State of the forum - what do you like/dislike?

Fysh

Hello all,

The forum has seen a gradual increase in the amount of discussions over the last six months, which is good. Part of the reason for that has been a steady stream of new arrivals, which is also good, and something that I hope will continue.

With that in mind, I'd like to take stock of what you think about the forum. We've got a links & resources sticky, an artist/writer request sticky, the Comic Challenge is still going strong, and there are plans afoot to create some more detailed tutorials on the various aspects of making and publishing comics. So I think the basics are covered.

I want to know what sort of things would you like the forum to have that it doesn't already have. Are there things about the forum as it stands now that you don't like? If so, what are they, and do you have any suggestions on what we can do to change them?

Lone Stone

I have always been a lurker more than a poster on these forums,
i never really posted anything here as it seems to be more a discussion for people into there comics and comic lore etc rather than a creative comic forum for people to create and show off there comics i think a forum for showing off peoples own work instead of discussing published work would be a nice forum/sub forum. I love the comic challenge work but i dont think its done justice being kept in a sticky :eek:

Fysh

I would very much like to have a creative sub-forum or at least a separate section to stick all the threads and discussions about the process of making comics, but we have to show numbers to get a subforum created. There are a lot of fora on the boards that are created due to people getting an initial show of hands but who then don't back it up. I think the Comic Challenge would probably count as proof that there's a lasting interest in making comics on the forum, but the more people who will post to back up the suggestion, the more likely we'll be to get it.

So, any lurkers out there who'd like to see an illustration & sequential art forum or a creative sub-forum to the comics board, post a reply to say so. Once we get, say, ten people on board I'll start a thread in the forum requests forum.

Any other suggestions? Perhaps inter-fora collaboration with the Creative Writing, Digital Art & Design, Photography or Arts & Crafts fora? (I'm not sure how it might work, as the attempt we made with the Comic Challenge didn't really take off, but if people want it we can try it).

Lone Stone

If you build it ........they will come !

livingtargets

yeah,I`d love to see something more on the creative and self-publishing side of comics here,if we could.
but is a seperate forum really needed?

Luke f ( http://lukefcomics.blogspot.com/ )

Fysh

I think a separate forum is a good idea because it means you don't have to lump stuff together. If I could, I'd rather let the Comic Challenge have one stickied post with links to each entry and split off the discussions of each round into their own thread so that they could have a poll to go with them for people to vote on their favourite entry and so on. But you get a lot of clutter in the forum that way. Same with artist requests or people posting up their website links or examples of their artwork.

If you look at the structure the Millarworld forum has, for example, they've got a comics discussion forum with a sub-forum for creative stuff that has regular write-offs (like the comic challenge but for writing full-length comic scripts) as well as loads of artists regularly posting "art dumps" for people to comment and review. I'd like to see more of that here but it would need its own place to really be able to breathe.

livingtargets

You`re right,there.
I say go ahead with it then!
Sounds deadly

Luke f ( http://lukefcomics.blogspot.com/ )

Lone Stone

Well if they gave the people a "zombie survival" forum i dont see why we cant get a comic showcase type of forum for budding irish artists

I know some people who may take part in it and show of some of there comics from college either way il be posting up some comics ive messed around with if we get it to help kick it off.

Fysh

Alright gang, I've requested a sub-forum for us. Now I need as many of ye as possible to post your support in that thread, to show that there's an audience for the forum. I've PM'd the mods for Digital Art & Design, Art & Architecture, and Anime & Manga to ask them to post announcements linking to the thread, but in the meantime get anyone you know who'd be interested to post in that thread. If you post in other fora regularly, sticking a link in your sig would be another helpful way of drawing attention to the request.

Uncle Spunk

Yeah we definitely need a sub forum. All these lame 'What superhero are you?'
and 'I love the Hulk movie' posts should be separate from the serious business of comic creation and bigging me up.

Somebody big me up please.

Fysh

Bob, if I spent any more time bigging you up round here I'd be your bitch. And brilliant though I think you are, I'd rather not have to be bummed to prove it.

As for the sub-forum, I need you lot to go to this thread and post in it to voice your support.

Fysh

Success! We have our sub-forum, which if you're too lazy to go back to the Arts category dropdown, you can find here. I'll be moving relevant threads over this evening, but in the meantime, yay!