I have a set of novels I'm writing, and want to handle one arc of the many within its canon as a webcomic, but have really no idea how to go about creating a webcomic or anything.

Any advice?

look into how to convey information, expressions, and events in comic format -- it's a lot of different little changes that you don't expect to have to wrap your head around. things are simplified and have to be made so that with every panel you can understand whats going on, and your eye is drawn to what's important. another thing is scheduling -- work with what time you have available, but don't set it down, because you're gonna want to keep it going and keep improving your skills as a bonus. decide that you're going to put out a page every monday, or every tuesday and thursday, or every two weeks, or every month, depending on the effort it takes to get it done and the time you have, but once you have that schedule, don't let it slip. (it's okay to adjust it as needed, but make that as concrete as the first schedule! don't do exceptions, just adjustments.)

otherwise, good luck! as a person who writes books and also makes webcomics i can tell you it's a very fun, enjoyable, and growing transition. just make sure u understand how to convey what you want by images and the slightest bit of dialogue

CHOSE. A. SIMPLE. STYLE. The fun of making a web comic gets old fast. If you're going to put in a lot of work, you want it to be easy work for you. Chose a simple/easy to draw style that's still appealing and fun for you.

1. Draw a lot. And I mean A LOT. Don't worry about developing an original style. That comes in fairly late.
2. As with all things in life, don't overthink it. Do your best & let the rest go.
3. Don't try to set up a strict upload schedule. Just post whenever you have something.
4. Don't limit yourself to the existing examples of successful webcomics.
5. Don't look at visitor statistics. Don't think about visitor statistics. Don't acknowledge the existence of visitor statistics.
6. Try to have fun.

Here is my list of things that web comic noobs don't even think about until after they have jumped into web comic hell. (Based on personal experience.)

The list got a little long, but I promise it's helpful! These are things that I wish people had told me before I started.

Thank you for posting the video, for the whole post in general, but i was needing THAT video in my life.

That video honestly saved my life a while back! I'm so glad it can be helpful to others as well.

And I'm glad that my other tips are helpful too! Of course you don't have to take all of them to heart if you find that something works for you despite it being the opposite of anything I mentioned~

There's a good few tips in this thread, but your chunk of info was extremely helpful. You did manage to hit a few that I hadn't thought about yet. I've been trying to get myself to finally dive into one of the several stories I want to tell. This helps give me a bit of a new direction as I get overwhelmed when I look at doing...the giant 'to-do' list that is in front of me.

Now to just decide which story will be told first. OTL Thank you regardless though for sharing. :3

Hope it's okay if I throw in some thoughts from the reader's perspective. Two things I really value as a reader from a webcomic artist/author are consistency and communication.

So, I actually somewhat disagree on the advice to not have a strict uploading schedule. When you're inconsistent with your uploads, I start losing faith in the webcomic. Is it actually really going to be able to continue, especially all the way to completion? If not, why should I even bother getting emotionally invested in the story? It's totally fine to not upload every week; you can do biweekly, monthly, bimonthly, whatever works for you. Just try to be consistent.

That being said, there are definitely ways to mitigate this. First, communication. Let the readers know in advance if you won't be able to meet deadlines, e.g. schoolwork, going on hiatus, etc. A defined time period is excellent if you know and can keep to it (e.g. 6 month hiatus, x amount of time when semester is over) but not totally necessary. Hiatuses seem to be better received when they come at a "season finale"/natural pause as opposed to randomly in the middle of the storyline. Periodic updates during hiatuses are also very much appreciated because it lets readers know you're still there and still care about continuing.

Second, I've seen several authors stockpile a bunch of chapters before they start releasing. Depending on your schedule and time it takes to finish chapters, this can help with a consistent schedule in the early phase of a webcomic.

All the other advice is fantastic, especially for preventing burnout, which is super important for your own health and sanity (webcomics are a lot of work!), but just thought it might be helpful to reiterate some perspective from the other side as well. :)

I meant to reply to you sooner but got super caught up in stuff.

First of all, thank you! I'm glad that my advice can be seen as helpful and I really hope that it does help you.

There are a few more points I wanted to toss into this thread while I'm at it and that's

1. If your comic is intended for the web specifically, take advantage of that if you can! Small amounts of animation can sometimes really add to your comic. Online comics also come in many formats and it's good to figure out the type of format you want to use before jumping in too deep.

2. Sometimes the best way to figure something out is to get a board or big paper and write a whole bunch of ideas down. maybe even on sticky notes so you can rearrange them. This is more for writing advice but it's honestly great for comics since half of comics IS writing.

3. Speaking of writing, it IS good to have a script beforehand like I mentioned. But it's alright to stray away from that script as long as you know it's heading in the intended direction. Try to keep track of what you're doing to avoid plot holes. I personally find what I alter the most is the dialogue because it doesn't always come as naturally for me until I've drawn the actual page.

4. If you EVER think you're going to print your comic as a book. Draw it in at least 150 dpi. Many people tend to use 300 dpi. If you try to change the dpi after the image is complete then it will look terrible.

And as a closing note, do look at web comics that are successful! Go to sites like tapastic and see what makes the front page. Look at what those comics have in common. You may see tons of things that I failed to even mention. Don't straight up copy other web comic artists, but learn from their methods.