Do black and white comics perform well?

[spacefox1230]

I love traditional medium when it comes to creating comics. I work on paper, I ink with micron pens, I'm getting used to using dip pens right now and I love the process! I however do not own satisfying coloring supplies and digital coloring takes me way too long because I'm still new to it. I only use digital programs for simple edits and lettering.

If I made my comic black and white, similar to manga, would it perform worse than usual? should I color them digitally and go with way slower pace? should I delay the comic until I collect the money for markers I want?

I do want to have colored comic and I wanna release it soon, but I simply don't have money.

edit: all the advice you gave me was really helpful! thank you all!

[thecrystalrook]

I'm writing a manga that started as grayscale. I also ink and draw by hand! The first 30 episodes or so are not in color, it made no difference. Some of the world's greatest stories are black and white! Tell a good story with good characters and it won't matter.

[TheLemmaLlama]

Performance-wise, it does seem like coloured comics get more clicks than black-and-white in the internet If you specifically wanted to make a black-and-white comic, I say you should go ahead and do that anyway - a black and white comic with passion behind it will do better than a coloured comic that you only made because you felt forced to in order to be popular!

But it looks like you do want to make a coloured comic but are limited by supplies, in which case I'd consider what you want in the long run:

• If you want to learn digital colouring and get fluent at it, I say get the practice in now and don't worry too much about pace :]

• If you want to stick to traditional, I say get those markers In the meantime, you could draw/ink your pages in black and white so they're ready for you to colour once you get the markers :]

[splashthefly]

If it fits, it fits. I love inking as well and I feel that my art looks better in black and white or with very light colours. You can always change it around. You can ink in black and white and very easily edit it in a program like Krita (or Sketchbook, or what's it called). You can change the colour of your line art to suit your comic (horror = great in black and white). More romantic? Use warmer line colors. You can also change the background if you want.

Horror examples: Melvina's therapy, Junji Ito's works,...
Romance: Miss Abbot and the doctor (only lines are colored), Pastel coloured pages,...

Drama/comedy: Humor me (I love that webcomic).

All of these are made in black and white, grayscale or only colored lines. It all depends on the vibe that you wanna go for.

If you want to add a bit of color, you can always color in the lines digitally (very easy) and/or the background (also very easy).

For converting to digital: https://www.davidrevoy.com/article239/clean-blue-sketch-traditional-line-art-to-color-it-digital-with-in-krita

Krita to Sketchbook: save it as a Photoshop file (save as... And then select a photoshop file save).

For autodesk Sketchbook lines alternation: just use Alpha inheritance and colour the lines with a giant brush.

You can definitely make a comic in black and white, though! Have fun!

[darthmongoose]

Black and white isn't a dealbreaker if you have a really strong concept that appeals to Tapas readers and your art in black and white still looks polished and is easy to follow.

Good examples of popular comics that are completely black and white on Tapas are Moonshine, Fangs and Carciphona, and there are other popular ones with very limited colour, like Heartstopper, Alien Heart, Breaks and Vindicaris.

So if you're confident the comic you're making suits the platform well and you make strong work in black and white, it's certainly doable! But at the same time, it can be harder to get attention and build an audience, so if your concept isn't super-optimised to appeal to Tapas readers (mostly female, around 20 years old, like Romance, Slice of Life and Fantasy best) or your art is still developing, colour may be a safer bet.

[TheDoublekey]

I think I once made a similar thread about a year ago. I had serious doubts whether colored comics had a better reception than b&w comics. Turns out, yeah colored comics do perform better for the most part, but it's mostly because people find them easier to understand, I believe. I've actually seen other b&w comics perform very well both here on Tapas and Webtoon. I even remember finding a b&w comic in the staff picks once, so nothing is impossible!

In my thread, I remember asking if I should turn my series from greyscale to full color and most people said they preferred greyscale. In the end, the choice is up to you. Do you think b&w would fit your series and style better? Is it less time consuming? Then go for it! If the story is engaging and good enough, and if the characters are interesting, I think people will read it, regardless if it is colored or not.
Personally, I do plan on making a colored version of my comic, but at the moment I prefer b&w since I think it perfectly fits the dark and grim themes of the story a lot more and I don't have much time to do it anyways.

[spacefox1230]

oh thank you! this is really helpful!

[Zay]

It all depends if people vibe with the content and you don’t have do it completely in black and white, you can have a full color page or two here and there. That’s what I do with my series. Me personally, I like the aesthetic of black and white comics and pages get done faster so more updates

[splashthefly]

@spacefox1230, no problem! I hope that I helped you a bit.

A lightbox might help you when you want to scan it (so that you won't scan your sketch that might still be there). Otherwise, you can up the black and white contrast (your sketch lines become invisible on the scan).

I'm not the best at it all, but if you need more help, feel free to reply again or message me.

[TheLemmaLlama]

Ooh, Look Straight Ahead did a similar thing, where's it's mostly black and white but there's an occasional coloured page when the protagonist is experiencing a manic episode

What's your series called? :]

[bronte448]

Read What Will Be Left | Tapas Web Comics

[Zay]

It’s called “Stacy the demon killer”. Here’s a link if ya wanna give it a look-see.

Read Stacy The Demon Killer | Tapas Web Comics

[faisalhussein394]

Well, the Japanese comics is getting more success than western colored comics so, yeah. Not all manga comics focus on black and white, there is sometimes grayish color.

You can follow their example and see how they do it. Plus, making comics without colors gets the job done quicker.

[system]

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