Art style preferences

[SwordSong]

Question to comic readers, when it comes to rating a work's art and character designs, which is better to have: uniqueness (having a distinct art style and/or character design), or general aesthetics (doesn't matter, as long as it's nice to look at)?

[Lensing]

General aesthetics,it can be very simple art but it has to look good to me.
Not too dark, not too saturated and not too ugly.
3 lines can represent grass for me, one line can represent a nose but it
has to look good and fit to the mood of the story.

I´m not sure why the decision between uniquenss and general aesthetics
Most styles are pretty unique

[SwordSong]

I´m not sure why the decision between uniquenss and general aesthetics Most styles are pretty unique

Well, I've had more than one conversations with people who claim to dislike anime/manga solely because they think the style as a whole "all look the same", so unfortunately not everyone thinks like that.

And TVTropes do have a term for "generic cuteness" in which all the characters in a work look sort of same-y (conveniently attractive, ideally proportioned, with slightly different hairstyle and colours), and I've seen plenty of people criticize a work/franchise for this sort of thing, so I wonder how much people really care about how distinct a character cast look from one another.

[delladz]

You also have to remember that anime/manga is like a billion dollar industry and that it is incredibly popular for a reason lol and even then, the art style differs from franchise to franchise with unique designs that fit appropriately for each story's intent.

In general, people are going to want to have something "nice" to look at no matter the style so the concept of general aesthetics vs uniqueness kinda falls flat here? It really depends on your story and what you want to achieve with the art. For example, if you want a gritty fantasy story with lots of action I don't think you'll choose to do a chibi style and if you want a cute slice of life most people wouldn't opt for hyper-realistic drawings. And of course, you can break these rules and follow these "wrong" concepts, but I think as long as your art style meets a baseline of what looks good (and that can depend on the individual viewer) and fits the story like Lensing said, I don't think you have to think too hard about it

[thepenmonster]

which is better to have

Assuming you're asking about a direction to take your work in:

The public doesn't know much but it does know what it likes. And people want what they like over and over and over and over and over and over and over... until they suddenly don't.

You want to make money off of comics? Draw what people like. Make a Shojou style princess comic, a Tumblr-style BL comic, or make Korean style modern romance. Something that looks like something they saw on TikTok. When they stop liking that, move on to the next thing.

What the public likes is pretty limited and thus easy to know what to ape.

And if you're asking in general: Everything above is still true. It's best to do what's popular. Always has been that way in every form of entertainment to come down the pipe.

[Lensing]

When you look at the Tapas start page then you can get the impression that it all looks the same or at least
very similar. Manga and anime has some distinctive style choices which look the same.
I´m not too familiar with those styles, so I can judge that or have a final opinion about it.
All comics that I read have a very unique style.

I just took a screenshot of the Tapas first page and I was surprised that all those stories are from
different artists

[BoomerZ]

Yeah, if you look at what is popular, dudes with small heads and long necks dominate Tapas. My theory is that is because the 3D models they trace over have those dimensions. Same with hands. They all have the same long fingers. I would say most popular comics fall under this type of artwork or unique but cutesy look. Those seem to get the most views. Traditional comic art (lee, marvel, image, etc) doesn't sell well at all. Also, the more detailed the lace is on your outfits, the more readers you will have.