Do you look at older pages or newest ones?

[allenthomas]

I was curious about this since I had a recent conversation with a friend of mine about my comic, Shadosassins, and I came across something interesting.

He was looking at my pages and told me that while he found my comic interested he had issues with the art style. Understandable enough, but he later said he would have like it better if it was in color instead of black and white. I showed him that my current pages have all been in color since I started my 2nd chapter and he didn't know. He seemed to like those pages way better.

My question that popped in my head and the one I'm asking here is, do any of you solely look at an artists current pages or go back and look at older ones when you look at someones art? I know that most people just read a few pages and form an opinion from there. I'm guilty of that too. But I was wondering if there are any people who look at various pages throughout someones comic seeing as that in some cases an artist can decline or improve on there work.

[keii4ii]

I look at the newest first precisely for that reason: artists improve over time. But if I were a consumer checking out a new series at a bookstore, I'd check out issue/volume 1 first, so I get where that person is coming from.

What if you inserted a cover image at the very beginning of your episode 1, and keep changing that one to reflect your current abilities whenever you feel you've made a huge progress? It doesn't even need to be a brand new illustration; you could make something by taking bits and pieces from your newer pages.

[abbastudios]

As an artist I look at new pages first for the same reason @keii4ii does. I like that cover idea.

[allenthomas]

What if you inserted a cover image at the very beginning of your episode 1, and keep changing that one to reflect your current abilities whenever you feel you've made a huge progress? It doesn't even need to be a brand new illustration; you could make something by taking bits and pieces from your newer pages.

That is a pretty awesome idea.

[RiverKai]

Wow @keii4ii, you just solved a ton of stress and worries for me. Thank you so much for that idea!

[ashriott]

I do try to read the first chapter and then skip to the latest chapter or somewhere in between to check out changes in art (by zooming through the pages without reading so things don't get too spoilerish). If the art stays the same throughout, it doesn't really turn me off personally. But like many others in the webcomic world, I love to see improvement

Though I only do this when I'm not sure whether to subscribe to a comic or not - not so much for the art but for story. A bit like having a short glance at story progression to see if there's anything eye catching and whether it's worth continuing. Changes in art can be hard to tell, depending on how old the first few pages are compared to the latest.

[CalebDL]

Older! How do I keep up with a story or watch the artist grow otherwise?

[Raven_C]

If it's a story-based/long form comic, then of course I look at older pages and go from there. I try to form my opinion of a comic by reading the story. Seeing the artist improve their art over time is the icing on the cake, I guess.

[gateofselidor]

I start at the beginning, but if the art is making the comic difficult for me to read I'll certainly take a look at the latest pages to see if it's worth sticking around. I'm really not too worried if the art is unrefined, as long as I can tell what's happening and the story and general flow of the comic is appealing.

[VermillionWorks]

The newer pages are usually the ones to grab my attention and lure me in...but then sometimes I'll do this thing where I kind of go back midway and see if other random pages look just as interesting. THEN I'll read from the beginning....
....yeah, I know, I go about webcomics in a...very weird way. XD

[Zannen00]

Latest i guess...Isn't tapastic bring you to the latest page when clicking on a comic?

If the story looks interesting on the current page i usually check back on the older episode,
Art-wise doesn't turn me off (as reason people before me mentioned)

[AnnaLandin]

Well, when finding a new webcomic to read, I'd naturally end up looking at the newest pages - and if I like those, I'll go back and read from the beginning.

... This obviously applies more to story-based comics than to gag-based ones.

[brunoharm3]

I've been struggling with this myself, because I started without photoshop, and it's a pretty dramatic transition. I went back and redid the first strip, because it was barely readable, and now I'm debating weather to redo the whole lot of older work, or leave it for posterity.

[noctuidae]

I start somewhere in the middle of the archive and work my way up to the newest, then going back and reading the pages I skipped. Or I'll read the whole thing backwards altogether; I've done that to books, occasionally.

Don't be like me, kids.

I guess my reasoning behind it is that I can get my first impressions at the point of the work where the comic artist has more or less gotten the hang of their comic.

[getsuart]

I think I'm a bad person then, because I don't look at the new pages before starting anything. The cover, the banner or the little preview show me enough to look at it. The only reason I don't look at newest pages is because I don't want to be spoiled.
When I finished to read it, I like to compare and say "woaaaah so much improvement !" if there is!

[igneriss]

I usually have a quick look at the newest page (boo spoilers), and then start from the beginning. It's nice to see improvement while reading, but it's the story that is more important c:

[aspiderjonny]

If I'm starting a longer comic I usually read through the current chapter and decide whether to subscribe or not. Honestly I rarely go back to the beginning of a comic if it's well past its third chapter. Usually a good comic gets me caught up on what's going on without me having to read the previous stuff. Sometimes I'll skim through the first few pages just to see how it compares to the newest page. Otherwise I just stick to the newest.

[jessiepolfliet]

I always start at the beginning, except for slice of life comics. I have the same thing with movies and series.
If a comic opens I hit the first page button as fast as I can to avoid spoilers.

[TristanJensen]

I tend to judge a series based on most recent, then jump to the beginning to see how it got there. Often they've improved a lot, which I really enjoy.

[ArtistHan]

I used to read the first chapter then realized it doesn't often show the artist's full potential nor the good parts of the story. So now I read the most recent stuff and if I really like it, I go back to the beginning and read more~