More in Black and White? Less in Colour?

[liamnaughton7]

Right, I've got a question I've been wrestling with for a while. I'm doing a little bit of experimenting with the scroll format as opposed to pages and seeing how much or how little I'd have to, or could do. I'd like to get 40 panels done a week but I'm also experimenting with quite possibly using colour. Now, I'm currently doing a short story completely in colour to get a feel for how it would work and with my routine the way it is, it turns out that I can quite possibly comfortably do 20 panels a week in color.

Now, I'm a lot faster and I'm a lot more used to black and white so I could actually do 40 panels a week in black and white, no problem. What I'm wondering is would you prefer to get 20 panels full color or get 40 panels every week in black and white?

Just to give you an idea what it looks like I'll post a couple of pictures.

This is the first few panels on my short story in full color.

It gets a little bit brighter than this, I may have gone a little too grey with it.

Here is a sample of my black and white artwork.

Just imagine this, but it's one of those scrollyboys.

I'd like to know what other people would like to see. This isn't a question of what I prefer. I wouldn't really like an answer that says "Go with your heart!" As I already know my own heart in this scenario. I'd like the opinion of a regular reader of webcomics. I may ignore this and do whatever I feel I want to in the end. But it'd be valuable to know what most webcomic peoples really like to see.

Any answers at all would be very kind, thank you.

[thepenmonster]

I personally prefer comics that show an artist that is putting in an effort to stand out.

But practically speaking: The Scrollers like color and you will be better rewarded if you dance to their tune.

[hockeywebcomics]

Both are great but if I were on your shoes I'd stick with colour. We're talking about a global web of readers and colour stuff seems to draw more attention and you do a great work with colours.

[choilyriel]

Me personally I prefer the black and white, but then again, I've used to read manga a lot. But if you want to attract readers especially those that dominantly read webtoon, I would say go with colours, but then again, personally, the colour is a little bit flat (?)

I like your black and white works more, it looks like it's professionally made especially those effects

[SpookyLocker]

Black and white is just easier, color theory be damned lmao

[darthmongoose]

Normally I always advise colour. In this case, I think this is an exception, but I don't know if it's just because of the example pages shown. The black and white one is so much more striking to look at, and looks a lot more polished here, with very powerful use of contrast. There are popular black and white comics out there on Tapas, and they're generally ones with very polished and effective use of black and white for a striking look.

If you were going to use colour, I'd recommend maybe further experimentation with the colour palette. The colours you're using aren't objectively bad, they're just a bit soft and warm for the vibe of the inking, and a more muted, maybe natural watercolour sort of palette could perhaps work better than those very warm, very "cute shoujo webtoon" colours.

That black and white page looks really good though, excellent use of tone.

[Lensing]

I like webcomics in color and I read a lot of printed comics in black & white with hard shadows
like in Will Eisner or Jordi Bernet´s work.

Both of the examples you uploaded look like they would work well for printed comics

[liamnaughton7]

@thepenmonster
I understand the point you're trying to make, but the phraseology begs me to beg you to elucidate.

@hockeywebcomics
First of all, thank you for the kind words about my colours. I'm not super confident with them so it's lovely to hear. Secondly, reach isnt too big a concern right about now. Really I'm trying to see if I can get comfortable doing it. Maybe I'll get the bug and I'll fall in love with colour? I'm not there yet, really, but doing something different every now and then never hurts. At least, that's what I've heard.

@choilyriel
Yes. I too have been enslaved by the cruel master that is manga! Yes, my colour is not quite at that same level so I may relegate it to shorts for a while as I grow a lot better that way. I had a feeling that the black and white looks better but it's very useful to hear.

@Lonker
Colour is a ghost that lives under my bed, yes. Occasionally tapping it's fingers on my floor to remind me it's there and to be afraid. In a manner of speaking...

@darthmongoose
Thank you. Yes, I'm going to tinker away with a few shorts every now and then just to see if it's a thing I can just sorta get a bit better at (if for nothing else than to say "I can colour well enough that looking at it doesn't make people puke themselves to death")
But it's not a long term plan. I love black and white artwork too much. The responses I got here will be useful though. Even if it's just that my colours aren't as good as the black and white yet.
Your words about my black and white artwork are very kind though, thank you.

@Lensing
My thoughts were that even if it's just as little zine sized boyos that I really should be printing this stuff. I've been printed a handful of times by myself and by people who've commissioned artwork off of me and it just looks "right".
I guess my experiment here is to make something that feels "right" for a webcomic so thanks for confirming that feeling.

This was all very useful and very kind.

Thanks again!

[thepenmonster]

beg you to elucidate

People with money to give you want color.

[liamnaughton7]

(post withdrawn by author, will be automatically deleted in 24 hours unless flagged)

[liamnaughton7]

These people being the eponymous "Scrollers", I presume? That odious kabal?!

[thepenmonster]

The normie reading a webtoon will scroll through as quickly as possible. Like they're playing a cookie tapper game. Unless they have some sort of speed reading skills they're not actually reading, they're scrolling. Thus "Scrollers".

Pandering might have a bad reputation but it's how a creator makes money and webcomics are no different from pop music or Hollywood blockbusters in that regard. So to get back to the original question: Audience wants colour. You should give it to them

[liamnaughton7]

Very illuminating. Thank you for the input.

[HarryM]

Honestly, I think go with whatever one will stave off burn-out and keep you consistently updating. 20 panels in B&w sounds ideal if it's easily doable for you. People often forget that rest and relaxation is an integral part of the process - don't skimp on it!

Personally, I also think if you hold off on color you can double-dip later. Think how Bone (or Scott Pilgrim!) got popular with its black and white books, and then later they got another run out of it by coloring it.

Even if you don't pull some readers because it's in b&w now, this is a loooong game, my friend.

[LostKelp]

B&W looks better for you. If you continue with colour you should experiment more with the colors and rather than this fairly by the numbers pallete. And more dramatic colorful shading because your BW is so much more dramatic and interesting.

[ThunderChicken]

Truthfully, while I do like colour, it’s not the be all and end all. If the art is good and the story is good I don’t need colour, and nor do a lot of people. I can’t speak for other genres, but some of the most popular LGBTQ comics on Tapas are B&W, including R.U. Screwed, Remembering Gale, and even Heartstopper.

[darthmongoose]

Truthfully, while I do like colour, it’s not the be all and end all. If the art is good and the story is good I don’t need colour, and nor do a lot of people. I can’t speak for other genres, but some of the most popular LGBTQ comics on Tapas are B&W, including R.U. Screwed, Remembering Gale, and even Heartstopper.

Yep! Also Moonshine, BREAKS and Lazy Snow Leopard.

You can 100% succeed with a black and white comic on this platform if the art in black and white looks really polished, the presentation makes it easy to read on a phone, the style is appealing to the core demographics of Tapas and the subject matter or genre is popular.

A big reason I tend to recommend colour isn't necessarily because colour is automatically more popular. It's because it's easier to make something that looks polished and appealing in colour than in black and white, and if the creator is already struggling with say, a genre or story that will be hard for the audience to relate to, and they're still honing their skills at making art, they really need to balance it by playing things as safe as they can if they want to reassure the audience of a good time, and that the creator knows what they're doing. Copying the style of popular comics can do this. But if it's a confident creator, making unique work that looks great in black and white, with a story that really works with that style, and it's got obvious comp titles on the platform... I actually do think they can pull it off.

[TheLemmaLlama]

Personally, I also think if you hold off on color you can double-dip later. Think how Bone (or Scott Pilgrim!) got popular with its black and white books, and then later they got another run out of it by coloring it.

Even if you don't pull some readers because it's in b&w now, this is a loooong game, my friend.

Basically this I'm a notorious fan of colour, but I always say it's better to get the story out quickly in whatever form is the easiest for you, because then you'd have a higher chance of actually finishing; you can always touch up on it later XD

(Besides, I also think you're better at black-and-white than colour at the moment ^^; )