Wow.... you really sound negative about this topic Oo
Well, I can just speak for myself. I thought about making a comic since many years, ideas for episodes just plopped to my head... I told some friends about them and they told me they find them funny too... I somehow never started anyways.. I think because I never found the right plattform for it.... aaand along came Tapastic.
So I started without any expectations. I was happy about every feedback and response I got because... noone makes a comic just for themselves.. if so.... why would you upload it in the first place? There isn't just black and white, chasing fame or... lol.. staying true to yourself (those two points don't even exclude each other...). I want to express my thoughts, I wanna tell funny stories.. I wanna make people laugh... and it feels great to hear from a total stranger, that you made his day with one little comic. I share stories that sounded funny in my head, it makes me happy.
As I said, I didn't have any expectations when I started, back in my days (one year ago, lol) there was no support program and the prime status seemed miiiiles away., But when Michael Son offered me a feature on the front page I was one happy little artist. Did I hope for positive feedback? Of course. Am I aiming for more? Sure. Am I selling myself because of that? I don't think so. Tapastic is a wonderful. friendly. motivating place with an awesome community. I love reading comics here and I love to answer on comments I receive.. that's no work, that's no selling myself. That is doing what I like. And that's what the whole sense of creating a comic should be: to do what you like.
Now I am proud and happy of how good it's actually going (shouldn't I be?). Thanks to tapastic I'm earning some money by doing what I love. Of course that's awesome. I'm not aiming for making a living out of it (I like my actual job and to have a save income..) but I will keep working on my comic, aiming for the stars, doing the best I can, having the best time I can on this journey. Other people are aiming to become a professional artist making a living out of their beloved hobby. It's an ambitious goal that I have a lot respect for and there is absolutely nothing wrong about it.
You called it a contest, it's not... I know every artist tends to compare his work to the creation of other artists... but in the end we all know: There is no need for comparison, as every artist has his very unique style and most of us like many comics of the same genre, without being able to name the personal number one.
I really think it is not up to you to judge who is doing what because of the wrong reasons... and especially not to generalize like that
@MylCreates Really nice post. Everybody is writing faster than I do^^
A little thought about earning money with the help of tapastic:
Samantha Whitten, creator of Gamercat (one of the most successful comics on tapastic) is earning over 850$ per month thanks to her supporters. I don't know how much she is earning thanks to the ad revenue program. Tapastic is a relatively young page and the support program just started some month ago. Don't underestimate it's potential tp help artist who are aiming for making a living out of their comic.