Why web comic have to be color?

[Shanny8]

Your comic doesnt HAVE TO be color- you can make it blk & white if you want. There are plenty of black & white comics on here that do well.

[masoneasley]

It should be noted that black, white, and gray are also colors.

[CarolRiverArt]

Well. Explained In graphic design terms , Japanese manga is made in B&W with sketchtones because they are prepared for print. That means less cost fast developing of a product and great sales.

Now the colored one works with digital platforms like PC and mobile phones. So why work in black and white if is not for printing? They need a colored visualization of the comic.

If you are going to work B&W the drawing style have to be very appealing.

[spadesart]

i mean, there's a premium comic out that doesn't have panel borders or even backgrounds for nearly all the panels so if your concept is good enough i'm sure they'll be willing to accept a black and white comic.

[BobbyjoeX]

black and white are not colours, they are tones

[wufargia]

Webcomics don't necessarily HAVE to be in color, although I noticed that it tends to be the preferred format, especially for "scrollers" vs. page-by-page black/white format of manga. I've read a couple of great webcomics w/o color, although I noticed that one of them, Traceless Knight, recently converted to color in its re-amped version.

It definitely helps to catch the reader's eye and keep them intrigued. But I also think if your art is superb and you have a great story, then you can definitely go with black/white. It definitely saves a lot of time!

[phen]

I really enjoy inking and the look of an artist's style with raw, unfiltered lineart can be wickedly appealing. Some of my favourite webcomics are achromatic or with a very limited colour scale and it's truly such a nice feeling on the eyes to look through. However...

... digital media presentation on electronic displays challenges the way our eyes see light and colour. I think it's a platform that calls to experimentation and exploration with colours otherwise impossible to replicate on paper. If you're a creator who's dipped into physical print publishing, you've probably seen printers' guidelines about CMYK vs. RGB and how our digital devices' backlit screens give a crisp, vivid (albeit false) interpretation of certain hues. I feel like that impressive colour presentation really influences an artist's decision to produce a webcomic in full colour. It's dramatic. It's fluid. It's visually exciting.

Ultimately, it's about grabbing the reader -- who's probably already on the go, distracted by competitive ads, congested commute, multiple conversations, urgent errands, and a million other sensory loads -- with something new, that they haven't seen yet (or at least very often). A bright, energetic colour palette interpreted through a digitally sourced light can help a lot.

[Luminosophy]

Either is fine. I started painting, changed to black and white and ended on painting. I think some people choose B+W because it's faster than colour, though I think a lot of other factors really depend on your speed. I found that ultimately there was no speed difference because I do a lot of detail regardless. When you're utilizing B+W, it's limited values so you /really/ have to pay attention to things not blending too much and ensuring you know how to render texture in it (without being overpowering.) I definitely noticed my coloured comic drew in more people at a faster rate than when I did it in B+W. I settled on it because I felt that it overall suited my story better.

[indigodrawing]

There's nothing stopping you from making your webcomic monochrome if you want.

It's just that for dead tree comics colour printing is expensive whereas for a webcomic the inclusion of colour doesn't factor into the cost so people naturally take advantage of the freedom to add as much colour as they want.

[zigmenthotep]

I dunno about that, I haven't done a lot of work with screentones, but what I have done was more trouble than flat colors.

[BobbyjoeX]

screen tones are not a good idea for posting online, they do not render well and can get "boxy", i learned this from experiance, flat colours are a good way to go

[LordVincent]

Screentones are a dying tool from what I've heard, since they require the people using them to know the exact format etc for all prints and resizes of the comic and perfectly match dimensions in order to avoid the moire effect. Another reason they're slowly going out of use is that cheap-printers today kinda just automatically translate grey tones to a screentone-like application of black dots.

So basically insisting on using screentones in today's industry can render your comic unprintable if done wrong, and excessively extend your work hours if done right.

I used to use screentones myself out of habit so I'm not really talking about this as some douche who always found them stupid because I really don't. They had a place and purpose once upon a time, but people who use them nowadays either 1. Misunderstand the necessities of the industry and aren't up to date on their information, or 2. Do it because they want their digital publications to look like traditional manga. Succesfully applied screentones are definitely a preference a lot of artists have, after all. The downside however is the struggle you'd have to go through to get the "successful" right. If screentones are an essential part of your comic's visual appearance in your mind, I won't deter you from using them. Just informing those who don't care or don't want to use screentones that there is no print-related reason to do so anymore.

[libs]

manga usually dont have color because printing color is expensive. webcomics on the other hand are on the internet so it's not a problem.

It doesnt matter honestly. My comic doesnt have any colors mainly because it's extra work. But if you want your comic to have that extra charm I suggest taking time to color.

[droidmonkey1]

It's not have to be colored. you can use grayscale or go manga style. As long as the webcomic will pop to catch the readers eye you're golden.

[Wumbl]

Preach. Screentones are basically the same as regular grey-scale colouring.

[cleo_san]

Yes and no =)

True both add shading, but screentones have patterns, lots of tiny dots, while grey scale coloring is one area of color.

I think it actually is about which look you prefer

[Wumbl]

I'm replying to a comment about the labour and thought process required - nothing to do with how it looks.

[CarolRiverArt]

That´s why screentones work better for printing, Less costs!

[CarolRiverArt]

I think you don't have to think it so much. You can color as the same time you BW. Just create a palette that you use for your characters, and use flat colors. in that way you can do comic with fast coloring.

[Allanbrito]

I personally like colored comics, because they feel more alive, but still thats always up to you. I mean, it depends of thea mood of your comic. The good thing on using colors is that you can set diferent moods and ambients depending on the color pallete you are using, the bad thing about colors is that ot takas a little bit more of time.