How do you create your webcomic?

[nikaalexandra]

wow! very insightful! i can't believe how many of us are summoning hellspawn!

thanks for sharing !

[feardeer]

My process is different for every comic I create, but my current is entirely digital. I use FireAlpaca. I blow up my thumbnails first, then sketch over them in more detail, lineart, ink, flats, gradient overlays (set the mood and time of day), 2 cell shading layers, a highlight layer, misc details, and finally dialogue + balloons.
I've been meaning to make a process video or at least a gif for some time...
I don't think I have any special tricks though, unfortunately haha.

Took me weeks of testing out different coloring methods to settle on one that I felt was right for this comic. It takes a long time to churn out a page, but I hope I'll get faster eventually. If not I'll have to get in touch with one of those demons to summon.

[insomniascrawl]

I just kind of have ideas spring to mind. Maybe a word inspired it, or a doodle I did and then I make a world for whatever inspired me and figure out how that world would work and how my characters would wok in that world. I think what kind of trouble they'd get into generally and a general story arch, then I just sort of play connect the dots as I go.

Art wise, I'm not an amazing artist or anything, I sort of just got into art for the sake of story telling (but don't get e wrong I adore doing art). For my comic, I use a super old Wacom 3 tablet that my dad bought and never used back when he did graphic design and use Clip art Studio, because the thought of paying monthly for photoshop makes my blood literally boil; it's quite a sight.

Sorry that was wordy. I guess I got into this haha.

[Vanzish]

I sit here vegetating like a beached jellyfish until i get a mental image of what i wanna put in each panel, then i either sketch on paper and scan or attempt to sketch directly on the PC with my mouse. I don't own a tablet so most of the time, when i wanna be accurate and quicker, i sketch on paper.

I use paint tool Sai, which has that helpful lineart layer, the only tedious thing perhaps is manually modifying the width of each line, but I've grown accustomed to it by now. Coloring is no issue either. If i don't get side tracked, i can finish a page in 1-2 days. I did actually finish a whole page in a day once. I like detailing them so it might take a lil extra, but it's satisfying!

[gwizdala]

Whiteboard Reviews is a little different, because my content is generated from recommendations by the readers. I started with games that friends recommended to me but I'm hoping to be sustained by all of your great requests! I usually look at poster art and jot down parts of the game that I find especially interesting to use for the drawing.

The Simple Things, I really just fly by the seat of my pants and just draw what's immediately in my mind. I've purposely removed a buffer so that it's all immediate thoughts. That works the majority of the time but can get really stressful.

[punkarsenic]

i whack my head on the keyboard until something of merit comes out. its a long and arduous process.

I'm a basic bitch actually, i use paint tool sai and a huion tablet, when it comes to hard- and software. the process includes writing out the story in prose - useful in nailing down emotion and dialogue - and then convert that into comic format, which sometimes means deleting and re-purposing entire scenes. my comic thumbnails are sketched out with pencil and paper, and then used as a rough guide for drawing out the pages themselves. the drawing process itself goes sketches & bubble plan -> inks -> lettering -> flat colour -> finishes / lighting, though sometimes i stick lettering at the end, i dunno.

[XzynderVexymous]

I have a question. How do you draw the comic in the correct px size. I’ve been trying to figure that out for a while.

[YangKoete]

I use Krita and a Wacom Intuos drawing tablet.

Sometimes Paint.Net for editing too.

Or on occasion my sketchbook for traditional stuff.

[nikaalexandra]

@Vexymous i might have a different answer for this than @KennDemon, but drawing a comic traditionally by hand "in the correct px size" is as simple as knowing what px size you want when it's finished, and translating that ratio to paper. so for example, if i was going to draw 64 by hand, and my canvas size to post is 1000x1222px at 300 dpi, or roughly 3.3x4 inches. you always want to work larger than your final file size, and the magic number for me has always been 3 times bigger than your intended final product (especially if you're planning to print later!), so i would work on pages that are 10x12 inches at least and scan them in at 300dpi+ (art school taught me to scan things in at 600dpi but that can be murder on your computer if you're scanning dozens of pages so to each their own)

sorry, that got a little wordy, hope it makes sense!

[erma]

I do the thumbnails on the weekend, do absolutely nothing for the next three days, then do the final sketches, linework and colouring all in one day because I love pain.

It's all done in Clip Studio Paint, I used to do a combo of SAI and Photoshop but my computer starts screaming in agony the second I open Photoshop.

I carry around a notebook that includes a checklist of things I still need to do, and it also serves as a place to write down any new ideas I get.

edit: just as I posted this I accidentally opened Photoshop and the graphics card crashed. Y I K E S

[parkcathedralgrace]

Step 1: Draw out the panel layout.
Step 2: Sketch out each panel (characters, background, word balloons, etc.)
Step 3: Ink the characters
Step 4: Add in the Word Balloons
Step 5: Paint everything that needs to be painted
Step 6: Export each panel as its own image to upload here and on Webtoon
Step 7: Export the whole comic as one image for dA & Tumblr
Step 8: Upload

[darkone4587]

I don't draw I write, and for my ideas I stare into the void of the Elder Gods and let the madness wash over me, and from there I put the pieces together into a story.

But seriously it's all about finding the time to practice your craft in your own way, like maybe doing a fan comic or something to try out a new program or technique.

[LoboSong_Hitaka5Ever]

My friend sketches, inks, sets up the comic page, and does the backgrounds for our comics in Paint Shop Pro and I color, shade, and add speech bubble text in Paint Tool SAI 2. My friend I believe uses a Wacom Pen Touch and I used one of the original Wacom Bamboo Fun tablets (I recently bought a new tablet that I haven't used for the comic yet, but soon!)

[KennDemon]

There's probably a better way to do things, but I basically don't worry about correct size until the end. I scan at 300dpi, and it's always bigger than I need in the end. When I bring the images into Illustrator at the end, I have that canvas set up to the max px dimensions for uploading here, and just resize the images to match (making sure to maintain the aspect ratio). I don't really worry about the vertical length, since the horizontal one is more constricting (in my opinion).

Hope that's a good enough answer. I'm new to making comics, so I'm probably a horrible example to follow because I don't know what I'm doing.

[millanmarcusmarc]

I make digital comics, i really like it the digital art

[XzynderVexymous]

You said work a bit bigger than the final product... does that mean that I can make a 2820x12000 digital canvas and put it into Tapastic?

[nikaalexandra]

yes! always! i work on a 4000x4888 canvas digitally and always scale it down

[ladyofmae]

1. I type a loose synopsis and break down of the comic page.
2. Then I choose which panel is the main focus of the page.
3. Open Clip Paint pro and hook up my Artisul D10 display
4. I set the file to 11 by 17in at 600 dpi
5. Then I set up my panels and start blocking.
6. After blocks I do inks . Characters and background are on separate layers.
7. Next I paint grayscales. The layer is set to 50% opacity and Multiply
8. Then I do flats color.
   9.Lastly I add lettering and export the file as a smaller sized jpeg.

[silverraven0]

My stories (mean, i have a lot of prompt for comic or writing) idea has gone a long way like, 5 years ago (?) and at the time i dont know you can make comic digitally, and since i dont have the money and nececary tool (plus no encouragement and not enough skill, though my skill wasnt that great anyway, lol), i only made the draft or really really rough draft, aka stick guys (lol) on paper.

I only beginning go know digital stuff for, like, 2, 3 months? Btw, i seriously have no idea about digital s*it at all that time. I guess im just lacking the information...

Now that i know i can make comic digitally, i finally begin to do it... although theres laziness involved...

About the tools i use, i only use:
1. Medibang paint. But for making comic i use jump paint.
2. My phone. Im... still struggling to have my dream tablet...
3. My finger. I stopped using my cheap a*s stylus pen since the tip is simply too wide and for some reason its hurting my hand (its still hurts when i just use my fingers to draw too, but not as severe as the pen).
4. My brain. Who doesnt?

For some odd reason, if i draw the draft digitally (not using paper at all) it doesnt turns out to be what its suppose to be (in my head). And when i looked to my drawings on paper and digital, my thought is always "the f*ck this is not the right face!" or something like that. To be honest, i like drawing on paper more, but i dont have the scanner so my phone camera is my only option.

All in all, its s*ck.
Have a good day, everyone.

[XzynderVexymous]

Whoa... thanks!! This is very helpful