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[user404]

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[silverraven0]

Erm, since I'm more comfortable drawing with paper than my phone (yes, my tool to draw digitally is my android phone), I usually made the rough draft on paper, and then take a shot with the camera and draw the line art and tone-ing (currently I only do monochrome) it using medibang paint from there.

For the infinite scroll comic I currently made tho, I simply draw the draft either on medibang directly but I create the characters and other complicated things on paper first.

Though I said this, my comic is pretty much on the iceberg since I haven't really do anything with them too much.

[SilentHamster102]

Well, my drawing process is simple. I'm using the drawing tablet, draw everything (background drawed in same quality as everything else and sometimes it take more time than main thing) what i need, then using different layers to paint it properly.
About refs, i'm using a visual image in my head (when it comes to cars or weapons it works perfectly), but for creating an image (of location, for example) i'm looking for photos, videos, movies and whatever else.

[Littlemissno]

Like @silverraven0 I'm pretty used to drawing with paper and a pencil and have only been drawing digitally for about a year. I never really practiced anything except from the head/neck up, so I'm pretty terrible at coloring, shading, drawing bodies and clothes, wrinkles are a HUGE pain, etc. I can figure it out if I have a reference pic tho, but it still won't be anything that great imo. I know, it's that "I'm terrible and need a lot of work" mentality us artists have, but even tho I know I need to work on a lot of things, I don't think my drawing skills are that bad. It definitely could use improvement, but it's better than what I was drawing in middle and high school. Oh, and don't get me started on perspective. I took a drawing course and tried learning it, but as soon as I tried it outside class, I just couldn't understand it at all. I still need to practice that.

Anyways, I was wondering what you're opinion was on preparing to draw a comic, like what skills should I definitely have semi-down pat and what should I know beforehand. I've heard some artists say to just do it, but then I don't want to ruin a perfectly good story with crappy drawing skills. I've been thinking maybe I should just try drawing a slice of life like Snailords "Snailogy" which I think might be fun and improve over time with practice, but I know that as soon as I finish a page or a chapter, I'll immediately want to post it like I do sometimes with my stories and I don't have time to keep drawing like that. I'm kind of juggling a lot of things now, but I want to draw comics in the future instead of only writing them. Not to sound rude, but I've seen comics where the artist wasn't as experienced in terms of their drawing fundamentals compared to others, but they were still making their comics and enjoying it. I'm a little bit of a perfectionist and nitpicker with my art... I just don't know if I could manage that bliss tbh. But even so, I really want to draw a comic and see my characters come to life.

If you have any, I'd love to hear some tips on where I should start from any comic creators or any websites that you've found helpful over the years. Thanks for reading this whole thing! And thanks @Sketchylinez for starting this post. I was going to do it, but you already did ^^

[punkarsenic]

i write a chapter event plan > expand that into a scene by scene > page by page > panel by panel script as i thumbnail on paper > sketch page on paper > scan into clip studio paint > ink > lettering > flat colour > funky bit o' shading > e voila

i try to keep things fast and loose in my work to capture smth intuitive and not get bogged down in any one page and bc i dont have timeeee.

There Was a War | Tapas

[crayon_witch]

I start with an outline where I write what happens in a scene; usually this is just a sentence long unless I need to emphasis a feeling.

I thumb the scene all at once and write the first draft of the dialogue as well. I write the final draft of dialogue after sketching, since I do the balloons before lineart.

Then inking > flats > painting, all digital! I try to not look at the finished product for 24 hours after finishing painting so I can take it out again and do final touches before posting.

Generally I have pages in different stages of sketch/nk/etc after thumbing to keep me from burning out on one page!

[Rhonder]

Let's see, the process for my current (and first!) one shot has been like...

Planning

Like (presumably) most people, I spent a few months at the outset just like... writing/doing concept art/etc. For this project in particular I knew I wanted to hit ~50 pages (not super short but definitely not much longer than that), so I started brain storming something that could be told in roughly that limit. Bullet pointed major events, expanded on them in brief paragraphs, had to edit a lot of it down because it was getting way too long, etc. Character-wise, I didn't want to spend too much time on character design so I just grabbed some older OCs I had and updated them a little bit xD The antagonist and minor characters are all new though.

After editing the story down to roughly the right length, I went through and completely story board/thumbnailed the whole thing out over the course of a week in photoshop, using super quick crude drawings. I ended up overshooting my page limit some (I'm at ~60 pages) but it's close enough xD I did my script at this stage, since I find it easier to think of dialogue in the moment as I'm roughing the panels out rather than try to incorporate it into the "writing" phase. I had a few friends and acquaintances look this document over to give me some feedback before I moved on to the real pages. In particular one of the comments I got was SUPER HELPFUL and improved one of the main plot points quite a bit~

Actual Pages

I decided to do this project with traditional line work and digital coloring, so my process starts with pencils on 11x17 paper. I've been buying some brand that has non-photo blue comic margins on it to help ease the layouts a little bit. gives me an outerborder to work from and base my parallel lines off of and such. I mostly reference the storyboard that I created for each panel as far as the general layout goes, but some panels do get shifted around and such. For example, now that I've been working, I've found that I was a little too generous with how many panels per page I had allotted, maybe only two or three. In some of those cases I steal panels from the following page to make the page a little more robust or end on a stronger note (I'm doing mostly page-by-page updates).

Inking I do with mostly my dip pen (g-nib) and pentel pocket brush pen. I still use fine liners for the panel borders and such though~

Then I scan the page and do some basic clean up in Photoshop. Having PS around is helpful with my traditional line work because if I make a mistake I don't have to worry about applying whiteout or anything, I just just fix it digitally xD I also occasionally move things around a smidge (I recently had a panel where the lone figure was accidentally tilted to the right... so I rotated her back to the left lol).

Coloring I do the basic flats -> multiply layer shade -> effects/highlights type method. I'm super new to digital art in general so this has been the biggest learning curve for me, figuring out how to do things both better and more efficiently xD been getting a little better every page though, I think.

Lastly I do my speech bubbles and lettering digitally on top of everything else.

I work in batches of 3 pages typically, sometimes +/- 1 or 2.

[dannydead]

i know i havent yet released any comics for tapas, i currently have 1 in the works

I havent read the whole thread yet but ill share 1 comic-making tip to keep this reply short

1) Using pen and paper, design the panel layouts ahead of time (before inking it/digitalizing it), and in each
panel, include a rough sketch of the scene (make it very vague; use noticeable shapes)

[zaish_dunac]

My way to do a chapter

Step 1 - load up manganame app

Step 2 - create draft

Step 3 - start with bullet points

Step 4 - layout/draft

Step 5 - screenshot from phone and bring it to pc

Step 6 - lineart, maybe colour, font placement

Step 7 - prepare it in webtoon format

Final step - upload to webtoon/tapas

Hope someone get something out of this thread

[user404]

@zaish_dunac Nice! Very organized :]

[StorySeamstress]

It's so fun to see how others work! I actually JUST put up an episode showing the process I use for creating my webcomic:

Imaginarium - Behind-the-Scenes SPECIAL!

If I don't thumbnail (or at least plan out) the whole story first it tends to fizzle...I have to work kind of in waves (thumbnail a bunch of pages, then draw a bunch of pages in my sketchbook, then color a bunch of pages in Clip Studio) rather than working page-by-page or I tend to procrastinate. More than usual, I mean.

[imiogri]

My process isn't super long, I have a script I've written (the longest part of the process) and I absolutely wing the panels as I make them, sketch them super badly, slap on all the colors of the characters in a single layer, make a background (I never sketch those lol) and then put a bunch of layer effects. (then blur and add text in photoshop, i use sai to draw) Maybe would look more dynamic if I planned more carefully, but it allows me to finish a page within a day.

[storytimebiondi]

Autodesk Maya for modeling 3D backgrounds to use for my panels which then I render with or without textures and take into photoshop and paint over them in a way that makes them seem they're sketchy drawings with some effects added.

Does Maya come pre-loaded with elements that you can use? My limitation for this has always been my inability to model in 3D.

As for my own process, it's all digital on a Cintiq. I do all my art from sketch to line work to colour in Photoshop. As for my colouring process, I block out my flats with a pencil tool. Then I go in with a gradient tool, and texture it with texture brushes. After that, I colour the linework and add text. Every frame is organized in a separate folder.

[skicoak]

I sketch out the panels using a blue pencil then I leave them near the fireplace and go to bed. The next day I wake up like a cartoon character to the crowing of a rooster at the smiling sun. I creep down to my little worktable ...and either I sleepwalk or the magical elves have came and did my work for me.

This is my process and I'm sticking with it.

[Littlemissno]

Sorry this is so late! I had a writing competition and just a bunch of projects to do for my classes (I'm a music composition major).

Thanks everyone for all the helpful tips! I can't wait to try out all of them. I think I might just try a slice of life or 4koma for my first comic to get the hang of things. Something short and simple