My graphic novel falls into a niche in the comic realm but I'll try to help you with what I've learnt. I sort of dove into pages as I pleased, and you can tell from my pages how much you can change and learn as the comic progresses.

- Was each strip self-contained, or did you have an overarching storyline?

I personally had an overarching storyline. I have a long story to tell. This is because I had chosen to do a graphic novel as opposed to a comic. Comics tend to be short with more action, while graphic novels are more like.. novels... in depth characters and long plots. Comic strips are more of a one page, punch-line sort of way to tell a story.

- Did you do any preparation work in advance (character sketches, polished script etc.) or did you make it up as you went along?

Yes and no. heh... I developed some character designs, had a rough idea of where the plot goes and jumped right in. BAD IDEA. baaaaaaad and I am paying for it now as I will soon have to redo many pages once I have settled into a stable style.

I stopped for awhile and began to really go in depth with sketches, characters, personalities, histories, emotions, scripts. Like seriously in depth... I have developed backgrounds for each character that won't effect the comic or even be noted in it... its just good to have it there to make the characters feel more 3 dimensional.

So if your serious about this please.. do not make it up as you go if it is a story. If it is more of a strip thing...that leads itself to more.. make it up as you go day by day.

- For how long did that first comic actually run? And did it run as long as you planned?
Not done, school is killing me.... I'm on page 19 of what maybe 70...80 pages? But once again mine's a graphic novel.. the whole story is told in one, as opposed spilt in a series. However ... and here's where it gets complicated... I will have different books based in the same world, but different stories and different characters (although characters may cross books from time to time)

- Was the art simple or did you include lots of details?
mm simple I'd say, although now I am going into detail of anatomy and such. [link]

- How much did your art and storytelling improve since them?
Oh dear god so much... SO MUCH.. of course its been years between he first page and the newest. Wait lets do a comparison ... hahah feel free to laugh.
Early page
:thumb33967891:

Newer page
:thumb74010947:

My pages get better and better as I go... and I mean drastically better.... The page I'm working on now is my best yet but I can't show it to you yet.

- Do you have it online somewhere? (Bonus point if you include a link to your latest work as well for comparison)

opps...already link images.... but I have website as well
WEBSITE : [link]

And my gallery:
[link]

- Looking back on it, would you do anything different?
Not done it yet.. but looking back.. I wish I could start all over again with the talent I have now lol...

=------------------------
Why did I do it?
I had a story to tell but writing isn't my strength... so I decided to tell the story with pictures.

Oh and the reason its all animals.... I can't draw people

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I wish you the best of luck if you do start yours ^_^. let me know if you do, Id love to see it.

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The Shades and Beyond, A Graphic Novel (or click my avatar)

blasted thumbs...

Early Page
[link]

Newer Page
[link]

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The Shades and Beyond, A Graphic Novel (or click my avatar)

oh man. my first comic strips were when i was 10... and the first book when i was 13. they were completely, absolutely horrible.

Oh GOD.

My first comic was some stupid ... yeah I'm not getting into it.
I can't believe how popular it was too, I'm hoping people will just forget about it and move on.

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Gallery Director - Comics and Cartoons
=Comicslist - Online Comics, Manga and Fancomics listing (on and off DA).
gurukitty.com - Daqueran Webcomic

that makes me wanna google for it

HAHAH good luck! I deleted every trace of it XD

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Gallery Director - Comics and Cartoons
=Comicslist - Online Comics, Manga and Fancomics listing (on and off DA).
gurukitty.com - Daqueran Webcomic

archive.org ftw! (havent had time to look yet)

HA, I checked, its not on there! HAHAHAHAHHAHAHHAHAHA

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Gallery Director - Comics and Cartoons
=Comicslist - Online Comics, Manga and Fancomics listing (on and off DA).
gurukitty.com - Daqueran Webcomic

foiled!

my first ones not even online.

HAHAHAHA I covered me bases sistah!

My very Very first one wasnt online either, because I didnt have a computer at the time.... well we had some old clunker that used Dos with a scanner that only scanned in black and white and you had to hold a button and roll the scanner over the image, HAHAH
Good times.

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Gallery Director - Comics and Cartoons
=Comicslist - Online Comics, Manga and Fancomics listing (on and off DA).
gurukitty.com - Daqueran Webcomic