As a former Originals creator I completely agree. At the time, it was a good get for me because my first ever comics job for a popular “news” site (which paid $600, with full ownership of the work and ability to repost wherever after 6months) set the bar low.
I also thought I could maintain both jobs because I drew simply and it didn’t seem like it took me much time but the Webtoon gig gave me ZERO time to focus on anything else which really hurt my ability to make money from multiple revenues. And the whole time during my contract my Patreon was stuck at around the $80-100 mark so it didn’t help much.
I also think people don’t understand how much spaghetti you have to throw at the wall to make something that sticks. I was stuck doing this one comic that I knew wasn’t sticking until my contract came to an end. It took a couple years and maybe a dozen attempts of different comics in different styles with different ideas— literally hundreds of pages— before I nailed a sticky project and got my Patreon up to about the amount I made with Webtoon but with much less work AND the ability to work on multiple things.
I will also add that print publishing makes me the bulk of my income and has sustained me even before my recent Patreon surge. I know that this wouldn’t be the case for a lot of folks but I think its a commonly overlooked avenue of income. Its not for everyone but its a developable skill.
I just hate to think that people see something as ephemeral as a website owned by some wealthy conglomerate that can nix your contract if its not working for their audience as the end all be all of comics careers. Its a scary thought.