An Attractive Comic

[samiluu]

I honestly take a look at the kind of comic it is, for example I like comics with complicated psychologies, lgbt+ characters or that talk about taboos. The artstyle and the cover say a lot about it, so probably it's the first thing I notice. Later I read some chapters; if it is clearly explained and the characters are charismatic and make sense I will probably stay. Keeping the story catchy is important too; after all, when you've seen everything I said before, people stays for the characters and the plot.

I personally don't like it when toxic attitudes are normalized; you can talk about it but not justify them. The clear example are my mum's christmas films, where jealousy is treated as something totally normal in a relationship or also normalizing men being abusive and women being controlling. Or just the typical shojo/yaoi where one is shown as weak and the other strong and the second one plays with the first one (sometimes they even rape them), like it's okay if it's your fetish but don't show it as something normal outside of sex scenes lmao

It was long but I hope it helps; this is just from my point of view tho!

[gabriellabalagna]

Several things might cause me to check out a comic...
- the art is too stunning to ignore
- the art is average quality, but there is still something about the style that I really like
- the creator shares about it on social media
- i seen an ad for it

However, once I click on a comic to check it out, there are some things that might turn me away pretty quickly...
- topics/subject matter I'm not interested in
- it's inappropriate or immoral
- the art is so poor quality that it's too hard to even read
- the text has too many mistakes or is in a font that's too hard to read
- i see that it has been on hiatus for way too long
- it is black and white (sorry, I love color way too much)

Finally, I could care less about the rating, how popular it is, or who made it. The story isn't what draws me in, but yes, it can cause me to leave if it doesn't appeal to me.

[rajillustration]

What pulls me into a comic is if the comic has style--and I mean that not in a it has to be "good" art sort of way (since good is really subjective) but the style has to serve the story. There's some really incredible comics out there with art that may seem odd or counterproductive, but when you see it in the context it delivers the story so well. I also think story is more important than the art (which is a little heretical because I'm an artist) but if the writing is good, that keeps me in.

If a project is popular that will probably get me less interested--which sounds terrible, but right now the trends in comics aren't exactly my interests all the time. Sorry not sorry but I just don't read that much comic twee romance. I will occasionally just...not that often. I'm more of a sci fi/fantasy weird stuff girl. Especially if something looks like it was mass-produced or had a lot of hands to create it (AKA expensive), that tends to make a comic that takes less risks. Same with movies. They're safe, which is comfortable to read, but also can get samey.

If the names associated are names I follow or really like, that will absolutely encourage me to look at it, especially if it's a premise I don't ordinarily read. But honestly, some of the best comics I read right now, I found because I was looking for something outside of what I normally read both in style and genre, so I try to remain open minded and I'll give it a click if it looks different and unique.

[MermaWisdo]

I'm the same with the hyped up Korean webcomics. They all seem the same to me and there's not much difference from each other.

[MermaWisdo]

What I attracts me to a comic is a little bit of everything but mostly the art. The story can make 0 sense but if it has interesting characters and pretty art, I'll read it. I also try my best to support comics that have this but are overlooked because I like supporting smaller comic artists.

[Meehow]

Plus, every MC is bullied at school

[darthmongoose]

Qualities I look for in a comic are:

• Does it look polished? This to me means clean line art where if it's scribbly it at least looks confident and intentional rather than wobbly and scruffy, colours that don't have amateur mistakes like a white halo next to lines caused by poor use of the fill bucket tool, confident shading that isn't blobby or haphazard.

• Is it a nice style? I want to see a colour palette that's cohesive in use of hues, values and saturation and not too dull or garish. I tend to have broad taste in style, but I don't like anything too grotesque or gritty looking personally.

• Is it expressive? This is a big one for me and turns me off a lot of otherwise very polished and nice looking comics, including some premium titles. If there isn't a sense of life in the eyes or emotion I can connect with in the expressions and poses, I'll fail to connect with the content and probably won't get far in. To me, if the art looks too mechanical or detached, it's like watching a show or play with really wooden, monotone performances.

• Is it readable? This is another big one that can sometimes put me off a very beautifully drawn comic. A huge element of making a good comic that may not be tied to a person's ability to make great standalone illustrations is the ability to clearly show a sequence of one or more characters acting out a series of actions in a place and having it always be clear who is doing what, where, and how they feel about it. Common issues I see over and over are when the panels keep focusing on single characters rather than showing the relationship between everyone present, or artists choosing an angle or shot distance that looks cool or is easy to draw instead of one that clearly shows what's happening. If the visual storytelling is hard to follow, I'm just like "NOPE."

• Is the lettering competent? Bad speech bubbles with like... not enough padding around the text, text that's too small, too much text in a bubble, coloured bubbles and/or coloured text that are too low-contrast and... my personal pet hate... fonts that look like they go in a powerpoint presentation or an essay rather than a comic, will all put me off wanting to read something. I don't expect it to be top-tier pro lettering, but I want the lettering to at least show the person made some effort to learn and attempt to do solid comic lettering that's easy to read as best they could.

[Lady_T_Musings]

Characters will snag me first. If they stand out with how they look racially, how they are shaped bodily, and how they are dressed I'll definitely start going hmmm yes color me curious plus-sized lady and the big old green person with shark teeth ahaha.

After that, which pretty much means art, I'll give the first few pages a read and if I like the dynamics of characters portrayed or the main themselves I'm hooked. I'll figure out story as I go :D.

[kingkotheartiz]

Yeah, I would agree about the color as well but I have seen some impressive projects such as Jason Brubaker's Phobos or "The Bekkoning" by Deft Beck. Those are two pretty descent comics that are only in "black in white" well drawn and good storyline.

[kingkotheartiz]

I admire you for looking for things outside of your taste. I wish I had the same motivation but as far as my comics go, I have to stick with the sci fi, action, adventure stuff. I might consider looking at something different for the style, but kudos to you tho!!!

[gabriellabalagna]

Yeah, I've enjoyed some black and white movies before. So maybe I just haven't found a black and white comic I like yet.

[Mallory]

Honestly...

Ehem...

How hot/cute the protagonists are...? Now before I sound completely vapid, it's actually not so much what they look like, but rather how they act, their dialogue and writing, etc - and how well the art captures that.

[FafasMcMelt]

The art attracts me, and I tend to keep reading it, unless the story is either something I don't enjoy at all, or is riddled with a whole bunch of little things that rub me the wrong way (admittedly, I am fickle).

[kingkotheartiz]

Interesting characters and good art are a drawing card for me as well. I am also the same as far as supporting comics that are overlooked. Their is so many projects out there that never get the attention that is deserved! It sort of frustrates me but I guess that's the world we live in....

[kingkotheartiz]

You are sooooo right!!!

[kingkotheartiz]

You pointed out this which I don't think artist pay attention too

If the visual storytelling is hard to follow, I'm just like "NOPE."

I think that is a big thing for me as well..... I believe that's what make a comic easier to digest!

[kingkotheartiz]

So is the "superhero type" a turn off ???

[vvodbow]

Is the lettering competent? [...] fonts that look like they go in a powerpoint presentation or an essay rather than a comic, will all put me off wanting to read something. I don't expect it to be top-tier pro lettering, but I want the lettering to at least show the person made some effort to learn and attempt to do solid comic lettering that's easy to read as best they could.

Just curious, but do you think the font choice alone is enough for a comic to be deter readers, even if the other lettering elements are done decently and the comic is readable?

Most of the time, I think of stuffs like Tahoma/Times New Roman when I see comments about bad fonts. But lately I realized that many seem to find any non-custom download font (e.g. stuffs avail by default from Photoshop) unattractive, as opposed to comic-specific fonts from, say, Blambot. Just wondering if those "default" fonts are really that bad.

[BitterBadgerZ]

Art style is a big part of it, but fleshed out characters with interesting personalities can get me through even the most cliche of storylines.

[MermaWisdo]

Ikr? Partially it's because some of these sites hype up the big popular comics they put money towards so the audience only see's those instead of the smaller comics.