The Influence of the Advancement of Social Media in The Visual Language of Indonesian Comics Strips

Aug 27, 2026

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The study examines how the growth of social media and digital comic platforms shapes the visual language of Indonesian comic strip artists. It traces the shift from printed and traditional creation practices toward digital workflows, including drawing tablets and graphics software. Using qualitative literacy and visual content analysis, the research explains how changing media trends transform figure forms, line strokes, and color palettes, while affecting storytelling length and the rapid evolution of strip formats in Indonesia.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages6

Reading Time15 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Historical development of Indonesian comic visual language

Technology revolution and digital publishing

Theoretical Background

Technology-driven evolution of comics and storytelling

The Influence of the Advancement of Social Media in The Visual Language of Indonesian Comics Strips Diani Apsari1*, Dimas Krisna Aditya2* 1,2Faculty of Creative Industry, Telkom University, Bandung, 40257 Abstract. Through the years, Indonesian comics have been developing well, not only from the technical aspects but also on how they are published. Today, comics can be read in both printed and online versions. The advancement of comic publishing over time also influences the way comic artists work with their tools. In addition to using traditional drawing tools, the artists' visual styles have been affected by the use of digital tools such as drawing tablet and graphic software. Turns out that such phenomenon merely influences the common visual style many Indonesian comic artists have in common, which is the use of Japanese manga and manhwa styles. This include the form of the figures, strokes ofthe lines, to color palettes, especially in the age of social media where many comics are drawn digitally. This also influences the visual style of comics in conveying their information, not only in the form of a longer storytelling, but also a shorter comic strip version, and is found in the rapid phenomenon of social media in Indonesia. This research analyses how the transformations of media trend in Indonesia affects Indonesian comic artists' visual styles. Using qualitative method with literacy and visual content studies, this research shows the advancement of technology influences the transformations of style of the comic artists, especially in comic strip forms over time as their visual identities. Keywords: Comic Strips, Visual Language, Manga style, Manhwa style, Digitalized Comics, Social Media Comic, Platform 1 Introduction Indonesian visual language has been built since the time of the ancient kingdoms in the archipelago. For example, the history left its traces in the reliefs found in temples throughout Indonesia. The visual language forms the ways of artists to form their way of expressing ideas by juxtaposing sequences panels of images, which is called a comic. As for the comic itself, the history of Indonesian comics is believed to have begun in the 1930s. The presence of comic in Indonesia in the 1930s through short comic strips format in newspaper and later in magazines. Then, after 1940’s the medium of Indonesian comics grew in comic books format. Afterwards, the political turmoil and patriotic spirits through the 1950s and 1960s made comic a nationalist propaganda tools. In the late 1960-1970s, after the fall of Soekarno’s regime, the Indonesian comics were heavily influenced by both Western and Asian martial arts movies. Home video technology was later introduced into households and brought influence in the form of classic Japanese anime, giving a new reference of visual style. The Japanese influence also emerged in the 1990s-2000s, when Elex Media Komputindo, one of mainstream publishers in Indonesia, brought translated Japanese comics (manga) to comic readers in Indonesia. The influence went on to raise numbers of Indonesian comic artists with shoujo manga artwork style, and such style continues to be in high demand. Although many drawing styles continue toemerge as new references, the comic strip format always lasts from year to year. Today, in the decades of technology revolution, Indonesian comics have their own time to shine. With the ease of internet access and the widespread social media users, Indonesian local comics have finally found their progress through digital publication. The online revolution have led publishers to find new ways to publish their comics, and also the artist to find new ways to make their comics in digital formats, tools, and styles. * Corresponding authors: [dianiapsari@gmail.com](dianiapsari@gmail.com), [deedeeaditya@telkomuniversity.ac.id](deedeeaditya@telkomuniversity.ac.id) Copyright © 2019, the Authors. Published by Atlantis Press. This is an open acc

FAQs

What does the research analyze about Indonesian comic strip artists?

It analyzes how shifts in media trends in Indonesia, especially social media advancement, affect artists’ visual styles and techniques in comic strips over time.

Which visual elements are described as changing due to digital and social media influence?

The research highlights changes in figure forms, line art strokes, and color palettes, as well as how these support information delivery through both longer stories and shorter strips.

What methodologies are used in the study?

The study uses a qualitative approach combining literacy and visual content studies, including observation of published comic strips and visual comparison between comic strips and social media comics in Indonesia.

Aug 27, 2026

Upload by Patrick