Black vs white gutters

[blinkingkills]

I currently use white gutters on my comic because i dunno, it never occured that i should use black, but i did a bit of testing and i feel like the black gives me more contrast and i like it a bit more, but at the same time, I'm not sure if other people feel the same way, what do you guys think?

or

[punkarsenic]

hm. black definitely gives these pages something more - they look nicer, essentially. then again, using black gutters in general takes away your opportunity to use them to communicate nighttime / a dark setting.... have you tried white gutters but no black border?

[blinkingkills]

unfortunately, because my talk bubbles have no black borders, no black borders on my panels makes them all look like swiss cheese

[Strontium]

I like the black gutters since it makes the white bubbles pop more, but I don't dislike the white gutters - I just think the size of the panel outline is too thick. Have you tried making the panel outlines thinner? It might make the white gutter pages look more delicate to go along with you borderless bubbles and your painted-style art.

[blinkingkills]

yeah that sounds like a good idea, i will try thinner border lines too

[Mocha]

This is just my personal preference, but I think that black works better with coloured comics and white looks better with black/white/grey. I think the colours tend to pop less with white gutters.

[Michelle]

I like the white gutters more for this example. I think the black gutters look too harsh against the lighter colours of the page.

I do think black gutters look nice when used with nighttime scenes, or pages with overall darker tones. :> It's fine to change up your gutter style depending on what kind of page it is.

[Genten]

I think it honestly depends on what mood you want to portray for your comic. I draw a mystery/supernatural comic so I use black borders to highlight how "dark" the series is meant to be. I think black borders definitely give comics a more serious vibe, and they definitely stand out. Before deciding one way or another, I would think of the mood you want to convey with your comic. As others have mentioned, there are pros and cons to both (I do agree that black borders tend to look best with colored comics).

For your example, I think it could go either way. If you do decide to use white borders, I would suggest lowering the panel line thickness. Thick panel outlines work best for more cartoon-y comics, and with style that leads towards semi-realism like your's, it just distracts from the artwork.

[Shanny8]

Mainly been using black gutters on my current comic work coz I had been using white for while. The only piece in which I stuck with the white gutters was my Tipping Feature page. I kinda like the way it came out coz of the bright colors, but I think I'll stick with the black.

[AlkseeyaKC]

I like the black gutters on your examples. I tend to fall on the dark side in general though. lol

I have black gutters on my coming to make the art glow. As someone pointed out, mine is kind of a supernatural comic.

The light ones might make the comic more happy and clean. (random thought)
Nice art by the way!

[bynuwbis]

Hello !

Personally I think the first example is better (White background and black lines).

Looks more like a classic comic book style and lets your illustrations breed enough! Even if you hadn't the black lines it would look good because your illustrations look good by themselves. If the illustrations are good and they have a nice contrast you don't need the black paper look.

Examples comics with no frame line:

Blacksad:

This examples its pretty fun because the artist used the white background for a transition !

Note too that normally you will have a white background in tapastic or other sites you post so I think it's a bonus to have it white for easier reading and cleaner look. So it doesn't look like a frame.

Don't forget that it's advantage to have your strips in a white background for future prints of your book. If you have all of that amount of black it's a lot of more ink to fill.

The Second example in black I think it's interesting for some types of comics but you don't need that type of contrast. I think the wow factor it gives is because it gives a contrast that's not really fair because 100% black ! x)

I think the black takes too much control of the illustrations this way. For example if you frame a painting the frame will be part of the painting itself when you hang it in a wall.

I think your comics look good!

Keep up and good luck !

---

NuwComics
https://tapastic.com/series/NuwComics

[Shanny8]

@bynuwbis I send my books off to a printer; it doesnt cost me any extra to print using the black gutter.

I've even thought about using borderless paneling on my pages, but it doesnt fit the style of my story.

[bynuwbis]

Every comic has its style and they have different things that work in each one! (that's part of the fun )
So it's good to try new things and new styles to see which one works better for the story/comic :D!

[heraclus]

Black is called beta in manga and is used for flash backs many times but it's ok to use as you like.

[inkorporate]

Why choose? I use both depending on the mood I'm trying to convey. On Interface (tapastic.com/series/interface) I also use other colours.

[ToonDoctor]

As many have said, it depends on the mood that you want to convey. Black gutters restrict and confine space much more.

[Parkblog79]

I use black gutters, and I think they are useful when the gutters are not as spacious. When you have spacious gutters, white might be the better option. Of course, this is just my opinion