A newbie needs your help!

[lorenatzilla]

Hello! I'm a 17 yo art student, I hope you can help me now that I'm just getting started in Tapastic, this seems such a nice community and I'm glad I'm a part of it.
I'm ready to start creating my own webcomic, the problem?
Even though I use a wacom cintiq, I prefer drawing on paper and doing the coloring/inking part digitally. After seeing different formats I'm not sure about what format would be easier to work with since I want to do the drawings traditionally and then scan. I was thinking about doing a "hybrid" between a manga-ish format and a webtoon/manhwa format. Is that okay? Will I have problems when uploading because of the size? (I use A4 sheets)

Thank you all ^-^

[respheal]

I actually started off doing exactly the same thing: drawing on paper and then coloring digitally. Over time I wound up liking drawing digitally more but yeah.

Anyway, there's pretty much two different formats here that are common: One-page-per-episode, which is the more traditional format (similar to manga), or the webtoon format, which is that really tall and long format you've seen.

Examples of one-page-per-episode:
https://tapastic.com/series/Engelbaum
https://tapastic.com/series/West
https://tapastic.com/series/The-Property-of-Hate
https://tapastic.com/series/D_Fate
https://tapastic.com/series/Wednesday7

Examples of webtoons format:
https://tapastic.com/series/keol
https://tapastic.com/series/ReSet (kind of close to the traditional format, but longer than normal, probably close to what you're aiming for as a hybrid)

So yeah, you can certainly do it in either format and there are pros and cons to both. Personally I went with the more traditional format because I would like to publish a physical copy someday, and converting the webtoons format to physical print sizes sounds like a nightmare.

Uploading shouldn't be an issue, but it you will need to learn how to trim the images to need file size requirements. Here's a handy tutorial on splicing comic files for size: http://iingo.deviantart.com/journal/PE-How-to-Splice-Comics-585026025

[J.Lovelace]

I honestly think that you should go for the format that you prefer the most, we want you to feel comfortable while you work on your comic. There's so many different styles in uploading comics, I think anything you come up with will do just fine : )
There should be no problem with the size if you know how to resize the pages, so that they won't exceed the allowed limits.
If you don't have a program for that, there's always online converters you can use on the go.

I wish you a great start, and please remember that first and foremost - you should enjoy what you do!

[sarrowsmith10]

I agree with whats been said before! Do what is most comfortable for you. Tapastic community is very receptive of all kinds of styles and formats. And welcome!

[hushicho]

So many great responses! I agree too that whatever's most comfortable for you will be best. I did a comic called Incubus Tales for over seven years and started out purely traditional, and gradually transitioned into traditional, with digital finishes, until by the time I finished the comic, I was mostly transitioned to purely digital. Today, I create purely digitally, for a number of reasons. But there's no reason why you can't continue to do a traditional-digital hybrid, if that's what works for you!

Welcome to the site, and I hope your experience is a good one.

[shazzbaa]

Will I have problems when uploading because of the size?

Size is relative, honestly!
For example, how big you draw the panels compared to the page can make a big difference in the style:

If you're concerned about how to size stuff on your A4 paper in order to make it look right when you scan it in and resize it for the website, one thing you can try is finding a comic you like and printing out one page. Then you can compare and see how big or small those panels would look on your paper, so you have a better idea of what size to draw yours at!

[lorenatzilla]

Thank you very much, this definitely helped me.
See you around