Traditional (Print) Comic Community

[thepenmonster]

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]

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

[thepenmonster]

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.

[orchidesyl]

Part of the phenomena is manufactured and designed to be reductionist.

Is there's a demographic for princess manhwas? Yes, but also for trans-humanist sci-fi, for world adventure, for crime mysteries. An aspect I don't like abt WT or Tapas is the thematic separation of company originals and the indie creators. This isn't about acquisitions (which I feel is predatory anyway), but there's a clear divide between what genres that get respect.

The main comic UI obscures additional genres (BL, GL, LGBTQ+). You can access the came categories plus comedy, but does not list other categories.

However, the community/indie comics have additional categories at the end. The navigation bar does not span the width of the site. Aside from the vague word choice (community makes me think of forums or the company's about section), these categories being at the very end intentionally obscures and separates them. I need to confirm if this is the same issue on mobile.

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Romance, for example, can be advertiser friendly and watered down; there's more monetary incentive to write something with a simple, non controversial premise drawn in an art style people can emulate. At best, there's a lighthearted, relatable series. At worst, there's lackluster work that carelessly excuses poorly written stories as tropes for the genre (heavy on Lore Olympus). There's a way to integrate darker themes in romance, but if the author has to make characters besides the love interest uninteresting, that isn't enough to make the main characters interesting either. Not everyone needs to be grand, but at least have appeal/depth.

Slice of life is able to get away with this because we're already aware of the qualities of the genre; non-linear. This works for web comics or newspapers because people can infer what the story is about without having to follow from the start. I don't have to read Garfield from the start to get what it's about, nor do I have to rot my teeth to keep up with Bazooka Joe.

Beyond genre, I just feel many web comics are designed to have so much filler so people can stay on the page longer.

[LavenderLeavened]

I only draw my pages in print format

I occasionally do some in house printing which is super fun

Read The Good Neighbors :: gae | Tapas Community

[UrMom]

Fff you should check out Comicfury, most of their webcomics are traditional format due to the site being a dinosaur.

While there isn't anything wrong with vertical scroll, a lot of webcomic/webtoon creators don't seem to know how to utilize it where the layout and paneling helps tell the story, so it's just kinda ugly. I personal prefer the traditional comic format myself, as a creator and a reader. My webcomic was made with said format with the intention to self-publish it, not so much to sell (Although I'll sell them to whoever wants a copy.), but because it's satisfying to feel those books in your hands. I managed to finish the first of three volumes a while ago, went through hell rescanning and reediting everything after learning I needed to have my pages in a larger dimension and DPI, purchased an ISBN, settled on a printer that could do my comic dimensions and wasn't super expensive. Fun stuff, learned a lot.

Been strongly thinking about trying out Ingram since some other webcomic creators I know have used them, they print on demand, and their preset dimensions aren't too off from mine. Just haven't had the time or energy to reedit 192 pages all over again, even if it is just one little thing. Also they're more expensive, so I'd have to see if my intended price will be enough to at least get back a couple bucks.

This copy doesn't have the ISBN, don't know what I was thinking when printing this first batch. Lol

[orchidesyl]

Wait, I remember you :O!
I haven't seen you in a while and was worried something happened.

You doing/been alright, bud? Last time I remember you were in dire straits. I relate in some ways, so if you ever wanna chat my line is open.

It's cool you got towards printing. I've done book production informally and did a comic commission that got printed back when I was in high school, so I'm kinda file managing as I'm working. though, my biggest worry is having a digital version with alt text embeded. Haven't found a platform that accurately keeps the info I put in the metadata.

Even though TGtaHR is in hiatus mode having a reproduced version is a HUGE accomplishment so be very proud of yourself.

[Caro]

I’m a print format girly! I post them online too which draws in customers but I used to make my money mostly with just webcomics before print and my patreon still functions but most of my money comes from print now so its what I focus on since its been much more lucrative for me. My print comics are also pretty internet friendly so I’ve never had a problem getting readers.

[orchidesyl]

Congrats on the Patreon and comic print! Do you work in print production professionally or do you do it solely for you comic? I find myself being interested in all things "book," so I studied book design and what that entails throughout school. Is your comic still hosted on line or are they no longer available :0 ?

[UrMom]

Oh wow, didn't think there was anyone left on here who kept up with my comic.

I've been doing good, still in a bind, more busy than ever with work but I just call it Living the American Dream. Lmao! Thank you for the offer!

Yeah, I started my comic with print in mind, even if it never got out to more than a handful of people the story felt better as a book. Ah, alt text, my worst enemy as someone who struggles with translating images into words. I know Comicfury allows full customization of your comic site, there has also been a couple threads discussing how to add alt text if your interested. You can probably even go on there and troubleshoot it with some folks, sometimes having multiple brains on a task helps a ton, even if you don't want to be a member the info can still be applied to a stand-alone site.

Thank you so much! I'm determined to finish it and get the thing printed, even if it takes 10-20 more years. (Hopefully not that long, though! I only have 5 more chapters after this one, I would be so sad if my production was THAT slow. x'D)

[margodraws]

Yesss page format! In addition to Tapas, I also host my comic in its own site that's built around pages (with wordpress/comicpress, talk about dinosaurs haha). I know it's not the preferred format for modern comics, but it doesn't bother me; after all, I want to make something that I enjoy. I don't have that many readers, but I'm also not bothered, because my comic is just a fun personal project (though I wouldn't say no to more readers ).

I do MUCH prefer page format; I haven't been tempted to try a scroll comic. Like others here, a big goal is print, and rearranging panels between media would be a hassle.

[dayworks]

I understand a lot of what you're saying here. My current web comic is actually a reformatting of a graphic novel I originally formatted for print (I still am actually because it's not done yet - however since I got about 70 pages in before I started publishing on Tapas I'm keeping the print format and it's subsequent conversion to keep the look consistent through the whole story) I started the whole thing as pandemic project to distract from my daytime despair drinking. Being of a certain age my initial focus was on getting the thing printed but I couldn't generate much initerest in the work through the legacy print process so in "What the f*ck" moment I decided to start publishing on Tapas in the web comic format.

Of course the conversion process is a complete pain in the *ss and I frequently bristle at how my carefully constructed "pages" look diminished in the web comic format.

However all that being said there are some advantages to the form of story telling. There are certain ways you can manipulate time and flow through the use of what space that would criminally negligent in the print format. Basically white space is free in the web comic format and that can be used to your advantage. Also it's interesting problem to exchange the "page flip" to the continuous scroll.

I can't say I feel alienated by the Tapas/webcomic format but I don't feel entirely comfortable in it either. I'll always have a soft spot for the print medium but maybe this community you're imagining into being would be a good spot to debate the opportunities and challenges vs. the print format.

In any here's a sample of what Im talking about with the conversion process.

Read Two Dog Paranormal Investigations LLC | Tapas Web Community

[ArtGremlin]

I like the idea of making my comics in traditional format, I’m hoping to do so with a future comic, Star Hunters. Unfortunately my brain struggles with figuring out how to panel pages in an interesting way hopefully I figure it out someday. As for my current comic, I really want to make the panel panels more varied and interesting rather than ️ ️ ️ ️ just blocks. It’s just hard to get my brain to break the way I’ve organized the comic so far.

[orchidesyl]

I've figured out a way!
It's pretty exhaustive :, but so is ableism so I think it's a fair trade off. I'm familiar with front end web dev so I am familiar with using meta data, but I meant when it came to PDFs and CBR format. I should've been clearer... Thank you for the recommendation! 'MURICA NUMBER ONE

[orchidesyl]

You should link your story here!
This is pretty much a thread of a niche so it'd be appropriate (plus I wanna see).

[KevinReijnders]

Since this is a thread full of people using the traditional print format, I was wondering, how many of you have actually printed your books?

I myself have completed 2 books of Trespasser and have had them both printed. The first one was in 2021 and the 2nd in 2023. (I expect the 3rd book will get printed in 2026)

[orchidesyl]

I've printed none, excluding silkscreen zines and commissions.

I'd go the indie publishing route 100%, but I want to make an artist edition run with my silkscreen and bookbinding experience. I think it'd make for a cool memento.

[orchidesyl]

I feel you on the panels thing...
I think what helps me is trying to see them less as images and more as how I think or feel of memories.

Reflecting back, I think I've gotten less ambitious as I wasn't fixed on practicality.
Then again, I imagine that if I were to do more action scenes, that'd be a different story, but I'll see when I cross that bridge.

Page from my comic drawn a few days ago:

Commission from 2019:

[KevinReijnders]

I'd absolutely recommend printing it if just as a memento for yourself! It's such a great feeling to have your comic existing in the real world

[Lensing]

It was a great feeling to have my first posters, record covers, t-shirts, stickers printed with my art work.
The feeling of seeing my printed comic was incredible and it was only 8 pages printed in a magazine.

One cool effect of it was that I felt more self confident about my art when I saw it printed because
it looks better printed than on the screen.

I´m working on a bigger story right now which I will send to publishers to have a printed comic book
in the comic shops, that´s one of my goals. Hardcover DINA4 would be great