What resources do you use for creating your comic/novel?

[foxnflames]

Drawing will slowly make you lose your sanity but the pay off is good lol.

[Fuzed]

You couldn't be further from the truth.

Scrivener has many functions but the ones that make it really useful for me is the ability to create folders, files, colour code all of these. Then there's stuff like premade templates for Characters so that you can write down their mannerisms, background, relationships etc. You also have the ability to create links on words that lead to different files. (So let's say you've got a character that's hard to remember, so you just create a link and when you go back and can't remember the character, you just click on it and it shows you the character sheet.

There are tons of useful tools inside of Scrivener and these were just some that I could think of the top of my head. My memory is atrocious so I personally really need something like that. I have trouble remembering characters 10 minutes after I've created them so I really need this.

[Fuzed]

I'm glad to hear you're doing good

I'll forward all this information to my illustrator and we'll see what he has to say about them. Thank you for all the tips and the lengthy explanation!

Have a good one and hope to talk to you soon!

[Fuzed]

Isn't that the case with pretty much anything we do extensively?

[KizKat]

Perhaps, one day. It would be nice to make money from my comics, but right now I'm happy for it to be something I do for fun.

The tattoos were designed by the person who plays that character in the TTRPG game. I'm happy to hear you say the Rock, as the character is from a polynesian inspired location, which I believe the Rock's tattoos are also inspired by. The detail impresses me, but damn its a long process. Definately worth it. It makes me really appreciate tattoo artists who can do such beautiful things on skin!

[pilot-obvious]

Thanks so much for asking all these questions! I'm super happy to answer!

When I first started my series, I was pumping out episodes biweekly! Now it's about once a month, but actually making the episode I would say probably takes 12-15 hours of my time! (I should actually time myself b/c that's a total estimate) I have a full time job and value a healthy work/life/hobby balance so I only devote a few hours each week to working on it. I write my scripts before I do any of the thumbnailing or drawing. I try to have short arcs that kind of tell a story on its own, so I write one of those at a time. I'm about to start writing the next arc (I call them cases in my series!) I write all of my own scripts, but occasionally for my found documents I'll consult my writing friend. We collaborated on my last update and she created a research paper to go along with my chapter.

I try to make the photographs stylized, but since I have a more realistic proportioned anime style, I don't have to make any major changes. Here's a comment on another thread where I talk more about my process and show pictures: https://forums.tapas.io/t/drawing-backgrounds/45579/35?u=pilot-obvious

Right now I use CSP models for important shots that I can't create by posing in my own photographs! So namely cool action shots and interesting perspectives. I learned very recently that you can change the model's body type in CSP so I created models for each of my characters to use in case I need it!

But using a lot of 3D software and photography cuts the time I spend drawing everything by hand. It's not necessarily that I don't want to do all that work... but when I'm trying to push out episodes, I have to find a lot of time savers! I definitely recommend it if it fits with your style!

[Fuzed]

Yeah, you always start doing it out of passion and then maybe one day your job and passion will merge...

They look stunning! I watched that loop like 5 more times already .

And tattoo artists that do such huge tattoos are really next level. I would fear that I screw up and then that person is stuck with that for life. It's like being a surgeon.

[Fuzed]

I'm always happy to find out more about people's work.

12-15 hours is a lot of time for one episode. I usually spend a total of 3-5 hours on my chapters (depending on how well it flows when I'm writing the first draft). I can't imagine working for so long on a single episode. I'm a really impatient person. That's really cool that you can write and draw at the same time. I'm happy I can write at least somewhat decently...

It's cool that you've got friends that share your passion and are willing to help you! What was the research paper about?

You said on the post about backgrounds that you're a full time photographer, if I understood it correctly? Do you work on weddings and stuff? That method looks really cool btw. I would never have said that the cover was actually a real photo. Looks gorgeous! I might just forward that to my artist, he might be interested in having a look at that. Thank you!

The 3D models seem really useful and creating one for every character also feels like a very smart idea. I'll also let him know about that, even though I feel like he's got all that figured out already. But well, I'll give it a shot

[pilot-obvious]

I'm always happy to share my process!

I didn't think it was a lot of time for one episode! haha, but that's totally okay, I definitely do this for my enjoyment! It's a great pastime.

Yeah, I'm so glad my friends are interested in what I'm doing! With the research document, I traded services with my friend so I helped her build her portfolio website and took professional headshot photos of her. The research paper was about the effectiveness of the summer youth program that's happening in my webcomic. It used the HUDset (which is a new technological device in the series) to monitor stats. The gimmick is that the whole research document was made up to show the corruption going on in the series. But I needed help making it look somewhat legitimate. haha

My current job title is digital media specialist, which includes photography, video production, graphic design, and marketing all together! It's a lot of different things, but my favorite part about it is definitely the photography portion! I've never covered a wedding because it seems too high pressure for me! But I have done some freelance gigs on the side.

I'm glad you found the process helpful! I hope your artist finds it interesting as well! I should really make a more in depth tutorial sometime! This has inspired me to hopefully do it sooner than later!

[CurryXSake]

For comic script writing, I use Microsoft Word. For the drawings, I use Krita and a pen tablet.

[foxnflames]

Haha fair point. But for me, painting/drawing/writing is that weird balance of being a stress reducer and stress inducing

[CommanderMarty]

I draw using Kirta and I write using Google Docs.

I do use 3D models but I trace them. (I pose them myself and then I trace them and this isn't always the case)

[ninjashira]

Let's see, for writing I use Google Docs. While I'm in the "figuring things out" phase, I'll share the Google Doc with some friends and they can go in and makes notes and comments right in the document live, which is awesome.

For creating the artwork, I use a combination of Photoshop and Clip Studio. I do most of the work in Photoshop, but I'll do a lot of the backgrounds and the manga-style flashback inking in Clip. I use TinkerCAD, a free browser-based 3D modeling program, to make rough models of my backgrounds to draw from, so I don't have to math out all the perspective as I'm drawing. The program is aimed at children, so it's super easy to use. I'll also use Google Sketchup and the Sketchup Warehouse as a reference for 3D models of things like cars and Vespas and once for this fancy water fountain. It's just so much easier to have a 3D reference to draw from for complicated things like that.

Everything else, I do in Photoshop, though I am trying to transition to Clip Studio for future projects, to try and escape having to pay the Adobe subscription service for the rest of my life.

[Fuzed]

Hi CurryXSake, how're your doing today?

I've seen Krita mentioned multiple times here. What kind of a program is it?

[Fuzed]

Same here. I love telling my story but then I always feel like I'm not doing it justice.

[Fuzed]

Hi Lordsomething, how're you doing today?

I see this method quite often, seems like a pretty popular one.

[CommanderMarty]

I'm doing alright, I only use this method when something is too complex for me to do on my own.

[DualDragons]

I use a lot
I use google docs for writing. For the art I use Clip Studio Paint. I usually do the lineart traditionally and scan it in though.

[R.n.P]

pen, pencils, rulers and eraser for my art and photoshop for my panelling and dialogue

The Rolling Stone | Tapas

[Fuzed]

Yeah, that makes sense.