Crowdfunding: Crowdsourcing With Incentive

In recent years, the idea of using one’s audience to alter or improve a product, i.e. crowdsourcing, has become very popular and is enjoying a rapid adoption rate with creatives across all types of media. Digital comics are no exception, with sites like Kickstarter offering the opportunity to help while also receiving a reward comparable to the contribution.

Todd Allen of Publisher’s Weekly has a great write-up on this now valid form of funding projects and it makes for a great read for webcomics creators as well as those fans who find themselves impassioned enough to boost their favorite creators whenever possible.

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Nintendo Fan Art Is NEVER A Bad Thing

Following so many folks via social media turns up some great finds from time to time, and this one, via the Tiny Cartridge Tumblr blog (billed as “… Pretty Much The Best Nintendo DS Site Ever”), is a great example of this. A site featuring the work of Zac Gorman has been unearthed by these NDS experts and it is something.

Click after the jump for an example of the Kate Beaton-esque fan art on offer from Gorman and check out the entire site (and bookmark it, as I have already done) for even more amazing, hilarious depictions of your favorite Nintendo-branded characters.

Why won't you stay down?

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Caanan Grall (Max Overacts, Celadore) Combines Marvel’s Thor With Muppets, Succeeds With Time To Spare

You recall the name Caanan Grall, yes? Creator of Zuda winner (how much longer will that be a thing?) Celadore? Eisner-nominated Max Overacts? Good? Good. Then all you need to know is that Grall participated in the 24-hour Challenge this year and the product was a Thor/Muppets mash-up comic. If you haven’t clicked yet, then you probably won’t because you hate good things.

Muppets/Thor mash-up by Caanan Grall

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Digital Strips 239 – Horizons Watch Sfeer Theory and 14 Nights

I’m super sorry that this show is 3 days late. I’ve got family stuff coming out of my ears and other body holes right now and as much as I’ve tried to avoid it, my real life is effecting my Internet life. You know how it goes.

Anyway here is the latest episode, full of Steve and Jason growing as people. This was a hard show to make, because it was so different from the everything else we have ever done. It’s a good thing though, it’s important for us to not make poop jokes for a while.

This week, through honestly no planning of our own, we ended up Horizon’s Watching the first two comics featured on our show to be heavily based around homosexual love stories. Sfeer Theory and 14 Nights talk about life and love in ways two uber-immature nerds normally don’t talk about in a podcast but we sure try.

Tune in to see how we do.

We also talk about several other comics, I didn’t make not of where in the podcast we mentioned them. You can still check out the links at your own pace.
Valve Comic
Chronoillogical
Cynide and Happiness
Toothpaste of dinner
Portal Vids
President Ackerman Vid
Much the Miller’s Son
Smooth and Natural

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McCloud Demands Bigger Online Presence For “His Face All Red” Creator Carroll

In lieu of more talky-talky this week, we’ll try to bring you some news the old-school DS way, via short, succinct, savory blog posts. And what better way to kick off the week than with an amazing comic from a new face.

Scott McCloud, finder of all things amazing and new, blogs briefly about Emily Carroll, the creator behind the overnight success that is His Face All Red. Steve mentioned in our (now lost to the Interether) most recent episode that I probably recognized her name from combining poet Emily Dickinson and author Lewis Carroll, which is entirely possible. The entire comic, all ten, infinitely-canvassed pages of it, is incredibly haunting and does a great job of evoking that classic horror style in the vein of Edgar Allan Poe.

Do as the McCloud commands and demand a larger, more consolidated presence for this next up-and-coming webcomics star!

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Status of Episode 220

Sometimes it rains pennies from Heaven. Sometimes it rains cats and dogs. And sometimes those cats and dogs go poop in the air and the turds land on your face.

Metaphorically, that’s what happened to episode 220. Due to some technical hurdles I don’t have anything to post for you guys and I’m very sorry about that. I’ll try to have a general recap typed up in the next couple of days but I’ve spent most of the evening typing up my grandfather’s eulogy for my Grandma who typed it up herself, but didn’t know how to save it so she printed it and mailed me a copy to type up.

You gotta love grandmas.

So yeah, I’m kinda typed out for one night but will tell you guys all about Chava and Don Anders and Cleopatra in Spaaaaace in the coming day or so.

Or better yet, read the comics yourself and throw your thoughts about these comics in the comments below. Then it’ll be like we’re all learning together.

Once again, we apologize for the momentary lapse in coolness.

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Not Invented Here Latest Comic To Join TopatoCo Juggernaut

Chances are, if you own a webcomics-inspired T-shirt, it came from the TopatoCo home office. This massive warehouse of all our greatest webcomics fantasies houses merch from pretty much every single comic published on the web, or at least the ones worth mentioning.

Fitting, then, that Bill and Paul have joined the fold with their latest foray, Not Invented Here. Congrats, guys! A comic as fine as this deserves to be in such outstanding, distinguished company.

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D.J. Coffman’s Webcomics How-To Guide/Seminar Discounted For Only 48 More Hours

I had really hoped to take this for a spin myself but given my current, hiatused state in the realm of webcomics, it’s probably not money well spent at this juncture. However, if you, as a budding creator looking to take your craft to the next level, want to take advantage of this discounted price ($47 now, will jump to higher price on Friday) then now is the time to do it!

I had time to look through the preview that is available to anyone willing to sign up for it and while the format comes across as a bit crowded and less-than-professional, the material seemed to be of good use, depending on the hands it ends up in. Many webcomics luminaries have testified to the success that can be found with this program, so check it out if you’re looking to make some dough off your funny doodles.

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Tweet Thread of the Day For Saturday, August 28, 2010

No better way to bring back some TTotD than with a short but sweet entry from one Mr. Scott Kurtz. In this case, a picture is absolutely worth a thousand words:

pvponline http://yfrog.com/nbziahj 12 minutes ago via Twitter for iPhone

Can’t explain why I’m getting chills just seeing that shiny award in some deserving hands, but it’s certainly been a long, hard road for the creator of PvP and that prize could not be more deserved. Congrats to Scott on the win; with that in his hands and ringing in another year as host of the Harvey Awards ceremony, this may just be the best weekend of his life.

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NEWW 2 (New England Webcomics Weekend, Numero Dos) Is Coming!

Having enthusiastically attended last year’s NEWW, I can wholeheartedly recommend you join everyone else in webcomics in buying your ticket to this year’s event, being held in Easthampton, MA the weekend of November 6th. Wanna know the official details? Then read on!

In order to attend NEWW 2, you will need to have a ticket. Buying tickets online will guarantee that you’re a part of this event, even if we fill to capacity. Tickets will go on sale this Thursday, August 26th, at 12:00 PM EST. You’ll be able to grab a weekend pass, an individual day pass, or a special VIP Pass which will include some exclusive goodies. See you then!

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