more on the art and less on worrying about the coding.

Since you have a lot scripted out, what kind of update schedule do you think you could stick to?  How long does it take you to sketch and color one page, on average?

[Viv]

Thanks for the tip.  I've seen a couple of archive scripts around; some of then do look worth giving a try.

As for a schedule, the current plan is to update once a week. I may try to move to twice a week at some point in the future, but it's more likely to stay at weekly.  A page takes about five or six hours from start to finish, so anything more frequent than that just doesn't look feasible right now.

Page six is finished by the way, seven nearly so.

Edit: pages 7, 8, 9, and 10

[Xepher]

How far (how many pages) have you gotten since your last post above? Are you still interested in a site here?

[Viv]

Pages 11, 12, and 13 are done, and I'm definitely still interested in a site.

[Xepher]

Okay, you're in! I just sent an email with login info and instructions.

[Viv]

Thanks!