98th Street (Every Webcomic Artist's Dream Studio)

The above picture is by Stacy Michalcewicz, portraying how a webcomic artist's studio SHOULD look like. And I am in agreement with her. You see, unlike traditional manga artists, all they need is a ton of Screen paper, ink bottles and G-Pens. Every aspect of a webcomic artist's life has a direct co-relation to something electronic.

I am still doing the old way of first inking than scanning it into the computer. For the more professional webcomic artists, all they do is to sketch on paper and ink the entire page on the Wacom, and then color it. The results are far better, and somehow they get better loved by readers... well that's not always the case. Megatokyo INSISTS on using the age-old pencil and shading techinique, and somehow, there is something charming (not spectacular) about his work that appeals to his readers. That however, doesn't mean he is free from the enclacves of technology. Take away his Powermac G4, and you pretty much taken away his life's work - that's how it is with webcomic artists.

The one thing I truly like about Michalcewicz's work is the attempts she makes to put such a futuristic and positive light to the life of a webcomic/ Digital illustrator. Why shouldn't she? Sure these guys does things for FREE, but I mean after all, these people are attempting to use the Internet as an entirely new medium to purport a new way to read comics altogether. I cannot believe however, that there are some people I know who still see webcomics like something that HAS necessarily to do with sex, porn and hentai. We are moving on! That is not to say however that webcomics hate comic books or manga books - as I said before, most webcomics see the comic book as the final stage of its evolution, that it is something it would have to be one day, either at conventions or stores, if it truly wants to be recognized by the mainstream readers.

However, what cannot be denied is a certain versatility, a certain twisted wickedness that is able to be put across in a webcomic that somehow gets lost when put in print. Of course, in the World of the Web, everything is possible, the only limits you place on yourself is the limit of your imagination and a certain government who'll be glad to chew on your butt if you get too radical and leftist.