What is a good size for a page?

[DynamoToon]

So I wanted to bring a comic I have to the digital world so to speak. The thing is that I don't know what is the appropriate size for a page. The comic is still in progress, but I drew it on physical office paper (8x11 in). To my knowledge in Tapastic so far I draw each panel 940x500 pixels, what size should I make it?

[UzukiCheverie]

If you drew it on physical office paper and are planning to scan and work from there, then just keep doing what your'e doing! Make the digital file 8.5 x 11, scan it anywhere between 300 - 600 dpi (<<< this is so important), then save it. Once that's done and the page is finalized (in case you're doing digital editing or coloring it or something), save an alternate copy and throw it in Photoshop or whatever program you can use to adjust image sizes easily (and with locked ratios so it stays to scale). Go into "Image size", and change it to 940 px width and it will adjust it accordingly (if the length is past 4000 px - which it shouldn't be though cause it's 11 inches - then just lower the width more until the height adjusts itself just below 4000 px), then save the JPG (keep an original file at full scanning size though!)

Doing it the above way means you don't have to squish your workspace and be permanently stuck with a lower res, smaller size copy (especially if you someday want to print your comics). You get to keep the high-quality, just at a smaller size, as well as the high-quality at full size for when you want it. This is how I do my pages for Time Gate, which start at 8.5 x 14 inches. I draw everything at that size, and then shrink it down to 940 px when I want to save the JPG for Tapastic, and then just cancel the size changes I made so the original PSD file remains unharmed.

Hope that helps! :3

[DynamoToon]

Well, I'm not gonna scan it per say. I was gonna remake it since I improved the story and my drawing is alot better from back then. I drew it last year and I'm still going, and Ive improved. how do u shrink it down?

[UzukiCheverie]

Ohhkay. In that case, just draw it at whatever size you're comfortable with. Maybe go for the vertical scrolling format if you want, or just the print format that we see in comic books in manga. This could be 8.5 x 11, 8.5 x 14 . . . whatever works for you. When you make a new file, be sure to set the dpi to something between 300 - 600. Default for most programs is 72 dpi which is just so godawful lol. This is possible in SAI (which I know you're using lol) when you make a new document, the setting is right there.

You can't do image-resizing in SAI, HOWEVER, you can do it in Photoshop, and I believe also GIMP and Fire Alpaca. I'm not sure the process for Fire Alpaca, but for Photoshop, you just go up to the menu bar, hit "Image", then go down and select "Image Size" (NOT Canvas size.)

A pop-up window will appear and you can change the size settings. Make sure it's set to pixels and not inches or anything else, then change the width to 940 px. If the height is longer than 4000 px, then just lower the width a bit more until the length is as close to 4000 px without going over (so 3999, 3800, whatever the closest amount is when you change the width).

Photoshop will change the size, then you can save the JPG for Tapastic uploading (keep an original copy of the original size though! Don't save over the original PSD with the size change!! This isn't required but it's highly recommended as I said already, so you always have a high-quality, full size version of your art and panels.) Once the JPG is saved, you're good to upload!

If you're not using Photoshop, then check out those free programs like GIMP and Fire Alpaca. All these programs are built with similarities to Photoshop in mind, and should both have some kind of image resizer. And yes, these programs are actually, legitimately free (not torrenting free if you know what I'm saying cough cough, you should not be running into any purchasing fees or anything as far as I know.) The process to resizing images shouldn't be too different from Photoshop, but if you can't find it, a quick Google search should solve your problem (maybe do this before you try out GIMP or FA so you know beforehand lol)

Hope that helps, let me know if you have any other questions!

[abbastudios]

You have chosen the correct width for your panels. The height can vary.

Pages are very hard to read on a phone, where I mostly read my comics, along with lots of people.