Comic Lab cover art

All Episodes

Comic Lab — 449 episodes

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Title
1

Special Guest Dylan Meconis

2

What's the Best Business Model for Comics?

3

Why Some Punchlines Don’t Land

4

Never Outsource Your Vision

5

Surviving Your Own Success

6

Exclamation points!!!

7

Alaska Comics Camp 2026

8

Hiring a Social Media Manager

9

Quiet on the set!

10

Is the comic strip dead?

11

Keeping it Short — Making a Living 40 Pages at a Time

12

Writing Funny Words Funnily

13

Nobody Has Ever Made a Living in Comics

14

I've got an audience... now what do I DO with them??

15

Reclaiming Our Power

16

Making a Splash (Page) in Comics

17

I've been framed! (...in a gallery)

18

Work-Life Balance

19

How to Start a Webring

20

How to Make Friends and Influence People. And Cartoonists.

21

Concept vs. Conceit — Why Some Comic Ideas Take Off (and Others Stall)

22

Special Guest Dylan Meconis — How to Color Comics with Physical Media

23

Comics Will Break Your Heart (And So Will Dating)

24

Nothing to Fear but Fear Itself. And Kickstarter Scams

25

The Readership of Theseus

26

Five Lessons from a Publisher in Crisis

27

Should you judge a book by its cover?

28

How to Start a Webcomic in 2026

29

Why don't you do MORE?!?

30

Predictions and Goals for 2026

31

2025 in Review — Predictions and Goals

32

Print on Demand... When There's No Demand

33

Special Guest Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott from "Baby Blues"

34

What's the Best Platform for Audience Building?

35

Color Commentary — Can You Succeed with a Black-and-White Comic?

36

Love it... Hate it... Reddit

37

Wobbly Legs

38

Kickstarter: What's Working and What's Not

39

Special Guest Cathy Guisewite

40

Lost in Translation

41

How to Get Your Comic Started

42

Special Guest Chuck Dillon

43

Our List of "Must-Read" Comics

44

Becoming a Comics Publisher

45

Dave and Brad review the NCS Conference and Reuben Awards in Boston

46

ComicLab LIVE at the National Cartoonists Society

47

Shouts and whispers

48

Dave Kellett's Comic-Con Report

49

Special Guests Greg and Karen Evans Celebrate 40 Years of Luann

50

ComicLab Celebrates 400 Episodes

51

What if You Won the Lottery?

52

I Need an Art Style — Quick!

53

Perfecting Your Perfectionism

54

Whose House Are You In?

55

I Met My Hero and They're a Zero

56

Special Guests Ryan North and Gillian Goerz

57

Special Guest Lucy Knisley

58

Special Guest: Jarad Greene

59

Alaska Comics Camp

60

How to fight loneliness all by yourself

61

How to improve SEO for webcomics

62

The Eyes Have It

63

Who are you? What do you do? Why should I care?

64

Special Guest Scott C

65

Pixels aren't permanent

66

Narration or Dialogue?

67

Paint the Wall Red: Conjuring Creativity

68

Autobiohazard: Drawing the Line Between Fact and Fiction

69

"I have a useless degree... and I love it!"

70

Running gag ... or running out of steam?

71

Big Number Thinking

72

Verbal vs. Visual

73

Happily Writing Tragedy

74

Webcomics Revenue Streams Ranked Best to Worst

75

The Information We Share — And Why We Shouldn't

76

"F*** me! That actually worked!"

77

Business Advice: Embrace Discomfort

78

How to start a webcomic in 2025

79

Introducing: The Wrong Way!

80

Social Media: Business or Pleasure?

81

Predictions and goals for 2025

82

2024 in Review

83

How can comics reach kids?

84

Maybe You're Not Funny

85

In over my head

86

A minor problem with a comics major

87

Nobody believes I'm a cartoonist

88

Your content is not your community

89

Let's talk about your bits and pieces

90

New ways to make an old mistake

91

Should your readers be your writers?

92

"Help! I'm not funny anymore!"

93

Innovation fascination

94

Dave's New Bucket List

95

Our Review of the National Cartoonists Society conference and Reuben Awards

96

ComicLab LIVE at the National Cartoonists Society conference and Reuben Awards, Part Two

97

ComicLab LIVE at the National Cartoonists Society conference and Reuben Awards, Part One

98

Make it work, make it right, make it fast

99

Patreon and the iOS app

100

Kickstarter mistake — confusing rewards with add-ons

101

Special Guest Co-Host Kevin McShane

102

Special Guest Co-Host Scott Kurtz — How to make a graphic novel

103

How to use a sketchbook

104

How to get better faster and faster better

105

How to get subscribers on Substack

106

When to throw in the towel

107

How to raise your rates on Patreon

108

Special guest Asia Simone

109

How to build an audience on Substack

110

Are dad jokes ~bad~ jokes?

111

It's Friday — am I famous yet?

112

They can't all be winners

113

Survivorship Bias

114

Are we 'there' yet?

115

How much story is too much story?

116

Social media is dead... now what?

117

Building traffic vs building audience

118

Special guest Dave Blazek

119

Special Guest Jason Chatfield

120

How to maximize creativity

121

Rebranding

122

How to find the perfect pen name

123

Stretching yourself thin

124

Special Guest Scott Kurtz and "Tables Titans Club"

125

Are you using the wrong tool for the job?

126

Using animation to promote

127

Can you make a living in comics?

128

Shopping for Success

129

Fifty is nifty

130

How to Write a Short Story

131

Rethinking Outreach in 2024

132

How to get started in comics, 2024 edition

133

Predictions and goals for 2024

134

Brad learns to share

135

2023 — The Year in Review

136

Where do you get ideas? Recorded live at the NCS Rueben Weekend

137

We hate Patreon's Free Membership Tier

138

Declaring organizational bankrupcy

139

Does your comic have an expiration date?

140

"Critique my work for only a dollar!"

141

Parasocial parables

142

The New Patreon: The Good, The Bad, and That Logo

143

A sexy, sexy defense of the Ninth Art

144

Is syndication dead?

145

Special guest Jamar Nicholas

146

The NCS Reuben Awards Week

147

LIVE from the Reuben Awards — with special guests Sarah Andersen and Jason Chatfield

148

Are you too old to start in comics?

149

How do I decide between writing and drawing?

150

The Thanos Snap

151

THe Wisdom of Small Mistakes

152

Did manga win comics?

153

San Diego Comic-Con recap

154

"You talked me out of a mistake, and I'd like to get back to making it as soon as possible"

155

Too may SHOULDs!

156

Pulling at Threads

157

A Comic-Con about... comics?!?

158

Special Guest Phil Foglio

159

Using the Patreon plug-in on your website

160

How to learn storytelling

161

"I have a website... now what do I DO with it??"

162

When readers attack... each other!

163

Surviving the churn

164

How to Build an Audience

165

Could OnlyFans be a Patreon alternative?

166

Crushing a kid's dreams

167

Publishing two versions of the same book?

168

Let's talk "comics" — literally

169

The novelty of Artificial Intelligence

170

Losing confidence ... and leveling up

171

Special guests Elizabeth Pich & Jonathan Kunz ("War and Peas")

172

Practicing to be a pro... or a pro practicing?

173

Special guest Karl Kerschl ("The Abominable Charles Christopher")

174

Special guest Lar deSouza ("Least I Could Do" and "Looking for Group")

175

Special guest Caitlin McGurk (The Billy Ireland Cartoon Library and Museum)

176

Nobody does thumbnails

177

Should I be embarrassed about my floppy?

178

Special Guest Scott Kurtz ("PvP")

179

Enshittification

180

Special Guest Kevin McShane ("Kevin Comics")

181

Special guest David Betancourt, comics-culture reporter with The Washington Post

182

Special Guest Ellen Woodbury of "Pizza Cake Comics"

183

How to turn OFF creativity

184

Special Guest: Dr. Joe Sutliff Sanders

185

LIVE at the Charles M. Schulz Museum

186

Predictions for 2023

187

2022 - Nailed it or Failed it?

188

What if I succeed...?

189

Webcomics nostalgia

190

Special Guest Bill Barnes talks about A.I. comics

191

Does this joke have the legs to become a running gag?

192

Print on Demand

193

The Social Contract between Comics Creators and Readers

194

Twitter comes Tumblr-ing Down

195

Stop me before I post again!

196

Battling Impostor Syndrome

197

BeReal... will it change social media?

198

Everything old is new again

199

Looking forward to flashbacks

200

Feeling a little Ziggy

201

Has Publishing Become Vanity Press?

202

The Butso Method of writing

203

Marketing with feeling

204

Have we become the people we fought?

205

When a Passive Revenue Stream is "Set it and regret it"

206

"I made a plagiarism — but I LIKE it... can I KEEP it??"

207

San Diego Comic Con review

208

"My friends won't buy my comics!"

209

The Decoy Effect

210

What if practice DOESN'T make progress?

211

We need to talk about Webtoons

212

Word balloon aesthetics

213

"Why won't the world let me be awesome?"

214

NFTs ... They keep stepping on the same landmine!

215

Hostage-holding for fun and profit

216

Ending a comic after 25 years

217

"Help! I used a digital brush and now I'm not an artist anymore!"

218

Haunted by Impostor Syndrome

219

"I can't make time for Patreon rewards!"

220

"Do I really need fans?"

221

Our Biggest Mistakes

222

Balancing storytelling and personal taste

223

Livestreaming

224

Nine Patreon Mistakes that are Costing You Money

225

"I've tried nothing, and it isn't working!"

226

Exclusive is not forever

227

How to Build Narrative Tension

228

How to write a good book title

229

These flipping comics are making me crazy!

230

Long term success with short comic stories?

231

The Bad Tweets Game

232

Gumroad's NFT problem

233

Social Media is Making Me Crazy

234

Is fanart legal?

235

Predictions for 2022

236

Kickstarter's blockchain announcement

237

Making NSFW Comics with Special Guest Erika Moen

238

Planning Out 2022

239

Drawing naked

240

Happy holidays!

241

A Nice Gesture

242

Composing scenes

243

Book-signing blues

244

Drawing challenges

245

Writing Character Motivations: Wants vs Needs

246

Is Netflix the goal?

247

Rekindling an old flame

248

Start with a website

249

20 Comics Commandments

250

How to find an audience for a longform comic

251

Death and Comics

252

How to Beat Writer's Block

253

Will Substack change comics?

254

Kickstarter — What's working and what's not

255

Beginnings and Endings

256

Email newsletter management

257

The ideal career path for comics

258

Juggling multiple projects

259

Exhibiting at your first comic con

260

Finding your voice as a writer

261

Pride and Joy

262

The Pulitzer No-Prize for Editorial Cartooning

263

What's your elevator pitch?

264

Delaying gratification

265

Accepting Criticism

266

2014 - the most important year in webcomics

267

Impostor Syndrome

268

Brad Guigar is a TikTok star

269

Don't get distracted!

270

Seeing your comics in other media

271

Dividing a graphic novel into story beats

272

Many Legs Under the Table

273

Special Guest Nick Seluk

274

Launching a new comic... how to get started

275

Who were the cartoonists who wrote you a map for your career?

276

Special Guest Tauhid Bondia

277

Patreon Power Hour

278

NFTs for comics?

279

Craptastic to Fantastic

280

Mirror Research vs Market Research

281

Comics history

282

An Artist's Job vs their Goal

283

How To Get Lucky

284

Creative Motivation

285

The Best Advice we Never Wanted

286

Self-Publishing a Book

287

Planning Out 2021

288

Paying it Forward

289

Slice of Life Comics

290

The Best of ComicLab 2020

291

Making 2021 a Success

292

What's in a name?

293

Beginner's Guide: How to Start Your Own Webcomic

294

And That's Why I Self-Publish

295

Blessings in disguise

296

Writing Comedy: Do You Choose the Dark Side or the Light Side?

297

What does it mean to be a "cartoonist" in today's world?

298

How to build an audience on social media

299

Is it OK to use photo reference?

300

How to be a good mentor

301

Special Guest Keith Knight

302

What's in a (domain) name?

303

Nobody wants to hear "Support Me on Patreon"

304

Artisting hurdles

305

Special Guest Erika Moen discusses mental health

306

Setting an emotional hook

307

Plagiarism

308

Patreon Annual Membership

309

Is a black-and-white comic still viable?

310

Finding other cartoonists in your region

311

Running a Virtual Comic Convention

312

How do you do an empathy?

313

The 8-Pages Rule

314

Creating your own Writers' Room

315

Special Guest Terry Blas

316

What's in a name? Cartoonist, creator, comics artist...?

317

Special Guest Gloria Calderón Kellett

318

2020 Goals Revisited

319

Special Guest Scott Kurtz

320

Special Guest Karla Pacheco

321

Is Art School Worth It?

322

Special Guest Cat Farris

323

Supportive Life Partners

324

Lore Olympus vs Webtoons

325

The Best Software for Publishing Webcomics

326

What's the word on word balloons?

327

Special Guest Gale Galligan

328

Comics Under Quarantine

329

Special Guest Karl Kerschl

330

Special Guest Lar deSouza

331

Managing a long-distance collaboration

332

Kickstarter workers vote to unionize

333

Coronavirus, conventions and cartoonists in crisis

334

Patreon Capital — is it predatory lending?

335

Have you ever wanted to quit?

336

What are the top three strips of all time?

337

Changing gears on Patreon

338

Submitting work to the Eisners

339

Finding a mentor

340

Should you build your audience on Webtoons?

341

Live by the platform, die by the platform

342

Buying advertising

343

The Best Of 2019

344

Hand lettering

345

Autobiographical comics

346

Hiring an editor

347

Special Guest Beth Reidmiller

348

Patreon Assembly

349

Pro Tips Sample!

350

Who Can Save a Stumbling Kickstarter?

351

Special Guest Tom Richmond

352

Commission accomplished!

353

Pandering ...or Positioning?

354

Social media has evolved... have you?

355

New to ComicLab?

356

Kickstarter's anti-union policies

357

ComicLab enamel pins!

358

Analysis Paralysis

359

One-, Three-, and Five-Year Plans

360

Ensure killed my pappy

361

Branding happiness

362

Finding the Funny

363

Tell us your First Time Story (printing books, that is)

364

What do you want to be remembered for?

365

A typical day in the studio

366

Launching a webcomic for the very first time

367

Dave's Comic Con International recap

368

If social media delivers only 1% engagement, what's the point?

369

Getting better engagement on social media

370

Special Guest Dylan Meconis

371

Father's Day thoughts

372

The menace of Arrival Fallacy

373

Choosing a title for your comic

374

LIVE! from NCSFest

375

Live from Dave's living room

376

Special guest David Malki shares his writing process

377

Would you still do a comic — even if nobody ever read it?

378

Dave Kellett's review of Alaska Robotics' Comics Camp

379

Special guest Chris Hallbeck talks Instagram

380

Special guest Jake Parker talks publishing contracts and comic cons

381

Designing an effective cover

382

Working with a Collaborator

383

Writing yourself into a corner

384

Special Guest Tony Cliff

385

Dave's Emerald City Comicon Recap

386

The Joys of Artisanal success

387

Crowdfunding - Diversifying vs Duplicating

388

What's your creative process?

389

The perils of Magic Number Thinking

390

You can't teach a new dog old tricks

391

The danger of "at all costs" success

392

Kryptonite razors, hypnotic glasses and ennui

393

When longtime readers stop reading

394

Guigar's Law of merchandise

395

Pro No Tip

396

Planning Out 2019

397

Special Guest Kevin McShane

398

2018: What worked and what didn't

399

Why you should be planning a Patreon Special Offer NOW

400

Drilling deep on Patreon — and more

401

Under the blanket with Brad

402

PatreCon

403

Special Guest Alex Heberling

404

Are you a webcomics hustler?

405

What level of Patreon support denotes success?

406

Special guest Ngozi Ukazu

407

“Muaauughhh, the French… champagne…”

408

Special Guest Jake Parker discusses Inktober

409

Special guest Lex Fajardo, Senior Editor, Charles Schulz Studio

410

Special guest Kazu Kibuishi

411

Generating Buzz on Twitter

412

Should you reboot?

413

Why do we hate thought balloons?

414

Live, on tape, from Huntsville, Alabama

415

Special guest Dylan Meconis discusses longform comics and developing a critical eye

416

Special guest Katie Lane gives legal advice to comics artists

417

Comic Con International

418

You're not talented. And that's good news

419

NSFW comics... any regrets?

420

How to negotiate a contract

421

Allowing your drawing style to mature

422

Comics lettering — The invisible art

423

Special guest Zach Weinersmith

424

How to get more Patreon pledges

425

Unfulfilled goals (feat. Scott Kurtz)

426

Starting comics later in life

427

Special Guest Gloria Calderón Kellett on writing

428

Cartooning advice for beginners, DRM-free PDF strategy, and storyline-driven comic strips

429

Bonjoro, narrative clarity and the quest for an original idea

430

Special guest Erika Moen talks about photo reference, character design, diversity and inclusion

431

Motivation, underperforming Patreon tiers, and trying something new

432

Comics awards, pen names and warm-up sketches

433

Handling negative comments and clingy fans

434

Hashing out hashtags, online gag comics and update schedules

435

Listener Questions — I can't finish a comic once it's started!

436

Ryan North talks about writing, ideas, creativity, and zinc

437

Danielle Corsetto talks about Patreon, quitting Facebook, and ending a comic

438

Kickstarter advice that really worked! Plus Backerkit, social media repetitiveness and more

439

Patreon rewards that work, writer's block and comics awards

440

Comic Con Strategy: Commissions, Merchandise, and Publishing

441

Rethinking longform comics

442

How to Handle Patreon-Exclusive Content

443

Growing your Readership (feat. Dylan Meconis)

444

Better Writing Through Editing, and Collaborator Contracts

445

Darkest Career Fears (feat. Jake parker)

446

Best Cartooning Advice Ever

447

Why Transparency Matters (feat. Lucy Bellwood)

448

Why Comics?

449

Resolutions for 2018