Yes and no.
Yes as in I'm very successful for my age. I have established myself quite well, with around 60k subs on tapas alone, and I can sustain myself and pay the bills with the income earned from my webcomics alone. That is an accomplishment that not many other 22 year old artists can claim.
No as in, if this was the peak of my carreer, I would be very disappointed. I've always dreamed of going big in entertainment and sooner or later also entering the music industry.
My audience and income is still seeing good growth though so I'm not all that worried. It's just a matter of keeping the work up and being patient, I think
I've printed and sold comics, so I guess there's "success" in that, but I'm not where I want to be right now. I'm not disappointed, coz I know the indie comics game is a long one; like @LordVincent stated, it's a matter of just being consistent and staying patient. For me, making my own comics IS the end game; if I could sell merch of my IP, then that is a bonus, but I want to be successful making my own comics.
Just like others, I'm happy every time I get a new subscriber or see a comment on a page I've worked so hard on; it lets me know that there are people out there that LIKE/love what I do. It gives me incentive to keep doing what I'm doing...
I think that equating success with subscribers and activity is a road to discouragement, because you don’t really have that much control over how popular your comic gets in x period of time. Setting goals that you know you can work towards is more encouraging, at least for me!
I didn’t think that I’d be able to make a webcomic because I was sick due to a brain tumor for a very long time. The fact that I can draw pages each week and improve my art is success enough for me right now, haha!
I've been at it for a few years now. I'm still unknown and have very few subscribers. A lot of people would probably think that I'm very unsuccessful, but to be completely honest... even though it looks very unpopular online, it's doing quite well in print versions. It's a hit at conventions and the people who bought the first few issues, bought the latest one that came out this year.
So, I guess being successful depends how you look at it.
It's a long series and it starts out pretty slow. I'm not sad when I see these numbers. Just to see that people are reading and enjoying it is wonderful. For some, it's even their favourite comic, so I'm over the moon.
I feel like somewhat successful
I can't live from all my comic income as of yet and I have by far not as many subscribers as many popular comics.
However, with the income I'm able to pay most of my monthly bills and a large amount of my fanbase is very energetic and invested in my work.
I feel this is a good personal success and makes me feel like there is still ways to grow (income and sub wise). I'm positive about the future
After 3 years of working at it I think I'm moderately successful.
I have a good number of fans who are genuinely interested in my stories.
I definitely don't make enough to support myself, BUT I like having this extra money to spend on small things to make me happy.
And mind y'all this is 3 years of hard work. I can only push forward and imagine where I'll be in another 3 years.
I'm pretty happy with where I'm at right now, as a complete newbie to the comic scene The fact that I've only been publishing for a few weeks and am already in the double digits of subscribers and have a couple hundred views already is pretty exciting/encouraging! Like many others have stated, I wouldn't be stoked if I plateaued at this point, certainly. But in the here and now, feeling pretty good, and enthusiastic for the future
In terms of popularity and income, no. Not at all. There is no money and my comic is "invisible", certainly won't be trending soon. But I'm extremely happy with the interaction and my subs are enjoining the comic! Sometimes I get more likes and comments per update than some comics with massive a massive following.
I'm a very goal oriented person and very competitive, but the comic has been my place to chill and share. I'm surprised that I genuinely don't care about the numbers and money. I'm happy.
I'm happy with how it goes, sure i don't make any money with it but i'm really really glad and thankfull that people seem to really like the story and the drawings so far even tho, i made a mess of the few first chapters and it's really confusing... It was intentionnal at some point but after looking at it, well... It felt like it's kind of clumsy because it confuse the reader... I just wish i was way better and faster at delivering the story, i'm miles ahead in my head but drawing just takes ages...