Color VS Greyscale

[Spitfire]

Well also if you ever do decide to print your comic, greyscale is cheaper.

But there's a lot more to think about printing than the price, like how to make great product.

Have good bleeds, and if you do go colour, remember to make your comics in cmyk, or atleast keep the same colour mode through the whole series.

There's a to more to it, but as far as digital art goes...it's just a question of preference really. I was testing how to make metal with just BW no greys and it became okey...

This is actually made with traditional ink and paper

[thejollity]

Color is more complicated to apply in every way. If you want to make your comic look good, it would help to learn a bit of color theory. Awful coloring could really take away from the art and the story, but beautiful coloring can enhance it tenfold. And 'beautiful' doesn't have to mean complicated, either—a simple 2 or 3 color palette can do wonders to establish mood and setting. So there's all that to think about, not to mention the printing options that @Spitfire mentioned.

I don't view greyscale as neither inherently boring nor easier, but if you've got the hang of your light logic it's much faster. Without colors, you'll have to rely very strongly on composition and contrast in order to make your panels appealing. This can force artists to become better at drafting, since they have to do more with less. Ideally you should be focusing on composition and contrast anyway, but when you have color, it's easier to get away without doing so. Of course, printing greyscale is much cheaper, too.

I personally chose to do full color for my comic because I felt that it was an area I wanted to improve, and back when I started the comic, it was just for fun and practice. Since then I do feel like my skills in coloring and using Photoshop have improved exponentially, so even though I actually hated color to start (and constantly kicked myself for choosing to do a full-color comic...), I don't regret the decision now.

[Aeonhue]

I prefer a limited grayscale, coloring takes up too much time and it's kind of like icing on a cake sure its nice but you don't need it.

[tingchen00]

I use TONES on my comic. Tones were used to make printing comics cheaper back in the day. Kind of useless now (printing has advanced significantly), but I love the textures they create. Kind of like an alternate direction from just going greyscale.

But just like color or greyscale shading, you still have to do it well (which... you know, I'm still learning too). I've seen printed comics that are colored and done awfully, and others that are just gorgeous! Same with greyscale, and same with tones (some manga in stores even, I would say they "overtone" the pages). So I guess it's really up to you want you want to use!

I also love it when it's pure inkwork. I inkwork. Done well, the craftsmanship is just stunning!

[gurukittystudio]

I tend to let the story or style dictate.
I did a comic about Laika, the dog in space that I did in really simple black and white because the story was sort of sad, and I think colour would have been a distraction.

For my Comic, Hello, Albertosaurus I wanted to show the colours of the places we were visiting, the style is super cartoony and simplistic. It seemed like colour was/is better for that type of story. I experimented with a few pages in black and white and grey scale before settling on colour.

My sisters story Daqueran is a really scenery intense fantasy story so the vivid colours in watercolour help the story along.

I also have to take into consideration if its going to be printed or now, as most of mine are. Since most of my work has been included in black and white anthologies it sort of forced my hand in those situations, ha ha.

[digifastproduct]

Story can carry a comic so far, but art is what draws in the fans. Grey Scale or Color, need to have quality art. And I only write the comic so I worry about the look to convey the meaning of some scenes more than the words.
Just my half pence worth.

[GinxDmon]

I vote for color. People love color, the fact I see that some comic have color but worse art quality than grey scale still haz more view and subscribe than grey scale.

[LittleEndian]

Color is better when the story introduce a lot of characters. I have many reader who complains about that "I cannot differentiate Aude and Marlies, they have both black hair!" xD...
Moreover, people tends to read really quickly on internet :/

But I don't deny the power of grayscale and black and white on powerful emotions

[marulilu]

As much as I love color, I love greyscale. I've been doing all my comics in color, but there was a one-shot I did in greyscale. Admittedly, I enjoyed working with greyscale more than color. It challenges you to see depth in my opinion.

[baroquezombie]

I agree that it really depends on the comic! Personally I think that all comics should be able to hold up in greyscale or black and white because too many people use color as a 'crutch' and ignore their basic value scales. For my own comic, I always start in black and white, then slowly add in my grey values. If I feel like it's necessary, I add pops of color here and there to call out certain things. Years ago, I was really influenced by artists like Frank Miller, who work in stark high contrast, then add little hints of bright color. It's very powerful, but it doesn't work for every comic.

I think every artist should challenge themselves to work in another style from time to time, just to try it! There's a lot to be learned that way.

[foxdoodles]

I use greyscale, but each page I like to throw a splash of color in. My first page

[felipechoque]

I like to use greyscale and tones, or just black and white if possible, because it's quicker and it actually gives me the chance to finish at least one page every now and then. Sadly, color always pops up more and it's guaranteed to improve your views against work of the same quality, but greyscale.
Of course, if you care more about your vision than pageviews, you should work on whatever pleases you
In any case, the best course of action is hitting the drawing board and start drawing and experimenting to discover what's the best for you =)

[elixiadragmire]

My take is colour in my comic, it takes more time but with some good ol' colour theory know how it can REALLY help the storytelling.

Limited palettes help reduces timescales AND add moods to your work. Getting to work for you can be as hard as learning values for grayscale

[DavyJones]

If you are serious and dream of being syndicated one day, I suggest you embrace BOTH grayscale AND color. Master Grayscale with a lot of black tones and you are one step closer to your dream career.

• Davy
  http://tapastic.com/series/CharmysArmy

[Karl_Chubb]

Grey scale for mine (http://tapastic.com/series/SPARKO). Mostly because the plan was to print cheaply. When done right it can look great. There are some comics that just look better without any colour (I'm thinking The Spirit, Cerebus, Milk & Cheese, JTHM etc.). I guess it's a matter of finding what's suitable for your projects and available resources.

[Peej]

I can't believe the OP linked to a site created by Eric Schwartz (spelling?).
That's a name I haven't heard in a looong time.
Back in the days of the Amiga computer, he produced animated shorts. And so did I.

I was privalaged to he considered by the computing magazines of the time to be one of his peers.

Happy days

Sorry to derail the thread.

[Ohharvey]

I kind of had this dilemma too when I first started From Outta' Nowhere. I draw and ink my pages traditionally and I felt like I was losing too much detail when I colored my pages digitally. And to me that kind of felt like I wasted a lot of time. So I guess it is a matter of finding a balance between the grayscale and color. Maybe you have a whole story in black and white but your chapter pages are in color? Or you could color the first few pages of the chapter to get your readers hooked and continue the rest of the story in the grayscale. I think in the end it is how YOU see your story being told and what you enjoy.

[dairyfiend]

@obachuka2 100%.
I think the entire spectrum provides a lot of room for creativity, especially in conveying mood.

Bright Color - Desaturated Color - Greyscale
Contrasting Colors - Singular Color
High Dark/Light Contrast - Monotone Brightness
Warm (colors and greys) - Cold (colors and greys)
Etc...

All of these things (and more) are tools that we have to tell stories and make art. That said, tools can be used improperly or productively. Tools can be used in wrong situations and right ones. So like all aspects of art it is not to be taken lightly or "thrown in". It should be carefully thought about. Color (or lack of color) is just one more tool for artists to do what they love

[obachuka2]

YES! Color is a tool! Well said!

[TheDJTC]

On a creating standpoint, greyscale is just as annoying as coloring for me. Though as a viewer, I think greyscale just looks lazy (even though like I just said it's not XD) That and when you use tones, it can create headaches about as bad as using hot colors, at least on the computer which I'm sure most of us have our comics.

Though color just has more life and vibrancy, the only time I really ever liked greyscale was Material Girl, but he used a pencil to do the whole thing, no digital "coloring"

I dunno why, but using pencils to greyscale looks better than digital to me.

Though for a third option, black and white inks looks better than greyscale to me. Though I can still get eye strain if I'm reading it on the computer.

BUT! If there's no fluxuations of the lines or shadows... like it's drawn like it's meant for color. Then black and white kinda looks janky...