Technology in your Comic creation process!

[eagle1]

Greetings! Based on a post I made in another thread, I thought this might be fun, and give people a good set of ideas for how to improve their own technology use for webcomics.

I use several programmes and devices, and I am going to list them here, and what I use each one for. Please do the same, and feel free to ask questions about specific workflows.

I have started using Comic Life 3 for script writing. I still do the initial part on note papers and index cards, but when it's time to start typing, I go into CL3, since it formats in full script form, and allows me to see the formatting on the side.
Then it allows me to do my page panel layout, and drag and drop word balloons and captions directly.

I use DAZ 3D for my 'drawing' setting each panel up and rendering it as lineart before exporting it in JPG form into CL3, where I load the pictures directly into the panels.

From there, I go to traditional art, inking and painting on the light box, before scanning back into the computer, and loading the page back into CL3.

I Export the page to GIMP, where I do the resizing, and reduce the file size before uploading.

Eagle
(How do you use technology, and which programmes do you do what in?)

[scythe]

I prefer Poser over DAZ, and some people swear by Sketch-Up, although I just can't seem to get a handle of it.

What so great about these programs are there are immense libraries online of all sorts of things, from people, to buildings, and every item in between. So if you need to reference something, at any angle, in any lighting, it's right there at your fingertips.

[Raven_C]

For comics it's always:

• Paint Tool SAI for lineart. It's just way smoother to do lineart in this program -- even with Photoshop's Nezumi plug-in (which is great in its own right but still not comparable to the smoothness of SAI).

• Photoshop CS6 for panels and colors and everything else. What I love about PS the most are the texturized brushes. I have a set that I've collected over the past year or so.

• For writing, I use Scrivener. In fact, highly recommend it. It's unlike any other writing tool I've ever heard or come across. There's so many features that are so useful when I'm script-writing. It also functions as a library for photos and articles, so it's very useful if you're researching for your stories, etc. What's great about it is that everything you do -- from saving a draft of a script, to saving photos, creating sections within chapters, etc. -- are all saved in one project. So I don't have to have multiple documents for separate parts of the story or dialogue (which can be daunting and annoying. Haha). And well, it's way better than Google docs. lol. Check it out https://www.literatureandlatte.com/scrivener.php

[carloswebcomic]

Manga Studio 5 with a Wacom Bamboo Touch for cleaning, inking, colouring and lettering and an Android tablet for writing while I'm on the train. That's pretty much all I use.

[AnnaLandin]

My process is probably far too complicated, but it works for me, and depends a lot on my personal preferences when it comes to individual tools in various programs.

Manga Studio 4EX - all my storyboards/scripts are done with pencil on paper, but after that, they start their digital life in MS4EX. I create a blank multiple-page Story document with all the pages of the comic (if it's a one-shot) or all the pages of the chapter (if it's a bigger story). I then go about doing the panels and the VERY rough sketches (like, stick-figures and blobs) and the speech bubble-placement and all the dialogue. It's a first/second draft of the dialogue, but it gives me an idea of how much space this takes up.

Paint Tool SAI - I export to .PSD and open it all in SAI and do the cleaned up sketches. I prefer sketching in SAI because I'm used to it, it's got a nice brush tool and good re-sizing and transformation tools, which helps immensely since I tend to skew proportions and stuff when I draw. I know there are re-sizing/transform tools in Manga Studio as well, but I prefer SAI's.

Manga Studio 5 - once I'm satisfied with the sketches, it's over to MS5 for everything else. Inking, colouring, final adjustments, etc. I know I could do my panelling/speech-bubbles/dialogue in MS5, but I prefer the way the menus and tools and such work in MS4EX, and using 4EX allows me to do those multiple-page Story-documents - the basic version of MS5 doesn't have that.

As for the prep-work - the writing and researching and whatnot - it's a chaotic mess of reference-photo folders, story-notes in half a dozen documents, scripts/storyboards on paper, outlines scattered through three different notebooks, etc., etc. The weird thing is that it works perfectly for me, and I'm not sure I'd want to change it. XD

[joannekwan]

I'm stuck in my old routines and I don't foresee switching programs unless something catastrophic happens to my current set.

I type everything in MS Word to get my ideas down. Then in Photoshop CS5 with my Wacom Intuos 3, I place text, sketch, do line art, color, and draw bubbles in that order.

[Aeonhue]

I chose my process mainly because I got tired of paying monthly for Photoshop. Plus Photoshop is a resource hog and I don't need all those features.

Paint Tool Sai: I just use this for sketching because its lightweight and I like the feel of it without changing any settings.

Clip Studio Paint EX: For managing my comic pages and everything else.

I probably won't deviate from this ever.

[UltHamBro]

I start with Photoshop CS5, where I make the panel layout (and place the texts) using a custom method.
Then I export the file and open it in SAI, where I sketch and draw the whole page.
Finally, I export the file back to Photoshop and add word baloons and sound effects, changing the position of texts if necessary.

[Zannen00]

With my Genius Tablet,i sketch,draw,paneling and text bubble all in Manga Studio 5...and that's it,heh..
Might need to pick up photoshop someday,once im ready to tackle color pages.

Question!I see that most artist like to use traditional method,even when uploaded into computer/internet,
is it a case of preference,or the quality of the art is different when drawn with pen,ink and paper,as opposed to tablet with software?

[eagle1]

Question!I see that most artist like to use traditional method,even when uploaded into computer/internet,is it a case of preference,or the quality of the art is different when drawn with pen,ink and paper,as opposed to tablet with software?

I can only speak for myself, but in my case, the painting is my favourite part of art. It's what I have the greatest passion for, so I set my workflow to allow me to do that, and I make the inking part of that since I do ink washes and such for my shading. I just wanted to have my hands on the art in some part of the process. And the penciling is the part where my OCD messes with me the most, so I cut that part out. I can spend hours on penciling when I am doing a painting, but for comic pages, I needed speed and consistency. I can do hand lettering as well, but here I am using the computer for everything but the inking and painting.
On the other hand, my pages don't look like anyone else's art style.

Eagle
(I love the feeling of a brush in my hand)

[winglesscomic]

writing: I type a shitload of garbage and bad dialogue into MS Word, then send it to my writer who acts like a filter and exports non-garbage and I edit it from there.

photoshop: I then do rough sketches of each page of the chapter, get green light to go, then I start working on each page. I make my panels in photoshop pretty crudely, then save and start working in SAI

SAI: lineart, rendering, back to photoshop

photoshop again: touch ups, word bubbles, text, colour correction, then resize and flatten

may or may not be used: manga studio 5 EX for that cheap anime movement line effect that I LOOOOOVE so much, or for anything else that involves the special rulers. I haven't had a need to use perspective yet but when I do I'll be sure to get right on that here.

[SpavVy]

The programs I use

Manga studio 5:
Sketching, importing textures, screen tones, most line art for now, certain brushes including effects and lettering.

Paintool Sai: Gearing more towards Sai's line art because I now have a pen tool I really love but taking baby steps so it won't be a sudden drastic change, I also always use Sai for coloring.

GIMP 2.8: Photoshop brushes and other brushes that won't work in Sai or MS5, I also use it for making my backgrounds transparent for certain projects.

Some of my friends think it's crazy that I have three art programs xD But I make them all work together so I can get the quality I want.

[StevenDacasin]

Most of my actual art is traditional as with my drafting. But i edit with Photoshop because it helps me adjust the levels, add lettering, and also cover errors that i may have made.

[eagle1]

I notice that two people use Manga Studio for everything, but most people are using an almost predictable mix of a tablet programme with a dedicated art programme for finishes.
And I am seeing the same things show up time and time again here. Interesting!

Eagle
( I have to try digital art sometime)

[facemeltingsolos]

I'm new to visual art in general so a lot of my stuff I borrow from my wife who's way more naturally talented in that respect. Right now all penciling I do is traditional, I scan it in and ink everything in ArtRage. Then I dump it in GIMP and fumble around until a usable picture pops out.

As far as hardware goes, I use my wife's, little Wacom Intuos.

Definitely looking forward to getting my own and maybe snagging Manga Studio. After looking at some tutorials I got the need.

[scottwuming]

I go plain and simple.
MS Word for script and Adobe Photoshop CS5 for the comic arts, from the paneling to sketching to inking to screentoning to typesetting.

[Kura]

Clip Studio Paint.

That's it really, I used to use more programs than that (sai and photoshop), and I miss being able to do some things that I used to be able to in other programs, but I am poor and can't afford photoshop at the moment and for whatever reason sai refuses to work on this computer, so I just stick with this one.

Also I guess MS word for the script portions.

[oreza]

Nothing too complicated for my part...

I used to draw everything on paper then take a photo to lineart from like, a few hours ago. Then today, out of intution, I tried using my tablet again, which "died" a year ago or something. I just re-installed the driver and MIRACLE ! It works. I still can't set the eraser and pressure on my pen, but well. Whatever. I can't config my buttons either, so I have to manually Ctrl+Z instead of just clicking a button. (That's annoying.)

So, now I keep the ideas in my mind and I begin sketching with my tablet on Paint Tool SAI frame by frame, in case I want to re-use or use slightly modified frames. (The great downside of sketching on paper was that I had to draw every frame again and again.) Then I go for the lineart, still on SAI.

Once I'm done with all the frames, I order them on a clean sheet on Photofiltre 7. That's where it gets fun ! Coloring time. My coloring is based on Hue Variation on shades of grey (I think I'm the only one who uses the Hue Variation on PF7...), then applying a darker version of the color I put to put a bit of relief. Screw shading. The skin is a special coloring, based on th same method but with different colors. That can give a fake sense of shading sometimes.

Annnd that's it, all I have to do after this is save the work and poof, done.

[allenthomas]

My process is pretty simple for Shadosassins:

I work on my script in Microsoft Word and I scan and color in Photoshop CS4. Nothing really noteworthy here.

[Amirai]

Writing: construct 2. It's game making software, but I realized it's actually great for writing because I can write story components in collapsible groups and comments, and as such can reorder pieces of the story easily by dragging and dropping, and I can collapse entire sections so it's easy to browse through.

Art: clip studio paint and a custom 'repainting' program I wrote.