May 2021
10 / 11
Apr 2023
Apr 2023
RedLenai
May '21
2

Hi there everyone! I thought maybe we could help each other by sharing our tips! Or at least what do we do for our webseries, make the drawing process a bit lighter and such!

For example these are some things I do for my webcomics!
- I use The Sims 2 Definitive Edition to make my backgrounds! I retouch them a lot to blend it with my drawings
- I trace some previous panels to avoid making everything from 0 especially if the panels are extra similar and I just have to modify a few little things like mouth, facial expression and such
- I help myself with 3d models to avoid problems with perspective, anatomy and poses in general
- I have a color palette for the characters, enviroment, lights and shadows

Some Assets I began to use to skip up a bit the coloring process are:
- Erase Along Reference Edge, I mostly use this when there is no background and I just have to draw the characters


- A tool that surrounds and paints without gaps this tool is very helpful when I have to color certain areas and I don't want a lot of white gaps on my drawing. It's a bit complicated to set but in its default settings is very helpful so far even if I make stuff with a detailed lineart.

Also! Having different refereces of your characters helps you when you have to draw different camera angles and such, I decided to work on this so when I work again on my webcomic again

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And after you shared some of your Tips to help each other out, now its time to share your series. Please avoid sharing your series but no tips or process at all! Take your time before doing a Drop & Go, haha

The series I work for, Scarlet Society by Addie French (Previously drawn by JAT-Works)

And my finished Short Story that I did with @Kuma , Solomon's Time

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    May '21

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    Apr '23
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RedLenai
May '21

Daww thank you. I'll try to check out for more and hope others aren't afraid of sharing what they do ;w;

Taking shortcuts or using assets is very helpful for webcomic making!

liamnaughton7
May '21

Oh if its time saving tips then I've got one.
Work in big batches and shift gears less.

Sometimes when were moving from one process to another, like from pencils to inks we need to kinda "reset" our brains and take a little breather. If you've ever just pencilled a page and stared blankly at it for ages you know what I mean.

If you work in large batches you can avoid this. I usually do a full chapter (24-28 pages) at a time and it's much quicker cause I can get into a flow without having to shift gears between processes too often. I'd spend a few hours ruling out panel borders and call it a day. Time filled, work done, no zoning out. The other advantage of this is that when you're doing single processes across all pages and get into a flow you become less self conscious about individual images and get in your own way less.
The only downside is that you spend a lot of your time looking at half done work which may be discouraging to newcomers who get confidence from having nailed an image and move onto the next. You're looking at a work in progress right up till the finishing touches and suddenly you've got a full chapter on your hands.

Anyway. This is my shit.

RedLenai
May '21

Hey don't worry! It's a really nice tip to be honest, do each part at its respective time is an organized way to work on things. I do the same!

I try to do all the sketches of the chapter one day, another one the lineart and so on ^_^ but yeah, its a bit difficult when you see the half done work, it makes you want to start working bits by bits on other panels but then feels like you're taking way longer because you're switching tasks so much! hahaha

liamnaughton7
May '21

I'd like to say its organised but honestly every chapter feels like a fever dream to make.
Then again, that may be more of a "me" problem.

1 year later
RedLenai
Sep '22

I know it is an old thread but I believe it could be good to continue providing more tips.

This is a tutorial from CSP, of course, but I recall from a TikTok video about using a thicker brush to get the layout of the main lines of your panel, then making it thinner. I've been using this for YanCity and it helped me quite a bit, but I believe it works better with styles that aren't extremely detailed on lineart.

The CSP tutorial on Vector Lines just in case

CLIP STUDIO PAINT useful features : Drawing with vectors

Here is a video with other grea tips to make webcomics faster. If you are new to clip studio paint and wanting to make a webtoon with it, but you're unsure because you dont want to have to learn another software, hope this video helps get you started:

Speed Up Your Comic Process || Webtoon Tips and Tricks

Here is also a thread from an Original author on Webtoon, sharing their tips
https://twitter.com/explodikid/status/14868231782529392682

Here are also some Time-Savers from me:

1- Thumbnailing in traditional, since, to me is way faster than doodling in the computer. I feel I have a better grip and waste less time since I avoid pressing Ctrl+Z besides I can glance at the script without switching windows

2- I make the panels of the entire chapter in a big Canvas (9000 x 9000 pixels at 200dpi approximately), then start doing a rough sketch. Personally I like to do this since I don't force my computer's memory/graphic card, neither I have to scroll and can work more comfortably.

imagen.png495x556 39.8 KB

3- If there are panels that don't require background or are very complex, I just make a clean sketch right away and keep them ready to ink (Sometimes I even ink them in between of the following things)

4- After the rough sketch, I like to grab my 3d backgrounds (CofCof, done in the Sims 2), which are basically screenshots that I later accomodate to the panel.

5- After that, I place down the 3d models from CSP that I mostly use for fullbody views or very specific poses, and as well, I can arrange them so they align better with the backgrounds.

6- Then, I sketch and ink everything. I also do the lineart for the backgrounds since I want it to some or less blend a bit with my drawings.

  • Another cheat for inking is working in a Vector Layer, and using a bigger brush that later you can reduce it's parameters and make the lines smaller. That way, you avoid focusing in too many details and can keep up with the core lines first.
    • Besides doing this, you can also save time by working in Vector lines, while using the Vector Eraser you can remove lines quicker especially if these are clashing against another, this is very good for detailed hair.

7- Color base everything, then apply soft shadows and lights to the whole panel

  • Another thing that helps a lot to save time is having a color palette, to quickly pic the colors especially of the main characters
  • This is a life saver, this bad boy here has made base coloring extremely easy

8- Apply solid shadows and lights, highlights, minor ambiance corrections, details and such.

9- Lettering and speech-bubbles

  • Another way to save time, is to have the script already corrected and clean, the only thing left is to copy-paste the text.
  • I use a Speech-Bubble brush, so basically I encapsulate the words and then correct it a bit with the Operation section, instead of searching which speech-bubble I'm gonna use.

10- Export everything in the format of the platform I publish, I know by memory this, so it really doesn't take much time (Webcomics App, Webtoon Canvas, Tapas.Io and the High-Res version)

I'd also recommend dividing the tasks in this order, now, this may sound a bit too ideal and don't even I follow it always but:

  1. Thumbnail the whole chapter in one day, if you have more time, gather already your 3d backgrounds and arrange the panels.
  2. Don't worry too much if you can't get the anatomy right, use a model with a preset pose and just tweak it a bit so it aligns with what you're looking for.
  3. Sometimes, if you feel confident enough, just make the lineart in top of the 3d model, like that, without sketching.
  4. Limit the times you'll allow yourself to press control+z or how many times you'll be fixing a panel. It may not be perfect but you gotta move on.
  5. Let's be honest, we get distracted quite easily, be it with the music, videos, or just social media (Like, I'm doing that right now), so it'll be important to erase any kind of distractions be it for one or two hours and try to do a sole focus thing. (Which is extremely hard but you can notice the difference later)
23 days later
RedLenai
Oct '22

Just passing by to show this future resource for webcomic/manga/etc making (It's a video on facebook, from the official software page)
I'm really excited to try it out, it has pre-made models but at the same time you have other features like figure making, customization and more

I want to get my hands on this so badly, or either find a way to properly support it, according to the creator it seems it'll be available on Steam on 2023 (not sure when)

I've also checked other videos and gosh, is like everything I wanted:
A custometizable house/neighborhood decorating game that can be used for comics... and that'll also allow to import external 3d models

5 months later
JoshRaed
Mar '23

I use medibang paint pro and a Huion Tablet.

I basically copy and paste head angles into different scenes instead of redrawing the head shape.

Sometimes I use a turning head reference to get an angle right for something.

I haven’t started doing this yet but I plan to start using gesture sketches for every character in my comic to speed along the process.

I also have a daily schedule app set up with four different hour long blocks for drawing.

I also schedule every chapter in advance to make sure I don’t release any pages late, just publishing whatever I have by the end of the final day.

15 days later