Webtoon Tips

Here are a few savvy tips for the creators thinking about reforming their traditional comics for the Webtoon Platform

Earlier this year, I announced that ComixTribe would be remastering and serializing EPIC, the superteen action comedy by Tyler James & Matt Zolman for the infinite scroll and releasing on the Webtoon webcomic platform.

In that last post, I covered the reasons why creators and publisher might want to re-purpose their stuff on one of the largest webcomic sites on the planet. This time around I’m sharing a few tips I’ve learned about remastering and relaunching an existing comic over there. If you’re a podcast listener, you might also like to listen to this ComixLaunch Podcast on the subject:

Webtoon Tips for Reformatting, Remastering and Relaunching Traditional Comics for the Mobile Friendly Infinite Scroll

#1: Make Sure Your Comics Content is Webtoon Appropriate

Before getting too excited about taking your comic over to Webtoon, you’ll want to read through their Content Guidelines to make sure your comic is Webtoon appropriate. The free mobile platform that skews younger with its readership is NOT an anything goes free-for-all. There is a ban on mature / sexual content and violent / graphic content.

My comic EPIC seemed like a great fit for the platform, but I’ve actually already had one update flagged as inappropriate and temporarily taken down. It seems this sequence below was deemed too hot for Webtoon:

#2: Make Your First Episode a Teaser/ Trailer for the Series

I stole this tip from Kat Calamia and Phil Falco's Slice of Life Webtoon Series... and it just makes sense. Instead of beginning at the start of your story with your first short episode, it’s probably a better choice to begin with a teaser/trailer style episode that let's you serve a complete pitch of the book to potential readers and subscribers.

Why? Well, most short Webtoon’s episodes won’t open with enough information for readers to truly grasp what the concept is all about. In EPIC, the series hook/premise isn’t fully revealed until page 32, the last page of the first issue. Now, that's FINE if readers are digesting the comic book in one setting... but on Webtoon it might be MONTHS before we get there!

There’s no guarantee that readers will stick around long enough to get to the meat of your premise on a busy platform like Webtoon. So, instead, this is a platform where there is no reason to hide the ball.

Crafting a decent teaser Webtoon update was super easy for me to do because a few months earlier, I put together this teaser trailer for the recent EPIC Kickstarter campaign:

Because I designed this in Canva, which is a social media and web graphics platform first, it was super easy to convert to a format that would work for Webtoon, reusing most of the same script and art assets, and turning it into this:

CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL EPIC TEASER ON WEBTOON

So, the series pitch, with great art from throughout the series to hook readers, is the first episode for Epic on Webtoon.

#3: Accept that You'll Need to Re-letter for Webtoon

The most important thing your comic needs to be for the Webtoon audience is LEGIBLE. If you’re a traditional comics reader hopping on the platform for the first time, you'll probably be SHOCKED at how big the lettering is on most popular Webtoon comics.

Traditional comic folks like me might also bristle at the lettering choices and conventions... some of it is pretty terrible, or at least often violates some of the “rules” we come to expect from professional letting. But the most important element is readability on small mobile devices.

At first I thought I could save myself some trouble and work with already lettered files, do some reposition, resizing, changing where the balloon pointers were pointing, etc… but quickly realized that it required a lot of editing, was not very consistent, and was probably taking as much time (if not more) than it would just to start lettering again from scratch.

Here’s Page 1 of Epic at traditional comic lettering size. This format was never really meant to be read on a small phone or device.

Here’s the same page, re-lettered for Webtoon. Notice the massive size difference in lettering… and how much easier it is to read on your phone!

The decision to re-letter was confirmed when my #1 all-time superfan (aka mom) sent me this email shortly after launch:

So, rather than fight it, I embraced the platform, modeled my new lettering size after some of the most popular comics on there and dove in.

#4: Don’t Be Afraid to Make Some Creative Changes for the New Adaptation

The decision to re-letter also freed me up to make some changes to this version of the story, and have some fun with it. I know some creators look at reformatting your comic to the Webtoon platform as “grunt work” to be outsourced. But I’ve actually embraced it, and see it more as an opportunity to adapt your story to a new medium.

I freed myself up to change or expand the dialog in some spots, move some panels around, repeat panels, and even re-order panels or pages where it makes more sense.

I’ve also noticed that Webtoon is a character-driven and dialog driven platform for storytelling... So, this has been an opportunity to get back into my characters’ heads and throw in a few extra jokes or bonus banter that wasn’t in the original print version. If anything, this provides our superfans another reason to re-read the book on Webtoon to see if they can spot the changes we’re making.

More Great Webtoon’s Resources

I cover a few more bonus tips in the feature length ComixLaunch podcast episode over on Spotify, so definitely check that out if you’re interested in more Webtoon hacks.

But I also want to make it clear that I’m really just cutting my teeth on the platform. If you’re looking to go deep on all things Webtoon, I strongly recommend Walter Ostlie’s YouTube Channel which has a ton of great resources.

Click here to check out Walter’s Webtoon Tutorials on YouTube!

Webtoon Recommendations for Traditional Comic Fans

I surveyed the ComixTribe audience a few weeks ago, and it’s pretty clear that the minority are reading anything regularly on the platform.

I get it. Honestly, most of the content over there simply is NOT for me. That said, there are some series that I think traditional comic creators might want to check out and that might inspire them on how they could take advantage of the platform… and maybe see it in a new light.

Here are a few recommendations:

• Urban Animal by Justin Jordan & John Amor. From the prolific creator Luther Strode, this action-packed series about a teen chimera really leans into the format in innovative ways, while telling a long-form epic that fans of Spider-man, Invincible, mythology and fantasy will love.

• Witch Creek Road by Garth Matthams  and Kenan Halilovic is a survival horror about love, acceptance, death and revenge… And sexy flesh-eating demons. This is a great example of a comic that goes to the line of what Webtoon will allow as far as mature content is concerned, and is one that works equally well in traditional format as on Webtoon.

• Batman: Wayne Family Adventures - What's DC doing on Webtoon? This Rated TEEN comic focuses on the Bat Family and drama at Wayne Manor. Sometimes you need a little familiar comfort comics, and this one delivers, and shows how mainstream can be adapted to the infinite scroll.

• The Age of Arrogance - This is a Webtoon Original, and features gorgeous art, and a story about a female barbarian caught up in royal hijinx. Honestly, this is one of those comics that I wouldn’t normally read as I’m not usually a manga guy, but it’s worth checking out.

• Haxor by Walter Ostlie. Here’s an example of a COMPLETE Webtoon series, so you can read the entire thing. I love how Walter leans into and plays with the Webtoon platform, infinite scroll, and gorgeous backgrounds and vertical transitions.

• Slice of Life by Kat Calamia, Phil Falco and Valeria Peri. This one gave me the series teaser as first episode concept, and in talking with Kat and Phil, I know they were very strategic with designing this comic for Webtoon. The pitch is when gritty anime protagonist, Lady Vengeance, is brought to the real world, she'll learn there's more to life than darkness and revenge...and she'll find love with a kind-hearted cheerleader. The team does a great job embracing the community, doing crossovers with other Webtoon projects, and they also use their Webtoon updates to promote their frequent Kickstarter launches.

Alright, hope you got some value from this one, and appreciate the work that goes into all the great comics that are out there for free on Webtoon. I hope you dive into some of these recommended series…

If you haven’t Do me a favor and go check out EPIC: Superteenage Wasteland on Webtoon. There are six episodes up now to read, and please like, subscribe, comment, and check out or serialized updates which go live on Wednesdays!