Making a Webtoon from Start to Finish: Writing for Canvas and Originals 

That's a neat trick. I love figuring out ways to trick our brains into cooperating. I agree though, there is something cozy or peaceful about taking a notebook and a pen and just running off into your own world. There isn't a bunch of distractions from a notebook versus our computers. Plus you can write anywhere and not have to turn on your computer, open an app, open a file I used to use a notebook all the time, started slowly going straight to computer though just as a way to save time. But I still have my travelling notebook.

Yes, I did the same. To write in paper for me is still faster just to put out the ideas.

I agree this totally helps a ton! I just decided to go through my old ideas and go after it again as a web comic to see how I feel about it.

i guess im asking the wrong place but does someone know of a method to log back into an Instagram account?? I stupidly forgot my password. I would appreciate any tips you can give me!

Thanks ☺️

Hah, I really appreciate your thoughtful comment. I do worry about the length of the videos a lot. How much detail to go into. I figured I'd do one set of videos that were very detailed that people could refer to and then I could short single topic videos after. I dunno, I tend to talk a lot and not realize it also ;-) But I am glad all the information proved useful for you. hi-five!

Wowzers! 135 chapters. That's intense. Doing that in just a year is pretty impressive but yeah, tons of editing. I'd imagine your notes are prolly just as long as your story. How close are you to saying "it's done." ?

@@walterostlie I would say in the next few weeks - month i'll have the full season revised! The more I get into the later chapters the less editing is needed as my writing skills have increased over time. Ideally I'd like to start drawing out chapters shortly after finalizing everything for season 1 but I'm going to sharpen up my art work again before I do so. Spending so long on scripting surly has dulled those skill a bit...And yes my notes are quite....long haha. I visualize the story and describe each panel as well as flesh out complete dialogues. There's several other things I do in my process but that's for another time XD. I have several seasons but I'll start working on those once I start uploading the first season. - Btw love your comics!

@@god6908 Thank you and best of luck. Looking forward to seeing your comic!

What's it gonna be called?

What is the name?

That's way I say don't spend too much time on your script, keep it loose. Especially if you're drawing your own script. You'll really see how well it all works or doesn't work when you start drawing.

Happy to hear that! Good luck with your script

oh, hello again. So I guess you are also drawing ;-) The video I mentioned earlier talks some about structure, so it may help. A quick trick is too luck a similar comics and movies that are similar and see how they got from moment to moment. Don't watch the movie for enjoyment, map it out, see how they jumped from point A to B to C.

Walter Ostlie That helps! Thank you for taking the time to reply (to both my comments!)

Lucked! Thanks for that. You're pretty damn cool too.

LOL NO HETERO omg

No hetero 🤣 love it!!

Same!! 😁

hey come check out my webtoon on saturday at 5pm on webtoon. its called liners and it will be under the name slyfangvictor.

That's great! Good luck with it. Let us know when you start posting it.

Cool

Drawing

backgrounds, I hate them =D

Honestly and unexpectedly, the writing. I couldn't start drawing until i finish the script. That part was surprising because i expected to be tormented by drawing (which is yet to come) but here i am, crying blood over having to write poems and struggling because i made the structure so tightly knit that any change in the nuance of my characters' decisions or dialogue alters tiny but significant parts of the nuances in the tone and mood of the story---for short, I'm miserable 😂 I'm still at chapter 3 out of 7 😂

It is a huge pain in the butt. I can't stop though, no matter how hard I try. Sometimes I think about taking a break from drawing, but then I just draw to relax ;-)

Backgrounds are over-rated. Who needs 'em!

Awesome, glad it helped! Yeah, figuring out those little bits between the big bits can be tricky. When I get really stuck, I go find a movie I really like and is similar in some way to my story. I analyze how they go from one thing to another. Usually turns out they didn't really do anything special. I think I get in my own head and think I have to do this world changing bit of storytelling and I really don't. Creatives tend to put too much pressure on ourselves to be "amazing", when just the fact that we are making something is amazing.

same!!!

That's great. I'm gonna have to use that one day.

Thanks and have fun with your comic. Let me know if you run into any problems.

That sounds pretty fun. Let me know when you start posting art, I'd really love to see it.

Yoooo! Hows that comic going five months later?

Hey, thanks for the sub. I haven't done a video specifically for that. But I will put it on my ideas list. I have a video coming up in a few weeks that covers some more writing stuff and it will touch a little on some of that that may be helpful. Are you focusing on writing or do you plan to do art for the comic as well?

Really happy to hear the videos are helping. Awesome news about the comic. Make sure to drop me a link when it goes live. Have fun!

That's awesome to hear! Glad you are making forward progress on your comic. I can't wait to see it, make sure to give me that link when you start posting stuff. Good luck and have fun!

Glad I could help. Good luck with your stories!

Thanks! I'm glad it's helping.

That's great! Have fun making your comic!

Thanks! Looking forward to seeing your comic.

I can't understand the struggles, I'll try to think of a good video to help with that. Thanks!

@@walterostlie Thx to you for your videos!

Thanks, Jerpa Nils! I hope it's helping people.

My pleasure

Nice! Congrats! Let me know when you post it, would love to see it. Did you do mind melting or heart warming?

@@walterostlie I did a little bit of both. I attempted a coming of age story with a hint of dystopia, some sci-fi and a little bit of magical girl with lots of adventure and a romantic subplot? It's kind of a lot, but I've been writing and rewriting it since 2018.

@@_Sofi_229 That sounds like a lot of fun. The best stories always have a little bit of every genre.

Awwww, love you to!

Sniggity snap. I didn't know you were writing on a webtoon. Make that happen, I wanna read it.

@@walterostlie someday...

Good luck with your story and have fun, you'll get there!

@@walterostlie thanks alot for supporting

Happy to help, let me know if you have any other questions.

Yeah, thinking is good, but overthinking will stop any creativity. It's a hard balance.

Thanks for watching.

That's how I started also. Good luck, let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks dood! We still need to do that thing. Whats the best way to chat you up?

@@walterostlie you on twitter dude? my twitter is @tyler_c_world HIT ME UP!

Good idea! Have fun.

That's awesome. I love it when people are making comics. Let me know when you post it online, so I can check it out.

Hah! Thank you! I've never been called a hero before. It's like we're on a quest to make comics.

@@walterostlie We really are lol and it is an epic quest. Yeah even finding you was like something out of the movies XD "Struggling girl is down to 22 days to get 150 panels planned, created and finished to reach her deadline, she is near a panic attack when she realizes she does not know the basics building blocks...when all seems like it is lost, a hero appears upon her screen! Walter Ostile is here!" I have gotten more done in 12 hours then 2 weeks lol. I appreciate you.

@@kuremyona7017 You got this! Let me know when you start posting, would love to see what you come up with.

Thanks, Philo Karen. Good watching and commenting!

Congrats on a new update! You're always getting better and if these videos help you along the way that's awesome. Thanks for watching.

Awesome. I am really happy it was helpful you. Thanks for watching and the comment. I hope your comic comes along as smoothly as comics can come along. It's all a learning experience and you don't really know what you don't know until it bites you in the butt. Have fun!

@@walterostlie I hear that my man, once again much appreciated. I'll throw you a shout out as soon as I can, you deserve as much exposure as possible.

That's awesome. Let me know when you post your comic online, I wanna check it out for sure.

I abandoned a few projects when I was starting out, but I learned a lot from them. I'm still learning a lot with each new project.

That's a tricky part. I suggest looking at movies or other comics that are in similar genres and see how they did it. Don't read it for enjoyment, but build a map for how their story progressed.

All ways tough to start back up, that's the hardest part. But once you get going, it becomes easier to create. It's just taking that first step. Good luck!

Good luck, let me know how it goes and what you liked or didn't.

@@walterostlie So far it's been a breath of fresh air! I've been able to write faster and that plug in is awesome for formatting. But I have a question about making a comic for Webtoons. How should I approach making the script if I want to someday sell physical copies of my comic? In particular with page breaks. I could simply add a "Page Break" text in my script, and then for my Webtoon simply ignore it and use the Gutter Space for a stylish transition. Or should I not worry about this yet because these problems can be worked out later? ~~~ BTW speaking of Gutter Space I've been using it like your use of "Panels" and headers: I use Googles "Heading2" for the Gutter space parts which makes it visually on the scripts text distinct. Say as an example I want to guide the reader to a panel between two characters talking. I might write it like this. Panel 1 (FULL) Jillian turns to face Rich, wide eyed, and her fists balled up at her side. Rich shrinks back with his hands up in defense. Jillian: "I can't leave them! I'm not some monster!" Rich: "And we won't... I just. Ah ha ha..." Gutters 1.1 Rich: "Jill..." Panel 2 (FULL) Rich relaxes and puts a hand on Jillian's shoulder. Jillian tears up and her hand relaxes slightly. Rich: "Your not a monster." Any what are your thoughts? Hope this helps.

@@raulendymion9917 The tricky part with printing the webtoon is going to be the transition from infinite canvas to finite canvas. So not only would you have to plan your page breaks, but you'd also have to plan how each panel would fit and be sized for the printed page. An easy way to do this would be to make all the panels the same size. However that doesn't make full use of either webtoon or print format. And there will still be problems. In the end, converted print to web or web to print will be possible, it may just not produce the best results, unless you sacrifice for both or do a lot of extra work to make the second work better. I'd suggest just make a crappy, stick figure comic in the way that you are thinking and then just try to take those panels and move it to a traditional page and see what problems you run into. The biggest problem is going to be the lettering size. It needs to be bigger for webtoon and smaller for print. As for adding "gutter" to your script. I am not sure of the purpose of it. A gutter is empty space that is between two panels. If there is something between two panels, not emptiness, then it's just another panel. Even if it's a open, long panel. If you are talking about what I did in the video where I drew the background behind all that long lettering I wrote and ended with the guy waving and saying "hello" I think a better way to write it would be Panel 1 (NOTE* This should be a long panel with a lot of text, make a taller panel that shows the environment and has room for the text dump). We are on an alien planet, there are birds in the sky, trees, and a mountain range off in the distance. Joe sits on a rock, pondering. joe - talks a lot. joe - bla bla bla. Panel 2 (NOTE* This should sit ontop the panel before this one) Joe looks at the reader, smiles, and waves. joe - hello. This will be helpful if there is something very specific in your mind, but I'd say let this stuff get worked out while you are thumbnailing a comic. Trying to write in words, what you imagine visually is going to get time consuming. If you are also the artist, then you can just keep it in your brain. But if you are giving the script to a writer, it will be hard to be very clear to them. Best to just write a short note like "tall panel". Then you can talk about it when they start drawing. The next video will be thumbnailing and I'll go over this situation. If you are meaning something else by the "gutter", then I don't understand and would have to see the visual representation. But if you found something that works for you, then I say go with it especially if you're making it a header 2 to make it distinctly visible in the script. It's more important that you do what personally works best for you rather than follow some "rules"

That's a lot of progress. How much scripting do you want to finish before art production starts? I outlined my first season and wrote around 15 eps out of 50 before I jumped into the art.

I hope the video helped. Good luck with your comic! Send me the link when you start posting.

Walter Ostlie what do you think about doing a webtoon by writing the story and just drawing/uploading 3 episodes (since that’s what they say usually gets people hooked or dropped), wait for a following and while you wait continue to make more episodes (just save em for later) and when you get a bigger following start releasing weekly and it gives you like a buffer to work with so you don’t feel so rushed? I hate feeling rushed because I know it affects the story and I’d hate to have that happen. Edit: I’m asking also cuz I’ve just recently started saving for a tablet with a screen (which is super pricey I know). I’m one of those artists that have to draw directly on the surface. I’ve tried traditional, then upload a pic as a layer to trace over, but it’s hard for me to use the screen less tablets to trace and I’m horrible with my mouse.

Give it a try, see what you think. It's an interesting format and the platform has tons of potential. Lots of work.

I haven't read save the cat, but I've heard it mentioned before. Worth a read?

@@walterostlie Definitely worth the read. However not sure how it will translate into breaking apart episodes and volumes etc. As I’ve never converted a novel/script to comics. It would be great to know how and when to end an episode versus the end of a “chapter“.

Nice! Did you scrap the game or are you still working on it?

Congrats on starting! It's a big step, have fun.

Thanks! Have fun writing.

Thank you for the sub!

Short answer, yes. But it is something you'd want to discuss with the artist. Drawing a screenplay versus a comic script will take more work on the part of the artist. However, some artists say they prefer less structure, but still will take some "writing" on the part of the artist and potential lead to some redrawing if the artist misinterpreted your intent. There's also the potential that a page of your screenplay wouldn't equate a comic page, therefore you could think you were doing a 120 page comic, but in reality its' a 300 page comic. Making up those numbers, but you get the idea.

@@walterostlie if some one handed you a screenplay with hope of producing a webcomic out of it, what would you want to seen in it to help make the process possible?

@@FunnyGuyTimmy If someone handed me a screenplay and wanted me to draw it into a comic, I'd ask for comic writing credit :-) or at least adapted by credit. That's kind of tongue-in-cheek, but honestly, while there are a lot of similarities between screenplays and comic scripts, there are differences with pacing, panels, etc that would require a fair amount of reworking. It's like going from a novel to a screenplay. There some rework that needs to be for the medium. It's like asking a director, what do you want to see in this novel to help make filming possible? It's dependent on the relationship between the writer and the artist and their preferences, there isn't really a one-size-fits-all.

@@walterostlie thank you

Right on! I hope the video helped and if you have any questions, let me know. What made you decide to do webtoon or print?

Walter Ostlie thank you again after watching your video and DL that google plug in, I finished writing 3 issues 😝. I’ve always loved western style comics and manga. I started seriously writing for about the better part the last year. I feel that my style of writing is best suited to comic form. I’m in the process of writing another comic script that I want to print, but I thought I would try my hand at webtoon-as it seems to be all the rage at the moment.

I tend to write very loose panel descriptions and the dialogue, then I start thumbnailing. I tend to rewrite, add, remove panels as I draw and also rework dialogue. It's one of the nice things about doing everything yourself, you can make edits easily.

What's got you stuck on ep 6? Thumbnailing all 10 is tough. It would be really tough for me, because I go off-script a lot, so going back to pencil episode 1 after being away from it for a week or more, I'd forget all the choices I made ;-) I need to do a better job of editing the script if I draw it different, just to make my life easier later.

Walter Ostlie I go off script too! So when I am thumbnailing I feel like I am still re-editing my story and trying to determine what will actually work when it's finally drawn. So by episode 6 I started second guessing if I had executed the current scene well or if I had to rework it, and so I've been procrastinating on that haha

Saved me sooo much time. Side note - If you ever want to use the plugin, I just found out the plugin was discontinued or was disposed of by some nefarious means, so I found another one called "Markdown Tools". I haven't used it yet, but it looks similar. Just open google docs, go to add-ons in the menu, click get add-ons, and search for markdown tools. gsuite.google.com/marketplace/app/markdown_tools/788541604518

Right on. Good luck! Let me know when you start posting again.

That's great. I hope you're having fun.

@@walterostlie Thanks keep up the video doing next

I would say don't worry about visual character design at all before writing. World building you can do a little or none. You want the story to be the most important part. You don't want a lot of heavy world history and rules bogging down your creative writing. You can always start defining the world as your script gains more shape. So you don't need design and world before you start, better that you start with writing. Of course, the more you make, the more you'll learn what works best for you.

Walter Ostlie thank you so much. I recommend your videos to everyone who wants to get into WEBTOONs. 👏👏

If this will be your first comic. Pick the one your are the least passionate about with the characters who are the coolest and just make it. You'll learn a lot, it's really important just to start. I always started with an idea I didn't really like just to practice, those ideas ended becoming my favorites as I created. Besides you can always reboot your idea if you figure out problems as your making it.

@@walterostlie Thank you, that helped me a lot. :) i'll do that

Sounds pretty deep and interesting. Let me know when you post it, I wanna check it out.