I'm mostly just curious as to what people prefer? And I guess it could differ depending on if you're reading vs creating! I personally prefer manga style panels for both reading and creating XD
If you're a comic creator, drop your comic and tell me which style you use!
56voters
Aug '21
Nov '21
Manga/comic style paneling! Can't beat doing things the old fashioned way plus it makes things easier when making printed versions of your book!
I like regular comic pages, for both drawing and reading.
For drawing, it's an obvious choice because it's easier to print; my hand-writing is also big enough to be read on a mobile screen so it works out, but even if it didn't, I probably wouldn't switch.
For reading... this doesn't get talked about often, but scroll-style comics are ridiculously inaccessible to people with disabilities. I have nerve damage in my hands and the scrolling motion ranges from painful to excruciating. The fact that scroll format is like, 50% wasted space makes it even worse, because then you have to painfully scroll through all that empty space. Just for that alone, I would never make a scroll comic. In a manga or comic-styled page, I just load it up on my iPad if I can't read it on the phone screen and tap through to the next page - so much more accessible.
The first webcomic I read was heavily manga inspired, and became my inspiration to make my own.
Can understand why people prefer the scroll format (I enjoy it too) , and sometimes feel I could reach more people if I used it, but not before having it in the manga format.
I'm in the minority here on the forums, but I absolutely adore scrolling style comics. I love the creative transitions through scenes, I love how it can increase suspense and immersion, I love how they can aid with pacing and emotive weight simply by spacing out panels, and I especially love how much easier they are to create. (For me, anyway.)
Some creators don't get very creative with the panelling in a scrolling comic, true... but boxes on a white background would be kinda boring regardless of if it's a page or a scroller. You can do just as many interesting things with scrolling panels, from fancy border designs, tilted panels in action scenes, floating panels over other background elements, and so-on.
I love it. As soon as I started making my comic that way, I knew I'd never want to go back.
Same!! I think particularly for action/fantasy stories with dramatic scenery and long fight sequences (especially magic ones!) scroll style is better - I love the diagonal fight scenes people do, where you can see all the different poses, almost like an animation spread out.
Yes! I find it's easier to follow than a page as well - I have a number of Marvel comics where I end up completely lost in a fight scene, because they try to pack way too much onto a page. (Or, often, a double-page spread.) It does give a good indication of how chaotic a fight would actually feel, which is cool, but you can do that by packing off-kilter panels close together in scroll format without confusing the reader nearly as much.
And big yes to the dramatic scenery, I love scrolling down through a landscape panel. I just finished this one yesterday, and I'm super happy with how it scrolls from the ethereal landscape outside the ship, to the character down on the ground trying to repair it.
YES! Finally, I knew that people liked manga style better.
Plus its just much easier to create rather than having to go through the trouble of splitting up your panels and make it look dramatic and such!
Lets Go!
I totally agree, I always end up skimming fights in page style formats haha.
That looks so good!! There's so many creative ways to transition with the scroll format, I read a story where they changed scenery through the reflection on the lake, which was just?? so good ugh.
I actually didn't know that about the scrolling style being inaccessible, that's unfortunate. I think on a desktop you can rig it so hitting the down key will move the page though.
And you're totally right about the wasted space, while the scroll style can accommodate for really cool and large pieces, it sometimes ends up just wasting space or the piece is so big i can't read it properly cause my screen splices it up
I use manga style for Errant, though I do space out the panels a bit and fairly early on I started stacking two "pages" to create a pseudo long scroll. It's not that I hate long scroll or anything, in fact I think it'd be pretty fun to make a long scroll comic some time, but with this specific comic there are reasons for my choice:
Using keys really doesn't help much. It's still a lot of key strokes just to get through one panel. Being able to use fingers directly is actually easier on the hands overall, which is why I prefer to read comics on my iPad.
The only way to make them accessible is to have like, a scrolling script where you can just turn it on and let it roll, and adjust the speed if necessary.
I prefer manga style panels when I'm drawing (and I'm using it in my series: https://tapas.io/series/sisefi3 ). I also like it as a reader, however I have to admit that webtoon style is much easier to read when I'm on my mobile phone. I'd say both have some advantages, and I'd love to try out the webtoon paneling with a next series if I draw one in the future.
I'm still a big fan of manga styles, as both creator and reader, since it allows me to linger longer on panels.
Webtoon style may look impressive, but sometimes it involves soooo much scrolling for so little information (especially action scenes) — and on some webtoons there's an overabundance of long vertical panels/good effects, so it can be overwhelming as a reader because then every other panel seems important even when it's not 
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