Dear 13-15 year old sprite comic makers

Dear 13-15 year old sprite comic makers

Hey!

13-15 year old sprite comic "authors" of Sheezy Art.

I wanna have a word with you.

First, allow me to tell you about myself. I'm a 19 year old college student who makes fairly popular sprite comics. I'm no Dave of "Bob and George" fame, but I get by. I have a pretty good mastery of paint, still workin on Photoshop, and I'd say a pretty decent sense of humor. I'm not the best comic maker, but I think where I am is pretty good after doing this stuff for 4 years.

I don't say this to brag. Not at all. I'm saying this, because I want you to know that if I try giving you advice on your comic....

SHUT THE HELL UP AN LISTEN
Honestly! I'm getting so tired of this crap!

For everyone reading this who isn't one of these little pukes I'm addressing, I'll explain. While browsin Sheezy art, I go to the front page a lot. Often, I see a sprite comic. If I'm not lookin for something specific, I'll take a peek. If I see there are things the author can improve on, I let them know in a polite manner. For example, I'll say "Hey, your comic needs some work. This doesn't work to well, try doing this. And do this. And this isn't really accepted anymore, so you probably won't wanna do it."

And what happens? Well, I'll quote what I often get as a response.

"BECAUSE IM JUST STARTING IN THIS. DON'T B A JURK YOU FAGGOT DON'T FLAME PLZ"

Dear god, if I could count the times I've heard that or something similar. Look, I don't care if you wanna make a comic involving your "author" character (who is often a crappy recolor of Mega man) along with all your favorite videogame characters in a nonsense plot in which every joke involves someone being called a(n) dum/fag/gay/idiot/stupid/lolurretarted. I'm giving you advice because....can ya guess? Can ya? No? Well, I'll tell ya why.

BECAUSE YOU CAN'T MAKE A DECENT LOOKING COMIC!

That's really all it is! I've been doing this longer than you, and I know more than you do! Because every newbie does the same thing, I know what to look for.

Yeah, I know what to look for! Believe me, common mistakes become plainly obvious and are just eyesores when you've done this as long as I have. I'll tell you everything I can think of right now that you wanna avoid while you make a comic.

1) Use backgrounds-
-Two toned backgrounds with a black horizontal line hardly look good. If you can't customize your own background, then go to a background website! They exist, and hard to find!
2) Use actual jokes-
-Threatening to kill a character randomly and then when they "coward in fear due to your might" you calling them a coward; that isn't comedy.
3) Take longer than 15 minutes-
-I know sprite comics number in the thousands due to the ease of their creation, but you'll notice that most good ones take a while to make. Hell, it can take me up to an hour to put them together sometimes. Sheezy art is an art website, and it didn't take DaVinci 15 minutes to paint the Mona Lisa!
4) Be original!-
Don't, for the love of god, copy your jokes from anything else. You can try to pass if off as a "tribute" but it's really just bullshit. Why would people wanna see the same joke twice; and it won't help if your comic is of lower quality than that which you stole the joke from.

And finally...for the love of god...

5) DO NOT TRY TO PASS RECOLORS OFF AS ORIGINAL CHARACTERS-
-Color Mega Man red, he's still Mega Man. Color Mega Man Green, he's still Mega Man. You can color him EVERY GODAMN COLOR OF THE RAINBOW, and guess what. HE'S STILL MEGA MAN! Recolor's can never be original because you put no actual effort into their creation! You swapped the colors! There is NO TALENT INVOLVED! And DON'T even think about touching that Invert option. That makes it even worse!

There are so many things I could mention, but these are the most common.


Now, obviously, a lot of people do these, and will continue to do them regardless of reading this. But know what? That's ok. You keep making your crappy little comics. But keep all this on your mind. Think of it next time you take that Sonic sprite and recolor him Green.

Know what the next thought you think will be?

"Hmm...Maybe I should try editing him further"

And that's what I'm lookin for. You don't need to be perfect. All I want is for you to be willing to improve. That will make me just....so happy.






Oh, and one more thing. If you are currently guilty of ANY thing I mentioned here, please do not go to OTHER comics that are on the same level and go "GREAT JOB!" Please, you're encouraging mediocrity.