#tsos webtoon

[the-silence-of-songbirds]

No fandom? Fine. I'll do it myself.

Hi !! Nice to have you here !

My names Ree, I'm a minor, she/her

I saw that since this webcomic has no fandom, I'd yap here till people arrive :> (hi!!! Talk to me abt tsos!!! Please hello!!!!)

Feel free to send asks, DM, and interact w me in general <3

If you haven't read it, I'd recommend you do! Link to the comic on webtoon here.

Any bigots spotted will be blocked.

[thermo-catz]

WHAT DO YOU MEAN..OH MY FUCKING GOD? PURPAH WHEN I CATCH YOU PURPAH, PURPAH WHEN I CATCH YOU, PURPAH WHEN I CATH YO OOYUUGHHHHH WHAT THE HELLS. YOU CANNOT LEAVE IT OFF LIKE THAT.

[deerskully]

Thumbnails for my upcoming Webcomic. This is sorta a summer project for me to improve on different aspects of my art that I have yet to master. Whether it’s good or bad, I will still find enjoyment in storytelling and drawing!

[finsterwalds]

salut!! je voulais juste savoir si tu continuais the smell of samba (je veux pas paraître comme si je te presse, je vois bien que tu as d'autres choses à faire) parce que j'adore cette histoire, les dessins sont magnifiques et la suite promet d'être intéressante, notamment avec walter. pas besoin d'une date ou quoi, je lirai, et avec plaisir, quand les chapitres sortiront.

Aw Anon, merci beaucoup de ton message ! :'( Je sais que TSOS n'a pas été updaté depuis plus d'un an maintenant, et make no mistake, cela m'attriste énormément. Sans raconter ma vie j'ai eu du mal à me remettre à faire quelque chose d'aussi chronophage que du webtoon sans situation personnelle à peu près stable. Son grand frère Stone Flower est sorti dans une période de ma vie très insouciante où j'avais pas mal de temps libre ainsi qu'un grand optimisme dans l'existence. Je récupère seulement peu à peu tout cela après deux années globalement assez difficiles et pesantes. Au bout d'un moment j'ai aussi beaucoup tergiversé sur "comment" reprendre, car je ne suis pas fan du format webtoon tout en longueur et je souhaiterais plus repartir sur des planches à la Stone Flower, voir même encore plus proches du format BD. Bref, tous ces blocages ont fait que je n'ai pas avancé sur les planches de TSOS alors que j'ai tout écrit et que l'histoire est précise dans ma tête... Il y a aussi l'effet égoïste du manque d'engouement par rapport à Stone Flower, qui entrait plus rapidement dans le concret de l'aspect romance et qui je pense manque aux lecteurs pour le moment pour s'investir...

...Mais tes mots me touchent énormément. Savoir que quelqu'un attends la suite, aime mon travail et prenne le temps de me le dire me redonne courage. Je suis sur une pente qui remonte depuis le début de 2024, je reprends peu à peu goût au dessin, et l'histoire de Paolo me tient énormément à cœur donc je me dois de la raconter. Sachant tout cela, The Smell of Samba fera sans aucun doute un retour cette année... A vue de nez par rapport à mon avenir je sais déjà à peu près quand, mais je préfère vous laisser la bonne surprise ;)

[siren-serenity]

𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐇𝐖𝐀/𝐌𝐀𝐍𝐆𝐀 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐎𝐔𝐓𝐒 ˚ ༘♡ ⋆｡˚

if you've read my 'about me' section, you probably might know that i love reading manwha/manga! the apps i primarily use are from tapas and webtoon so you might have/have not heard of some of these works. without further ado, let's get started!

↳˳;; ❝ 𝐓𝐀𝐏𝐀𝐒 ᵕ̈೫˚∗

romance ⋆·˚ ༘ * beware the villainess! ⋆·˚ ༘ * the villainess is a marionette ⋆·˚ ༘ * villainesses have more fun ⋆·˚ ༘ * i shall master this family ⋆·˚ ༘ * the male lead's little lion daughter (a/n: although it is under the romance section, it's currently non-romantic! it states it in the description, which made me put it here) ⋆·˚ ༘ * my boss's special request ⋆·˚ ༘ * the siren: becoming the villain's family ⋆·˚ ༘ * revenge on the real one ⋆·˚ ༘ * marriage of convenience ⋆·˚ ༘ * villains are destined to die ⋆·˚ ༘ * what it means to be you (a/n: caution! heavy mentions of depression and suicide, but the plotline is very interesting!) ⋆·˚ ༘ * cassmire: the loyal sword ⋆·˚ ༘ * writing my male lead's happily ever after ⋆·˚ ༘ * just leave me be ⋆·˚ ༘ * the perks of being a villainess

action ⋆·˚ ༘ * solo leveling (a/n: it's getting an anime adaptation yall!!) ⋆·˚ ༘ * the novel's extra ⋆·˚ ༘ * gourmet gaming ⋆·˚ ༘ * second try idol ⋆·˚ ༘ * rookie chef with the magic touch

↳˳;; ❝ 𝐖𝐄𝐁𝐓𝐎𝐎𝐍 ᵕ̈೫˚∗

romance ⋆·˚ ༘ * the remarried empress ⋆·˚ ༘ * secretary out-of-order ⋆·˚ ༘ * marry my husband ⋆·˚ ༘ * daytime star ⋆·˚ ༘ * serena ⋆·˚ ༘ * leveling up my husband to the max ⋆·˚ ༘ * maybe meant to be (a/n: ML, please just get contacts...i'm begging you) ⋆·˚ ༘ * operation: true love ⋆·˚ ༘ * your throne (a/n: two badass FL is all i can ask for :)) ⋆·˚ ༘ * for my derelict favorite ⋆·˚ ༘ * sixth sense kiss ⋆·˚ ༘ * my in-laws are obsessed with me ⋆·˚ ༘ * i thought my time was up!

action ⋆·˚ ༘ * omniscient reader (a/n: literally my #1 on webtoon! bro i'm addicted to the art and the storyline like hello please grant me those magical abilities tq) ⋆·˚ ༘ * the greatest estate developer (a/n: the mc is so funny like pls- his expressions lmao!! every other second the guy's like: "money, money, money, must be funny, in the rich man's world") ⋆·˚ ༘ * get schooled (honestly i loved this series so much that i binged all 100+ episodes in two days! it finished it's first season and i love each and every arc. the art was magnificient. the character development was amazing. i love it so much!!) ⋆·˚ ༘ * teenage mercenary (10/10 for real!! ijin is so badass, i love the entire concept and 006 can marry me. oh, and 005 can willingly have me as her puppet. i binged all 110+ episodes in two days also! right before exams- sue me, but goddamn i love the series) ⋆·˚ ༘ * lookism (holy shit this was a rollercoaster of emotions idk how i'm going to recover from it- ITS SO GOOD LIKE I JUST WANT MORE!! 400+ EPISODES CAN'T HOLD ME BACK I NEED MOREE)

horror ⋆·˚ ༘ * melvina's therapy (a/n: personally, i'm not into horror but i read a couple of chapters of this and loved it! the art is amazing, everything has so many intricate details that the author literally has to put a message at the end of each 'mini-story' to show the readers little easter eggs they sneaked in and i'm always like: wth??) ⋆·˚ ༘ * surviving romance (a/n: the art is so beautiful!! the plot is tso heartwrenchingly sad, funny, and gorgeous all at once! i binged read all 80+ chapters in two days hahaha)

[thursdayfictions]

A little fanart for a wonderful Webtoon canvas comic, The Secrets of Soulford! Go give it a read if you haven't before - you won't regret it!

[dcsart]

Our guest comic today is by shooshell who works on the comic, The Sweetness of Salt, on Tapas and Webtoons!

It's always a lot of fun to do trades like this with comics that also feature witch characters with their non-human partners. Also, TSoS is ladies falling in love in a sweet cottage by the ocean, what more could you want?!

Check out TSoS to see the comic I made for her comic as well:

Read on Tapas -- Read on Webtoons

[mountainlion3]

I just had a stupid nightmare. Im sure no one cares so ima just toss this into the void of tumblr to forget about it. Like I am disappointed in my dream self. In the dream at first things were pretty normal or well as normal as a dream can get. I was playing minecraft with friends helping them make a tree and then the TV suddenly turns off. Then I decide I'm gonna go to bed... right as I'm about to go to bed foxy appears as and catches me and I wake up where I was at the tv. This happens a couple more times and I find out he only catches me if I'm in his path, line of sight, or can be heard. I eventually decide to run and get my mom but she doesn't care in the slightest and tells me to go back to bed. My sister tries helping but eventually gives up and we just decide to go to our room together. Right as we open the door there are two cats on our bed that look like smile dog. Btw it wasn't grinny it was litterly tso cats that were painted to look like that. My sister in the dream runs and gets my mom while I proceed to fight the cats and toss them out a window. I woke up and immediately was like WTF dream self you cant just fight demon cats and expect it to be ok! Sure your tired but if that was real then your stupidity could have gotten me killed like why couldn't have I just been like oh ok so I have an email and wake up? My dream self is just like no fight the demon cats I'm sure it will end well. Btw if there are any spelling errors just know I wrote this as soon as I woke up and on top of that I checked my email and all I have is stuff from webtoon and YouTube being like oh hey check this out or whatever. Ima try to go back to bed and hope that my dream self doesn't decide to fight demon cats again.

[thesweetnessofsalt]

Process Blog #4: How I Make TSOS!

Just in time for Webcomic Day, it's a real actual process blog! We're going to get into the nitty-gritty of how I make pages of The Sweetness of Salt.

Let's go! :D

This blog was originally written for 1$+ TSOS Supporters and can also be read here on Ko-fi - free to everyone!

Chapter 3 Pages 29 - 32 (ALT text for pages here)

Leah's conversation on the balcony with Arlo is a pretty self contained scene in four pages, and will make a good case study for this blog. There is a full video timelapse at the very end, but I will be laying out my process for The Sweetness of Salt in detail here first!

Working From A Script

Since I'm the only person who works on TSOS, I keep my script pretty loose. I have a good idea now of how much of my writing translates into how many pages, and will sometimes mark significant page turns in the script or describe panel layouts if they occur to me while scripting. However, I generally don't know how I'll lay out the panels until I actually sit down with some paper.

My script mostly serves as an outline; dialogue, blocking, or entire segments can change when I put the characters through it on the page. Still, it's important to follow the script in order keep track of pace and continuity.

Here is the original script for this scene:

Script Excerpt - Chapter 3 (ALT text for script image here)

Compare the script to the text on the actual pages, and there are some big differences! That's pretty typical of my workflow for TSOS. There's an ever growing gap between the day I worked on the script and the day I actually make the pages. By the time I sit down and draw, the characters and story have developed even more in my mind, and there's lots of time for me to experiment and be inspired. (This is definitely a luxury particular to a long running webcomic, though.)

In this particular case, I felt like the conversation in the script wasn't familiar enough for their relationship, and I also wanted to start establishing context for Sha's conundrum a bit sooner than originally planned. 

You could apply these to just about all the script changes I make: they're almost always done to re-emphasize character and story beats. And sometimes the changes are so I could add a joke. Or both!

Thumbnailing

You've heard me complaining about it; you've probably heard me express euphoric bliss about it, too. Thumbnailing is when words become comics, and it's hard!! But it's also the most rewarding part for me, and it's when TSOS actually becomes real. 

There are times when I can thumbnail right from my brain, and  times when every single comic I own is out on the floor for inspiration. I need to be in the right headspace to thumbnail - focused enough to take everything I need to into consideration, but loose enough to visualize the story.

Here's a method that's worked for me lately: by setting aside certain number of pages and just writing out what happens per page, I get a good sense of pacing without having to draw anything yet. It's a good way to get the juices flowing!

It's often, though not always, easier to thumbnail on paper, especially for the early stages. I'm much less precious about my drawings on paper, and feel more comfortable trying several iterations of a page than I am with digital drawing. The undo button and zoom button are enemies of thumbnails!

My thumbnails do ultimately get finalized in Clip Studio Paint, though - I have a template for this tailored to my workflow. The page layouts are in the middle, and are paired the same way they are on Webtoon (where pages post in pairs and need to be harmonious). There's also room on each side for the text/notes, though as you can see I don't always write something if I plan to follow the script.

Thumbnails for Pages 28 - 33 (I'm sorry but I'm not ALT texting this chicken scratch)

When I know I need to work on my thumbnails, I try to fill that week with lots of sketching and a healthy reading diet - including my own script and comic! You want a warm hand and a brain full of comics for thumbnailing, but also lots of energy for your own story.

Scott McCloud's books are, as always, indispensable (Understanding Comics for general theory, Making Comics for more specific techniques), but these guides from Hannah Vardit have also been really helpful in getting my brain around thumbnailing.

Page 31 will be our example page moving forward, so here is that thumbnail in full:

Page 31 Thumbnail

LOL - thumbnail Arlo is my favorite Arlo. 

Though not included here on Page 31, I do generally jot down balloons in my thumbnails, too, which you can see in the other thumbnails. It's good to account for your text early!

I keep these drawings super simple - they're just an indication of blocking and expression. I work more on character acting in the pencil stage.

Tools of the Trade

Alright, now we're getting into the nitty gritty!

One note before we proceed: TSOS is NOT print ready, and nothing about my process should be considered print ready or as advice for print readiness. This is just what's worked well for my webcomic, for the sake of consistency and mobile/web versatility. 

Program: Clip Studio Paint EX

Working Canvas Properties: 2407 x 3675px 350 dpi (Sized down to 940px wide for web, Margins approximately 100 px)

Dialogue Font: Soapy Hands by Sara Linsley (15 pt with few exceptions)

Favorite Pencil: Gritty's Pencil from Frenden's mega pack

Favorite Inker: Real G-Pen (CSP Default)

Character Modeler: MagicPoser for iPad

Cottage Model: floorplancreator.net (Browser app - even works on iPad! Free + simple to use)

I also use Windows Sticky Notes keep track of things like line weights, layer properties, or methods for things that get rendered frequently, such as Sha's sweater. 

"Chapter 3 Style Guide" (ALT text here)

Roughing + Penciling

Before I start drawing, I make the panel borders and place all of the text.

I tend to fuss with my text for a long time, getting the line breaks exactly where I want them, and reading it out loud to make sure the page flow works. Balloons usually come later, once the art is done or mostly done and I can place the tails correctly. For now, the text is enough of a placeholder!

Everyone has their own rules when it comes to lettering, but I look to The Essential Guide to Comic Book Lettering as much as possible for general lettering conventions. It's the best resource out there for a reason, and I'm glad I have a physical copy to reference while I work.

Page 31 Rough Blocking + Lettering

If I need to, I will take references from my model of the cottage or MagicPoser. For this scene, the balcony was simple enough to draw from imagination. Still, I studied its one and only appearance here in Chapter 2 Page 29 -

- as well as my model. I use floorplancreator.net - here is the floor plan for the second floor of the cottage:

And here is a 3D view. Neat, right? It took some time to set up, but it was time well spent. Even if I don't screenshot a reference, I'm using it to help visualize backgrounds and blocking.

I also use my own character assets - essentially just a file with various lineart of character faces saved from previous pages.  I like to pencil from scratch if I have the time, but sometimes I just need to get a page out quickly. I'll drop these in and use them as an undersketch to speed things along.

My collection of 3/4 Facial Assets for Leah and Sha

For Arlo, I almost always sketch on top of a reference, and will reuse his lineart, too. I love him, but I'm not an expert frog illustrator.

With my references assembled, I can start sketching and get everything locked in. This was a page I needed to complete quickly, so I structured shots that could use the same background angle and made sure Leah + Arlo's positioning was consistent and easy to follow. 

Big differences between my thumbnails and final layout are often due to continuity adjustments like that. Important stuff!

Page 31 Pencils

I'm afraid I don't have much else to say about this part - if the thumbnails are where the story becomes a comic, this is where the comic becomes art. I get to be my most expressive and make these characters and places come alive. It's the drawing part, you know? Well, except for that other drawing part.

Inking

I tend to be a rough penciller, letting my inks do the heavy lifting drawing-wise. I suppose 'linearting' might be a better descriptor, because I don't ink with a great deal of toning, black shadows, or even line weights. TSOS is fully colored and rendered, so I tend to keep the inks simple. That's kind of just the style I've built for this comic. 

Background inks always come first, though. It's far easier to resize a character to the background than vice versa. This also encourages me to draw the entire background behind the character, so that art can be reused later. (You should also be finishing the art behind your balloons, by the way!)

Page 31 Lineart

Color + Rendering

Backgrounds come first again! I really do try to keep these as simple as possible, so they're easily replicated and don't suck up all my time. UNLESS: the backgrounds are especially important to the page, like an establishing shot. The overhead balcony shot on Page 30 took a lot longer than these, but with the new location established, I could let these pages be more about Leah's conversation and gestures.

This balancing act dictates my entire comic page process. Whichever element is most important to this page - the character acting, the environment, the action, etc - is the element that gets the most of my time, and I'll actively reduce effort in less important areas. It's good for time management, yes, but it also keeps the story focused!

Page 31 Flat Character Color > Rendered Character > Full Color Page

Each character gets filled in with white so their colors can be clipped to the layers above. Again, colors are pretty simple - it's more about the mood lighting here. MagicPoser lets you manipulate lighting, so sometimes I like to go a little ham with the rendering. It's one of my favorite ways to give a scene some 'oomf'.

Typical Layer Hierarchy for Characters (These are normally never labeled. I did that because I love you)

The MVP in all of this is the Erase Along Edge tool. It makes coloring so fast, and when I first adopted it, it cut my process time in half. 

The link will take you to its listing on the CSP asset store, which has detailed instructions for how to use it. Once you figure it out, you can set other brushes to erase along the edge, or even to color within an edge! Neat stuff. I especially like it when I need to color many small background elements.

Finishing and Lettering

A long time ago, TSOS's balloons were very fussy, tedious, hand-drawn squovals. When I made revisions to Chapter 1+2, the bulk of it was just re-lettering it all to something simple and consistent.

I've only just recently started experimenting with the joined balloons you see on this page, so I've got a lot to learn and a lot to try out. There are a couple of things I keep in mind for legibility, like giving the letters lots of room inside the balloon's edge. Clarity is way more important than being fancy.

Curve Balloon tool > place four points only

Manipulate points for symmetry, fit

Add tail

Done!

Since I placed my text early and kept adjusting it along the way, I don't have to worry about my balloons having enough room or looking nice with the art. I can just click my lil points and be on my way!

Page 31 Finished Page

Still a few finishing touches left: the whooshes, the eye shines, and of course, the sparkles. What's left to say? This is objectively the best part.

Wrapping It Up

Whoo, another comic page down! Excluding the time spent thumbnailing, pages take me about 8-10 hours to make. Ideally, I do this across two days, with inking one and coloring the next. 

Here is the full video timelapse of the page! Click through the video to check out the description, where I've timestamped the whole process.

The timestamps on this one definitely made me laugh - I jump around a lot more than the ideal, linear process described in this blog. You can tell I struggled with the lineart on this one, because I keep having to come back to it. But there's always something else to work on - I try not to let myself get stuck in one spot for too long.

There you have it! Those are all my trade secrets. Just over 2k words, and I don't think I can add anything more. But if you want to know anything else or have any questions, you can leave them here and I'll add them to the next blog!

Thanks for reading!

This blog was originally written for 1$+ TSOS Supporters and can also be read here on Ko-fi - free to everyone. Become a 1$+ supporter and you get early access to all of my comic pages and process blogs!

[thesweetnessofsalt]

✨Chapter 3 now updating for Ko-Fi Members!✨

For just 1$/month, you can get early access to TSOS updates and process blogs, as well as special Discord access!

If you want to give a little more to support the care & feeding of TSOS, you can join at the 3$/month tier, and have your name in a thank you shout-out at the end of Tapas/Webtoon updates.

Public updates will resume in August, along with a special surprise! Stay tuned 💛