Having been dangerously lethargic over the last couple of days I’m feeling a strong compulsion to move forward and start giving serious thought to how I’ll approach the forthcoming Practice in Context module. I need to begin picking out key texts on the operation of the industry and if possible arrange contact with professionals for advice. As stated in our brief I need to ‘locate’ my practice externally and while a longterm print copy of the graphic and its distribution is on the cards there is another option to consider.
Previous to the MA; drawing comics as a hobby I would often upload to the web comics site Drunk Duck for criticism. Responses were mixed and I was unable to manage regular updates alongside my university studies, but it seemed preferable to the drawings and ideas festering in my desk draws. The site has had a few nasty technical issues in the past but the community is sizable and vibrant with the majority of comments being constructive rather than crass.
Since the start of this project I’d given thought to uploading my graphic on DD for additional criticism and viewers but held back with the intention of producing a reasonable backlog to facilitate frequent no pressure updates. Considering possible research sources for the module it struck me that opening the pages to a broader range of feedback could actually be quite fitting. It might be a stretch to call this professional practice but it’s certainly one way of externalizing my work and getting a fair measure of its strengths and weaknesses.
I’d like to run it all by my tutor first and I think I’ll be giving it a while longer before I actually do it – four pages is hardly an enormous buffer and the site’s about to see a formidable overhaul resurfacing as The Duck – however so far as I can tell there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be an appropriate route to take alongside more professional options.
Growing Branch 
If you do decide to post it over there, I’m looking forward to seeing in on “The Duck” :)
@demontales: As am I! I’ve been tempted to go ahead with it on a few occasions but I’d like at least a few more pages together before I commit to that. All being well I’m hoping to start uploads within the next two months ;)
You might want to consider using smackjeeves as well. I’ve yet to use it myself, but pretty much everyone I know who makes webcomics is on there – including severeal who jumped from DrunkDuck from being fed up with so many system issues. ;)
@Ushio: Having taken a look gotta say that it looks promising, thanks for that! Uploading there aswell would result in more feedback (which is always good) so I’ll definitely give it a go when I’m ready =)