[dc]A[/dc] year ago, I made a big change. No, not a switch to Batman Underoos (sadly), but to making my comics digitally. After deciding to make the switch, I looked at three options: the Motion Computing LE1700, the WACOM Cintiq, and the Microsoft Surface Pro 3.
Time flies when you are drawing funny pictures. Original image via Amazon.
Spoiler alert: I went with the Microsoft Surface Pro 3.
Now, a year later (roughly, because who is really counting? Maybe that one guy), I decided to look back on my first year of digital comic making.
Digital: Year One
I wrote a six-months later post too, and I recommend giving it a read, as it covers my first thoughts on the switch. I don’t want to repeat myself here.
Was going digital worth the money?
- Yes. The advantages of making comics digitally are many. It is an investment, and one I would make again without hesitation.
- While the switch was costly, around $1300 for my Surface Pro 3, Type Cover, tax, kitten stickers, etc, going with the Surface Pro 3 was much more affordable than a WACOM (and I wanted a full computer, too).
- I’m more likely to experiment with my comics, or drawing in general, because I don’t waste paper or ink.
- Vector-based drawing makes it easy to scale images up or down without a loss in quality. This means a larger file size, but it is like shooting photos in RAW.
- Over the past year, I copied and pasted a warm-up sketch from a sketchbook file into a comic file many times (where the drawing was fine-tuned, then inked over). Working digitally with vector-based illustrations make such a thing easier (and faster).
- Coloring my comics is easier and faster. If I was still working on paper, I doubt I would have as many color comics.
- Likewise, I can experiment with lettering much easier. I could just use the font tool in Manga Studio, but I like the hand-lettered look I get by tracing the text (here’s a tutorial on my lettering process).
