Webcomic Help Please?

I'm a starving webcomic artist. I currently use Microsoft Word to make my comics then I copy them into Paint and save thm as a JPEG. Sad, I know. I want to buy better software, but Flash is like 700 dollars and I wasn't looking to spend very much at all. Does anyone know of other software that can do the job?

You really need to stop using Paint. Any digital imaging suite like Adobe Photoshop can be used to make comics. Some free alternatives are Paint.NET and Gimp or Gimpshop.

http://www.getpaint.net/

http://www.gimpshop.com/

You might find this useful. Kazu Kibuishi has a step-by-step tutorial on how he makes his webcomic, "Copper," on this site:

http://www.boltcity.com/workshop/copper_tutorial/

As for comic creating programs, Manga Studio is a popular choice for black and white comics. However, it's pretty pricey.

There's also TokyoPop's Manga Creator:

It's much much cheaper than Manga Studio, and easier to use. The dowside is that it has less features. It's up to you what you'd want to spring for.

http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/review/tokyopop-manga-creator-2

There's also Comic Book Creator 2, which is fairly cheap. Which usually means easy to use but low on advanced features:

http://www.myplanetwide.com/products/detail/description.html?id=41

It's up to you to find out exactly what these programs can do and decide whether it's worth paying for that extra functionality.

If you're on a Mac, there's Comics Life. It should already be on your Mac, I think. If it's not, you can download a demo here:

http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/imaging_3d/comiclife.html

Colouring a comic page - by Amion

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