Some odd webcomic help is needed

[Halo2994]

Hey guys, I need your opinions on something.

A couple of years ago I thought it would be fun to write a comedy story about a group of D&D character. I wrote this in the format of a screenplay and posted it on the Wizards of the Coast message boards 1 scene at a time for a period of a couple of months.

At the time I had just discovered the joy of 8-bit theater and thought it would be cool to sort of pay tribute to my inspiration and use a few elements of 8bit in my script.

First off; I didn’t give the characters names, but rather I simply called them by their classes.

Second off; since it was written like a script and since I still wanted to show off my fandom I named my work…Dungeon Theater. It seemed fitting.

But here is the problem. It got rather popular. And random people still ask me about it on the internet over 2 years after I did it.

Now (for not the first time) people started suggesting that I do a webcomic about it.
For the longest time I didn’t even consider that a possibility, but now I am already doing a webcomic called Outside the Sphere (check my sig) so I am strongly considering doing it.

But I have very few artistic skills, so OtS uses sprites a drew in MS Paint. Which is fine for OtS, but it accrued to me that if I made DT into a webcomic I would have a sprite based webcomic that is based off a fantasy RPG where the characters are named after their classes….sound familiar?

I’m not trying to rip 8 - Bit Theater off, but I am worried that is what it would look like if I went though with this.

What do you guys think I should do?

-halo

[gurusloth]

Well, first off, is there any reason you couldn't just give the characters names? That right there would help to differentiate your story from Brian's.

Second, I looked at OtS, and it doesn't really come off as a sprite comic. It just seems like a comic that was drawn in MS Paint and uses the same poses a lot. If you are planning to use a similar style for Dungeon Theater, then I don't think it'll be a big deal.

Alternatively, you could hunt around for someone on the web to do illustrations for you. It seems like there are always a lot of artists looking to do some pro bono work that they can put on their resume, and if your comic is successful (i.e. makes money) then they have some monetary incentive to keep helping you. Obviously this option would be a lot more work for you, but I'm of the opinion that having a hand-drawn comic would set you apart from the crowd a bit more.

And, finally, the last similarity you mentioned, the name Dungeon Theater. Admittedly, it does cause one to think of 8-bit Theater somewhat, especially if you are a regular reader of 8-bit. I'd say, if you don't want to change the name of the comic (and I'd assume you'd want to leave it, for name-recognition purposes), just don't sweat it and let it slide. At worst, people will think it's an homage to Brian's comic, and if your comic is funny and good and different from 8-bit, then I don't think you'll have a problem.

P.S. You could also try e-mailing Brian and explaining your situation, just to make sure there are no perceived slights.

[Halo2994]

i was thinking that a including a page where i talk about the history of Dungeon Theater and why there is so much in common with 8-bit theater and how it was never even ment to be a webcomic would solve most of my problems.

but i wanted to make sure first.

-halo

[Seran]

Huh. Makes me think of Order of the Stick.

Aherm! Well, we all love 8-Bit Theatre, that is highly understandable. If a stranger were to glance between the two, however, and attempt to judge which came off the other, it's always good to specify the date of what was started and when an update would be added. This way a stranger of the Internet and the two webcomics could see which came off the other. Since your comic still maintains its own different style, you can't be accused of being a cheap guy who just rips off other work. You put effort into it yourself, it's your thing, and no one can blame you. As for improvements and suggestions -- or suggestions and improvements, either way -- if you feel you can't do well on your own, seek out a person or two to help. Find someone to do the art for you if you must. Find someone to help you with the comedy if you must. Just make sure that they're good people who aren't like Chancellor Ursurper and would be willing to become something like close partners or friends to you.

A History page would be greatly recommended.

[Loyal]

Find someone to do the art for you if you must.Bad idea, unless the artist is involved contractually or is nearby where you operate in real life (a close friend, a relative, etc). Otherwise it becomes hard to maintain a schedule.

Even then, the quality in general is going to drop, because you have one guy trying to make pretty graphics of something someone else wrote, which means that more often than not, the comic visuals are going to be distinctly different from what the writer wanted it to be. This can cause either a falling out of sorts, or can force the writer to change his script to better fit the graphics.

Using sprites is perfectly acceptable, so long as you can edit them to make them look like unique characters. Using Pixel art is also good, as it adds a certain rough uniqueness to the art. Which is a good thing.