Posting your comic EXPECTATIONS vs REALITY

[amortelito]

@BobbyjoeXforgotensb yeah! the printed version of Roya!!! I like it very much, is one of my favorites. BTW I still hope I can print mine too, that's why I resist making it vertical style.

@Kimoisempai congratulations on your success! - your art is goals is so professional and is easy to see why so many people like it!

@dawgofdawgness "Pixar movies all make it seem so easy for some reason." Yes!!! I think that we sometimes forget that behind great comic and movies there are full teams of professionals! Yes, the leader is the producer or the main artist but they still have an editor or someone who help with the plot. We are making EVERYTHING on our own!!! I was so happy when I saw your comic featured <3 I will check it out when I have slightly more time to pay attention and enjoy.

@ yeah! attention also comes with pressure and expectations. As you said, it is appreciated, but that doesn't mean that having a fandom is not an extra source of anxiety.

[amortelito]

@Daknight the Reboot was such a daring move! It was the right decision, everything improved! :D. Awww nobody should push you aside you give the best advice, you were the first person who helped me!!

@Rodimus13 Your teamwork is amazing! It's great that you got more fans than you expected!!

@kittyblueeyes 200 subs already!! congrats!!

@tired_programmer your expectations were so reasonable from the start! I still don't dare to open a Patreon I don't think anyone wants to give me any money yet XD. Btw your new avatar looks great! Nice to meet you.

[baasinsimple]

Expectation 1: "I heard growing is slow so I think I'll get around 10 followers by November"
Reality: Nu uh Bruv. You'll take half the amount and like it (I do, love you guys)

Expectation 2: "I improve quickly, I'll make a higher quality of comic by around August"
Reality: You barley draw digitally at all, don't expect to improve if you don't do it regularly.

Expectation 3: "No way in hell can I upload weekly so I'll upload monthly"
Reality: (Doesn't upload until early November when the last update was 3 1/2 months prior)

Expectation 4: "I'll be successful one day"
Reality: Then we've got a long way to go.

[Rodimus13]

@amortelito Thanks! It helps we are a husband and wife duo that have literally known each other since middle school. We know each other's brains so well.

[LittleMissDevil]

Hey, thanks for your kind words,. I'm very happy that you like my art I gave your comic a look as well and I really like the beginning of it. It's so mysterious and the colors are very nice. I'm looking forward to see more!

With the consistency... Well. My expectations shifted in that regard. First I though, I could never be consistent. Now I am expecting to do this song and dance for years to come and more years to come and for it to consume all of my free time and it's freaking me out xD I'm sure you can also get to that wonderful shift in expectations after getting used to your schedule.

[Rhonder]

Hmm I reflected on this topic for a few days, but I think I've worked some out:

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Expectation: I honestly didn't think anyone would be fond of my characters, or nitpick them to death or something. I went into my comic treating it as "practice to learn how to comic better" so I just grabbed some random OCs I already had (which also happen to be like... RL people insert characters LOL), tweaked them a bit, and slapped them into the story/world without worrying too much about how suitable their designs were with the environment/each other. One of them's pretty much just super silly (Panda), one of them has a fur jacket in a dry, hot enviroment, in fact they all wear jackets in this environment for some reason... including the 4th guy who hasn't shown up yet except on the cover xD, etc.

Reality: I've actually had several nice comments about each character... including Panda! And no one so far has called me out about the whack design decisions regarding them xD

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Expectation: My launch statistic expectations were pretty modest, I thought that I would launch to just a couple subs, not much engagement at all, and I had no idea what the views would be like.

Reality: My sub count is about on par with my expectations, but my engagement (especially comments!) and views are wayyyy higher than expected this early on. I mean as far as views go, I've been putting in the effort to advertise across different platforms, but reaching 1k in just about a month is astonishing to me ^^ and the fact that each page gets some comments is reassuring!

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Expectation: Kind of contrary to the above points, I decided to cross-post on webtoons as well because I've heard so many stories of "Tapas is a more creator-friendly platform, but webtoons is better to build an audience". So I expected to just automatically have better stats there.

Reality: I consistantly have 1/2 the subscribers and ~1/4 - 1/5 the views/engagement there I can assume many reasons why this is probably the case (it's usually my secondary link when I'm advertising, I post page format, I post usually single pages, etc) but even so, the much lower numbers (and creator unfriendlyness, I wish I could see my subs/get notified when I receive a comment... as rare as they are xDD) make me prefer Tapas a looooot so far.

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Expectation: My art will slowly improve over time, practice!

Reality: holy hell has it been improving a lot faster than expected! The difference even between pages I drew in September and the ones in October is quite a lot. I'm really excited for the next 5 or so updates xD

---

so mostly positive shifts in reality! Although I came in with low expectations so... yeah xD I'm still totally a newbie so I tried to keep my expectations mostly in check.

[Lennart]

I don't really know what i expected, or if i expected anything in the poor health state and mental state i was at the time.

I came out of a construction work accident, i had been working physically for several years and put a lot of my fantasies, a lot of my dreams and scenario's , stories i wanted to tell, in the trash can for a long time, i was just working my ass hard despite some of my birth defect issues, i was in special programs for people like me to be able to work, and i needed to put money on the table to just survive ?

So , after that accident i knew my art was back to a pretty low level when i started to work on my comics, so i didn't expect people to diriectly like what i do, had a lot of shakings in the hands and the back coming out of a long period of injuries recovery after that work accident, so the drawings were inconsistent in quality and my story telling was a bit all over the place, even tho i had this story going and materialised in my head for a long time, let's say heavy medication, painkillers and the stun from anti depressants / anti anxiety didn't help.

As muh as, I should be going back and redo a lot of the work on the first pages, or just remove the section about the birth of the character so it's less confusing, it's a mess.

I didn't expect my first months on Line Webtoon to go so well so fast, i already had prior experience to publish another version of Draan Lennart Askeladd, that was called "Leo Tigerheart, Arduinna's White Lion" on manolosanctis years ago ( a french webcomics hosting site back in the 2011 days) and that first version have been doing very well there, but it was another era / epoch. So being so fucked up in my drawings and seeing how much i had lost , i wasn't confident my story and characters would hit the mind well enough for what they are. I didn't expect the reception, a lot of positive comments and they were very heartwarming, lot of nice comments and support, and really at the time i was very very low in depression and drawing was kinda the only thing i could do, and to be very honest i needed that more than i would actually dare say it to myself. It was thriving very well despite the inconsistency between drawings and the very experimental tests , even going as far as to change the drawing / graphic style at some point. I was not expecting things i already stated in another topic tho, some vitriolic attacks and being brought so down mentally that my mom actually saw how badly it affected my stress and anxiety levels that i took her advice and deleted it from webtoon to only keep it on tapas.

So the reality is, that it's not so bad, i just love mah people that love what i do and kind of see the work and world that might be behind it, and i praise every little comment or like and i am engaged in the comments when people half discover or predict partially what may be going on ^^.

[paperwren]

Expectation: If I make a comic in a style that's simpler than my usual drawing style things will look nicer and go faster

Reality: Mistakes and shaky lines sure are a lot more noticeable in a simple art style.

Expectation: I can make something loose and mostly focused on jokes, and throw in plot elements when I feel like it because no one is really going to be reading this.

Reality: There is at least a couple dozen people reading this and STUFF IS GUNNA GET WEIRD SOON so it was nice while it lasted

Expectation: Webcomics are mostly viewed on your own websites as they were when I was a youngin'. Everyone had a bookmark folder full of webcomics growing up right? Right??

Reality: Good thing my comic was already vertical format.

[amortelito]

I consider myself a newbie too have been here for 6 months and is my first work. I think my paranoia of people nitpicking has been encouraged by youtube and ver toxic fanbases. There is a show I will not mention that I didn't like, I went to see some reactions on youtube to see if I was missing something. Well, the dude was ranting as if the show had murdered someone. Honestly nitpicked stuff that was not even that deep, complained how unrealistic was this and that (dude it is fiction for a reason). He was like "that's not how to react to a dinosaur" when the hell have you seen a dinosaur to tell what is appropriate?? XD I didn't liked the show either but some people think they are in a virtual crusade or something.
I guess you only get that type of criticism when you are a big creator and the person wants to prove how "woke" and smartass he is.

[keii4ii]

Expectation: My comic probably won't have a large readership, but those who read it will understand what I'm trying to do, and like it for what it's meant to be.

Reality: A lot of people like it for completely surprising reasons. On the one hand, that's great! On the other hand, it gets depressing when people don't seem to see what I'm actually trying to do. Like it's one thing for someone to say, "oh, I like X in your comic because I'm into that kinda stuff." That's cool! But when someone says "I like X in your comic because that's the only thing good about your comic"... what!? What about Y? Or Z, which I consider to be the most important thing? I put my heart and soul into portraying Z in the story!!!

I... have a long way to go, it seems

[ble]

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[denaliah]

Still fairly new so we'll have to see more in time. Tbh I didn't know what to expect, other than that my comic following will probably start slow at first, but overtime it'll pick up and get momentum.

(For webtoon) I think I was right. I'm planning to do this for the long haul, so even if I don't start off going viral or be lucky enough to be staff picked, I know if I keep at it, I'll grow. I have confidence in the sheer merit of my story and art, even if others don't see it yet, I believe in the quality. I'm starting to see things pick up, I'm getting 30-50% more subs per update in my 3 most recent updates. Granted I have a perfectionist tendency, so I kept fixing my 1st chapter/prologue to leave a better impression on new readers. I didn't know what to expect in terms of pure numbers, but I know that I have a story that require a bit of investment and patience from the reader so momentum might be slow at first, but I know I have the type of story that'll age well. I've seen comics with a strong start, content and fan wise but dwindled. Mine seems to be steady, AND growing.

An unmet expectation would be naively thinking that art and story quality + consistent updates guaranteeing success. It's more like if you have those things, you MIGHT get success. Learn to accept luck is a factor, and involves someone else in the right position to notice you. You have to know how to cater to the audience, and how to avoid being flooded by the sea of competition. Just like in music industry where not every good song becomes a hit. It's not just the work, you have to know how to present it. Layered complex characters are great, but some people just want quick rushes and payoffs. Also obsessing with numbers and instant gratification that comes of it is so time draining and can drive you crazy. Not to mention you can feel demotivated if you see a comic that posted around the same time as you get recommended by staff, and you're still going through the newbie struggles lol. Speaking purely as a reader, there are some titles I wish got into fresh picks or recommended, but instead I see lesser quality stuff on the spot sometimes. But hey it's all down to opinion in the end.

Dunno if I expected that or just hoped for it: but I get repeat commenters that seem to really care and are even worked up about the plot, and they're a growing number! I do hope to be featured one day haha, but I don't know if I should realistically expect it. In fact I have to accept the possibility that it's just harder to get featured now and I might have to move and expand my fans to tapastic (which is slower in growth) or another site and learn patreon tricks. Damn I wish I posted earlier when there were less creators.

[CalimonGraal]

Expectations: Not being able to be consistent with my set update schedule because of how i originally only drawed via bursts of inspiration.
Not really get any readers, though i held hope for one day getting a fandom lol.
And also to be able to reach the chapter i left off of from the previous version of my comic.

Reality: I actually managed to be consistent (apart from forced hiatuses relating to technology fails or illness or other reasons) for four years now that i'm afraid to take breaks or i'll start losing readers. :"D (the readers i befriended keep having to remind me it's okay to break if i can't do it) and now i've been suffering a lot of burnout orz;;;
I managed to gain a lot more subs than i thought I would, tho the rate has stalled ever since i had a forced moving hiatus and came out of it lol. (Still trying to push through despite this, and i super appreciate all the readers I currently have :"D)
...And also I've only just started on the chapter I had originally left off from the older version, after four years lol. :"D (I didn't expect my chapters to take this long to get through.)

this post probably looks like a mess orz i rarely post here

[beta1042]

Hmm On Webtoon I really didn't think I'd do as well as I had. My dream big, maybe if I was really really lucky I'd reach 5k subs by the end of the series(But expected I'd more likely reach 1k), but I reached it in about a yr and still have over a yr left of story to tell....

THEN again I also thought I'd be able to tell my story in a yr's time... and here I am over a year out with over a year worth of story left XD

Also I always hoped and dreamed of making money but I certainly never expected it, so making some money off my comic has been really cool too. If I can pay off my surface and CSP and everything that would be awesome(I like having my hobbies pay for themselves)... if I actually can get my dream Oven that would be AMAZING

For Tapas I think I'm performing as well as I expected when I started. It was a rough start tho... really really slow. I'm glad I posted on Webtoon, because it really helped give me motivation to have comments and engagement somewhere.

[Shanny8]

@CalimonGraal funny coz I thought my comic working schedule, and ethic would be more consistent. I probably am ethic wise- but been experiencing some "burnout symptoms" and reoccurring hand/wrist/forearm discomfort, which slows me down at times. I thought with me taking off a number of months(actuality- taking it easy with light drawing) would actually help my condition, but once I cranked up the workload again, it returned...

[CalimonGraal]

oh that sucks about your arm, i usually try doing wrist/arm stretches whenever mine acts up.
burnout and that certainly doesn't help trying to keep up with the schedule lol :"D

[Zhengo]

Expectations: Okay I think I set a very lenient update schedule for myself, I won't ever be stressed with my buffer!
Reality: I'm waaay too slow at drawing, I should have made an even more lenient schedule

Expectations: I like this page I just drew, and there's no way I'm gonna dislike it after a week.
Reality: Oh god what was I thinking! This page is so ugly, but if I go back now, I'll be behind schedule! ;o;

Expectations: I suck at communicating my thoughts, everyone is going to be confused after the first chapter
Reality: People actually understand what's going on XD

[Chita]

Expectation: I'm gonna drop out this project in two months, no matter how excited you're with it know, cause it's gonna be too long.
Reality: amazingly, I've been working on it for two years and I haven't felt signs of burnout, so thats nice! I hope to keep motivated for many years, cause it's gonna be a long time until I finish it!

Expectation: before I started posting my comic I was like 'wow, this is gonna be great, I'm going to have hundreds of subs and likes, etc'. And then when I finnaly posted it reality made me sink, so I thought that no one would read it.
Reality: now I'm happy to have a bunch of lovely subs. I hope one day I can get to 100.

Expectation: I though that no one would engage with my comic, like they would read it and just that.
Reality: I have some usual commenters for each update and I'm always excited to ser their thoughts about the comic! Also they seem invested with my main character, and they care about her, and even I've got some who stan the other MC (Who right know is kinda an assh*le) calling him best boi.

I'm very happy with my situation right now

[amortelito]

I love your comic!! It makes me genuinely sad to see the scars in Best Boi's hands, can't wait to see more of him and Flare. You are so close to 100!! I'm sure you will surpass it.

[LT1986]

My expectations match reality. I have expected to not get many views, until I start mastering skill sets that bring viewers to my web comic. I have a check list of things that I'm trying to constantly improve. The check list mainly consists of things that I've learned from creators that are more successful than me. As I improve these things, my views count increases.