Make a Media Kit for Your Webcomic or Blog
By Tracy on February 9th, 2010Posted In: Blog
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WARNING: THIS BLOG IS FULL OF ADVICE.
Well, How-To's, Hacks, and General Discussion, really; but also alot of guidance on how to do things, and on what not to do. It's what I've learned, and what I'm sharing with you.
Much of it is solid. The rest requires more be said. Please weigh what you learn here with other insights to see what works best for you. Thank you.
For more tips and tutorials, see: http://www.reddit.com/r/makecomics
During your marketing efforts it may become necessary to use a media kit capture the attention of those who have the power to reach mass audiences, or mass audiences themselves.
Media kits are a great way to provide relevant, useful information about your site, quickly, conveniently, and with minimal time.
As an online publisher, your media kit can be a single page on your site, such as the ‘About’ page from which you can easily take information for marketing activities such as listing your site on directories, or directing curious people who want to know more.
A media kit for a webcomic or blog should include the following:
• Your site’s logo.
• A banner or button. (See here for standard sizes and here for how to make one).
• Your site’s tagline (50 characters or less).
• A fact sheet. A Fact Sheet states quick facts about your Website. Facts such as: how long your Website has been in operation, the demographics of your audience, and what exactly it is that you do. The fact sheet should be no more than one page in length. It should be organized in a way that allows readers to quickly scan and decimate information to get a general overview of your site. The fact sheet is not the place for “fluff,” sales pitches, or brilliant PR writing. If your media kit is smothered in sales pitches and fluff, it won’t be taken seriously – and neither will anything you say on behalf of your website. A fact sheet may also take the form of a synopsis that is ideally no more than 250 characters in length.
• 3 samples of your content. (i.e.: cartoons / or excerpts of your articles).
• Your contact information.
Even if you do not opt to make a media kit for your site it is highly recommended that you have all or some of the above information displayed somewhere ‘about’ it.
1 Comment
First off, it’s okay to have a hard time with drawing hands and arms. They often take a lot of practice and observation to get right but can be mastered with practice.
The body is made up of basic shapes. The hand can either be a circle or a square and the fingers be ovals or lines. The arm is a cylinder or rectangle that may be divided into two parts by an angle to show the upper arm, elbow and lower arm.
A quick tip is to look at your own hands when drawing. Pose your hand in the way you would like to draw it, then draw what you see.
In cartoon art, normal human characters often either have the regular amount of digits (4 fingers and a thumb) or 3 fingers and a thumb. Where relevant, draw the angles that indicate the presence of the knuckles and wrists even if you do not draw the fingernails. Palm lines should be included and at the very least be shown as the curve of the thumb and the line under the fingers.
Remember, the more realistic that your drawing is the more detailed your hands and arms will be.
Doodle some hands and arms and work on your proportions and positioning. Don’t shortcut on effort to get these right and remember too that the more you practice, the better you become.
