Page-By-Page or Scroll-Fitted?

[kip]

Hey kids.
So, I'm slowly nearing the stage I can get to drawing early pages of my comic without being guilty of under-developing it first, which brought up the eternal question:
Format?

Whats your preferences as a reader?
What about as an artist?

I've done classic page, scroll-fitted, and 4koma, but really I think that at the end of the day, I'll always circle back to the page by page. I think that as a reader I like page by page and scroll fitted about the same (and can see the pros scroll-fitted has over page by page for a web-fitted comic) but when it comes to drawing, I find doing scroll fitted almost annoying? It's nice to be able to have more control over the pacing and it's easier to work without having to make space for speech bubbles, but I think nothing trumps the feeling of a completed page for me, and I absolutely love how it all comes together in the end.

[Samuraiflame]

BIG MOOD

I'm still getting used to scroll comics. I have no preference as a reader since I'm used to both, as long as the text is big enough to read. I also just like the satisfaction of being able to print a book, so I'm going to lean to having pages as an artist too.

4-koma master race tho. ʅ(◔౪◔ ) ʃ

[ISNEKO]

As a reader I prefer pages. I hate scrolling comics. I hate swiping up thru huge blank spots of darkness or cloud just to accidentally rush by a single bit of words floating out in space, so I have to go back and read a blurb and continue flying down. It's irritating to have to position the comic myself so I'm conformable reading it. I like loading a whole page or a big panel that I can easily tell the dimensions of.

[TheThoughtfulBoxful]

As a reader and as an artist, I prefer page by page. It's less work as a creator of comics (easy to print, less time is spent reformatting for mobile, etc.), and as a reader I enjoy feeling like I'm reading a printed comic or ebook whenever I'm reading comics online. It's comforting I guess, I can't really explain it past that

I won't discriminate against scroll comics (it works for some genres, like gag-a-day's or diary comics), but for long-form stories I just want the full page.

[daeofthepast]

I like scroll, but don’t want the update to be huge lmao. I just find it easier to read on mobile since page by page format tends to make artists make really, really small panels

Hm how about trying a page by page that LOOKS like a scroll?? Just to experiment. X3

But yeah, as long as the text bubbles are readable from a small screen and panels aren’t tiny I don’t usually mind :3

[Pandastrophic]

As a reader i prefer scroll format but im fine with reading page by page. Its mainly bc i read on my phone and page by page can have small text if the artists isnt careful.
As an artist definitely scroll. I think if the format is something you're still debating then its good to do a few test pages before you start and also think about your work flow as s creator. Like for example, i change my mind a lot and the scroll format gives me the freedom to add or remove as many panels as i want without it affecting the episode too much. This wasnt that easy when i worked with page by page. Also think about if you're going to print it, page by page is easier to print while you might have to edit scroll format to have it printed.

[HGohwell]

I don't really have a preference either way as a reader. I don't like scrolling for miles for a single word bubble. I like my scrolling comics more condensed so it feels like there's something going on. But I have just as much problem with page by page. Single page updates, especially only once a week, can get tedious when you get weeks of a single conversation. Sometimes you spend a month on two characters exchanging pleasantries before there's any point to the conversation. At least scrolling comics tend to update in chunks. If you have more than one page per update it tend to work better in my opinion. Just as often page format doesn't make the flow from panel to panel or bubble to bubble clear and it can be an effort to figure out where I'm supposed to read next, a problem scrolling comics can avoid.

[gh0stcr33p]

I personally prefer page-by-page since I just feel like the scroll fitted pages just take up too much space, and it's just not really satisfying to read them in my opinion. I'd say the same for my own work

[keii4ii]

Assuming all other factors are equal -- i.e. text is easily legible, the creator utilizes the format well (pointlessly excessive white space =/= good utilization of the format) -- I prefer to read vertical scroll, but only slightly. And I read on desktop.

As a creator, it's about equal for me.

The only format I don't like is horizontally wide, whether it's scrolling or page-formatted. But even with that, I've seen at least one amazing example, so it's ultimately up to how the creator uses it.

[kip]

Hm how about trying a page by page that LOOKS like a scroll?? Just to experiment. X3

I'd argue this is exactly what a 4koma is!

Single page updates, especially only once a week, can get tedious when you get weeks of a single conversation.

Oh, for sure. I've seen comics that update a panel a week, and just... getting through a single conversation could take months. I quit real fast on those lol

[McAmps]

As an artist I prefer page by page. I'm heavily inspired by how manga lay out their pages. As a reader, either or is fine as long as it's easy to read and follow.

For my comic, I drew page by page, but made a vertical scroll version for webtoon while the original is on tapas. It was interesting to adapt to webtoons and it does have a few pacing advantages (amd disadvantages). I'll be curious to see which version ends up getting more readers. (It's too soon to tell rn tho.)

I'll link them if you wanna take a peak at the differences in layout.

MC1 and MC2 in Deep Story :: Chapter 1 Part 1 | Tapas

MC1 & MC2 in Deep Story - Chapter 1 Part 1

[dawgofdawgness]

As a creator I’ve never tried doing scroll - format and I don’t think I plan on doing it since I’d like to print my stuff in the future. Also, When you do scroll format, you can’t really appreciate the art of paneling in a sense. You can do cool things in scroll format, but you wouldn’t be able to see the how panels fit with each other, the form of a page, the juxtaposition of panels.. (and cool things like the “page-turner”). I guess what I’m trying to say is that it becomes a WEBTOON and not a COMIC or a graphic novel. And personally I wouldn’t call my comic a webtoon.

As a reader, I like both but probably prefer page format since that’s kinda what I grew up with and am used to. ¯_(ツ)_/¯ the nice thing about vertical scroll is that you’re really being spoon-fed the story. If you’re handed a huge page with speech bubbles and panels and characters everywhere, it might be overwhelming and it’ll feel like a chore to read, ESPECIALLY if you’ve bookmarked multiple stories at once. With scroll, you can really go at your own pace. The panels are nice and spread out- one flick of the finger and you can get to the next picture. So I get why this format is more popular. Scroll format is in all the social media apps either way.

[libs]

i personally prefer scrolling over waiting 3 seconds for the next page to load up. But as an artist, pages are easier to draw and manage

[Pandastrophic]

I'd also like to add, a lot of people seem to think scroll format = a lot of white space but actually putting a lot of white space is a mistake some artists make. The white space is meant to control the pace that you want the reader to read so like a faster scene would feel faster if the panels are tighter together but you'd try slowing down a more emotional scene by putting a little more white space between panels. I honestly don't like a lot of white space either but most comics I read don't even have that much.

[keii4ii]

I'd also like to add, a lot of people seem to think scroll format = a lot of white space but actually putting a lot of white space is a mistake some artists make.

This post x1000000

TBH I'm tired of my comic, and some of my favorite comics, being put down as inherently less creative because of the vertical format (not necessarily in this thread, but on the internet in general). No! It's all up to how you use it. As I mentioned in a previous post, I don't like horizontal comics, but I would never say horizontal comics are inherently less creative layout-wise. I mean, just take a look at this masterpiece!

[akitsukino]

I can't confirm, but I'd heard in one of the forums that in South Korea webtoons aren't just rated in popularity or how many people read them, but also on how long the reader stays on the page, which could account for the extra space. I'd noticed that a lot of comics that seem to have the white space problem are translated ones.

But this could be a rumor?

[Shanny8]

I will read scroll format on a comic; as for setting my pages up into a scroll format- I really dont care to, but I'm on the fence about doing it for my comic on Webtoons. I prefer reading stuff in the page format, because I like the flow of the overall page and feel it does a better job of telling the story than the scroll format.

[Pandastrophic]

@keii4ii Yeah I wanted to add that because I was kinda tired of it as well! I've created comics in both formats and for me I probably can't go back to the page by page bc the scroll format felt more liberating in a way? like I wasn't contained by the size of the page and I could do what i want!
I would honestly use your comic as a great example of vertical paneling because I think you use it so well.

@akitsukino I don't know. I do notice the white space problem mostly in korean comics but also not all of them, I've read some that have beautiful paneling and I'd hate for them to be disregarded only because the general idea is that vertical has a lot of white space.
Most of the indie vertical comics and even the ones featured on Tapas and webtoons don't have this problem.

[HGohwell]

TBH I'm tired of my comic, and some of my favorite comics, being put down as inherently less creative because of the vertical format

Soooo much this!

I spent a long time messing around with pages vs vertical scroll before settling on vertical scroll and some people do amazing things with it. I try really hard to find a flow in vertical format that's more than just box ontop of box ontop of box, and it is really disheartening when people put it down as a format with less creative layouts. That's the same as saying page by page is less creative because it's just a 3x3 grid. And as someone who was put off by tons of white space in some I made an effort to have less in my comic. People are constantly seeing things that they don't like in scrolling format and look for ways to adjust. I wouldn't say all page by page formats are squashes and crowded and slow paced just because some are either.

Flow in vertical format is just as much an art as flow on individual pages (and I often think people who claim vertical scroll limits their layout creativity just aren't willing to put in the effort and find a way to use it creatively).

[akitsukino]

I think I'd have to be on the team for preferring page by page most of the time (except when those load times get annoying). The biggest issue I see is that so many scrolling comics have pacing issues. With page comics you can read through about four, five or even eight panels a page and get a good feel for that beat of the story. But since a lot of scroll comics are just scrolling from panel to panel to panel it can be draining. You're literally reading it at a sixth of the pace you'd read a page by page comic.

But I do agree with the sentiment that not all scroll comics are like this. My main issue is that I don't feel like enough scroll comic artist are experimenting with the medium enough. I think a happy medium is when I see an artist manage to combine the energy of a page comic with scroll format of webtoons. Like Blue Wings a webtoon that was converted from a page format to scroll format rather seamlessly.