11/20 Workshop Preparation

I've slowly begun working on creating the materials I need for the 11/20 workshop. The very first step is both simple yet very time consuming: going through the archives of every participating comic and identifying comics that can be used.

My criteria for picking usable comics:

1. Large dialogue bubbles. Small bubbles are too hard for the kids to fill in, so I avoid them.

2. Little or no embedded text. By "embedded text" I mean anything outside of a bubble or caption. Sound effects are all right, but things like whispered dialogue and such can look bad.

3. Connected bubbles. I've found that bubbles that freely float and aren't connected to a character don't work well when emptied of text.

4. Content. Things like racy outfits or a character with an extended middle finger disqualify a comic from being used. I also select against alcohol consumption and smoking.

One thing that helps assemble comics for use is to be familiar with their archives ahead of time, i.e. go with comics you know. This is the tactic I used in New Haven. This time, I decided to branch out and ask some webcomics I hadn't read regularly, but which I knew through reputation.

Of the 60+ webcomics currently participating in the CCP, I've collected comics for use from:

And Shine Heaven Now
Applegeeks
Awkward Zombie
Chugworth Academy
Copper
Daisy is Dead
Faking Life
Fans!
Girl Genius
Goats
Hate Song
Krakow
Lil' Formers
Little Dee
Mac Hall
No Rest for the Wicked
Okashina Okashi
Penny & Aggie
Penny Arcade
Questionable Content
Shortpacked
Something Like Life
Sparkling Generation Valkyrie Yuuki
Tea Club
Three Panel Soul
Tracy and Tristan
Tsunami Channel
xkcd

So I still have a ways to go before I start making templates. 2 months and counting!