Manga Making my own Web Comic :)

[fazz33]

Hey everyone, im new to the boards :) I've recently started to create my own Web Comic and i kinda need help. If anyone could tell me how to make some nice speech bubbles. For my first one i used Microsoft Word and paint lol ya, i know its pathetic. Oh and if anyone wants to judge my current stuff that'd be nice ^^ i have only the title page and first comic up, I'm working on the second one later and im thinking of adding more detail to future comics ^^ the first one was kinda rushed. I am Currently using Photoshop 7.0 (but i suck at it lol) so any tips would be nice. LOL and my html skill arent great either. anyways here the site to check it out :)

[URL=http://thestaff.50webs.com/Title.htm]http://thestaff.50webs.com/Title.htm[/URL]

[Kei]

[color=darkblue][size=1]For right now, I would suggest trying to find the font "DigitalStrip"; a lot of webcomics use that font and it's very easy to read and nice to look at. As far as specch bubble packs go, they aren't hard to find through search engines like Google. Just type in "free downloads- speech bubble packs" and you should be directed to some nice results.

As far as the comic itself goes, it's not all that bad, as I've seen worse and better. Outlining things can help things pop a little more, as can proper screentoning, which is far easier on the computer than on actual paper. To find some free screentones, you can head over to [url=http://www.devianart.com]devART[/url] or search using Google or whatever search engine you prefer.[/color][/size]

[fazz33]

Thanks for the input :) I just downloaded the font, and i'll use it for the rest of the text in the web comic :) I'll be looking for speech bubbles later

[Zukuro]

[COLOR=DarkRed]i'm also new to the boards but not to myOtaku.com if u wanna see myOtaku my user is Sukara and wat comic is it about? ;) :animesmil [/COLOR]

[fazz33]

the web comic is devloping into a web comic about teachers in a high school :)

[the_sixth_child]

The art was good!

[Liam]

blah... Man I typed up a REALLY long post on how to do this in photoshop last night, but I guess it didn't take. So now you get the condensed version.

1) create a new text layer for EVERY speech bubble. this way you can move them around/resize and adjust all the text to make sure that you maximize picture area.

2) after that's finalized, make another layer under all the text (call it "Speech bubbles" or something) Take the polygon tool, set to circle and make sure fixed aspect ratio is off. Now drag yourself a little oval behind one of the blocks of text, you can see the dancing ants in the selected area, letting you know where the bubble will be filled in. Go to fill 100% white. Now take the polygon lasso, and make a carrot to the speaker that overlaps the oval you just made. fill that white too.

3) repeat for every other speech bubble.

4) Go to layer options on your "Speech bubbles" and set it to stroke. Set the stroke distance to 1 or 2 px. Make sure to change the stroke color to black. (it's defaultly red)

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Notes:
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If someone's yelling and your using a huge font, set the stroke distance to something like 5 or so. It gives a thicker border.

If you need to connect bubbles to other bubbles, just create a new layer over "speech bubbles" and draw in the lines with the line tool with a minimum width of 5 px, then go to layers and merge down.

If your doing sounnd effects in the backgound, just select the layer that that text is on, go to layer options and stroke it in white.

[fazz33]

thx Liam, i guess im gonna try your method for making speech bubbles :) Thx for the tips.

[Liam]

N/p. Been doing it for a while. It's the quickest fastest way to do it.

[Chikara Kokoro]

The artwork looks very good, but I think that you should really have more pages up before you can expect people to want to read/be able to review your webcomic. Most new webcomics stop arter either the cover page or the first five pages. Once you get past that point I might look at the comic more critically, but at the moment I have no idea what's going on.

Your lineart can be darkened by using the "levels" tool under "Image"/"Adjust"/"Levels" just below it is the "Auto Levels" tool and it usually does a very good job. This will help the cover image look more professional. (I am assuming you scanned the lineart from a sketch without inking it).

Most of the things I've learned about coloring have been learned through countless number of tutorials. Just keep on experimenting, practicing, learning. Since you're at this point at the very beginning of your webcomic, it shows great promise for stunning results if you keep at it.

[fazz33]

ok thx ^^ i'm trying to get more up, but i have to study for exams and test >< its was put up fast because i wanted to show some progress in its creation for the Manga club im in at school LOL im actually the only one to actually start. (We're a slow club ^_^)

EDIT: Yay ^^ i got another comic up this time with digitalstrip font, and real speech bubbles!!! thx for the help :)

[color=darkblue][size=1][b]Please use the Edit button in the future to add on to posts, as double-posting is not allowed on OB, thanks. -Lady K[/b][/size][/color]