#webcomic tips

[genericpuff]

Hi! I'm a rookie comic artist and I've been having trouble finding platforms to hold my comics, and I don't want to resort to Tapas and Webtoons. Do you have any recommendations?

There are loads you can try for sure!

ComicFury - great for that old school 2000's webcomic host vibe, allows you to design your own sites via CSS/HTML but comes with easy to learn site-builders as well. You can also host your site through them (and it'll only cost you the domain name). Allows NSFW content, strictly anti-AI.

GlobalComix - just recently released their app, the site itself has been around for the last few years, they have a very sleek and up-to-date backend that offers loads of analytics information, paywall features, and even different reading layout options to suit any creator's needs. Allows NSFW content, isn't anti AI but does require creators to follow their rules and be transparent in their series' labelling so that readers can make informed decisions.

NamiComi - so far a promising alternative to Webtoons that apparently has its own rewards program, though I haven't tried this platform yet so take my word on it with grains of salt.

Dillyhub - Owned by the same parent company as Tapas (Kakao) it's a cozy enough site, let's you share both comic series AND illustrations so it makes for a great hybrid if you want a place that allows you to share both.

All of these, by the way, don't have the 'potential' for massive traffic numbers like Webtoons and Tapas do, but what they offer in the way of backend tools, creator resources, and monetization options absolutely makes up for it. After all, for 99% of creators on WT/Tapas it's impossible to get seen anyways, so if you're gonna be doing your own networking, it may as well be on a site that gives you far more control and options in how you share your work.

Hope that helps! Good luck!! <3

[dukestewart]

I actually have a question, I'm wanting to start a webcomic at some point in the future myself, do you have any recommendations or advice for me?

Okay, I have a million things to say on the subject but to save you a lot of scrolling I’ll cut it down to the main things I wish I knew when starting my webcomic.

Don’t overprepare

It’s easy to fall into the trap of perfecting your art style or developing your character arcs before you actually, like, make the thing. The truth is you get diminishing returns on the pre-production phase, and too much planning will just waste your time. I once wrote an entire script and sketched out 200 pages for a graphic novel version of my webcomic Roundhouse, 90% of which is now redundant or contradictory. Probably took me hundreds of hours. Whoops. Make a basic plot line and some concept pictures by all means, you gotta start with something, but you’ll be much more motivated to make the comic when you’re already making it.

Collect references

This might sound kind of contradictory to my previous advice but bear with me. It’s important to prioritise creation over planning but gathering a compendium of your favourite artworks and writing techniques will save you time in the long run. If I’m ever stuck on how to draw a certain expression for example I know I have a folder full of expertly drawn faces to remind me how nostrils work. Personally I keep separate reference folders for colour, anatomy and character designs. Fantastic cure for artist’s block, swear by it.

Get someone to proofread

You have no idea how important it is to get a second opinion. No one in the history of media has ever been better off without a different pair of eyes to catch a mistake. They’ll see the obvious things you missed, a typo, a pacing issue, a joke that makes no sense… if you’re embarrassed to show it to anyone in your life then get an internet friend to have a look. Hell, I’ll have a look. Send me a message, I’m easy.

Even the most talented creators struggle to be seen

A good comic will always have a better chance of success than a crap one but that’s only a part of the equation. We’re forgetting our two troublesome neighbours, Monsieur Marketing and Lady Luck. It stinks, but we operate in an algorithm-based economy, and getting things out there takes a lot of hard research. I hate the marketing side of things, personally. I’d much rather make a page every week and not care whether it’s seen or not but such is the nature of capitalism that I have to try and monetise my work any way I can. Knowing someone in the business can’t hurt either.

Look, I’ll never be able to condense everything I know about webcomics in a single post so consider this my declaration to give advice to anyone who asks for it. Got a specific question about comics? Message me.

[uncannyannie23]

I have taken a step backwards from comic production to pre-production! I always knew I needed to be clever and take steps like these to make production easier...but...I was lazy & skipped steps 😅 and now I'm suffering. So, I'm going back and doing said steps.

The main 9 angles of the face, from here stamps can be made to make production easier. Saves having to redraw heads every single time - just do expressions.

[darqx]

Hi I understand if you don't reply, but I was wondering if you have any advice to beginners who want to start making their ocs a reality? (Like in the sense of having Charecters that have been in your thoughts for a while, but it's hard to encapsulate them into physical form?) As I have some that id like to make either into a game or comic but I'm a little stuck..

Also I'm curious if there will be any other content with the best boy himself rire?? : 0

Hullo! Ah, (physically) designing characters, how fun ❤️ - there is part of a reason why I only have a handful of them lol XD; ANYWAY here are three things that help me, so hopefully they can help you as well :)

(I'll use Demon!Rire as an example as unless you are an old guard of mine, he will probably be the most recognisable of my characs.)

--------------

❓What do you know about them?

First of all since you already have your character in mind, congratulations you are most of the way there already! It's helpful to know the general vibe of them. And I don't mean the super detailed things that may arise from like..."Get to know your OC" quizzes - we are more looking for the core feeling of a character here. If you dumped this character into different AUs what things are going to stay the same/similar? Some things you should consider are:

What is their personality like? Why do they do the things they do?

Do I already have any physical traits for them in mind? Hair/eye/skin colour? Body type? Age? Name??

📝 Write a simple paragraph or some dot points about your character with these things in mind.

---EXAMPLE---

Sophisticated and charming, Rire outputs an aura of power and elegance. His pleasing physical appearance and gentlemanly demeanour usually enchants or commands people. Realistically, he is extremely manipulative and sadistic, and finds entertainment in the reactions of others.

---/EXAMPLE---

🤔 Make informed choices

Ok cool, you know something about your charac! Now build upon what you know to make them real - it is important here to try and match your design choices with the characterisation and "why"s of the character, and less with what you personally think will be cool/cute/whatever. What I mean by this is just pretend they are a person you are describing to a forensic sketch artist - you are giving "facts" as to what you think they look like not making stuff up (eg you would NOT be like "oh yeh she was totally a punk rocker however i'm going to say she wore a long flowing gown cos I think she'd look prettier in it?"*)

*Note that designing a character with opposites in mind can work out if you can at least answer the cursory "why" of it being a part of the character design. For eg maybe the punk rocker is secretly the alter ego of a socialite - flowing gowns and high fashion by day, grunge by night. Like Batman.

📝 Feel free to use dress up doll games and image searches for particular types of clothes/hairstyles/etc if you need inspiration. Thumbnail a bunch of different designs and see what works.

---EXAMPLE---

In my prev example paragraph I highlighted a few things in red. Here I'll break down how they can help craft a physical appearance:

Sophisticated and charming / elegance - to me, these combined make me think of ballrooms and black tie functions and nice suits. A well tailored outfit and someone who knows how to wear them.

Gentlemanly demeanour (well to some degree lol) - since I already know he's hundreds of years old (973 to be exact) I decided that an aristocratic Victorian-esque aesthetic would suit him. Somewhere in between a modern look and something with a bit more fantasy steampunk flair. He smiles quite genially until he's doing it with all his teeth.

Aura of power - he's got to be a bit of an imposing character so he's quite tall (or at least taller than all of my other characs) and carries himself confidently. Hooray for the ability to loom. Dark colours for this character, to cut an impressive figure.

Pleasing physical appearance - kinda stereotypical type of good looks that aesthetically most people would be like "yeh he's pretty". Athletic build - muscular but not bulky, broad shoulders, tapered waist etc etc.

Extremely manipulative - first of all, he looks rather human, for a demon - his entire species is designed very particularly like that. Then there's the sunglasses. The "why" [does he wear them] is they function to hide his eyes (one of the main parts of him that give away his demon-ness), but also as a bit of a red flag to the audience that something isn't quite right with him. I mean, look past his charm and he wears them all the time. The black and yellow colour scheme also ties in as warning colours ⚠️

Put them all together and this was one of my first sketches of Demon!Rire.

*Note that I already more or less knew how he looked other than his outfit; you will probably have a lot more sketch duds as you figure out what your character looks like.

---/EXAMPLE---

🔐 Don't lock yourself in

Despite the fact I've just said "pretend your character is a person", remember you're still their creator so obviously you have final say over them. Sometimes you'll find that they grow and change from what you initially thought of them (or you just evolve in how you draw them). Don't be afraid to make the tweaks and changes that enhance these - whether they be physical or core characteristics - and you'll get closer to the true character you always had in mind.

---EXAMPLE--

I now draw Rire with a more pronounced V-shape, longer, wavier hair, and somehow he ended up with way more pronounced eyelashes than I usually draw on my male characs. Which works out quite well considering how I tend to draw his eyes. Anyway the point of this is that these things developed over time as I kept drawing him.

---/EXAMPLE---

🍀 Try it out with your own characs! Have fun and don't force yourself to try and get it "right" on the first go.

[gtzel]

The First few episodes of my webcomic are out! Be sure to check out the rest on webtoon it really helps >>>

And lore stuff: https://www.tumblr.com/zelda1410/737995533557383168/so-lorei-came-up-with-some-for-the-boy-in-the

And if you like the story check out the written version: https://www.wattpad.com/1314657780?utm_source=ios&utm_medium=link&utm_content=share_writing&wp_page=create_writer&wp_uname=Zelda1410&wp_originator=KzJ0kOauqzDPCXPQtCwOIpBw%2F3B2SAySLVEwbU33U2zBJpfaMKzun2yKfq5808tn%2Bw1Q2h1sIhr%2BLFhrOvC%2FBEEiIRQEvVrony%2FLyvGE4hmbLpmTTFaulAcmv%2BxwEOMW

[ask-p2-germany]

(this question is for mun) I've been wondering for a long time, how do you make your backgrounds? they look so realistic?? do you use some kind of 3d/rendering program? or photos? I too use clip studio paint, but I would have no idea how to make the backgrounds look as perfect and realistic as yours😳

Snaptoon: https://www.acon3d.com/en/toon/product/1000007186 https://snaptoonwarehouse.com/snaptoon/snaptoon_en.php Acon3D: https://www.acon3d.com/en/toon Clip Studio Assets: https://assets.clip-studio.com/en-us/

Mentioned auto actions: https://assets.clip-studio.com/en-us/detail?id=1901436 https://assets.clip-studio.com/en-us/detail?id=1989728 https://assets.clip-studio.com/en-us/detail?id=1990089 https://assets.clip-studio.com/en-us/detail?id=1936799 https://assets.clip-studio.com/en-us/detail?id=1989165

[dogstomp]

Dogstomp #3131 - July 28th

Patreon / Discord Server / Itaku / Bluesky

[yellowbrickramble]

We finally got to the yellow brick. Now let's start rambling.

If you like my comics, please support me on Patreon! (link in bio)

[erysium]

If you don't mind me asking, how long is it between the prologue and chapter 6 of Kochab? I've seen people arguing how long the time frame is for Kochab, and frankly, I'm confused, haha. 😅

also, do you have any tips for aspiring comic artists? I've seen a few asks about it before, but I was just wondering if you had tips on drawing/writing about characters/rooms/settings.

thank you and have a good night! good luck on the print version of Kochab, I really hope it goes well!

I don't think it's too important a detail (I like the idea of it being fairytale/fairy land-time !) but I was thinking at least 1-2 weeks pass.

that's a hard one to answer! I think something that helped me was doing concept art and sketches to figure out what character moments/moods/settings/events I really wanted to include in the comic. The moments that are the most fun to write/draw are the ones that I have a really exciting vision for/vivid mood, and want to figure out by getting onto paper.

I also usually start chapter thumbnails by doodling what I'm most excited about in the chapter/any cool visual metaphors I really want to use/the most important character moments, and having that as a mini-moodboard to keep me focused on what's important is helpful. :)

Even more general, I think having a big folder full of favourite art/inspirations for a particular project is the biggest help whenever I'm feeling stuck in writing or design.

thank you!! i really hope it goes well too. good night! 🌜✨

[screentones-webcomicresources]

Ever wondered about the allure of romance? The potential of a fiery relationship between strangers? The highs and lows, the exciting and the enticing? Well you’re in for a treat because we’re going to be discussing Romance as a genre and tool in webcomics.

⭐️Featuring Guest Hosts Meg (@bludragongal) and Allie (@allidrawscomics)!⭐️

Tune in Now!

[genericpuff]

Would you ever consider doing a tutorial on how you set up LR? I'm interested in the long continuous page format and I have no idea how people set up their canvas for it

I'd love to sometime, when I can get a hot second to do it. I used to be able to show off the Rekindled drawing process back when I was still streaming, but with my tablet still out of order, streaming isn't really gonna be a thing for a while (also I've learned streaming is just sort of ... really exhausting for me so I'm thinking I'd rather go for just video recording and commentary or something).

That said, if I can give just like, a quick basic setup, Rekindled is drawn on canvases of 2400 px (width) by 15k px (height) minimum with a dpi of 350. The height isn't so much what matters as the width, height can be however long you want it to be due to vertical scrolling (though note that the longer your canvas is, the more processing power it'll take for your computer, so don't overdo it if your PC can't handle it lol), but width is a lot more limited on various platforms (ex. Webtoons has a restriction of 800 px wide, so I like using 2400px because it's easily divisible by 800, but that's JUST for my JPG's, my root files always stay at their original resolution of 2400px wide to ensure I can keep the highest-quality versions of the pages). This is pretty much my default layout for vertical webtoons, beyond just Rekindled, it's what works for me haha

Also I use Clip Studio where I can have an actual project manager with multiple pages per project, but you can do the same thing with Photoshop or any other software by just having different canvases/files per page.

[eastaltus]

[screentonescast]

A lot of webcomic creators find themselves discouraged because the reality of their experience doesn't quite match the expectations they had when starting out.

How do we combat this and keep ourselves motivated and passionate?

Let's talk about it!

[cyber-src]

reading Homestuck again after a few years, any tips for getting through 8000 pages??

[rightwriter]

Not exactly writing, but an art tip for my webcomic creator followers :)

[gtzel]

Check it out! The next episode of the boy in the walls (webcomic) is out! (Previous episode is here)