Webcomics Confidential: Reusing Sketches
It’s possible to speed up your drawing process without becoming one of those “copy/paste” artists. Here’s a guide to working smarter — and faster.
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September To-Do List
It’s September, and the kids are returning to school. This is great if you’re a webcartoonist because that means they’re returning to reading webcomics from school.
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Some brilliant marketing advice — and a warning
A thread in the r/Entrepreneur subreddit titled “What’s the ONE marketing strategy/tactic that drastically increased your revenue?” offered the following excellent advice:
“People buy on emotion and justify it with logic”.
— Dconny1
This maxim is explained further in the discussion. It’s worth taking a few seconds to understand this idea completely.
You sell people things by appealing to their most basic lizard-brain level emotions. things like; being rich, showing off, fitting in, being popular, being loved, providing for close ones” but also the opposite of that; fear of missing out, fear of loneliness, embarrassment. like really fundamental level emotions
The opening lines of copy make the reader feel those emotions and provide the solution (to gain the benefits or avoid the bad things). If it’s done right, the reader will already have decided to buy the thing (based on emotions). the rest of the copy that follows is giving them logical reasons to explain to themselves why they can justify getting it (and for the price it’s sold at).
One basic example is big-name car brands like Mercedes. you buy a Mercedes because then you get to drive a Mercedes, which is an emotional decision. But all the fancy bits and bobbles are the “logic” that is used to justify getting a Mercedes, even though other, cheaper, cars do the same thing.
And all the logical explanations and features put in are perfectly true, and rational people will decide to buy it based on those features. But to actually get them to read the copy you want to get them excited/invested into reading it in the first place.
— Chiron42
Let’s talk about how we can use that advice in promoting our webcomics.
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ComicLap Ep 545 — How to Succeed at San Diego Comic-Con
Today’s show is brought to you by Hogan’s Alley, the fantastic magazine devoted to comics history, cartoonists, and the art form we love. Visit HoganMag.com and use the discount code COMICLAB10 for 10% off.
Dave Kellett is back from San Diego Comic-Con 2026, and he brought receipts! After 27 years of exhibiting at the show, Dave just had his best Comic-Con ever — including an absolutely bonkers $6,000 Sunday.
But a big gross number doesn’t necessarily mean a big payday. Brad and Dave dig into the actual economics of exhibiting at one of the world’s biggest conventions: booth fees, sales tax, travel, merchandise, lost studio time, and the advantages Dave has because he lives within driving distance of San Diego. After roughly $19,600 in gross sales, Dave estimates his actual profit at about $11,000.
Then, they get into the stuff you can actually use at your next convention:
- Track your sales throughout the day
- When sales slow down, get active
- Use drawing as theater
- Pay attention to your product mix
- Think about revenue per square inch
- Let the market prune your merchandise
- Your merchandise should say something about the buyer — not about you
SPONSORED BY HOGAN’S ALLEY
This week’s episode is sponsored by Hogan’s Alley, the fantastic magazine devoted to comics history, cartoonists, and the art form we love.
Visit HoganMag.com and use the discount code COMICLAB10 for 10% off.
MORE COMIC-CON ADVICE ON PRO TIPS
Dave had another 15–20 Comic-Con topics he wanted to cover, so we’re continuing the conversation on ComicLab Pro Tips with a deeper dive into conventions, exhibiting, merchandising, and Dave’s approach to making a convention financially worthwhile. To hear those episodes, join us at Patreon.com/ComicLab.
Webcomics Confidential: Before You Launch Your Kickstarter…
Before you launch your Kickstarter — whether it’s your first one or your tenth one — there’s a few things you should make sure you take a few things into consideration…
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What to post in your newsletter
Webcartoonists have re-discovered newsletters, and they’re flocking to the platforms like Ghost, Substack, and Beehiiv. But setting up a newsletter account is easy. Figuring out what to publish there… isn’t.
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Support-Based Crowdfunding vs. Exclusives
A while ago, a comics artist decided to remove the paywall for their Patreon campaign, asking instead that people view the previously exclusive content and support the artist if they like what they see. Predictably, this had disastrous results.
The content you are trying to access is only available to members.ComicLab Ep 453 — Special Guest Fran Sundblad, creator of “Tiff & Eve”
Cartoonist Fran Sundblad, creator of Tiff & Eve, joins Brad for a wide-ranging conversation about creating character-driven comics, finding an audience on Reddit, and learning when not to chase the algorithm.
Fran traces Tiff & Eve from its beginnings in her sketchbook to a comic that regularly reaches thousands of readers. She explains how Tiff and Eve represent two very different impulses — Tiff as the superego and Eve as the id — and shares a terrific character-development exercise: Lock your character in a room and ask what they do next. If you don’t know the answer, you probably don’t know the character well enough yet.
Fran and Brad also talk about finding humor in the characters themselves rather than building every strip around a traditional punchline. That approach has helped Tiff & Eve explore Fran’s experiences as a trans woman while remaining first and foremost a funny comic about two friends.
Find Fran Sundblad and Tiff & Eve:
- Website: FranSundblad.com
- Bluesky / Instagram: @TiffAndEveComics
- Reddit: u/CrazyGnomenclature
- Sunday Comix: https://sundaycomix.com/
How to find an artist to collaborate with
Finding an artist to collaborate with can be challenging, but there are several ways to go about it strategically.
Webcomics Confidential: What does success look like?
Before you can hope to succeed, you need to define what Success means to you. We’ll talk about how to define your success.
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