New here, first comic; Need specific advice!

[Fractals]

Hi! I'm new to Taptastic and am finally starting a webcomic, Fractals, based on a storyline that's been stuck in my head a while.

I'm also new to digital art as a medium; I'm primarily a traditional artist, finally branching out.

My questions are these:

1.) Have you noticed an improvement in your comics art as you went along with it? Are you fine with the first few panels maybe not being as great as the rest will be down the line? This has been really bothering me.

2.) Are there any other traditional artists here who have made the switch to digital? Any advice for that?

And any other advice you can think of would be super appreciated! I'm really nervous to be starting with this, there's so many insanely talented artists on this site. Excited too, though!

Thanks

[whitherling]

Congrats on starting your webcomic! I took a peek - that's a promising opening. ^.^

And for replies to your questions...
1) I've been drawing mine for... gosh, five years now? Definitely have noticed an improvement as it's gone on. And the art in the early chapters bugs me still, but I've accepted it as the best I could do at the time. (I'm actually working on redrawing the first chapter, but not because of the ancient art - I didn't draw it at a high enough resolution the first time around and it makes printing nigh-impossible. If you intend to ever print or even if you don't, check your resolution.)

2) I've had one foot in the traditional and digital sides all along - traditional pencil and inks, digital colouring. I'm just about to make the switch to full-on digital, though. I think the most important thing I've learned is to use your digital tools as carefully and as thoroughly as you use traditional tools, and not expect them to be a shortcut that will do the work for you. I've found I get smoother, more nuanced results that way.

I hope that helps! Good luck in your webcomic journey. ^.^

[Strontium]

Hi there! Welcome to Tapastic!

Let me answer your questions

1. Without a doubt my comic got better over time. I got more used to drawing on a large scale and drawing the characters. When I felt comfortable with those basics I started pushing my colors, panel layouts and environments. Every chapter I try to accomplish something new. I feel my art got a lot more movement in it from working on my comic. You can compare this action page in chapter 1 to a similar themed page in chapter 4!

2. I made the switch to digital art in 2012. I had gotten my first tablet in December 2008 but mostly used it to color in scanned drawings in Photoshop. 2012 was when I felt finally comfortable enough to draw entirely on the computer. Learning how to use a tablet is challenging and not always intuitive but practice is the best way to get better at using it. In the present I do all my comic work digitally.

There are other threads for tips on getting integrated in Tapastic, but my advice would be to give what you'd like to get. If you favorite and comment on lots of comics that you enjoy, you're putting positive interacting energy into the Tapastic environment, and it encourages more people to do the same. Eventually some of that might come back to you.

Here's my comic if you want to read it and here's my reading list, which has lots of great comics on it.

[Fractals]

Thank you both for such prompt responses! This seems like a very friendly community, and I'm glad to see that I'm not alone in my struggling with this. All very good advice, I'll be sure to take it.

[shazzbaa]

Hey, welcome to Tapastic!! : D And welcome to the forums also!

As far as the later pages being better than earlier pages, I think it is impossible to NOT have this happen. I mean, look at the earliest drawings of Garfield or Snoopy; every creator's style evolves after drawing the same characters for years! I find for me, while my first pages are a little bit "lol wow this art is obviously 2 years old," and I'm sure those first pages will get harder and harder to look at as I go, it's my storytelling that I notice the most -- there are definitely things I feel like I would do differently if I were starting the story now, but honestly, that's because of how much I've learned FROM telling this story, so all I can do is move forward and make each chapter better than the last!

As far as advice, this is not so much for tapastic as it is for webcomics in general, but my biggest advice would be to not get discouraged -- webcomics take some time to build up an audience! I see people get worried a lot of times when they've been updating and don't have a bunch of subscribers yet, but this is honestly really normal and doesn't mean anything is wrong! Keep at it and keep doing your best! : D

[Fractals]

Oh wow, thanks Yeah, getting discouraged is a big thing for me. I'll try my best to be optimistic, thanks!

[efdvorsky]

Hi there Fractals, and welcome to Tapastic! Your comic looks interesting i like how you draw faces!

To answer your questions~

1) Yes, it's a little difficult to go back to it, I sometimes can't even look at my first chapter of Cosmic Fish without cringing but that just means there's been improvement. For now, try your best and you'll start noticing your brain clicking and coming up with solutions faster and better, it's all in the practice! If you're noticing things you didn't before, you're on the right track!!

2) Switching from traditional to digital is a little difficult but more than do-able! Mastering traditional helps you learn the tricks and stabilizes your hand too. Depends on the tools you use but it's pretty easy to click and you can expand by adding to your work those extra touches digital can do.

For now, my advice (although I'm still pretty new myself) is that you should appreciate your readers, but also focus on yourself. Tell a story YOU'D want to read and the readers will show up. Best of luck and welcome!

[Fractals]

Thanks so much! I appreciate all the advice I can get ^^