Making and uploading your comics with the Tapastic platform in mind

Elepheel 2015-08-20 05:41:10 UTC #1

Hello there. I'd like to open up a discussion on how best to produce a comic to make sure it looks great when uploaded to Tapastic.

I recently joined and posted up the 4 previous episodes of Muscle Friend, which I posted to Tumblr originally. They're made to fit within an A4, but came out looking just fine here, on PC that is.

After spending some more time browsing other peoples' series, I realized that the format for posting here differed slightly. More people would post frame by frame vertically instead of just one single page. Or if they do, it would have just two panels usually. When I viewed my episodes on mobile, they weren't as gloriously big as those other panel-by-panel vertical series, so I decided to try something out.

I made my latest episode just like the previous ones, on an A4, but this time I tried to segment each panel into a separate image and upload it that way. It looked great on PC, but I then realized that on PC, the platform just centers the image no matter how big it is, while on mobile, it will blow up all images to fit the width, so some of the panels looked pixelated. I ended up centering each panel on a 940 px canvas and uploading them that way, and that fixed it.

So what I want to ask is, what tips or advice would you offer on making a comic from the get-go to ensure that it looks great when it goes up here? Should I ditch A4? Stick to it, but limit myself to 2 panels per row? Look more into making single panels rather than pages?

If you've got some examples to share of series that are doing a good job of using the vertical format, do share!

infectedbloodcomics 2015-08-20 08:08:40 UTC #2

Hi there, I normally draw on a larger format than A4 (this is the exact paper I use), but it doesn't really matter. What matters the most is how you resize your pages. When I scan my pages (which have multiple panels), the very last step I take is resizing and saving as .jpg. Since I put my pages on my website, too, and 900 pixels of width works well there, I keep the same size for Tapastic and all my other mirrors (notice that height doesn't really matter). So, here's an example of what I have. As you can see, it shows quite well both on PC and mobile Here's another one, with a bit more panels, and this one has more panels, still.

For the continuation of my comic, I am now using this paper, as I'm traveling and that size is more portable. This format is much closer to A4. Still, I do my resizing to 900 pixels width and all goes well You will be able to see what it looks like when my next page is released, next Monday.

Good luck!

keii4ii 2015-08-20 08:16:16 UTC #3

Here's an example of a comic that gets drawn in a book format initially, then gets reformatted for Tapastic. Both versions are available for viewing. Check it out!

Me, I ditched the book format entirely for my comic. At first, I attempted to make it work both for print and for mobile by stacking multiple pages on top of one another, but it was stifling my storytelling abilities. I had to choose one form and really rock it, instead of compromising for two. I ended up choosing digital because that's how you reach your audience as an independent creator.

But if you don't want to ditch the book format (which is perfectly fine), you may consider doing something like the comic with two versions that I linked earlier. Not every panel has to be the same width. If you are worried about pixellation, put WHITE SPACE around your smaller panels so the image is 940 pixels regardless of the width of the panel. Good luck!

abbastudios 2015-08-20 13:33:32 UTC #4

The traditional page format is not ideal for digital viewing.

Most people create a comic book page as if it will be printed. The type is the right size for print, but hard to read for digital. The type needs to much larger for diigital screens, which include desktops, laptops, tablets and phones.

It took me a while to experiment and find out a type size the works for all screens. Most people read their comics on the phone, so it really has to be easy to read there.

When i see hard to read comics on my phone. I wonder if the creator has even bothered to look at it on other platforms.

Breaking down to one panel with larger type I've found to work best for all screens. I don't design a printed page format for a future that may never happen or for lees readers than I can get online.

So I feel a one or two panel format works best.

PotooGryphon 2015-08-20 14:38:56 UTC #5

;u; Thanks for mentioning it. <3

Yeah, I format for both Print/Page/Standard format and Vertical/Tapastic format. There are readers that prefer one format over the other so a lot of subscribers have really appreciated me uploading both.

Oops started out in print format, however, I changed it to vertical when the Tapastic staff started mentioning the importance of it for mobile readers. I must admit, it really does make it easier to read and looks polished in vertical format on the Tapastic app.

There are so many thread on formatting for Tapastic and Vertical formatting:

Some vertical comics even go above and beyond panel stacking. @fanyart is a master at creating full on amazing experience with vertical formatting. Check out Trivia From Nature. I constantly go back to Fany's series for inspiration on how to creatively vertical format a page.

What I do for Oops is, it's created in Manga Studio, 7 by 10.5 inches page format, 600 dpi. When I have my page done and inked, it's beautiful, finalized, I import it into photoshop, create a new document sized 940 px by 4000 px vertical format size limit, 72 dpi (screen resolution).

On my finished full size comic page I flatten the image and then select each panel individually and drag them over to the new doc where I resize them and touch them up.

I also add my logo, copyright, and a Tapastic stamp to the bottom of the page. (I highly recommend adding at least a copyright to every page!)

After I have each panel sized and placed in the vertical format doc, I think about embellishment I can add to make it a differently unique reading experience from the page format version.

Vertical vs Page format comparison - same page however the flying books embellishments in the vertical really help give it an extra punch

Once finished, I slice the vertical document into pieces and save out all the piece (this way the full vertical page will upload faster on Tapastic for readers) Got that idea from Fany <3

Otherwise, have fun and experiment with vertical format. It's a fun creative challenge to invent each page and it makes for better content on mobile devices.

There are many options to this. Check out

And How to Panel Like a Pro. I like using these references when determining panel layouts in both formats.

Elepheel 2015-08-21 05:25:07 UTC #6

Thank you all for your input, especially @CyndiFoster for the very detailed and informative post, and sorry for not looking more thoroughly into older threads.

I might just have to take a bit of time off to re-evaluate how to go about this.

Zanreo 2015-08-21 07:36:17 UTC #7

I already made my comics vertical long before I knew about Tapastic, so I'm fine

If you make vertical comic they usually won't be over the width limit anyway