From traditional to scroll | What are your thoughts/experiences?

[BreakingChalk]

My comic is made in traditional format, but as time passes, and see how scroll format tends to be prefered not only by platforms themselves, but by how digestible it makes for things like bubble dialogues and panels when read on phones and tablets, and how it won't limit the panel to fit with others on a page

So lately, I was thinking of changing either the Tapas or the EN Webtoon version of my comic to Scroll

So the question is:

Who else has done this before and what can they tell about it?

Is it really worth it to change from traditional to scroll? Or have both for the same comic?
How did you approached to it? One site had one, two different series that just change the format, maybe another way...

I've had many questions and doubts lately, so I may ask for more advices on other topics if I don't find an entry that already tackles them, and this one, I wanted to talk about first.

[DokiDokiTsuna]

Hmm...technically I made the transition, but I barely changed anything. ^^;

To be honest, I don't see why you should have to 'change' from page format to scroll format, unless you're commonly doing stuff like double-page spreads that just don't work vertically (but honestly, they don't work in traditional 'one page at a time' webcomic format either).

If you do have a simple 'one page at a time' webcomic, I see no reason why you can't just...stack the pages? People will still be able to read it just fine...I mean, that's basically all I did at first, and I never received any complaints.

Then if you want to change how you format new pages, just let yourself go a little bit. Allow your drawings and speech bubbles to take up more space; don't add sideways if you can add below. As the panels get bigger, your comics will naturally extend vertically.

But you can still think in terms of pages if you want to...I mean, since I draw on physical paper, I kinda have to. ^^; For example, this is one 'page' of my comic, DotPQ

It's still formatted traditionally, even in the sense that it ends with a finished bout of dialogue, prompting the reader to 'turn the page'. The only major difference is those w i d e panels: where I once might have fit 6 or even 8, now there's only 3, and just one per row.

[BreakingChalk]

Perhaps I should do wider panels.

The whole change to scroll was mostly because of the earlier chapters which featured more, smaller panels and lots of text that could make first readers drop.

First one is this, which I think works well for both formats

But then goes to this:

I thought of rearrenging the panels so there's only one panel with no others on the right, and resize the smaller ones to fit better the new format, but with what you wrote, I'm thinking that rather than go full scroll on one side while doing another traditional version, a middle point would be nice...

[BreakingChalk]

Well, maybe sort of like this.

I still have access to the files without the bubbles, so that I don't just crop and resize everything, leaving different font sizes and call it a day.

[DokiDokiTsuna]

To be honest, I prefer the first version of Page 2. I see how you tried to make the 'revised version' more scroll-friendly, but I don't think it reads as well as the original in terms of conversation flow (plus, it's neater).

And I'd much rather read something that flows than something that's so spread out that it takes extra effort just to read...which I think happens a lot with scroll-formatted comics. Like, sometimes the dialogue is chopped up so much just to give it 'scroll factor' that you're constantly scrolling, and it feels like you don't have 'time' to pay attention to the art because every panel only contains half a sentence...but I digress...

...I just hope someone else will hop in here with some suggestions. Because I think there's probably a simple way to improve on the revised version, but that 'loose' type of comic formatting isn't something I usually do (I don't even think I'm good at it) so I'm not sure what kind of advice to give...

[Kaydreamer]

I made that switch early on in my comic's run, and for me, it was absolutely, 100% worth it. I can't stress that enough. My audience began to grow faster after having done it, and a few months after that, I got a major feature in a WEBTOON collection during the CANVAS festival. They don't tend to feature traditionally formatted comics, and I don't think I'd have been an exception had I not switched.

Additionally, my pacing slowed down and became far more immersive after I switched to vertical. I love how I can make my episodes fade through gradients and open panels which enhance the mood and the setting. That's something you won't find in my early episodes, which were adapted from the page, but which you will find in all of my more recent ones.

I love the vertical format, I feel extremely at home in it, in a way I never did with the page format. I find it far more satisfying to create in, and appreciate that it makes my story more accessible to those reading on small devices.

As for the example you posted, the thing to remember about the vertical format is that you want much more gutter space than a page. Your panels are packed very closely together, which looks cluttered on a small screen. A general rule of thumb is that you should never see more than two panels on the phone screen at a time when scrolling. You can also free your dialogue from the constraints of the panels, and float it over the gutters, which will fill the space between panels, and also allow you to put more into each panel without the dialogue covering it up.

[sushy00]

I didn't make the transition yet. I did start making an archive of my old series that puts several episodes into one episode. That way it becomes vertical as well.

I might make a full vertical comic in the future... But I really have to find time for that.

[BreakingChalk]

WOW! That's a nice story!

Thanks on the feedback for the vertical format too!

[BreakingChalk]

I was thinking of making an archive too, but I don't know if I should, and if I should, whether to leave it on the platform or pass it to my blog.

[Shomin]

After over 3 months trying to consume the scrolling colourful comics, I dislike it!
It is hard, I need a moment where I have a fixed page, and enjoy the scene of it.
And the excitement of flipping to next page is gone.
now some scrolling comics have animated gif. I found it annoying.
Yes, it is interactive, yes it is eye catching... but there is no aesthetic value in it.
They are just some simple simple lines that moves.
I long for that still image black and white highly contrasted lines. They are static but brought out that dynamic movement in my mind.
To sum it up, I still unable to take in any scrolling colourful comics.

[Llyrel]

I switched to vertical format on both Tapas and Webtoon at the beginning of Chapter 2. Can't say whether it had an effect on my readership or not (my growth on both platforms has been pretty organic, I only got one feature from the Tapas staff but I seriously doubt the format was the thing that influenced it and to this day, the place where I've got the highest amount of views is still my ComicFury site, where I post in page format ), BUT I definitely had people saying that they preferred vertical format for easy mobile reading. Still, I have no intention to give up on page format as I have plans to publish/print the comic in the future, so what I do is adapting my traditional panels to a vertical scroll format for mobile-based platforms like Tapas and Webtoon. My personal website, ComicFury and DillyHub (which has a nice "page flip" feature) all get traditional page format for desktop reading instead.

I know that a common complaint with vertical format is that people don't like it when there is too much space between panels, so I try to keep them distant, but not too much (unless I need to create some tension and/or want to have a surprise effect of sorts). One big issue with translating my pages from traditional format to page format is that I tend to have a lot of horizontal, "landscape" panels, which don't look as nice in vertical format. Whenever possible, though, I try to split them into multiple panels, as seen below.

Page format:

Vertical format (notice how the first panel has been split into three different panels to create more tension. I also used bits and pieces from the backgrounds of panel 2 and 3 to give the idea of the character looking around and not seeing anyone around at a first glance):

I don't do a whole lot of gradients (making pages in page format and converting them is already time consuming as it is, ain't got no time for more editing ), but sometimes I try to add bits and pieces of textures to give a certain panel a more vertical feel, like with the third panel here (page version here for comparison).

As for my opinions about vertical vs comic page...

Vertical format pros:

• Works best for mobile reading and app-based platforms;
• Has better readability;
• No need to struggle with text not fitting properly into panels;
• Better chance to get featured, at least on Webtoon;

Vertical format cons:

• Slower pace. Depending on the kind of comic you're making, this can be good or bad.
• Can be pretty limiting: while on page format you can have both tall and wide panels, with vertical format you're basically stuck with tall panels only.
• Difficult to print. Has to be re-arranged entirely for print and results aren't always very good.
• Looks good with long episodes, not so much with shorter ones (I post one page a week on Tapas and more than once I had to skip a week and merge two episodes into one because one super short episode in vertical format felt incredibly awkward).

Page format pros:

• More panelling layout options.
• Feels more "complete": even if you have a VERY short update, it's still a completed page, rather than an oddly short episode.
• Page format to vertical format conversion is easier than the opposite.
• More versatile: can be printed, can be read on mobile if your text is big enough. See, this is kind of a personal pet peeve here, but one of my biggest issues with vertical format is that mobile devices are constantly changing (just think about mobile phone screens 10 years ago vs now!) and I wouldn't really trust it to be THE comic format of the future, just like I wouldn't put my bets on Instagram's default "square" format or Twitter's horizontal cut. Page format, on the other hand, is an established format that's been around for years and I don't see it dying so soon (might be wrong here, but hey, let an Internet dinosaur dream ).

Page format cons:

• Short updates. The recent trend in webcomics has shifted towards longer updates. Page format doesn't really work well with that, unless you stack multiple pages in a single update or post VERY often.
• Panels look smaller on mobile. Even if your text is readable, the panels will still look tiny.
• Less chances to get featured, especially on Webtoon.
• Although you can be more creative with your panel layout, there WILL be quite a bunch of rules you'll have to follow for printing, especially as far as text placement goes.