I feel like giving up on my comic. (Rant)

[9outofPen]

I can totally sympathize, I'm weak to critics too >< It hurts when someone starts reviewing you badly, especially something you worked hard on. I agree with @theyaoiarmy , if you're not feeling up to it, just ignore the comments for awhile. You started your comic for you, so make something that pleases YOU! Wait until you're feeling better, and readers can just deal!

Even the best, most popular, top-rated media gets critics claiming it sucks! Harry Potter, Gravity Falls, Marvel movies, you name it. If it exists, odds are some people don't like it. But I'm sure they all started out as little people just like you, with no idea where their ideas would go. You're probably already better than you were at page 1, so celebrate your progress!!

[directorador]

if it makes you feel better:

I've been diagnosed schizophrenic since 2012, and now I have been writing since 2012-2013. People say my writing resembles psychosis even when I am healthy and well. The things make perfect sense to me, and I don't see how other people's writings is better.... so ya, hard to improve right?

[Purplegirl]

Hey Man,
I was actually in a pretty similiar situation where I made a comic, and it was getting a ton of ridiculous negative feedback from my friends and beta readers who said I was a good artist but an amateur writer. (they did have a few valid points, but sometimes it was just ridiculous) I know how you feel, I was depressed too and was pretty reluctant to continue my comic until I realized that I was making it for me and not anyone else. After talking to some people here I learned that the best thing to do was to find good beta readers and editors who are willing to take time to help you sort stuff out and offer legitimate criticism. Sometimes it's actually good to listen to some of the haters as they too might actually offer advice and point out things you wouldn't have seen before. For the destructive ones, just ignore them, they're probably just jealous that your comic is getting publicity and theirs isn't. Try to use this as a starting point so that you can push yourself to improve. (if you have 35K subs, then you HAVE to be doing something right regardless of what anyone says) ALSO if you're losing confidence in it, I'd advise you go on a mini hiatus in the meantime to build up back that confidence, because trust me a lack of confidence DOES show in writing. I know that might be a bit of tangent but those are my two cents and I hope it helps!

[ratscout]

Certainly don't give up~! I'm certain it must be really stressful if you have a big audience since people are bound to leave comment both nice and mean, but you should always keep in mind that you're making this more for yourself than anyone else!

The thing about critiques is that some of them are just trolls, some of them are kind of... Snippy, but they are genuinely trying to help, and then some of 'em leave really helpful critiques while also being really nice (the best kind!). You of course shouldn't even pay attention to trolls (they're mean people, you did nothing wrong), but for the other two types of critiques I would say keep one ear open and one ear closed. Some of the critiques I have gotten on the past for my own writing have been helpful, and others have been really useless.
For instance, one time someone said they didn't like the fact that a lot of my story was focused on past events but, like... That's a pretty subjective critique. So I disregarded that one. But then someone else said I repeated things too often and that was actually pretty helpful. So you also need to choose which critques to take to heart and which ones to disregard! Just keep at it and ignore the trolls <3.

[mariusthered]

i have been watching this thread.

in all honesty i think you need to take a step back and consider how dam lucky you are. some of us have been around comics for years and haven't had anywhere near the sort of numbers you are talking about. if your art and writing are that bad why have you had such a following? sorry to be the straight talking guy in the room and im not saying this to be nasty but if you walk away from this you might not be so lucky with your next project, fact some people might not bother reading anything else because you quite this one. at least bring the story to a good ending if you choose to quit.

im talking from experience here bud. my last comic tales from swipe city was not popular because of some of the content, but i did have followers. but the low number started getting to me and then i started the mistake of listening to negative people who talked me out of it and I just quit the comic where it stood because i could not handle drawing any more. after a break i began something else and to be honest the figures are better than the last project. but i do miss my old characters. my advice listen only to people who can help you improve, negative crap that dose not do anything to help you improve is just unhealthy and not worth paying attention to. take a break and write something for a new project not connected to you comic, but be sure to come back to it. end of the day if you don't love your work why should anybody else.

[TomorrowShines]

Use another account if you have to (to reduce the amount of weirdos) but straight up advertise and hire/acquire a writer/editor to help you. (It isn't a sign of weakness to bring on talent to patch up a rough spot, that's what companies do every day... time to start thinking like a boss.) And ha ha in this case using the hook of "doing it for the exposure" would appear to be a real benefit!

[minerrale]

(if you need help for proofreading/editing and stuff, bring it my way, I'll be happy to help!)

[ilustrariane]

don't feed the trolls, its impossible to please everybody!

try to practice more writing tough, read more comics and books, and move on. don't quit.

[TheBryceKrispy]

I would say take a break for a bit, to get your writing better

[fuyudust]

All I can say is you will get used to it lol, the more you become popular, the more of those comments is coming for you, no matter how good you are.

Even though you was promoted by webtoon, but normally a comic only get around 10k to 20k more subs a week while being promoted, you jumped straight from 35k to 70k within 2 days and keep rushing to almost 100k after a week now is abnormal high, I'm not sure about the old comics, but you're doing way better than any comic that started in 2018, that's just how much the readers loving your comic, be proud of it.

[Hecarim]

Thank you so much for your offer! Now if only I could figure out how to share a huge psd file..

I wanted to thank everyone for taking their time to offer a thoughtful post, I just finished reading through them all. I didn't expect so many helpful replies, even though I knew the people here are amazing and supportive (sounds so cheesy, but I'm seriously... blown away).

I took a little break to calm down, and then I went back to my previous episodes and edited the dialogue with some advice in mind from some posts on this thread to make it flow better. It still needs work, but I feel a lot more confident in sharing my work now.

I posted the rant when I was at a really low point, and I'm um.. a bit embarrassed about it now, but I'm really glad I reached out. I know I'll be coming back and rereading this thread whenever I feel unsure.

[Daknight]

Just commenting on how to share a huge PSD file (not sure how big it is, for me 100 mb or more is the huge factor xP). Since is for proof reading the other person doesn't need a PSD file, just save out a jpg (smaller in size so easier to share). The person will just need to be able to read the stuff to help out, so a PSD isn't really necesary.

There are sharing sites (google drive, wetransfer, etc) or just set up a discord channel for beta-readers to help you out (make it invitation only so haters can come and bug you there).

[minerrale]

@Daknight is right, no need to upload a PSD file... I'll send my discord ID via PM if you want, or just send me a message, images or just text (if you just want the dialogs to be checked) will be fine ^^
Don't hesitate do message me or answer, I'm almost always around (except when I sleep)