I know Manga Studio isn't free, hence why majority of my peers in art school hissed upon seeing it.I never understood why they were like that, it may have to do with a strict adherence to the one true Photoshop. All that rendering, hahaha... thankful I don't do all of that.
However, as a semi-working professional, it's honestly replaced Photoshop for me in terms of creating comics/illustrative work. The only reason why I have Photoshop CC is for business work. Other than that, I do everything on Manga Studio. Great software, and Hannah's got it right, it's basically a fancier SAI. It takes awhile to get used to, but once you figure out the shortcuts and whatnot, it pays for itself honestly.
I use my Wacom Intuos4 along with openCanvas 5.5 and generally I can get everything done pretty well. While it's perfectly capable of blending and all that fun stuff, I don't really use it to its full extent, as my comic and general art style are very flat and graphic-y. I think it handles lines the best out of the programs I have, and prefer it over Photoshop CS6 or really anything else.
I remember a few people in my animation class asked me why I'd use some program they've never heard of over something like Photoshop or Sketchbook Pro. To each their own, I guess. XD
Pretty much, and it's familiarity in all honesty. I had that issue when jumping from PS to MangaStudio, because the interface was freaking difficult to understand at first. But hey, whatever works for you right? My illustration buddies use mostly Photoshop or Corel Painter mainly for rendering purposes, which is perfect for concept art or painterly comics.
For my current series, I use my Ipad and sketchbook pro with a really cheap stylus. The quality in my opinion is pretty good and I enjoy using it. The only down side is that Its a pain to upload as I use dropbox to transfer all my comics to my computer which can be a hassle. What is good is that it is a cheaper alternative from buying full-out software and a drawing tablet. It really comes down to preference. If you do go with the ipad deal and don't want to pay for sketch book pro, there is a current drawing app that is just as good or even better for free in the app store. Its called inspire pro.
For my Action Comic-
I sketch all panels and pages out by hand to get an idea of how I want it to look. (some times I sketch it multiple times) Then I sketch it digitally and add 3D models to help with hands and perspective. The models all have different measurements for different characters. (helps me not to second guess heights) Then I ink it, color it, and add txt. ^_^
I don't do it traditionally because I have horrid luck with my scanners and my hands shake from time to time. ^^'
Program/tools - Clip Studio Paint pro and a Intuos 4 tablet.
For my Slice of Life-
I sketch in blue and then ink it. The color is Tombow watercolor. Since its its a SoL about me I leave in all the mess ups. ^_^
For initial ideas and sketches I use a normal sketchbook and pencil, but as soon as I go into layout, I switch to computer. I use Photoshop CS6 and a Cintiq 13 HD. I like the versatility of Photoshop, that it is not just for drawing, but also have other functions, as I find changing programs ruins my flow. It is very distracting for me, so i do everything in ps from paneling to lineart and colour and speechbubbles.
@MylCreates Oh you have an iPad? You should grab Medibang! A reader recommended it to me and it is truly the greatest (free-est) drawing app I have ever seen!
My technique these days is an Apple Pencil on a 9.7" iPad Pro with Medibang - it is amazing. I forget I'm drawing on a tablet honestly (then if I go back and draw on paper, I try to hit "Undo" or "Erase" buttons that aren't there!)
Back in the day, before all this tech, I used to draw in light blue on paper, then ink (any nice black art pen did me). I would scan at unnecessarily large size, up the contrast to the SUPER MAX (which totally gets rid of the blue and keeps only the black) - then colour, detail, and downsize back to useable. Doing that compressed the pixelly high-contract lines and colour back down into nice smooth levels! Like so - (this is from like, 2005? Don't judge me lol)
I use an old beat up Wacom Cintiq 21UX I got off Cragslist for 200$. It sometimes doesn't turn on. That's always scary! (It may not look like much, but it's got it where it counts)
I also just got a "New" five year old Wacom Companion. It's my backup and portable workstation.
I use Photoshop CS6 to sketch, pencil and ink and letter my comics. I know Manga Studio Pro would probably be more suited to my black and white art style, but I know photoshop shortcuts.
Sometimes I use a plain old sketchbook and pencil to sketch out sequences of pages. That helps a lot.
I upload to a wordpress website using Comic Easel theme. As well as Tapas!
I use my Cintiq GT190, some scraps of paper for writing, Sai, and Photoshop to create Kuren . It takes a few hours for each page, but I tend to zen-out with netflix while making it~
Jonathanbarker, how do you upload using wordpress? That sounds fun and interesting!