✨🎨🖌️Let’s talk…. mediums!🖌️🎨✨

Artists can make use of all kinds of tools to produce comics! There’s no wrong choice, so long as folks are enjoying the process enough to keep going.

Broadly speaking, there are two major categories of tools:

Digital

This is anything done via computer software. As webcomics are posted online, this is often a natural choice, as all images must be processed through a computer in order to be uploaded and shared on the web.

Popular softwares include: Photoshop, Clip Studio, Procreate, Sai, Medibang

Many digital artists (not necessarily all) work using a drawing tablet of some kind. Wacom is the most popular brand for these, but it’s not the only choice! Here are a few types of tablets:

• Non-screen drawing tablet such as Wacom Bamboo or Wacom Intuos
• Screen monitor tablet such as Wacom Cintiq, Huion Kamvas, Yiynova Tablet Monitor
• Portable tablet device such as Microsoft Surface, Wacom Studio, Ipad Pro

Traditional

This covers anything drawn on physical media– usually paper, though if there’s anyone out there painting on canvas or wood and then turning it into a webcomic, that would count too!

Because webcomics must be posted online, media that scan well and look still good after being digitized are preferable– which is why ink on paper is far and away the most popular choice, though watercolour, marker, gouache, and pencil are also often used.

One useful thing about traditional media is that it can be archived (provided the materials being used are of good quality), and if anything happens to the digital files, the images can be re-scanned later. Also, provided the work is of a reasonable size in the original, it’s a lot easier to ensure that the drawings are of an appropriate resolution to be printed, though it’s important that artists make sure to scale things down for the website so that the digital reproduction will load faster for readers.

Many artists make use of a hybrid of digital and traditional approaches: the most popular is traditional inks, which are then scanned and coloured digitally. Sometimes, all of the art including any shading, toning, or colouring will be done traditionally, but the lettering will be entirely added via the software to maintain the crispness and consistency of digital fonts.

All have their strengths; choice of medium is always up to the individual, informed by their personal tastes, aesthetics, and working preference.

Some like the feel of traditional media and find them comforting and intuitive to work with, while others find them intimidating due to the perceived permanence of potential mistakes; some may enjoy the freedom and tools of digital softwares, while others find them restrictive and stiff.