Webtoons drawn traditionally

[DarkSena]

Hi everyone,
as a mostly traditional artist myself I do ask myself questions how much as a reader of webcomics / or as an artist yourself do you value webcomics which are mostly or solely drawn with traditional media. As we are living in a digital age I see the vast majority of comics drawn digitally and it kinda makes me wonder what are your thoughts this this one topic. Do you value traditional more or do you think that digital and traditional are both at the same level for you.

I, myself, as a webtoon creator here on Tapas I do make my comic traditionally and it makes my heart skip when I see people who also do. I feel like that the traditional media are kinda in the background more. First off it's really expensive to fund your art. In my case I am using copic markers, meaning I do have to refill every now and then and those refills are really costly and you gradually have to pay, for digital art it's lesser costly, you can buy yourself a budget graphics tablet and download a program for free.

Thank you to everyone who decides to join this little topic

[igneriss]

As a reader, I don't care I value the effort an author put into drawing traditionally, but I also value it for digital art. I just like pretty arts, and usually chosen media doesn't affect my decision of picking a comic to read. What does affect it, is an artstyle and if I can easily read text. And the story itself, of course.
I see way more digital comics here, but there's still a lot of nice traditionally drawn comics, so that's a nice variety (:

As a creator, I draw my comic traditionaly, in black&white- mostly because back when I started YEARS ago I wanted it to look like a manga, and also my digital art skills were very weak If I start another series, it'll be drawn fully digitaly. HOWEVER I know that it's going to be much harder for me, especially in the beginning. Traditional art is way quicker for me, and I like that I don't have to stare at the screen when I draw (...as I already have a fulltime job that requires that).

[thepenmonster]

You're probably already aware that digital has the benefit of not needing shelf space or scanning. Also the long term costs favor digital. That it's the norm isn't a shock.

That having been said, I learned to make comics with pen and paper. That feel of strathmore under my fingers and the smell of the ink feels good. However I do draw digitally because Clip Studio has an undo button and the inkwell I knocked over doesn't.

As for the value of the comic: As long as I think the art is good I'm happy to read whatever however it got made. Some guys like Junji Ito uses both.

[Lensing]

Good question.

It´s really hard to get on a professional level with traditional art. Most of it looks amateurish forever and
the amount of really polished, professional looking work is low. I think people value traditionally drawn
comics a lot when they look good

[darthmongoose]

I think traditional media can be lovely, and I'm always impressed by people who manage to make a traditional media webcomic, like Omekade, which is... just wow.

The reason I don't personally, and haven't made a trad media comic since some old competition entries and anthology comics, is just that I'm too slow at it. I used to do it when I was younger; I'd carefully masking tape paper onto my dad's old rotring drawing board, I'd ink with fineliners or even sometimes nib pens, and colour or tone with copics... but then I became a professional and just couldn't keep up with both the speed of output needed and the need to guarantee consistent quality or be able to make changes in response to client feedback (and as much as we all would like clients to ask for feedback at the sketch stage... they often ask for HUGE changes once it's already inked and coloured ).

It's just so much work and stress making sure it's perpendicular, measuring all the gutters and trying to keep them parallel, worrying about spilling ink, or messing up a line, having to painstakingly paint or marker colour in every fill and then scanning it and touching it all up.... meanwhile I could make my panel borders in seconds in Clip Studio, fill even huge areas with a click or two and never have to worry about consistency of measurements because it's all set up, and be safe in the knowledge that most lines that go askew can be fixed with a flick of the ctrl+Z keys.

If I had to choose between an output of one traditional page a week, or my current schedule of two digital pages, digital just wins for me. Content is king and I have a lot of story to get through.

...But anyone who does manage to make a traditional comic week-in, week-out, big respect!

[aprilferrero]

I really enjoy seeing traditional comics on here. I pencil/ink my comics traditionally. I only started to color my comics a couple months ago and I color digitally for the sake of time. Even that I specifically chose brushes that match my hand drawn line work, which is not as clean as digital. I do really enjoy good digital comics; the cleanliness and the popping colors are very appealing. It can be overwhelming though because there is so much of it. Sites like webtoons and tapas are flooded with digital comics so when I see other traditional/mostly traditional artists it’s a nice change. Sometimes I see all these beautiful bright digital comics and I’m like “man, I wish my art looked like that,” but honestly I’m glad that I’ve stuck with the style I have. It may be kind of messy, but it’s my style and I’ve worked very hard over the years to improve it. I do like doing digital art for character sketches and illustrations though.

[DarkSena]

That's just fair The time and effort do really matter because you surely are able to see all the time put into the art or comic. And I love the fact that you're doing your comic in black and white, I do mine in grayscale because I think, for myself, it does show the emotions, for me it's more impactful and also all mangas have also been always black and white

[DarkSena]

Yes, I'm very well aware if this. Also I haven't been chosen once for a convention because of the lack of digital pieces in my art which is a bit sad. It's not like I don't do any digital at all. Personally I do think an artist should be capable to draw in both mediums but I noticed that many digital artists struggle to draw anything traditional and just throw it away and keep doing digital art.

Without a doubt the UNDO button does play a very crucial role in why digital art is so convenient to use, however I'd like to note here that pen and paper does teach you how to work with your lines Reminding myself that I've been re-drawing some pieces 8 times before I got it right, now it's max. second attempt when I do feel confident with the art.

[DarkSena]

@Lensing That's true, but I definitely would refrain from saying there's very little comics drawn traditionally which do look professional and polished People usually do assume that my art is drawn digitally eventhough the arts are traditional. It might of course vary from each artist but my digital and traditional art do look very similar.

@darthmongoose Also fair I can feel your worries if you have customers and commissions who sometimes are a little bit complicated, wanting a lot of changes, which might be completely and utterly impossible if you'd draw the commission with traditional medias, that might require for you to completely start over, whilst in digital you just re-do it within a few minutes of hours, depends on the required changes.

It's fine if you do prefer digital over traditional. I do have it the other way around

@aprilferrero Totally on the same vibe The odd thing for myself is that my digital art takes me way longer than traditional so if I decided to draw my comic digitally it'd cost me hella more time and back ache. Hahaha. And it's just fine for you to stick with your style. I am a big supporter of any original art. I've gone through a lot of backlash in the past by the people, readers that I was about to end drawing how hurt I felt but the love for drawing made me stick to myself. My style might be different but I'm not gonna change it because a few people say they hate it so stay true to yourself

[aprilferrero]

My digital artwork used to take me a lot longer too, but I’ve been practicing a lot with character sketches/projects and commissions and I’m starting to get a little faster. I’ve been working on my comic for years and I had always said it was gonna be a black and white comic, because I didn’t have time to color. I was too slow at it and I couldn’t find brushes I liked with my style. I colored a page a couple months ago for fun (mostly I was stalling on pencilling my next chapter lol) with water color brushes. Not only were they really quick for coloring, but they worked well with my style and definitely helped enhance the pages so I caved. I’m glad I did, but damn it’s a lot of work.

I took a look at your comic and it is stunning! The shading and all the little design details are really beautiful! I’m glad you decided not to give up on your art. Keep pushing yourself and honing your craft!

[KSlinger]

I don't draw traditionally but this artist does and I think they're marvellous.

KerBop The Angel by Kathleen Kralowec:

Read KerBop the Angel :: Storm Lords Awaken | Tapas Comics

[aprilferrero]

That’s beautiful! Thanks for sharing!

[BoomerZ]

Truthfully, there is zero traditional techniques you can't reproduce easier and quicker digitally. Modern tablets have line weight, can reproduce markers and overlap, bleed from water colors, etc. The only reason to stay traditional is if you can't afford a good tablet. And everything after you are done with the art from lettering to publishing to storage is easier. Don't get me wrong, there is a place for traditional artwork flows, such as life drawing, but the days of comics doing that and keeping any type of timely schedule is at least 2 decades ago. Comics are a story medium. For the most part the art is secondary.

[UrMom]

I wouldn't say I find traditional more valuable, art is valuable, but I do have a bias for traditional as someone who works in that medium myself. It impresses or surprises me when I come across a traditionally drawn webcomic that has a lot of polish, given how time consuming it can be compared to digital, and the scarcity. Although on one note I do think it has value in the fact that there's an "original", and if it gets destroyed it's gone forever. You can say the same for digital art files, some creators have "originals" with all the layers and everything open for editing, and if the file gets corrupt it's also gone forever. But there's just a feeling to having the physical, original copy of a piece of art that you can't get with a file, at least imo.

[DarkSena]

You are right, you get faster if you keep using the same medium, I noticed that one too however digital was never able to replace traditional medium for some reason, it's hard to explain but it's probably because you have one and only original in physical form Work does always pay off

Thank you so much for getting back at me with such positivity, it's so hard to get feedback, doesn't it in such sheer amount of artists competing nowadays. Let's keep giving out best

[HGohwell]

I don't have a preference as a reader, I just ant it to look good. I follow a few artists who do absolutely gorgeous watercolour and marker pieces on twitter everything from single pieces to mini comics although rarely full comics, and I love to see them but I don't consider them more digital pieces. Same when I read comics. I don't care what media it is, as long as it looks good enough to read and convey the story. If anything, I'm actually kind of wary of traditionally drawn comics. The problem is, a lot of traditionally drawn comics don't look good enough. Often they're comics by more beinners who haven't been drawing long enough to invest in digital so don't have the experience to had comic fundementals down either. They're often blurry, or not digitised well, with bad contrast or colour balance. I definitely appreciate traditional comics, I personally adore water colour and would love seeing some water colour comics, but traditional often needs a lot of work to digitize properly that a lot of people don't know about or don't bother with, eaning when I see a traditional comic I'm always a little wary.

[DarkSena]

@BoomerZ I appreciate your comment however I incline to disagree with you at many points but that's fine, since everyone does have the right to have a completely different opinion. You are correct that digital medium is able to basically copy traditional with so many brushes nowadays but I'd disagree that you're able to copy it fully as I'd always sense the very distinct digital touch. Second point I'd disagree with you that you need a good tablet in order to create a good art. The programs and tablets do not make any person a better artist but it's the person who makes the art, you are able to create great stuff on tight budget no problem. I own myself a wacom cintiq and I cannot say it made my digital art any better, just it makes you work faster for sure, if you can draw directly on the screen. And the last point is tricky. I think many people read works that don't have a good plot but they enjoy the art so much that they stick with the comic however the other way around it doesn't really work... the story can be wonderful but if people don't think the art is good they won't be reading it. It's just what I noticed....

@UrMom Exactly that's what makes the traditional art really unique, that you have only one single original but it's quite hard to store though hahaha. I have a full folder with a lot of single folders for each and every single chapter, it's kinda funny Oh, when you mentioned layers I cracked I saw other friends having literally hundreds of layers for each and every drawing my mind went just blank, hahaha It's because I'm so used to tradi that I am able to have only about up to three layers when working digitally and fine for me. My friends called me crazy for having so little and I called them crazy for having so many As long it's fine for both sides everything's good.

[aprilferrero]

I agree with that! I love having a original physical copy of my work. It takes up a lot of space as I make new pages, but it’s worth it. Same can be said of professional comic artists. I wish I had money because I’d love to buy an original comic page of my favorite published comics and see the artists little imperfections and page notes, etc.

I don’t think I’ll ever switch to digital for my comics. I can go quickly for illustrations, but I’ve done commission comics for people in the past, and digital line work takes me forever. It also cramps my hand up way more than physically inking. I probably would get faster if I kept practicing my comics digitally, but honestly I don’t like the look of it as much. At least for my work I don’t.

It’s no problem! I’m looking forward to sitting down and reading your story in full! I know what you mean. There’s so many webcomics, and talented ones at that, it’s hard to get noticed! It’s definitely a grind, lol.

[DarkSena]

Yes, that's right. Traditional art needs a lot of rendering and the right digitalization in order to look good. You need a good equipment for it like a scanner but also you need to edit it a lot, so you cannot rely only on a good scanner. Crooked pages are an absolute no go So yes, making traditional look good in digital form is a hard work (I esp do really dislike cleaning the pages after the scan because the dirt is for some reason always at completely different places and it does drive me crazy hahahaha)

[UrMom]

Oh god, The Layers! Even back when I tried out digital for a year I used like 5 layers max, half the time I just used 1-2 layers because I didn't see the point in having more, it's confusing as hell when I see someone with 20+. Personally, even if I were to label them all, I'd still get confused or forget to switch.

Also I feel you on storage. I've saved up pretty much every drawing since I've started drawing, so I have shelves full, cabinets, drawers, folders, bins, they're all over the place. I even have special bins just for each chapter of my comic so I don't have trouble with lost or mixed up pages if I never need to scan them again. I've also hoarded supplies over the years just in case I have money troubles, so there are nooks and crannies full of paper, pens, inks, pencils, markers, paints, brushes, you name it.