Making a webcomic / doujin

[AngelEye]

Hello! Long time no see on this forum I've been wanting to making a doujin and/or webcomic for a while. I know there are some people who have made webcomics and doujin here (example: https://forum.melonland.net/index.php?topic=3658.0).

Does anyone else want to or is the process of making a webcomic / doujin? Any advice? Any resources? I'm looking at Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud and Framed Ink by Marcos Mateu Mestre. There's a few github templates like https://github.com/katedee/eleventy-webcomic I've looked at too. Also Rarebit obviously! https://rarebit.neocities.org/

I'm a little intimidated about taking my online art presence a little more seriously haha even though I already a self-hosted website haha

[torrent-empress]

Late to this! I am making a BG3 webcomic. I did a lot of research and have been working on it for about 2 years in my off time.

I actually did a ton of research and I have some books and tools I strongly recommend. However, my disclaimer is: the best tools/frameworks/methods are whatever get you to actually be consistent and just start. One of the best things that got me through the thumbnailing of my prologue (which ended up being about 55 pages) was just to dedicate to drawing 5 minutes a day and doing something small comic related a day.

Consistency is the biggest killer in webcomics. That being said, my recommendations:

Programs: clip studio for actual comic stuff. I did all of my finished comic stuff in clip studio and I strongly recommend it over other programs because it just has a lot of shit in it that would take several other programs to accomplish (some of my favorite features are the 3D models which include a hand scanner that can scan your hand with your camera in real time to a displayed 3D model), being able to switch around all the windows, and just the assets store in general.

However, a lot of the functions can be replicated with a ton of other programs, clip is just kind of a swiss army knife of art programs. The lettering and effects tools can be frustrating to learn at first but then it's very worth it.

Procreate is basically the opposite, it's like made to be as barebones as possible to just get a more naturalistic digital drawing experience. It's also ipad only but if you have an ipad I recommend it to just draw if you don't wanna just do paper. It's also 10 bucks solid purchase no subscription.

As for books: I read a few on comics and unfortunately most of the books aren't super applicable to webcomics as a medium bc they're oriented towards comics professionals in the Western big professional comics industry (so more superhero stuff, no diss to them, I'm a Batman Stan!)

My recommendations are the first two Scott McCloud understanding comics books, the third one is like... Not super relevant. You can skip the Will Eisner books tbh, Scott McCloud mostly reiterates the same information without drawing and reiterating some problematic caricatures lol. (it's like, BAD PEOPLE HAVE HOOK NOSES AND AFROS, it's alright, you're not missing much)

Lynda Barry's books are like... Not really about comics as a serious sequential art concept but more like art therapy if you feel like shit. Can't recommend them if you have a story you're trying to accomplish.

The best and most completed book i read is for sure How to Webcomic by that starfish uh... Like that's their username but it's a real book, they have a YouTube channel. It's incredibly comprehensive about the medium of webcomics specifically - it's super good.

As for website stuff, I don't use eleventy specifically but I had great luck with the rarebit layout, although I had NO javascript experience so I had to have a friend explain it to me bc it really didn't come with documentation.

[ravenousravishing]

McCloud's books are a great resource, and even respected academically; the first of his comics trilogy was the textbook for my college class on comics!

Are you wanting to work traditionally? Digitally? A mix of the two? Torrent-empress' reply has fantastic advice, especially for if you want to work digitally. I could probably provide information[/emotional support] when it comes to traditional work. I personally work with a mix of digital and traditional for comics [inking traditionally and lettering digitally].

I may still have some some resources on comic lettering from my class, which I can try to find if you want? I believe the popular sources you can find on comic lettering will be focused on western comics, but I personally think the concepts will apply to most demographics of comic/sequential art with word balloons.

Mind if I ask if you're working on any ideas/WIPs at the moment? Just curious to see what stories you might be cooking up.

[torrent-empress]

Does anyone else want to or is the process of making a webcomic / doujin? Any advice? Any resources? I'm looking at Understanding Comics: The Invisible Art by Scott McCloud and Framed Ink by Marcos Mateu Mestre. There's a few github templates like https://github.com/katedee/eleventy-webcomic I've looked at too. Also Rarebit obviously! https://rarebit.neocities.org/

Hey so I had a few folks on bluesky since I originally saw this post, I did like a lil super quick guide about how I use 3D models in my comics to work quicker here

I may still have some some resources on comic lettering from my class, which I can try to find if you want? I believe the popular sources you can find on comic lettering will be focused on western comics, but I personally think the concepts will apply to most demographics of comic/sequential art with word balloons.

not OP but I would LOVE this personally, I suck ass at lettering

[ravenousravishing]

Hey so I had a few folks on bluesky since I originally saw this post, I did like a lil super quick guide about how I use 3D models in my comics to work quicker here

not OP but I would LOVE this personally, I suck ass at lettering

I looked through my notes from class and found a great resource! Blambot.com has a fantastic page of nothing but infographics all about lettering. There's also a book on lettering sold by the author, under the 'Merch' tab in the navigation.

Blambot.com has a lot of other information on comics, too! Again, it's primarily western comics, but a lot of the knowledge can still be applied to different styles. [Though panel flow can be difficult, imo; if your medium has a different reading direction than left -> right, it can get weird to translate the advice.]

The website is created [and run?] by Nate Piekos, a professional letter & other such. His site is a great resource in general, imo. [This is not an ad, I just appreciate the information available.]

Bad Ink Studios on Youtube has a lot of information on offer, both longform and shortform. They do examples of different lettering techniques and, while I think they can 'lose the thread' of comic lettering in people's hyper specific questions*, there's a lot of experience and knowledge being shared.

[*Something that was said by the letterer himself in a video recently-ish, I think? IMO lettering is an art, and can be really fun and push the story, but it's critical to not 'detract' from the artwork.]

My experience with lettering was primarily digital, and some advice I can offer [to anyone in thread] there is that using vectors for your balloons and text will save you a lot of headaches. Also, include balloon placement in your thumbnails. Also also, finish the artwork that will be underneath your text balloon. It saves you frustration when you inevitably need to nudge things around [or completely change the layout, lol].

Additionally, thank you Torrent-empress for the link to your Clip Studio models advice! Very useful. I've gotta start exploring the 3D and vector capabilities of that program, lol.