I've never had an comic hate before knocks on wood! As much as I hope that it never happens to me, I think the fact that we are putting our work out here like this, the likelihood of it happening sometime down the line is pretty high, so I am prepared for the day, whenever that might be :S...
I cant say my experience was over a comic, but more so over a piece that I was working on, and these two characters went totally off the reservation about how my style wasnt anatomically correct(the style I was using is more or less a mashup of anime/manga and other styles). Everytime I tried to explain that my style wasnt realistic, they kept going on...eventually the whole thing got to the point where I wasnt about to have a couple of hating hacks tell me how to draw(one of them's art looked worse than mine; the other talked like a "know-it-all", but spends his days/nights camped out on this particular site, getting his ego stroked by his buddies) so I was like, "You do you, and I'll do me"- I dropped the mic and never looked back at that convo- or that particular site for that matter.
I dont have an issue with criticism- when done constructively. But when a person assumes something, and I explain what I'm doing- and you talk to me like I dont have a clue of what I'm doing, that's when I will shut you down.
To turn this thread into a positive spin, how do the lyrics go . . .?
~You Ain't Nobody Until Someone Hates You~
Our first hate message ever was here on Tapastic in response to our ending up on the trending page for a short while. We were very flattered to make the home page so quickly with the Crowned! series. The reader however was very upset that we could be trending with just a single coming soon page. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion though. Regardless, we are going to keep moving forward with the series as planned.
Bottom line: Don't let others dictate how you want to do your series, especially when you are spending 100s to 1000s of hours creating it. Maybe this reader will change their mind, maybe they won't, but early hate actually is a good thing because you know you are on to something worthwhile enough to make others passionate, whether good or bad passion.
It's probably better to rip the duct tape off on page one than get into things a ways before getting your first taste of how tempers can flare when people are passionate about something. Entitlement, jealousy, vanity, etc. readers are people too and you are going to get the good and the bad that comes with having a fan base.
I don't recall ever getting outright hate, but I did have a similar experience when a comic page of mine got a Daily Deviation on Deviantart years ago. I recall they basically said they didn't think it was good enough to be a top pick, to which I said they were free to not like my work, but I wasn't the one who chose to feature the comic page. Oddly enough they said they respected me more as an artist because of my response.
Sorry to hear that you got that kind of message. But pretty awesome you ended up with a DD on DA. Those are pretty gosh darn hard to get and they are restricted to two per artist per year so you must have had an amazing work. Bravo!
People can be pretty jealous and DDs are so hard to get and they are so subjective on DA that they are a constant source of hard feelings. It sounds like you handled it amazingly well though. DA and Tapastic are social sites at their core and the best thing you can do to a negative review is to respond respectfully like you did. Maybe that artist had been trying for a long time to get a DD and felt slighted in some way because you got picked and not them. However by acknowledging their opinion in a respectful manner you may have very well put them in your corner. Or not. But you may have impressed other people reading your response (if public). True character really shows when someone is put in the pressure cooker and they choose to do the right thing.
We're not sure how upset our recent hater is on the hate scale but we got a "bleep no" and a fairly long rant so it may be a situation that cannot be improved no matter what. If anything, it preps us for SacAnime Gives Back as convention floors can be contentious at times when artists and readers collide in person.
Thank you! To be honest when I look back (it was chosen in like 2006?), it was a pretty amateur comic page, so the fact that it was chosen at all is really flattering haha. They are super subjective though, you're right.
I'm just surprised that someone would even spend the energy to write a lengthy and rude rant on your comic when you had no control over whether it was trending or not >>; However, as someone who has tabled at SacAnime for 4 years, I can attest that they're a very nice crowd! I don't think you should have to worry about too many rude folks.
Thanks Michelle for the heads up on SacAnime. We have attended before but never tabled so its going to be "a first time for everything" situation.
As far as trending, we have no idea how it happened, it just somehow did. It seemed completely random. We really do appreciate the added attention it gave us though.
The only negative comment I've ever received on AEiF is "I don't like this joke, it's not for me." Which, for the internet, I count as a blessing
Less hate and more just overally critical to the point where it almost felt like they didn't really read it pass page 5. It happened on my birthday too and I was really depressed about it.
Online I never got any REAL hate on my comics, but my classmates often make fun of it, while its meant to be a serious story. They call it a gay porn comic, though there isn't even any gay in it. They say my character are dumb and my artstyle is bland and lazy. They say its a waste of time to work on a childish story with so little action. And idk more hateful or mean criticism that isn't constructive at all. They make me feel ashamed of my comic, while I used to be pretty proud of it.
So yeah idk, people often say "what doesn't kill you makes you stronger". But I don't really feel it... My classmates are kind of the reason why I hate showing my work to anyone.
Oh! I can finally contribute to this!
Got called a "shitty artist" here on the forums because in sillier scenes I use my character's masks to emote. : D Never mind that there's well over 100 pages that rely on mood and body language!
It stung at first, but it became pretty clear quickly that said person was purposefully trying to antagonize people, so ¯_(ツ)_/¯ But I guess it still counts!
@60Six WHAT omg ima smush um lemme at um raises hands for fisticuffs
I haven't had any on my comic yet, but I have an art Youtube2 and...
Well, it's Youtube. I posted a video7 a few days ago about coloring mistakes I used to make, and as a result a guy started calling me a rude, mediocre artist over and over every day for like 4 days, and it actually really got me down. In a moment of weakness I even responded trying to explain that my video was aimed at helping new artists avoid my old mistakes, not telling them what to do, and it just make it so much worse. ; - ; I've learned now that when people post things that are just insults to remove them, not to engage.
Since I do a comic about being a Stay-at-home dad, I naturally posted a link on a Reddit thread about SAHDs. One of the first replies criticised the character for dropping off his kid at daycare in the comic. This apparently confused him, as clearly doing the chores, and tending to the day-to-day household running of things disqualified the main character from the title, since he didn't keep the kid at home also.
I found it amusing.
@haleymewsome Yes, don't take anything people say on youtube serious. The community there can be really rude. I've seen quite some cyberbullying there.
I created a speed video for an old comic once and also got a really negative comment, something along the lines of 'who do you think you are posting a crap vid like this, nobody wants to see that trash' yep, really rude. I also engaged but I've learned that usually when you stay nice the attacker will feel bad about it. So I just told that person that it's ok if they don't like my art, however that there are other people who do like it and it's great that people have different opinions otherwise things would be quite boring. The person didn't respond to it and a few days later the comment was deleted (I assume by the rude person him/herself).
But it does sting when someone says something that negative so I totally understand how you feel about it, but always remember that there are people who love your art and appriciate you for it ^^
I don't know if that counts... But my first comic hate actually happend in elementary school 15 years ago (wow... such a long time). My art teacher was overly critical with everything I did because it was manga/comic inspired. One assignment of hers was to illustrate a story. So I did as I knew best - I made a comic. In the end she said: This was not supposed to be a comic and got mad at me as usual ¯_(ツ)_/¯
is it strange that I love when this thread comes back to life
I mean it feels like the community really comes together and shares its weird , sometimes horrid moments and it just makes us all closer.
Im strange ignore me
