Here’s a sample of a comic done in “pencil mode” in my drawing software. If I were to skip the inking and coloring stage, I would save a lot of time and be able to produce 4 or 5 strips per week, with maybe a Sunday comic in color.
Now, I am asking your opinion on this matter. Leave a comment on your preference. You can be detailed, or simply state “Color” or B&W” If I do go B&W, I will increase the updates to 4 Daily strips with a Sunday comic in color. If time permits, I’ll do 5 dailies with a Sunday color strip. The vote is up to you.
The reason I ask is the temporary comic Monday in the sketch mode caught the attention of a few folks, so I wanted to do one in B&W and show it to you all for your feedback. I did this comic from scratch. No script, just sat down and did it. It took me about half the time of a color strip. So, I am confident I’d do a Mon-Thurs schedule with a color comic on Sunday.
Oh, the comic title is from Three Dog Night. My little joke to all you rockers out there!
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b&w! the more the better 🙂
Yeah – I am happy with B/W and more is err more
B&W!!…dont know why but i’ve always liked it better
Black&White is fine with me! greetings from sunny germany!
if i remember correctly, the Monday sketch version was not coloured in greyscale like today’s is, right?
because i think this is excellent!
(though the facial hair in 6, if that’s what it is, looks a bit off. if he just had a huge chocolate milkshake, i said nothing)
oh yeah…just in case u wanna know…u have a fan from penang island, malaysia.
Love the B&W idea! And if it got me more 1977 The Comic… well, that’s just gravy on my biscuits!!!
B&W is, in fact, gravy on my biscuit as well.
I actually love both.
You’re asking to choose between Beer or Wine….. I can’t pick. I would first say Quality over quantity, but in your case it’s quality over quality….
Question: what drawing software are you using?
B&W please. Love the comic, and any more is beautiful.
I realize I’m in the minority here, but I’d rather see you stick with full color. Colors add so much to the quality of the strip that I don’t mind seeing fewer updates per week.
I was shocked to see so many B&W supporters. If you ask me, every comic I’ve ever read (I check about 30 daily) that has moved from Color to B&W loses it’s warmth and vibrance and dulls down the picture. I’ve quit reading some comics because of this in the past depending on the artist’s continuing dedication therafter to produce quality comics.
Your comic looks better in color and your subject matter is good enough that I’d rather have a few good comics per week that are warm and alive.
I disagree to the above two comments. I believe the Black&White adds to the quality of the strip. Plus it’ll allow you to experiment with new jokes. If the joke turns out lame, we don’t have to wait a third of the week for a new one.
I like them both but i’d like to see some b&w breasts before i make my final decision..
I’ll let the comments contine to post, but I’ll make one brief comment here:
The guy’s facial hair is messy as some guys can’t grow good beards and they’re all kinda weird looking. I ran into a lot of these types of guys with scraggy beards and felt when I did beards in ink they looked even worse. I’ll work on making scraggy beards better if we go with some B&W comics.
This is great feedback and I appreciate all opinions, so keep them coming!
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Greetings Malaysia & Germany! Glad you are along for the ride!!
Okay, there are a few different ways to see this, so I’ll try to be brief.
Personal: I don’t really draw a distinction personally between B&W and color, I just want to be made happy. If the art communicates and the writing is funny, I’m in.
Not Personal: Some cats just really dig the color, and won’t even look at a B&W comic. So you may have some readers drop off just for that. HOWEVER… the bump you should receive from going daily should way more than make up for it. (The more often you put something new on your site, the more often the site gets crawled, and the higher up you go in the search engines — resulting in more people coming to see the happiness of 1977!)
Color is cool but B&W is cool.. um …er! 😀
nice! I love the turn around on this one!
Hey Kevin… I agree. From a business standpoint, if I maintain the usual craziness and characters and can get more output, I think it will be better in the long run.
I too am a BIG fan of color. It costs nothing to do a comic in color on the web, so when I started 1977, it was a no brainer. I was also smart enough to know I was not drawing a comic that would ever be picked up by a print syndicate, so formatting didn’t matter either.
But, the comic has become more popular, and the Quantum Leap storyline made me realize that doing 3 comics per week is very limiting as far as doing any long-term storylines as it takes weeks to do one (the trip to Latvia is another great example… that took a month and got on my nerves because of the length of time it was taking, so I cut it short too).
As a comic creator, I want to make as many of my readers as happy as possible, and I think getting more output with maintained quality is a good thing. I do believe in the long run I’ll become more efficient and if I use this type of format (the 9×3 single row comic) I see color coming back sooner than later anyway.
I won’t make the switch immediately, but I think I’d like to take it B&W or a bit and see how it pans out. I may hate it in the long run… I just don’t know. I also don’t want to switch formats too often either.
🙂
PS: The input has been fantastic, so thank you all for that! Rock on, man…
I like ’em both. Do whatever works for you. 🙂
PS: “I dunno know” is redundant. He’s saying “know” twice.
Oh, and you capture the true qualification for working in a record store/ music department beautifully. I’ve done so many times, and you’re dead-on. Mastering a cash register is easy; knowing off the top of your head who did that weird long song about white birds with that flute solo in it (“White Bird,” from the self-titled album by the band “It’s a Beautiful Day” – yes, that was an actual question from my music-store days) is a rare and magnificent skill for that job.
You rawk!
B&W if we get more – I like having one color a week too!
I totally think you should do whatever you WANT to do in the end, but for my two cents, the black and white actually looks great as well. It has a newspapery feel to it (while of course being much better than what’s in the newspapers). Maybe you could reserve color for a weekend strip or something, like you said.
I’m all for B&W during the week and color on the weekends, if it means updating more often. It also fits the 1977 theme. All the weekly newspaper comics were in b&W during that era
First time I’ve ever commented, but I’m a long time reader, as well as an artist, and I can say without a doubt that I like both styles, but I wouldn’t mind the B&W. I think your artistic abilities shine through no matter what. As another person said, it would be just like the newspapers. In the end it’s really what you want to do that matters the most though, since it’s more likely that when you’re happy, your readers will be happy too. 🙂
Thank you all for the great comments! I have some very intelligent readers (and observant ones too) and that’s great.
I have said before that I will 1977 for as long as I think it is funny and satisfying to do. I do not see that changing anytime soon and this new format seems to fit my style a bit better. I’m always looking at ways to do more and to do it easier (I am lazy after all) so I think the shift to the newer format will be I’ll do.
I’ll announce when it’ll start… perhaps even this weekend as doing this comic did not take near as long. Stay tooned…
🙂
satyrblade – Son of a gun… of course you’re right! I’ll correct that when I get a chance!
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If it makes comic making quicker, then yes.
Man… another one bites the dust.
I know this is not your specified reason, but before now all I’ve seen for a reason to be B&W is laziness (not saying you are lazy) What I am saying is, I don’t see how taking the color AWAY could possibly IMPROVE a webcomic. If you ask me, you have the same product as before only now it is DEVOID of one of it’s previous elements. More updates is cool and all, but honestly you already update plenty for a webcomic.
But after reading it seems you are pretty psyched about it so, do what makes you happy man. I am going to be honest with you: You are going to see less hits eventually because of the people that read your comic and don’t follow the news or comments.
Anyway… I never commented here before today when I saw your news. I’ve seen Black and White destroy too many webcomics so I thought I’d throw my 2 cents in thar.
Good Luck, Byron!
I really think the B&W with a full color Sunday strip would work great. Pete Abrams of Sluggy Freelance did that for years and that was an excellent style for him. I think that part that killed it for him was that he tried to do it 7 days a week. 4 B&Ws + a color Sunday strip would expand your output considerably without over stressing you. My vote is go for it.
RE: Avid 1977 Reader – And your comment is exactly why I’m looking for feedback as I need to know how readers feel.
You will also notice that I did state up there in another reply that I feel once I gain some confidence with this newer format, the color will come back.
You are right, it is not laziness that motivates me, it is efficiency. I am not a good inker at all, and this is because I’m not trained at it professionally (and it is an art form in of itself). So I feel once I get this technique down, the color will come back quickly. I too want color, it was a choice I made early on for many reasons.
One of the BIGGEST changes to me is the format size. It’s a standard Newspaper format… one I’ve not chosen for a reason: I’m about as non-conformist as you’ll find in a person. So, part of me is okay with this proposed change. I’m not here to conform to a newspaper format as I chose doing a webcomic for the very reason of being able to change the format around if needed.
I do know this… more is better in this case and if I can provide good, solid comics 5 days a week, then having them be B&W for a bit is a step I’m willing to take. Trust me, B&W is not permanent with me.
Byron
So, I still laughed at the punchline, and the strip being Black and White didn’t detract from my enjoyment of the comic’s main theme: Finding humor in the late 70s. I too find it hard to choose between color format and black and white. I check this comic daily anyway, often re-laughing at the genuine humor of the strip, so I love the idea of more strips each week. My four favorite webcomics other than 1977 have 2 in Black and White updating regularly and 2 in color that update once a week each. You’ve risen above all of the colored webcomics I read so far by sheer virtue of your ability to deliver on schedule most of the time–I say most, accounting for the technical difficulities anyone might encounter. The laughs keep coming with 1977, and I keep reading for that. Thanks so much for doing all you can to keep the strips coming.
Cheers!
-Siggie
Hey, as a webcomic artist myself, I think I can speak for most of us when I say that decisions of this nature are never based on laziness, but on efficiency, like you said. When I stopped shading my webcomic, it wasn’t because I was too lazy to keep shading it, it just cut down my production time by about 25%. I am really not a very efficient artist (damn OCD!!) and my comics still take me longer to create than I think they should, so I will sacrifice what I can to make the comic process simpler without tarnishing the final product. The lack of shading in my strip now is something I have come to actually prefer, as it makes it pop more, and look more cartoony (at least, to my eye). Similarly, I think going B&W in your strip might accomplish something similar. B&W art is not an abomination. It certainly has its own charm, especially in a strip where everything takes place in the past. You are not without readers who will prefer full-color updates, but if it saves you time and lets you devote more energy to writing and producing more comics, I say go for it. Also–on the print side of things, B&W is definitely a lot cheaper to reproduce!!
Black & White
As a fellow artist & cartoonist who was never good with color & used pencil, black ink & charcoal as my mediums, black ‘n’ white is cool! I like the color, as well, though, and think that your proposed 4 B&W dailies & a sunday color strip, is perfect – like one of your readers above mentioned, as a kid I loved my weekday newspaper comics – Alley Oop, BC, Peanuts, Prince Valiant, Dick Tracy, but looked forward to the sunday funnies cuz they were in color! Besides, whatever brings us more 1977 & allows you to extend or expand story lines is great! Rock on Byron!
B&W! I’m colorblind so color doesn’t phase me and I’m all about more updates. Heh.
LOL! Bob, you made my day. I do not laugh at your colorblindness, but how matter-of-factly you say it doesn’t phase you! I have no sense of smell what-so-ever and I can’t tell you how many folks that throws when they ask “Don’t these flowers smell lovely?” and I go “Eh, they’re all the same to me.” So, I can relate big time! Thank you for the chuckle!
🙂
A final thought from me, as this has brought out many responses from a bunch of you and I appreciate each and every one!
Let’s just say I’m going to try a different format here, nothing too radical and my goal is to get 5 updates a week… 4 daily strips that relate to the primary story and then a larger comic on Sundays that is not direclty related to the primary 1977 storyline (like Annie getting her Big Wheel rebuilt).
Color or B&W for the dailies really depends on how well I adapt to the new format. Stay tooned, I always have something up my sleeve…
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Color please. I’d rather have fewer updates in color than more frequent in B&W.
If doing B&W allows the artist to get his stories out in a time frame that pleases him then we’re all better for it. A really good comic doesn’t need color.
I think Bear Swamp has a good point – doing “1977” in B&W is very 1977! Go for it 🙂
I’d say b&w just because I love the humor of the comic and that means more to enjoy
More strips in B&W would be better than fewer in color.
Don’t get me wrong, your drawing is great and I love your attention to the details, but it’s the writing – the situations, the humor, the characters – that bring me back for more.
My 2¢.
You’re all amazing! I’m just an old rocker who grew up to be a responsible guy and decided to draw a comic about those crazy days. The fact that so many of you enjoy these antics means more than you can know. An artist’s greatest joy is recognition of his/her work. Color or B&W, I love 1977 and you’re going to get more. Check tomorrow’s comic which is going up in about 3 hours…
🙂
I love the comic and will read whatever you choose to do…. I like the idea of B&W on weekdays and color on weekends – makes those color strips special. 1977 has a special place in my heart because that’s the year I graduated from university into the “real world” and met my husband – these comics take me back, man!
B&W is super! If you’re wondering doing more per week, I can’t disapprove that! But regular color comics(i.e. like one per week) would be appreciated too!
Continue man, your work is awesome!
I’ve gotta go with color… although that’s probably because you’ve always done color with this comic, and, well, let’s face it, I guess my brain got stuck on that!
It just seems, in my opinion, that something is, I don’t know, missing somehow when it’s in Black and White
I’ll be happy either way. Part of me says go with B&W because, as you’ve said, you’ll be able to have more storylines and more content through the week… another part of me says quality of color comics is better… perhaps doing two color comics a week, the rest in black and white? 🙂
if i’m not too late to say, I reckon you should go with the Black And White thing, the comic still has the same awesome feel, if not slightly more retro (which I think suits a comic set in the 70s)
Sounds cool to me 🙂
I vote for color. B&W could be used eventually, when you are out of time. It’s great too, but, since it began coloured, I just got used to it.
Talking about out of time: I don’t think you should worry about producing more pages per week. Take your time, man! Nobody wants you getting tired of it and shutting down the comic….
My vote is…
…”why not choose BOTH?”
To me, it seems you could just try switching between B&W / Color as often as you wish. Sometimes the mere ACT of changing is all that’s really needed to “refresh” yourself. If you choose to tell a Gothic/ghost story, you might favor B&W, for example.
I personally like the color better. I enjoy the more in depth comics, makes them more interesting, and less like reading a novel. Besides, if you do too many B&W, it loses some of it’s appeal. Like waiting for XMAS, half the appeal is the anticipation of what’s to come!