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[asterisk.]

damn.

why is it that i'm constantly making people laugh, but when it comes to making comics, i suck at life? seriously. this makes me one sad koala because i've wanted to make an online comic for at least two years...

observe:

exhibit a
these were recently made (a few days ago). i guess i could be wrong, but i don't think they are very funny.

http://rakel.us/etc/the_stupid_tree/

exibit b
and these were made a few months ago. i think the only ones that are really funny at all are 5 & 17.

http://rakel.us/etc/the_stupid_tree/old



i dunnnnnno.

[cacahuate]

They were ... average.

The Christmas Tree one (Number 17, I believe) was clever.

[asterisk.]

yeah...

i mean, i don't think they are very good, most of them anyway. but for those of you who do the whole comic thing ... do you ever feel like you are just forcing yourself to come up with something or are you just naturally funny all the time? haha.

[Inlander]

Well, mine's not a comic (although it's a kind of bastard-child of the webcomic scene) and it's not strictly comedy (though I try to throw a few jokes in there from time to time) - but yeah, of course, every kind of artistic endeavour comes with a set of doubts from time to time.  It's just part of life.  You've just got to have faith that if you find it entertaining, somebody else out there will as well.

[Primate]

Like anything else, delibrately being funny gets easier with practice. Of course, comedy isn't as universal as drama, so when you put yourself out there with a joke, assume a good chunk of the population will just think you're stupid.

I laughed at 2 and 3 of the jpgs, and about half of the bmps. Mostly out loud. To a comic strip. Not a bad way to start.

[zekterellium]

they really weren't bad at all. i think the quality of the artwork actually kinda works in yr favour becasue we know not to expect anything serious. but yeah, i liked them.

[Trollstormur]

not true.

[BusterKeaton]

Comedy is a science, It needs to be studied and analyzed. It has rules and guidelines and its all quite technical. You say you have the ability to make your friends laugh in day to day situations, You need to experiment and understand how your comic ability works. Are you funny in a monty python "dead seriously ridiculous" way, Maybe in a marx brothers physical character based comedy style. If you deconstruct QC its a sit-com that plays off the stereotypes and notions of certain social steretypes (emo kids, Goths, Indie elite). If you wanna write a succesful comic thats more than just sight gags and obvious humour you need to really understand what people find amusing, Its bizarre how some of the weirdest shit makes people laugh. My advice is watch alot of classic comedy, Listen to these people....

(this isnt a definitive list of comedians just a list of people with unique styles)
Richard pryor
Lenny bruce
David cross
Bill hicks
Dane cook
Dave chappelle

And google "buster keaton" the mans such a genius i had to steal his moniker.

[Sideways]

I thought comic #4, from the first link you posted, was pretty fucking funny!

This one:


I laughed!

The other two were alright.  The 'old' comics were, honestly, pretty terrible.

However, I have the luxury of not writing for my own webcomic, my roommate/best friend does... so if they aren't funny, it's not my fault.

If they look like ass... well... that's my fault.  

[fredhate]

Pesonally, I'm not big on either MS Paint comics or photo comics. Bust out your pencils and pens and get to work. If these drawings belong to you, then there's no reason that you shouldn't be kicking it up.

I think what you need to do is try to stay away from obvious jokes. A lot of the jokes sound like something my dad would say to try to be funny.

Puns on famous film quotes, especially quotes that have already been punned to death (like: "I love the smell of napalm in the morning."), really don't do it for me either. Pop culture references are one thing, but try to keep them a little more obscure. It's like trying to make people laugh by busting into he finger in the air dance by Travolta in Saturday Night Fever - everyone does it and it's annoying.

Another thing that I noticed is that you often try for two punchlines in one strip - cut it down to the best one, especially in the single panel format.

[eeah]

Some were a little funny--
but I thought a handful of them were pretty cute, even more so on the second link.

[ASturge]

I loved the Stupid Tree

[GebStar]

I agree with Sideways and i reckon that comic four, of the new ones, was the best and pretty funny. It stands from all your other ones as a shining star and think that if you keep making 'comedy' similar to the one in four, you can make a pretty good and funny webcomic.

[lingy]

like whoa. that was one sexy tree...

[asterisk.]

thanks guys. well, i've been trying a few different things. here's another of my attempts:

http://www.rakel.us/beach/01.gif


i also have another comic i'm trying out that's supposed to be ... well, not necessarily funny, but about my life that i'm going to feature on a personal e-zine i'm working on.

[trolley]

Felt like you were trying too hard to be random, and the igloo gag at the end wasn't much of a payoff, but i wouldn't be able to do any better, so keep trying!