Introduction
When you think of original works, you most likely are thinking of an artist's work from the ground up, from their pencil to the final product. You may imagine years of training to produce something unique and incredible. Today, we will take a look at some professional Webtoon Original works, who take shortcuts with quality (not quantity) in mind and try to give you advice on what things they can teach us about our own artwork
In this article I've assembled and analyzed 5 Webtoon Originals comic creators here for you to read about their shortcuts and techniques, so that you can start improving your own comics immediately.
Table of Contents
IntroductionLet’s Play: 3D Backgrounds - Sketchup MakeCastle Swimmer: Reusing panelsSweet Home: 3D backgrounds - SketchupGOSU: Reusing handdrawn backgroundsLore Olympus: Textured brushes and alpha lock layersConclusion
Let’s Play: 3D Backgrounds - Sketchup Make
It's all hand-drawn digitally. I use Clip Studio, which is a software, it's made by a Japanese company. I use that for my drawing software. I also use a software by Google called Sketchup Make for the background, and that's purely for time constraints. - Mongie, author of “Let’s Play!”
Castle Swimmer: Reusing panels
“Castle Swimmer” has excellent use of colors to set the mood and accurately reflect the setting. When Siren is at home in the shark kingdom everything has a dark shadowy overcast, like you might imagine in a cave. The reader becomes used to this color palette, so when Siren leaves the kingdom for the first time, the bright and open sea is just as wonderful to the reader as it is to Siren. Additionally, the author is great at character’s facial expressions. In serious moments they can be stern and stoic, but in relaxed and comedic moments they are more stylized and off anatomy. The character’s body position might not change, but their facial expression becomes loose, funny, and highly expressive. This accentuates comedic moments and makes the characters seem more relatable and “human.”
(S2) Episode 39
- The same pose of Siren about to stab the fish is reused for these three panels, only zoomed in at different times.
- The background is loose and painterly, this way not only do Siren and the other fish/characters stand out from it, but also, it suits the ocean’s state of being as beautiful and expansive.
Note: You can use vector layers to maintain line quality when zooming in. Clip Studio Vector layer tips
Sweet Home: 3D backgrounds - Sketchup
Sweet home does a great job of balancing its intense emotions with more intense linework. Moments where characters are in action as well as moments with intense character dialogue and emotion are given more scratchy lines. The author utilizes distortion and a fish eye lense view to great effect. As the divide between the humans and monsters becomes less clear, the art style reflects that by distorting the faces and figures. Finally, in order to save time, the artist utilizes 3D models for the backgrounds. So far almost all of the 122 chapters have taken place in the main character’s apartment building, where most of the floors besides the lobby and parking garage are nearly identical in layout. The artist can reuse the 3D assets for multiple floors, which saves a lot of time.
Sweet Home chapter 122
- The drawing of Hyun is reused in these two panels. The panel zooms in on his reaction to the other character's words; only Hyun’s mouth is redrawn.
- The background of the door shifts slightly, which I believe is still a part of the 3D model of Hyun’s room.
GOSU: Reusing handdrawn backgrounds
The art style of GOSU is incredibly detailed, especially for a weekly comic. The lineart is done with a very ink-brush like pen, and the background coloring is in a style akin to watercolor, where the colors of the trees and foliage blend into one another. Less character detail needed when zoomed out, yet it still provides a good sense of character location and movement. Character moments that are more important are zoomed in and given a new illustration for emphasis.
[Chapter 2] Ep. 84
- Highly detailed backgrounds and scenes which are reused
- The scene is cropped in for multiple panels (as seen in the left most column) and cropped out when the character is leaving the scene (middle column).
Lore Olympus: Textured brushes and alpha lock layers
The art style of “Lore Olympus” is colorful, painterly, and otherworldly. Because the series is highly stylized and colorful, it is able to get away with a looser, more “messy” shading style. The artist makes great use of texture and texture brushes to add more dimension to the artwork, and makes it both seem more detailed in a way, and gives it a more story book and mythical vibe.
Lore Olympus chapter 109
- Simple shading using a texture brush
- “Messy” but can be interpreted as painterly and other worldly
- Use of multiple overlays to add multiple shades and textures to the skin
- The “stars” in this panel are from a basic paint-flick brush. Stars are often painted this way in traditional paintings as well; so not only is this a time saving trick, but also it comes off as more painterly.
Conclusion
It's an exciting time for Webtoon creators, but also a daunting one. With so many opportunities to take advantage of and so much success within reach, there's no reason not to try and get the most out of your webtoons. Whether you're a professional or an amateur, these tutorials provide a good starting point for learning new techniques. Even if you don't think they'll work with your style, they're worth checking out—you never know what you might learn.