I need some help. Do I go traditional, or continue trying digital?

M.ComicFan 2020-09-01 14:22:26 UTC #1

I'm in a bit of a pickle. As I'm sure some of you know, I'm working on a comic. I'm currently trying to draw the pages for this comic digitally. Unfortunately, it's proven much more difficult than I thought. I admit I'm very inexperienced with digital art, so I'm assuming it gets easier with practice, but I want to get these first 2 chapters done before mid-September. So I want to ask you all for your opinions. Do I continue trying to draw the pages digitally? Or, should I try to draw them traditionally instead? Of course if anyone has any other suggestions, I'd be happy to here them as well.

ryoko 2020-09-01 14:31:30 UTC #2

I draw my comics out on paper in pencil, then scan in and digitally ink/finish them with an art tablet and CSP. What kind of set up do you have for making your comic digitally? Also, what is the biggest problem you are facing right now? It does get easier to do things digitally once you've done it for a while, but if there's a specific issue you have a question about, someone here might be able to help you with a more concise answer.

darthmongoose 2020-09-01 14:37:12 UTC #3

Do you have a specific reason you need them done before then? Is it because of the end of holidays or something?

Digital art, like anything, does get easier with practice, and for most people after a short while tends to outpace traditional in terms of making something quickly, and more importantly, making something quickly that also looks polished and is print-ready. Traditional, even if you're faster at making it, the scanning and cleanup to make it ready for print or online use, can add a lot of time and work, especially with comics, where you'll want to make use you scan everything so the panels are perfectly perpendicular and then clean it so there's no dust, scan shadows or the like and good contrast or it'll look amateurish.

M.ComicFan 2020-09-01 14:48:57 UTC #4

I'm using a laptop that I'm borrowing because my actual laptop is a Chromebook that can't run drawing tablets that well. As for the tablet, it's a Huion Inspiroy H640P. I'm also using Krita as my main drawing program.

I'm having trouble figure exactly how Krita works. I know the basics, but that's not saying much. I watched a video, but it wasn't that helpful. Another problem is that I'm so used to looking at what I'm drawing while I'm drawing it, and since I'm using a tablet that doesn't have a screen, it's proven much more difficult for me to draw. Plus like a said, I gave myself a deadline that I have to stick by, so I don't really have that much time.

M.ComicFan 2020-09-01 14:53:36 UTC #5

I start school again in mid-September, so I want to get this done before hand.

I know exactly what you're talking about, but it's something that I'm going to have to figure out if I end up doing this.

Rhonder 2020-09-01 19:42:36 UTC #6

Mmmm in my experience, I think especially if you already have the tools then it's worth the investment to try and become more comfortable with digital art. Basically re: what darthmangoose said. I did my first comic here on tapas with traditional linework and digital colors and the process of scanning and prepping the art for each page ended up being more hassle than worth. I went through a bunch of different methods over the run of the 70 page comic-

at first I would use mechanical pencil, ink over it, and erase the pencils before scanning (much like when I do traditional marker art). I found that it was hard to rid the paper of all of the eraser shavings though and so a lot of my scans would pick those up which led to a lot of pre-coloring editing. Erasing also just takes a lot of time, especially on the big 11x17 paper I used.

So then I tried moving to non-photo blue colored pencil for my pencils because you don't have to erase it afterwards. That part was big time savings and no more eraser shavings on the scans was nice! But I found that I had a hard time seeing my sketches clearly because the color was so light and so I ended up having a difficult time inking and missed a lot of little details.

Finally in the end I would do the sketch digitally and then print them off on 2 sheets of printer paper and use a light box to ink (at this point there weren't that many pages left so I wanted to finish the comic off with the same line quality, otherwise I would have just digitally inked).

All throughout this too, I only have a small scanner so each page required 4 scans to digitize and then I would have to piece them together (thankfully Photoshop does this automatically for me tho).

The reason I went through all this trouble was because at the beginning I felt the same- my digital art skills were shaky and I especially didn't like how my lineart turned out on the computer, so I felt it was faster to get nice looking drawings traditionally even with all the extra steps. While I was doing the comic though I decided to practice my digital art skills on the side. After... maybe a year of that I felt like my digital art skills were finally on par or better with my traditional art ones. Now, 2 years later, I can make pages digitally much MUCH faster than traditionally.

Not only do I not have to go through all those extra steps, but I also have access to all of the digital shortcuts like undo, copy paste, being able to rescale and rotate things rather than completely redraw, etc. I could never imagine going back to traditional for anything other than standalone illustrations or very short comics. Anything that's moderately long, the time savings on digital is just too great.

M.ComicFan 2020-09-01 20:03:02 UTC #7

Thank you for sharing. In all honesty, I did consider some of the things you mentioned, but now I'm sure that if it worked for you, it will work for me (granted if I practice and do it right). Thank you again, I'll see what I can do with what you mentioned.

vblairehawthorne 2020-09-01 20:23:02 UTC #8

This is a very great question and a valid concern. I want you to know that your worries are 100% justified. A lot of artists seem to mistake digital art as this holy grail that will make art easier and faster to finish. That is not at all the case. I'm working on a not-yet-published comic project with an artist friend of mine and we pretty much agreed that doing traditional and tweaking pages digitally is the best way for us to get in the groove. I totally agree with my artist's assessment, so that's what we've been doing now. But it is definitely subjected to changes as we go along the way. I suggest creating pages with and focus on just one medium first (either trad or digi) then if you find one of them much more comfortable to you, commit to it.

dsptss78 2020-09-01 20:35:27 UTC #9

It all depends on if your doing color or black and white. If your doing color then digital is the way to go. As for black and white it depends on your preference. The traditional route gives less room for error and you might have to get use to a lot of erasure marks. The inking might take longer however the benefits of traditional drawing is that everything feels more natural and you have more control. It also builds up confidence in your strokes because the final inking process forces you to commit. The digital route might be more expensive since you might have to invest in software programs or drawing tablets. However there are free softwares available but don't expect the quality to be the same as the one you have to pay for. Me personally I do a mixture of both but most of my drawing and inking is done on paper but I transfer it to vectors to sharpen it out on illustrator. As for scanning, for convenience I recommend a phone scanner like cam scanner. Once you do that you can use image trace on illustrator to transfer it to vectors.

ben 2020-09-01 20:57:52 UTC #10

I’ve been drawing comics for a while now and there was a chunk of years i tried with purely going digital but I could never match the speed I have with traditional. Right now I’m on a schedule of drawing 20 pages a month of one comic and 12-ish a month for a second comic. So i guess thats 32 pages a month not including any one off strips or illustrations I do. One of them I draw a little smaller because when the project originally started I was trying to just try to write, ink, and color four pages a day so the small size helped speed it up. I have never personally been able to match that speed when i work entirely digitally.

I do scan and color them digitally with a tablet and a lot of people complain about setting up the pages but it really doesn’t take me super long because i set photoshop actions and just do it all in batches then I color on photoshop because its easier to set up for print than if I colored traditionally!! For me the goal is to get as many pages out and done as possible with looking at a screen as little as I can get away with. I have a lot of friends who draw comics traditionally and a lot of friends who draw digitally and I think its very telling that most of my pals who work digitally don’t match the speed of a lot of my friends who make comics traditionally!

Ultimately, I think its worth trying everything and seeing what works best for you! Personally, I think if I kept with struggling thru digital I’d probably not have a job right now but thats DEFINITELY not true for everyone!!

M.ComicFan 2020-09-01 23:27:54 UTC #11

I have an idea on how I might do this now, but I'll keep your advice in mind.

M.ComicFan 2020-09-01 23:35:41 UTC #12

I do want to do the comic in color, and I might try to color it digitally. As software, I already got Krita (which was free, so I didn't need to worry about cost), and I already got a drawing tablet. I'll try doing the line art traditionally, but I have to get supplies first.

M.ComicFan 2020-09-01 23:46:56 UTC #13

I'm going to try doing the line art traditionally, then coloring them digitally as well. The only thing is I already have drawing software that isn't Photoshop (and frankly I don't feel like paying a subscription). So I'm gonna see if I can do it with the software I already have. Hopefully it won't be to different.

Also, side note, can you tell me what your comics are about, and maybe send me a link?

dsptss78 2020-09-02 01:07:34 UTC #14

Here is my webcomic if your interested. Also if you have webcomic that you made earlier I am definitely interested in checking it out.

dsptss78 2020-09-02 01:09:18 UTC #15

Also recommend sakura micron pens they are pretty good.

M.ComicFan 2020-09-02 11:48:48 UTC #16

Was already thinking about getting those, but thanks.

gempompadour 2020-09-02 12:37:27 UTC #17

That was definitely the thing that made made me think I couldn''t draw digitally. Having a drawing tablet was honestly life changing for me and made me fully leave traditional art behind. I spent several months trying to change my hand-eye-coordination to work on a tablet and computer screen because people said it would get easier. But it didn't, and felt so alien to me. I was honestly almost in tears because I thought that was it then. My comic would never be realized. I then bought a tablet with a screen and it was like using pen and paper. I was back in my element. So, if it really feels like you're not getting the hang of it with your current tablet, try to buy one with a screen.

frgmnt 2020-09-02 12:55:08 UTC #18

I wouldn't give up on digital art too soon, if I were you.
When I got my (non-screen) tablet, I had huge problems adjusting and thought I'd never get used to it. It felt just so fundamentally different. I didn't start getting the hang of it until 4-5 months later (though to be fair, if I was drawing more, it could've taken less time). It took me several more months to start feeling like my digital drawing skill is catching up to traditional. In some ways drawing on paper is still more "natural" for me, but any of my bigger drawing projects are now done mostly or fully in digital. (I've found out planning out, or drawing a rough sketchy version of what I want on paper, before doing the digital version is extremely helpful for me.)

I don't know if there's any quick solution to your problem but you definitely should experiment with different drawing programs (Medibang/FireAlpaca is a good free one, and it's pretty simple to use), different brush settings, etc. - you don't know which one might work for you until you try them.

Shanny8 2020-09-02 13:17:21 UTC #19

How about you DON'T place unrealistic deadlines on yourself to finish 2 chapters of a comic within a short period of time; allow yourself the time to get used to working in digital if that is how you want to do the comic.You're never going to get used to doing digital placing time constraints on your learning with projects. I understand that you start school, but you still can use any off time that you have to learn; dont place constrictions & unnecessary stress on yourself...

As for the eye/screen/tablet issue- I had that issue myself starting out...it took some months(my pacing) to get used to it, but I stuck to my guns and drew small pieces digitally until I got used to it and gained the confidence I need to work on a comic. I felt it was fun and challenging working this way, pushing myself to learn more about the program that I use(Clip Studio) as well as learn techniques to help create my comic faster or with more efficiency.

If you're good at creating comics traditionally, then do what helps you create the project how you want with no stress. Also watch video tutorials and research how to color digitally with certain programs- once again, the key is to not stress yourself with a deadline; work/learn at a pace that allows you to feel comfortable until you're doing the thing on a consistent basis.

M.ComicFan 2020-09-02 23:45:41 UTC #20

I would love to do that, but I don't have the money for it.