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#REDIRECT [[:Category:Stick Figure Comic]]
{{trope}}
[[File:badly-drawn_order-of-the-stick_7584.png|link=The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|frame|Your level of detail may vary.]]


Need to make a webcomic, but have trouble transforming your scribbles into recognizable figures? No problem! [[Stick Figure Comic|Stick figures]] are easy, simple, and will get your point across without the pressures of drawing "real" art to a deadline. Used as a stopgap in some [[Web Comics]] whenever the artist doesn't have the time/energy to draw his or her normal characters.

Doing this as an "off-art" day in a normal comic is acceptable, though do it too much and you may annoy your fanbase, who came expecting better of you.

Choosing to do this full-time means that the plot, characterization, and/or jokes have to stand up on their own two line-drawn feet. If your writing is not up to scratch, you'll sink into the murky, stagnant waters of the Internet to join the rest of the ignored. Of course, if it ''is'', you'll reach Geek Nirvana.

More profoundly, a stick figure, with its lack of definite appearance, age or even gender (though stick women are typically equipped with [[Tertiary Sexual Characteristics]]), is the ultimate [[Every Man]]: every audience member can project themselves into them.

See also [[Stick Figure Animation]].

Put examples in alphabetical order, or else our indexing system will resign in protest.

{{examples|Examples}}

== Full-Time Comics ==

* ''[[A Beginners Guide to The End of The Universe (Webcomic)|A Beginners Guide to The End of The Universe]]''. [[Interactive Comic]] using sign-like Stick figures manipulating [[GIS Syndrome]] objects.
* ''[http://ah.indolents.com/comic Anti-Heroes]'': Heavily inspired by ''The Order of the Stick'' and proudly admitting it.
* ''[[Awkward Moments (Webcomic)|Awkward Moments]]'' A stick-figure comic that has similar artwork to Cyanide and Happiness.
* ''[[Cyanide and Happiness (Webcomic)|Cyanide and Happiness]]'' is a [[Dead Baby Comedy]] drawn by four different guys.
* Done in printed comics by Matt Feazell (a quite skilled artist) in ''Cynicalman'', to demonstrate that anyone who can write can do a comic.
* ''[http://antoinebruce.deviantart.com/gallery/#Dubious-Is-My-Niche Dubious Is My Niche]'', a [[Journal Comic]] / [[Slice of Life]] comic on [[Deviant ART]].
* ''[http://getagreenroom.thecomicseries.com Greenroom]'' uses colorful stick figures with unique features to [[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic|signify the characters' personality]]. [[Better Than It Sounds]], in my opinion.
* ''[http://www.insanitycorp.thecomicseries.com Insanity Corp]'' started out as a (normally) single-panel, gag-a-day, 5-times-a-week stickman comic. However, the author's professed inability to keep things horribly simple led to the addition of backgrounds and colors early on in its creation. It now updates "Frequently" (three times weekly, on average) because of other projects the author is working on.
* ''[[The Incredible and Awe Inspiring Serial Adventure of The Amazing Plasma Man (Webcomic)|The Incredible and Awe Inspiring Serial Adventure of The Amazing Plasma Man]]'' is a weekly updating superhero comic which makes use of realistic stick figures. If one will pardon the oxymoron.
* Also done in printed comics by the French artist Lewis Trondheim, best known are his ''Mister O'' and ''Mister I'' series.
* Similarly, ''[[Keychain of Creation (Webcomic)|Keychain of Creation]]''. The author freely admits that his webcomic is like ''Order of the Stick'', but with ''[[Exalted (Tabletop Game)|Exalted]]'' instead of ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (Tabletop Game)|Dungeons and Dragons]]''.
** While they both have similar art styles, this ends in comic [http://keychain.patternspider.net/archive/koc0319.html 319], where the character art gains proper arms and legs. This change is explained in the plot by Marena and Secret learning to see the reality differently while {{spoiler|learning sorcery}}.
* ''[http://e-m.smackjeeves.com/ electric melon]'', a webcomic of two parts: a [[Aborted Arc|story arc]] and the funnier gag a day comics.
* ''[[Hyperbole and A Half (Webcomic)|Hyperbole and A Half]]''
* ''[[John (Webcomic)|John]]'' - An intentional example as the creator was trying to evoke the look of an amateur comic, although often the comic will suddenly become a completely different style for a single panel.
* ''[http://legendary.comicgenesis.com/ Legendary]'', a webcomic about console RPGs, whose art is directly influenced by ''Order of the Stick''. When it still updated]], that is.
* Lynion15 has gained a well sized following for their stick figure parodies of ''[http://lynion15.deviantart.com/gallery/#Mass-Effect-2 Mass Effect 2]'' and ''[http://lynion15.deviantart.com/gallery/#Fallout-3 Fallout 3]''.
* ''[[Magic and Physics (Webcomic)|Magic and Physics]]'' - Reasoning behind it is unknown as of now.
* ''[[A Moment of Peace (Webcomic)|A Moment of Peace]]'': A [[Sweet Dreams Fuel|sweet]] [[After the End|post-apocalyptic]] [[Boy Meets Girl|romantic]] [[Slice of Life|slice of life]] that involves [[Our Monsters Are Different|monsters]] and [[Trope Pantheons|gods]]. While gods and monsters sometimes have more meat on them, all of the human characters are stick figures.
* ''[http://www.mountaincomics.com Mountain Time]'' fits this trope to a T. A very inconsistent, rudimentary T.
* ''[[The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|The Order of the Stick]]''. An unusual case, in that the stick figure style is a deliberate artistic choice rather than the result of the creator's limited drawing skill. This becomes fairly obvious when considering the astonishing range of expressions Rich Burlew imparts to stick-figure faces, or the sheer level of detail in many panels (check out, for example, the first panel of [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0450.html this comic] or [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0463.html this one] or [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0339.html this one]).
** Also, almost certainly the [[Trope Codifier]] for the full-time stick figure comic.
* ''[[Pictures for Sad Children (Webcomic)|Pictures for Sad Children]]''
* ''[[Positivity (Webcomic)|Positivity]]'': Of the square-body kind.
* ''[http://www.rpgeneric.com RPGeneric]'': Heavily inspired by ''The Order of the Stick'' though using more effects.
* ''[[Servants of the Imperium (Webcomic)|Servants of the Imperium]]''. A ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'' webcomic that draws some influence from ''[[The Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|The Order of the Stick]]''.
* ''[[The Sliding Scale Comic (Webcomic)|The Sliding Scale Comic]]'': A stick figure comic about role playing games.
* ''[[Spikeboy (Webcomic)|Spikeboy]]'' Another example whose art style seems to be based of ''[[Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|Order of the Stick]]'', ''Spikeboy'' is about superheroes. Who all live in the same apartment complex. Basically, a superhero [[Incredibly Lame Pun|sit-comic.]]
* ''[http://www.stickfigurehamlet.com/ Stick Figure Hamlet]''. It's [[Exactly What It Says On the Tin]].
* ''[http://www.drunkduck.com/STICKFODDER/ Stickfodder]'' sets itself to ''xkcd'' standards, "and constantly fails to come close to [those standards]."
* ''[[Stickman and Cube (Webcomic)|Stickman and Cube]]''. The title pretty much sums it up.
* ''[http://stickman.qntm.org/ StickManStickMan]'' is an early example.
* ''[[The Symmetrical Breadpazoid (Webcomic)|The Symmetrical Breadpazoid]]'' (whose unusual title is a reference to [[Homestar Runner|Teen Girl Squad]]) is by [[One of Us|troper]] [[Anthony Mercer]].
* ''[http://www.ThreePeopleGetIt.com Three People Get It]'' is an often NSFW (dialogue) comic strip which pokes fun at anyone and anything. The author frequently includes notes indicating where an idea came from, which is often humorous and occasionally insightful.
* ''[http://tsuduku.moosheep.org/ (tsuduku...)]'' has a random stick figure guy named "Guy," a circle named "Circle," and so on. Some characters, like Evil Thing, were scribbled out once long ago and have become copy/pasted like self-made clip art ever since.
* ''[http://unconventional.trhonline.com UnCONventional]'' is a comic about the staff of a fictional Anime Convention. The main cast is portrayed as clothed stick figures (with hair, facial hair, and other distinguishing features), while background characters are often portrayed as plain stick figures (although they often are given clothes as well in later comics). The artist chose stick figures so the comic would "look as different from Anime as humanly possible."
* ''[[The Way of the Metagamer (Webcomic)|The Way of the Metagamer]]'': [[Follow the Leader|Started out copying]] ''[[Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|Order of the Stick]]'', kept the art style after [[Jumping the Shark]].
* ''[http://www.the-whiteboard.com/ The Whiteboard]'' has two variations. One, since the author can't draw people (It's a furry comic), they are usually drawn as very simplified with their heads floating above their bodies. The only features are eyes and hair. Second, on days when Doc N doesn't have the time to post a regular comic and/or days the server fails to post a regular comic, a filler strip goes up with the characters drawn in a simpler style. Once the current storyline gets back on track, the filler strips are taken offline. The characters once [[Lampshade Hanging|hung a lampshade]] on the fact that they only have one pose in the filler strips.
* ''[[The Word Weary (Webcomic)|The Word Weary]]'' characters are called "R2-D2 Elves" by one of the protagonists. The characters' bodies are drawn as rectangles with dome heads with pointy-toed legs . Women have two "u" shapes on their chests to represent breasts and stick arms that come out of their shoulders. Male characters' arms seem to come out of their clavicles. It's [[Better Than It Sounds]].
* The supremely geeky ''[[Xkcd (Webcomic)|Xkcd]]'' is both an exemplar and a subversion, since the author [http://www.xkcd.com/77/ actually draws more complicated scenes].
** [http://www.xkcd.com/157/ Lampshaded in one strip.]
*** In one early comic, he drew some facial features on his stick figures. They... weren't that good. Maybe he's just bad at drawing faces, or doesn't like drawing complex drawings of people.
*** [http://xkcd.com/56/ Likely not the first one,] although that may depend on [[Your Mileage May Vary|your definition of good]].
* ''[[The Dog House Diaries (Webcomic)|The Dog House Diaries]]'': which can be viewed [http://thedoghousediaries.com/ here] has its own unique brand of stick figure.


== Off-art Comics ==
* The stick-figure weeks from ''[[Sluggy Freelance (Webcomic)|Sluggy Freelance]]''.
* ''[http://www.megatokyo.com/ Megatokyo's]'' infamous Shirt Guy Dom strips, a direct reference to the above.
* ''xkcd'''s use of stick figures is parodied in [http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/1458.html this strip] of ''[[Irregular Webcomic (Webcomic)|Irregular Webcomic]]''.
* ''[http://scandalsheet.comicgenesis.com Scandal Sheet!]'' has been known to engage in weeks of "Stick Figure Theater". If you've ever wanted to see someone draw a stick figure Sasquatch...
* Some spamusers on ''[[Spamusement (Webcomic)|Spamusement]]'' do this, depending on their mood. (Others never do.)
* ''[[The KA Mics (Webcomic)|The KA Mics]]'' does this occasionally, usually under the title Stick Figure Life.
* ''[[Comic Strip/Family Circus|Family Circus]]'', whenever Billy has to fill in.
* ''[[The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob (Webcomic)|The Inexplicable Adventures of Bob]]'' [http://bobadventures.comicgenesis.com/d/20110205.html did this once] after completing an 18-month story arc. Subverted in the last panel.

== Other Media ==
* The series ''[[Animator vs. Animation (Web Animation)|Animator vs. Animation]]'' uses stick figures.
* The [[MMORPG]] ''[[Kingdom of Loathing (Video Game)|Kingdom of Loathing]]'', despite being a videogame, is pure 100 percent Stick Figures. This mostly started out because the creator, Jick, couldn't draw anything better.
* ''Stickin' Around'' is a rare example of a stick figure TV show.
* ''[http://www.atom.com/channel/channel_stickman_exodus/ StickmanExodus]'' is a [[Web Animation]] [[Dead Baby Comedy]] about the trials and tribulations of the two-dimensional.
* The rulebook of the free [[Tabletop Games|RPG]] ''[[Risus (Tabletop Game)|Risus]]'' is illustrated with stick figures, which fits well with both the extremely simple rule-system and the generally whimsical nature of the game.
* There is also ''[http://www.1km1kt.net/rpg/stickguy-the-role-playing-game Stickguy: The RPG]'' Where all the characters are to be drawn as stickguys.
* [http://www.stickpage.com StickPage] contains dozens of stick-figure animations and games.
* [http://www.stickdeath.com StickDeath] gruesome flash and gif movies featuring primitive stick figures.
* The ''[[Xiao Xiao (Web Animation)|Xiao Xiao]]'' series of Flash animations.
* The introductory cartoons in ''[[What the Fuck Is Wrong With You (Web Video)|What the Fuck Is Wrong With You]]''. Also, [[Roger Rabbit Effect|Stick Boy]].

{{reflist}}
[[Category:Web Comics]]
[[Category:Webcomic Tropes]]
[[Category:Graphical Tropes]]
[[Category:index]]
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[[Category:Stick Figure Comic]]
[[Category:Trope]]

Latest revision as of 23:01, 2 April 2014

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