What makes a webtoon different
A webtoon is a vertical, full-color comic read by scrolling top to bottom on a phone — not a grid of panels on a page like print manga. That changes everything: you design for a tall canvas, use vertical space for pacing, and color in vibrant RGB rather than black-and-white screentones.
Set up your canvas
Webtoons are built tall and narrow. Use a width of 800 px (the LINE Webtoon standard) and work in RGB color at screen resolution (around 72–150 DPI). You can draw a long episode on one tall canvas, or work in 800 × 1280 px sections and stitch them — that 1280 px height is also the size you'll slice the finished episode into for upload.
1. Plan the vertical flow
Script the episode, then thumbnail it as a tall strip. The webtoon's superpower is the scroll: leave generous vertical gaps between beats to control timing — empty space builds suspense, tight stacking speeds action. Plan reveals to land as the reader scrolls into them.
2. Sketch the episode
Rough the panels and characters on a sketch layer with light pressure. Keep a reference layer of your main characters so their designs stay consistent from episode to episode — Procreate's layers make this easy.
3. Ink clean lineart
On a new layer, ink confident outlines that read well on a small screen — avoid lines so thin they vanish on a phone. A crisp inker with Streamline raised keeps curves smooth; browse the inking brushes category.
4. Color your episode
Webtoons are bright and saturated. Flat each area on its own layer below the lineart, then shade. Most webtoon artists use simple, readable shading — flat cel shading works great and is fast to repeat across episodes (see our anime cel-shading guide). Reach for painting brushes for soft light and atmosphere.
5. Add speech bubbles and text
Place bubbles with room to breathe and set dialogue with Procreate's text tool at a size that stays legible on mobile. Because readers scroll, you can stack bubbles vertically to pace a conversation. A bold lettering brush handles SFX and emphasis — see the lettering brushes category.
6. Export and upload
Platforms limit image height and file size, so slice your episode into segments (commonly up to 800 × 1280 px each) and export as PNG or JPEG in RGB. Keep the cuts on empty gaps, never across a character's face, and check the order before uploading so the scroll reads seamlessly.
Brushes and next steps
You can make a whole episode with free brushes — grab a set on the anime & manga brushes page or browse all free brushsets. New to drawing characters? Start with our guide to drawing anime in Procreate.