Everyone Give An Art/Comic Tip

[VermillionWorks]

I...don't think this has been done already. Pretty much what it says, I think it'd be cool for anyone who feels like it to give any random art or webcomicking-related tip here.

It can be a tip about drawing something or writing a story for a comic, anything, just something you've learned from personal experience or a mistake in art you see too often for your liking that you just want to point out. You can also post more than one tip or come back and post more later!

So, I'll get started with my first tip...
Don't start a webcomic on sudden inspiration. Ive learned from personal experience that this is a BAD idea and can lead you to abruptly stopping with your comic a lot sooner. What may start out as amazing to you at first may bore you later. Doing a few artworks based on sudden inspiration is fine, but with a comic idea, I'd give it a couple of weeks if not a whole month of consideration before jumping into it. If you're still really into the idea by then, then go for it!

[ArtistHan]

Have patience. No matter how excruciating, that last details just might make all the difference.

[MaiStarberries]

Draw out space for your dialogue bubbles when you're still in the sketching phase of your pages! I've had the issue of either finishing a page or just the sketch itself only to realize I have no room for the dialogue and have to redo the page. Additionally helpful, avoiding too many dialogue bubbles in a single page is good.

[azyzl]

If you can, put your speech bubbles on a separate layer, or make sure to add it after you've created the art. DO NOT make the bubbles part of the lineart. This one may be more feasible for the digital artists, but I have quite a number of my older pages that I can't play around/edit/fix the speech bubbles because they are part of the lineart and therefore will be a pain in the butt to fix.

[puppetbomb]

If you're going to abandon a comic for a long time, give it an ending.

[bmacbride]

Create an "inspiration blog!" I find myself becoming disinterested, uninspired, or creatively stuck sometimes and the best thing I ever did was make my inspiration blog. Basically I created a completely new account on tumblr (so that I would have a clean and relevant dashboard) and I post anything and everything that gets my creative juices flowing when it comes to my story and characters. Pictures, music, literary quotes, references, whatever. It's amazing for making creative progress because you're basically creating an environment perfectly designed to keep you immersed in relevant material.

I don't know if that sounds confusing, but this is mine! I have tags for characters, for pairs and groups of characters, ideas, concepts, events, references, etc. The only blogs I follow on my inspiration blog are other blogs which primarily post relevant material for me. I really feel like searching out inspirational material for my story and characters has helped them grow a lot in just the past year or two.

[iggycrypt1]

Create a stockpile of pages for the inevitable slumps.

Also, don't waste your stockpile with procrastination.

[Strontium]

For digital artists: If you work on your comic pages in steps, save each step under it's own file name (ex. One for the boxes, one for lineart, one for the colors, one for the effects and text). This way if you need change something, you have back copies of your page to go back to.

Also, I back up all my comic pages as I work on them on Dropbox. Having comics on Dropbox is also hand if you're out and about and want to show people what you're working on!

[UzukiCheverie]

If you tend to come up with ideas in bursts randomly throughout the day - whether it's a gag or a plot line - be sure to have somewhere you can write it down. You'll tell yourself you'll remember it, but getting distracted and forgetting it later is extremely and terrifyingly easy. I use a Notepad file that's been built on throughout the years with many ideas and other random things. Use whatever works for you though. Hell, even write it on your arm, as long as you remember to copy it down somewhere else later.

Also, remember, slow and steady wins the race. Or in this case, patience. Don't be saddened if your comic isn't popular after it's only been up for a week and only has one or two episodes. People that end up in this situation are often people that already have a following from other comics they've done. Don't get discouraged, and don't think you're just "bad at comics" if you haven't struck gold right away. Drawing comics and building a fanbase takes a lot of time. If you're in it just to get a fanbase and money as fast as possible, you either need to re-prioritize your goals, or get out of the comic business and find something else to do that will get you faster results (not a lot of things btw).

[Menbung]

For peeps working traditionally, the mirror is our friend, put your drawing in front of the mirror and check it, if you notice that it looks weird, probably you made a tiny mistake, like proportions may be off, you drew 2 right hands; it’s a huge help for noticing uneven eyes or derpy faces, etc.

If you don’t have a mirror at hand you can flip the drawing and point it to a light source so you can see through the back of the paper a mirrored image of your art. You can also take pictures or use your webcam to have the same or a close effect.

“Oh my drawings look horrible when I flip them horizontally”. “Oh no one eye is lower than the other”. “One eye is bigger !!!!!!!!!!!”.
Mirror check helps you with all that 8_8 . Regards

[getsuart]

Also, don't be afraid to take references of the positions you want to draw if you need to. You can take photos of yourself ! I have a collection of hands in my phone.
And a pocket mirror is a huge help for both traditionnal and digital artists to catch an expression.

[Spinester]

Streamline your process by setting up reusable templates for pages and setting up actions in Photoshop or Manga Studio for processes you find yourself repeating, such as select>expand>fill or flatten>resize. It really does save a lot of time.

[VermillionWorks]

Oooh! Glad I made this topic, some great tips here!

[UzukiCheverie]

While we're at it, for starting artists or webcomic artists who want to get better at drawing faster . . . we're not being dicks when we tell you "practice, practice, practice". Just like learning to play the piano or learning how to play your favorite sport, you don't just magically get good at it. Photoshop doesn't perform miracles, and neither do drawing tablets. Believe it or not, you still have to actually -draw- to use those things, and they won't use themselves.

I know because a lot of us say it a LOT that it seems we're all just in on this big secret artist joke we play on new artists, but that's so untrue that I'm frankly a little baffled some starting artists would think it IS a joke. Because it's not. It's so ridiculously serious and it seems silly for some, especially if they feel like they've been practicing for a long time. And yeah, it'll take more time than others to master their craft; some take a few months, others take a few years, and many take a lifetime.

And remember that even if you -think- you're the best at what you do, you probably still have more things you can improve in. Art is a constantly learning and evolving form. Draw every day. Not once a week, not once a month, -every day-. You won't get better if you only shove aside 20 minutes a week. Put an hour or two into drawing a -day-, and if you can't because of life, at least carry something with you so you can doodle for 20 minutes a day.

In contrast to that, don't think that because you've been spending 6 months practicing and you're still not satisfied that you're never going to get better. As I've said, it can take years. I know that sounds painful to the ears, but it's the truth. Don't drop the pencil and move on to something else if you aren't creating the most beautiful artwork every and making piles of cash from it. There's a reason they call them the "starving artists".

Just don't expect to be a natural Michelangelo because you wish for it hard enough, and don't scoff at the advice more experienced artists give you, especially when they tell you to just practice. They've been there. They've done that. They're not being silly or trying to make you feel bad. They are giving you a legitimate fact and they wouldn't be where they are today if they hadn't spent hours and hours and years and years of their life doing it.

Sit down. Grab a sketchbook or a piece of looseleaf. Start drawing. You're not gonna get better if you don't do it, and if you don't do it now, then when will you ever get a start on it? Even if you're still young, get started. If you're truly passionate about learning to draw, then putting your sweat, blood, and tears into learning it is the least you can do, and creating beautiful work that you're proud of the most, and more.

[Raven_C]

Create a stockpile of pages for the inevitable slumps.

Also, don't waste your stockpile with procrastination.

Pretty much. Please, aspiring webcomickers, have a buffer. Because I don't and I currently can't, and it sucks.

[iggycrypt1]

Yeah, I had a buffer, a 20 page buffer, and I squandered it!!

[Jrej]

Don't wait for the likes, the comments, the shares or the subscribers....
Do it for yourself first.
If you like it, others will too...

[joannekwan]

Text flow is of utmost importance.
Make sure your text bubbles read naturally (left to right, top down) if you can help it. In my personal experience, there's nothing more frustrating than reading text bubbles out of order and getting confused.

[studiomik]

My english isn't good enough to explain this one fully, but Google: the line of action.
Very helpful to get more action, emotion and dynamics into your characters. Enjoy!

[jessiepolfliet]

When it comes to story, have good characters who's motivations are understandable.
And a good character isn't perfect, what makes them human are often their flaws.