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screentonescast · 1 year

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Screen Tones, a Webcomic Podcast

Show Notes

The Numbers Game

Release Date: September 14, 2022

Featuring

Renie Jesanis - She/They , www.kateblast.com

Christina Major (Delphina) - She/Her, www.sombulus.com

Ally Rom Colthoff (Varethane) - She/They http://chirault.sevensmith.net/ http://wychwoodcomic.com/

In This Episode:

Today’s topic is about how stats, analytics, and other metrics can affect the creative process.

Before we get started, here’s a quick rundown of the different kinds of numbers you might run into while you’re making or reading webcomics!

Follower Counts

What is this? - How many people are signed up to see your content automatically

Where do you see it? - Webtoons, Tapas, all the social medias (Twitter, Tumblr, Instagram, TikTok)

How this metric is helpful - It's a talking point I guess, you can have little contests when you get to a cool number or if you're close to a cool number

How this metric can be flawed - On any platform where your content is not locked, you don't HAVE to be a follower to see someone's content, in fact almost all social media by default will throw people's posts around that you DON'T know about, so there CAN be a lot more people looking at your stuff than just your follower count.

On the flip side followers don't always give you comments, money, or loyalty; sometimes they're not even there! Followers can be fake/bots/people following you for a contest/inactive accounts following you. So I think it's important if you're slipping into a mindset that follower count equals how many people "care" about your content that that is not the case. It's really more reflective of what tactics you OR (more likely) the platform are using to sign people up to be your follower.

If you find yourself wanting a higher follower count, just try and think of the reason you want this. What kinds of problems do you see it solving, how do you think it'll change your experience to get more followers? Because I guarantee you there is some different thing you want to be paying attention to, driving follows in and of itself does nothing and can actually hurt if you're a company who's incentivizing people to follow too many people all at once and they get overwhelmed by all that content.

Views/Traffic

What is this? - How many people have viewed your content or clicked on any links you put in that content

Where do you see it? Webtoon, Tapas, Google Analytics if you have your own site, you can also see it if you click the little bar icon on a Tweet

How this metric is helpful - It shows you how many browsers have loaded your content

How this metric can be flawed - They're better than Follower Count for sure, but still not 100% indicative of your quality. You might be making a kind of story where it really reads better to visit every few months and catch up, which will show as fewer views. Temporary features can bloat view numbers. Views can come from negative sources/trolls who are dunking on you/the ol' ratio. Views are also not an indication of who's PASSIONATE about your work or who would spend MONEY on your work. I know a lot of people who really don't get many views but they make a lot of money because the few people that ARE reading their work really love it, and I know a lot of people who get tons of views and really don't have a bead on monetizing it.

If you find yourself wanting more views, you probably need to be looking at personally appealing to your circles, getting involved in new ones. One thing my buddy Star does is fanart for things that are thematically similar to her comic Castoff, and if they take off, just including a "I do more stuff like this on my comic which you can read here!". DON'T DM people or put them on your mailing list without their consent, listen as much as you talk, but yeah, probably need to be dropping your link in APPROPRIATE spaces a little more.

Comments

What is this? - How many people are writing out their thoughts in the spaces you're providing them

Where do you see it? - Bottom of comic updates, responses on social media

How this metric is helpful - I love comments, it's really a nice way for people to express what they're enjoying about your comic, they can be so uplifting and make you feel very appreciated

How this metric can be flawed - Comments really do need to have good moderation tools and be closely moderated because a lot of us nerds on the internet are NOT social butterflies and might say awkward or incendiary things, and when that happens the comment section becomes not a very fun party to hang out in. You also might have an interface that isn't easy to SEE where the comments are. Comment culture is very different on personal sites versus Webtoon and they can be kind of rude if the reader is younger or doesn't know the author reads the comments, OR MY PROBLEM RIGHT NOW, you might use Disqus and be CONSTANTLY PLAGUED BY PORNBOTS.

If you find yourself wanting more comments, again, asking people to leave comments every so often, posing a question in your author notes, and again, reminding people that if they like your stuff you want to hear from them can go a long way! Showcasing the comments you've gotten that you like and want of is also nice! And saving screenshots in a folder or in a special place on your Discord server is a fun time too. I started doing sort of a yearbook treatment that includes all my favorite comments at the end of the year and it's really a nice way to preserve that uplifting feeling.

Ratings/Votes

What is this? - Star ratings on a 1-5 scale, supposedly reflective of opinions of your comic

Where do you see it? Webtoon, Tapas, Goodreads, TopWebComics, storefronts sometimes like Amazon

How is this metric helpful? - Presumably helps a reader decide if a comic is popular and if they should buy or read it, boosts you in the algorithm a LOT

How this metric can be flawed - Some systems penalize you if it's not the right KIND of comment (Instagram it needs to be like 5 words long I think?) People don't remember to rank things, even when they like them! It can really mislead you into thinking your comic is bad when it's probably not. Negative ratings can be based on totally random or subjective things like if the person is allergic to your font choice, if the system isn't working for them, if they misread your description and thought you were trying to do something you weren't, votes can be trolls, and on Webtoon/Tapas, there's no way to tell "okay out of 6000 people who gave this 5 stars, one is saying it's bad". It's very unqualified data and it's not gonna help you FIX anything if there IS something that's less effective about your comic. And we're storytellers, so we're naturally problem solvers, and that can be a really dangerous train when that ONE guy out of 6000 says there's a problem, because part of your brain is going to go "PROBLEM TO FIX MUST FIX PROBLEM" or "I DID A PROBLEM?? NOOO I AM AN AWFUL PERSON" or both.

If you find yourself wanting more positive ratings, I think asking for 5-star reviews is something you hear about a lot, and I do think if the platform you're using ranks things numerically, that's worth doing every so often. Don't get pushy or demanding with it, just let people know that it does actually tangibly help you and it's a free thing they can do if they're enjoying your stuff! A lot of times people just need reminders! For TopWebComics, I made a quick URL at sombulus.com/vote that'll take you right to my voting portal, I upload new incentives there every week, and I have announcements scheduled out on Twitter every week and at the start of the month when the votes reset to remind people that it helps boost my comic in the rankings.

Likes/Shares

What is this? - Someone clicking the thumbs or the upvotes or the hearts or the Toots to say they enjoyed a thing, and someone clicking a different thing to share that post with someone else

Where do you see it? - Webtoon/Tapas, social media

How is this metric helpful? - Boosts you in the algorithm a little, gets your stuff spread to other peoples' followers

How this metric can be flawed - Ratios can actually mean people are taking it out of context, very rarely results in clickthroughs or sales unless you reach a viral critical mass, very non-commital support, you could be posting at a weird time of day or flooded out by worldwide news current events/drama, of which there is so much these days. You can also feel like posting frequently takes a lot of work and time that you don't have and it's just exhausting.

If you find yourself wanting more likes/shares, try scheduling things so far in advance that you forget you even put them there. I love this because if a post DOESN'T get any attention, I forget I even made it, and if it DOES, then it's a pleasant surprise. You can also ask sometimes if you have something urgent, just say a little "share this with your friends!" line on the tweet. Don't abuse this but it can definitely work out. Also in social media, reshare old content after a while! Nobody cares!

Some people use Likes as kind of either a read receipt or a bookmark, which can sometimes artificially mess with the numbers on this particular metric.

Revenue

What is this? - MONEY! Money that you make from ad revenue, sales, Patreon or Ko-Fi subscripts, tipping in Tapas, etc.

Where do you see it? - You typically gotta set up a shop or campaign somewhere or seek out a publisher (I think we're gonna have a whole other episode on allll the ways you can do that)

How is this metric helpful? - Money can be exchanged for goods and services, both of which I enjoy a lot

How this metric can be flawed - Money is only a metric of if you've made a product that is sellable and you've successfully convinced people to buy it, which is an extremely different skill than making a good comic. Just making a comic and printing a book is going to lead to a lot of books in your closet gathering dust. Online comic sales for me have been exceedingly hard, I don't make a lot of side comics or other projects, there's just a lot of distracting things online so I really depend on things like limited time crowdfunds to move my books online. I've also seen this one a million times where people will ask their followers on twitter "which of these things would you buy", their followers vote, but then they put it in their store and those people suddenly have no money.

If you find yourself wanting more money, don't we all? But also you really do have to experiment a lot sometimes to find products that are sellable, and how to present them. You need clear compelling pictures, you need to make a regular habit of mentioning that you have stuff for sale, also helps if you have NEW products to appeal to the people who want to give you MORE money but they already have all the stuff you sell. The number of people who are willing and able to give you money is probably small, but the good news is that repeat customers are very much a thing, so look for ways to encourage repetition from the same people as well as reaching new ones.

With that out of the way, it’s time for our first question!

5:00 What role have numbers and statistics played in your webcomics journey? Has it changed over time?

13:09 How do you use the statistics you have access to in productive ways while working on or marketing your comic, without letting them have too much influence?

28:16 Now the numbers game can drive even the most hardened webcomic veterans absolutely batty. Do you have any more advice on survival to share with other creators to navigate the emotional landscape of stats and numbers?

Thanks for Listening!

Have a comment? Question? Concern?

Screen Tones Cast:

Ally Rom Colthoff (Varethane) - She/They http://chirault.sevensmith.net/ http://wychwoodcomic.com/

Christina Major (Delphina) - She/Her, www.sombulus.com

Claire Niebergall (Clam) - She/Her, www.phantomarine.com

Kristen Lee (Krispy) She/They https://www.ghostjunksickness.com/

Megan Davison - She/Her, https://www.webtoons.com/en/search?keyword=megasketch

Miranda Reoch - She/Her, mirandacakes.art

Phineas Klier - They/Them, http://heirsoftheveil.fervorcraft.de

Rae Baade(Rae) - they/them, https://www.empyreancomic.com

Renie Jesanis - She/They , www.kateblast.com

#show notes

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meadowdough · 1 year

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so hi! life update and plans for this page:

I don't have time at the moment but later I am going to mess around with this page and update the aesthetic. And I probably wanna archive some older posts. Just wanna tidy it up!

My webcomic is coming back but I don't think I will post it on Tumblr anymore! I will be mainly on tapas but I am also considering webtoon. Simply because they would make me money and Tumblr, well, doesn't.

Honestly I'm not here purely because Twitter is on fire: my guess is that it's gonna recover once elongated muskrat skidaddles. But also cause Tumblr is just really convenient for art, and it's better for finding a more separate, nicer community that you relate to. On Twitter everyone is sitting next to each other lol and although I find it useful for professional purposes, I do miss more catered communities.

I still plan on using Twitter! My @ is the same as here, missmellohello. And my insta is miss_mello_hello !!

I'm not even super active on social media anymore but I do plan to post way more when the webcomic starts again, possibly starting early next year! Super excited to show off what I've been cooking.

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marieadeledracherambles · 11 months

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Buying Hope: Intro

A couple months ago, Tapas recommended to me the webtoon Yongsa High: Dungeon Raiders, which is an infinite flow/dungeon raider story about a school for adventurers. Yoo Jaryong is a smuggler/poacher paying for his retired adventurer dad's medical bills. On one of these missions, he runs into a student of Yongsa High, Jin Saerom, who hires him to get into YH and be part of her party. (She's a Rich Girl.) Jaryong needs the money, so he accepts. Season 1 is about his getting ready for the transfer exam and meeting his dad's old colleagues... the ones who didn't betray him and leave him penniless, anyway.

I figured I'd give it a shot, since I'm a fan of BNHA and My S-Class Hunters.

And I fell in love.

Yongsa High (also known as Warrior High: Dungeon Raid Department, if you like me got hooked and couldn't wait for the official translation any longer) is SO GOOD. The characters are likeable and/or have motivations beyond the needs of the plot. The world is interesting. The plot is layered. I sped through all the free episodes, then spent two days looking for the unofficial translation. After I'd finished it, I went looking for fanworks on AO3 and found...

nada.

There are no works for this comic on AO3 and five posts about it on Tumblr, even once you use the more well-known name for it.

I decided then to write fic for it. And I already had an angle.

There are two things that really bother me and keep the comic from being perfect: the fact that there are very few female characters at all, and the fact that the overarching plot being set up is "dragons wanted to rule the world, got beat back, so they started infiltrating society to destroy it." The first is typical of genres aimed at young men, but still not okay. The second skims way too close to "lizard people are controlling/destroying society," which for those who don't know is an antisemitic conspiracy theory meant to make people target Jews for existing.

The first thing I'm taking the hammer to is the dragon conspiracy theory. In Buying Hope, there are two villains! The first antagonist, which is the canon Big Bads, is instead of being dragons in human guise a group of anarchists who got their abilities from equipment and magic. They want to take down society because it's corrupt. The second is the dragon who poisoned Jaryong's dad and sent him to the hospital in the first place. The dragon believes that if he bides his time until humans lower their guard, he'll be able to take over.

The second change I'm making is that Jin Saerom Is More Than A Sexy Wallet. (Upon rereading, that was a slightly unfair appellation. She does stuff! Plot relevant stuff, even! She just also is a font of cash money who stands in a corner and looks upset while her upperclassmen/cousin's friends harass her and Jaryong.) The title comes from Saerom's belief that money gets her almost everything she wants, and how she's simultaneously proven right and disillusioned. Buying hope isn't usually possible, unless your dad runs an incredibly profitable company.

Jin Saerom is probably my favorite character because she has depth. She wants to be an adventurer, but she's not very talented. She works hard until her cousin shows up, at which point she turns into a shrinking violet. And yet another YH guy describes her as "never lowering her head," and she's still persevering despite some pretty intense social ostracization. She's slightly naive and tosses money around like it's nothing, but also she genuinely wants to be helpful, it's not a flex. I want to braid her hair and educate her on class disparity. So, naturally, she's the main character of Buying Hope.

There's also hefty amounts of teenage chaos, because there's five teenagers in this friend group and they're all outcasts/really weird. So when Saerom and co aren't terrorizing the large-scale antagonists or whatever poor dungeon their teachers unleashed them on this week, they're terrorizing the school bullies.

And a mecha-Toothless battle mobility aid.

This is gonna be FUN.

#my writing #buying hope #the basics #i take a hammer and i FIX the canon

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beesmygod · 3 years

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relevant to your hitmen of destiny tweets; any other obscure webcomics that you think are really good and deserve more attention?

there are a lot! to be fair my pulse on what webcomics are good are limited by the fact that i rarely peruse tapas or webtoons bc i think the company are morally bankrupt lol. webtoons more than tapas but seeing western artists do a bad job of trying to make vertical layout comics because its the only free template available now is kind of depressing. i also have no idea what "obscure" is because i post with a ton of people who immediately clocked me as talking about hitmen for destiny before i even mentioned the name so that odesn't strike me as obscure lol. idk i'll just post some i like that still exist as far as i know.

anyway,

harry bogosian created "demon's mirror" and "a better place" . demon's mirror is still on my list to read but i really enjoyed "a better place". i believe both are ended now so you have two complete works to pick at :) i thought the "antagonist" of a better place was well done and presented a legitimately difficult to deal with problem because of who she is and what she's doing and why. just well done honestly. like a satisfying meal for your brain. you finish and you're like "yeah! that was nice!"

read it here

i really doubt simon hanselmann is obscure considering the amount of work he's put out through fantagraphics but his most recent work "CRISIS ZONE" revolving around his repurposed characters from children's literature megg, mogg and owl having to endure a series of 2020 specific nightmares after the lockdown starts. not for the fainthearted or people looking for something uncontroversial. it's hysterical in how close it flies to dealing with taboos by creating a cast of the most deliberately awful people to explore them. here's werewolf jones making an onlyfans to make money during the pandemic.

me too werewolf jones.

simon hanselmann posts his work on instagram. but instagram isnt really conductive to reading comics so you should buy the books.

supermegacomics still updates with total bangers occasionally. featuring a very simple and unpretentious art style, supermegacomics gets you to laugh by being strange yet joyful without forgetting to tell jokes about the absurdity of the behavior of the inhabitants of the sueprmega world. feels like it was created in someone's middle school notebook, but consistently funny.

read it here

also here's the link to "hitmen for destiny" for people who want it. i love this fucking comic. i think it completely re-wired my brain after i read it. im in the middle of re-reading it now and i for real forgot how fucking good it is. this is probably my third time reading it. that's my sell: its probably my absolute favorite webcomic of all time.

here!

drop-out requires a general trigger warning for pretty much everything you can think of, which i'm assuming will put some people off of reading it. however, it is a complicated and painful story that i really appreciate the author creating and sharing with us. its extremely rare for me to read a comic and see my experiences with depression reflected back at me accurately and without trying to shield away or deflect from what. this is an unflinching comic. it took guts to make. and i love it.

read it here

ok thats all for now. im doing that thing where people ask me for recommendations and then i forget everything ive ever liked in my life

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indexth08 · 3 years

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The cancellation of the fancomic

Hello, everybody. This is an important announcement that I want to make. I'm sorry for this news but I decided to cancel the Hollow Knight Metamorphosis fancomic. I really want to apologize for this decision and I know I had been working on this project for 2 years. But I really want to move on and find another path for my art career. Working on this comic and being invited to work on different projects inspirared me to do something original. I really want the wandering knights to have a good home, a place where there is not limitations. A year ago I made an announcement on my art pages that I wanted to work on a reboot for the comic. A reboot that is going to have an different art style, different setting and have creative control. My team and I are really excited to work on this new project. So we want to start the reboot soon.

I will post concept art and synopsis for the reboot if you want to give it a chance. I completely understand if you want to leave since I will not work on the HKM anymore. But I promise that I will be posting constantly like the fancomic. Although it will be different because I will upload the comic on webtoons, tapas, and other comic focus webpages and I will produce more content than before. From my bottom of my heart, Im super excited to make this amazing project.

The fancomic will end on Chapter 11 probably around the final days of September. After that the reboot will be launch but the date is still pending but I will give more news soon. But Im thinking the project will launch around October or November.

I really have high hopes for this reboot and I want to send that dream into the universe.

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yurileclercseyeliner · 3 years

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A Dumb Rant About A Webtoon

Okay so I’m actually super into reading webcomics (I read them on both Webtoon and Tapas), and although this has nothing to do with my blog (I AM considering making a side blog for webcomic content/reviews tho) I sort of feel like ranting about one that I saw. I’m sorry, but if you like Athena Complex this is probably going to piss you off. Admittedly, I couldn’t get far into the comic without being upset about this so I stopped reading a few chapters in, so that may affect my opinion here. This is mainly my opinion though, and if you disagree with me it’s fine.

So I did mention in my Fire Emblem kelpie beast unit post my opinion on mythological adaptation. Essentially, I believe that when you adapt any sort of mythological being into your story you need to keep these two things in mind:

The recognizable features/symbols/abilities: by this I mean what physical features is this being known to have, what are their physical/magical abilities, what objects are they most associated with, etc. You don’t need to have every single thing that is mentioned in the source material, just a decent combination of them that can allow the reader to easily connect the adaptation to the source material.

This factor mainly applies to individual characters as opposed to a full species or classification of creatures (I have read a decent number of mythological adaptations and have seen a mythical species depicted as evil in one adaptation and benevolent or neutral in another and enjoyed both, it all depends on if it makes sense in the context). What are the character’s main personal views, goals, and motivations? By this I mean how do they think and what are their views on the world around them, and what is the context surrounding that? Essentially, what can their main personalities and motivations be boiled down to and why?

After those two factors, I think that you can then go buck wild with any other characterization as long as it isn’t contradictory and makes sense in your story.

Now that I have set that down here’s my deal with Athena Complex. Athena Complex is a Webtoon based on Greek mythology that follows Athena, the Greek goddess of wisdom and strategy. She falls in love with Poseidon, the god of the sea, and is rejected by him. Fueled by vengeance and a desire to win his heart she takes the form of a high school boy in order to take revenge on his reincarnation. Basically, this entire Webtoon is practically a public execution of a large part of what makes Athena, well, Athena.

First off, I will give credit to Athena Complex for at least getting the symbolism correct, Athena is a goddess of wisdom and war and when in the form of a goddess her design reflects that with her armor, among other things such as her association with owls, so the first aspect that I mentioned is fine.

Additionally there is the fact that they also did heavily tap into the prideful aspect of Athena’s nature. Essentially in the source material Athena is a VERY prideful goddess and will take any opportunity to prove her worth if someone attempt to upstage her, and gets very angry when she fails or is insulted in the process (ie the story of Arachne, the story behind the double flute). This aspect could also be seen slightly in Athena Complex’s Athena’s behavior, which I can also give them credit for.

But that’s where a lot of the similarities end. Tbh a large majority of these issues surround the second aspect, the basics of the figure’s personality and motivations.

First, Athena’s stance on romance. Original Athena...literally wanted nothing to do with any sort of romantic relationship. Seriously it’s one of her main things one of her epithets is literally “Parenthos”, which means virgin. No lovers, no sex, no marriage, no intentionally created children (I say intentionally bc she and Hepheastus accidentally created a child when his snot got onto a torn piece of her cloak, but that’s a different weird story), nothing. She solely focused on the expansion of knowledge and learning. She had no time for any sort of relationship. Making Athena in Athena Complex heavily motivated by an unrequited romantic attraction literally rips one of her main core values to shreds.

And this in my opinion one of the worst offenses, MAKING THE SUBJECT OF THAT ROMANTIC ATTRACTION POSEIDON. Literally one MAJOR thing for the original Athena and Poseidon is that they HATE each other. (Also Athena is literally Poseidon’s niece, but tbh that’s a less heinous crime bc Greek mythology was weird about that shit, multiple gods married their siblings/cousins/uncles/aunts/nieces/nephews/etc., it’s weird. Also in Athena Complex Poseidon acted the main person raising Athena, which is ALSO really fucking weird and concerning, anyway back to why they hate each other).

The Contest for Athens: Basically before the Greek city of Athens was called Athens the people were looking for a patron deity, and both Athena and Poseidon tried to lay their claim. In order to determine who the city would go to, they decided to have a contest of who could give the city the best gift. Poseidon gave the city some horses (for transportation and farmwork) and a small spring in the middle of the city (note: the water in the spring was salt water and therefore undrinkable). Athena gave them olive trees (for food, making oil, wood, etc.). The peoplr decided that Athena’s gift was better and thus named the city “Athens” after her, leaving Poseidon incredibly salty.

The Medusa Incident (TW: possible rape/non-con): So Poseidon was having a nice little affair with a mortal woman named Medusa (you notice how this name is familiar, right? that’s important). It’s a little iffy on whether or not this affair was fully consensual on Medusa’s end due to the sort of victim blame-y aspects to this story, hence the trigger warning. So Poseidon his having his fun and decides to find a nice little place they can go to do the nasty. Where does he think would be a great idea? One of Athena’s temples of course! You know, a literal place of worship dedicated to his rival who is known to dislike involvement in romantic/sexual relationships? Nothing could go wrong at all! They of course get caught, and Athena, being pissed, decides to curse Medusa with snakes for hair and the ability to turn people into stone just by looking at them (see why the name was familiar?) For good measure she also curses Medusa’s two sisters with the snake hair. The sisters are then dubbed the Gorgons and then go live in isolation on a island until they are killed by Perseus (a hero that Athena was helping).

So this Webtoon completely ignores the context behind this hatred and decides to make it into an enemies to lovers story based on unrequited feelings (the feelings of a person for their childhood caretaker too...still weird). I guess they wanted to do enemies to lovers and such based on a rivalry dynamic, but in doing so they erased most of the actual substance behind that rivalry by making it romantic and destroying the characterization of one of the main characters.

I can understand taking creative liberties, but before you do so you NEED to have a full understanding of the characters that you are adapting. If a mythological character is known for a certain practice (refraining from romance) or for having an extreme distaste for another figure (Athena hating Poseidon), INCLUDE IT. You NEED to have all of the bare bones basics before you start taking liberties.

For example, the original Athena:

Goddess of wisdom and strategy

Association with owls, olives, carries a shield known as Aegis

Highly values learning and knowledge

Prideful to a fault

Virgin goddess with no interest in romantic or sexual relationships

Extreme hatred for Poseidon as a result of repeated negative encounters

Those are the bare bones basics, after that you can do what you want.

Honestly I don’t think that this Webtoon is necessarily BAD, but it is VERY annoying when you have the context behind these characters (hence my frustration and inability to make it past 10 chapters). In my opinion, if the author wanted to write this storyline, they should have made their own OCs as opposed to butchering a pre-existing figure’s characterization.

(Also I’m so sorry I know that this isn’t relevant to my argument BUT THE POSEIDON REINCARNATION LOOKS SO BORING HE LOOKS LIKE A BACKGROUND CHARACTER WHERE IS THE FLAVOR????)

#athena complex #athena complex webtoon #webtoon #rant #again this is just my opinion #i don’t expect anyone to fully agree with me #tw mention of rape/noncon

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kihaku-gato · 3 years

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Random Webcomic Reccomendations

This post is dedicated to bringing to the spotlight several webcomics

(some would be considered webmanga but I’m counting them too since they are primarily presented on webcomic websites) which I’ve been enjoying that I hope can get more traction/fandom with this post. Due to my personal tastes I can say many/most have a sci fi or fantasy theming as well as some (definitely not all) have wlw as well.

Since this post will be quite extensive, I’ll first start with a “table of contents” for those who don’t want synopsises or ramblings, but instead just want titles and want to just check them out themselves.

Bybloemen

My Dragon Girlfriend

Sanguine

Straylight Tiger

Cariciphona

Amongst Us

Kiss It Goodbye

Mokepon

Seven Miles Down

UnDivine

Bybloemen

Hosted on its own website under hiveworkscomics

This is a historical semi-fantasy set during the infamous Tulip Mania period of Dutch/European history when people would pay an arm and a leg for even a single potentially valuable tulip bulb.

In this setting we follow two devils Basil and Ludwig and their avian familiars strut into the action, pretending to be foreign investors getting in on the tulip hype, probably to ensnare some desperate souls, all the while keeping man and beast alike from catching sus that they are not as human as they claim to be.

As of writing this the story is just starting up but is already making quite the unique statement. The distinct black and white artstyle is clearly holding homage to the historical “Woodcut” printmaking style in how it’s drawn, lined, and textured, which is a refreshing way to artistically state that the comic is “set in the past” w/o doing just grayscale or sepia tone that one is used to seeing for media set in historical times.

The interactions between the devils as well as the animals they can communicate with so far have been quite amusing.

If you don’t directly use hiveworkscomics for your usual webcomic browsing (so don’t get notified by it) they do have both a tumblr and twitter which frequently announce/link its updates. Bonus following their twitter/tumblr being you get to see occasionally “sketches” (I say that term very loosely) of the characters outside of the webcomic series if you’re into that.

My Dragon Girlfriend

Available on Webtoons and Twitter

Fantasy alongside modern era setting. It is primarily a wlw webcomic series about a human girl named Christy who is swept off her feet by a dragon girl named Dani, semi-magical/mythical wlw hijinks ensue. It’s hard for me to pin its identity entirely, cause while I wanna say it’s a “Slice of Life” the webcomic is at the point where Dani is fighting a werewolf tooth and nail so it’s hard to pin. It’s clearly romance genre, as even if Dani and Chirsty end up together lickity split (a blink of the eye compared to the slow-burn of most romance stories) there are other wlw subplots going on with secondary primary characters which you’ll be routing for.

It has its steamy moments and implies sex but not so far as to show full-on nudity of the main characters characters. Though there is some nudity of some of the monstergirls such as the fawn girls on the other hand it does not beat around the bush with, but luckily takes the nudity in a natural non-sexual way Correction as of writing this; only the Twitter version shows nudity, they had to censor with bras on Webtoons cause it got flagged.

If you want it hotter/steamier, sign up to the artist’s patreon. It’s definitely a nice softish wlw webomic if you’re craving a lil monstergirl flavour.

Sanguine

Available on Tapas and Webtoons

Full-on adventure fantasy setting set in a world where magic and mages have been persecuted to the point of going into secrecy.

It stars a cute red-riding-hood-like implied secret-royal (that was too much a mouthful) lady named Red, and a tall gorgeous beefy secretly mage lady named Morgan which Red has dragged into her shenanigans with.

It’s early to call this a wlw gem as of the current updates, but it is tagged as lgbt+ so take that with potential further wisdom.

This webcomic uses colour a fair bit to set its tone/mood, but otherwise has a very comfy/warm feeling about it somehow, like some of those old comics/webcomics/novels you would welcome to read while snuggled under blankets. Also the outfits are REALLY nicely designed, and I could definitely see some peeps having fun cosplaying many of these characters.

As the story slowly progresses I am holding with baited breath to how Red and Morgan’s interactions/relationship may or may not evolve, as I am totally an absolute sucker for “friendly/bubbly naïveish character dragging along the cool/grumpy don’t-get-involved character that has a hidden soft heart” trope.

Straylight Tiger

Available on Webtoons and Tapas

WARNING- while infrequent this one has some blood/gore that will shake you up, though it puts it where it would be most sensible to. Lucky for you most blood in this series is not the usual human-red blood which tones the edge down.

It may have lots of fantasy elements but this one definitely holds its identity as Sci Fi. Set in a futuristic cyberesque city full of both good and bad superhumans (one group being animal shapeshifters and the other being elemental casters), there is an extremist cult out to wreck havoc in the city, so a company responds by recruiting a handful of individuals from all 3 races to make a secret task force to eliminate the threat.

The main character in this story is a secretly-a-tiger shapeshifter named Angeline.

This is probably the most visually colourful of the webcomics in my list and is really using it to charge up its stylistic sci fi setting. Best way I could compare it to; you know those glow-in-the-dark cyber avatars you occasionally see in VRchat? Straylight Tiger matches that visual energy. Of listed so far this is also the most action-packed webcomic on the list. I could almost call it a Trigger-like comic but luckily unlike Studio Trigger it’s not into going nuts on fanservice.

If you’re craving your superhuman sci fi action, this one should at least be checked out. I want to say there’ll be wlw at some point, but it’s too early to call, and if it does I would not expect it to be a major arc when it has larger fish for plot points to deal with.

If you’re craving wlw of at least mc and her weapons-savvy human friend, I highly recommend you checking out the artist Flying Frappe’s twitter to get some sating for you wlw cravings for the two.

Caricophona

Available on webtoons as well as its own webcomic site

Tragic fantasy setting starring a supermagical woman named Veloice as she is hunted by an Assassin. I tag it as there is an undertone of death in some of the arcs, which give this colourfully magical world a more sombre tone. Among the webcomics on the list this one may be steepest when it comes to catching to speed of the world’s setting/rules/hierarchies but once you do you’ll hunger for this more.

I can’t entirely make a perfect comparison for it (Full Metal Alchemist is as close as I could compare and they are still as different to each other as apples and oranges) but it really has that rich nostalgic old manga style/world/tone to it, and its most welcome to as well.

The world building is rich, and Veloice is a mental/magical powerhouse even if at times she has a fragility about her. The fact she’s a Caricophona; magical beings which tend to either get persecuted or expire early at age from their own condition, definitely helps with giving her a almost “glass canon” energy about her.

While those points have definitely helped hook me in, the thing that tends to excite me the most in this webcomic is Veloice’s interactions with the assassin who’s been send to kill her, named Blackbird. The tension between them, the fact Blackbird both wants to toy with her, Blackbird’s somewhat flirtatious nature towards Veloice OMFG I EAT IT UP!!!! They have such a enemies to lovers feeling to them (though no, they are not lovers- we can dream though) which just gets you so excited.

I should also mention there are two other “primary characters” in the group. Two rich naïve kids ready to help Veloice however they can. You grow to like them (even if they hit tropes that may strike a nerve if you’re tired to their character type), but the mvp of this webcomic for character and interaction has to be Veloice and Blackbird.

Amongst Us

Available on webtoons and its own website

Say you like Veloice and Blackbird from the previous webcomic, but find the hefty fantasy setting a bit too much, and you’re more for the romance? What if I told you the artist was galaxy brained enough to make a chiller AU? That is what Amongst Us is; a music college-set slice of life with a slow burn romance between Veloice and Blackbird. They’re dorky, their cute, and seeing some of the characters you’re familiar with in Caricophona in a different setting is nice to see.

In some ways Veloice is less proactive in Amongst Us but still feels very in-character of her. The webcomic would end pretty quick if Veloice were to get-to-the-point with Blackbird after all (granted with how we see them in the future together at the start of the webcomic it’s not like they have to be in a hurry anyways).

Seeing a wlw / slice of life set in a college setting rather than a high school setting is extremely welcome. Please, more of this.

Kiss it Goodbye

Available on Webtoons

Slice of Life high-school beginnings of wlw romance. The artstyle is good, the characters are lovely. We know canonically that they end up together (as the webcomic starts with them in the future where they are a couple, as they begin to weave the story to their curious friends wanting to know how their romance came to be).

It’s not an unwelcome Slice of Life.

BONUS / HONORABLE MENTIONS

Mokepon

Available on h0lyhandgrenade’s website

I have honestly not read this one in a while and dropped it like, several years ago, but it was interesting and is still ongoing, so I had to mention it. Set in the Pokemon universe, it stars the main character who has been thrown into the pokemon trainer career while absolutely wanting nothing to do with it. Ends up becoming a rocket grunt which is an interesting change of perspective from many pokemon fancomics. It has old-nuzelocke energy though it is not a Nuzelocke. Be prepared for the brutality as you cry for the pokemon (especially his pikachu). The undying loyalty of his Charmander as he himself struggles with his position as a trainer/grunt is interesting. He is definitely not the usual pokemon trainer protag you’re used to.

Seven Miles Down

Available on Webtoons

A completed oneshot psychological horror where a girl takes her submarine to the deepest unventured oceanic trench in the world. Tragic end, but horrors can be like that. The psychological nature of the horror is an interesting angle. The rounded cute style may throw you off but it works.

UnDivine

Availabe on its own website via hiveworkscomics

This comic has since been cancelled from continuation, but is the webcomic to set me off in making this list, so it will still be mentioned in memory/tribute, and is the grand example of why you should interact with the webcomics you read as well as share them; there is a good chance they will not hold on their own without fan interaction and traction. Excuse me as I just use two full-on pages cause I’m wearing out on this list and browsing through tons and tons of pages for highlights wears a peep out.

Modern-set religious fantasy on an island where local their religion may be more than it seems. Stars a boy named Daniel, and Esther the Demon girl. From what can be gleaned the Demongirl knew the “god” of the island’s religion and was double crossed, so has a bone to pick with them and their “angelic” entourage now that she’s free when she got accidentally summoned by Daniel.

This webcomic loves its use of blood, but your grow used to it after a point. The setting is interesting, and its also cool to see how the “angels” are far from the usual “pretty human-like” in their true form and are instead more monstrous than you could say even the Demon Esther is.

A lot of what makes this comic interesting, outside of the “revenge against a god” main plot going on, is how messy the characters can be.

Daniel, Esther, and the one angel named Manual are all pretty interesting in how they interact with their roles that they’ve been put in and how they react to others, and are all very morally grey complex characters.

Daniel is an angst machine who tends to really wear himself out (though how he’s positioned/pressured by the world doesn’t help) and shoot himself in the foot a lot, and that’s even before Esther “turns” him into her lil monstrous pawn, not something you commonly see in main characters from the get-go.

Esther (the tall blondie) while being a Demon ready to get her vengeance on is in many ways naïve/childlike despite her powerful nature, and despite using Daniel as her pawn is shown to grow to have feelings/care for Daniel which is very interesting for “The Contracted Devil” position.

Manual…. We haven’t gotten to see a lot but it’s clear he’s meant to be the angelic hero position but its clear he does not like the position, and he also has a thing for a human woman named Rosamaria but we have not gotten to see why that’s the case.

This webcomic didn’t get the traction it needed to keep going, so was recently cancelled by the artist.

#webcomics #reccomendations #long post #wall of text #comics #manga #Bybloemen #Undivine #Straylight tiger #Cacicophona #Amongst Us #Mokepon #My Dragon girlfriend #Kiss It Goodbye #Sanguine #I probably missed a webcomic on the list to tag but I am very very tired atm

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teddy-stonehill · 3 years

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Fic Writer Interview

Tagged by @comradegrantaire

I mostly write original fiction so I’ll probably adapt a lot of questions to that.

Name: Teddy-Stonehill on Tapas (and most places), t_stonehill on AO3

Fandoms: tbh for the few fanfics I’ve written I mostly write one-shots based on pretty obscure media lmao. I don’t really get into popular fandoms.

Where you post: AO3 for fanfic. Currently cross-posting my original fiction on Tapas, Royal Road, and Wattpad.

Most popular one-shot: Weirdly it’s The Importance of Selfishness, a one-shot Sinbad (the cartoon movie) fanfic I wrote for a friend lmao. I think it only gets as much attention as it does because it’s a small tag so if anyone goes looking for fanfic of that movie they’ll end up at mine.

Most popular multi-chapter: My in-progress original webnovel, The Saintess and The Villainess, is already more popular than any of my fanfiction.

Favorite story I’ve written so far: For original fiction, my favorites are mostly things that I haven’t published or shared anywhere yet lol. Silver Darlings, my half-finished historical fantasy romance is up there. But I’ve also written some short stories I’m really proud of.

For fanfiction, I still really love Disappointment, Understanding, the multi-chapter Mystic Messenger fanfic I wrote back in 2016. It’s written in the chat/cut-scene style of the game itself, and rereading it after all these years I’m genuinely shocked by how well I managed to capture the weird voice that game had lmao. The cadence is so perfect and I also used mostly actual plot points from different routes in the game lmao. It’s good imo.

Fic you were nervous to post: I guess I’m pretty nervous posting most of the chapters of my current webnovel tbh. I’m more or less sharing a rough-draft as I go so there’s a lot of chances to fuck things up and I really want people to like it. It’s mostly gone okay so far though.

How do you choose your titles: I just fish around for something that sounds good and sometimes it turns out okay. I don’t really have a method. Except for The Saintess and The Villainess I was intentionally titling it to match the kind of titles people use for isekai stories, so I was just going for genre conventions.

Do you outline: For long-form writing, yes. Although usually not in a lot of detail. I’ll plan a few chapters ahead in detail, and expand my plan as I write chapters. And then plan further-down-the-line plot stuff in my head. But I’m pretty flexible with all of it.

Complete: Just check my A03 page. I recently deleted the in-progress fics that I’m definitely never gonna finish, so everything on there is complete now. My webnovel is not complete. For original fiction, I’ve got a couple old novels and a lot of short stories in my trunk, but I’m not gonna share those online.

In progress: The big on is The Saintess and The Villainess, which I update twice weekly. I’m also currently working on another novel called Silver Darlings, but I’m still considering publishing that traditionally, so I’m not sharing it publicly. Although tbh if you want to read part 1 you could just ask me and I’ll send it to you lmao.

Coming soon/not yet started: I’ve always got a few ideas simmering in the back of my mind tbh.

Prompts: I think writing based on prompts is fun and if you send me one I’ll probably write you a couple thousand words maybe. But generally I just come up with my own ideas.

Upcoming work you’re most excited about: So I’ve developed a whole premise for a lesbian reincarnation/contract marriage story (more weird webtoon/webnovel subgenres) called The Warmonger Duchess and Her Female Husband and honestly it’s suuuuuuch a good concept to me I really want to write it when I’m done with The Saintess and The Villainess.

I’m not gonna tag anyone cause I’m not sure who’d be interested in answering the qeustions lmao

#tag games #my writing

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comicteaparty · 4 years

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November 23rd-November 29th, 2019 Creator Babble Archive

The archive for the Creator Babble chat that occurred from November 23rd, 2019 to November 29th, 2019. The chat focused on the following question:

How do you personally deal with hiatuses, both in regards to planned and unplanned breaks?

carcarchu

I feel very guilty when I go on unplanned hiatuses and I avoid going to tapas and webtoons at all until I've got an update completed. i'm scared to see comments complaining about the lack of updates and how many people have unfollowed me in the meantime. i also find it very hard to bounce back from a hiatus. when i've got a groove going it's easier to keep the momentum than it is to start again after a prolonged absence

Deo101

Kinda a rough question haha. I don't go on any hiatuses other than unplanned ones. It's only out of necessity, in the past I did it if school/health got rough, and I'd try to be back the next week with a normal update!!! However.. I have a second comic which has been on hiatus for a year. I miss making it, but I lost the person who I was working with on it so it has been hard to start again. I'm kind of not really dealing with it, as the anxiety of starting again gets worse the longer it's been! But, I know that the only way to get out of it is to just do it, and I have to do it as soon as I can or it will never end. So, I just work my way through them to get back on schedule.

LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)

So far I've only taken one official hiatus, after I finished the second chapter of the comic - I worked on the next chapter's pages for the next two months, then came back and luckily haven't been off hiatus since.

I have another planned hiatus after the next chapter, and this time, I'll be accepting guest art to fill the space - it's not something I was aware was a thing until it was suggested to me. It'll be interesting to come up with a cool way to feature any art I receive. I like the idea of highlighting other artists' work while I'm taking a breather!

eli [a winged tale]

There’s such a huge mental barrier for me when it comes to announcing a hiatus but ultimately life and health come first. I have a comic on hiatus since 2015 (one day it’ll come back haha), and sometimes things happen to push my current one back for updates. I want to tell myself that since I’m producing free content, it should be for fun and not a source of stress (despite industry standards and what I want to achieve). It’s a balance. I think the readers who wait are the ones I am most grateful and treasure.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I have chronic health issues that can be very debilitating, so having hiatuses is something I have to deal with all the time. I might be able to update regularly for a few months, but eventually and inevitably, a sudden hiatus will come. It’s something that causes me a lot of stress on top of an already stressful situation. Readers leave, and then when I’m well enough to work, I don’t just have to churn out as many pages as I can while I can, I also have to rebuild my audience all over again. I hate going on hiatuses and having such an unstable update schedule, but there’s not much I can do about it.(edited)

Cronaj

Aw man... I also have been dealing with chronic health conditions, so I feel you. I finally got treatments that have been working, so I'm able to update consistently now. That being said, I was on hiatus for a year and a half until just recently. It really did destroy the momentum I was building up, and readers I had accumulated. Because of that, I am determined not to take long hiatuses anymore (a week-a month at most) and to announce it beforehand. I do find it important to prioritize health and mental well-being above my comic, but I find my mental health suffering every time I neglect to update my comic, so I find a middle ground by taking short breaks occasionally. Moral of the story: build up a buffer, kids. Don't be like me.

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

Yeah, same. I'm still trying to get a diagnosis, but I'm kind of an outlier in medicine- my body chemistry is very atypical. I build up those buffers whenever I can, but they always run out sooner or later. I love making comics so much that my mental health suffers, too. I get depressed if I'm not making progress on my comics. I'm really glad you've found a treatment that helps, though! I hope I can too, one of these years.

eli [a winged tale]

What is this mystical buffer everyone keeps talking about

I jest. Keep up the great work everyone! Everyone is trying their best and that’s most important

Capitania do Azar

I always take a small hiatus on the end of each chapter so I can rest and work on writing the next one, usually for a couple months.

sssfrs

I generally take my time with updates anyway. I've lost followers after hiatuses (strangely people only actually started unfollowing me after I came back with a new update) but I'm more focused on getting more of my comic done and progressing towards it being a finished work than keeping a consistent audience. Even though it would be nice...

DanitheCarutor

Fff coincidentally I'm going on a planned hiatus in December. At the end of every chapter I go on one to get feedback, and have some downtime to better plan the next chapter, as well as to get build some buffer. Usually during this time I either hold a Q&A, or do a call for guest art/comics, and I only ever plan to be on break for a month. I don't like being away for longer than that, and the intermission stuff (Q&A's, call for guest art) is announced a month or so beforehand, that way no one is scrambling when the scheduled break starts. As far as an unplanned hiatus, I don't usually have any with my current project. There have been times I've missed the posting deadline due to my fulltime job, but would post either once the page is done or the next week. With my old comic I took a lot of unannounced breaks, not so much because I was busy but I was going through a lot of crap, and morale was really low. It didn't help that it was my very first real attempt at making comics, so I had no idea what I was doing, the story was also hot garbage and became more of a chore to work as time went on. Eventually I just stopped, went on perma-hiatus totally unannounced to this day. I should have let my readers know, but I was really ashamed of myself for not wanting to work on the project (I promised I would complete it), and with a bunch of things suddenly happening in my life I forgot. I'll probably have to go in an unannounced break someday. A lot of things can happen, and being a traditional art only comic creator I'll probably end up running out of supplies eventually, needing to scrounge up some money for more. The nice thing is soooome, hopefully most, of my readers would understand? They know my comic is super time consuming, and that I've been working on it nonstop for 4-5 years now, so they should? Maybe? Hopefully that won't happen, though!

keii4ii

For those of you who take a break after each chapter, how many pages go in an average-length chapter?

🌈ERROR404 🌈

depends on how you're planning to set up your story, whether u want to prioritize to certain print sizes, but the general average chapter size is about 30 pages

Cronaj

I hadn't been planning to take a break between chapters, but we'll see what actually happens. I have chapters ranging from 35-50 pages in length(edited)

DanitheCarutor

Not sure how everyone else is, but I wing it with chapter length. The chapter I'm currently capping off will be 57 pages, although 30-45ish pages is preferred.

eli [a winged tale]

47 for me for this first chapter!

keii4ii

Cool! Was mostly asking a "so how frequently do you take scheduled post-chapter breaks" worded differently

sssfrs

I do 8-12.. I wish I could do more

Cap’n Lee (Flowerlark Studios)

I am taking a short holiday break (that was actually planned this time) in between Eryl chapters. My Eryl chapters usually run 30-35 pages, and the break will be around..., 3 weeks I think? I can’t remember exactly. I’m probably going to have to put it back on hiatus partway through the chapter when my buffer runs out because of the aforementioned chronic health issues, though.

spacerocketbunny

I've only taken one hiatus and that was just while my site was being built! But even then we were able to have a short extra comic updating on an alternative site for that time being. We've been updating consistently for 5 years and that's thanks to the stability we've been lucky to have and the fact that there's two of us sharing the work. We've been able to work ahead enough so we've never ran out of a buffer, I'm pretty proud of that tbh(edited)

DanitheCarutor

@keii4ii Oh! So you were asking the time frame in which a chapter is finished? Correct me if I'm wrong. Normally each chapter takes about a year to complete, sometimes a couple months more than that. (for me, that is.)

spacerocketbunny

Nothing wrong with a hiatus though, especially after chapter breaks, I think those are pretty good to keep yourself from burning out!

Cronaj

I do 2-3 pages a week, so I finish a new chapter... about every 4-6 months

keii4ii

I appreciate the answers, everyone!

AntiBunny

I answered this one on Twitter, but I'll answer more at length here. FIrst of all I think a distinction should be made between a Hiatus, which is a planned break, and an extended delay, which is more missed updates compounding with each other.

The former is easier to deal with. Announce it with a clear return date.

The latter is rougher. The artist hasn't planned it, and feelings of guilt can make it harder and harder to return. The best thing to do in that case is to again, get out ahead of it. When you're delayed point people to your social media, and keep posting to make it clear you're still working, or if work has halted completely at least keep posting to let them know when you will be working on it again.

Either way I try to avoid even using the word "hiatus" because webcomic readers tend to read it as "abandoned." Sadly they're all too often right to do so.

Cronaj

Yeah, usually, when announcing a hiatus to my readers, I like to use the word "break" instead

It's a bit softer for some reason

You know, I am 95% certain that my readers thought I had abandoned the project—or died—when I disappeared for a year and a half

Because I know that I have gotten invested in a comic, only for the creator to go incognito

And I always wonder... Are they alright?

keii4ii

I usually figure either life got too busy, or the creator outgrew the project. Or both.

AntiBunny

I know. I stopped updating for almost a year because I wasn't happy with the planned ending of Nailbat. I lost readers I still haven't regained over that one.

In retrospect "waiting for inspiration" was not the ideal way to handle that.

Cronaj

Yeah, the fact that I returned at all is pretty crazy, from a reader's perspective(edited)

I've seen more abandoned projects than I have, "Hey sorry guys! Was dealing with stuff, but now I'm back!"

I mean, it happens

But very infrequently in comparison to the previous sadly(edited)

AntiBunny

Combine the fact that not updating is easier than updating, and the guilt of not updating making you feel like your return has to be even more awesome with every missed update, so you build for yourself a unsalable mountain of imagined expectation, and you have a recipe for abandonment.

Cronaj

Yep!

I'm still trying to regain my momentum

And I always feel so bad if I publish a less-than-stellar page

AntiBunny

There's also the fact that people grow and change. One problem with long form story webcomics is that an artist can outgrow their story.

Cronaj

That is so true

AntiBunny

The most successful tend to be the ones that can grow and change with the artist.

Cronaj

As a novelist as well, I can say that is incredibly accurate

I have dropped so many novels after writing 30k words or more

The only project I've stayed faithful to for over 5 years IS my current comic project

AntiBunny

Sluggy Freelance for example is very different today than when it began. Gunnerkrigg Court as well, and I like to think mine can too.

Though I'll admit I do have a character I've outgrown, and it bugs me people want to see her again.

Cronaj

I think that's just a desire for closure, and for things to come together in the end

AntiBunny

She was more of a comic relief character really. her sort of humor just isn't something I want to write anymore. That kind of edgelord "lol murder," humor isn't something I can write anymore. And unlike the core cast who've grown so that they don't have to come from the same place I was years ago, she hasn't.

I may be drifting off topic a bit there. Anyway I think it serves well as a reminder that for a long term story the characters need to grow with the artist to keep a comic going.

keii4ii

Not every story is meant to grow with the trends, and that's 100% fine. Just means you have to accept the risk of potentially outgrowing the project.

Using the word "trends" pretty broadly

Mine is not very adaptable, and I can't imagine making it more adaptable without altering its core. It doesn't make it less worthy as a story, just... yeah, bigger risk

seetherabbit

I always took breaks or "hiatus" way before I ran out of pages I could in theory add to the buffer

that way I could more easly relax

but also so I don't have to take an hiatus in the middle of a story

Pistashi

everyone needs a break sometimes

I've been updating and working constantly not only on my comic, but alto my yt channel and freelance jobs (because money is always welcomed, even tho I HATE FREELANCE WITH ALL MY CORE)

but I feel like I got momentum now and I dont wanna stop suddendly

sometimes I feel exhausted but then one day later or after 10h of sleep Im fine

I'll take a break later for sure, but rn I feel like this weight of responsibility is helping me build my work ethics

because we cant work just when we are inspired, we dont have that luxury :P

we cant overwork either, so we gotta be smart with our breaks and hiatuses

mathtans

I've been on hiatus more times than I want to count. One of those things where not having much of an audience helps... if no one's really saying much, they either continue not to say anything, or suddenly surface to wish you well.

I will say that I like concluding arcs. My first hiatus was when my wife went into hospital for a bit, I said I'd return but didn't know when. Most of my other hiatuses have been at the ends of arcs... and I'll add that while they were breaks from the comic, they weren't from content. I put up a few behind-the-scenes things, explaining backstory, and had a friend write a column for me too. I've seen other comics do similar, or use guest art.

And for those of you wondering "who's this guy", I've been on hiatus since my daughter was born. Meaning we're going on 17 months. (I may not return to comic work. I have another website I run where I do serials that I'm still maintaining.)

Phin (Heirs of the Veil)

In most cases I take a hiatus at the end of a chapter. I have taken two official hiatuses and I think there were some shorter, inofficial ones that I had to take because of other obligations like my studies/family issues/freelance work or finishing books for print. Personally I have managed to not get myself too worked up about hiatuses. I'm doing comics for free and I can't live off of them, so it's inevitable to take breaks. Though I have to say I'm starting into a new chapter without having to go on hiatus, which is pretty neat C:

Pistashi

@Phin (Heirs of the Veil) thats niice! its like the more we work on comics the better (and faster) we get, so keeping the momentum between chapters without a hiatus is an awesome thing! Its the little things tbh

also, you're right. its inevitable to take breaks. specially when you're not working full time and can't live off of them. and like @mathtans said, responsibility shows up and sometimes we have to put things aside

like having a daugther! thats awesome dude! hope your family is doing well (and I know you said you might not get back to comics, but if its something you enjoy keep it up when you're free! making comics is fun) ahdksjnd

Neguri-Senpai-Author

I've actually never gone on a hiatus ever since I started really doing my comic. I can't really go on any hiatuses because I market mine as a weekly comic and additionally I have an oddly strong obsession over consistently in my life so I just feel really really weird if I'd do something like a break from my comic even if I needed it ^^; But currently it's not really that bad. I've been consistent with weekly uploads for a bit over a year now (I've started doing it weekly in September of 2018) and I don't plan on going on a hiatus any time soon. Maybe I'll work a bit in advance but I'm not gonna go on a hiatus to get a break

Phin (Heirs of the Veil)

@Pistashi Yeah it's really nice when you finally get a little faster because you optimized your workflow

mathtans

@Pistashi Thanks! Family's doing great, but yeah, most of my free time goes to writing rather than drawing these days. We'll see how things play out.

Desnik

I didn't spotlight my hiatus, but when I finally return to acknowledge it, I'd like to have something to show for it, like a new project or 'this is where I am now' or 'This is what the comic meant to me' so that at least my readers get closure

#ctparchive #comics #webcomics #indie comics #comic chat #comic discussion #comic tea party #ctp #creator interview #comic creator interview #creator babble

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colorguardian10 · 7 years

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“Where should I host my webcomic?”

DON’T REBLOG THIS. The info is very outdated.

If you’re making a new webcomic it’s often difficult to decide where to put it, especially since if you need this kind of resource you're probably just starting out. So, here’s some info I’ve gathered on some popular hosting platforms and their benefits/downsides. I'm not an artist, so this isn't an inside scoop, but I've put some research into this and I know what artists have said about their experiences. All of these platforms are free and public to use unless noted otherwise.

Tapas (aka Tapastic)

Tapas is a website and app that is made for hosting webcomics.

Example - Example

Benefits:

VERY well known, one the most popular hosting platforms around.

It's mostly set up so users check out as many comics as possible -> easier time attracting readership.

Once you start getting subscriptions it starts figuring out what other comics get similar readership. It'll start recommending your comic and you'll get more consistent readers.

It's very easy to use and smoothly designed. Pefect for new artists.

There's kind of a social aspect to it? I don't know how to describe it. Every user has a page you can comment on and there's a robust comment system on pages/episodes.

TAPAS TIPPING. A brilliant, original system. Users can watch ads for "tapas coins", which they can "tip" towards their favorite artists! This turns into free real money for you. You can also apply to tapas premium to make a comic or novel that's unlocked per episode with coins. (novels are only acessible on the tapas app, which it seems to be moving towards)

Downsides:

It's very reader-centered. Not so much on artists.

In fact it recently tried a really sketchy move where it added a clause to its terms of service potentially restricting where else artists could post even the free comics. It was later removed after sitewide backlash and mass comic removal.

No control over how your website appears. You get to make a banner and an icon, that's it. This could be a good thing, since you don't have to worry about it and its theme works very well.

Sometimes it's a little buggy. I've noticed a lot of artists post with links to other platforms and apologies because it won't let them add an update.

How to Join:

Create a free account.

Create your comic.

LINE Webtoon

Example - Example

Webtoons is a free website and app for hosting webcomics.

Benefits:

Similar to Tapas, but with a more high-class feel.

(By that I mean I see very few debut artists and more professionals there.)

It's about as easy to use, and it's becoming much more well-known, especially after the mass exodus to Webtoons after the Tapas TOS incident. They also advertise comics on others' pages with similar readership, but it's kinda skewed towards comics that already have a lot of readers. I get the feeling that it's focused on providing a good experience for its users more than reading a lot of comics.

You still cannot control how your site works, but again, what they give you is very good.

Every month the staff chooses some comics to become "featured" artists. Featured Artists make $2000/month as long as they don't post on any other webcomic sites. As the name implies, they also advertise you more. They really like to mention this benefit.

Downsides:

You might not get any traffic? Mostly the biggest problem is just having to use its framework which is designed for webcomics.

How to Join:

Create a free account.

Create your comic.

Smackjeeves

Example - Example

Smackjeeves is yet another free host for webcomics.

Benefits:

You get a subdomain automatically, which you can heavily customize the appearance of.

It has a very social format compared other hosts.

Smackjeeves also recommends comics, but not on other comics' pages. You can explore comics throughtout the site.

Downsides:

I personally find the website very confusing. I can't imagine it's much better on the artist side of things.

How to Join:

Create a free account.

Create your comic.

Tumblr

Example - Example

You're on it! Tumblr is a social media platfrom that is based on users having one or more blogs to create streams of posts with.

Benefits:

Tumblr blogs already have a "page" format for scrolling through chunks of posts. Just set your post per page ratio to one and voila! Already looks very similar to actual webomic sites.

One of the highlights of Tumblr as a social media platform is being able to manually edit your blog's HTML. There are even publicly available user-made themes for webcomics.

It's a social media platform! It's very easy to interact with your fanbase.

A lot of webcomic fans use Tumblr - it's well-suited to fandom in particular.

Your updates would in reality be posts on a blog. Readers might reblog them and share your work with other people. It's by far the best platform for word-of-mouth advertisement.

If you're reading this you probably already know how to use it.

Downsides:

Tumblr is just ... not made for webcomics. At all.

Archiving in particular is very counterintuitive for webcomics. Page urls are not static - "page 2" is the second-most recent update, not the second page. In order to find an individual update you have to actually page back to it or scroll through the default uneditable archive.

How to Join:

Get a free account.

If you already have one, you can simply create a sideblog. But you might want a whole account just for the comic - outgoing likes and asks show up as your main blog, so if you're using a sideblog it exposes your personal/main blog whenever you interact with fans.

Edit your blog's theme extensively.

Begin posting your updates.

Custom Website

Example - Example

No external host. Make your own website, just for your comic!

Benefits:

ABSOLUTE CONTROL. You decide how it looks, how it works, and what features it has. Most webcomic sites have similar formats: prominent centered pages (and usually the current update on the "main" page), first/previous/next/recent buttons, an archive, an about page, information on when it updates, etc. But in general everything is 100% up to you.

I cannot stress that ^^^ enough.

No license or restrictions of any kind. Except, like, laws. Obviously.

Many features are easy to add to your website. Disqus (Insertable commenting platform. Sorta structured like Reddit) is getting more and more popular and I haven't heard anyone mention it costing anything.

You can get ad revenue from your site, and 100% of it goes to you.

Downsides:

Unless you have the skills to make a functional professional website on your own, it costs money. Plus, there's the relatively small monthly/yearly cost of reserving a domain name.

Finicky and difficult to fix problems. When Tapas eats your update, you wait a day or two before it works again. When the commenting system disappears, you have to call whoever made your website or fix it yourself.

There's no real way of attracting readership (and ad revenue!) other than word-of-mouth or paying for ads. No handy recommendation system in place. This is ONLY a move for someone who already has a guaranteed reader base. However, almost every popular comic artist eventually gets their own site so it must be worth it past a certain threshold.

How to Join:

Get a domain name and a website.

Post your comic on your new website.

Advertise the heck out of it.

SpiderForest

Example - Example

SpiderForest is a collective of comic artists, not a public service. You must apply to join.

Benefits:

The application process isn't very strict; it's there so that it isn't flooded with low-quality comics. Not sure how I feel about it but it works pretty well for them.

You get the benefits of any vetted group. They advertise you on their main site, and being a member adds credibility to your work.

Even though it is an exclusive group, its policy allows unlimited mirrors, so you can still use anything else you want.

Downsides:

In order to be a member you have to have at least one mirror on a custom site they can link to or host directly on their site. Not much of a downside but still.

Your comic should already exist somewhere else. They generally won't approve pitches for potential projects, unless you're already an established creator with previous work to show instead.

It's not as well known? It's still pretty high up there.

How to Join:

Apply using the link at the top of their main page.

Be accepted.

Post your comic on your associated Spiderworks site.

Hiveworks

Example - Example

Hiveworks is a for-profit professional organization. You don't ask to be a member, Hiveworks asks you to join. There's like a 95% chance you should SAY YES.

Benefits:

Hiveworks gives you a free website (see: custom website benefits)

All Hiveworks sites have a little sidebar advertising other hiveworks comics. They also advertise your comic on their main aggregate site.

They look for good comics, it's their job. Having their logo on your site is a testament to the quality of your work. You'll get so many readers and comissions, trust me on this one.

Downsides:

You do have to provide some art to them. They'll sell merch of your comic (which you get a large cut of!), and you need to provide icons and banners for them to advertise you with. When they do well, you do well, and vice versa.

If you are a member you cannot host your comic any new sites, especially their biggest competitor, SpiderForest. This contract lasts a while. Sometimes you get to keep your existing ones, though.

^^ Contracts. There's still the tiniest bit of risk, but it's a reputable organization.

How to Join:

Be asked to by Hiveworks.

Negotiate a contract.

This is all of the things I have been able to learn as a reader. If one or more of them sounds promising for you, try and send a message asking an artist who uses these platforms for what they think. Good luck!

#mine #can you tell I don't even have a smackjeeves account lmao #Their site is just so loud I can't stand it #but I know it's probably right behind tapastic so I couldn't just skip it

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