I don’t get how someone can make a comic just for views/clout

I think this was sort of the reason I got tired of gag-a-day webcomics. There was a boom of them for a while and most of them were recycled jokes and memes. There was one fandom webcomic that I just found embarrassing of how the whole thing was just memes and other people's jokes. I am not sure if they were hired by the show or it was a fancomic but it was not good. I guess some people liked it, but I think I would prefer just watching a clip from the show. (Not mentioning who it is or what fandom, so don't ask)

Honestly, as somebody who has worked as a professional illustrator... I kinda get it? My day job where I help work on these... illustrated edutainment adventure books for kids part time (a sure-fire seller because they teach computer science skills, which is something parents want) pays my rent so that I can use my other days making Errant, a comic which isn't perfectly optimised to make money.

It's not like I've never felt the temptation to make a longscroll GL Fantasy or Isekai specifically to make money and raise my profile, or felt frustrated and envious of my friends who love making NSFW BL slice of life for just how much of an easier time they have of making something they care about while also building an audience and having a comic that can sustain them.

If I suddenly lost my job, it's not out of the question I'd take a chance pitching a GL Tapas premium comic.

Ultimately though, if you only care about money and fame, comics are a really labour intensive way to get it. Designers or computer coders make way more money for their work hours than comic artists, with only like the top less than 1% of comics creators make even comparable money to a midweight or senior UX designer, a job that I can tell you, requires way less skill and training than being a pro comicker. Comics are a lifestyle job, an incredibly high-effort medium with a really broad set of required skills to do to professional level that you should only make because you really love it. If you're making a comic you don't feel passionate about, the pay has to be really good for it to feel worthwhile, and as somebody who knows a lot of premium creators, I'm well aware that really good money (the kind where your comic is your main income) requires in the region of 50,000+ subs.

I almost never see people who have no passion for comics reach the level of ability needed or maintain a consistent enough update schedule of high enough quality work to build a sizeable following in comics. The skill level needed across multiple disciplines, the attention to detail required, the punishing schedule to make enough content and the amount of time you need to spend promoting and networking once you've done all the pages tends to weed out anyone who isn't highly dedicated to the medium. People who dream of having a popular comic often don't realise that you don't just upload a few episodes of your comic or pitch your idea and everyone goes "WOW!" after a month of uploads and then you get a million subs and Tapas or WT assign you assistants who do all the work while you just spend your time basking in the adulation of the internet.

Building a large following is just constant hard work. It's a job. Worse, it's a job where you'll have to deal with really bitter people saying or snidely implying that you don't deserve it. You have to really, really love the comic you're making, the process of making comics and to feel like part of a supportive comics-making community to do it, or the loneliness, long hours, low earnings and entitled readers or jealous wannabes will really grind you down.

I'd like to think that I'll gain some popularity from my comic but I try to give myself a couple years gap between my comic's initial release and the time I hope it'd get popular. Of course, it might probably never happen but I do hope it'd at least end up somewhere 10 years from now.

I enjoy making my comic, but it is more fun if you get more likes/comments. Sometimes I consider starting a different comic because it seems people are losing interest in slice of life comics.

I kinda get where your going with this. I see lots of webcomics that are trendy. Almost all the BL comics are trendy. Most of the isekai comics are the same thing. But those seem to be looked at more often so people make them. Trendy to me is just a bangwagon thing. You see what you like and what others are reading and think to yourself "I can do that." The problem is everyone else thinks the same thing. The market becomes saturated with these types and to find a good, well written version becomes impossible. You become lost in the stack.
I do think you should make a comic other will want to read, as if if no one reads your comic did you really even make it? But I would say don't go as far as looking at the metrics of popular comics and try to copy it. Great stories we remembered by being different in just a way to make them memorable. And that is harder to do as more people copy the same genres.

I think this is also a symptom of how hard it is to get seen right now on either app. There's not really search filters, there's very few tags, and we don't have an algorithm that is recommending smaller comics, except when they update. So for a lot of people, they're chasing the algorithm because they want to be seen at all. Not even about being popular, but for any comments at all. So I understand why they may be switching comics because it's hella lonely when you put your heart and soul into something and just get zero response.

And I think you can learn to love whatever genre and art style you are making. Like if you enjoy storymaking, if you enjoy making art, then that same puzzle solving is in every genre and art style. Problem is, a lot of people don't really do the research into what the current comic expectations are, or just use whatever tag they can to get people to look at them even if they don't fall into that genre. That and art style is pretty difficult to adapt if you aren't used to it. Like if I COULD draw manga, I would be only drawing manga right now, becuase frankly, I want people to look at my work.

Luckily, the style that I draw is currently getting views and engagement, and I'm really happy about that. But have I changed comics several times in the past because they were dead in the water? Yeah. I still liked those comics, but there was no difference between posting them on the internet or just keeping them to myself as a learning opportunity. Hopefully as the search improves for the sites that we're on, we'll get more diversity in genre and art style. Until then, I think this is just a problem we have right now. Our readers are conditioned to only look at the front page for comics, they don't use search.

I think logistically, @darthmongoose has the right idea. Actually making a long-form comic takes so much time and effort, it's nigh impossible to get to a significant level of popularity and maintain it without any passion for your work. Unlike with most entertainment fields, you don't really get to a point where you can just 'coast' on fame and fortune until your work is over...which could take a decade or longer.

Many artists with successful, famous manga are STILL drawing them; still pulling those insane work schedules 20 or 30 years down the line. Because that's just what it takes; there's no way around it. ^^; Are you really gonna put yourself through that hell, potentially for life, over something you don't care about??

If you just want attention or a quick buck, there are SEVERAL easier and more reliable ways to get it, which many potential hacks probably realize very soon after actually starting to work on their 'next big thing'. :T So yeah, I think they tend to weed themselves out.

^And this is essentially why I realized I couldn't draw comics for a living. ^^; Not that I'm a hack, but I definitely don't enjoy the work enough to hand over my soul to it that way.
I like to write stories, and I like to design characters, but neither of those things alone get as much attention as a comic that brings them together. So yeah, technically I really only do comics for the views.

If it were at all possible for me to gain a large following simply by writing about cool things and occasionally drawing them, it's a sure bet that I would never again create a comic longer than 3 pages. >u0 That's the dream~

However, the number of entries is not yet a measure of popularity among readers, but only among creators. For this, you would have to add up the number of subscribers, likes, and so on for each section and then evaluate them.

I think people just like romance as a genre, be it straight or gay. I heard some people are drawn to BL as a genre because they don't really see those types of stories in other media. So it has sort of carved out it's own niche on the webcomic scene. It's not really a new trend or anything, I remember see them when I started out 10 years ago. It is a genre that does have some issues but so does straight romance.

I almost have no subs and likes but I love my comic regardless, not just the main story itself but also the characters and their own backstories too. I love my MCs of course but I also love sides and even some mobs lol EVEN the ones I (will or did) kill

If you dont love your comic yourself how can you expect others to like it??

I'm a novelist, not a comic creator, but I agree 100%.

I recently saw a published author go on a Twitter tirade about writers who write solely for themselves rather than money. She posted, "A novel is not your passion project. It's a product. 'Authors' who publish their passion projects are hurting real writers."

Do you sense the rage I felt when reading that? Saddest part was the people who agreed with her. The mind-boggling part was that she couldn't get 100 sales on Amazon, yet she felt godly enough to give advice to new writers.

If you don't feel it in your heart, the reader won't, either. That "passion project" makes us work harder because it's part of us we're putting out to the world. That "product" is the influence of editors and publishers and society that you obey above your own creativity.

I may not make money (yes, it would be nice if I could), but I'm not selling my heart and soul for ratings.

BL is hugely popular. The genre doesn't get as much attention during Tapas promotions, but it is quite a draw for subscribers. I wrote a short BL among my other non-gay romance novels. The subs were double digits by the end of the day when I'm still struggling with my straight romances LOL. It's funny because I write straight novels but read BL webtoons.

I agree. Write what you wish! There will always be an audience for it. (Except, of course, the obvious illegal topics lol.)

If you're going into art just to gain popularity, you're doing it for the wrong reason.

Art needs to have soul. Fans will like what they like, and if they like the stuff you make, that's fine, but most of them aren't going to look at something with only the minimum amount of effort and passion put into it.

On the other hand, it is nice to know that people are enjoying what you make. You don't want to feel like you're giving to the void.