Keith explored the differences between having a pseudo-business (like Hurm Studio or Cranium Comics) with its own reputation versus promoting one's own name as a personal brand.

Keith noted that in the print and publishing field, as is Anthony's primary pursuit, the business identity and reputation carries a lot of weight. On the other hand, Keith has interests in the online gaming industry and webcomics, and he pondered that promoting one's own name over a business name might help connect him with people who are interested in his work. Will he be switching from people seeing "Hurm" an anonymous business that "hasn't made it" to "Keith Quinn is a guy whose work I sometimes hear about and like," if either is even perceived of in that way.

Keith has been considering promoting his "actual name as someone who works on a variety of interesting projects" moreseo than "a company name that includes a variety of non-standard projects." It's a subtle difference, but one that perhaps successful comic freelancers have been taking advantage of for years. Consider that people know Scott Kurtz as a successful creator who makes the PvP webcomic and Leo Laporte as a broadcaster who uses the web as his primary medium. People see them as creators who get involved with interesting projects, and don't put much interest toward their studio or company names.

Anthony and Keith chatted a bit about Google Buzz and similar "lifestream" tools methods. They wrapped up by mentioning a possible meet & greet at a local comic shop. They're both intrigued by it's middle ground between the "larger than life" aspects of a convention and the one-on-one feel of a bookstore or library signing.

Keith talked about the new flyer he will be using at Staple, which includes the first three strips of his upcoming storyline for Local Heroes. He mentioned fitting two flyers on one 8.5x11 sheet and then cutting the sheets in half. This will conserve paper while still keeping the sample strips at a reasonable size.

Later on in the conversation, Anthony summarized his thoughts for collecting the Part-Time Comics podcasts into one CD or DVD volume. The collection would be sold at Staple and other conventions, as well as through our respective online stores.

Wrapping up the chat, Anthony and Keith discussed the recently-announced iPad, how it fits into the world of hand-helds and peripherals, and how comics can take full advantage of all the iPad has to offer. Also, they wondered about possible similar products, such as any that might use Google's Android system.

Wizard World Austin was recently announced, which will take place over three days in the middle of November 2010. Potentially, this is a great opportunity for both Keith and Anthony, although Keith feels that the price for an Artist's Alley table might be a bit too steep.

Just over a week ago, Keith was treated to something close to an "old time radio show" before the showing of a movie at a local theater, the Alamo Drafthouse. Jason Neulander and a small team of three voice actors, one musician, and one sound effects specialist performed a chapter of his comic, The Intergalactic Nemesis, in front of a live audience. As they performed, panels from the comic were displayed on the movie screen. Keith felt they did a great job using their background in theater to promote their comic.

Keith was also away for the holiday, but was able to create some sketches that will be used for future Local Heroes strips. This weekend, he penciled and inked a new strip for the upcoming storyline. Keith is also flirting with dusting off one of his old pen-and-paper role-playing systems for a brand new role-playing game.

They both talked about a recent webcomic news item: Webcomics.com, a popular webcomic creation resource, has changed from a free site to one using a subscription model. Anthony and Keith talked about the valuable information offered by the site, the challenges of the site's abrupt transition to the new model, and several possible futures in store for it.

One listener, Tyler James, mentioned he uses the Boudewijn Pelt Flatting filter (free at http://www.bpelt.com/psplugins/flatting.html) for Photoshop help. Keith suggested that this filter was a good example of consolidating activities, reducing the impact distractions may have otherwise.

Both Anthony and Keith agreed that find the time and place when you can be most productive is important, especially when comics aren't your full-time job. Anthony sometimes works on comics in the morning or during lunch. Keith mentioned he works best in a non traditional space (like a dining room table or even a floor), often with a TV on in the background. He also mentioned the convenience of being on a slightly-later schedule than his girlfriend, and how that allowed him to sometimes work into the night without having to split his attentions.

Keith said that driving to his day job, walking his dog, and even taking a shower may keep him from putting pen to paper, but these activities also compel him to switch gears and accomplish some pure brain work.

Recently, Anthony's Facebook account for Cranium Comics as temporarily banned, but he was able to work with their support team to regain access. Earlier today, Anthony posted to the Cranium Comics website, "R. Crumb & Art Spiegelman: A Conversation." The article summarizes his experience at a recent public discussion between the two creators. He also mentioned having some troubles with his online store, and may be looking into a new store system as an alternative to troubleshooting the issue.

Keith mentioned his day job's mandatory overtime schedule has been relaxed, allowing him some time to revisit several Hurm.com updates he's long had in mind.The main page now includes six new blocks of content, each one spotlighting his current projects. Also, he added a new URL for Heroes Incorporated® at www.hurm.com/heroesincorporated/. While making these updates, Keith cleaned up the small amounts of spam that the Hurm.com forums had been suffering from since the beginning of the month.

Both creators look to other part-time comic creators and try to learn from their successes, such as Kazi Kibuishi (of Copper and Flight, among others) and Kris Straub (creator of Starslip and Chainsawsuit, among others).

Here is a common situation in the online gaming industry: Developers will fully plan a game and then work toward fulfilling 100% of that plan. However, the bigger the project, the longer it will take to complete and the greater the likelihood of things going wrong. Concepts like "over promise, under deliver," "feature creep," and even "putting all your eggs in one basket" may be mentioned. Deadlines might be missed unless features are cut, and so they are. Perhaps the game launches with only 85% of the game concept. The game suffers by the absence of features that were intended for the release version but never made it into the final form, because the user has a sense that the game is somehow incomplete. Periodic post-launch updates will struggle to play catch-up, but the damage is done.

Imagine instead that the developers planned their product in small chunks. The core game becomes something easily created in much less than the desired timeframe; this part will be a whole game, although one with few features. Now, there is no way that the product will launch without a full, polished game. Additions would be modularized into smaller, completable, self-contained chunks. Most will be completed before the game launches, but they are all bonuses to the game and users will never feel like the game launched in a substandard form. Success criteria changed from the previous paragraph's fears about not completing a full game into more positive goals based on improving the core game with satisfying updates.

This same concept can be applied to many other endeavors, including comic creation. Anthony's latest comic has been divided into multiple stories with multiple creators. If problems slow down the progress of one, the impact is much less than if he had only one story and one set of creators. Keith will not be able to finish the last chapter of the next Local Heroes story, but he can still achieve his goal of being at Staple 2010 with new products.

Later in the chat, Keith talks about the importance of navigable archives for webcomics, especially for ones that are based on long-form stories. This importance extends to new readers, returning readers, and even search engines. The site at www.localheroes.us includes news posts for every comic, category tags for each comic, storyline descriptions in the archive indexes, and "The Story So Far" blurbs.