What Did I Learn?

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For What It's Worth by Steve and Dawn.

This is (sort of) an informal slice of life comic. Some of the strips are about the wild outdoors and some are not, but it strikes me as a relatively informal comic. I find it nice that it's not tied to a particular setting or characters. It allows Steve and Dawn to be drawing wisecracking birds one minute and a guy shopvacing a baby diaper in the next.

It's got the vibe of being a simple comic. But as you know, simple looking does not always mean simple to implement. I know that a great deal of mental work goes into even the simplest of layouts. And never mind the actual work of sketching it out, planning where the word balloons should go and what colors to use. A good comic LOOKS like it must have been simple to put together but probably wasn't simple in reality.

I like the humor. It's sensible and requires nothing more than an appreciation of the outdoors to enjoy it. It's relaxing and enjoyable. Even the blurb from the FWIW Comicspace page is straightforwardly about just enjoying something simple:
"Hi folks my name is Steve, I am the creator of the For What It's Worth comic strip. I'm not the best of artist, but I have fun and that's what counts.

Currently I'm coloring and posting strips I did twenty years ago as well as adding some new ones. Some of the old strips, I have updated the gag line. Soon I'll be moving to all new comics, for what it's worth."

What did I learn?
Stay true to your tone. Whether you're doing a comic based on dreamy lands of wonder or something like a gritty western, you have to stay true. FWIW stays true to its' straightforward observations on life. And just as importantly, your comic should have a feel. It should offer an experience. If it doesn't, then all the greatest technical illustrating skills won't save the comic. And that's what I think, For What It's Worth.

Next week's review: Patrick Grey.

Previous Reviews

Battlegate| Butterfly| Good Ship Chronicles| Evil, Inc.| Madscott| Jefbot| Chronicle| Sheldon| Stardrop| Theater Hopper| Knave| Lullaby| High Moon| Metadawn| Dead Days| PC Weenies| Ask Maridee | Tiny Folk | Gordian Algebra | Starslip Crisis | The Front | Coffee Time Comics | Patches | Little Creature | The Horrible Pirates | Serenity Tales | Crashlander | Girl Genius | This Is Me | Handle With Care | SuperFogeys | Copper | Eskimo Dave | Real Life | Chateau Wonderful | Count Your Sheep | Breakpoint City | Eeekeemo | Boxcar Astronaut | Zip and Li'l Bit | Wally & Osborne | Jump Leads | Dr. Sheep and the Aardvark | Station V3 | Dresden Codak | Lab Ratz | Toyzville | The Boids | Cow and Buffalo | Casey and Scotty | Just Outside | The Pretentious History of Everything | Tia's World | Quirks | Patrick Grey | For What It's Worth | The Sixth Dimension | Max and the Gorilla Goon Squad | Rainbow Orchid | Neko and Neko | Lions, Tigers and Bears | Spacequint | Lessons In Fire Safety | Corrupt Hardware | Enker's Tale | The Surreal Adventures of Edgar Allan Poo | A Rusty Life | You'll Have That | From the Margin | Jitterati

About These Reviews

I love comics and I'm always looking at how I can improve my own work by examining other creators' works. It's such a wildly diverse field that it's not advisable to make sweeping generalizations and ignore special circumstances and subjects.

There's a lot we can learn from one another. And while there are many forums where you might discuss this, I haven't found any lengthy discussion on what we can do to make our comics more successful. There are a few good books on the subject but the aspiring webcomic creator is forced to learn by sheer brute force practice how to adapt his/her personal style to the medium. This is not as efficient as it could be.

Also, there are literally thousands of webcomics but only a handful of places where you can find decent, regular reviews. The focus of my reviews will be on trying to determine what is positive, successful and worth emulating about each comic. You might even get hooked on a given comic you read about here.

You may also wonder where the 'criticism' is and where the negative things about the comics are pointed out. As a matter of fact, I did mention some dissappointing issues with layout and such in my initial reviews. I quickly came to the realization that it's easy for any viewer to know what they like and what they don't. I don't need to call extra attention to the negative. I have, on a few occasions, emailed a webcomic author with a few ideas for improvements but there's no need to make that information public.

I'm not trying to sugarcoat anything, mind you. I just wish to have an open discussion about what good comics do. Hopefully, more voices will join in.