Technology Tutorials, Tips & Tricks, etc.

As I chug along with my daily comic strip each day, I wonder “What is the best method of gaining readers?”  Is the daily website the best choice anymore? Now with smart phones and tablets taking over the market, that seems to be the way to go. Just recently when I ... Continue Reading

Here at the Alliance, a picture may be worth a thousand words, but a VIDEO.... well, that's just GOLD. So, while we have mastered the art of writing about drawing, how about we actually show you what we do. Once a month, we'll post a VIDEO of our process- drawing, ... Continue Reading

Take your seats, class. If you followed directions and did your homework from our last session, you should have gathered all the specifications from your printer as well as set up all your comic files to be easily placed into an InDesign document. You may have even started a new ... Continue Reading

Even if we refer to our comic as a "WEBcomic", one of our typical goals as a cartoonist/creator is to eventually collect our comics in book-form, to sell and actually earn some profit from our endless hard work and strict deadlines. While we may have mastered Adobe Photoshop, and possibly ... Continue Reading

One year ago, my webcomic, LeyLines, was hacked. Believe me when I say there are few things as devastating to a webcomic creator than to sign on to your site and discover all of it has vanished overnight. I learned a lot about website security the hard way ... Continue Reading

  About a year ago, I collected a bunch of my favorite tech-y finds in THIS original post, including goodies like Square to take credit cards at comic cons, and the handy social media browser plug-in Yoono. I have pointed many people to that article, when making a suggestion for some ... Continue Reading

  We at the Alliance have pestered you via aticles on this website. We have reminded you on the podcast. Heck, if we met you in person, we probably nagged you about it then, too. BACK UP YOUR STUFF! For the LOVE of all that is HOLY! You still haven't? Yeah yeah, ... Continue Reading

If you're a business-minded creator, you know it's best to keep up with the latest news in our ever-growing field. The Webcomics business is still very much in it's early stages, and while the technology-based media (like, say, PC Mag) will run articles on the latest-and-greatest webcomics out there, most ... Continue Reading

If you caught the reference in the title graphic, well, you're probably a product of an art school yourself or just love indie-films about art school. We're a different breed, we definitely didn't have the usual college experience... no frats or sororities, lots of "free-thinking" and unstructured projects, probably twice ... Continue Reading

  Let's start this day off with a little tutorial on an important "Push" tool for webcomics: the email newsletter. As great as RSS readers and bookmarks and sites like InkOutbreak are, there's a LOT of webcomics out there for readers to catch up on. Yours easily gets lost in the ... Continue Reading

  We all wish we could stumble on Magic Answers, to the  questions like "How do I better market my comic?", "How long will it take before my readership starts growing?", "When is best to start exhibiting at conventions?" ... as well as "What are the rules for creating the best ... Continue Reading

Annnnnnnd, I am back for Part 2 of this article! As you may have read about in the first part, Illustrator is a lot different than Photoshop in how it creates or builds imagery. I explained the difference between vector graphics and raster, and the benefits of each. Maybe you ... Continue Reading

  I have done an entire Digital Techniques series mostly dedicated to showing how I create comics in Illustrator... and it has been brought to my attention that a "Illustrator Basics" article to get people situated with the software as a whole may be a good idea. Far be it from ... Continue Reading

I’m a mobile freak. I’ve been working for a big telecommunications company for thirteen years now, including the past 6 years (give or take) working in the wireless provider portion of the corporation. I have been lucky enough to test a lot of mobile phones and my company has almost created ... Continue Reading

So, you've gone through the last post and are undaunted by the podcast you have laid out before you. You've purchased your hardware, tested out your equipment, everything is hooked up and ready to go... But, how do you record? What do you use to get your message to the ... Continue Reading

Well, that is official, the geek in me had me jumped the fence to be part of the millions (and millions) of iPad’s fans (FYI, if you are a wrestling fan, yes I just had The Rock in mind when I wrote this). I’ve had my iPad ... Continue Reading

In the digital age, many people have things they want to say. Whether they are venting at their political/religious/sports team(s) or talking about their creative processes through either audio, video or both there is an outlet for any type of interest. Podcasting is a cheap, effective media of choice these ... Continue Reading

Although this is not another video tutorial like in my usual Digital Techniques series, I figured now that I’ve show you my current process beginning to end, a little recap of the steps in article form may come in handy. Plus, what’s neater than seeing an animated GIF of the ... Continue Reading

Many people have asked me how I create Zorphbert and Fred. Well, it’s been along winding process over the years, and I am always one to embrace the latest fad in technology (must be that gene passed ... Continue Reading

Yes, I've got a lot of junk in my trunk. Now that THAT joke is out of the way, I want to share with you some of the essential goodies I have come across in my travels as a cartoonist on the interwebs. If you're only just stepping into the ... Continue Reading