ACE Audio IV: World Wide Web Comics ft. GINA BIGGS and GREG CARTER

The World Wide Web has become an integral part of our daily lives. In many ways, it challenges the standards of what art and commerce were and forces us all to recognize the profound effect of what is and what's coming. A shift is occurring where the creative playing field is being leveled and everyone must log on to be a player or get left behind. 

Gina Biggs of the Strawberry Comics line and Greg Carter of UpDown Studios have taken up the challenge of web comics and understand the rules of surviving and thriving in this new frontier. They both attended the Atlanta Comics Expo in February and I (Dwight) had the pleasure of moderating a panel with them on this very subject.  

Gina spoke to us about her successful endeavors with the all-female comics group, Strawberry Comics. Her current works include Erstwhile, an adaptation of "hidden gems" from the writings of The Brothers Grimm and Red String, a coming-of-age story about a teenager named Mirahu Ogawa. 

Greg discussed his own UpDown Studios, an on-line collective of creators and artists who work in different media types and formats. UpDown's members not only represent comics, but photography, painting and fine arts. The studio also serves as a publishing imprint for the group on titles like Abandon: Borrowed Tale and Tombstone Sword Slinger.

In the panel, both these trailblazers cover much about their own projects and their growing industry. Included are some of the ins and outs on promoting and marketing, how to keep expenses down, effective site designs and some costly mistakes new web creators can avoid.

http://www.strawberrycomics.com/

http://www.updownstudio.com/