Webtoon is a combination of the words website (only internet) and cartoon (cartoon). It is considered a “hybrid child” between comics and cartoons. Online comic or digital comic (Webtoons) is an entertainment style associated with modern life and has become a prominent trend in recent years. It is this convenience, intuitiveness, and speed that has created an irresistible attraction for online comics.
At a Webcomic industry conference, Associate Professor of Media and Communication at the University of Perth, Australia, Brian Hanks, offered comments and reviews on digital manhwa. Through the discussion and then concluded whether digital comics are a new revolution or not?
At this conference, Hanks joined with experts in the comic industry to discuss a project called Australian Research Council Discovery. This project aims to present the strengths and weaknesses of the digital manhwa platform. In addition, this project helps students or future cartoonists to have an objective view of this topic.
Hanks said that the project uses basic research methods, collecting data through surveys from users, and leading experts in the digital manhwa industry.
To better understand this topic, users need to know the basics of what Webtoons? What are its strengths and weaknesses? And what kind of experience does it bring to the user?
Webtoon Manhwa is an imported from overseas entertainment form that is popular among many young people. Although Webtoon has been around for a long time, it has garnered a lot of attention in recent years. Especially with young people, and it has become the subject of many movies. The Webtoon genre originated in Korea, and 2014 has flourished. Webcomic was the original name for online comics in Korea, but it was changed to Webtoon. Due to the particularity of online comics, the design is also different from regular comics. Online comics are arranged with a vertical layout, making it easy for users to scroll up and down when reading stories on their phones. Some comics also add animations, 3D, sound effects, and background music to stimulate the reader’s imagination, creating a trend of layout for comics later in Korea, especially when people tend to read stories online is increasing day by day.
In addition, traditional comics are limited by the printing industry. The colors are often changed from the drawing to the final print, so a safe option often used by artists is a graphic design white-black color rendering. Webtoon with publishing on electronic devices has shown the advantage in terms of color. Therefore, it is not too difficult to understand when most Webtoons are colored with eye-catching colors.
Furthermore, the Webtoon reads when the story frames are “moved” by the user’s activities in the same manner as a movie with successive moving images would be created. This has brought Webtoon closer to cinema and made it a vital resource for filmmakers all around the world.
Professor Hanks gave research on how it works and how popular is the Webtoon?
Although the origin of Webtoon is in Korea, research in many different countries has come to the conclusion that Webtoon is expanding and spreading globally with this digital content. Not only is it encapsulated in Korea, but webtoon has also become a hot trend all over the world. Many Korean webtoon companies have gradually expanded into foreign markets. For example, Lezhin Comics has now set foot in the US. Toomics provides webtoon for platforms in China, the USA, and Japan.
The most important reason that makes this comic genre attractive is convenience. Wherever you are, as long as you have an internet-connected device, you can enjoy the webtoon. Beautiful visual pictures that are suitable with the online interface are additional characteristics that draw readers to the webtoon.
Hanks launched the Line Webtoon platform to assist people in determining the best website to read Webtoon. On “Line Webtoon,” Korean online comics are available in five languages. The posting-by-date mechanism is also being relocated in the same manner as the original. “Line Webtoon”offers over 300 Korean comics in five languages, including English and Chinese. Readers may read Korean comics on Line Webtoon due to a global army of amateur translators. Most of these works are likewise available for free to readers, as they are in Korea.
In addition, Hanks introduced the CANVAS function of Webtoon. CANVAS is a Webtoon feature that allows anybody with a Webtoon account to post and create webtoons for others to view. When most writers initially upload tales on Webtoons, they do so in the Canvas area as self-publishing, which is essentially defined as self-publishing online as well as self-managing and self-employed. The following forms of compensation will be available to freelance authors: Webtoons’ own Creator Rewards fund, including Google Adsense advertising money. Furthermore, the author retains full rights to the narrative and can distribute it on a variety of venues at the same time.
Hanks said, “The Webtoon comic genre is presently undergoing significant development and appears to have become a major brand to assist the Korean comic village to reach out to the rest of the globe.” The Jim Manytoon Comicsand Crunchyroll are two firms that have partnered with Webtoon. The platform said that it is expanding its cooperation with Vertigo Entertainment (IT, The Lego Movie) and will collaborate on a sci-fi live-action series with Samuel Ha’s Bound Entertainment (Snowpiercer, Okja). Rooster Teeth Studios, which will act as the series’ animation studio as well as a co-producer, will also partner with Webtoon.
Because Webtoon’s coverage is getting wider and wider in many countries, Hanks has used the term digital comics as the new revolution for Webtoon. During the conference in general and the project in particular, Hanks made comments and analyzed digital comics (Webtoon) to provide helpful information for readers and comic authors.
Bonus: The best manhwa online in this list in 2021
1 – Readfreecomics.com
2 – Webtoon.uk
3 – Manycomic.com
4 – Manytoon.com
6 – Manhwahentai.me
7 – Mangahentai.me
8 – Hentaimanga.me
9 – Freenovel.me
10 – Freecomiconline.me
11- Manhwa.info
12- Lightnovel.mobi
