#webtoons are so much easier to do than regular comics...

[xkuja]

Iifa in webtoon format that's what i've been doing~~

[suashii]

꒰ა ☆ ໒꒱ 𝒞𝐻𝐸𝐸𝑅 𝒰𝒫 𝒞𝒜𝒩𝒟𝒴

info ⭑ suna rintaro x reader. 1.4 wc. sfw ﾉ fluff ﾉ reader is a bit sad

note ⭑ inspired by a scene from the webtoon comic act like you love me!

there’s a guy who comes into your work every wednesday—after the rush of high schoolers who stop by following their tutoring sessions but before it’s late enough for you to clock out and call it a night. he hums in acknowledgment every time you offer him a cordial, customer service “welcome” when you hear the motion sensor bell ring. his movements are predictable now and, as much as you try not to, you catch yourself following him with your eyes as he strolls down one aisle where he grabs a bag of jelly candies (the flavor alternates every week) until he disappears behind the tall, stocked shelves. he always emerges by the fridges where he grabs his usual energy drink before making his way to the counter.

over the span of the past several weeks, the formal utterances you’re required to deliver have evolved into fledglings of conversations. the phrase “did you find everything okay?” is eventually ditched and traded in for more personable questions, ones having to do with his choice of candy or the character printed on his hoodie. he smiles when you ask—not the kind that meets his eyes, but a genuine one nonetheless. when you hand him his change, he’s always sure to tell you thank you and offers a two-fingered wave before taking his leave.

the interactions between the two of you give you a short moment highlighted by something other than boredom during the five-hour shifts. he’s far from a friend, barely an acquaintance, hell, you’re not even sure what his name is—all you know is that you like seeing him.

today should be no different. it’s wednesday, it’s after ten, and the store is deafeningly quiet—too quiet for your liking, truly. you normally wouldn’t mind listening to the low of whispers the refrigerators and fluorescent lights, but the silence allows your mind to wander and it keeps going back to that godforsaken text; one that you wouldn’t have seen until after work if you had kept your phone in the back like you were supposed to.

we should break up. things aren’t working anymore.

“what an asshole,” you say out loud to yourself, wiping the stray tear from your cheek with the sleeve of your shirt. the prick didn’t even have the decency to do it properly—to say it to your face. he’s not worth wasting your tears on, at least, that’s what you’ve been trying to convince yourself for the past ten minutes. but it’s easier said than done. no matter how much you want to be unaffected by this, you’re hurt.

you would have been better off leaving your stupid phone in that stupid, unused breakroom.

you can feel another wave of sadness coming on as the automated bell chirps, signaling the arrival of a customer. with a deep, shaky breath, you turn your head in the opposite direction of the door to hide your tear-streaked face. you’re too busy hurriedly dabbing away at your eyes with the sleeve of your shirt that you forget to greet the customer—the one that happens to be your favorite regular. that much doesn’t go unnoticed by suna.

the absence of your typical “welcome!” makes the corner of his lips turn down. it’s worrying, he thinks, how reserved you are tonight. he used to find your enthusiastic greetings a little strange—how could someone be so chipper working the night shift as a cashier? but now given its absence, suna is starting to realize that, at some point, he’d gotten used to it. he’d even go as far as saying he prefers it.

his grayish-yellow gaze lingers on you as he makes his way down the aisle filled with sweets, but you never meet his eye. reluctantly, he looks away from you to what he came here for. his eyes scan over the selection of jelly candies in search of which flavor he wants this week. he usually picks whatever he has a taste for, but some other factor is swaying his judgment. his hand comes to hover over the lychee ones—he’s sure you said those ones were your favorite. lithe fingers pluck the pack from its box before he’s off to get his drink.

he can see you through the glass of the fridge door as he aimlessly reaches for the cold can. your head is tipped down, eyes glued to the counter in front of you. that’s weird, too, he thinks, fingers finally grazing the tab on one of the cans. on any other day he comes in, you’re mindlessly staring off into space or not-so-discreetly scrolling on your phone. suna knows it’s probably not his place to think so, but something’s definitely wrong.

he knows that much, but isn’t quite sure what to do about it.

nothing, he supposes. you’re not his friend—he’s a customer and you’re an employee. he has no obligation to do anything about your dampened mood, so why is he thinking so hard about how he can cheer you up?

suna tries to shake the thoughts from his head as he approaches you at the checkout. he sets his things on the counter, unknowingly staring you down to see if you’ll make eye contact with him. he’s almost sure you won’t but, surprisingly, you drag your eyes up from the surface to meet his.

they’re puffy and red, like you’ve been crying.

suna isn’t well-known for his ability to comfort others. in fact, he’s incredibly awkward around people when they cry—and you’re no exception. is it better to ask what’s wrong or try and help take your mind off whatever’s bothering you? he doesn’t know the answer to that question, so he simply musters up a tight-lipped smile, one he’s sure is a little inappropriate given the circumstances, but he’s not sure what else to do. you offer him what you think is a smile in return, but all suna sees is the slight wobble of your lips.

the scanner in your hand beeps twice before you read out the price from the screen ahead of you. suna fumbles around his pocket for the money he had stuffed in there earlier. the thousand yen banknote he passes to you is a bit crumpled and you would have laughed if you weren’t feeling so pathetic. the register rings as you open it to fish out the money you owe him.

closing the drawer with one hand, you hold out his change with the other. suna is stuffing the currency back into the pocket of his hoodie when you speak for the first time since he had come in. “have a nice night.”

the familiar sound of your voice, despite its scratchiness, causes suna to perk up. though, his shoulders slump when he realizes you’ve ducked down to busy yourself with something behind the counter. his feet feel like blocks of concrete, weighed down to this spot. he can’t leave without doing anything. he knows that you’d likely prefer to be alone right now, but he only needs to stick around for a few seconds longer before he’s out of your hair.

you don’t rise from your crouched position until you hear the automated bell that signals the man’s departure ring. hiding away after ringing him up might have been a little unprofessional but the thought of crying in front of him was too humiliating for you to even risk letting it happen.

you sniffle as you stuff your hands into the pockets of your uniform vest, eyes wandering to focus on anything but the source of your sorrow. unconsciously, you tilt your head down to look at the counter. there are pops of color against the white surface; four individually wrapped lychee jelly candies—the same kind that guy had just bought. your favorite.

you peek out the window to see if he’s out of sight yet. you’re relieved to see he hasn’t made it far, maybe a couple squares down the sidewalk. his hood is pulled over his head now but you’d never be able to miss those eyes. with a grin plastered on his face, he points at you and then tips his chin up with the same finger. keep your chin up.

in his other hand, the pack of candy he’s holding is torn at the corner.

your eyes begin to water as you breathe out a laugh, your lips tugging up for the first time tonight since you’d read that text. the tears threatening to spill over your lashline aren’t the same as the ones you had already shed—they’re tears of gratitude, the kind you cry when you can’t effectively express how thankful you are through words.

swallowing the lump in your throat, you pull one of your fists out of the pocket it resides in, sticking your thumb up and mouthing a silent “thank you.”

hihi~ sua here :3 ! thank you for giving this a read! if you enjoyed, please consider reblogging and/or leaving a comment! much love from me to you ❤︎

[bulletproof-korean]

Manhwa and webtoons are a great way to practice reading while keeping it entertaining! 

I put together a list of websites that are probably the most popular, they each have original works that you can’t read elsewhere. Manhwa and webtoons are easier to read than web novels, because there’s much more to focus on than just the text. Web novels (웹소설) are more like regular novels with some illustrations, therefore they’re more demanding. 

I hope the screenshots aren’t too messy~

⁕ Naver 만화 and Naver 웹소설, the webtoon app is also great but for some reason I can’t switch it to Korean on my phone unless I switch my whole phone into Korean so..😂 I use the desktop more. You can save works, like and comment if you login with a naver account. 

It has some famous and long running webtoons, such as the above mentioned God of High School (갓 오브 하이스쿨), Noblesse (노블레스), Tower of God (신의 탑) - all have anime adaptations, True Beauty (여신강림) and Cheese in the Trap (치츠인더트랩) which both have a drama adaptation, Here U Are for those who like BL, and about another gazillion webtoons haha

The webtoon about BU is also on naver, but only in the app...

⁕ Kakaopage has both webtoons and webnovels, works best if you login with a kakao account. I really enjoy reading Solo Leveling (나 혼자만 레벨업) mentioned below and I also just discovered that there’s a webtoon remake of Fullmetal Alchemist (강철의 연금술사). I loved the anime so I want to read the comic as well huehue)

Sadly, the app is only available through kakao talk, when you have a Korean phone number ;; (this is outside of the topic, but kakao talk transforms into this amazin app that can do literally anything once you register with a phone number that starts with 010, but sadly... you can only do that in Korea so no luck for those of us elsewhere. dammit I miss buying stuff through kakao.)

⁕  Lezhin (레진) has webtoons, but it’s not always free. I’d also say there’s more English originals on lezhin than Korean ones but it’s a website worth mentioning.

⁕ Daum Webtoon (다음웹툰) - to be honest, I never read anything from daum but there’s a good amount of content as well! I also don’t think there’s an English version of the page.

[comicteaparty]

July 11th-July 17th, 2020 Creator Babble Archive

The archive for the Creator Babble chat that occurred from July 11th, 2020 to July 17th, 2020.  The chat focused on the following question:

How do you personally stay motivated and/or disciplined enough to work on your story?

🌈ERROR404 🌈

being under schedule DEFINITELY being under schedule

there has been nothing that has lit a stronger fire under my ass than self appointed deadlines

eliushi [Keyspace]

Deadlines definitely help for me! I also find talking with supportive fellow comic folks, writers and artists very inspiring Their successes help me focus on my work too!

carcarchu

I'm motivated by the desire to see how my story ends

eliushi [Keyspace]

That is also very true and very much the Mood

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

I agree with self-appointed deadlines, but also just my eagerness for future scenes propel me. And a little bit of a desire for other people to see a bit of the world that's in my head.

eliushi [Keyspace]

I desire to see the world inside your head

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

Hahaha, and I desire to share it

Seriously though, as much as I write for myself, I get an obscene amount of motivation from seeing other people getting excited about my story.

I thrive on the curiosity and eagerness of others, and the potential for others to love my characters just as I do

Feather J. Fern

For me, I think motivation for me is "If I get this done, I can show my friend who is really excited about my comic" Because you always need that one hype friend who wants to see your comic

Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~

100%

A hype friend or family member can be a great motivator!

Shizamura 🌟 O Sarilho

Scheduling, deadlines, having other people to talk about your work... Definitively my top 3. But also, if for some reason I'm not motivated to do a particular thing, I like to think why is that exactly? Is this page/scene not convincing ME? what can I change to fix that?

Deo101 [Millennium]

^^^ YES!!! 9/10 times if I'm not working on a page it's cause I'm not feeling it 100%, and restarting the page to try something different helps almost always!!!

So I stay motivated by keeping it fresh, and also yeah deadlines help a lot

shadowhood {SunnyxRain}

Personally? Just hanging around people who also art and seeing how they work. Also trying to keep myself physically healthy because I can't focus on my work if I'm not up to par.

DanitheCarutor

You know, in spite of how busy my life has gotten within the past couple months (Now balancing housework with a job that keeps me away from home for 12-13 hours a day.), the two things keeping me motivated are seeing certain scenes play out and the ending. I have some really major events coming up and I want to see them happen, I want to see that development from where everything began pay off, and I want the characters to get that satisfying ending they worked hard for. Also I really want to see readers reactions, making people upset with my characters and what they're going through is my jam and admittedly a major driving point for me to continue working on my comic.

eliushi [Keyspace]

The emotional connection is key!

persephinnie

Having a support group of friends, even if not exactly friends but peers and mutuals in online communities does so much wonders! And also not necessarily having a strict structure on my end, but telling myself every week what progress needs to get done and writing it down instead of keeping it all in my thoughts helps tremendously.

sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)

I'm very motivated by producing the next parts/end of the story

Getting to future scenes

shadowhood {SunnyxRain}

Fanart is also a biiiig motivator for me. Just the idea/fact that people took the time, care and love to draw my ocs makes me a lot more motivated to tell my story even more, because it means that people care enough to want to see more

TaliePlume

My family mostly my brothers are a huge motivation because they have been through a lot and and there's not that many comics with positive Haitian representation. I wanted to dedicate my comic to them.

GuildmasterPhill

I just started uploading my comic on webtoons now, as well as my main website. Hopefully it can reach more people that way!

In terms of staying motivated, Any amount of feedback from readers is key. I want to connect with them through my art, and if they let me know it's working, then I just gotta keep going!

Holmeaa - working on WAYFINDERS

When I can I treat Wayfinders like a full time job. That helps because then I have my usual working schedule and then I just work away! When I have a job I take small breaks to help Q out, like five min breaks, and work on it in weekends and evenings

So motivation is not a problem. I want to make this story so bad. I want to work creatively on my own stories every every day

crittybonbon

I used to be quite motivated by my readers, not wanting to disappoint them by missing updates. But I realized that this was actually causing me a lot of stress and anxiety. Now I'm mainly motivated by strict schedules and habits ("Tuesdays from 8pm-10pm" is my sketch the whole page night, ect). I have a kid now and also work FT so I take my schedules seriously, I cant delay or procrastinate like I used to because I have to balance work and family. On that some note and if Im sick or something I will push the update a day or two and I try not to feel too bad it, your readers will wait. But it did take me years to develop a good work ethic.

Artem Ficta (Ring Spell)

I don't have many readers so I stay motivated purely by my love of the story, my habit of drawing, and my desire for a finished product.

Miranda (Into the Swell)

I feel like my story is what keeps me motivated. I finally have a story that I'm very invested in and it's made it so much easier to keep working on it. But I think also knowing that people are reading my comic would be a good motivator as well. I've also found an art style that I genuinely enjoy drawing and improving at so it's fun to see the improvement as I work on pages.

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

I want to tell these characters' stories. And I want my readers to know what happens to them. Every page I make is a step closer toward that

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

I relate much more to the recent love of story comments than the friends and readers comments

i wanna get to the good partsss

i love my endinggg

and i refuse to be yet another incomplete webcomic

Desnik

I stay motivated by having a critique group to share with on a regular basis. If I have no progress ready to show I feel bad

AntiBunny

I agree that point. My motivation is to get these stories out of my head and into the world, or they might just build up until my head explodes.

Yung Skrimp (Carefree)

Motivation where you at

Mitzi (Trophallaxis)

squeakin in just before the deadline to add that, and this might sound a tad mean, spite honestly keeps me motivated to make art and continue my comic/other art pursuits There have been people who tell me I should be doing something else with my life (to put it nicely), and what better revenge than to keep improving and putting more and more of my work out there for people to see?? ain't no one getting rid of me lmao

carcarchu

i feel ya on the spite thing mitzi, the best revenge i can get against the people who doubted me is to flourish

varethane

I think my main drive is being extremely hype to have people outside of my own brain get excited about the story things I have planned. These moments I daydream about.... if someone else can share that dream even for a moment, that's what I want (just realized this wording is extremely sappy skdjdhfbf sorry)

Eightfish (Puppeteer)

Ah no I think it's lovely the way you worded that

Shizamura 🌟 O Sarilho

Hahahaha [I laugh but deep inside in just... Uwu.. Same]

keii’ii (Heart of Keol)

Deep same. I do want to see the story come to life for myself as well, but it wouldn't be the same without potential audience engagement. If I were to do this in a total vacuum, I'd probably just do illustrations of my top favorite scenes only.

But it's a little bit more complex than that in practice. Drawing all the scenes enriches my own understanding of/ love for those favorite scenes. It's got the opposite of vicious cycle effect going on.

[ylfva-remade]

which batman comics r the best to like.. start w? or whats ur fav lol

hello anon i am kissing you on the mouth. thank you for letting me talk about batman.

um so my. advice would be to RUN. RUN FAR AWAY FOR THE SAKE OF YOUR SANITY. JUST DO IT NOW.

i cry myself to sleep trying to understand batman on a regular basis. i tried to explain a bunch of things here but uh. theres so much.

my REAL advice is this:

-get into post-crisis bruce wayne first. ignore anything pre-crisis unless its really funny

-this is a great reading list for post-crisis bruce wayne. start there

-if you have a big retailer of books in your area (im not american but if youre canadian think indigo/chapters) go there first. get yourself a copy of batman: year one

-the big book stores are gonna be more likely to have the stuff you want for starting out, ie. they'll have compilations of large story arcs in one physical book so you dont have to buy a bunch of smaller comics. or you can do that if youre into that but this is easier.

-you can also read comics online but personally i like holding the books

-read the batfam webtoon its not canon and its kinda fandom-y and some characterizations are. much more wholesome than they really are but its fun and i like it and the art is nice

-follow dan mora's work he is perfect

-comics explained on youtube is a great resource if you have several hours of your life to devote to understanding stuff that normal people dont care about

and my final piece of advice:

there is no such thing as a casual comic book fan. abandon hope all ye who enter here cause its so hard to enjoy comics casually because theres so much you need to know.

if you're planning on just getting into a little bit of batman just watch batman the animated series.

i know this all sounds like i hate comics but seriously, i love comics and they make me sooo happy its just, hard to get into them? like theres so much you have to know, batman has been around for almost 83 years now. theres so sosoooo much and if youre not into knowing everything then um. maybe stick with something else

[leifandthorn]

Webcomic Buffers And You, for #WeHeartComics

I keep turning up new webcomic-related Twitter discussions. This one was an (irregular?) offering from WeHeartComics, a product of the SpiderForest collective. (Think “Hiveworks for artists who aren’t into bees.”)

Last Friday was a chat about buffers. Which was a striking thing to jump into, because I’d just been listening to the ComicLab episode where the hosts go “ahh, regular updates are so 10 years ago! Just update whenever you draw something. Readers will be into it.”

And that works great if you’re Kate Beaton (of Hark! A Vagrant) or Sarah Andersen (of Sarah’s Scribbles), where your whole thing is random self-contained standalone bits. (It also helps if they’re Really Good standalones.) But, listen, it’s all wrong for a comic with any kind of continuity. If you slack on the updates there, readers will forget where they are in the story, and end up losing interest.

I don’t know if if strict update times are necessary in the social-media age. Nobody knows when Webcomic Woes is going to update, and it doesn’t matter, because as long as you stay on top of your Patreon/Deviantart/Tumblr feed, it’ll be served up to you.

But for those story-based comics, you’ve got to keep a regular update rate (e.g. “twice a week”). So you may as well keep the posting dates and times consistent too. Keeps your life simple, makes it easier to track your to-do list.

And with that, on to the questions…

Q1. Do you try to keep a buffer of comic pages? Why or why not? #WeHeartComics pic.twitter.com/aYgkNRoD9W

— WeHeartComics (@WeHeartComics) April 6, 2018

For Leif & Thorn, yes. I like titling strips in the format of “This Storyline 1/24” (a tic picked up from Bruno The Bandit)…and that only works if my buffer reaches the end of This Storyline.

The current arc is getting broken up into sub-acts — starting with ��The Show Must Grow On: Overture” — mostly because I’m not far enough to have the numbers otherwise. Did the same thing splitting off the 14-strip An Incredibly Platonic Shopping Day, even though it leads straight (hah) into the next storyline, because Summer Sunshine clocked in at a full 84 strips. I could manage to be 84 strips ahead, but not 98.

As of this writing, I’ve drawn 18 strips into The Show Must Grow On: Act I. Which is…not bad, but there’s gonna need to be a crackdown of work this weekend. And the next one. And probably the next.

For But I’m A Cat Person — eheh, it used to have a buffer. Now I’m almost always working one page ahead. Talked a lot about the effects of that in an earlier WebcomicChat about pacing.

And then there’s Webcomic Woes, which is bufferless by nature. It gets made on a “whenever I have an idea” basis, and I don’t have more than one relevant idea per day.

A1 YES!

I'm working on getting a buffer of at least 52 pages because I have a crazy day job and I want enough buffer for a year of weekly updates.#WeHeartComics

— TeJay is Drawing (@TeJay_the_Mad) April 6, 2018

This here is a heroic effort. I’ve never had a full-page buffer that long.

(Technically, I’m 50-ish updates ahead with Leif & Thorn right now — but since it’s a daily strip, that only comes out to a month and a half’s worth of lead time.)

Q1 #WeHeartComics I prefer to always work on solid ground so right now I have a hefty buffer of 800 pages. (even more if I include book 2)

— 🐀Kristen🐉Kiomall-Evans🐒 (@BatichiKristen) April 6, 2018

…and here we have the winner of this thread.

Q2. What drawbacks or advantages does your current buffer (or lack of) give you?#WeHeartComics pic.twitter.com/wmju0giUTm

— WeHeartComics (@WeHeartComics) April 6, 2018

Low buffer gives you a quick turnaround on “whoops, readers didn’t understand that reference, I’ll have a character explain it on the next page.” High buffer gives you security in case you fall out of a tree and have to put your drawing arm in a cast for three months.

A2: The advantage is if something happens, I won't have to miss an update. Since I post on Webtoons, this kicks me down in rankings, which potentially loses me subs/PVs. Drawbacks, are that I can't make any changes to the story arc or I'll have to redo portions #WeHeartComics

— Lisa ⭐️ リサ (@asilris) April 6, 2018

…and then there’s algorithms. Or, on a site like mine, the Webcomic plugin is configured to send cranky emails if the buffer runs low.

Although I find that having a large buffer, so you can redo something while it’s in the buffer, is much easier than redoing it after it’s posted! If you realize on page 10 that you need a Chekhov’s gun that should’ve been on the wall on page 1, you really want page 1 to be unposted. I’ve resorted to post-posting edits, but only in the case of serious continuity errors.

(If you’re really bored some afternoon, go through the BICP archives page-by-page and see how many errors you can spot compared to the originals — which are all preserved on the SmackJeeves mirror.)

Q3. Life sometimes eats away at buffers. What techniques do you use to get around that?#WeHeartComics pic.twitter.com/qKtmCWYUDA

— WeHeartComics (@WeHeartComics) April 6, 2018

With Leif & Thorn: hasn’t been a problem. (Knock wood.)

With BICP: uh, mostly posting stuff late with apologies. The comic was originally 3 pages a week, and I couldn’t keep that up full-time, so I took it down to 2 (it goes back up sometimes for special events, like the second Christmas special), and that helped.

I do a week or two of filler between chapters, and I’ve given myself a couple longer hiatuses…but do not have the discipline to use them for buffering, heh. I just use them to recharge before jumping back into the “whoops, gotta draw tomorrow’s page now” rollercoaster.

Waaaay back in the day (2003!), And Shine Heaven Now had 6-strips-a-week updates. When my Dell died and the buffer ran out, I drew a week of filler at the library in MSPaint rather than go updateless.

In retrospect, under the circumstances, I’m sure readers would’ve forgiven a mini-hiatus! But for some reason it honestly didn’t occur to me as an option.

Q4. Do you have advice to those wanting to create buffers?#WeHeartComics pic.twitter.com/S1v4ndaZVI

— WeHeartComics (@WeHeartComics) April 6, 2018

Work up a big one before your comic actually launches. I had several months of Leif & Thorn drawn before I started posting, and the buffer has been healthy ever since.

After that, just pace yourself. Figure out what your workflow is, and adapt your schedule to work with it! Some authors like writing out a script beforehand, others like working it out as they draw. Some artists need strict and well-planned schedules, others (*cough*) get revved up by looming deadlines. In the immortal words of Jan Valentine: whatever works is cool.

Q5. If a buffer can’t be made, what advice would you give others seeking to reduce the stress of regular updates?#WeHeartComics pic.twitter.com/5ipyS6qiOh

— WeHeartComics (@WeHeartComics) April 6, 2018

…I mean, if your comic is suited to irregular updates, you can always just do that.

If not, you’re allowed to take breaks. Just give your readers accurate information about your plans, and then stick to them. Don’t be the person whose site still says “after this short hiatus, My Awesome Comic will return in May 2017!” when it’s April 2018.

If you can’t do irregular updates, and you can’t make a buffer, and it’s too stressful to keep up regular updates, and you can’t even get back from hiatus…then maybe this isn’t the comic you should be doing, and it’s time to gracefully bow out. (More on that next post.)

(Original post.)