How I chose one size for my webcomic that works for websites and to use in a book

Over time, my webcomic transformed into more than just something I posted on my website. It was a thing that I could find multiple uses for.

Now when I draw the comic I know that it's going to be used for a book and put on multiple media websites and webcomic sites.

I draw one thing and it's being turned into several things at once.

Right now I draw the webcomic using these dimensions:

1000px by 1200px and a dpi of 300

Here is the story of how I decided this is what the size of my webcomic should be.

(Related post: Choosing webcomic book sizes for print - How do I make my webcomic books)

When I started my webcomic I just chose a size at random

When I first started drawing the comic I was just posting it on my website. 

Screenshot of my webcomic on the site

I just picked a size for the comic that was a large rectangle like a comic page and I just went with it. No real thought behind it.

This wasn't a problem at the time. But I wasn't thinking ahead. 

I wasn't thinking about how the comic would transform to other sites and mediums.

Adjusting the sizes for each medium seemed like more work

I could adjust the size of the webcomic for each of these different platforms. But it would take extra work. It would take manipulating what I had and then creating several different versions of it.

So I decided I wanted to find a way for me that was smarter rather than harder.

I started posting to webcomics sites

I had started posting my comics to different webcomics sites. I wanted to try and put them in a place where people were actively looking for webcomics.

I could cross-post to that instead of trying to find people and bring them to my site.

Tapas webcomics

One of the first ones I started using was tapas.io.

The size requirements for tapas is 940px wide

They even offer a monetary reward system and they also share ad revenue on the site.

Tapas.io monetization program

I can get ad-sharing revenue if I get more people to view my comic. So that part's really cool!

Webtoons

I also post to a webcomic site called webtoons.com.

The size requirements for Webtoons is 800px wide

Webtoons also have an ad sharing program but you have to have a certain amount of followers to apply to be in it.

Webcomics on Instagram

I had also started posting my webcomic to Instagram about halfway through creating my first webcomic book.

My webcomics on Instagram

For the most part, Instagram likes square images. 

But I have found I can post a taller rectangle on my Instagram feed.

The tallest image I found that works in the feed is 1200px

So if I resized my webcomic the width then became 1000px

Which is the size of the comic I ended up using.

I went with the Instagram size because it was larger than the size of all the other sites. 

So now I could use my Google Photos resizing trick to adjust it for the other webcomics sites.

This size also worked out great for my webcomic books.

Check out the video

I made a video talking more about this and the whole process of making my webcomic book. You can check that out on the site here! Making a Webcomic Book on Amazon - Part 2