Do you think you'll get featured?

[aqua03]

@Cabbage

So, I'm currently working on a reboot of my fantasy comic and I'd like to know what I can improve off of the pilot I finished up a while ago. Think you could take a look please?

DRGN: Dragon Robots Gone Nitro | Tapas

[Cabbage]

So it starts off strong: Good aesthetic, good art, good positioning. I'm never confused what is going on. But then...

Oof! Nevvveeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeer EVER do this. This completely ruined the solid spooky tone you had building up. Just a simple. "The fuck?" is good enough, don't use internet slag.

Additionally, I can tell you are using 3D models for bases in most of the panels

Once again, there is nothing wrong with using 3D on your main characters, but you need to make it 1000% not obvious to anyone looking at it. The editors have a trained eye as well.

Your art is beyond featured quality (except for the 3D but I think you can easily resolve that), the biggest issue I'm going to see is your slow update schedule. Even if you don't have time, editors want people who can produce good quality AND fast. Since if you do get featured (I find it as a likely possibility if they overlook the slow updates) you will have maybe 5 days per week to work on the comic (as it takes time for your editor to get back to you), so even if your panels are amazing, if you're pumping them out this slow they may come to a conclusion that you won't be able to meet a featured schedule. My recommendation is to cut some corners in favor of faster updates. Usually I wouldnt be in favor of getting lazy to update more but in your case I recommend it to squeak out the biggest weakness between you and a potential feature.

Additionally, you don't have three episodes done, so I can't give an educated estimate on the plot. You are however in a pretty barren genre so I think whatever you bring to the table with the plot will be fine considering the first two chapters are already pretty strong with the spooky.

[azzy-m]

In my experience, Webtoon watches new series' pretty closely. I don't think there is a Webtoon they don't look at.

I'm curious, I had a Webtoon up during the 2018 Webtoon Contest but I deleted all the episodes from that time and started uploading the new episodes there. Would they still check that out, or do I have to transfer the new episodes in a different series?

[graveweaver]

I wanted to weigh in on the three-episode thing. they actually have a video up on their webtoon channel about the importance of the first three episodes (and other things):

And @azzy-m , If I could jump in, I actually think this might be better than completely creating a new series. I think you should keep your old series with the (old) tag and make a new one only if you want to preserve the old episodes. If you don't care about the old episodes and just want to raze the earth and start from point 1, then your subs from your last series will be a boost!!

[azzy-m]

I think you should keep your old series with the (old) tag and make a new one only if you want to preserve the old episodes. If you don't care about the old episodes and just want to raze the earth and start from point 1, then your subs from your last series will be a boost!!

Ah okay, thanks! I'll probably do that.

(also I'm gonna shoehorn this congrats on the feature)

[graveweaver]

Thank you!!! (((o(ﾟ▽ﾟ)o))) Also the best of luck to you in rebooting your series!!

[Buurd]

This has been such a helpful thread and I'm happy to see everyone taking critiques so well ^^
Trying to take the notes i've seen made here and better my own work

Like others, I understand there's been a lot of requests for a critique so if you're busy (or simply dont want to haha) I totally get it! But I thought i'd take a shot in case and ask if you'd give me some feedback @Cabbage

Ketchup

Some of the bigger things I notice about my work that could hold me back are:

• Upload consistency is a mess (working on a buffer atm though before I continue)
• Popular genre w/ lots of competition. (Plus 2 Soulmate webtoons are already Featured. L.U.F.F + Love me Knot)
• Storytelling/Pacing could probably improve.
• Also because of the spacing between updates, I've found it hard to keep consistent with my own characters, which I need to be fixed asap :')

[Cabbage]

I'm glad I could help, and I have no problem getting to you when I go down the list! It may take a while, again, because I do have a lot of work ><;;

I'm also impressed at how well everyone is taking my critique since I'm being pretty critical... I just want to state again I'm simply critiquing from the perspective of "I really want you to get featured on Webtoons!" - This means nitpicking specifically towards things I know the editors (or at least mine) are critical of. I think everyone's styles have lots of artistic value, and I hope me pushing towards a certain direction of improvement doesn't take away from what people think of their own work or squashes anyone's creative freedom regarding their own styles. I could definitely sit here and talk about what I love in everyone's comics, but at the end of the day pointing out the things I have a problem with will get everyone closer to a featured pick.

I also recommend, for those I already critiqued, messaging some other Featured creators (I think theres only two on this forum excluding me so you might need to go poking around twitter) to see if they'll give you any feedback. I am but one Cabbage with one opinion.

[vanderteal]

holy crap thank you so much!!! Getting this at the the beginning of the week is huge motivational factor!!
All your point are spot on and I'll take them to heart.
Coming from the conceptart/design field very fast turnarounds are not my forte and I'm very well aware that speed and delivery is my biggest weakness at this point, will cut corners as you said and then just grow organically from there.

As for the 3d models, I'll ramp up my gestural and poses study to get rid of the stiffness in my characters, this may take a bit more time but I'm fully confident that with a little bit more practice and a larger visual library I'll definitely be able too bypass this issue as well!

Again thank you so much! this is incredibly valuable, unfortunately I can't attend any major comic conventions being overseas, so actual professional feedback is almost impossible for me to get, and it is kind of frustrating sometimes to be honest, so I'm really really thankful that you took the time to check my stuff out

You're the best!

[graveweaver]

Just saying, I'm putting $5 down you're going to get featured within 6 months. Youre in an EMPTY category (horror?) with great art and a story that is actually is easing us in and slowly revealing stuff rather than gobsmacking the reader in the face with exposition. I do agree with cabbage that the slow updates my be an issue but I think the strengths in everything else will outweigh that and they might give you more time than usual to do it I DONT KNOW IM NOT AN EDITOR IM JUST MAKING BETS IN THE PEANUT GALLERY

If I'm right I ACCEPT PAYPAL

[akiocha]

@vanderteal so after @Cabbage and @graveweaver gave thumbs up I waddled over in my usual creepy way and went to read your comic to see the hype.

You do really have a great base story and lovely art. I love your palette. More importantly I can see you put a lot of effort into your backgrounds which you just don't see often in many webcomics now. If I could offer one critique (and feel free to take it or leave it, you didn't ask for my opinion haha) but I would look into going further/varying with your actual panel shapes. Since you have such a good base comic, that's just something I personally find can sometimes make or break a comic I read.

EG this panel you did immediately stuck out and caught my eye cause you varied the width and had an interesting "connecting" element (the droplets).

Most of your panels are full width across and while they vary in length slope, they give off the same effect. Ie a wide shot effect imo. I think framing can do a lot in story telling. But anyways, that's just my slice of the pie.

Keep up the good work! like the others have said, you are in a pretty barren category. You have a lot of potential and I wouldn't be surprised if you got featured.

[marvelescent]

Thank you again, I didn't mean to cross your critique the way I did, I just really love that specific at style and wanted to offer my "spoon full of sugar" to help the medicine so to speak haha. But really thank you. Your one critique had caused a total wave of changes for us. Our story telling has been movie/ anime style, too where we have the luxury to tell the story slowly. But here we can't take our time. At least not at first. So aside from, art improvement, we'll likely revamp the whole comic from a further more straight to the point section in the story. I just want to that you again, for helping us achieve our goals and I hope we take your advice and make the most of it!

[bear1]

@Cabbage
You are a total MVP right now. Thank you for posting here and giving advice and critique.
What you posted so far already gave me a better idea how to organize future projects to make the best out of them.
I just wanted to say that because I imagine how much time you spend reviewing comics, redrawing panels and writing all those feedbacks. I think you need to know how helpful and appreciated those feedbacks are, even by bystanders like me, thanks a lot

[plebisss]

@Cabbage

Seconding @bear1 ; thanks a bunch man for taking a huge chunk of time and effort to review/ give tips/ advice (I imagine the opportunity cost of your time is pretty high). Stuff about getting featured/ the inner workings of webtoon is pretty difficult to find, so your advice is pure gold.

I wish really wish I could give back in some way, like draw fanart or something for you as thanks.

[Kittosaurus]

@CabbageYou are a total MVP right now. Thank you for posting here and giving advice and critique.What you posted so far already gave me a better idea how to organize future projects to make the best out of them.I just wanted to say that because I imagine how much time you spend reviewing comics, redrawing panels and writing all those feedbacks. I think you need to know how helpful and appreciated those feedbacks, even by bystanders like me, thanks a lot

@Cabbage

Seconding @bear1 ; thanks a bunch man for taking a huge chunk of time and effort to review/ give tips/ advice (I imagine the opportunity cost of your time is pretty high). Stuff about getting featured/ the inner workings of webtoon is pretty difficult to find, so your advice is pure gold.

I wish really wish I could give back in some way, like draw fanart or something for you as thanks.

Agreed!!! I have learnt soo much from all these reviews! I am looking forward to working towards implementing a lot of these tips/ critiques in my own comic! I am unable to attend cons and get a review from the tapas staff so these have been invaluable!

[Cabbage]

@bear1 @plebisss @Kittosaurus

Thanks guys!! >< I'm really glad my words can help you guys out. I appreciate everyone taking my words to heart, as well. I'd like to see more people involved in online communities get featured to help spread knowledge. Giving information can hopefully help steer people in the right direction, rather than having to just guess WT's preferences and hope you get lucky.

If you'd like to do something for me, please check out my friend's Webtoon! I don't think she's aiming for Feature or anything, she just wants to tell a story about her pets, so any likes/subs/comments make her very excited!

Selphie & Co

[Zugaikotsu]

Your friend's story is amazing! Already subbed it! ^^

[Zugaikotsu]

@Cabbage I'd love if you could offer some critique to my series, too! I don't think I'm aiming to be featured (at least not with this title), but some great tips are always greatly appreciated! ^^ You're doing an amazing job helping all of us with your eagle eyes! ^^

Hexus Elegia - WebComics

[Jenna_A]

And not only that, but gradually improving still means that you might have a weak.. like.. 30 first episodes, and the people who choose Featured are going to prioritize featuring people who right away have a snappy and great first three episodes and continue that standard of quality for like 30 episodes.

So... How do we fix the possibility that you may have fallen off of Webtoon's radar? Start over. Rename your old series to (OLD) and create a new one with the same title and immediately upload three spanking new revamped episodes. Those are your catcher episodes. Then, continue as usual.

This is exactly my problem. LOL I've been dying to re-do the first 30 or so episodes (already re-did just the first episode) but people have always advised me to just keep going with the story and re-draw if it ever gets picked up. I still get featured in the "LOL", "Today's hot series" etc categories though, (currently in the LOL section right now) does that mean I might still be on their "radar"? Are those even hand picked? Or picked through an algorithm? I definitely need to make my first three episodes more attention grabbing but in your opinion, is starting over with a "New" and "Old" version necessary in my case?

[Cabbage]

@Zugaikotsu I appreciate you supporting her! Thank you!

@Jenna_A This is definitely a pressing question. If you're already on their radar so much that you've been boosted multiple times on the front page, and are on it right now, that means the people who go through canvas 100% know you exist (The front page categories, if I'm making an assumption based on my observations of it over the past year, work via both algorithm and human selection)

I really hate to be the bearer of bad news, but as I spoke about in one of my above comments (probably pretty far up in the thread), Slice of Life and Romance is probably the single hardest combination of tags to get featured in. (Probably either tied or second with fantasy/romance and comedy/romance) - They have a lot of titles already featured in this category and the competition on canvas is incredibly fierce, with a lot of "senior" titles that still aren't featured probably in the queue ahead of you if they ever decide to put another SoL/Romance in feature (my weird roommate, #muted, my dragon girlfriend, etc)

If you just love doing your comic and want to keep with your story I think you should stick with it, but if you are aiming for a Featured offer above anything I think your best chances is to make another story entirely in a rarer genre. If you really really believe in yourself though and think that the positives of your comic will both outweigh the seniority of the consistent updates of these other series (My Dragon girlfriend has 248 updates, for example) then keep with it, but it will be an extreme uphill battle