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#the way the edited the manga panels to move is always SO SICK
suckishima · 9 months
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From the new JUMP: Haikyu!! x BURNOUT SYNDROMES trailer
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littleeyesofpallas · 11 months
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Why are Viz translations so... (dramatic pause)... bad? Like some mistakes are understandable but they consistently mess up even the simplest of things.
I once heard that they have a policy to be different from fanscans, even if the fanscans are correct and they have to make things up.
Oh I can't possibly confirm anything about that with any kind of actual authority. But given the way some general writing and editing and translating and even just comic specific jobs that I'm slightly (and really only s l i g h t l y) more familiar with have worked historically, I've got my guesses...
Mainly, I've always just assumed that the core problem would be that they very likely have no in-house translators and just hire on contract work; meaning that effectively every time a new volume needs translating, they don't just call up The Bleach Guy or something, they reach into their bag of underpaid non-"employee" contacts and hand them the text to be translated, possibly even on a single chapter basis with multiples working in tandem to meet deadlines.
It's a gig economy problem that has been plaguing the publishing business for decades. If you only work on contract, each new contract stipulates the precise terms of what work you do and on what terms you get paid for it, usually in writing that's by word, or perhaps by page, but basically never by hour or salaried. By rotating out contract workers publishers avoid having to pay benefits, have the luxury of not renewing a contract, or not offering a new contract, instead of having to "fire" writers --you can just not pay a contractor if you don't have work for them for months with no sort of furlough or promise of job security; a way better deal for cheapskate employers who don't care if the people they hire can eat or pay rent-- and in general it just allows employers to not treat the people doing the work as real employees, not just interpersonally but in the eyes of the law.
But as for the quality of work, it would mean that anyone working on any particular chapter would have no direct contact with anyone who worked on previous chapters, or even concurrent ones, so there'd be no way to confer on terminology or style choices unless they were actually given notes by editorial, or went out of their way on their own to look at existing material for reference. Which would explain why things like the Resurreccion have no consistent style about what goes into parenthesis or not, or whether the Japanese or the Spanish get the secondary translation, etc...
Someone did mention on one of my posts that they'd heard translators were encouraged to avoid matching fantranslations word for word (it may even have been you who said it) which I can't say for certain if that's true, or if it's an official mandate or just a translator's rule of thumb. It feels somewhat unlikely that editors would make such a specific move to actually solicit and cross reference fanscans as quality assurance. On the one hand I can imagine an editor might not want it to look like they're stealing from or otherwise validating the work of fan translators, but I can't imagine someone integrating the regular process of checking for plagiarism from specific fan sources into their work without just sicking legal on them instead. But I could also see it just being a translator's tactic of avoiding being caught if they were basically a fraud who was just handing in loosely rewritten copies of fan translations for a free paycheck.
[EDIT]: oh and in addition, I also assume these jobs are submitted as isolated word documents. As in, whether the translator gets a copy of the japanese manga or just word document with all the text in question transcribed by someone else, they submit their work as a word document with minor notes clarifying page and panel, which a typesetter and/or graphic designer(those could just as easily be separate people or the same person: paying one person to do both would be cheaper, but it may be easier to find (and to underpay...) one typersetter who can't redraw and photoedit, and one graphic designer who can, than to find one person qualified to do both.) references in retyping everything, splitting text up between word bubbles, choosing fonts, and formatting weird things like parenthetical in the case of stuff like resurreccion and bankai and all that. So while it'd be a less direct cause of error, it would add extra opportunities for miscommunication and general screw ups.
Again though, I really can't emphasize it enough: I don't have a professional/insider perspective on this as far as Viz Media specifically is concerned.
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bitandbytes · 4 years
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Chapter 131 Discussion
FREEDOM IS EREN’S PRISON
*Manga spoilers ahead*
This will be a long post, bear with me.
Woke up to see Chapter 131 is out and I felt sick and disturbed after reading it. We are entering the end game and the tension is real...
The irony...
At this point, we got a clearer view on Eren’s ‘rumbling’ motive. It is no longer ‘saving the Eldians’, but his own selfishness, his own obsession. 
He knew what he is into. He knew that his decision on mass-killing is wrong. He’s trying so bad to justify his view “This is the right thing to do” “There are no other way”. He’s trying to ease his own feeling of guilt. This is human emotion, Eren just had it the more ‘extreme way’.
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But this panel, somehow it just showed that he had the power to change the future, which he rejects. He forces himself to believe that the future cannot be changed, while in reality, he was the one who choose ‘that’ future to happen. 
He saw Ramzi (the boy from the market) got bullied in the alley and chose not to save him because he felt guilty for things he hasn’t even done yet. This shows that he is not trying to change the future, he is not trying to do a ‘greater good’. He felt he is/will be a monster, so why bother acting like a good person? It’s sad to see that he hated himself for it. He is capable of feeling emotions, yet too blinded by his obsession.
Next panel - The Rumbling Scene
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These made me sick, to point I felt like throwing up.
I really felt like I was on that setting, running away from the sea of titans. Seeing all those Eldians and non-Eldians running away was suffocating. Who’s Eren trying to save? 
Then Eren’s confession. It felt like someone is pouring gasoline on fire. 
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HE WAS DISAPPOINTED..
He was disappointed that there are humans outside the walls, which is a very absurd way of thinking coming from someone who was fed on a knowledge that ‘humanity has gone extinct outside the walls’. At this point, he is irredeemable. Personally I think he felt conflicted on the inside, doing what’s right vs what he wants.
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Child Eren looking towards the wall just gave a whole new meaning. For me, somehow the walls symbolizes Eren himself. He is caged by his own obsession on freedom. He was trapped in his own mind. A child sees the world in black and white. As you grow up, you got to see that there is a ‘gray area’, there are things to compromise, that the world is full of possibilities. However, Eren sees the world like how a child sees them.
I first thought that Eren was only blinded purely by hate. But this chapter shows that it is not solely on hate that keeps Eren moving, it is his ‘dream’ and jealousy. Kenny’s last word “Everyone had to be drunk on something to keep moving on” hits me, again.
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He is jealous that these people outside the walls (Eldians & Non-Eldians) gets to taste ‘freedom’, that they are the most free. Jealousy is a common trait for a child, but as we grew older we start to become rational. However, Eren is stuck on this phase, not wanting to grow up. I think this is why child Eren is the one who narrates his ‘mind’ out loud.
Next Panel - Armin
It was nice to see Armin and Annie’s interaction. I wasn’t able to enjoy it 100% with the stress I got from the previous pages. Armin and Annie are adoooorableeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!! But I felt like it will be tragic, both of them being a titan-shifter with the 13 years Ymir curse......
Okay back to the topic.
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Armin knew that he has done tons of irredeemable things, that he is not a ‘good person’, that he has became a monster a long time ago. But he is not using it as a reason to do more ‘bad choices’. 
Yes he is disappointed that the outside world was different from what he believed in. It was different from the book that he read. But he grew up. He acknowledges that things doesn't always end up the way he wants it to be. He’s disappointed but he believes that there are still other things that they don’t know yet. There is still a bright future ahead of them, despite the conflicts they’re having now.
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Here we see the contrast between Armin and Eren’s perspective. Eren got stuck in his black and white world. Whereas Armin believes that there are other possibilities, that there are something more, a lot of things they haven’t explored. This as I explained before, shows that Armin grew up, but not Eren.
I think it’s clear that Attack on Titan won’t have a ‘happy ending’. I don’t see Eren coming out alive from this war. Armin who narrates the story from the beginning of the story, might be the one who survives from this battles. It will be a bumpy road ahead and it’s gonna be a tragic ending for sure.
Despite the stress this chapter has given me, I want to say that Isayama did an awesome job. 
Note. Its interesting because Armin’s perspective is more likely to be the ‘lead character’ point-of-view, whereas Eren is the ‘second-lead’ or the ‘lead-antagonist’ point-of-view. Yet in this manga, we see it the other way around.
WAIT I JUST REALIZED SOMETHING... THE NEXT CHAPTER WILL BE OUT ON OCTOBER? SO I HAVE TO WAIT FOR ANOTHER 2 MONTHSSS??? UGH THE WAITTTTT
Pretty sure the wait will be worth it! We’re entering the end game everybody! Brace your seat! Isayama’s gonna rockkk our world!
Edit: next chapter is coming in a month, apparently Chapter 131 is on September Issue, so Chapter 132 will be on October Issue! My bad :p
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deltaengineering · 5 years
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Fall Anime 2019 Part 4: also, he has a gun for a head
Beastars
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So here’s the CG anime that everyone for some reason decided way in advance would be the best show of the season, more or less by default. I was very skeptical of this for a multitude of reasons. First of all, that is a bad name for a show and you can’t convince me otherwise. It’s actually even worse because you’re supposed to write it in all caps, but I refuse. Second, it has a terribly on the nose conceit in which all sorts of animals live together in a high school setting and it’s all metaphorical ‘n shit. The main character is a wolf but get this, he’s actually all sensitive and quiet! Yeah, this is definitely rated D for Deep. And finally it’s by Orange, the CG studio that got an inordinate amount of acclaim for making Houseki no Kuni, the show that everyone thinks looks great and finally made CG anime worthwhile (actual real fact: HnK does not look great most of the time and CG anime was worthwhile well before it). 
But enough about my preconceptions since Beastars is... pretty good, actually. If you ignore the setting, which is indeed terribly on the nose. And there’s not much else to say about the story so far besides it. However, it looks significantly better than Houseki no Kuni because it actually has really good character animation throughout instead of a one-minute action scene with flashy spinny camera tricks every other episode. The directing’s strong too, even if the show conspicuously mainly consists of obvious manga panels. I’m still not too hot on the animal stuff but the general writing seems to be sufficiently competent it would work simply on a character level. So I don’t love it, but it seems solid enough to see if it goes somewhere with its “Zootopia but also Beverly Hills 90210 but also they eat each other sometimes″ plot.
Rifle is Beautiful
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Remember the whole “anime about some assorted anime girls joining a club doing an oddly specific activity” thing? This is another one of those, and now it’s about air rifle sports shooting. Except it’s not about air rifle sports shooting because that’s apparently way too violent, so they use rifles that look like exactly like air rifles but are actually based on lasers or really bright flashlights (they can’t keep their bullshit straight between scenes, sorry) instead. I just don’t think “girls doing activities” anime should blatantly misrepresent their subject matter like that, you know? With the possible exception of idol anime that is, ain’t nobody who wants to hear about that shit. Apart from that it’s nothing special, so if you are really into air rifles and wish to watch an anime that’s not about those, knock yourself out. It goes through a whole “club needs 5 members” arc in the first half of the first episode, so I really can’t say where it goes next. Nowhere much, I would guess.
Oh right, there’s one more thing: They frequently render the bodies in CG and the heads in traditional drawings, and they do it every time when they’d actually have to draw a rifle otherwise. It’s a weird effect that I think I haven’t seen anywhere else before, and it’s not great but also not terrible. And it’s the most interesting thing about the entire show.
Kabukicho Sherlock
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“Let’s take a bunch of public domain characters and put them into a hip modern setting” seems to be its own genre at the moment, and not only because the BBC did that with S. Holmes, Esq. already. Obviously this show is influenced by that (besides other public domain namedroppers like Bungou Stray Dogs), mostly in Watson and his relationship with Sherlock, but Sherlock-san is rather different here; he’s neither the classic Victorian bohemian nor the abrasive sociopath of the BBC version, and tends more towards a bumbling 90s pop culture version of autism and/or general wackiness here. These two are surrounded by a bunch of campy transvestites for some reason, and I’m not quite sure whether I’m supposed to find this particular stereotype offensive or empowering this week, but it sure is annoying. And it has the same character designer as Joker Game, so if you like chiseled, angular anime men, you’re in for a treat here - even if they tend to wear a lot of makeup and dresses sometimes. I don’t know man, it seems sort of okay-ish for the most part but it’s neither as funny as they think, nor as weird as they think, nor is the murder of the week intriguing at all. Oh yeah, he’s hunting noted public domain character Jack the Ripper. Because of course he is.
 Shin Chuuka Ichiban!
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I am told this is the sequel to episode 19 of a 52-episode anime TV show from 1997. Okay. I am also told to not dare watch this without the important setup therein, which makes me think I should pay less attention to what I’m told because understanding Shin Chuuka Ichiban and its backstory is not hard at all. Kid is superawesome cooking champion in ancient China and goes around clowning on lesser cooks, got it. It’s not a complicated setup and it’s not a complicated genre either: This seems to be mostly about sick shounen cooking duels. Besides the setting, the main difference between this and Shokugeki no Soma seems to be that SnS goes for ridiculous and Chuuka Ichiban goes for epic - which is to say that it fancies itself emotional as well. Apart from that it’s what you’d expect from a cooking shounen, big moves, big reactions, huge twists and so on. One notable thing is that this show looks really, really nice. Production I.G seems to be establishing a sideline in taking stuff from the 90s and updating it with smoother animation and shinier lighting, while keeping the overall look intact; They did it for Mahoujin Guru Guru, and this looks much the same. Still, I’m just fundamentally not really interested in what appears to be a very straightforward cooking shounen from the 90s.
Assassins Pride
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Straight from the Department of Chuuni, we have this light novel masterpiece about a cool as fuck teenage assassin who teleports behind u and nothin personells fools all day. He then meets a princess he’s supposed to off but just kinda decides not to, probably because she seems to be smitten by his m’lady act. Now he has to use his sick skillz to keep them both alive. It’s awful and terrible and no good and also kind of adorable. This truly is the most 13 AND A HALF MOM years old anime in a while, and it’s not even isekai! The writing’s just so amateurish and corny you can’t help but smile when princesses exposit their backstory for no reason while being accosted by pumpkin monsters (without knowing that Awessassin McCooldude happens to be listening in, which is certainly convenient). Or when the episode ends with the man just reading the synopsis of the show out again, in case you were too fascinated by this plot to pay attention to what it’s about. Yeah I’m not going to watch this in a thousand years, but it sure made me chuckle. Your mileage may vary.
Mugen no Juunin - Immortal
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Speaking of 𝔱𝔥𝔞𝔱 𝔫𝔦𝔫𝔢𝔱𝔦𝔢𝔰 𝔢𝔡𝔤𝔢, another anime adaptation of Blade of the Immortal appeared! You know, the manga for the cultured and historically minded guro fan. The first episode of Blade of the Immortal runs with this and is an arthouse production that someone most definitely directed the shit out of. I don’t think I’ve seen this much directing since, well, Sarazanmai, but “Ikuhara amounts of directing” is pretty much the idea here. And most of the time it even works! The quickly edited, disorienting style gives episode 1 a feeling closer to horror than to a cool swordmen action show, and that really brings out the best in the material, which is grotesque splatter bordering on the comical - It’s somehow a better Junji Ito anime than the actual Junji Ito anime. I think it tries too hard in a few places, but at least it does try.
But then I watched the second episode and that one’s a fairly conventional splatter-comedy swordin’ anime. I am not at all pleased with this development. The third episode was better again and seemed to split the difference between 1 and 2, even if it mostly uses the tricky editing to save on effort in the action –  I would much prefer actually readable fights and the wacky mannerisms in the more psychological stuff, thank you very much. Based on episode 1 I thought we might have something special here, but as of episode 3 I’d already merely call it pretty decent. I guess I’ll still stick with it but man, that’s a real bummer.
No Guns Life
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No Guns Life is a neo-noir thriller about a guy who has a gun for a head. That’s fuckin rad and exactly the kind of silliness I am totally down for. He also has a gun for a hand, and there’s also some battle nun’s who carry revolvers with two cylinders, so in short I think the title is false advertising. This sounds very wacky (and it is), but it also takes its noir very seriously, down to details more wannabe neo-noirs tend to neglect (like being set right after a big war). The look and feel is pretty excellent, with sharp design and high-contrast artwork, and the music goes all in on the moody saxophone as you’d expect. And there’s some really adorable “look mom, I’m writing” stuff about how Man With Gun For A Head really “needs someone to pull his trigger” and so on (which is, as the astute reader might remember, at the back of his head). It feels like a throwback but then I can’t really think of many 80s/90s shows like this, so it’s actually more like the sort of faux-retro idea Trigger/Imaishi would come up with on a lark. Trigger/Imaishi would, of course, make a far worse anime out of it, so it’s all good. Well, it has some pacing problems and as always it’s a fine line between amusingly camp and not so amusingly camp anymore, but No Guns Life seems to have enough real qualities that it can probably stand on its own even when its conceptual gimmick eventually doesn’t suffice anymore. I give it a two gun’s up.
Hoshiai no Sora / Stars Align
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And finally, here’s an anime about middle schooler softboys playing a tennis just as soft as themselves, while being henpecked by the elites on the girl’s team. This is not an “actual” sports anime though: for starters, it’s not based on some shounen manga and is an anime original with quite some staff pedigree instead. It’s also more of a character drama that already goes to some surprisingly real places by the end of episode 1, reminiscent of the recent and quite good Run with the Wind. Furthermore, it looks delicious, with minimalist but distinctive and varied character designs and animation that’s both extremely detailed for a TV anime and also not trying to shove that fact into your face with flashy stunt cuts. In short, this show seems very simple at first glance but every aspect of it just oozes quality. If nothing else, it’s already worth watching just for the excellent ending sequence where the characters show off their “best” dance moves and the chunky student council president dunks on everyone. This one caught me by surprise and it’s an easy pick for most promising show of the season.
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comicteaparty · 4 years
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July 4th-July 10th, 2020 Creator Babble Archive
The archive for the Creator Babble chat that occurred from July 4th, 2020 to July 10th, 2020.  The chat focused on the following question:
What was an unexpected aspect of making webcomics you didn’t realize before making one yourself?
Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§
How much our comic and it's story we're going to change during the years of creation was the biggest and most jarring aspect for sure. There's scripts and thumbs that were all made before we ventured out to make GJS with paths completely different from what we initially thought we would take that have completely changed how we approach not only writing but reading webcomics too. Webcomics as a medium have the biggest connection to time, whether it be production or the consumption, they have this opportunity to exist and transform in the long hours it takes to enjoy and read them. It's honestly one of the biggest advantages imho. To see a story slowly unfold, listening to ur audience reactions, peer critiques, or new inspiration can make such a drastic and intense impact on a long form work- its both jaw dropping and humbling to be apart of!(edited)
Deo101 [Millennium]
For me it was the community aspect of comics. I knew a community existed on the reader side of things (comments!), but I didn't expect the creator side to be how it is! I don't know why, but for some reason I kind of always thought that all of us were sort of throwing our comics out from the void... I guess that was me looking at comics from a reader's point of view! But as soon as I started making comics, I started meeting people who made them too... and it's been incredible!
Eightfish (Puppeteer)
@deo I never really understood what an internet community or internet friends were until I started making a webcomic
Deo101 [Millennium]
Yeah, I had been in (and quickly decided to not be in 0_0) gaming communities, but nothing really as wonderful as what I've found through comics. Closest I had gotten other than that was comments on social media
Shizamura 🌟 O Sarilho
Community definitely one of the big things, much like Deo pointed. I was kinda expecting to have get connections through readers, but it's much more with other creators, which is super satisfying in it's own way. Also gonna second Krispy's comment about how time affects how you see your story's past and future. A lot of things changed in the past four years that made my comic change as well and having so much time to think each individual scene allows them to be much more complex and interesting than they would when I first thought them through. Having the time really helps. This also kinda touches the topic of personal change too, which affects how I write and what feels most important to focus on and that's interesting to think about as well
eliushi [Keyspace]
How long things will take, the longer the story goes on! I started out being able to complete a page in 2h but then I found more I wanted to try on each page (colours, layout, composition etc) and even wanted to extend certain scenes. With 500 pages planned, I definitely thought I’d be farther along by now, heading into AWT’s first year anniversary in a month. That being said, I’m also enjoying the ride and it’s all thanks to the great community here and making connections with other comics folks/readers. I never expected to get comments and so each one has been a treasure to read.
Desnik
An unexpected aspect of making webcomics is how much people respond to them. I figured I'd be creating into a void but I met so many people as a result of publishing my dinosaur comic
shadowhood {SunnyxRain}
Ditto on the webcomic community. I didn't realize how far reaching it was to have a community that supports each other. And I've enjoyed meeting so many wonderful and creative people who raised each other up. Another thing I didn't expect, however, was how invested I got into my comic.(edited)
At first I was doing it mostly for fun. But the more I delved into it, the easier it was to get sucked into my story and want to draw it out. And as a result taking it a lot more seriously.
Desnik
yeah sometimes I miss my dinosaur comic even though I had some pretty good reasons for moving on. It was created out of desperation and evolved into something that made me feel good about myself
Haruh2 (Colony Life)
How much work and time it takes to keep a weekly update going with no backlog
Deo101 [Millennium]
Yeah same
Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~
For me, I didn't realize how much it would affect my life to make comics, and vice versa. In a weird way, I didn't know how interrelated the two were, or how easily life could interfere with my comic, or the inverse.
eliushi [Keyspace]
Making comics became a lifestyle for me
@Haruh2 (Colony Life) When I had no backlog I was updating every two weeks with 7 pages per update; so about 14h of work. But this is with a finished script. I am also told I work fast.
Eightfish (Puppeteer)
omg
Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~
That's soooo much, Eli!
That's at least twice as much as I do (edited)
Eightfish (Puppeteer)
For me, I didn't realize how much it would affect my life to make comics, and vice versa. In a weird way, I didn't know how interrelated the two were, or how easily life could interfere with my comic, or the inverse.
I hadn't realized how much I put myself into my comic! My friends who read it have all said that it's incredibly in my voice and reflects my opinions and worldviews Before I shared it with people I hadn't thought of it in that way at all
Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]
As an artist, I didn't expect how my comic production and mindset will change. Once I started comics, it brought out my ideas from thoughts to a physical form. I start to invest more time into it. Each project evolved through each chapter. How to balance script writing to a polished piece. I put alot of time and research in my works. It makes me glad to hear other creators do the same. I'm not the crazy artist who's wasting her time. One of the positive change was meeting other creators, how we give advice and receive praise.(edited)
eliushi [Keyspace]
The support has been amazing. It makes the work less lonely
Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~
Fish, oh for sure! I didn't realize until recently how much my characters are all just facets of myself!
eliushi [Keyspace]
(I don’t work that quickly anymore and I’m making big changes to the format soon so it’s going to be a Transition)
Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]
I've been in school with art students who never made comics, so when I came to CTP discord, reading comic discussions. It was comforting and fun. I enjoy the cooperation our group has, helping each other.
eliushi [Keyspace]
I like to commiserate about the unique challenges comics have
Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~
Hahaha, yeahhhhh
Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]
I agree, it's different from illustrations. Different approach(edited)
eliushi [Keyspace]
I am perpetually balancing time spent on a panel vs how much time the reader will spend on it
Vs illustration: lemme make all the details
Joichi [Hybrid Dolls]
Oh I agree, each panel takes longer than it takes to read it. Hence I dislike when readers call manga creators 'lazy'
Eightfish (Puppeteer)
how much time does it take to read one of my pages?
20 seconds?(edited)
haha
e.e
wait is that emoji supposed to be someone rolling their eyes??
i jsut looked it up
i might've been using it wrong this whole time
Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~
Pacing
It's way different than in novels, and definitely came as a shock at the start
eliushi [Keyspace]
Yeah have to play to the strength of the medium. Still imagining AWT as an animated movie written from a novel, in the format of a comic
Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~
Haha, same kinda
Haruh2 (Colony Life)
@eliushi [Keyspace] ah haha, that makes me feel better about my update habits, but thats a good goal for me to shoot for now that im learning a new way to make long comics specifically
cAPSLOCK (Tailslide)
I completely underestimated the amount of effort that would have to go into formatting, website design and maintenance, etc. If I got to do it again, a little more research beforehand probably would’ve saved me a lot of time and hassle.
snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)
I really overestimated the "if you build it they will come" aspect of webcomics lol. Like, you actually have to work to advertise your comic in order for people to read it. Nobody ever got hundreds of readers just from posting their comic onto some hosting site without doing major marketing work.(edited)
dako
yeah, I feel that
I've never really been an advertising type before my comic, im learning to just get used to it
Deo101 [Millennium]
I've not really done much advertising tbh, it makes me uncomfortable
dako
it feels kinda...embarrassing? might be too harsh of a word
i dunno
Deo101 [Millennium]
its just uncomfortable idk! i feel awkward doing it
dako
yeah, same ive done it a few times on reddit but i have to force myself
Haruh2 (Colony Life)
it does feel, odd..hell most of the time it just feels like i open the door to my house and toss a bunch of paper to the wind hoping someone can see it
Deo101 [Millennium]
yeah, I dont know if ive done anything other than posting updates on twitter and talking about it in groups like this
and twitter is mostly just me talkin to people who already read it...
idk talking about my work without being asked first makes me feel like im inserting myself where im not allowed
keii’ii (Heart of Keol)
Self promo got MUCH less intimidating for me when I started thinking of it like: "okay, so my comic is made for readers like me, people who share my tastes. That means I only need to answer one question: what can I say to get me to check out this comic? I don't need to impress anyone else. I just need to appeal to me." (since "me" is my target audience)
Deo101 [Millennium]
mhm ^^
keii’ii (Heart of Keol)
But take it with a grain of salt because I'm still not really promoing
Haruh2 (Colony Life)
exactly, thats why i find it hard to tweet about it most of the time, but i get the whole if i dont care about to talk without being asked no one else will either
Deo101 [Millennium]
yeah lmao mood im like what would get me to read... hmmm... probably exactly what im doing.... I'll keep it up then :)
Haruh2 (Colony Life)
yea i get excited to draw out certain parts..but wouldnt want to just tweet about all the little tidbits of the story ruining it for others
Deo101 [Millennium]
sweats
dako
i made a whole side twitter for my comic cuz talking about it on my main intimidated me too much
it is my containment chamber
Haruh2 (Colony Life)
hm may do that, just to say i did it and to get my mind away from the thought
snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)
yeah same
Deo101 [Millennium]
My main is just whatever I want it to be idk. Its kinda for all my comics, since my comics are all I want to talk about
snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)
though my main is mostly just retweeting from my side twitter lol
Deo101 [Millennium]
it removes a lot of the pressure of like what if my followers dont wanna see this??
cause they wouldnt be here if they didnt wanna see it
cause its all Ive been doing the whole time
dako
thats a good point
i had my main way before my comic so most of my mutuals/followers dont follow for that
Haruh2 (Colony Life)
yea, it can feel abit disorienting when there is no interaction one way or another on anything you tweet (also if twitter has messed up and causes your tweets to not show up)
Deo101 [Millennium]
but yeah I dont really advertise cause it just makes me so uncomfortable >.<
dako
understandable
Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~
I'm kind of somewhere in between. I advertise my comic mostly because it is all I wanna talk about, like Deo. But I also don't think it's gotten me many readers. Most of my readers came as far as I can tell because I was making something that appealed to them. (The whole "if you build it, they will come" thing.) Although, I really don't have a big audience, I do have an audience, and I am certain most of them came from me just posting.
I think it's determined a lot by luck, and also, how big your niche's audience is to begin with (and some skill tbh).
Deo101 [Millennium]
yeah like I think "gay sci fi" is a p big niche so ive got a big amount of people I could potentially reach
which makes it much easier to draw people in
Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~
I'm particularly lucky, I guess, that fantasy/romance has a lot of readers (also more competition, but...)
Deo101 [Millennium]
yeah fantasy romance is a damn big one
Haruh2 (Colony Life)
eh i think im in an awkward void with my action/drama story (since im not doing romance drama)
Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~
I just go with the mindset: "what makes my fantasy/romance different from the rest" and go from there.
Deo101 [Millennium]
mhm
tbh I dont think my sci fi romance is doing anything special?
but im having fun so :) I dont rlly care about that hahahha
dako
having fun the most important thing
Deo101 [Millennium]
its not my goal to make somthing mindblowing ^^ truley im just here for a good time
Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~
I mean, LGBT+-inclusive sci-fi is pretty unique
I haven't seen a lot
keii’ii (Heart of Keol)
It's clear that your characters are people, and that's special, regardless of how common/uncommon
dako
think if i didnt love my comic as much as i do id have stopped a long time ago
Deo101 [Millennium]
thats true keiiii, thank you <3
also yeah its Sad that theres not more LGBT+ sci fi cause its like youve got aliennnssssssssssssssssssss you can do whatever you waaaaaant
Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~
I knooowww
Deo101 [Millennium]
guess it shows what ppl want or something
Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~
yup
Deo101 [Millennium]
off topic
so to make it back on topic
I underestimated how much people would like gay sci fi GJKLAGJLAJLKAGJSLAKGJKL
keii’ii (Heart of Keol)
One thing I learned specifically with my current comic... I did not realize how much difference the reader's cultural background would make in terms of interpreting my story.
Deo101 [Millennium]
!!!!!
I actually almost mentioned you in class once tbh keiii
keii’ii (Heart of Keol)
Big oversight, in retrospect
!?
Deo101 [Millennium]
saying "someone I know makes a comic which they noticed, it's interpreted completely differently just depending on cultural backgrounds" kind of a thing
keii’ii (Heart of Keol)
like I would not have made the comic any different, but I would have approached the... presentation differently. Like, talk about it differently
Deo101 [Millennium]
cause we were talking about how narratives affect rt
Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~
I guess another thing that was unexpected about making webcomics was... there are way more people with my exact tastes than I thought
Deo101 [Millennium]
and I was saying that I think the viewer's narrative affects art more than the artists narrative
I mean, the artists narrative obviously is what makes it so.
keii’ii (Heart of Keol)
In the eyes of the beholder
Deo101 [Millennium]
but interpretations and all that... yeah!!!
so. actually I might have offhandedly mentioned you I cant remember if I did or not
lemme check
I did! very like "second hand" offhandedly mentioning though ahaha
hope that doesnt make you uncomfortable GSKLGSJALGJLGK no one replied to me so e.e
in the class I mean
keii’ii (Heart of Keol)
I am super uncomfortable and offended !!!!!
j/k
Deo101 [Millennium]
hgjkghsjkagskajgdhsakgjhgjd
but... yeah idk starting out I truly just was making it cause I really love my characters a lot, the idea that other people would like them too is very unexpected :) in a good way
I also definitely didnt expect how important enviornments were e.e
didnt plan those well enough.
Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~
that relatable feel
sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)
I really desperately advertise my comic everywhere. I don't really know how to do marketing effectively though & I don't know if its working
eliushi [Keyspace]
I find what increased readership most consistently is still the feature aspect from the hosting sites. It’s really about finding the right readers/right readers finding you
Eightfish (Puppeteer)
Same, I'm basically a rounding error away from being 100% reliant on the features for subs
sssfrs (JOE IS DEAD)
I don't think my comic has ever been featured on the hosting sites. My numbers have always been low on Tapas and maybe thast why
Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~
Yeah, features help a lot
I've been featured on Webtoon, but not Tapas, and you can really see the difference in readership there
Deo101 [Millennium]
Ive been featured on both, uhh in a couple of diff places, if you wanted a breakdown of how many readers i got from the diff spots and stuff ever just lmk im happy to share
keii’ii (Heart of Keol)
I've been featured on both. It certainly got people to check it out and even sub, but retaining those people (even if they've subbed!!!) is a different story. I think my story is just not the right type for the platforms, but eh, even if 99% of the platform users aren't into the kinda thing I'm making, 1% increase is still an increase.
Which is another thing I learned over the course of running this comic, specifically (since the internet has changed so much after my first two attempts). Just because the majority of your subs don't actually read the comic, doesn't mean your work sucks. Today's internet caters to casual users, and there's a bajillion factors affecting who's actually reading your stuff.
dako
i agree
my comic has never been featured on either, and webtoons doesnt have a guideline on what they pick but tapas does and my comic doesnt really meet their featuring requirements so i dont think either site ever will feature mine haha
so i gotta advertise on reddit and use twitter tags a lot
keii’ii (Heart of Keol)
Don't go too crazy with twitter tags; they can make people zone out and not look at your tweet.
dako
i try to use 5 at the most, i know too many is unpleasant to look at haha
Jib {WIP haha}
Oh huh, my rule of thumb is to use 1-2 on twitter and as many as I can on Insta but I’m no expert lol
keii’ii (Heart of Keol)
Yeah, IG seems to be where you want all the tags XD
varethane
Webtoon's algorithms are like turning a hose on and off lol
The difference between views and sub growth during periods of being featured vs not is stark(edited)
carcarchu
i've never been featured by webtoons but i've seen series grow from 100 followers to 10k overnight
not an exaggeration
varethane
I put my new comic on webtoon in november 2019, and in 1 month I crawled up to.... maybe 50 subs?(granted I only put up one episode and then paused for a bit)
Then in December I started updating it weekly and got placed in the new and hot section of the app
And bam, 6k subs
It last 2 weeks and then the section updated and all growth stopped, and subs went down by 10 or so over the next week
Krispy §[Ghost Junk Sickness]§
(Omg featured is like the new Daily Deviation goals from DA way back in the day!)
varethane
Until it got another feature on a different part of the website and went up another 2k. It was like playing with the handle on a faucet lol
dako
I got some pretty good growth during canvas week, but beyond that not really
I get 1-2 subs after an update if I'm lucky
varethane
I feel like their algorithms are very reliant on the regular rotation of features that staff have to do manuallt
Outside of that, discoverability is quite weak
Mostly because of the volume of comics on there
boogeymadam
same boat as vare. the only thing i know about webtoons features is they have stated a couple times one of their recquirements is consistant updating, so if u skip a week that disqualifies u for a lil while i imagine
varethane
I wonder what they count as consistent. I was doing every 2 weeks for awhile, but this month I'm gonna try weekly to see if it helps me earn more $$ from ads :U
dako
I wish there was more incentive for readers to check out the new section on webtoons and tapas
carcarchu
i have found some amazing gems in the new section
i swear i've seen stuff in featured that were not at all updated consistently
dako
I have too, there's a ton of good comics that get overlooked because they're not in the front page
some featured comics havent updated in months sometimes
varethane
I definitely would not have considered myself consistent at the time of the first feature, considering there was a gap of a month between episode 1 and 2 lpl
carcarchu
the consistently updating thing is more of a recommendation than a requirement i feel?(edited)
boogeymadam
ooohh good to know!!
varethane
I'm sure it cant be a hard rule, especially for comics that have just launched
boogeymadam
im just going off their canvas qna's from last year
dako
if it's actually a hard rule for staff to feature comics that regularly update they break that rule a lot
i also heard a bot picks up comics too
carcarchu
well i at least think the staff or bots or whatever at webtoons are doing a better job with features than tapas is
tapas is always pushing their premium comics way more than their indie stuff
boogeymadam
tapas needs to bring new comics onto the frontpage more often than it does, yeah
dako
yeah I agree
keii’ii (Heart of Keol)
I mean, I get why they put premium on the front page. But I feel more variety would help them because it's more interesting for the readers?
dako
I can't tell whats premium or not with tapas sometimes
boogeymadam
i do like that they've been asking stuff like this in the forums tho
carcarchu
more distinction would be helpful to me too dako
i don't think its as clear as it could be
dako
yeah, webtoons at least it's clear what is and what isnt featured or canvas
Jib {WIP haha}
Huh, anyone remember that really popular writing podcast? I forgot the name
Or have any recommendations I guess
Moral_Gutpunch
Terrible writing advice? It's sarcastic
snuffysam (Super Galaxy Knights)
is this related to the topic?
Moral_Gutpunch
It's a podcast about writing, so I'm going to say yes.
keii’ii (Heart of Keol)
I think snuffysam meant the weekly topic for the channel
Moral_Gutpunch
Oh
Just for this channel, no. I'm too new to know that.
Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~
Please check #rules
Moral_Gutpunch
Sound more like someone forgot context than the rules
That's why I'm hardly here. I don't know stuff people who've been here for a long time know like podcasts or older comics(edited)
keii’ii (Heart of Keol)
Basically each of the channels under "CTP Activities" on this server has its own topic of the week.
Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~
It's not a matter of being here for a long time or not. This channel is used solely for discussing the weekly topics, and such information can be found in #rules
Moral_Gutpunch
Kudos then. I came for creator babble only.
keii’ii (Heart of Keol)
For general webcomic creation-related advice (either seeking or giving) and such, #shop_talk usually is the place!
creator_babble is for answering the topic of the week
It's not actually for generalized "creator babble" despite the name.
dako
looks like they left
Jib {WIP haha}
Oh my bad, it’s been a while since I read the rules, I brought up the new subject
keii’ii (Heart of Keol)
Happens!
Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~
No problem, we were just reminding you all :)
Jib {WIP haha}
Ty for that then haha
dako
I think one unexpected thing for me is that no one tells you how crazy the highs and lows can be
well I guess people do but you really don't know until the highs and lows happen to you if that makes sense
Cronaj ~{Whispers of the Past}~
Oh God, that's so true
Burnout is way more dreadful than I could ever guess prior to experiencing it
Feather J. Fern
One unexpected thing for me was how many people I would meet because of my comic. It surprised me greatly that I found so many cool people through the comic community and made the friends I have made now. Love you all
rajmews
The unexpected thing for me was just how much you have to just...predict...what the market will want to read. Like even if you research a whole lot, and you draw really well, and have been doing art professionally, you can still strike out. It's a humbling experience, but being able to just let go of poorly received pages and move on and try things differently is a lot of the battle for doing a webcomic. It teaches you how to fail gracefully because...it's all a process of learning your readers better. Even if they're few at first.
LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)
My major unexpected thing was how much my initial ideas change as I work through a page. Everything from the expressions, dialogue, and layout can change as I look at it and 'solve' it more closely than I did in thumbnails. There are pages I look back on and realize they are ENTIRELY different than what I had first sketched. And they're better for it. Allowing myself the freedom to edit during the artwork... it's created some majorly awesome opportunities.
Deo101 [Millennium]
Yes!!!!! Me too!!!
It's exciting thoufh
Eightfish (Puppeteer)
Absolutely same
Could plan something out meticulously but then change it in the last 2 secs before uploading
Deo101 [Millennium]
Yup... I don't thumbnail much ahead of where I'm at cause of this(edited)
I thumbnail a scene at a time, and then usually I end up changing stuff halfway through ahahfjjdkskdkss
varethane
Same hat, haha. I often make changes at every stage-- even the thumbnails will often depart from the script. If anything, I wish I made even more changes-- I feel like my page layouts tend to be pretty standard, I do a lot of pages with the 3 rows of 2 panels each, and I want to break out of that more. But... well, that's a work in progress.
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comicteaparty · 5 years
Text
September 21st-September 27th, 2019 Creator Babble Archive
The archive for the Creator Babble chat that occurred from September 21st, 2019 to September 27th, 2019.  The chat focused on the following question:
How would you describe the target audience for your comic?  Did you intend to aim at that audience, or did it just happen?
Deo101 (Millennium)
My target audience for millennium http://millennium.spiderforest.com/ was and is LGBT youth. Specifically teens. I know when I was a kid reading a story where gay people are just kind of... There? No jokes, no stereotypes, more than one... That would have helped me a lot. So I'm trying to make that for other kids! I think the story has reached a much wider/older audience then I intended, but I know it has helped at least some LGBT youth/young adults and that's all I could ever ask for.(edited)
spacerocketbunny
The target audience for Ghost Junk Sickness is definitely queer youth and young adults! Much like what @Deo101 (Millennium) is saying, basically we wanted something like the cool action scifi comics we read when we were younger with good queer rep that's integrated and normalized in the universe! As it turned out though, the audience we reached has been all over the place ranging from older women to big biker dudes?? Every time we go to cons we can never guess who'll purchase a book because the range is so varied! I'm sure we still reach the original target to an extent but the rest is all over the map it seems! I don't think it's a bad thing, it's just been pretty unexpected
Deo101 (Millennium)
Not bad at all ^^ more like a pleasant surprise!
spacerocketbunny
Exactly!
Deo101 (Millennium)
I think those other, older people are also looking for a story to reach their inner child... And I think that's great
mariah (rainy day dreams)
Lol, I feel the similarly way about my own story. My goal was definitely to make something me as a kiddo would have loved, which essentially would have been shonen stories but with a female majority cast. I think I already figured my target audience would be similar to me, but I've been consistently surprised by how many male identifying folks like it. I guess I do like that they can hang though X) Anyway, these are my floppy, post work out thoughts. Hopefully they make sense.
LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)
The target audience for Phantomarine (http://www.phantomarine.com/) was never super clear from the beginning - I just wanted to make something I'd like as a teen. Luckily (or unluckily! in terms of describing it to people ) the story is a mishmash of a bunch of different genres. It's not quite a ghost story, not quite a pirate adventure, not quite a fantasy epic, but it has elements of them all. And it does seem to have attracted people who like those different genres. It may not be easy if I ever want to publish it properly (it's a little difficult to describe my 'brand' ) but as it is, it's got everything I would have liked when I was between 14 and 18.
My happiest surprise is hearing about the younger kids who have read it, understood it, and really enjoyed it. Knowing that 10-12 year olds can appreciate my work is really awesome. I try to keep the language and scary/questionable content at Harry Potter levels, but I like having some of the depth/maturity of stories like The Golden Compass. If they like Phantomarine now, I really hope they find extra enjoyment with it as they grow up. It's going to be a ride!
mariah (rainy day dreams)
Gosh, I get that feel of being multi-genre and not knowing quite how to describe your Brand X') I feel like I've gotten better at defining it over time but it's still a struggle to briefly describe what my thing even is some days. Also Golden Compass I'm always excited to find other comic folks who were also influenced by that series.
LadyLazuli (Phantomarine)
It's my gold standard for the right blend of fantasy, reality, and maturity. It's just the best
keii4ii
The target audience for Heart of Keol (https://heartofkeol.com/) is extremely tiny, but it does have appeal for people outside of that niche. I make it for myself, and the relevant aspects of "myself" here are: a) Grew up in Korea, is living (or has lived for an extended period of time) in a predominantly English-speaking part of the world b) Bonus points if they spent some time living in rural Korea c) Is into slow burn drama about characters who could be described as being "genuine" and probably "lawful" as well d) Likes the aesthetics of fantasy settings, but is more into the mundane, almost slice of life, side of drama e) Is very much into reading between the lines for more emotional stuff. Reads a lot of heart from sceneries, possibly more than from faces. (I have face blindness and this affects how I experience comics both as a reader and as a creator)
Obviously people who meet both a) and b) are gonna be harder to find! But if one can meet c), d) and e), that's enough to enjoy the comic the way it's meant to be enjoyed, or so I hope.
The reason a) and b) matter is because it affects how the setting/aesthetics come across. To someone like me, the old Korea setting feels homey, warm, nostalgic. It's like a shorthand for "sit down and enjoy this heartfelt slow burn tale." But to others, Magical Asia might feel exciting and exotic, which isn't really what the story is meant to be, so there may be some dissonance.
seetherabbit
I haven't given much thought about the target audience for Vulperra. (https://vulperra.com/) other than then it's probably for people who like adventure, fantasy and cartoony-ish animals
Cronaj
My target audience is kind of all of the place. Initially when I began scripting my comic, Whispers of the Past, I was really into anime and manga, especially ones like Attack on Titan that were a gritty fantasy. However, since then, my style and story have changed tremendously. My target audience now tends to be young women, aged 15-25, who enjoy detailed world building in high fantasy and are definitely into family drama in story telling. Initially, I wrote the story to fit certain perameters that I myself enjoyed. For example, I am particularly obsessed with the idea of the mundane meeting the fantastical and amazing. The quiet lull of ordinary life juxtaposed by the rigor of magical entities. I specifically focus a lot on drawing beautiful artwork for the panels, because I myself am a picky-pants when it comes to selecting comics I want to read. Another one of my obsessions is a fantasy setting so detailed that you feel like if the story ended, the world would still live on. (One of my inspirations was the Inheritance series by Christopher Paolini, in which the author essentially wrote several languages, similar to Tolkien.) In reality, my readers tend to be women aged 30+ (probably who watch k-dramas like I do), and a lot of D&D players. It's fun really, discovering how much of my own hobbies bleed into my stories.
AntiBunny
Early on with AntiBunny http://antibunny.net/ I was hoping for fans of scifi and film noir. What I got were fans of classic cartoons and furries. Which is fine by me really. Furries are nice people who are passionate about their hobbies (and spend money).
Jonny Aleksey
A superhero audience was always the intention for J-Man (http://jonnyalekseydrawscomics.com/the-undefeatable-j-man/), but specifically, right now, I'm aiming for something all ages. Slightly teen drama, cartoony but grounded. My inspirations were Spectacular Spider-Man and the DCAU so anyone who likes that is the readership I expect. Hopefully I can reach people who are on the fence about superheroes. The all ages aspect is something newish relatively speaking. When I started my webcomic I wanted to stay away from the "deep real edgy" tone I made when I was in high school (shiver). It took me a bit to really get that tone down. I don't use curse words and only mild blood, but occasionally stuff that borders on teen+ go through. (there's one instance in #5 where J-Man's face gets burnt by the villain that might've been a bit much) I don't think the all ages banner is going to restrict me from telling certain storylines/character development. Just means it won't be excessively grim.
Erin/Leif & Thorn on Kickstarter
The target audience for my webcomics is LGBT nerds who want stories that give them strong feelings, and who like SF/F, anime, competent characters that don't have to take turns with the Idiot Ball to keep the plot moving, and cats. Admittedly that last bit might be redundant, since everyone on the internet likes cats.
Ash🦀
I’ll be honest with you, I’m the target audience of my comic. (http://www.fwmgofficial.com/) it’s not out yet (it’ll be out October 31st) but as the writer I’ve had a lot of time to think about it. Mostly, it’s just targeted to young adults and autistic people. I never got to see people like me in comics, so I wrote a comic where an autistic person can be the hero too, even in his own way. For me, I figure whoever likes it likes it and that’s good enough for me. (also furries. Definitely targeted furries)
Kay Rose
@Ash🦀 cant wait to read it!
Ash🦀
QwQ thank you!!
MJ Massey
So far Black Ball is pulling in a mix of people who like the vintage aesthetic (1920s and art deco with some old-school macabre for some reason?) and people who like shonen manga, which is great. Even if Black Ball isn't specifically macabre or strictly shounen (though I myself have made shounen battle manga-esque comics in the past)
DaemonDan (The Demon Archives)
Audience of my comic... Per Google it's 18-35 year old men from the US and Russia XD Which makes sense given it's a pretty hard sci-fi with a lot of military action from dudes in power armor and etc. Though I try not to go too "high octane action!1!" and explore more psychological elements too.
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