Comic books designed for small screens - eReaders and smart phones

I've always loved comics, but the cost of printing, distribution, advertising, and senior management benefit packages make them unviable in today's marketplace. Most comics are between $2.99 to $3.99 for a mere 22 pages. Who is going to pay that other than the comic book addicts? There's no room for the marketplace to grow--at least not in print.

But the eBook movement and the move to smartphones opens up a whole new market and new opportunities. There are no printing costs and minimal distribution costs. Plus, a cartoonist doesn't need a big company to publish anymore, so the senior management benefit packages don't have to take their chunk out. Many people have tried to do digital comics, but none have succeeded very well because of three problems: 1) Pricing, 2) Formatting, and 3) New Content. So I designed a new comic to meet these concerns.

Most digital comics cost either $0.99 (which isn't enough to make them profitable) or $1.99 (which is too much for 1's and 0's with no resell value). To overcome this, I've priced my comic at $1.50, which allows me to make a profit but doesn't soak potential customers.

Most digital comics take existing print comics and chop them up into pieces so you lose everything achieved from panel layout. I've designed my comic to be easily read on a smart phone, eReader, or a computer screen. Yet the comic still has the resolution and detail to look good in print for when I'm ready to do that.

Finally, almost all digital comics are reprints of old comics, not the new comics that come out every Wednesday. So I made mine all new material.

My new comic is called Wandering Koala(TM) rides The Phantom Coach. It's in two parts and a trade paperback, all of which are now available from Amazon.com and Smashwords.com for almost all eBook capable devices, and I drew it almost entirely on the computer with Corel Painter X and Google SketchUp 7.

Cully Koala Daily Online Comics

I've loved comics since I was a little boy. I was first introduced to them thru animated cartoons. Snoopy and Garfield are still two of my favorite. Then in Jr. High I discovered Calvin & Hobbes and was re-inspired.

I've been drawing comics since the summer of 6th Grade. I wanted to do it for a living, and at the end of my second year of college started sending my strip off to syndicates and newspapers. One syndicate picked it up, but did a terrible job of promoting it. And my interests shifted to less limiting forms of storytelling. But I had all these great comics that the world at large wasn't enjoying.

Newspapers are dying and with them is the traditional route for making a living with comic strips. So I decided to try something different. I've created a website to promote the strip with five free comics each day, a link to a store with Cully Koala branded swag, and the ability to add the comic to your site. (If you haven't already added it, go there now and do it!)

I wasn't sure what to make the site look like. Other comic strip sites have been very unimpressive, so I thought to make it look like the comics section of a paper. I wanted lots of colors and lots of fun, and I think it turned out that way.

But don't take my word for it.

CullyKoala.com

The Phantom Coach is now on sale!

Has anyone ever told you to stay out of an argument because it doesn’t involve you? Do private disputes really stay private, or do they have a larger effect on the world around them? What if a domestic disturbance caused a ghostly disturbance? Mike and Angie are just another couple on just another Friday Night date having just another argument. But this time it won’t stay between them.

My latest comic, Wandering Koala(TM) rides The Phantom Coach is now on sale! (At least part one is.) Like I said in my last post, this is the third time I've tried tackling this story, and I think the third time was the charm. I softened the harsh industrial style by adding texture and gradients, and I think it turned out really well. I'm also stoked about all the cool ghosts I've added, although most of them don't survive the next three pages. Oh, well, they're ghosts, it's not like you can kill them; they'll be back.

This comic is available in all eBook formats and will soon be available in most eBook stores including the Amazon Kindle store, the Barnes & Noble Nook store, Apple's iBookstore, Kobo (formerly shortcovers), Diesel eBooks, the Sony eReader store, and of course Smashwords, the largest publisher of independent authors.

Purchase your copy today for the incredibly low price of $1.50. (That's right, I said $1.50!!) In a world where print comics cost $3.99, and electronic versions of old comics are $1.99, this is a steal!

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/26287

The Phantom Coach

So I've begun a new comic. But it's not really that new. This is the third time I've tried writing/drawing this story, but I think this time it will work.

The story was inspired by two things. First, an old victorian ghost story called The Phantom Coach, which I found in a Dover dollar edition of short stories and absolutely loved. The second is a night I rode the bus in Alegrette, Brazil with a couple of friends. There was such energy that I knew I had to write a story about it sometime.

For this time I decided to try a style I've always loved but never been brave enough to do. Also, I decided to do the whole thing in the computer including the line work. This presented a few interesting challenges. I had completed several pages, but they looked so stark and lifeless, so I went back and added textures and a few gradient tricks which really helped warm them up. It's taken a long time to find the write settings in Corel Painter to create the line I was looking for. And the buildings and bus were constructed in Google Sketch Up. It took me a while to refine the models enough for the comic. They still look too computer generated, but for this stark style I think it's OK. For the next comic, though, I'll have to do better. And the font is a free font called Anime Ace I found on 1001Fonts.com.

On this particular page you'll notice the bus is distorted as well as the city itself. And I've added a cartoony sound effect. I've noticed a trend in comics to look more photographic and less like comics, but really, it's a comic book--it should look like a comic book, just like a Watercolor should look like a Watercolor and an Oil Painting should look like an Oil Painting.

I'm trying to get the whole story finished and published before Halloween, but it is taking longer than I thought it would. Keep your fingers crossed!

Evolution of a Cover

If you've been reading my blog, then you know I've just published a new short story called Sign of the 5th Dimension. (Take a peek below at the description.) I had a cover for it when I published it, but I wasn't happy with it. Unfortunately I was in the middle of illustrating a children's storybook, so I didn't really have the time or energy for my own stuff. But now I'm almost done with the book, and I have time for a few projects of my own, so I decided to redo the cover.

I thought it would be fun to show the steps and stages my illustrations go thru. First I sit and ponder the image until something comes to me. Then I create a quick thumbnail in my tablet with a pen (it looks like scribbles to anyone else). Second, I pencil the image. Then I ink it (see the first image). After it dries and I've erased the pencil lines, I scan it into my iMac. I color it in Corel Painter X with flat colors to get them right (see the second image). Finally I do cool painterly effects and have a finished image (see the third image). You'll notice the sky changed color. I was placing the text on the image when I said to myself, "Self, this isn't dramatic or science fictiony enough; no one is going to buy your short story." So I made the sky a purple to orange gradient and wallah!

What do you think? Do you like it better than the original?

Sign of the 5th Dimension

I love science. I always have. I guess that's why I write science fiction and include a bit of real science in each story.

The cover to the left is my latest short story. It was inspired by a Japanese Anime called Paprika. During the opening credits you see her move through posters, crosswalks, signs, etc. seamlessly, and I thought that would work well in a series of ghost stories I was writing (which later became Wandering Koala tales). It took my a while to come up with a story to put with that image, and one night a twisted romance came to mind, so that's what I used at the plot vehicle.

This isn't my favorite story, but I do like the science in it. Currently, scientists seem to be excited about string theory and 10 dimensions. There was even an article about "proof" of a multi-universe in National Geographic. Personally, I think its more spontaneous generation and sun revolving around the earth type science. I think the ideas of a fifth dimension from a century ago are more correct, and I think scientists in the next hundred years will realize that. Maybe the Large Hadron Collider at CERN will lead to it. Maybe another Einstein will pop up and figure out the Unified Field Theory with it. Or maybe some brilliant, young science fiction writer will point the "professionals" in the right direction. We'll see.

Sign of the 5th Dimension is on sale at Smashwords, Amazon.com, and soon at Barnes & Nobel, Sony eReader store, Apple iBooks, Kobo (formerly Shortcovers), and Diesel, in mulitple ebook formats.

http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/20793

An Old Seafood Joint

So it's been awhile since I last posted. What have I been up to? you are probably asking yourself. I've been commissioned to illustrate a children's book for a guy in Texas. He liked my "Robots" (it's one of my favorites too), and he wanted his book illustrated in that style which I was only too glad to do. I've passed the thirdway mark and am moving towards the halfway point.

This is a two-page spread from it. I used a Pigma Brush and Painter X (plus a Stanford Pencil and a Sakura eraser). I'm really pleased with how the book is turning out. It's definitely some of my best work. What do you think?

Issue 2 is Now On Sale!

A few years ago I began developing Wandering Koala as an ongoing series, then a mini-series. After I finished the first issue, I sent it to a couple of publishers who never got back to me. I had just bought myself a Kindle at the time, and I was loving it. I knew there was a way for anyone to publish a book to the Kindle, so I said to myself, "Self, why not publish your comic on the Kindle?" So I did.

My original plan was to publish one issue per month. Well, the first issue did not take off to stellar sales, and while working on the second issue, I realized the story I was telling would work better as a novel, so I turned it into a novel. I was only going to publish it electronically, but it turned out so well, I spent the money to put it into print. After that I started a series of illustrated short stories and a couple of other comic projects.

I didn't really do anything to promote the single issue of Wandering Koala vs. The Scientific Method, and I had even thought of removing it, but it kept selling, and has actually sold better than anything else I've published. So I decided to do a second issue. I wasn't very happy with how my first attempt had been going, so I decided to start from scratch. I did reuse a few panels from my first attempt, but with some serious rearrangement. I also decided to use a digest comic format, because I loved my old Richie Rich and Archie Digests I use to buy in the early 90s.

This is the first comic that I've created that actually looked like what I thought my comic would. I was so happy with the results. Of course I recognize there is room for improvement, but so many of the questions and struggles I've been having have been worked out. I can't wait to start on the next two issue story, after I finish a couple of short stories I'm nearly finished with.

The wonderful thing about publishing with Amazon Kindle is the publication is available on the Kindle, the PC, the Mac, the iPhone, the big iPhone (aka the iPad), and the iPod Touch. Android is coming soon!

You can check out a few sample pages at http://www.wanderingkoala.com/comic0001.php.

You can purchase a copy of the comic for yourself at http://www.amazon.com/Wandering-Koala-Scientific-Method-ebook/dp/B003S3S2TC/

At $1.50, it's a steal!

Paint & Photo

I like to mix photographs in with my cartoons. I have a huge library from various trips, and there are a lot of public domain images available online. I usually do some digital altering of them so they mesh well with my drawings. For example, on these three comic book pages, I used photos of the sky and space as wall paper and blurred them so they looked like prints on canvas. I think the effect was very nice, and it adds a lot of character to the images. What do you think?

These are three fully colored pages from the second issue of Wandering Koala vs. The Scientific Method. I should be finished with it in a week or so, and then I'll publish it. This is the first comic book I've done that I've really felt looked like I wanted it to; that looked like a comic book by me. I may even do more if this one sells well.

Wandering Koala vs. The Scientific Method Part 2 (in progress)

A couple of years ago or so I was working on a comic book proposal that just wasn't working. I kept trying and trying, but it wasn't getting any better. Then I remembered an idea that had been swirling around in my mind for years, and I decided to work on it. I had also been watching old Felix the Cat cartoons from the 20s (black & white and silent--they were brilliant!)

So I created a first issue, but wasn't happy with it. Then I tried starting a different story arc. I didn't even finish that issue before I realized it wasn't working. So I gave it a third try, and this time something great was happening.

I wrote and drew the first issue and sent it off to two publishers for considerations. One rejected it; the other didn't even bother replying (thanks, Dark Horse). I had just purchased a Kindle for myself and was loving it, so I decided to publish it there. I also planned to publish it on the iPhone, but that was too involved for the time.

While working on the second issue, I realized the story would work better as a novel. I had been reading a lot of great books and short stories on my Kindle which had re-kindled (pun intended) my love of reading. I had also always wanted to write and publish a novel. And I wanted a novel that was like Hardy Boy books with pictures and adventure, but written for adults and worthy of being a classic. So I decided to do it. It's called The Scientific Method (a Wandering Koala tale).

Since publishing it, I've written two and a half new short stories and published two of them. I left the first issue of the four issue mini-series up for sale, and it kept selling. So I said to myself, "Self, you should write a second issue--it's by far the most visual and works better as a comic book than a novel."

I've always wondered what a comic book by me would look like, and all my past attempts have been disappointing. This time I analyzed some of my favorite comics and what excited me about them. I also thought back to some of the best experiences I've had with comics, and some of my fondest memories. That's when I realized I loved mini-comics. Mini-comics also fit nicely on the Kindle (as another attempt Euphony in E showed). So I decided to create a mini-comic.

So I'm 13 pages into the second issue, and I'm really happy with the result. It finally looks like a comic I'm proud to sign my name to--a comic I can walk up to someone with and proudly say look what I did!

Above are three pages I was especially happy with. They still need to be colored and lettered, but I thought I'd share the black & white artwork. I'm tempted to leave the issue black & white, because I love black & white artwork so much. What do you think?