How much does style sway your interest?

[GabiWolf]

Art style isn't that important to me. I read comics that have westerns style cartoon art, more realistic style art, anime style art, simplified styles, digital and traditional. I will read anything as long as the story is interesting to me, and I'm invested in a character. I don't care how beautiful or polished your art style is, if the story is uninteresting to me, I'm not going to continue reading it. I'm all about that plot, and as long as the plot is good and your art conveys the emotions and movement of that plot, I'm on board!
I don't actually start reading a webcomic until I read the summary. If I don't like the summary I won't read it, even if I found the cover art interesting.

[MeltingCORE]

I'm pretty lenient with art! I love and appreciate many different styles even though my own is ~uwu manga~. I think the only time I've not read a comic because of art style is when it viscerally makes me uncomfortable. It's hard to describe but I've occasionally come across art styles that just feel off. Like almost an uncanny valley type thing?

[Kendial]

Such a great response - thank you!

And yeah, it's not about quality (that's a whole other thread probably haha) but more about taste I guess. Which varies a lot it seems from the answers I'm getting I also love that yours goes from dark and serious to cute and cartoony - it just goes to show just how important the story is.

And thank you very much. I'm still very much learning how to use a graphics tablet (I worked in ink before) but hopefully I'll improve as time goes by!

[Kendial]

That's cool - like it's got something super unique about it so you can go 'ah, that's such and such's artwork'. Makes sense!

[Kendial]

I'm with you there! I also wasn't a huge fan of his art at first, but I made it to the end of the manga recently and now I gotta say, I can't wait for each chapter each week

[Kendial]

That's interesting - what about that style is a no-no for you? Just out of curiosity!

And I totally get that we all have our own preferences, that's why there's so much variety on here. In that respect, webcomics really are pretty cool.

[Dogss]

Oh man people don't like One Piece's art style? Thats the one thing I DO love about it. Its the writing that I'm struggling with more so. (this is really a personal preference thing and not really a testament to the quality of the writing itself.) The designs in One Piece are so unique and amazing, even minor characters you never see again have interesting elements. Its a unique cartoony style that still has some grounding in reality. Its genius.

But to sort of add to the overall conversation here: I'm probably in the minority in that the art for me has to have a certain level of quality and it has to serve the narrative well. I can be very picky and will often not read a story if the art isn't up to my personal standards. That might be unfair, because I know theres awesome stories out there with art that maybe doesnt meet my stupidly high standards. I may be missing out on some good stuff. But comics is a visual medium and I like it to read well visually in addition to the literal written words. Like storyboards, the visual element of comics is part of the writing. It needs to work and be designed well to be the most effective, like any other graphic design.

[Kendial]

Haha! Fair enough

Great response by the way - it really made me laugh.

[Rhonder]

Can definitely relate! I'm currently working on my first vertical scroll comic as well and it's a big learning curve for sure @u@ Like, on one hand I find it somewhat easier to compose panels because if you need a little more room to fit your text in or whatever you can just increase the panel height with little-to-no consequence (unlike on a page where you're then fighting with other panels for real estate), but on the other hand I definitely have a long ways to go before I master how far to space panels apart and all that haha

[Kendial]

That's really good to hear, as it calms my nerves a bit haha. Though not really because it seems I need to put serious effort into my plot! I mean, I have around 52 episodes written so far, so I know where I'm going, but I'll definitely be reviewing more carefully from now on!

Also intersting to hear you judge webcomics on the summary. What are you looking to be covered there in order to grab your attention?

[Kendial]

I'm not familiar with ~uwu~ haha. Though I'm finding there are many terms on this site I have to get to grips with!

[Kendial]

It took me a while to get over some of his designs, but you're right. The uniqueness he gives to each character is amazing! He won me over in the end haha.

I understand though - it's got to appeal and I suppose a single element, be it the story or the art or the dialogue, can spoil an otherwise cracking webcomic. It's quite tough, really!

[nathanKmcwilliams]

I don't like the facial shapes and expressions.

[GabiWolf]

A summary should tell me what the main conflict of your story is, who the main character is, and the problem to be solve. Nothing that actually spoils the story, but something that sums up what I'm getting myself into.
I suggest looking at book summaries and looking up articles about how to write a good summary. I put a lot of though into my summaries for my webcomics, and I've actually changed them twice, so don't be afraid to tweak it!

[Kendial]

Hmm, then I may need to revisit mine at some point haha! I was going for a spoiler-free experience but probably do need more information in there. Thanks for the tip!

[joannekwan]

I am less likely to get into something if the style is very generic and I have to rely on the slightest of hair variances to differentiate between characters, as seen in a LOT of east asian webtoons or ones inspired by such.

Like I'm old now. I don't got time to be a detective and figure out who's who. Or if you're looking at multiple series and the main characters all look the same. It's just a drawn version of that Hallmark Christmas lead meme.

[MeltingCORE]

Oh, it's just a joke lol! I draw very cute manga girls and "uwu" is used to mock that style sometimes. Just me poking fun at myself haha. : D

[Kendial]

Hahaha. Totally. I've read a few recently where I kept having to flip back to remember who was who. It's very rare that it's worth the effort!

[honeyandcreambutter]

Ngl I'm personally very biased to korean manhwa or manga style art but that's probably because I like a certain type of genre (which is romance, fantasy or on some occasions, action). It's a strange thing to say but when I see a certain art style, I can already tell what kind of story the artist wants to tell. And if I like that type of story, I'll sub to it. I'd say that unpolished art doesn't bother me though (as long as it's still manga/manhwa style art) unless it's traced. Again, the specific genre is more important to me than anything else for me to click on it XD

What I do want to say is that regardless of the art style, you will attract an audience who likes your content. So don't worry too much about it ^^

[KingPenguino]

I wouldn't say style makes that much of a difference - I'm willing to read / watch the first few episodes of anything and see if it's engaging me or not, before deciding whether to carry on with it or try something else. Story and character is always more important.