I was stuck on how to present my Web-comic. I had all the drawings done but no where to put them. I felt like it would help me a lot more to have them ordered and all in one place. I experimented with making a large photoshop template and pasting my images on there to start arranging them. It just didn't look professional enough and also wasn't the layout i had in my mind. Ideally, i'd want to lay it out like a legitimate web-comic (Ava's Demon) for example, but most web artists have their own websites. I attempted to import my images into Premier Pro to see if i could simply turn it into a video instead of manually scrolling through the images. Also, that way i could have the audio playing easily at the same time. However, it still wasn't what i wanted. It was also difficult to adjust the sizing of each image on this software as it's not really built for that. I then thought 'why don't i just research more web-comic artists and see what platforms they use?' There must be free, legitimate platform out there for people to access. I found a comic artist who recommended Word Press on their website. However, you had to pay for a subscription which i wasn't prepared to do. Luckily, they listed alternatives below that are equally good for uploading comics. That's when i came across 'Comic Fury'. It's a free, easy-to-use, advertisement free host for artists web-comics. It enables you to put up your own comics and get a website dedicated to them. It was so refreshing finding a platform so easy to navigate after stressing for a long time about how to layout my comic.
I started experimenting with how i was going to order my images to make the narrative flow. I saw that there was an option to put a comic page title.
At first, i was just going to have the title 'A Watchers World' on the first comic slide (which would be the front page). However, after playing around with the website for a bit, i decided it would be interesting to use this as a platform to also verbally tell the story. I had moved away from the idea of actually writing the narrative down alongside the images as part of me wanted the images to speak for themselves. However, as i had hit a bit of a wall regarding the story, i figured writing little titles for each image may help it along a bit. I started sifting through my illustrations and already started to get ideas for how the story could go! This was progress. I think just telling myself that i could sum each image up in one really informative sentence took the pressure off a bit, actually allowing me to properly think about it.
As i went through each image and started generating narrative ideas, it was naturally beginning to turn into more of a poem, which i wasn't opposed to. I felt like it was giving more depth to the images and the comic was starting to feel more like a journey which was my hope all along. I think i was just trying to over-complicate things by trying to write a properly structured narrative. My illustrations took an abstract turn so my story should too. My plan was to write a fictional story but i hadn't actually thought where i'd show it. I don't feel like people would have sat and read a whole novel. In a physical exhibition, people look and then move on quite quickly, so i think changing my idea slightly by having fewer words just to give a sense of the story is a lot more practical. I made a draft of each line next to each illustration on google docs first just so i could easily change parts of the poem if i needed to. I did make quite a few adjustments after reading through it a few times as i felt like the rhythm of it was a bit clunky. Also, some of the things i'd said din't match the images perfectly.
I decided to make the narrative more a visual journey through the world; showing the audience all the different parts of this universe and telling them about each one. The moral of the narrative is the same. Technology is become omnipresent and is always watching. My illustrations almost personify technology and show how the digital world has its eyes on you. I think i was over-complicating the narrative by including the idea that the sending of letters is banned etc. When i first began my drawings, i tried to draw for that narrative but there just wasn't really much inspiration. However, when i took a more broad, abstract approach (Technology has eyes and in this world, it's always there and always watching) the project started to come to life. I feel like the letters story would've been interesting to pursue if writing a story was all that i was doing. Then i could really take time to focus on every small detail within the narrative. I'm glad that i came to my senses and simplified the idea a little, as i feel like i have ended up with a much stronger outcome. This is the finished poem:
When i read it through, it sounds more like the kind of prose you'd find in a children's publication. I quite like the fact that it's naturally taken this route, as i've ended up with a story/poem that's accessible to all ages and also sends an important message.
As simple as that! I'd import my desired image, give it a title and then upload it to the comic. In total, I created 26 separate pages. You can upload a total of 12 images at a time. I tried this on my first experiment with the website but if you do it this way, you have 12 images on one page that you scroll through downwards. So, each of my images were rather on top of each other. There was no gap in between so it looked a bit clunky. That's when i decided to have one image per page. That way, i makes you pay more attention to each section of the comic and, therefore, the story. This is why i'm so glad i found this web-comic platform as i didn't realise quite how important the layout would be. I had the ideal image in my head but i just assumed it wouldn't be possible; that i'd need to buy some fancy software. I'm very happy with the result.
This is where my webcomic is stored. So i can go to this when i need to either view the whole comic or edit individual sections, which is really useful.
This is how the final webcomic looks. I chose quite a basic and plain template for the background as to not distract from my drawings. The comic is easy to navigate. The bigger images don't fit in the whole page so you need to scroll down if you want to view the whole thing. I quite like this though, as it forces you to focus on the image a bit more and there are also more arrows at the bottom so you don't have to scroll all the way back to the top. Overall, I'm very relieved i was able to find this website and i am really happy with the end result. I feel like it showcase my illustrations in the best way and it does enable an immersive visual journey. I now need to create a soundscape and have a link to sound cloud or youtube on the website so you can listen to the soundtrack as you scroll through.
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