I Just Uploaded My Sci-Fi Webcomic to Tapas - Feedback and Support? (Willing to Review Swap A Bit)

[miaomelette101]

Hi everyone, I just began to upload my webcomic to Tapas since I upload on several platforms so I thought why not.

I am making a sci-fi series that is inspired by works like Blame! and Girls Last Tour, a sci-fi survival that takes place on a desolate mechanical planet. Please feel free to check it out if you like weird and atmospheric sci-fi, would appreciate any feedback on it. Mostly the writing, as the art does improve in the future.

Read Polaris Sui Generis | Tapas Web Community

Here's some art improvement comparison:

If you are interested in reading further, it is also available on Webtoon Canvas, NamiComi, GlobalComix with 30 episodes released.

I'm willing to do some review swaps for comics since I'm not super confident in my ability to judge prose. I am best with genres like sci-fi, thriller, horror, I struggle with romance themes but I can try if you really want to.

[justincarbunkle]

Welcome to Tapas! I'll give your comic a read tonight.

Link to mine. This chapter has some horror/sci-fi in it. Just tell me what you like and dislike please.

Read Free Falling :: Frankie and Destiny Do The Freakin' Fusion Dance - 1/4 |...

[delladz]

Really love the design and general aesthetic of the comic! Very much reminds me of Phantasy Star online in terms of aesthetic. You do a very good job to create the desolate planet feeling you're aiming for and the character designs feel just right for the industrial futurist look for the world.

The story is very reminiscent of Land of the Lustrous (one of my favorite series!!) so while I can see the argument that the lack of exposition can be a turn off, I personally like the sort of bare bones story we start out with. I feel like I can't really judge the story too much because to be frank there's not much to work with quite yet, but there are other general aspects that I could touch upon.

I think there are some pacing or at least paneling issues I ran into. It could be due to my preference for the page style format vs the scroll format but there were several moments where I had to go back and re-read a few times to understand what had happened. For example, when the train creature grabbed Nexi I couldn't really tell that it had happened because the grabbing motion seemed like an afterthought and was only really presented in a small panel juxtaposed against a larger shot so my eye wasn't necessarily drawn to that moment and I was confused as to what had happened. Overall, just be mindful about the sequencing and clarity especially when it comes to action. Having a clear set up, wind up, and execution goes a long way for those actions sequences.

I won't touch on the art stuff too much, but in general things look a little flat (especially some of the action moments) so practicing dynamic angles and body structure will go a long way!

Overall, this is a really cool web comic with a really intriguing premise! Hopefully some of my feedback made sense but if not I'm happy to talk about it further!

If you'd like, I'd really appreciate any sort of feedback on my webcomic! Seven Stars Silver Clouds is a Sci-Fantasy Secret Agent story that follows a rag-tag team of newbs in their new job. The first volume is more or less episodic but we just got to volume 2 which kicks off "the big plot" lol

I will say that I re-did some of the earlier episodes so from "Roommates" and onwards, you'll be getting art from 2021 (art improvement was the friends we made along the way...)

Read Seven Stars Silver Clouds | Tapas Web Community

[miaomelette101]

The characters are very recognizable and the style is reminiscent of many classic adult cartoons which I liked. A lot of the stylized environments are nice like the first panel of #917 the autumn forest. Also the main characters (I think they're the main characters?) kinda remind me of Andy and Leyley, or are those just Halloween costumes?

Overall I feel like I didn't really understand what happened? It might be because it's a segment from the middle of the comic and I don't know any of the characters, especially since they seem to mostly be in costume. There's a bit too much of non-sequiturs happening, I did get it that it went from planning to roofie/cannibalize people at a party to drugs and hallucinations, but I didn't really figure out how each event went into the other. Felt very...fever dream-ish? Which could be good in small doses but as it went on I felt more confused than soaking in the vibe.

[miaomelette101]

Thanks for the feedback and yeah, the first few episodes have some art issues since it was my first time doing a comic + first time doing an action sequence so it could be better for sure. And yes it is a scroll comic that is mostly optimized for phones, so maybe that is a factor since I actually got an experienced scroll comic creator to take a look at it before and they said it was readable.

There are more episodes on other platforms but I won't burden you with that if you're not really interested.

Okay so for your comic, I'm gonna preface this by saying that I, personally, have a relatively high standard for ensemble cast type stories. So for writing, the biggest issue I had in the beginning was just that it was kinda hard to keep track of all the characters, I eventually started filing them with very surface level monikers like "the magic girl" or "the scythe guy" as things went on because it was so fast paced with the introductions I couldn't really keep track of them.

I like that you gave them more personality in the following chapters with all the conversation, really props to you for being able to write that many "main characters" and give them interactions and dynamics, that's something I couldn't really do well in my later episodes. Though the conversation scenes is another thing I wanted to touch on, most about the backgrounds. I can tell they got better with the remade episodes but some of the long conversation scenes have almost no backgrounds in multiple pages, which felt a bit jarring and I struggled to tell where the characters are in a space.

The paneling could also be a bit more dynamic, since I noticed you mostly use square and rectangle panels. I think using some other shapes, or having elements "burst" out of the panel frames would make scenes have more impact.

And once again this is a personal opinion that I'm sure people would diverge from (I saw opposite opinions in your comment section) so please don't take this one that seriously, but I don't like it when character sheets are put into the comic itself since it feels kinda...unnatural? I tend to prefer getting exposition out about characters slowly, as you probably saw in my own story, but this is probably just a creative difference and not real criticism or anything.

Overall it's quite interesting, the interactions and missions are fun once you got to know the characters and it has a...chill vibe? idk how to describe it but it feels more James Bond-ish cool action rather than something super serious, not to say there isn't any stakes but the overall feeling I get is that it's very "cool and stylish" haha.

[justincarbunkle]

That’s their Halloween costumes. I got the cannibalism idea from playing that game actually! There’s six MC’s in the comic, but those two (Frankie and Destiny) are the main ones.

The chapters are mostly episodic/standalone. You’re right. This one in particular is pretty crazy, and would help to at least know what the MC’s are like already.

The last act is a pretty sudden turn. I probably should’ve just stuck to the cannibalism story. The fusion idea just stuck with me, and I figured it’d be fun to go really crazy for the Halloween chapter.

Read all the episodes you posted so far. I really like your character designs. The main 3 (I assume) are pretty memorable and cool looking. Generally, I do like your art. It’s a little inconsistent in style, and could improve in the choreography + perspective shots + expression work, but I am enjoying the color choices and sketchy bgs and general look you're going for.

I’d love to know what exactly this world is + what these characters goals are. I could’ve used a little more of that information at this point for keeping me hooked. The art isn’t bad, but it’s not great enough that those first two episodes focused on it w/ little dialogue make me really want to keep reading. I appreciate a slow burn + mystery, but it should give something more I can latch onto + be excited to see more of.

Please keep going with this, and keep improving your art + writing. I like what you have so far, and think it could be really good if you keep putting time into it.

[JollyMachen]

I'll give your story a read soon and post the feedback.
Here's my story. I'd like some feedback.

Read Of Blues And Substance | Tapas Web Community

[delladz]

James Bond-ish action is what I was sort of going for lol thank you for the feedback! I mostly wanted to skip straight into the good bits so having that flash in the pan weapon type association and then you can learn names later down the line sort of vibe was the best way for me to remedy everything but I def get that its too fast paced for people to get into

The character sheets are there as a supplementary and because the comic is in black and white, I figured people would like to see them in color but I also kinda share the same perspective as you!

Anyways, thank you again, I look forward to reading more of your comic as it comes out on tapas!

[jwabeasley]

It'll take me a couple days to read it properly, but I'll give you a view and a review! Looks good at first glance!

In the meantime, my comic is

Read Etherwood | Tapas Web Community

I'd be pleased if you could give it the same level of review that you would like on yours!

[miaomelette101]

Hi, in the initial post I specified that I am review swapping for comics since I don't have very much experience with writing or judging writing/prose. Apologies for any inconvenience.

[miaomelette101]

Wow, a really good style you got going on there, I love the storybook feeling of the art and the watercolour that (I assume) is done traditionally, overall very impressive in terms of art style. Love the environments and the creature designs as well, and the different lightings for the different times of day. The paneling is old school and not super dynamic like a lot of newer comics, but I think it fits the feeling of the art and what you're trying to do.

Overall the story is nice, I would describe it as cozy, I enjoyed the Indigenous American myths influences of the forest and fae even though I don't actually know what much about it. As someone who doesn't know a lot about traditional fae lore or anything I still felt like I could make some assumptions on how the world worked just based on cultural osmosis. It did feel a little slow at times, one of my personal pet peeves with pacing is when the story takes a long time to get to "the event that is described in the story summary", but I think slower pacing is fine if you're going for that more cozy vibe.

I liked the minor supernatural characters introduced like the hare and the big spider, although it was interesting to see all the creatures in the woods and it fits the slightly episodic nature of some of the adventures, I do wish some of them can be more re-occuring in the future. And sometimes it feels like reveals are cut off just for the sake of it as well, like when the hare was talking about what the fox did and when mom calls Veronica to school when the dad was talking to the fox as well, it is a little frustrating and feels like it's putting off revealing plot details for the sake of it sometimes.

[jwabeasley]

I finished reading what you've posted so far.

In general, the art is strong and interesting. Characters are distinct and consistent, I can usually tell what's going on, and the world setting is appropriately barren and mysterious. The biggest part of the art to improve I think is your inking, it feels like you're going more or less straight from digital sketch to colors, when a second pass over the linework with confident, natural lines would go a long way to making the world seem more dynamic and immersive. The artstyle is inconsistent overall, but that comes with imo dramatic improvements from chapter to chapter, so I'm not complaining. You're clearly improving!

One aspect to focus on in a shonen-style comic is the visual action - many poses were stiff and flat. I could tell what was happening, but the energy was just getting sucked out of the poses. See if you can exaggerate the line of action. If you're using 3D models, zoom in and widen that field of view.

The second biggest area of focus should be character expressions. I know the MC isn't scared of death and is bored by dismemberment, but by the dialogue she clearly has strong emotions about Xun and obtaining her objective, pushing your character expressions so that they aren't all vaguely bored-looking would help sell the stakes of your techno-apocalyptic hellworld.

I prefer pages to scroll comics, but there wasn't any excessive scrolling or one-word speech bubbles against solid colors (my pet peeves), so your paneling is much better than most scroll comics.

Story-wise, the MC and the blue medic Xun are interesting enough. I like a lot of mystery and don't mind waiting - but the audience needs to know what the goal of these goal-driven characters is. No specifics are needed, but the MC needs to get to Polaris...why? It doesn't need to be specific, just a vague category, like "answers," or "family," or "vengeance," or whatever. Because if your zombie robot girl isn't afraid of dismemberment and is mildly inconvenienced by death, the reader needs to know what does motivate her.

You have a decent action-to-dialogue ratio so far for your genre.

It's a strong start! You've done good work so far and I hope you keep things up for the long haul! I'll be rooting for you!

[jwabeasley]

Thank you for the insightful review! I appreciate you getting to this so quickly.

We'll probably see more of all of the minor characters as time goes on! As to those cut-offs, all I can say is more to follow... it's almost like a divine-level being is conspiring against the truth being known.

Maybe one day I'll do a shonen-style comic with lots of lightning fast action and stakes, that'll have much faster pacing!

[miaomelette101]

Thanks, it is my first comic and the first few chapters was basically just me figuring out how I want to do things, I did got from sketch to colour in a few panels but changed it up a bit later.

I was never super good at drawing people since I preferred drawing geometric shapes and buildings since I was little, I don't use 3D models but I do understand if my people looks a bit stiff, same with the expressions since I more or less treat people as another type of "construct" rather than...people, I guess.

Also the main character is male haha, but it's one of those scifi world where gender norms is not a very distinguishing concept anymore so it happens.