Congratulations on being featured! I saw the announcement yesterday!
Most of the questions I had in mind were asked by @doublemelon 
So bad your post was flagged, I hope it doesnt get closed or deleted.
I just get up from bed and turned on my pc just to support you man
I assume the one who flagged you either tot you might be a bot and giving false info since you are trying to stay anon or someone who wanna ordereveryonearoundtheforumandhasnotbeenaroundforsolongeithertochillabit...
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yeah, sorry, I can't. It's ok if you don't believe me. There are strange people on the internet that claim many things that aren't true haha. It's a matter of personal comfort and my own issues that I want to keep my name anonymous and since my name is on my comic, I can't share it. Thank you for understanding.
*I'm not sure it's the reason to get flagged but I think long ago we were enouraged to not discuss Webtoons since this is the Tapas Forum. To avoid Webtoons users coming here to promote going there.
If somebody can confirm this I will appreciate to know.
hahaha thank you!
I won't say anything else, but I'm not necessarily in that post 
just feeling very nostalgic so I popped into the forum to say hello again.
So bad your post was flagged, I hope it doesnt get closed or deleted.
I just get up from bed and turned on my pc just to support you man
Yeah, I really don't know what I did wrong haha. They said it got flagged multiple times so.... I really don't know. Appreciate the support!
Wow thank you so much for answering everything! ^-^
That was super helpful!!
I'm sorry if some of the questions are public knowledge, I haven't really looked around the details on Google before xD
If a Tapas featured comic artist would bother coming here and answer questions, that'd be great too lol
good to know but... ive seen a lot of self-promoting only one comic or novel topics not being closed in the past months. correct me if Im wrong
Yes!! Some of them used to be here a lot to share tips and answer questions but I remember the threads becoming a dumpster fire mostly because all ended up fighting about BL being a popular genre
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We have had some ongoing issues over the past month with spammers on these forums, so I think everyone may be a little on edge, and trigger-happy with the report button. That said, I'm certainly grateful for you coming in to answer questions! And I hope they don't close the topic for not being Tapas-focused, almost all of us post on WEBTOON as well, and this is a rare opportunity to speak with someone who has knowledge of the Originals world.
My questions:
Thanks for doing this!
I'm wondering:
1) Was the webtoon that got featured the first webtoon you've ever worked on? Did you do any other series?
2) What was your episode schedule while it was on Canvas? Roughly how many panels and how frequently did you post?
3) Why do you think your webtoon got chosen to be featured? Do you know how that was decided? In my mind it's just a webtoon editor browsing through canvas, finds one, asks his higher-up if it's okay, then emails the creator...
4) Why do you think some series get original offers really quickly and others take years?
Not sure if you can answer these questions but I appreciate whatever insight you can share!
3) Why do you think your webtoon got chosen to be featured? Do you know how that was decided? In my mind it's just a webtoon editor browsing through canvas, finds one, asks his higher-up if it's okay, then emails the creator...
I can actually answer this one. Webtoons came to my college a couple months ago and did a series of virtual workshops where they talked a lot about the process of becoming an Original and how it works on their end and all kinds of info and details. And on this, you are actually basically correct! Editorial Interns and Editors will spend a certain portion of their time reading basically every single comic that is posted to Canvas. They monitor it for consistency, posting frequency, story potential, creator interaction, things like that. If they see something promising, they can bring it to the head Editors for consideration as an Original.
They mentioned the biggest things they look for is...
If your comic has/does all of those things, then there's a fairly decent chance it'll get noticed by an Editor or Editorial Intern. From there, whether it gets picked up as an Original can come down to a lot of things like schedule, production timeline, whether they have something in Originals that is already really similar to what you're doing, if it fits the vibe/brand/feel of Webtoons, things like that. But that's a good starting point.
Also, to the point @Kaydreamer asked...
How much of your comic and its plot do you need to have mapped out for a pitch to be successful?
The visiting Webtoons Editor told us that 99% of comics chosen to be Originals are not pitched to them. They said if your goal is to have a comic be an Original, the absolute best way to do that is to start posting it as a Canvas series and do all of the above things in order to get it noticed by an Editor. Less than 1% of Originals are series that are pitched directly to them.
That being said, if anyone does want to pitch a comic series (whether to Webtoons or HiveWorks or any other traditional comics or book publisher), you need to put together a Pitch Packet. I started to type up a thing here, but it got a little long, so I made it it's own post. You can read my whole post here to see what needs to go into a pitch packet: https://forums.tapas.io/t/a-guide-to-assembling-a-pitch-packet/6009224
I wonder about this. Scroll exhaustion keeps me from binge reading many Webtoons Original series. Am I just weird in wanting less scroll? But good to know my closer panel spacings work against me on Webtoons. I hadn't thought of that.
Congratulations on your webtoon! Not sure if this is too many questions but I think it's cool to talk to a featured artist! I understand the confidentiality thing, so if any of my questions cross that line, you don't have to answer ◡̈
Cheers for the reply! With pitching, I meant after they initially come knocking in your emails and declare they're interested. I think at that point, you need to give them a rundown of where you're going with the comic, how long it's supposed to be, overall plot direction and so-on, right?
My plan right now is exactly as you stated; just make a really good CANVAS series, be consistent, and clearly demonstrate professionalism and artistic improvement.
I'm definitely going off to read your post about pitching, thanks!
no it's no problem! I mention that is search-able online, simply because often webtoons will give out information about a topic online, but I don't know to what extent, and since it's on a confidential topic, I can't give out too much info on it, but it might out there online/I've seen bits on it online.
I notice that it seems to be becoming normal for comics to 'pause' after a season. I assume this is because the artist requires the time between seasons to catch up. (50+ panels per week is pretty nuts. I can barely manage 25 every two weeks at the moment - I have a time-intensive style - though I am getting faster.) Is this the case?
Yep! We get a little break in-between seasons to build back up a backlog as well as just to rest our hands a little.
If this is the case, is it something discussed during the contract negotiations, or is it flexible?
Pretty much everything is negotiable. They are very flexible and understanding of artists, which I really appreciate.
Do you, or any other Originals creators you know, carry on other work on the side? (I'd want to retain at least one day of teaching work for stability reasons.)
I was also curious about this when I started Webtoon, so I asked around a bit and turns out pretty much no one else has a side job haha. Or at the very least, not a full time job out side of Webtoons. There's only 1 person I know who has a full-ish time job outside of Webtoon and I'm not sure if they are still doing that, but I guess it means it is possible. I myself, take on freelance side projects and various small commission jobs, but all short term.
How much of your comic and its plot do you need to have mapped out for a pitch to be successful?
The more the better, but don't be redundant. So aim to get as much information in there as you can without repeating yourself or saying things that aren't relevant to the story. These editors are sitting in front of pitch after pitch day after day and have to read all of them, so they get tired too. On the other hand, showing that you have a fundamental understanding of your story and where it's going gives them confidence that you will be able to finish a comic and know what exactly it is you're doing. You'll need your entire story thought out though, a general arc is fine, but if you have a chapter by chapter play, that can be included too as an extra side attachment.
Honestly, if there's something you missed, they'll ask for it. They are pretty clear with what exactly it is they want from you, and different editors are gonna have different approaches to how they want a pitch to look, so, just be clear and professional and efficient with your pitch and they'll ask for the rest.
If you have one Original series, are you better able to pitch a new series to them as the first one wraps due to having contact with the WEBTOON staff?
Yes. I mean, just in general, you know these editors now and I'd say you get pretty friendly with them. So you do have better opportunities to pitch new series you have. Definitely not while you already have a series though, it'd be as you said, near the end or after it's finished.
How much creative control do the editors have over the pacing and tone of the story? Are they okay with it 'meandering' a little, or do they push you to keep it tight and focused?
Again, it'll depend on your editor and what kind of working relationship you wanna take with them, as in any professional working relationship. If you dig your heels in at feedback, most people probably won't wanna give you much feedback anymore cause what's the point. but you might not be asked to come back if they don't like you haha. So you have major control, at the end of the day, it's still your comic. Editors in general are there to keep you on track, make sure you're handing in at deadline, check your grammar and bounce ideas off of.
They are gonna want you to keep efficiently on the story. Side stories and B arcs are fine but as you can see in most Original series, they don't like one shots are 4 coma spin offs of the story as people pay for fast past episodes and it isn't very fair for those people to pay for a story that's just a comedy skit.
hope that helps!
That is correct Kaydreamer!
But thank you for that thorough pitch breakdown @ninjashira I'm sure it'll be very very useful to many people as a good pitch can make or break a comic's opportunities.
