History Main / InfiniteCanvas

* [[http://smaaaash.net SMAAAASH!!]] (which for some reason refuses all attempts at linking to the TVTropes page) uses these all the time.

* ''Webcomic/FaceAllRed'' uses this to horrifying effect.
** Emily Carroll's comics in general are fond of this. Mostly it's the "long vertical comic" approach, but the final page of "Margot's Room" really takes the Infinite Canvas to town, making the reader scroll all over the place to follow the action.

** [[http://xkcd.com/1608/ #1608]], "[[VideoGame/XkcdHoverboard Hoverboard]]", is basically "Click and Drag" in video game form. You collect coins in a seemingly small play area, but if you go past the boundaries of the area you'll enter a massive world filled with [[ShoutOut shout-outs]] to ''Franchise/StarWars'' and ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', among the many other things.

** Strip 1110 "Click and Drag." [[http://xkcd.com/1110 Words fail.]] According to some calculations, this strip would be ''43 meters wide'' if printed in full resolution.
** Strip 1190 "[[Webcomic/XkcdTime Time]]" is possibly an inversion of the infinite canvas, taking a series of panels or moments in a very slow animation and presenting them one at a time in a single panel space, updating every hour or so.

In principle, a WebComic has several advantages over the print equivalent, due to the greater flexibility of the medium. One such advantage which enthusiasts of the genre often mention is the "infinite canvas": the ability to create pages of nearly-unlimited width and height, with the viewer scrolling around the page. A related idea is that webcomics can have far more pages than would be possible in print, potentially connected non-linearly by hyperlinks.

** Also in Act 6 there was a long stretch with two parallel sets of panels, showing events that happenned simultaneously in nearly identical locations. There were two forward buttons, one under each set of panels. The forward under the first set led to the top of the second set, then one under the second set led to the next page.

* The bonus strip for [[http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0344.html Episode 344]] of ''Webcomic/DarthsAndDroids'' shows a very expanded version of the grapple system rolls and counter-rolls during the five seconds or so of screentime Padme was struggling with a Geonosian.

-->"While Scott [=McCloud=]'s wild predictions on the Infinite Canvas were kind of cool, they were pretty much dashed by things like 'useibility' and 'load times'."

->''"Why did I frame cut instead of thumbnailing? Because I couldn't upload it for thumbnailing because it was ''36 inches tall.'' [[PrecisionFStrike Fucking]] [[TropeNamer infinite canvas]]."''

->''"Why did I frame cut instead of thumbnailing? Because I couldn't upload it for thumbnailing because it was ''36 inches tall.'' Fucking infinite canvas."''

* ''Webcomic/{{xkcd}}'' makes perhaps the grandest use of the infinite canvas, to present [[http://xkcd.com/482/ a logarithmic-scale depiction of the entire observable universe]].

** Strip 1190 "Time" is possibly an inversion of the infinite canvas, taking a series of panels or moments in a very slow animation and presenting them one at a time in a single panel space, updating by one every hour or so since the strip was first posted. A collection of the images (so far) can be seen [[http://imgur.com/a/Edyi1#0 here]] as individual clickable images or [[http://xkcd.aubronwood.com/ here]] as a looping gif.

Few series have (intentionally) applied the infinite canvas principles, and fewer still do so successfully; most of the comics which managed it either were one-shot strips, or were bonus material added to an otherwise conventional series. However, finite-yet-larger-than-usual canvas has often been useful in comics that stretch beyond a traditional page's length. And it's all better than the space in the weekday [[NewspaperComics newspapers]]...

* Comics in ''AMomentOfPeace'' tend to sprawl vertically. Sometimes this is an intentional effect that creates a sense of [[http://www.amomentofpeace.net/comic.php?num=98 descending]] or [[http://www.amomentofpeace.net/comic.php?num=117 ascending]].

* ''DresdenCodak'': [[http://dresdencodak.com/cartoons/dc_029.htm Several]] [[http://dresdencodak.com/cartoons/dc_031.htm comics]] [[http://dresdencodak.com/cartoons/dc_027.htm are]] of a length that would be at best impractical for a print comic. Note that the linked comics are not apt to be split into smaller sized comics either.

* ''SluggyFreelance'' used the extra space to {{Anvilicious}}ly [[http://www.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=010715 drive home a stock-footage joke]] in its HumongousMecha''/''AnotherDimension''/''Stuff Like That parody arc.

* ''{{Narbonic}}'' occasionally experimented with this, usually at the high point of a plot arc or during one of Dave's New-Year's-Eve dream sequences.

* ''{{Fans}}!'' had a couple of MindScrew arcs take place within the infinite canvas. Despite the technically poor quality of art, the way it was presented was so good it actually ''worked''.
* The Webcomic MassiveMultiplayerCrossover ''CrossoverWars'' features the nonlinear variation; partly as a function of the sheer number of webcomics involved, there were many intertwined threads -- each having their own names, usually something like "Fantasy Wars", "Super Wars", or "Squirrel Wars" (!) -- which converged at the conclusion.

* CryHavoc did this [[http://cryhavoc.comicgenesis.com/d/20091208.html here]]. which just appears to cover three fights at once, but comes of muddled and hard to see.

* The day that old ''StarslipCrisis'' ended and the newly rebooted and renamed {{Starslip}} began, [[http://www.starslip.com/archive/20090109.shtml this]] was the entire front page. Extra credit: the site navigation buttons are part of it, the "end" button is shattered, and the "back" and "beginning" buttons were functional.
* ''CheckerboardNightmare'' parodied InfiniteCanvas on at least one occasion.

* ''UnwindersTallComics'' is named after the unconstrained height of its comics. Unwinder's conceit is that a taller comic is a better comic.
* [[http://www.smbc-comics.com/index.php?db=comics&id=1558#comic This]] ''SaturdayMorningBreakfastCereal'' strip.
* ''NatureOfNaturesArt'' ''loves'' using infinite canvas, both [[http://www.nofna.com/?T=1-1-12-146 vertical]] and [[http://www.nofna.com/?T=1-1-12-205 horizontal]].

* ''TheWayOfTheMetagamer:'' Although the comics are all approximately the same size (except for double-length specials), characters, speech bubbles, and shoes often breach the borders of the panels. And then there's [[http://wayofthemetagamer.thecomicseries.com/comics/pl/18679 this]] comic, in which [[NoFourthWall the characters climb behind the panels.]]

* The ''{{MS Paint Adventures}}'' uses this concept in a couple of ways:

** ''{{Homestuck}}'' uses flash as a way for viewers to explore the environment, scrolling both horizontally and vertically. More to the point, Homestuck also makes use of animated and interactive adventure game segments, which would obviously be impossible in print.

* ''DemonPlanet'' has one of the last strips before the reboot oriented diagonally so that you can't just use one scrollbar.
* ''CityOfReality'' employs this trope on many pages. It also sometimes makes use of Flash to alter the story, which makes the comic unprintable.

* ''ParallelDementia'' uses this a lot, most awesomely [[http://pd.milkinthepantry.com/?strip_id=545 here.]]

* DovecoteCrest makes use of this. Most notable is the series of pages for the letter Charlie reads, from a Union soldier to his Confederate brother.

* ''FaceAllRed'' uses this to horrifying effect.

* ''HarkAVagrant'' uses the infinite canvas for a ridiculously long joke about JanetJackson [[http://www.harkavagrant.com/index.php?id=347 here.]]

* NinePlanetsWithoutIntelligentLife: every single strip is a '''long''' line of panels. But the story is so good that you get over the scrolling.

-->"While Scott [=McCloud]]'s wild predictions on the Infinite Canvas were kind of cool, they were pretty much dashed by things like 'useibility' and 'load times'."

* Of course, ''@/DMMaus'' has [[http://www.irregularwebcomic.net/1455.html had a stab at this]]

* ''UnwindersTallComics'' is named after the unconstrained height of its comics.

* In ''Webcomic/UnwindersTallComic, Unwinder's conceit is that a taller comic is a better comic.

* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'' has an excellent [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0443.html example]] (spoiler warning) of infinite canvas, though there are more original ways the principle could be applied. Using a really long strip to depict lots of falling is considered the ur-example of this trope, but it is also a very intuitive example. Ironically, [=OotS=] is actually printed as compilation books, so it remains to be seen how well this strip transfers to a limited canvas.

*** Not too impossible that you cannot purchase books of the series though!

** right after the above format change, the reader is presented a scrapbook with clickable pictures from which to explore a series of smaller events in more or less any order.

* The bonus strip for [[http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0344.html Episode 344]] of ''DarthsAndDroids''.

-->--'''Eric Burns-White''', ''{{Websnark}}''

* ''CyanideAndHappiness'' uses it [[http://www.explosm.net/comics/2030/ here]], and highlights the above-mentioned problem of horizontal scrolling.

** This has continued into his later strips. [[http://dresdencodak.com/2009/12/16/lantern-season Lantern Season]], arguably the largest one to date[[hottip:*:5,195 pixels tall]], is, according to the author, "the exact height of Dustin Hoffman".

* [[http://keithcom.com/atoms/scale.php This]] scale model of an Hydrogen atom. The proton is 1,000 pixels across, the electron orbiting it is 1 pixel across and '''''50 million''''' pixels to the right (which according to the author, on an average screen resolution of 72dpi, is approximately 11 miles of scrolling!)

* ''{{Shiniez}}'' takes full advantage of sprawling downwards, panels can flow into each other and often great space is used to show characters head to toe. WordOfGod has stated the only real problem with getting the work published is the huge amount of reformatting that would have to take place to fit the comic into a book.

* Every page of Sigeel's web comic, ''[[http://sigeel.deviantart.com/gallery/39183085 Blood Stain]]'', is a linear strip of panels. Each page approximates to about 4,000 pixels wide.

** Strip 1190 is possibly an inversion of the infinite canvas, taking a series of panels or moments in a very slow animation and presenting them one at a time in a single panel space, updating by one every hour or so since the strip was first posted. A collection of the images (so far) can be seen [[http://imgur.com/a/Edyi1#0 here]]