Normally I use Firealpaca for regular drawings. But its annoyingly hard for making pages from when I was making my first comic. I use FA mainly because I don't have the money to buy an art program without knowing if its any good for what I wanna use it for.
What do you guys use?
Nov '18
Nov '18
Right now, I just use an old version of Paint-SAI. Because I'm working with a vertical page format, I mostly just have a black line to separate panels here and there (maybe a few panels by themselves off to the side as well).
I use Photoshop. It's definitely not geared towards comics, but I've been using it for like 7 years now so it's just what I'm used to xD and has all the tools I need.
I use Krita for most the actual art. It does everything I could possibly want (animation studio, pixel art features, screentones, realistic brush settings and some really nice advanced filters) and is a great free middle ground combining the features of lots of other programs but I use Medibang Paint for the text because Krita's text tool just isn't up to scratch with the rest of it.
I use Photoshop for editing my pages (adding text, text bubbles, cleaning, panel boxes, grays, etc.)
I tried using Sai's trial ver at some point but whenever I opened it, my tablet would stop responding. Pen pressure disables, cursor wouldn't move, stuff like that. Still don't know what makes it does that.
I draw everything in SAI and add the text and effects in Photoshop. It's slightly annoying sometimes so I am considering switching to Clip Studio one of these days, just not yet.
I used to hate doing lineart on Krita because it uses the realistic brushes and focused a lot on painting style so it was hard to make it not look sketchy unless you could make your lines super smooth anyway. You either had to embrace the more "raw and sketchy" feel or practice lots. Until someone pointed out there's a reasonably new dynamic brush setting that cleans up lines for you as you go and several filters that will clean up lineart. It's definitely improved for lineart a lot in the few years I've been using it.
I'll look out for that then! Since my artwork is formed by thick and solid lines, brush/sketchy lines aren't really for me.
Hubby uses Photoshop CC. He's set up several things that allow for ease of use, like a present "comic" size layout
I use Photoshop CC from start to finish. I'm not sure that's the best way to do it, but that's what I use.
Also on Photoshop, using CS5 from a school license. I need to upgrade so bad but ugh, that price tag over the course of a couple years is INTENSE against the gains.
I tried Clip Studio and Sai a few years back and those are good alternatives. Clip Studio is especially neat 'cause of it's range.
For page layout, I've been using a second-hand copy of Manga Studio 4 Debut for the past 5 years along with Photoshop CS5 for coloring. Krita and Medibang Paint are pretty good if you're looking for free programs. Medibang even has a comic panel slicing tool built in.
I've been using Photoshop for 15 years now for drawing. Just like you, I know it very well now and even though it's not geared towards comics, I can easily make it work for that.
I really want to use CSP with its full capailities but my humble pc can't handle too much of it. And I've been using SAI for years now that I think there's nothing better than SAI when it comes to linearting, and it doesn't eat that much ram space. But it's such a pain to switch to csp/photoshop just to edit text and effects! I need to save money to get better pc ;__;
I used Krita for some time and I find it quite good and comfortable to use while remaining free, but it struggles (at least on my computer) when using certain tools, such as text.
I recently switched to Clip Studio and, while I'm still figuring out how to use it properly, I find it's easier to use for drawing and has a really nice set of tools specifically designed for comic creation.
I use Autodesk SketchBook for drawing; comes with lots of brushes, a very easy to use perspective tool, and you don't need to use a mouse. Then I color in Photoshop, although I'm not good at coloring and haven't explored other options yet. Finally, I format the pages and do speech bubbles in Clip Studio Paint.
I use Photoshop CS6 for making the actual pages and every stage except the line-inking stage. I actually use Fire alpaca for my linearting since it's free and it's really good at that clean bold lineart (and I've sadly not taken the time to bother with Sai). But everything else, from sizing the pages, making the panels and speech bubbles, to specail fx's...all photoshop.
Since most of my work is traditionally drawn, I have to scan the pages. From there, I use Comic Life for lettering. Then I use Paint to get the pages down to Tapas-friendly sizes.
I use MediBang Paint Pro, which I really recommend since its free and its similar to FireAlpaca but it has some settings and stuff that are helpful for making comics (especially manga style).
I also use PaintStorm Studio for painting but its not free.
I used SAI(old) for me comics back then. Then I went to CSP but sadly didn't manage to finish a page after I change PC , and now I went back to SAI(this time the new version) but after a couple pages, I give up SAI 2 and went to Medibang Paint Pro...
I want CSP back but too scared cause it will crash itself and/or crash my computer.
I traditionally sketch out the pages, then scan them. Afterwards I use ink and color them on Medibang paint. Which is basically Firealpaca but more comic oriented.
I use SAI for panels, lining, and coloring. I use FireAlpaca for lettering and some effects, and lastly I'll use CSP for additional effects!
I use Clip Studio Paint- and a comic page template for making my pages. I mainly pencil & ink in CSP, then go to Photoshop where I do most of my coloring...I toggle back & forth between CSP and PS for some texture and other FX, then save a finished version as a tiff and letter my page in Illustrator- then back to PS to merge everything together and resize/reformat pages for uploading on Tapas/Webtoon/Patreon.
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Clip Studio Paint on the iPad Pro. Never looked back!
(and for those looking for freemium alternatives: MediBang, Krita, and ibisPaint X for mobile)
CLIP Studio Paint. I got it while it was on sale and I've used it for a lot of different things since - it has animation tools, 3d reference tools.... lots of useful stuff.
I use Clip Studio Paint for nearly everything these days. I've almost forgotten what it's like to draw in Photoshop :'D
CSP has great tools for creating pages, panels and bubbles. Technically, it's possible to do the same in PS but CSP is faster, two clicks and you're ready to draw. Combining pages into one story is also super easy. The only thing which I do outside of CSP is final image compression after export, because CSP tends to make image files a little too heavy for my liking. It has it's own pros and cons, but so far I found it more suitable for comic making than other software.
Good free alternative is MediBang, it also has page and panels management.
Clip Studio Paint! I have gradually phased out most of the other programs I used to use because CS will do pretty much everything I need, in one place! Then I got the EX version, too, which is SUPER handy for doing batches of pages--you can enter all the text in one window and it'll appear on the pages, ready to position and add bubbles/tails.
