How to reformat page comics for mobile?

minzinger 2015-01-10 01:20:48 UTC #1

Like it or not, the comic industry is rapidly changing with mobile. Digital comics industry is lagging behind rest of media (music, videos, books, magazines, newspaper, etc.) and the longer we stubborn ourselves from embracing this new distribution channel (a huge one), the longer comic creators will suffer.

Manga industry is rapidly changing too. We know because our friends Comico.jp is feared by a lot of traditional manga publishers. Kodansha finally woke up and making digital push (see article). It is speculated that it may go completely digital (see article). If you want print in the future, that's fine. However, make sure you keep readers in the mind. The concept of "page" is gone for most media in the web and mobile.

In the future, you can always make print (if you have fans who are willing to buy). Many are already doing this. But, getting fans has to be your priority. One creator I know sold over 1.5 million copies of his books after years of building a fan-base.

Below are some examples that might help you. We hope to see more in the future.

Samurai Genji:
Mobile Format: http://tapastic.com/series/SamuraiGenji
Page Format: http://samurai-genji.deviantart.com/gallery/31976010/Chapter-1-preview

Werewolf Breeding:
Mobile Format: http://tapastic.com/series/Werewolf-Breeding
Page Format: http://tapastic.com/series/Werewolf-Breeding-Book-Version

Oops Comics Adventures:
Mobile Format: http://tapastic.com/episode/71297
Page Format: http://tapastic.com/series/OopsComicAdventure

PotooGryphon 2015-01-10 02:09:04 UTC #2

Wow, those are some compelling articles. I'd love to see my favorite manga comics go digital (however, most can be found online already, for free, translated by fans).

Yeah, I have to full-heartedly agree. I just browsed some comics on the Tapastic app, and all the vertical formatted comics looked so great on my small phone display. Didn't need to zoom in or anything, the comic is very visible and beautiful. The page formatted comics are very hard to read on the app, even my own page formatted version of my comic. They're very difficult to read and make out the smaller details on the app (for an artistic looking at the small things, this was a killer). I can see why this is a very important feature. If Tapastic is a site full of standard page formatted comics that look poorly on progressive mobile devices, it sends out a poor representation of what we as a community can offer for mobile readers. There's amazing talent here that shouldn't go overlook by slight flaws like this.

Also, other comic reading apps, like ComicRack, do display horizontal comics, however most of the time I have zoom in and view it panel by panel anyways. Vertical formatting pretty much seems like the next progressive step in streamlining comics for mobile devices.

Change can be a pain, but let's try being the pioneers in this fairly new venture. We can trailblazer and create something other comic companies envy. (EXCITED FACE) XD

(thanks for the shout out )

Kura 2015-01-10 02:32:00 UTC #3

This is great, I've been trying to hunt down some examples of how the vertical layout should be done so I could do this to one of my series to try it out. (when I have the time anyway)

A lot of the comics I've been checking out have just been artists cutting and pasting their panels of a page and then just pasting the panels one after the other in a vertical format instead of actually following a format that flows well story telling wise. And for me resulted in it just not working and even making it even harder to read x.x

ametueraspirant 2015-01-11 08:49:46 UTC #4

I know of a site (I think it was smackjeeves or comicfury) that formatted amazingly on mobile when I used it. It was standard paging and tiny text and everything, but it had the coolest little zoom function when I tapped that shifted from panel to panel and was like a little roller coaster of pages smoothly transitioning between each other. I'm not even quite sure how it worked, honestly, even with manga styled comics it zoomed in the proper order.

Raven_C 2015-01-11 10:34:02 UTC #5

^ Wow, that sounds really cool. I wish the Tapastic app/mobile version was like that. Haha.

guilhermecahu 2015-01-11 16:09:04 UTC #6

I think I know what you're talking about. To see that thing working, I think the authors had to select which areas were panels and the order of them. That's the cheapest, simpler way I can think of.

minzinger 2015-01-11 17:04:19 UTC #7

I don't think neither of those site supply such technology w their hosting service. This appeared to be a logical solution. It's called "guided view" and it's been used in the industry for about a decade. It's manual labor meaning that the website doesn't automatically do it for you. In regards to time, it probably take more as much time, if not more, than laying out your panels verically.

It depends on everyone's opinion but there is friction to reading when zooming in and out. Digital has opened new ways to experience visual stories, not just static panel to panel movement.

Drezz 2015-01-12 21:11:26 UTC #8

I'll be honest - most artists can't seem to wrap their heads around this (mobile) just yet. The traditional way of doing things is the most comfortable and logical way - but in order to up pageviews and get more people to read your work, sadly, formats need to evolve.

I've thought about this for a LONG time with my own work. I could never gain any real traction for some reason - and everyone I've talked to has complimented me on my writing or art, but never stuck around long enough to care about continually reading.

I've come to the realization that comic readers are a different breed. They consume on mobile devices - not on desktops. So who is going to plow through an archive of long form comic pages at a desk, when you could plop yourself down on the couch or bed with your phone or tablet and scroll to your heart's content.

Times change, and so do formats. It's opened my eyes to how I should probably be doing things... to bad it's taken THIS long to get to it.

SuperRazz 2015-01-13 03:31:26 UTC #9

Since I have relocated here from inkblazers last December , I've thought of ways for my page format comic to work on tapastic.I've tested out pages by uploading them and viewing them on 'preview'. It looks ok but because of tapastic's vertical format, it looks too cramped. A page format comic looks alright on other comic sites but not for sites intended for vertical scrolling like tapastic.
I experimented on my page comic and to see how it would look like if it was in vertical format. I didn't know it looked so..., for the lack of better term, AWESOME. I strongly suggest fellow creators to start considering on reformatting their comics because a.) it looks good and b.) You may reach a larger audience. Once a comic is reformatted, it can cater to both PC AND Mobile readers. For exapmle, here in my country wattpad is really famous because of its mobile app. (Almost everyone on my class are constantly on their phones reading wattpad!).The wattpad authors here in my country got crazy famous. So famous that they got their wattpad stories published into books and distributed in bookstores all over the country and then got turned into movies! I'm not even exaggerating.

I recommend browsing a few titles on Webtoons. The artists here really know how to take advantage of the vertical format. This comic, Annarasumana, looks similar to manga and has beautiful paneling and pacing. Browse a few of its episodes and you'll see that a double page spread can work in this format. And It doesn't look too storyboard-ish unlike other vertical comics.

LTyler 2015-01-13 04:39:20 UTC #10

Trying to format my comic into something that would be enjoyable on mobile devices has been rather difficult for me, as I simply can't afford a mobile that's capable of viewing the internet. It's rather disconcerting, being in the dark about all this technological stuff - not knowing how my comic even looks on these devices... Not knowing whether or not it's readable, even! Heh.
Thank you all for sharing these articles, resources, references and personal stories & experiences - they should prove rather helpful for me...
Eventually, I'm going to have to go through the rather arduous task of reformatting everything I've done thus far.
But, hopefully, it will be well worth the effort.

minzinger 2015-01-14 01:36:30 UTC #11

Yup, so we are gonna make a solution for creators like you.

LTyler 2015-01-14 05:46:42 UTC #12

Really? Wow! That would be great! Thanks!