New to Webtoons and I need some constructive criticism

[ALAvidere]

Hi all!

I just started a webcomic on webtoons and I could use some feedback or constructive criticism on it.

Paradoxum Tricker

The reason being I'm trying to figure out why I'm getting low ratings (I have an average 7-star rating). Most webtoons on canvas I've come across have an 8-rating lowest and when my comic rating dropped from a 9 straight to a 7 it did bum me out a bit.

My take is that the episodes are too short and the story is starting slow, although the main storyline on my series won't begin until early next year and I'm just introducing the prologue for it.

I want to try to keep positive and move forward with it if possible.
I'm still new to writing scripts and comic-making.

Thank you.

[sarrowsmith10]

Episode 1 might be why you are getting low scores. It's experimental, and sketchy. I think it sets the tone for the rest of the comic, and I fully expected the art to continue that way (which if I was typically choosing something to read I probably wouldn't subscribe, since it was a bit too weird for me). The art on the next page was really beautiful so that was a nice surprise. Not sure how to fix that issue?

Episode 2 has a really long white gap at the end.. I thought maybe the images weren't loading? But I waited a while and nothing?

Episode 3 has some sloppy text/dialogue. It breaks out of the speech bubbles, or the speech bubbles are just super long. It's too much of an info dump.

My advice, is you need some scene setting panels. Big, long, scene setting panels at the start of each episode. Also, zoom out and away from your characters. It feels like the cameras are really in their face and feels cramped when there is action.

Don't get discouraged, your comic shows a lot of potential, and the art is super good. And you are already getting comments and feedback which is a good sign too!

[ALAvidere]

Thank you so much! I appreciate the feedback. My only question now is would it be too weird to go back and edit those pages? Maybe for episode 1 like clean it up a bit more?

[nixxusnibelheim]

Episode 1 might be one of the reasons, considering the art in episode 2 and 3, ep1 feels like a couple of levels below which is ashamed because your art is good!
But I do understand the intent tho', the sketchy-vibe fits the fuzzy memories of the character but you can achieve a similar idea even if you use your full skillset.

You can use blurs, make the memory black and white, play with chromatic effect etc, you can go crazy without toning your level down.

There is also another point that you can improve on.
Let your comic breathe. You are in a digital format, you are not restricted by physical pages.
So give more space in between your panel (take Webtoon Originals as references). Don't put your speech bubbles on top of your panel, it hides the art which is one of the reasons why we read comics in the first place.

You also cramp way too much text in your speech bubbles. Same idea here, give yourself more speech bubbles for the heavy dialogue and add more panels in between so you don't end up with a wall of text and bubbles xD
It's more work but it's also more pleasant to read.

Keep it up! Your comic looks nice, the setting is intriguing.

[sarrowsmith10]

You are so early in your story that its perfectly fine to edit those pages and make them better. It will help getting new readers too.

I agree with @nixxusnibelheim about speech bubble placements too. Since its a vertical scroll comic, you don't have to keep the bubbles on the art. Out in the gutter works just fine. If you must write a whole bunch of dialogue, split it up into connecting bubbles. For example, in my comic (see link below). Look about half way down the episode where the red head starts, "Look Flint" see how I broke apart the dialogue because it was so long? Maybe try something like that.

The Chevalier :: Leave It Alone | Tapas

[Eightfish]

Everyone else has some very valid points that I agree with.

But I want to add that when you're new one low rating can really bring down your score. I feel like there's a trend to get higher ratings as your comic grows, too. I started out with around 7 stars, but as I kept updating the rating slowly increased and I'm at 9+ now.