Hello all,

I'm a bit stuck, I've got my first page up, but it's all text (I'd always invisioned the story starting that way...) but now I have to get into the real drawing part - just one problem. I was planning on doing most of the work in photoshop, as if I make a mistake, I can always just go over it. Drawback is, I'm crap at photoshop, and it's going to look bad if the main part of the story takes too long to get up.

Normally, all my work is done as doodles on scrap bits of paper in a biro, it looks half decent, but a) not very professional and b) no colour. I do plan on getting a tablet at some point, but for now, money is just too tight to afford a decent sized one.

So my question is this, should I just draw out the first pages in biro, scan it in and put it up, so people can see where the story is going, or should I wait, practice at photoshop until it looks good enough to me and 'then' start posting the main story up?

Any input on this, and where I might be able to get some decent tutorials for photoshop would be most appreciated!

Can you not do both? Scan them in then improve them in photoshop?

Layers are your friend

Seconding the scanning+fixing advice - even if you have to do it by mouse, it is easier (for me, at least), to scan pencils (or, in this case, biro) and then go over them and erase the excess lines and scribbles and polish it up a bit.

Hunh... Well, personally, I vote that you wait until you get your skills up to par. I wanted to start my webcomic ages ago, but decided that my skills needed tuning up, and I'm glad that I waited. Besides, imagine that you do get started on your comic...Eventually, when you want to touch up those pages, you'll have to spend time both touching them up AND trying to regularly update your comic.

In the meantime, I think you should make a number of comic pages, work out the kinks, etc., and then use those pages to keep ahead in the story. Say you do ten pages...and then post one each week, while still working on a page as if you're still on schedule. That way, you'll be able to still regularly update by having those excess pages as backup, even if you're sick, or some crap happens (and we should all know it does).

As for tablets, pick something in the Graphire range. You can make some really great work with it, and it's one of the cheaper Wacoms out there. I have an Intuos3 9x12, but...I wouldn't recommend it unless someone else is buying it for you, because it's certainly not for the light of wallet. And get a 9x12 if you have a relatively large workspace as well, too.

And as for tutorials, I go to deviantart, and I have a tutorial for easy linearts in the DD tutorial section...Buuuut, here are a few:

http://www.studioqube.com/tutorials/painting/index.html

http://neondragonart.com/dp/digicolor.html

http://www.drunkduck.com/tutorials/view.php?id=55

As for starting your comic with text, I've seen some comics start that way....but make sure the first four pages of your comic are gripping enough to capture the audience. They're pretty unforgiving. >.>;

Anyway, I hope I've helped you at all...I've been brewing my comic for four years, but have only started this year. So, I won't have all the experience and knowledge, but...Good luck. .w. I hope everything works out well for you.

barry_everard, for tutorials there is the tab in green just above the forum page that reads NEW! Tutorials, and that's one place to start. In addition, the list page of this Tips and Tricks forum has [I think it is the second topic down] a number of non DrunkDuck sites with loads of tutorials. If you are using photoshop then there are literally tons of cartooning orientated tutorials on the Internet.

Now I perfectly understand wanting to get into the production of your cartooning work and immediately uploading material. I'm going to suggest that you do just that. But instead of starting off with your preferred name for your strip such as The Mighty Bacteria!, instead go with something like Test Site for Cartooning. You can still run with your planned material, but you and your readers will perfectly understand that one day you will probably wipe it all out and recreate your comic under its proper name and sporting well-developed and polished art work.

It sort of takes the pressure off and you can inform any visitors that you are indeed using the cartoon to learn how to cartoon and use PhotoShop to its full potential.

Anyway, best of good fortune!

Thank you all for all your help. I think for now what I'll do is spend the next couple of months going through tutorials and release the first few pages in early january. The idea about getting ahead before you start is a good one, especially as my life seems to fluctuate between too much time, and none at all.

Thank you also for the suggestion about releasing 4 really good pages first, I think what I'll do to get over the first text page, is to release a short prologue all at once (say about 6 pages or so - with extras in reserve) and that way it won't look too tacky...

Layers... yes.. heard a lot about layers. Think that's going to have to be my first tutorial.

Either way, thank you for all your help, I'll try to release something that made it worth the time posting... watch this space!

I recommend a third option... draw the comic on paper, scan it in, and then use Photoshop to convert your drawings into a digital comic. Here's what I do for my comic:

1) draw the comic in blue pencil, the regular pencil for the final lines
2) scan it in at least 300 dpi into Photoshop
3) select the lines, expand 1-2 pixels, smooth at 3 pixels, then fill in the selection with black into a new layer
4) in a layer underneath the lines, add color
5) output the final image at 72 dpi at the size you want

That'd be my recommendation. Eventually I'd like to get a graphics tablet as well, don't know when that'll happen though.