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Fun Stuff => MAKE => Topic started by: Damniel on 06 Oct 2005, 03:34

Title: tips
Post by: Damniel on 06 Oct 2005, 03:34
Alrighty i recently was asked to draw some manga for a mate of mine and now he's wondering about creating a webcomic.  In truth so have i but always knew i didn't have the time or faith in my drawing...the ones i did were pretty substandard which for me equals rather splendid.  I think we'd share the writing but i'd be saddled with all the techno stuff...oh and drawing the damned stuff.  Anywho i've never inked my art or created a webcomic or website...ever.  So with these facts in mind i've got questions...oh so very many questions so any suggestions will be acceptable.
1)Are there any free webspace with easy to use building tools?
2)If 1) hasn't a hope of hell where can i get cheap URLs?
3)Computer inking or by hand...i'd prefer by hand but having done neither tips would be good
Much apprechiation to anyone at all who replies...cos man, do i ever need the help.
Title: tips
Post by: fenmere on 06 Oct 2005, 09:11
There's this neat thread over here:

http://forums.questionablecontent.net/viewtopic.php?t=7722

Where-in two of those three questions were answered.  You should check it out.  And the third question:

3)Computer inking or by hand...i'd prefer by hand but having done neither tips would be good
Much apprechiation to anyone at all who replies...cos man, do i ever need the help.


Honestly, you can and should do whatever the heck you want!  Experiment.  Try all sorts of media.  In fact, in the important early, experimental days of your comic, you may want to rotate media for a while.  Every time you try a new technique, it's exciting, helps keep you going, and will improve your artwork tremendously.

There are pros and cons in the different ways you ink (if you're going to ink in the first place!), though, which you may want to consider in the end.    If you ink things right on the computer, you don't use any paper and your work can be blown up to any size and retain a high quality of image (you need vectored graphics for that, though).  If you ink things wrong on the computer, you get an original file that is only 72 dpi and not fit for print.  If you ink by hand on paper, then you get a hardcopy original piece of work that is one of a kind and may some day be worth a lot of money to someone (i.e. it's something you can frame and sell).  Ink on paper looks really nice.  Computer graphics are eco-friendly and more versitile.

I do a combination of both.  I ink on paper with Faber-Castell archival pens, then I scan it into the computer and convert it to paths, doing the final layout in Illustrator.  This means I have a nice original that my readers might enjoy seeing in person, and I have a final computer file that I can print the size of a movie screen.

In any case, it's all good.