Translation
A new Change Log comic about making up words. Also some thoughts on digital drawing tools.
Yeah, I’m old. I know. And I’m sure my generation had a lot of dumb stuff too. I remember the grunge fad. And goths. Are goths still a thing?
Anyway, the one thing we didn’t do was make up our own language. It’s weird to see how things like this spread now with social media and youtube. Kids spend so much time online and follow these “influencers” (man, I hate that term… get off my lawn!) sometimes I wonder if it’s all a big social experiment. Maybe it is aliens trying to dumb down our society so we’re easier to conquer. Or maybe it’s just some secret society of “intellectuals” having a laugh.
Either way, there is hope for the new generation. Some young people see this stuff for the silliness that it is. My son is one of them so I’ll take that to mean I’ve done some things right as a parent. I have no idea what percentage of this generation are sane, but at least it isn’t zero. Hopefully the sane ones become the leaders, although recent history hasn’t gone so well. We seem to have gotten the worst of the baby boomer generation. But if some future president ends a speech with “No cap!” I’ll know it’ll be time to check out. It’s been a good run.
Making Comics Digitally
Making comics is a pretty personal experience. Everyone does it a little differently. I’ve written a lot about my process and things to keep in your brain as far as storytelling, but I haven’t really talked that much about the tools I use. So I thought I’d do a quick overview of drawing apps, some of the pros and cons about them, and why I’m using one over the other two. I’ll go from least favorite to my current favorite… spoiler alert, it’s Adobe Fresco right now. All of them are great options and it really comes down to personal preference so feel free to yell at me in the comments if you disagree.
Clip Studio Paint
CSP is great. Since it’s specifically designed for making comics, some of the tools for setting up your files really save time and are exclusive to this app. If you pay for the more expensive version, you can also organize and manage pages. There are some other features in the more expensive version that I can’t remember. Really, the cheaper version is plenty to do what you need to do and it’s only around $25 per year. I know, some people hate the subscription model, but I don’t mind it as long as there are constant improvements and updates being made. They also offer cloud storage and a lot of community resources.
So why don’t I use CSP? I used to use it all the time. Before I switched to the ipad, I was using a Surface Pro. CSP is great as a desktop app and even the ipad version is a great option. But when I switched to the ipad and discovered Procreate, going back to the drawing experience in CSP felt like a downgrade.
One thing to note, it does have the ability to create vector art, so that on top of the comic-specific features really does make it stand out and maybe warrants another look.
Procreate
Everyone uses Procreate. It has really carved out a spot as the go-to drawing app on the ipad. Honestly, it is what made me switch from using a Surface to an ipad. The drawing experience is possibly the best digital drawing experience for me. They’ve also found the balance of enough features while keeping the UI clean and easy to use. CSP is a bit overwhelming, although they did make an attempt to compete by releasing a simplified UI. But we’re talking about Procreate here.
So, amazing drawing experience, clean UI, everyone loves it, oh and I forgot to mention no subscription… you buy it once and that’s all you pay. So why isn’t this my drawing app of choice? The main reason is really the lack of a vector option. Not so much for the comics I make, but for other illustration work that I do, vector is a requirement. And really, Fresco has caught up to Procreate in almost every area, and surpassed it in some.
Which brings me to my winner…
Adobe Fresco
I know, everyone hates Adobe and their subscription model. I’ll get to that in a minute. The real reason I switched to Fresco is that, after a rocky initial release, they’ve improved the drawing experience to the point where it’s as good as Procreate. At least for me. I’m still trying to find my perfect brush settings, but overall, it’s great. There are also a lot of little things missing from Procreate that I didn’t realize I needed until I started using Fresco (the ability to create a selection with no anti-aliasing, the paint bucket, better animation tools, unlimited layers, etc). The workflow of the cloud storage and going back and forth between Photoshop and Fresco is also a feature that I didn’t think much about but is a huge time saver.
Ok, so about the subscription thing. If you really hate subscriptions, Fresco does have a free version. I think you don’t get some brushes and your cloud storage is limited, but it still seems like you’re getting a lot for free. If you don’t subscribe to Creative Cloud, you can pay for a Fresco-only subscription that’s around $10 per year, which is basically nothing. I already pay for Creative Cloud so for me it wasn’t an issue and, like I mentioned, I’m really not opposed to subscriptions if I feel like the consistent updates are there.
So there are my reasons. I’d love to hear yours. If there’s anything I’m missing about any of these or you want to fight about it, feel free to drop a comment or let me know on X.
Thanks for reading and I hope you have a great week!
-Brad