Traditional (Print) Comic Community

KevinReijnders 2024-08-15 11:13:21 UTC #9

Oh not really actually! The size and number of panels on the page greatly determine the amount of time that passes. Small panels tend to be quick fire, shorter amounts of time, while bigger panels appear to take up more time. It's almost like video edting in that sense.

orchidesyl 2024-08-15 11:20:50 UTC #10

First, CONGRATS on printing your comic omg :0
Don't stress on the contests vro completing a project is already a momentous accomplishment that will fulfill you more than ones meant for algorithms and such. I think part of the popularity cthing also comes with the genre. Many webcomics on Tapas or webtoon have the greatest popularity in drama and romance genres. As a similar sci-fi and post-apocalypse-er, it's unfortunate, but it is what it is. Your audience will build itself in time, so if that's something you worry about try not to sweat it. :3

orchidesyl 2024-08-15 11:26:55 UTC #11

Oh, I know. I guess I should've clarified. In contrast to other sequential media, like animation or film, you don't see every, iterative, a c t i o n. You see a moment cued by the illustrator and the text. There's a duality of instantaneous and momentum, and instead of frame rates, there's the gutter (spaces between panels). Personally, I imagine it being like looking at a Muybridge study and actual film clips in a bin; one's a moment outstretched, while the other's sliced and projected.

The language of comics are so interesting. If you're interested in entertaining this thought, would you have a cliffhanger/climax on a separate page, or as a larger panel on a page? How would either affect the reader's reception of the scene?

KevinReijnders 2024-08-15 12:10:30 UTC #12

Oh yeah absolutely.
I think personally, mainly because I have a background in animation, to a more interestingly composed storyboard. It's that kind of thinking that helped me get started making my series.

The page cliffhanger is something I'm trying to incorporate more consciously in book I'm currently working on. I try to have it on every odd numbered page. The theory being that it should insensitivise a reader to turn the page, wanting to know hat happens next. Especially during action sequences this helps to maintain momentum. Kinda like how you'd cut in the action between shots.

Big(ger) panels or even full pages and spreads, make a moment feel big an important. Kinda like a slow-mo effect in movies.

((I keep referring to cinematic language because that's what I'm primarily educated in, and am trying to adapt into comic form with my series haha))

orchidesyl 2024-08-15 12:25:56 UTC #13

I get you! If you haven't, check out Will Eisner's Comics + Sequential Art. I imagine hearing an animation buff talk comics is right up your alley. It's free to access on Internet Archive, which I've linked above.

Good luck on your book!

sushy00 2024-08-15 14:47:14 UTC #14

I also prefer the traditional format, not a fan of all the scrolling!

Lensing 2024-08-15 15:28:18 UTC #15

I prefer printed traditionally published comics and it´s something completely different
for me than an online scroll comic. The page format is better for me as a creator in terms
of cliffhangers, building up chapters thinking about 6 or 12 panels on 2 pages etc.

I´m sure the scroll format has other advantages like being able to read it on a smartphone
or other things. It´s just not my thing in the long run.

"Publishing" also means (for me) to hold the product in the hand. I stil buy comics in the
comic shops and records in the record shop. Having a printed comic is magic for me.

I´m planning to publish a big project I´m working on as a printed comic and I will also
look for a publisher for that comic.

Here is one of my comics which got printed, it´s part 1 of 3 parts of the story,
it´s about rock´n´roll, love and aliens. Aliens using earth as a toilet and stuff like that.
The cool thing about it is that it won an award and got me some local publiclity in my
hometown and that lead to me becoming a drawing teacher for kids. The comic
is for a younger audience, without violence and it´s a bit silly. Another cool thing
about the comic is that my dad did the handlettering and my mum did the dialogue.
(they are both over 80)

Always good to meet and talk to fellow traditional comic lovers!
I´m also always interested in collaborations, my big comic project will be
adult/erotic/humour themed though

<3 <3 <3

orchidesyl 2024-08-15 17:41:06 UTC #16

Do you have a preference for multiple pages in an update, one page per update, or is it the vast empty space you don't like? :0
I'm happy to hear there's readers who favor print format. Do you get overwhelmed by balancing traditional manga/comic and webcomic platforms for finding things to read?

orchidesyl 2024-08-15 17:45:40 UTC #17

I love love LOVE that comics became a way for you to connect with the people around you. I think the potential for accessibility is what I yearn most about webcomics, but beyond that I like printed matter. It's easier (in my opinion) to plan and format, and I really like how bodily books in general are. Big ups on the award no doubt. I imagine working with anthologies (in the fashion Robert Crumb has) could be a way to soft launch collaborations, at least by association...

BoomerZ 2024-08-15 17:58:37 UTC #18

This type of post always baffles me. You are on a tapas forum, tapas is a scrolling publisher. Why would you do it a different way. You could reverse the situation and go to a traditional comic forum and talk about scrolling formats. The format is not the issue. It's where you publish. Traditional comics are an absolute pain to read on a phone. And that is how most comic readers read comics now. Sticking to tradition format would be like saying you are sticking to TV resolution for movies just because you like it, instead of a movie format since most TV are that format now.

KevinReijnders 2024-08-15 18:10:43 UTC #19

I don't really agree with that. Might be a personal preference, sure, but in my experience phone screen size and resolution is large enough these days to allow for a traditional format to be perfectly readable.

orchidesyl 2024-08-15 18:21:41 UTC #20

Valid question.

Web comics are just comics on the web. Tapas is known for its condensed, quick formats, but originally that wasn't necessarily the case. Personally, I've had my account for about a decade, and within that time frame there aren't just many platforms that support the traditional comic format. For example, SmackJeeves does not have a mobile app, which greatly affected its readership and platform. Of course, there's platforms like Medibang or various manga readers, but sites like those are often decentralized, have software restrictions, and/or don't offer room for indie creators to grow. At least with platforms like Tapas or Webtoons, there are variables that can be more equitable.

Also, I don't get the TV to movie analogy. It's not like general audiences get the original resolution; only projectionists and theaters get a copy close to the original, and even then it's slightly reduced. It's more accurate to say Streaming vs DVD because of video codexs and international distribution. But in my opinion, the text in traditional comics and mangas should be scaled no differently to the text you'd read in an article or journal on mobile.

If you find these types of posts (I assume "print comic makers") baffling, I hope this comment gives perspective on a niche that compels enough people for you to notice.

If you're willing to entertain my question, can you provide feedback on this page? This is my wordiest one so far, and I plan on keeping the threshold at this point. I'm not being antagonistic, I want genuine feedback.

BoomerZ 2024-08-15 22:13:41 UTC #21

Truthfully, I see nothing wrong with the page as the font is actually pretty large for a traditional comic page. I read everything on a tablet now, books and comics. Traditional comic lettering (usually 12 font) is not bad on a tablet but too small for a phone. You also have only 3 panels high which makes it easier to part out the panels if you had to look at the whole thing at once and don't have to zoom in to see what's going on. At phone size the colors all seem a little muted and might make the page look muddy (remember its only 940px across, so detail on a phone has to be lower if viewing the whole page at once.) Having each character the same hue seems to help that out a lot to separate them. Overall I would say its fine for phone or print.

orchidesyl 2024-08-15 22:47:08 UTC #22

Thank you for your feedback! It helps to get multiple perspectives, especially from those reading on different devices. As I imagine the pages to be about 7" x 10" I wouldn't want to squeeze detail or text within a 2" box minimum. Just wondering, are you a comic creator too or are you a reader? If you have a project I'd like to check it out. You seem cool.

EverydayWonderlander 2024-08-16 01:03:03 UTC #23

I personally prefer to work in "traditional" or print-focused terms, since my end goal is to print.

I also prefer page comics in general. When I first started reading and making webcomics, scrolling format wasn't really a thing on account of smartphones not really existing. Tapas wasn't exclusively for scrolling comics, either - at least not when I created my account (RIP Inkblazers and Smackjeeves).
I've considered switching formats, but I don't think that the effort to reorganize the panels and completely changing my workflow would be worth it.
Every now and again, I'll watch an artist that I respect board the struggle bus because they've got to rearrange their panels and make new files for print. I pour one out for them.

That being said, vertical format is a beast unto itself. I really like the stories I find, I just don't like reading on a smartphone.

I use a few vertical "tricks" in JUDAS SIGHED, but its home will always be in a book.

BoomerZ 2024-08-16 01:18:59 UTC #24

I write and draw a weekly comics (which almost at the end of the story) on Tapas and Webtoons.

orchidesyl 2024-08-16 04:48:41 UTC #25

I think what works with what I've seen of your story is the large panel size. It doesn't feel (in my opinion) too far out of the vertical scroll because of how you've segmented your panels.

I relate. There was a time when I really, REALLY tried to lay out the panels for the horizontal. Some people felt the spacing was too much/too little. The placement of the text was awkward. I couldn't figure out was the issue was, until I realized that me designing it for print would set a precedent for when I'd illustrate, color, and divide my panels.

Maybe you could relate to this too, but I found that trying to reformat it took more time and energy than actually making the art. I dunno.

Don't stress too much about it. And hey, manga sites are popular for a reason. Not just because people want to read manga, but because the book format also works.

Take it easy! c:

thepenmonster 2024-08-16 12:23:10 UTC #26

I do think BoomerZ is technically correct. An artists that wants money panders to the audience. That has been true from Fantastic Four to Lobo to Penny Arcade to Lore Olympus.

But comics going against the grain are important because not only do they lend proof to the idea that the comics medium can be anything, but they also allow the part of the audience who think (correctly IMO) the scroll format reads and looks like shit because it's a desperate attempt to work around the bad habits of life-long phone swipers, to find something more to their tastes.

Which is also a form of pandering to the audience, just a smaller one.

KevinReijnders 2024-08-16 12:45:51 UTC #27

Tbh, I pander to an audience of 1, myself. Everyone else can take it or leave haha.

thepenmonster 2024-08-16 14:48:06 UTC #28

TBH, that's all anyone here is actually doing. I'm not seeing any one in this thread making a manhwa style princess comic rather than telling the story they want, regardless of how they feel about formatting for a phone.