Can Forums Promote Your Graphic Novel?
So I’ve started spending time in art forums these last few months. One of the forum rules is “No Trolling”. I have no idea what this means and when I asked an artist friend he told me it was to sit under a bridge and grant wishes. I looked it up in the dictionary and found that it was either loud singing or a method of fishing. I’m still confused but apparently I haven’t broken this rule yet because I’m still allowed to post.
I’ve never used a forum before a few months ago. To tell you the truth, I am pleasantly surprised with them, for the most part. Growing up, the only way to share my art with others or get critiques was to join a drawing group at the local comic shop (which I did) but joining the local comic shop drawing club had it limits. There were only a handful of us and all our styles were polar opposites. Showing art to the world was just impossible at the local shop too.
These forums, on the other hand, are great for getting critiques from as many people as you can handle as well as helping someone else see something they are missing. Not only that but you can show off your art to the whole world. Since I’ve started trolling I’ve had almost 5000 views of my thread in ConceptArt.org as well as some really great advice on how to make my cover better at PencilJack.com. ConceptArt brought over 200 unique viewers to my blog and PencilJack pulled in over 100. Aside from the numbers I’m totally inspired by some of the amazing artists who post regularly. Some people will start posting as beginner artists and 2 years later their progress blows my mind. It’s been so inspiring to see how people have learned their anatomy through their sketchbook threads at ConceptArt and it makes me want to start doing the same.
This whole idea came about after talking to an amazing illustrator, Ronald Kurniawan, about how to get my artwork noticed. He suggested spending an hour a day in forums both posting work and commenting on others work. He said if you can do that for a month then you will have mad traffic. I started about two months ago and I have…some traffic. But I have to admit that Ron’s work is VERY impressive and I can’t expect to see the same success as he has. None the less, I’ve started getting a small steady flow if traffic to my site which is much better then before when I just had my family visiting once a month.
Now even though I started attending forums to get traffic to my site I have become quite addicted and enjoy it too much to stop now. I can seriously see myself doing this for a long time.
I’ll talk about specific forums next week. If someone knows what a Forum Troll is then please shed some light on the subject.
[Edit] Forum Trolls explained. Thanks everyone!
Artist, Illustrator and Comic Forums
To some degree forum trolling can also include posting messages that have little to do with the topic at hand, and are just there to post links to your own blog or forum. It's rude and generally frowned upon.
Hopefully I'll be one of those ConceptArt beginners who blow your mind in a year's time. Definitely headed that way. Certainly I've been impressed by your work, and can't wait to see a final print version.
I just found your site through a link on Cartoon Brew. I really love your style!! Major kudos. I could rant on, but my comment is really just an attempt to be helpful since I enjoyed viewing your site so much. The term “trolling” seems like it should be related to wandering a forum as in viewing, but that would be “trawling” as in fishing to catch something??, but it has a more specific meaning in this context, and it does relate to the mythic form of “trolls” sitting under a bridge. They were often mean spirited and would tempt people away from their intent to get involved in something “foul and odious.” So the term “Troll” as used on the forums is more specific to someone who intentionally “baits” or “goads” others into “snarky” dialogue, usually away from the subject. As long as you are “on subject” and not volatile in your comments, you are not “trolling.” This is meant to be helpful, I too enjoy the forums. Best to you.
Paul
Paul, Thanks for the great explanation here. This makes total sense in how it relates to the mythic form of a troll. I figured it was bad but never know what it really meant.
I also want to apologize because I moved your comment from the contacts page. I didn't realize I had that option on. I just turned that feature off and did some housekeeping by moving things around. I hope you don't mind. Thanks again for stopping by! Hope to see you here again.
Jessica – Thank you so much for your compliments!
Kelseigh – I can see by your blog that you are studying anatomy. You have some great stuff on there and I added myself to your followers! Keep drawing everyday and you will have huge improvements in a year. As far as trolls go, I'm happy to understand that I'm not one of them. hehe
Unless things have changed, being a forum troll isn’t a good thing :)
Forum trolling was basically people that go on forums specifically to say nasty things to people to illicit a response out of people. For whatever reason, there’s a huge population of people like this.. everywhere.. haha.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Troll_%28Internet%29 !
I’m glad you don’t know what a forum troll is :)
Trolling is not good, a troll is someone who posts inflammatory, extraneous, or off-topic messages in an online community, such as an online discussion forum. Guess it comes from someone who lurks under a bridge and leaps out to threaten to eat passing goats.
Love the site by the way. I’ve added you to my google reader so I’ll be back on a regular basis.
eRei and Pete – Thanks for letting me in on the (now) obvious. I’m not sure why I didn’t think to look it up on wikipedia instead of an online dictionary. Oh well, now the world knows my ignorance.
Now that you explain it, I know a few trolls. haha
haha, if you post art of yours on an art site, you arn’t even thread-jacking, much less trolling! you’re actually on topic and properly following forum rules, which i can’t say for most forum users out there…
btw, your comic is wonderful! good luck getting it done!
your style is very appealing to me..i love how you tackled spread 9..awesome layout..i'll be back for more..i too got a link to your site from cartoonbrew..i wish you the best!..i'll leave the trolling part it seems pretty redundant..im not sure what trolling is either just a vague idea..nway i'll hope to see more of your stunning art for days to come.
As long as you're friendly and constructive, forums are a great way to share ideas and generate interest. Great blog btw! Love your artwork. :)
Lloyd – I'm glad you think Spread 9 is a success. I keep wondering about the sequence on the left side hoping it's clear. It started as an experiment and ended up being final. The right side was also a challenge trying to show the emotion as well as interesting compositions. But I will accept your compliment and put my doubts to rest on that page. Thanks!
SK – Thank you! I've been checking out your blog. It's nice to see someone talking to so many artists about the creative process.
Thanks for the compliment on my blog. Always looking for more artists! I would love to do an interview with yourself (with links back to your site of course). Let me know . . my email in the comment is the one I check or sigmatestudio [at] sigmatestudio.com
SK – Thanks for the offer man. I'll send you an email soon.
well..considering the project was intended for animation i couldn't think of anything that could be done to infuse some "spirit" of the animation process within the realm of sequential art..the page had an "animated" feel to it especially the left side..the right side reminds of a scene in Lion King where simba gazes in the pond and sees his father image rather than his..it's perfect dude..
Lloyd – Hehe, Love your breakdown of the page man! Thanks again!
Hi there!, my name is David.
I just want to say that I'm happy to be on this great site!
I've gotten exposed to quite a lot of information here and just wanted to
give my 2 cents. I'm about to write a great article for this forum and
I'll publish it soon.
[Not sure if this comment is spam or not. If you are a real person David then I'm happy you are here too! - Jason]
Dear Mr Brubaker: I'm starting a new comic book and would like your input. My website is http://www.harvestinhoward.com. I can send you a copy of the comic for your evaluation.
Thanks!
Hey Howard, Feel free to send me an email with some pages. You can find my email on my contact page. Thanks again.