Ten years ago building a website was a job only for professionals and for companies with a lot of money available to invest in a website.

Currently, designing a website is easy and cheap. Anyone can develop a website for just a few bucks a month without knowing to code or having particular graphics skills. I use Hostgator/Wordpress and I pay $12 per month. Not bad compared to the thousands of dollars spent on building and maintaining a website just a decade ago.

Many artists are able to make a good income from their online comics, and some of them left their nine to five jobs to be a full-time comic author.

You might think, why affordable websites have something to do with the increase of colored comics? Millions of viewers are able to see and read a webcomic on any website from all over the world. If color comics are popular then more and more of them will be in colors because artists follow the trend to gain followers, readers, and eventually buyers.

Japanese cartoons are gaining so much popularity. Well, let's say here in the USA because animes were already popular in Europe and other countries since the early 80's. I'm from Italy and my generation and my older brother generation grew up watching Japanese cartoons on TV every day after school. I'm talking about the 70's, 80's till now.

Here in America anime begin showing on TV about fifteen or twenty years ago and lately are increasing their popularity among the younger generation.

Since the anime market expanded in the USA, color comics increased as well. Anime fans love to see their favorite characters in colors and read their comics just like they watch it on TV.

Webtoon or Linewebtoon is a platform where any comics creator from any part of the world can share webcomic series and ultimately get even paid if the story retains a certain number of subscribers. The majority of webcomics on this platform are in colors. I post my manga on Webtoon too and I think that only my story is in black and white. Of course, people might be influenced by the gazillion of colorful comics posted on this site. Many authors want to be part of this wave and increase their subscribers. If you want success do like everybody else, right? Well...yes and no.

These are my five reasons why color comics are popular. Now, anyone might think that it is better to create a comic in colors. Do not rush it. It depends on what are your goals.

Consider a few factors before determining your decision. You have to examine yourself and answer honestly.

Notice that I have never mentioned manga but only comics and webcomics. I did it with intention because a manga is NEVER ever in colors. I can hear some of you screaming. But it is true.

The Japanese comic books which the proper word is manga are in black and white with grey tones known as screen tones. Screen tones have different patterns from just simple dots to landscapes. A manga is not an anime. Here is the confusion for some, not everyone. Manga is a graphic novel the anime is the cartoon most of the time based on a popular manga. The only colored part in the book is the cover. Manga and anime are two different forms of art and are created differently. It's like a novel and a movie.

So, if your goal is to create a manga, try to keep the originality of its style that makes manga so unique and different from any other comics. Keep it black and white with screen tones. No matter if your story has a Japanese theme or has a super manga look. Manga has various drawing styles depend on the type of audience and story. If you want to do it in color be aware it won't be considered a manga.

This is another question that you really need to think about and answer with honesty. Creating a comic book, manga, or webcomic requires time and dedications. It's not a thing that you would complete in a month or in a year. If you are really serious and you have a story that you love and want to bring to life, you need time a lot of time. There aren't many hours in a day, and you share it with work, school, family, and friends. You will put the extra hours left into your project.

Coloring a comic is a long painful and tedious job. You have to color every single panel with the same tones over and over again for every page of every chapter of your story. Unless you have the money to outsource the coloring part like many professionals do, ask yourself can I color my comic series for maybe years to come? How many hours am I willing to dedicate?

Color comics are nice, but there is a tremendous amount of work behind. Many webcomics are in colors but not all of them are good quality. Some series are amazing both story and art have an excellent quality. You can tell that the author put a lot of work into. However, there are many more comics that are just crap. That is because the creators are not professionals or they rushed the process for the deadlines, and not everyone can color. One thing is making a pretty digital illustration, and another thing is making a whole comic series. There is a huge difference.

This is the most honest answer that you have to give yourself. I already mentioned some webcomics are crap. If you decide to make a comic in colors, you need to improve your coloring skills. A serious artist accepts constructive criticism, and he or she is willing to learn and improve from the own weakness and mistakes.

Being an artist means have an open mind, be curious, eager to learn and never stop to challenge yourself. In addition, not everyone is a good colorist like no everyone is a good inker. That doesn't mean you can't ever color your story you need just to practice and focus on the areas that you have more troubles. This is normal, everyone has to master the own abilities to become a professional.

No one is perfect. Improve your coloring technique then publish your comic online. There are many good and bad stories online but only a few of them become successful.

Webcomics or ebooks are the kings on the market right now despite that what if one day you decide to make a print version of your comic. Printing a comic book in color is expensive. More volumes the story has more expensive the comic book will be.

Few options can help with the financial part like print on demand or raise money through a crowdfunding campaign. However, more money you need to reach your goal more money you have to ask and raise which is uneasy. You need a large and willing fan base to donate towards your campaign. Building a loyal fan base is not the easiest thing in the world and definitely takes time and consistencies from your side.

On the internet, a lot of successful campaigns raised a lot of money. However, there are many more failed campaigns and no one is talking about it. Remember, everyone wants to talk about the success but no one wants to talk about the failures. Print on demand is a good solution, but you need to consider how much profit you can make when you sell a book. To get some kind of profit you've to raise the price.

Keep in mind that your book will compete with a billion of other books not only from other self-publishing authors but also from big and famous publishers. Can you compete with their prices? There are more people willing to spend $30 for a Marvel or Image Comic volume than for a semi-unknown book. I wish everyone all the success of this world, but I'm realistic. Like my dad used to say, never count money that is not in your pocket. I know for experience how much work there is behind a graphic novel; it's not just drawing pretty characters.

Coloring a comic is a long tedious job, and it might be more expensive if you decide to hire someone to color it and printing the paper book. However, the audience is more attracted to colorful webcomics. That leads to more followers.

On the other hand, black and white comics are always a classic and if you want to make a Manga, black and white with screen tones is the way to go. It's more affordable to print and faster to complete a page. On the contrary, black and white webcomics are not very popular at the moment.

In the end, decide what is best for you and your story. If you vision your series in colors and you are willing to commit time and money then do it in colors. Otherwise, keep it classic, you'll never go wrong.