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Jan 2020

Is it my coloring or story telling? Drawing skills?

I've thought of just doing the comic and black and white too and go back to the basics which is drawing.

Link to my comic:

  • created

    Jan '20
  • last reply

    Jan '20
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Well, it doesn't look like you've updated it in quite a while. With some much content on Tapas, your work will easily get lost if you aren't consistent.

Additionally, just posting isn't always enough to gain viewers. Your engagement/activity with the community can play an important role. :slight_smile:

Ok you make a good point. I will try to update when I can! I didn't know comics could get lost if they don't update so thanks

Do you market your comic on other social media? If you don't, you might want to start doing that.

No I don't, I don't have social media it's a long story. My only platform is this site :(.

The story and art. The story has good enough pacing but without the right words conveying the dire situation, the viewers have to depend on the visuals. The visuals don't leave much to the imagination. You convey emotions good, but making clear the extreme nature of how things look, reactions, and the dark tone(if that was what you were going for) is important.

What do you mean the visuals don't leave much to the imagination?

I think I get what you're trying to say. My artwork doesn't reflect the mood of the story enough? Is that what you're trying to tell me?

Well it depends on what you were aiming for. If it's horror, your visuals need to remain consistent. It starts looking a little wholesome with like a christmas vibe. You know cause the colors, snow, mood. It immediately changes when Shaman walks in but near the end of what you have so far, the visuals kinda revert back to an action type thing, rather than a horror comic. If it wasn't what you were going for, then it's more complicated.

In the first panel the establishing shot its not snow its night time with moonlight. Also it's suppose to be an action comic which makes me nervous because the next pages are fight scenes and arguments. It also is suppose to be dark toned with the demon paranormal stuff. I don't know. I'll take what youve told me into consideration when I make the next pages

First two things someone sees to attract them to your comic are the thumbnail and comic description.

Modern day Shamans in North America; Enjoy first comic and also one shot that I am testing out. Thanks for stopping by!

This tells me almostnothing about your comic. What's the conflict? Why should I care? I suggest reading the backs of a couple books you own, and maybe google writing a pitch. You want to be brief, but you need to set up enough to attract people to your comic.

Next thing is about uploading. Any comic can appear once per day per update in the fresh section. The best way for a new comic to be noticed is by appearing in fresh.

So right now you have 10 updates, but because 9 were on the same day, you've only appeared in fresh twice. That's two chances for eyes on yourcomic, instead of 10. See the problem? So to grow your comic, it's usually recommended you make a schedule. This is why mist comic creators post once or twice a week.

This is all the super easy to fix stuff that improves visibility. :heart:

Outside of this, I would suggest maybe working on cleaning up your shading, and improve speech bubbles.

This should help!

And if you search "nitty gritty tips" in the forum it's a whole series and full of helpful advice.

To be clear, you've got a great start, it's just a matter of continuing to improve and grow, and learn those various little tricks. ;D

I have to agree with the notion of not updating enough. When people click onto your comic and see it hasn't been updating since last summer (assuming I'm seeing that correctly and haven't glossed over something), they assume you have abandoned the project. They may actually really love the idea or art of your comic, but avoid getting invested because they're scared they'll be forever left at a frustrating cliffhanger. It happens all the time, actually. The best thing I'd say you can do as it stands is just keep drawing your comic. Not at all trying to say this to be mean to anyone, but I've seen people with "worse" artistic composition skills (though I do believe that's subjective) than your own achieve more subs simply through regular posting and engaging their audience. So I do think you have potential if you can just keep encouraging yourself to draw. It will not happen overnight but I think it will be worth it. And try to engage more with the community, both your audience and the forums (you can find amazing support here). Good luck and best wishes! We'll be cheering for you ^w^

Thanks for your feedback it is overwhelming with all you mentioned but I will fix stuff at a pace I can deal with. Thanks for telling me my description wasnt helping the comic. I tried to tell the main story in one sentence. There are a lot of things I need to tweak to get where I want to be with the comic. Right now I'm taking an online course on drawing, back to the basics. Who knows what I will learn and what I will apply to the comic. I am aware my shading and coloring needs help, and one subscriber told me my speech bubbles were strange so yeah. A lot I need to fix but just one step at a time. Thank you

Thank you for your feedback. Thanks for encouraging me to still draw feels like a neverending road of things I need to do to make my comic story telling and drawing better. You're right about just not quitting and updating regularly. To be honest i stopped uploading and drawing because I got discouraged that I wasnt getting any subscribers so I had to rethink the comic and my skills. I'm taking an online drawing course in Hope's I will get better at my artwork. Anywho thanks again for giving some glimmer of hope

I think it's the thumbnail.

Thumbnail is the first (and often only) thing people will see. You want it to sell what your story is about at first glance.

You said this is supposed to be an action comic. There is nothing that implies that in your thumbnail, so people looking for action comics will pass this one by. A gloomy person in a purple void looks like a slice-of-life about depression.

I don't think there is anything wrong with the art itself though. Just that it advertises the wrong type of story.

Did you promote it anywhere? After all, nobody will subscribe to your comic if nobody's aware of its existence.

Hey I changed my description. Now I have to change the thumbnail:

Join Shaman Shae and his spirit guide Boran on their mission to help a youg lady named Jordan wake up from not only an unexplainable coma but to her new destiny as well. First comic and also one shot that I am testing out. Thanks for stopping by!