The infinite canvas is the idea that the size of a digital comics

Comics

Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...

 page is theoretically infinite, and that online comics are therefore not limited by conventional page sizes. An artist could conceivably display a complete comics story of indefinite length on a single "page". Scott McCloud

Scott McCloud

Scott McCloud is an American cartoonist and theorist on comics as a distinct literary and artistic medium...

 introduced the concept in his book Reinventing Comics

Reinventing Comics

Reinventing Comics: How Imagination and Technology Are Revolutionizing an Art Form is a 2000 book written by comic book writer and artist Scott McCloud...

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Artists known for their work in infinite canvas include McCloud, Cayetano Garza

Cayetano Garza

Cayetano 'Cat' Garza is a comic artist, cartoonist, illustrator, and musician in the United States. He is best known for his experiments with webcomics....

, demian5

When I Am King

When I am King is a wordless infinite canvas webcomic by Swiss artist demian5 about an Egyptian king's travels through a desert. It has an unusual visual style that makes heavy use of oranges and reds, uses arrows to emphasize horizontal movement, and has occasional GIF animation.-Reception:When I...

, Patrick Farley

Patrick Farley

Patrick Sean Farley is a freelance illustrator and Web page designer working out of Portland, Oregon.- Biography :Patrick Farley is the creator of comics under the anthology "Electric Sheep Comix". Scott McCloud cites him as an early pioneer of the webcomics movement...

, David Hellman

A Lesson Is Learned But The Damage Is Irreversible

A Lesson Is Learned But The Damage Is Irreversible is a webcomic drawn by David Hellman and written by Dale Beran. Ted Rall describes the comic as "explor[ing] the limits of pessimism and fatal consequence in a universe that would be difficult to imagine on the printed page." The comic has been...

, and Aaron Diaz

Dresden Codak

Dresden Codak is a webcomic written and illustrated by Aaron Diaz. Described by Diaz as a "celebration of science, death and human folly", the comic presents stories that deal with elements of philosophy, science and technology, and/or psychology...

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The infinite canvas has been used in comics such as Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire

Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire

Dominic Deegan: Oracle for Hire is a daily fantasy webcomic by Michael "Mookie" Terracciano that began in May 2002. The comic follows the adventures of Dominic Deegan, a freelance seer who finds himself often at the center of conflicts that threaten his whole world. The story is organized in...

, where artists are easily able to change their standard format from one line to two when desired. Likewise, Megatokyo

Megatokyo

is an English-language webcomic created by Fred Gallagher and Rodney Caston, debuting on August 14, 2000, and then written and illustrated solely by Gallagher since July 17, 2002. Gallagher's style of writing and illustration is heavily influenced by Japanese manga. Megatokyo is freely available on...

made a smooth transition from traditional four-panel comic strip to full-page graphic novel. Webcomics such as Narbonic

Narbonic

Narbonic is a webcomic written and drawn by Shaenon K. Garrity. The storylines center on the misadventures of the staff of Narbonic Labs, which is the domain of mad scientist Helen Narbon. The strip started on July 31, 2000 and finished on December 31, 2006. On January 1, 2007, Garrity launched the...

take advantage of the medium on occasion for special effects (e.g. the time-shift effect in "Dave Davenport Has Come Unstuck in Time"), and even sometimes use the "gradualism" effect McCloud describes. Even four-panel comics benefit by not having their comics "squeezed" onto a newspaper page to the point of illegibility, and thus can include more detail. (Part of this is also due to computer screens being much "cleaner" than newsprint

Newsprint

Newsprint is a low-cost, non-archival paper most commonly used to print newspapers, and other publications and advertising material. It usually has an off-white cast and distinctive feel. It is designed for use in printing presses that employ a long web of paper rather than individual sheets of...

.)

Keeping comics in a more traditional page format eases the writer's transition into publishing their comics in print format, as expressed by at least one writer; and limiting the size of comics makes them more accessible for readers who access the comic not through the regular site but, for example, through RSS readers or the Wii internet browser.

External links

• The Tarquin Engine by Daniel Merlin Goodbrey
• Infinite Canvas web app from Microsoft Live Labs
  Microsoft Live Labs
  Microsoft Live Labs was a partnership between MSN and Microsoft Research that focused on applied research for Internet products and services at Microsoft. Live Labs was headed by Dr...
  
  
• The Infinite Canvas: An Interview with Scott McCloud, the Google Chrome Comic Guy at Xconomy
• Wormworldsaga - An online graphic novel by Daniel Lieske