Creating vertical comics pros and cons

[AdrenalineShots]

Out of everyone here who does vertical comics? Do you enjoy doing them and if so why? Do you find them harder work than the traditional page or easier? Do you do the same level of detail as for a traditional page? And do you find that you have less or greater interest than for your standard pages?

[69Michi]

I mainly do vertical format with my comic :Rebirth, and the majority of the people I know (mostly on Webtoon) are also using vertical format.

In my opinion, the pros of using vertical format is that:

• You can control the pacing a lot better. (Granted you do not overuse white space between panels, it can get really annoying)
• More detailed shots.
• Dialog don't cramp together in one page and it's easier for readers to follow. I find myself frequently skim over a lot of dialog in a normal manga page, but I rarely do so when I'm reading a vertical comic.
• Depend on person but I personally feel that the scene flow a lot better in a vertical format, like screenshot from an anime, shot by shot. If you read some good vertical comic with action (Maybe try Noblesse) you will also notice that the action scene is described a lot better than in a manga.
• Work really good in mobile format without requiring much tinkering with the panels.

Cons:

• The most prominent one that I can think of is clearly the disadvantage when you want a physical copy of your comic that is in a vertical format. I work on my comic page by page, but despite that, each page only contains around 2-3 panels, which will result in quite a lot of printed pages. I have seen other professional comics went around this problem by rearranging their panels in a normal comic format (check out Noblesse printed volumes), which I assume shouldn't be that hard but that is extra work there.
• The scrolling to read a vertical format comics might not sit well with some others, but I don't see it to be that big of a problem if you aren't overdoing your panels and white space.
• It might take you a whole episode just to have people talk back and forth while traditional format probably take a few pages since you can cramp more panels in.

All in all, to which their own, some platform prefers normal comic format (Like Tapas), while some other prefer vertical format (like LINE Webtoon), it's just how you execute the format that will either deter or attract people's interest.

[keii4ii]

My comic is also vertical. Its flowing, endless feel works well with the type of story I'm telling (shares some similarities with iyashikei, though I don't think it's iyashikei exactly). I also really like that I get more flexibility with the amount of content per update/"page"; it's easier to end each update at a place that feels like an end.

The difficulties with printing is a major con, however. It's not TOO major for me as I don't have any special desire to "hold it in my own two hands." Still, it would be nice to have printed books for promotion purposes...

[MinNCompany]

I really enjoy drawing vertical format, but I usually make the episodes in one or two very long canvases. Photoshop has a very nice function that splits up images for you but I use Clip Studio Paint and and have to go through and individually crop/save each image to keep it within Tapas' upload requirements ><

[parkcathedralgrace]

Honestly I prefer doing comics in old school paneling format, but that doesn't really work with mobile so I've been trying to get around that by cropping certain panels together to fit a vertical format better.

Unfortunately some of my older stuff for the strip I'm working on can't be turned into vertical format due to the way the panels are structured, so I'm S.O.L. on that front. At least if I do print these silly things they're already set up for print format to begin with. I've just gotta be better about planning them for web/mobile in the first place.

[VermillionWorks]

I've been trying out the vertical format for a Patreon exclusive comic of mine....
.......Not sure I like it, it somehow feels more tedious, especially since I think I'm going to have to do the next page in pieces (and then merge it later as a jpg) since my computer doesn't seem to like long files at all. XD

But we'll see...just started with it so maybe I'm just not used to it.

[shaylafarley5]

I love both actually, I do page by page here on Taps while vertical on webtoon. To me webtoon allows for better spacing and wording. But page by page it better if you're going to print it

[sarrowsmith10]

My comic Goblins of Razard is mostly in standard comicbook format. Printing the book is always the end goal, so that's how it gets uploaded.

However, for Holiday specials and things that don't get printed, I love love love creating in Vertical format. It is so liberating and I feel I have a lot more control of the impact each panel has. I absolutely love it.