MAKING WEBCOMICS WITH ADOBE ILLUSTRATOR
Being featured on Adobe Live was a wonderful experience. I had a great time talking with Anna Daviscourt and chat, and sharing my work. I chose to go in depth on how I make my webcomics using Adobe Illustrator and some of the big tips and tricks I’ve come to use on a daily basis.
My comics fall into the ‘slice-of-life’ category. They don’t follow a continuous story from page to page, but instead are little pictures into the lives of my many characters, and each can stand on their own. This is a benefit I found by accident when I started compiling the comics into book format (and would run out of copies) - you don’t necessarily need to start with volume 1!
My process is pretty straight-forward: I start with a very rough sketch where I outline frames, pacing, and character poses. At this stage I’ll also nail down the dialog and narration if any. Next, I’ll work on the lineart, keeping major elements in groups so it is easy for me to color later. Finally, after all the lineart and text is dropped in, I’ll proceed to color. It generally takes me longer to do lineart than it does for me to complete the color on a comic.
Artboard layout for Instagram
Once everything is completed I’ll cut up my initial vertical layout to fit the carousel format for Instagram, which has a maximum of 10 frames allowed. I like to reserve the last frame as a call to action if I can. This is the spot where I’ll place info about new products or shop promotions, and ask my readers to help spread the kyootness by interacting with the post. I use square artboards at 900 x 900px each, and I plan one frame per artboard unless it is a special seamless swipe panel. Once those are ready to go, I go to File>Export>Export As, check 'Use Artboards' then specify the numbers of my IG panels in the dialog box. On the next screen, I set the dpi, select a white background and click 'OK'. Illustrator automatically exports the panels from there and they are numbered and ready to send up to Creator Studio for IG scheduling.
Seamless swipe artboard layout - I use Smart Guides to snap the edges of artboards together and line them up.
I utilize the seamless swipe panels in instances where I have elaborate establishing shots, or want to focus on the mood and detail of a scene. I will also try to avoid splitting dialog across a swipe. I have had several comics where my IG layout necessitated a redraw of a speech bubble, which isn’t so bad, especially with how I draw them.
During stream I was able to complete one frame from start to finish, and get work on the second started. I chose to do it this way instead of my usual batching process because I wanted to include my coloring process on stream. I finished the comic later that night, in time to schedule my posts for the next morning. Check out the full replay of the stream below!
