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Guido-Vision
Oct '17

Hi guys! I've been on Tapas for about a week now. I've been posting comics I had already produced for my own website, my plan being to eventually have them running in parallel.

One thing I've noticed looking through other comics here, is that many of them are formatted as a scroll of single panels. Mine is still laid out as a traditional page, which I love because to me, the page composition is part of the storytelling. However, I also understand a lot of people read Tapas on their phones, and a scrolling format might be more convenient for them.

My question is, do you think I should keep posting traditional pages, or should I do a special scroll format to publish on Tapas? How do you approach your own work in that regard?

Here's my comic in case you want to take a look. Any suggestions are welcome!

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    Oct '17

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    Oct '17
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alarnia
Oct '17

the scrolling method does have practical benefits, but i for one feel like it lacks a lot of creative flair that comes from using paneled pages. like you mentioned, an effective use of panels can enhance the flow of events. For me scrolling ends up reading more like storyboards, or stills from a film. there are inherent limitations when you limit your working frame to a rectangle, as well as limitations when you maintain a overall top down read flow.

Like, for example, heres a page i did for a samurai jack fancomic (not on tapas sorry)

7smaller.jpg720x1018 520 KB

IdiotWithPencil
Oct '17

I think traditional panels are better for me at least since they can give you a bunch of creative ways to play with the page, panel by panel seems a bit boring to me =/
maybe if you go with a horizontal page, graphic novel style, like the samurai jack comic instead of the vertical newspaper style, you can have the best of both worlds =D,

most of the comics I read on phones have the graphic and newspaper form and the graphic novel works fine on phones.

@alarnia looks awesome man :thumbsup:

Guido-Vision
Oct '17

Thanks, guys! Your input has been very helpful! Perhaps, as @IdiotWithPencil says, a vertical layout would allow me keep playing with the composition, and bring out more.of the details, as @joannekwan says (thanks for your kind words!) @alarnia: That SJ page is mind blowing!!

Right now I've done like ten pages of the next story arc, so I'll probably keep that one in the current format, but I think I'll try the vertical approach for the next one!

Pandastrophic
Oct '17

You can still play with composition in a scroll format, in fact I find that scroll format gives you much less limitations because the page length can be as long as you want, the panel sizes can be any size you want, the speechbubbles don't have to be cramped up if you have a lot of speechbubbles on a page, you can pace out a conversation much better, having a lot of text spread out across the page.
So I guess it depends on what sort of style you want for your comic, even the way you work on pages and your workflow might benefit from the style of comic you decide on. Like for me personally I've tried both format and felt much more comfortable with the scroll format because my comic is very conversation based so being able to spread the text bubbles out helps me a lot. Also, when I work I change my mind a lot, sometimes I feel like I need more panels and it's last minute, in a scroll format you can usually inset a panel or two without having to edit the rest of the panels a lot whereas it might be very difficult to do that in a traditional page.

@alarnia
I'm not sure what sorts of webtoons/scroll format you've been exposed to but some of the ones I read have the most creative panelling I've come across, panels don't have to be just a rectangle and there is actually much more freedom in how you control the flow and pacing of a comic in a scroll format than a traditional page where you have limited space and limitations in the length of your pages. Your page example is great but I can see that sort of flow and composition in a scroll format too.

Guido-Vision
Oct '17

The speech bubbles are not an issue since the comic I'm working on is wordless, but I totally get your point that a scroll format can be as creative and innovative as a traditional page layout. I guess I'm kind of old school myself, but perhaps that's a good reason to experiment with something different. I think I'lll keep doing Mayor Montenegro in a full page format for now, but perhaps I can experiment with a different story in scroll format to see how that feels!

IdiotWithPencil
Oct '17
Pandastrophic

you can stream a bunch of traditional pages the same way as the vertical format =/ I mean here's a comic who does it
https://tapas.io/episode/85268822

we are just limited to 40 pages, vertical or horizontal doesn't matter really

charliepeppersoap
Oct '17

as a reader, i definitely prefer not having to pinch-zoom in on everything :<

so as a creator, i promised myself to make the pages phone-readable, with mixed results so far. i doubt that it takes away much if browsing on a pc or laptop when a page is formatted to phone use, since most pc screens are widescreen anyway we're going to have awkward stretch if we don't use certain rectangular dimensions. P:

Guido-Vision
Oct '17

Yeah, I agree if/when I decide to experiment with a croll format, thinking about the phone's vertical composition makes more sense than a horizontal PC screen. If I figured most people are still looking at this stuff via PCs, I wouldn't even consider changing my traditional page layouts =P

SleepingPoppy
Oct '17

Really either format is fine. I think the main thing when choosing between the two, besides personal preference, is if you want to eventually print your comic. That said, I use traditional format, but I make sure the pages are readable when the phone is held sideways. The font and images should generally be big enough for easy reading as long as that is done- then you don't have to worry about readers being annoyed about zooming in!

At least, I find that to be an acceptable balance between the two. At the end of the day, either format is as creative as the artist using it. Limitations can inspire creative thinking and problem solving. Utilizing a new format can shake and artist up and get them out of their own box.

alarnia
Oct '17

yeah, after thinking about it, and reading everyone else's responses, I think your statement sums it all up pretty well.

For my current webcomic, I hope to one day get it printed so I am sticking with a traditional format, but for tapas I actually have made a unique version that uses larger text. It's a little more work, but I think it's worth it.

SleepingPoppy
Oct '17

I'm happy you made a decision that works for you! And best of luck on the eventual printing. =D