Does the quality of art affect your enjoyment of a comic?

[redsblueyoungster]

It may vary from person to person, but the most important thing is that the art is at a point where it can convey what you want to portray clearly and that takes time and skill. Even for simple things like stick figures.

[Shanny8]

Yup- on both accounts. The art doesnt have to be awe stunning, but at the same point- I have my tastes.

Same goes for the writing. If the art is good, but the story isnt, then it's not gonna hold my attention.

[carloswebcomic]

Absolutely, however it's not so much the level of skill of the artist that bothers me.
What really gets on my tits is bad, lazy design decisions. This is completely subjective, but when I feel that an artist didn't bother to take the time to give their world and characters an interesting design, it really kills it for me.

[shazzbaa]

It honestly depends on what they're trying to do. Like, I enjoy XKCD (stick figures). I enjoyed Homestuck (literal MS Paint art). I used to read Bob & George and 8-Bit Theater (both sprite comics). So it's certainly possible for me to enjoy something with "low-quality" artwork. Heck, Hyperbole and a Half isn't a comic, but it conveyed depression more effectively than anyone I've ever seen and it looks like.... hyperbole and a half. So this doesn't just apply to silly shallow things either; you can do something meaningful in a "low-quality" style, it just has to play to its strengths and be effective.

The art has to effectively do what it's trying to do. If a comic has an angry character who is badly drawn but definitely looks angry, we're good. If the angry character looks stiff and weird and doesn't communicate the emotion well, I lose interest.

Bad writing is tougher. I think there are things you can overlook; there was one webcomic I loved (Hellbound, sadly offline) where it was very, very obvious the creator was making things up as they went along and contriving the plot, but I didn't care because the characters played off each other well and the jokes were funny. And comics can also be heartfelt but bad at like, grammar, and I can overlook that.
But if it's actually poorly written at its core, if I can't believe in any aspect of the story, I can't stick with it. If the characters feel rote, important moments don't ring true, jokes are poorly timed and don't quite land, or the story fails to make me feel what it wants me to feel -- all of those things are bad writing, and those things are also kinda the point. If they're bad, why read it?

So ultimately, I think bad art and bad writing hurt a comic. But low-quality art and imperfect writing can still be enjoyable, as long as you're effectively conveying what you want to convey!

[Kura]

Art wise. As long as I can tell what's going on and I'm not confused by the visuals. I will be more lenient towards poor art, as usually the art will improve the longer the series is worked on. BUT If a series has me going----

"wtf is going on? How did they get over there when they were just over there?"
"What ... is that??? Is that supposed to be someone's leg...?"
"OMG These are three different characters.... I thought it was just the one girl the whole time..."
"I... haaaaaavvvveeee nooooooo ideeeeaaaa whaaaaaaat isssssssss haapppppeninnnnnggg???!!!!!?????????QUESTION MARK"
--- then I'm afraid I am going to drop it.

Writing wise, again I'll let some things slide, like slow pacing, BAd pacing though I can't deal with >< Again though, if I have NO idea what's going on.

"Okay this looks cool... but why are they fighting again??"
"Really...? That's the whole reason for this situation...? That doesn't... even... actually why is the main character reacting like that to begin with? He just explained three pages ago that he's not capable of emotions."
"Umm... this explanation goes against EVERYTHING you said in the LAST explanation."
"... that is not what you said five pages ago..."
"Ok are you just drawing the pictures and making up the dialogue as you go along after your done drawing everything. It feels like you are..."
"WHO IS WHO???!?!??!?!?!"

Then no. Not happening. Also I can't deal with bad translations. And I mean BAD translations. A word or two off, or a sentence structured off, sure as long as it's not TOO hard to figure out. But "The foreigner of family obscure zoo and I can for love!" is... no... google translate is not as reliable as some seem to think...

[69Michi]

Here is a thing about me and each different medium of choice. Novel with one or two illustration, you gotta be a good writer to get me stick around, I don't care if you draw stick figure level art, I'm here for the plot and the writing. Then you have Visual Novel, which is 60% art and 40% writing to me. I can get behind a visual novel with decent art but lesser writing (not too bad tho), but not the other way around. Then you have comic, which is 80% art and 20% writing to me. Most of the time you let the art speaks for itself, not the writing. I would appreciate a good writing in comic anytime, but art is quite important to me to enjoy a comic.

With that said, all of the above needs to pass my requirement of not BS plot for me to even start judging on how enjoyable it is base on other factors.

[Puppisama]

Art might be huge drawback when reading comics, or even a plus, there are plenty of comics here that don't have a super stylized art but that makes them even funnier, it depends how you manage your own crappiness, and even make fun of it. I can read pretty much whatever, but the plot has to be interesting and the art full of heart, I hate to read comics where the artist doesn't even try...

[nessiefynn]

Yep! Evocative color palettes, interesting/clever shot compositions, and just straight up fabulous art can add a ton to any comic! It's a visual medium, so having poor art is kinda like a book with poor prose to me.

[AnnaLandin]

Would I read a comic where the art wasn't perfect? Yes. I read and enjoy a bunch of scratchy-looking autobio comics and comics with more childish-looking art, because that art style does suit the story they are telling. You don't always need super-polished art to make a good comic. As long as I can tell what's going on, we're good!

Take XKCD for example. It is literally stick figures, and I still read and enjoy it, because it's funny, it tells interesting stories, and I learn stuff from reading it.

But a comic with decent art and terrible writing? I would nope right out of there. Comics are storytelling. You can have the art-chops of Rembrandt, but if you can't tell a story, you won't make a good comic.

I'm not saying you have to be the most brilliant writer in the world to get me to stick around, but I won't put up with stuff that is outright bad. Terrible pacing, poorly planned plots, inconsistent characters, stories that go nowhere, reliance on worn-out clichés without ever doing anything creative with them, etc.

Also I can't deal with bad translations. And I mean BAD translations. A word or two off, or a sentence structured off, sure as long as it's not TOO hard to figure out. But "The foreigner of family obscure zoo and I can for love!" is... no... google translate is not as reliable as some seem to think...

I think my favourite bad translation was in a shoujo manga where, in the middle of a heartfelt romantic monologue, the heroine goes "and my umbrella does hula hula on the spot". There were no umbrellas in the story.

[Zanreo]

As long as the art didn't literally hurt my eyes to look at, I could still read and enjoy if if I liked the story/jokes/characters/whatever other non-art things people would enjoy comics for,
However, good art can only make a good comic better, it's a visual medium after all. And I'd be more likely to click on a comic with great/interesting art in the first place. I'd also say design can be just as important as art - You can have really beautiful art, an amazing art style ect. but still have boring, uninspired character ect. designs, which might make it less appealing than the comic with somewhat more unpolished, sloppy art but more interesting character/location/item/creature/whatever designs.

[RhemeChan]

Art isn't really the answer for the enjoyment of a comic, especially if the writing is so awful. I will drop it instantly if the plot is going nowhere.
Have you ever heard of One Punch Man? It started as a webcomic in Japan.

One isn't really a great artist (however their manga screentones are A+++) but their series became so popular because the storytelling is seriously good. The characters are so well-rounded that you will came to love almost everyone additionally even the tension are amazing where even Yusuke Murata has acknowledged it and did a remake.

This applies to visual novels as well. There are titles with a good art style yet the script is so stupid and contradicting with the main character's overall image, you'll regret wasting your time reading the story.

[timinabox24]

I prefer the comics with bad/simple art. I somehow find them more enjoyable
comics with good are are too mainstream :'D

[popsiclestick]

I gotta say I'm incredibly shallow when it comes to comics and I get very picky about the art - if I'm constantly looking at the art with an (unfairly) critical eye I can't focus on the story. It sounds bad, but I need art I can enjoy. (I mean, the art could be fantastic but if it's not my thing, I'll find it hard to read.)
This way of looking at things isn't great because it leads to my own unhealthy fixation with making my comic look 'good enough' - i get particularly worried about it being immersive enough which leads me to get distracted from what for most people is the main thing - storytelling and pacing, particularly the former! But that's a whole other topic aha

[punkarsenic]

Honestly, it's a balancing act. like, yes, id enjoy a comic with awful art if it was a good story, but theyre pushing it thin. It wouldn't take too many mistakes for me to stop being interested. Then again, some of my favourite comics have absolutely crap nasty nasty art - I read every single issue of ultimate spider man and hoo boy.
Although, with story... I've been known to zone out and just look at the art if it's really good but the story's not, but I wouldn't subscribe.

Ultimately, comics are a story telling medium and an art form, so both sides of if need to be to an enjoyable & appropriate standard. (by appropriate I mean, like, art for a sol/gag comic would have a different standard to art for a longform fantasy comic)

[Ringarune]

To a certain point it does. I can't really describe where my personal threshold for art is exactly, but when I see a drawing and can from first glance realize some jarring mistakes, it takes me out of the comic's world. For the converse I also wouldn't read a comic with poor writing and good art, if I'd want to look at good art I would rather look at illustrations of that artist.

I think the thing that annoys me most though is when comics are sloppy, like when the borders are completely crooked and the dialogue is smooshed into the speech bubble to the point where you have to squint your eyes to read it.

[okellymx]

Comedy = hardly & everything else = yes. First and foremost comics are a visual medium that uses pictures to tell the story. Without the pictures, you'd just have dialogue. If didn't care about the quality of the art I would just read a book. Flawed art is more noticeable than bad writing. It takes longer to know if writing is to quality. Within 1 page I can tell if I like the art, but writing will take several more pages.

However, I've yet to read a great looking comic that had absolutely horrendous writing, but I've read tons of bad looking comics with horrendous writing. Bleach as shoddy as its story was, I still enjoyed it. It wasn't initially bad just after years of story, it got stale. If it started like that I'd say it had bad writing. Trying to churn out stories like that every week is hard. I feel like good art is an instant verification of something the creator is putting time and effort into to avoid such problems. Good art doesn't mean high in detail either. A lot of Marvel/DC comics have detailed art but it isn't very good because I feel like they lack emotional expressions, flow, and good design.

[quakeulf]

The comic's artwork is the messenger. If it wasn't for the art it would be a book instead.

Which is to say, the art should reflect the message. If you're not a good artist do really weird/dumb stuff because the lack of artistic quality will tenfolds enhance the message. If you're a good artist you would, and you should, be able to express your work with art that fits. You get a bit more room for freedom of expression then as well, which is a good argument to improve.

[whirlwyndstorm]

The quality of art is way less important to me than a good story. The artwork at least needs to be able to convey the story, though. Or be visually interesting in itself.

[TrustyShamrock]

i think they both gotta be pretty good. i mean ya can probably do better with a comic if it had ok art and a really good story than a comic with really good art and a ok story. but the snazzy arts is usually the reason i'd pick up/read a comic to begin with. sooo i reckon its all kinda important

[Cherry_sama]

Art is important for bringing the reader in, but the writing is what keeps a reader coming back. I can't really say much more than that without becoming redundant.