How can I pare down "workflow" on putting my graphic memoir on the web?

October 12, 2022 4:59 PM

I'm writing a graphic novel (I put the part I finished in Projects already). (but here it is anyway).

I write and draw parts, and then put them on the web, here is why it's driving me crazy: I'm very compulsive and I keep changing things.

The normal workflow is as follows: Draw/write on my iPad, in an app called Paper by WeTransfer. Then I upload it as a .pdf to my Dropbox (because that's one of the easy options to save). Then I go to it on Dropbox and I download it to my PC laptop. Then I change the name of the file from the unwieldy name Paper gave it to the name I gave it (GrowingInMyGray.pdf). Then I .ftp it to the server I can stick it in (www.echonyc.com). Then it appears as the url I linked to above.

It takes time, but it's fine, if I do it occasionally. The problem is, I am so compulsive that I am constantly changing little things, even after I've put it up on the web. So I change the things in Paper on the iPad, and then do all the things I listed above, over and over again, and I'm going insane.

I wonder if there is an easier way to make changes on the iPad and put the new version of it up on the server. I've never been good using the iPad for naming files, knowing where things, are, etc., and I don't think these apps like Paper help very much. So much seems to remain "under the hood," unlike on my PC, where most everything seems so visible and obvious.

Do you think there's a way that I can go from the Paper app to the web server without all those intervening steps? maybe even without Dropbox and my PC?

Or maybe I can put the .pdf somewhere other than the server up there? I could use Blogger, but it's so dead and depressing there.

Any ideas for shortening this process and having my changes show up more quickly and easily? thank you

posted by DMelanogaster to Computers & Internet (2 answers total)

There is undoubtedly an easier process for publishing images on the web! You might want to be saving the images as PNGs and uploading them onto a Wix or Squarespace site. But that’s pretty broad strokes.
posted by chesty_a_arthur at 8:26 PM on October 12, 2022

I found Wordpress to be ok. I made an illustrated blog for a woodworking project and during the first week or so, I continually revised the images. I drew them in Procreate, exported them to the iPad camera roll as jpegs and when I needed to change an image on the site, it was only a matter of hitting the edit button and choosing the most recent version from the camera roll (as long as we're sharing mefi projects).

When I do it again, I won’t use the blog format because it was a pain to keep the posts in proper order. I’ll do a page instead.
posted by brachiopod at 10:12 PM on October 12, 2022 [1 favorite]