Feb 2021
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fusi
Feb '21

Few days ago my sister, who is a muggle - means she is a normie and does not create art in her life, told me about this comic she’s been buying ink for over tapas. When i asked her what she’s looking for in a comic and what she likes and so on, and her answer surprised me—-it’s different than what i thought what she likes, and this led me to think do we as an artist semi partially live in a bubble? I know that we should create something we love, but do you think that sometimes maybe what we love and care is too insular for non artist?

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    Feb '21

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    Feb '21
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ameliori
Feb '21

My opinion is that nothing is "too" insular when it comes to stories. If you like it, chances are somebody out there will like it too. We're humans after all. We're pattern-finding creatures. Even if the very goal of the work is to shock or surprise, somebody will STILL like that.

It's not our job as creators to make something people "like". I believe our job is to make stories "well"; the best we can do it. Which is to say, improving in storytelling, readability, clarity and interest. Creators might think their work is too different or "not pop enough", but in truth it might just be a matter of "the font is too small to read" or "there's too much backstory!" or even more unfortunate, "it's boring".

In summary, I believe a creator can make whatever story they want, no matter how crazy or experimental it is, as long as it is done well; done with care and skill. If a creator manages to do that, I'd like to believe somebody out there will appreciate it.

darthmongoose
Feb '21

I certainly know some creators who are so utterly wrapped up in their artistic vision that they don't pay attention to market trends or what readers are interested in. Some of them are totally chill with not building a readership, some of them actually make it work regardless by providing for a content-starved niche, and others wallow in bitterness and disappointment insisting that it's the audience who are wrong about what makes an entertaining comic.
But many successful creators (and some unsuccessful ones) pay very close attention to what kind of content people are consuming and carefully make stuff in the same sorts of styles and genres. That's how there are so many titles on the front page that look so visually similar and have really similar premises like "I was hit by a truck and reincarnated in a fantasy story but I'm the villainess".

If you're surprised by what your audience likes and it concerns you, it might be worth doing some research into what performs well.

DiegoPalacios
Feb '21

This is one of the reasons i studied advertising.

Making a creative work and selling said creative work are two completely different skills.

Selling a story can come in many forms, like finding a niche that is interested on said work, making a story more accesible or being able to anticipate or follow trends.

Selling comes in different forms, but that is not neccesarily "selling out".

DokiDokiTsuna
Feb '21

If she actually reads comics (especially webcomics), I don't think she qualifies as a 'normie'. ^^; A muggle, perhaps, but I think we as artists have much more in common with those who regularly consume our work than with the large portion of the population who aren't even aware it exists.

I do feel like that, sometimes...in general, it's hard for me to comprehend the minds of other people. Which is why I kinda gave up on catering to them a long time ago. Eventually, the world WILL know of my greatness...but right now I don't think there's a way for me to speed that along that wouldn't be a complete betrayal of myself. So I'll just continue to indulge in metaphysics and wait.

jgreene2433
Feb '21

I can't speak so much for other artist, but I know I'm definitely in a bubble, that I rarely breakout of. I blame it on what I consumed in my formative comic reading years. Too much American superhero comics. So much that I sometimes giving anything outside of that world a chance and at times shrugged indifferently at great works of manga the first time I saw them only years later to realize their beauty.

fusi
Feb '21
darthmongoose

Admittedly it’s a lie that i don’t care about following, i do care about it, maybe not necessarily a stardom, but also not terribly few that i’m only known in my small inner circle, i want to aim somewherre in the middle of the spectrum. This may not be my answer when i was younger, since i was very idealistic and only cared about what i like, and then years after i’m at the point where i want to do something that i like but my audiences like it too. It’s a compromise, but a nice and balanced one, and borrowing from diegopalacios, it’s not necessarily selling out.

therosesword
Feb '21

I'm a junker, thrift store troller, and yes even a dealer in antiques and vintage stuff. (when the writing's not paying you find something that does and hopefully you love it.)

So... in that business we have a saying: If it exists, someone collects it.

I feel the same way about writing. If there's a sub-sub-sub-genre someone loves it. Someone once suggested I take a mystery audio drama I'd written and have the protagonist buy a B&B in tuscany and solve mysteries from there.

I told them... 1. do you know how many B&B cozy mysteries are written a year? 2. Tuscany? really?

In the cozy mystery field alone there are mysteries for : knitters, cat owners, horse owners, dog owners, B&B owner, amateur theatre, antiques dealers, thrift store owners, wine experts, small town newspaper reporters, chefs, artists.... etc etc etc.

You know why there are so many sub-genres in any genre itself? Because there are fans for it. It's like what the junkers say: if it exists someone collects it. If a sub-genre exists, someone loves it and its usually not just one person, it will build. If someone has a hobby they love it when the hero of the story is involved with that same hobby they go bonkers

the problem with trends is that they're over pretty quickly. A lot of times by the time you realize something is a trend and you write a new novel or comic there's a good chance the trend will be over before you're done. There's an unwritten rule in Hollywood, don't write what's breaking the box office now, by the time you're done the audience will have moved on. What you want to do is be the next big trend.

My thought is, create what you love and dabble in other things once in a while. A lot of famous authors are known primarily for one things, horror, fantasy, romance etc. but then you find out they write other things too.

Who knows, maybe you can make up a new sub-genre.