phrases. - The Official GlobalComix Blog

We're proud to announce an update to our existing immersive reading tools for creators and publishers called PanelFlow™. These new features will make adding frames to your comics simpler and quicker so that you can get back to creating the comics for your readers.

What is Interactive mode?

If you've seen the above warning on your releases, this is referring to interactive mode and frames that you can add to create a panel by panel reading experience.

Here are some notes to consider as we move forward:

• All pages must be interactive in order for panel view to be available to readers. If even one page doesn't have a frame on it, the reading mode will be...

Whether it's a big sale or maybe you'd like to offer a crowdfunding supporter a free download, we'd love to help you distribute your comics! For today's Creator Tips and Tricks, we're going to look at how to generate promo codes and how to claim them. It's important to be educated on both sides so that nobody gets left without their books. The horror!

With that intro out of the way, lets dig in!

Where do I create Promo Codes anyway?

You'll find them in your Creator Settings under "Promo Codes". You'll notice that if you've made previous codes in the past, as I have here, you'll be able to see all of the information for them...

Did you know you can sell PDF and PDF bundles on GlobalComix as one way to make revenue!? It's a great way to make some extra income as a comic and manga creator and for today's Creator Tips and Tricks, I'll be walking you through that process! I'll be using my own manga, Godsbane, as an example as I'd like to set it up for a PDF download!

First off, I'd like to recommend a few things first.

1. Always make sure your PDF has a nice cover, it makes it more presentable!

2. Make sure that all files are the same size (in pixels for both height and width). Also make sure they are the same resolution in terms of dpi/ppi! That way the file will look its best,...

The magic of a well done two-page spread is undeniable in comics (any type of picture book really) when done well. In Comics it can be really jarring to the reader, and frankly, upsetting as a creator when your pages don't align as you planned them to. Well, we here at GlobalComix understand how important that is, and we have a few different tools to make sure that those spreads you worked hard to design stay together!

How can my comic be read in double-page layout?

Within the reading experience is a little gear icon on the upper right within the reading header. You can click on that icon and it'll open a dialogue box with various options. You can select and change...

Hello everyone! Today we've got our Creator Interview for July, everyone welcome @SparkleArts creator of Celestis.  She is sitting down with us today to talk about collaborations that she has organized in the past and future collabs with GlobalComix creators. This is a really fun interview, so let's get started!

1. Tell me about yourself and how you got started in the web/comics community?

I work in the creative arts; I'm an instrumental music teacher by day, specializing in classical strings. I have always loved writing stories, and when the pandemic hit, I had to be extra careful about lockdown as I have a chronic illness. I discovered webcomics to...

When it comes to creating color comics, did you know that the color mode you choose matters? There are two primary color modes that we’ll need to know (excluding monochrome and grayscale) and those are CMYK and RGB.

You’ve probably heard of these before, but which is the purpose of each one?

The CMYK color gamut is a subtractive color method, the color white is going to be the surface of the print medium. Each letter stands as follow: Cyan, Magenta, Yellow and Key (black). It is primarily used for printed media of all kinds, direct UV printing, banners and advertising, comics, packaging, and even billboards! The range of color is 0 at white (or absence of color)...

Screen tones, those mysterious grays and colors in comics and manga that give us shading and texture! What are they, and how can you apply it to your own artwork? For today’s Creator Tips and Tricks, I’m going to go over this tool and some different techniques to add them.

With that, let's dig in!

What ARE screen tones?

On its own, in the most basic sense, a screen tone is a technique that allows one to add textures and shading to drawings or images. It’s often used as an alternative to manually drawing textures by hand in order to save time, or to get more exact, especially with repetitive dot-patterns that simulate grayscale or...

Hello and welcome back everyone for another Creator Interview! For June's guest, we are sitting down with Raymond Tyler and Neil Gibson from TPub Comics (@stacitpub), a publisher from the United Kingdom. Recently, TPub released Amputation Capital #1 for free on Globalcomix, and it will also soon be available on Kickstarter to fund a printed Trade edition of all five issues.

Raymond Tyler wrote Amputation Capital working together with Neil Gibson as a mentor. I assisted on this series on the lettering, and I was excited to sit down with the team that wrote this story. I figured this would be a perfect time to get some advice on writing and their experience working together!

So...

Our Creator Interviews series is back for the month of May. Today we're featuring Hexapus Ink, a team of creators responsible for BounD. The series was our #1 on GlobalComix for all of 2021. We are very excited that they've offered to take the time to explain their process and thoughts on starting a comic or manga!

UnBounD – A Brief History and the Process of Making BounD

By Matt Forsyth - Edited by Therese Lewis

When I was asked if we wanted to make a post for GlobalComix, I thought it might be a good time to give people a look behind the curtain. This is an abridged history of BounD and the steps that Therese Lewis and I take to create each...

Welcome back everyone, I've got some more Tips and Tricks for you all regarding lineart. We'll be covering how to make use of textured brushes, custom brushes and how to use color to your advantage when working with lineart!

With that intro out of the way, let's get started!

1. Use appropriate brush for YOUR style!

There is sort of a joke among artists, where viewers or fans will ask “What brush do you use?” This question is met with enthusiasm or dread, but the answer really does matter. What pen DO you use? In the last article I talked about line weight and texture. Going back to that, you want to be sure you use a brush the aligns with the look that...

Lineart is one of those things that seems to be something artists love or it’s the bane of their lives. It can be hard to find the right type of lineart for you and gain the steady hand to make it just the way you want it.

Today, I am going to go over some various tips for digital and traditional artists to help get a better quality of lineart. Most of these tips apply to both digital and traditional, but if something is specific to one group, I’ll be sure to point that out.

With that out of the way, let's begin!

Finding the Right Resolution

One of the number one ways to get cruddy lineart is to use a resolution too low. Going too low can create pixelated...

Hatching, you either love it or hate it as an artist. For some people, it can serve as a soothing doodle technique or become their secret weapon to a beautiful comic or manga page. What exactly is hatching?

Hatching is a drawing technique using lines or linear strokes to create value and texture throughout an image. They don't always have to be straight lines, and they don't always have to be neat and consistent either. There are multiple types of hatching, each providing their own texture that you can add. In comics and manga, it is used both as a shading technique and a texturing one. It's really very versatile!

With that out of the way, let's start...

A great story and beautiful art are easy things to identify as part of what makes a good comic or manga. However, have you ever thought about the simple turning of the page? It’s something we do dozens, or a hundred of times when reading a single comic or graphic novel. For large omnibus editions, it can be a few hundred pages turns! I bet you didn’t even notice you were doing it!

One important factor in building great pages is the page turn, how to KEEP readers reading and make them want more. There are a few tricks that we can use to make our readers to engaged that they don’t even notice they are turning pages. The smoother your reading flow is, the better off...

In our last article, we covered some of the basics of Komawari and paneling for manga, such as reading direction, manga’s grid systems, sandangumi and yondangumi, gutters, the concept of rough and dense pages and misegoma, having one panel as the main focus of the page.

Today we are going to dig deeper into the less common aspects of paneling manga: the primary manga layouts, Oblique panels and Ma panels. None of these are “unique” to manga and can be used in western comics, however their use is more common in manga and can really help yours stand out from the crowd.

With that intro, let's dig in!

Basic Panel Layouts

Using the basic knowledge of the...

So what is Komawari?

Paneling for manga is done in the same spirit of western comics: creating a smooth experience for the reader. However, the thought process behind how it is done is a little different. “Koma” themselves are the panels. Komawari refers to the layout as a whole, and its flow.

From san-dangumi to wakusen there's a lot to cover. With our intro out of the way, let's get started!

Reading direction

The most notable difference between the two is the reading Direction.

Most manga does read right to left, traditionally. However, there is a movement of “Manga-inspired comics” that are in a manga style, but read left to right like...

In our last Creator Tips and Tricks article, we talked about the basics of paneling and flow. This week, we are going to dig a little deeper into this flow idea. Understanding gutters, panel layouts, and how to make your pages easier to read. A confusing page could cost you a reader, and nobody wants that!

With that introduction, let's dig into Gutters and Panel Layouts!

Looking at a standard comic page as a reader, you might not know that these pages are very carefully crafted to keep you reading. As a creator, you might know the pages take some time to plan and create. Now that we have some understanding of comic flow from our last article, visual narrative, and margins...

No matter the format we use to tell our stories, be it comics, manga, comic strips or koma, we need to understand the flow of a page. By flow, I mean panel to panel, bubble to bubble, and eventually, page to page. A good flow is very important, as it keeps the reader reading. Any type of disruption in that flow can knock the reader out of the experience and possibly cause them to stop reading. That's obviously the last thing that we want.

With that flow we need slower times and faster times, this is called pacing, or timing. You don’t want to speed through a moment that needs to be slower, but you don’t want to drag out something that isn’t interesting or...

Along with Camera angles and positions, the last look at Cameras that we’ll take are camera shots. These typically refer to how much and/or how many subjects appear in the shot itself. Just like with angles and positions, the shot or depth of field you choose can impact your storytelling.

Different depths of field have different uses:

• Long (Wide): Often show the subject from a distance, putting the focus on the environment, location within that environment and scale.
• Medium: Fall somewhere between and act as a hybrid of a Long shot and Close Up. These allow the reader to focus on the character while still able to see the background.
• Close: Close shots focus on...

We learned about Camera Angles in our last Tips and Tricks Article, today we are going to be focusing on Camera Position and the 180 Rule. These two topics go hand in hand, and it’s very important that we understand where to put the camera and when.

Camera Position refers to where the camera is placed -around- the subject. The 180 rule is an imaginary line storytellers use to help keep continuity when doing a multi character / multi subject scene. This helps with any back and forth interaction that may be occurring to help keep things clear and easy to understand. Like any rule, it has times it can be broken for great effect, so take this rule with...

Cameras aren’t usually something comic and manga creators think about when we are story boarding, doing layouts or pencils. But why is that? In my personal experience, a lot of those who seek mentorship in this way, especially writers, don’t tend to THINK in this way. We see the story in our own heads, typically as a film or animation. We tend to just replicate what and how we see it and call it a day. But how often do we sit down and critically think about what would be -BEST- for the scene we have versus how we see it in our own minds.

Being able to separate your own personal wants from the work and do what would be best for it, even if what you initially...

Visual Narrative is the term used to refer to the art of storytelling with visuals as a main communicator. It includes mediums like comics, manga, commercials, marketing and advertising, soap operas, film, documentaries, reality TV, cartoon shows, TV journalism, and more. It’s a very wide field that encompasses one main task:

Show, don't tell.

This phrase you have probably heard over and over again if you are experienced in the visual narrative fields. If you are not familiar with it, let me explain this concept:

Show the audience / reader what you wish to communicate, what you want them to know, instead of using narration or dialogue to do the heavy lifting for...

What ARE Margins, Bleeds and Trims?

Simply put, the trim is the line where the comic or manga paper will be cut. The Margin is the area inside of the trim line that will remain and the bleed is the area outside of the trim, specifically the area that gets cut off.

Working digitally, do we even need to worry about these margins anymore?

Whether you are printing or not, you should know these areas and it is in your best interest to use them should you ever decide to print your digital comic or manga. Traditional artists can use these as well! A lot of Blue Line Paper made for comics and manga contain these margins by default, so even if you are a traditional artist, this article...

Welcome to our new Community Series: Creator Tips and Tricks!!

ArtCrumbs here! I've got a great new series for you!

In this series we'll provide you with advice on how to grow, level up, and get new skills as a creator. These tips and tricks don't just apply to GlobalComix, these are the nitty gritty, the real work, the meat of what we do. We create and any way that we can improve that process is going to be a game changer!

Think you can't improve? You don't have to be great to start, but you have to start to be great!

In our first installment of the Creator Tips series, we are going to cover the Story feature in Clip Studio. I have spent time...

In this panel, star creators and industry pros discuss the ins and outs of crowdfunding a comic.

Panelists:

● Adam Lawson is the writer of The Kill Journal and The Eighth from Failed Superheroes Club. He is also the creator of the TT RPG Asunder, and writer/director of Escape the Night, Sagas of Sundry, & Spell Slingers.

● Honor Vincent is the multitalented writer and creator of Andraste, and writes for a variety of platforms as well.

● Rylend Grant is the Ringo Award-winning creator of comics like Aberrant, Banjax, The Jump, and The Peacekeepers. He’s worked for 15+ years in Hollywood, developing film and television projects - mostly big,...

Hey there and welcome to GlobalComix! This video is designed to give you a quick introduction to the platform and illustrate the experience of readers and publishers at a glance.