Would my colouring style work with my comic or should I stick to black and white?

[Greg_Dickson]

Hey everyone. I just started my first comic series, "Don't Be A Hero" on Monday. Now, obviously since I just started the thing and I've only posted one page, I didn't expect to get many views/subscribers yet. But now that I'm starting, I'm feeling a bit conflicted with my style choice. I've intended to release the comic in black and white because it's quicker to produce. I have a job, wife and kid, and many other responsibilities so I can't pour untold hours into colouring, which seems to take pages and images twice as long to produce. I'm also not a colourist at heart. I've never been great at painting nice looking scenery, knowing how to blend colours together perfectly. I've also only recently started producing digital art, so while I have gotten comfortable with my line art and using a few grey tones to shade, I don't have that much experience with colour yet.

However, I do know at the same time, most comics on Tapastic seem to succeed more and generate more views when they switch to colour. Colour really is naturally so much more appealing than black and white. I feel conflicted though, because I feel that adding colour develops a trade off between nicer looking visuals or more frequent updates. If I colour and I produce content slower, will I lose or fail to gain subscribers? And if I don't colour but frequently update, will people ignore it because of the lack of visual finesse, causing me to lose or fail to gain subscribers? It's a hard choice.

To end things off, I'll show an image of my first comic page, below (the picture looks kind of small on my computer when I loaded it, so you may have to click on my comic link to get a better size. I don't have time to tinker with it since I have to leave for work right now), along with my coloured thumbnail image.

https://tapastic.com/series/Dont-Be-A-Hero

Any advice would be very much appreciated so I know early on before I produce too many pages if colouring would be worth it or not. Thanks.

[fsarbolaez]

Hello Greg, I'm the writer of Age of the Atroximals. Nice to meet you!

The comic looks and sound very promising. Almost reminds me of the 'God of War' series. I think it would be fine without any color. However, if you do decide that it does, I suggest that you do selective coloring. Since it sounds like you have a pretty busy schedule, coloring in certain lights, clothing, etc... can make your scenes pop and draw more attention towards certain aspects.

[seacho]

Well, after seeing your colored thumbnail, I'd say it's better with colors. But your line art is nice and neat and I think you can stick with it if you really don't have the time.

But it's true that colors are more appealing than just greyscales in my opinion

[jessiepolfliet]

To be honest comics can still be succesful even if there not in color. (Look at popular manga's). But if you like your comic with color, why don't you let someone else color it? There are other creators that divide the comic creating working among two or three people, even professional comic creators all do different parts of the comic.

But I think your comic will do fine if you decide to do it in black and white.

[Greg_Dickson]

@ fsarbolaez - Thanks. I've tinkered with the thought of selectively colouring some parts of my comic while leaving the rest in black and white. I had this thought about giving each character one key colour to identify them with (like how my main character's hair and some of her clothes are pink), but I wasn't sure if something like that would be considered distracting, or making the reader wish it was all in colour. I also wonder what aspect of my comic reminds you of God of War.

@ seacho - Something I've been finding is that when I colour my images, I don't feel that the lineart looks as good. Maybe the popping colours draw the eyes away from the lines. I'm not sure. I really do like both colour and black and white for different reasons. I'm glad that people are finding that my comic works fine in black and white though, in case I can't find the time to colour it.

@ jessiepolfliet- Yeah, I've seen that some of the popular comics are in black and white, but the majority do tend to use colour. I wish I had a talented colourist's help, but no one would do it without commission, and that's just something I can't afford. Plus, I would probably wish it was coloured in a certain way, and the best way to go about it may be to just practice colouring on the side until I'm more comfortable with it.

[infectedbloodcomics]

I think you don't really need to switch to color from an artistic point of view (you have nice line art, you don't need to embellish it with color as many people do), but I can't help thinking that adding color will help you gain readers in the short and long run. I am myself switching to colors for my next comic series, and I am quite certain that I would be more popular if my current series were in color

[sarrowsmith10]

As an artist who has published work in both color and black/white, I'm going to say, stay with your black and white comic for now. I think it works well that way because of the manga style. Very few real manga from Japan come in color. Work on the lineart and the craft and your story. Those things are very important.

Perhaps on the side do a short story (30 pages or less) in color, and don't post it right away. It would give you a chance to experiment in color, have a finished project for your portfolio, and not feel cramped for time in order to upload pages on a schedule.

Hell, I've seen people who only do the first page of every chapter in color. Just to give folks an idea of what it would look like if the creator had the time/money to color it.

Just thoughts.

[sorrelma]

i think the comic looks great even without color but if you really want to add it in, there are some things to keep in mind

coloring comics can be very, very time-consuming! most people spend the most time on the colors for their comics. colors can add a lot to the appeal and readability of the panels, but sometimes it just isn't worth it. i've spoken to artists who spend 8 - 12 hours on EACH PAGE which results in great pages but just isn't reasonably sustainable, esp if you work / attend school / etc

i color my pages to improve the clarity of the art. i find that more people are willing to read a full color page than just the lines. that said, i only do simple flats so, as long as i make sure my lines all connect, coloring takes me maybe five minutes. i also do full color painted backgrounds but even that only takes me an extra half hour. the entire process is manageable for ME; other people have different standards, so mileage may vary

ultimately, you need to find a balance between easy to read(your comic already is imo) and quick enough to make

[SpavVy]

I think it looks fine without color.
What I tend to do for my comic is I leave it black and white but I add none dotted screentones to help give it that pop. I also color my chapters beginning and end covers.

[Greg_Dickson]

@ infectedbloodcomics - I honestly would like to use colour, as I can see the benefit in gaining readers more quickly, but as a new artist, I don't think I have the time and experience to produce quality coloured content at a fast enough pace. Maybe after practicing enough and being well-versed with my art program, I can make the change somewhere down the line.

@ sarrowsmith10 - Very good point. I don't think I should get too ahead of myself too early on. I did intend on starting out as a black and white comic since most manga are produced that way. I think by having one less element to focus on, it'll only strengthen the rest of the qualities of my comic until I may be ready for colouring someday. I do like that idea about a short side story that I could release at any point. Something to not take too seriously, but something that could give me experience with colour. Also, I'm definitely interested in doing my chapter covers in colour, at the very least.

@ sorrelma - Yeah, I feel like at my current experience level with colours, it would take me 8 to 12 hours to do a page, if not more. That thumbnail image embarrassingly took me about 3 to 4 hours to do. I just haven't grasped a fast way of colouring yet (I tried doing it without the paint bucket tool, because I find when I use it, it usually affects my line art and I just have to re-ink the image all over again). I really am interested in colour though for the same reason as you. I do find that it would be easier for my audience to clarify what is what if I used colour. My style needs a little more than simple flats though. It needs shading at the very least, but my hangup is backgrounds, as I have a hard time deciding on if I should just use flat colours or a painted style for them...and I just don't have that much experience with painting/airbrushing. Most people here though seem to think my black and white style is easy enough to read though, and I can produce it faster, so I think I'll stick to my current style for now.

@ Savannah - I'm glad it looks good to you without colour. I haven't had any experience with dotted screen tones, but maybe I should look into that sometime to expand my black and white toolset. I'll colour my chapter beginning cover, but I've never thought about making end covers before. That's a bit new to me.

[fsarbolaez]

I also wonder what aspect of my comic reminds you of God of War.

The main character's quest of revenge against God-like beings, taking their powers in the process to fight the others.

[sorrelma]

it usually affects my line art and I just have to re-ink the image all over again

there's a good way around this that depends on what software you use!

in SAI i make the line art the selection source and then set the bucket tool to respond to selection source, then fill in layers below the lines

in clip studio paint i hide all of the layers except the lines and then set the bucket tool to refer other layers and fill in the layers below the lines
you might have to clean up the colors a little tho

i haven't played around with that technique in any other programs but i'm sure there's a way? i find a certain therapeutic value in coloring by hand but it sure does take a long time

[infectedbloodcomics]

I completely agree with you. This is why I first started with a pilot comic, and other, smaller projects, in B&W. Now I feel confident enough to add color, and I will do so for my next big project. So, what's important, at this point, for me (and, likely, you as well, since it looks like we're more or less in the same boat), is to work hard on building a buffer before publishing my new story. That will give me time to continue working at a decent pace, without burning out and without ever skipping an update (don't underestimate updating regularly - it's crucial)