Gallery • 3 Photos

Anonymous

An example of the author's starting sketch. The first episode of "Dark Moon" took nearly a month to create.

The lines are swift and clean as she flicks her digital pen against the screen of her tablet. Stroke after stroke, color after color, she builds a world encapsulated in a few panels of text and illustration, components that work together to weave an original story.

On January 12, 2023, a junior posted the first episode of her very own Webtoon comic. The comic, titled Dark Moon, was published on Webtoon Canvas, a smaller subsect of the larger online comic corporation that focuses on smaller creators. 

“I’ve been doing art since I was really little, like five years old,” the anonymous creator said. “I started wanting to make my comic when I saw ads on Instagram for Webtoon.  I was like, ‘wouldn’t that be fun if I made my own?’”

Though the author had been taking out-of-school art lessons since a young age, she didn’t have an emphasis on digital art, the primary medium used to create Webtoon comics, and rather focused on traditional art mediums.

“Traditional art is the [foundation] of all art,” she continued. “Because we’re learning about how the beginning of art started and how things evolved from there.”

Despite the author’s more recent adoption of digital art, her comic has amassed more than 200 views since its release, and has earned a rating of 10 stars.

“I had experimented with digital art before that, but I had been wanting to get better at [it] for a long time,” the creator said. “When I learned about Webtoon, I just thought that was a nice way of expanding my horizons.”

Webtoon creators use a variety of devices and drawing programs to complete their digital art, but the creator of Dark Moon uses a drawing tablet and Clip Art Pro to create the comic. The work can take hours or days.

“The beginning of the process took a really long time because I had no idea what I was doing,” she said. “The plot itself didn’t take that long because I based [it on] stories I already wrote. But then actually creating the first episode took a whole month.”

Webtoon creators will often enlist the help of an editor or colorist to help quicken the process of creating episodes. Currently, however, the creator of Dark Moon is the lone producer of the comic. She is working not only as the illustrator, but also as the writer, editor and colorist. 

“I like both [storytelling and illustrating] a lot,” she continued. “But I do enjoy making illustrations for my comic a lot more than actually making the comic; but I do enjoy making the comic too.”

The story itself follows a young girl, orphaned by a mysterious curse, who abandons her adoptive home in search of the truth about her mother’s death. Currently, the comic has four published episodes, with the most recent being released on February 3.

“I don’t really have any particular goals except for finishing the comic, hopefully,” the creator said. “And just having fun with storytelling.”