Rank what's most important to you as a reader: Story, Character or Art?

[punkarsenic]

art is a nobrainer number one for comics, on the basis that its a visual medium. the art doesnt need to be flashy or pretty (although im never complaining if it is) but it does need to provide visual interest and be understandable, and ideally enjoyable to look at. art with great movement is the main thing i look for i think.

then comes... character? i think id follow a good character anywhere, which means story comes last.

[insomniascrawl]

1) Characters
2)Story
3Art

Honestly character and story is everything to me as a reader and a creator. I will always give a story with not amazing art a chance because for all I know the creator might just be getting started and I might be passing up an amazing story and experience because of something kinda superficial. I also like to see the growth of art style with a creator.

That said if I'm not feeling the art style and the story doesn't grab me in the first few chapters I kinda forget about it.

[Mari]

As a creator my list is

1.Characters
2.Story
3.Art

I'm a lazy bastard when it comes to art. On pages that have important moments for the characters I'll tend to atleast try, but any sort of transition pages or the like I just fart out. I focus mostly on characterization and the overall story over art any day.

As a reader though, my list is

1.Art
2.Characters
3.Story

I'll read a comic with a nonexistent story if I like the art & characters enough. I can't deal with an epic story with shitty art & lame characters, at all.

I am forgiving of crappy art if the other two are phenomenal, but that usually needs someone else to recommend the particular story to me, as I'm unlikely to seek it out on my own.

[aestheticderelict]

In a comic, I've always been under the impression that those are all the same thing, despite people talking about them as if they are separate.

In a comic, the "story" is not only in what is written, but how it is conveyed, and it is more than likely conveyed through the art. Same with characters, who can be written to have certain traits, but it is through the art and story that the depth that draws in the reader is to be found.

Additionally, a comic that is all art with no story or character just becomes pretty, unrelated pictures, which wouldn't really hold the reader's attention.

Comics are a "Sequential Art." A single piece of art that is constructed from the interplay of these three elements, and probably a few others. Even if the art is not the most detailed, or if it does not meet the reader's standards, I would argue that more often than not, the art cannot be separated from the story or the characters.

So really, I would rank them all as one, because if there is any failing in one or more, the story will eventually lose my interest.

[Kura]

I'd like to add a note.

The 'characters' option actually makes this question a little awkward and as a result you could be getting skewed results in the responses depending on how it's interpreted, as characters are generally a combination of both story and art. Like, the character could look cool or attractive but have the worst back story, character development or writing. Similarly, a character could look visually plain and actually be an amazing character. So where they get placed on the list can depend on what side people are throwing 'characters' on in either the written or visual design. (my response was more so leaning towards written design, not visual)

This is more of an issue when using this option in concerns to comics and not so much novels.

[modrawmanga]

I guess what I meant was if you like certain character, for whatever reason (personality, design, or both), how much does it influenced your decision to pick up or fall in love with a particular series.

I always thought one punch man and boku no hero academia was very character driven, less story driven, since those stories are not super unique but it made the fans loyal to them because how loveable the interesting characters are.
I haven't read hunter x hunter yet but I did hear the characters in those are loveable.
Most manga imho are character and art driven, while western comic are more story driven.
I consider Shingeki no Kyojin to be story driven with a few loveable characters, with art to be no 3, and this is perhaps one of the reason the series crossover so well to the western audience

[joe_galindez]

1. Art.
2. Story.
3. Characters.

The art is the quickest way to tell that the creators have reached a certain level of skill. If the art is good, it's likely that the storytelling's good too. I still follow some comics where the art's pretty crude, but there's so many new comics that I can't give them too much time.

And sometimes an art style just doesn't click with me, and that's fine.

Story and characters are about as equally important. I want the narrative go be going somewhere, but at the same time I also want to care about the people in the story.

[wonpei]

Art is what draws me in, but character/story is what makes me stay.

1) ART - I tend to follow a series where I can observe the art in order to learn something from it (eg: anatomy, colouring/shading, expression, composition, layout, etc), or I'm just into the style. Simple doodles with a nice palette always have a place in my heart haha. It's also easier to get attached to a character quickly if I like how they look or they have a nice design.

2) CHARACTER - Same as OP, I need to care about the character in order to be interested in what happens to them. If they're just blank pawns and plot devices used to move the story forward then I don't last very long, even if the concept is fresh and the plot is well-written. Characters that are interesting, funny, cute, relatable, or provide an enlightening POV are great !

3) STORY - Character-driven plots are easier for me to consume than plot-driven ones, just because heavy lore and world-building can be hard to digest sometimes. I can follow a plot-less comic for a pretty long time as long as the character interactions (dialogue/chemistry) are consistently enjoyable. But as soon as it feels repetitive and there's no meaningful development, I start to fall behind on updates.

[J.Lovelace]

1. Characters
2. Story
3. Art

@joannekwan summed it up pretty well why we like it in this order.

[mpiradarada]

Very well put! I feel exactly the same!

[akemikae]

My order is definitely

1.Characters
2.Story
3. Art

Honestly, I have so many comics/manga/series in general that I stick around JUST because I love the characters so much. The rest is just a lovely plus side.

[cleo_san]

1) Story
2) Characters
3) Art

I know many artists who really have a horrible art style but put so much passion into the story and the character development so bad art doesn't necessarily bother me as long as I can read the text =)
I had a friend who started off with pretty crappy pencil drawings and has drawn one page almost every day and now she has a pretty and neat ink style, so, I think the development of art is a natural process of drawing

However, the story has to be good or intriguing for me - I have read stories with an awesome art which were so tedious and boring I gave up after a few chapters - or after constantly wanting to smack the main characters into a wall repeatedly for being such annoying wannabe-cool pricks x_x

In the end it's a good balance of these three aspecs which makes the most successful type of story, but if I had to chose, I'd vote for story and characters over art =)

[joe_galindez]

May we know who this friend is? I do like me some art evolution.

[cleo_san]

Sure thing, @joe_galindez If you don't mind the stories being German, please check out her online manga collection =)
"Spasibo" is one of her first ones, her current one is "Male Girl"

Also this artist here, although I've noticed that she deleted the really old story "Kyel"... however, during "The Laughing Death" she improved pretty much, too =)

Both of them started with anatomy problems, handwritten texts and so many more stuff and have now developed their own pretty solid art styles which improve from page to page imho =)

More examples? =) Another one has started out with pretty "okayish" pages too, now she draws professionally for Carlsen Manga (Martina Peters, artist of "KAE", "TEN" and other stuff =) )

Also, I'd like to add that I've drawn pretty crappy too a few years ago XD With what I'm doing now I am actually quite content since there is a visible improvement =)

[joe_galindez]

They look good. And you've improved a lot. I can't read German though.

[cleo_san]

Thank you, @joe_galindez <3 I hope I can keep on improving X3
Too bad, some of those stories are pretty fun to read, however the artists are not planning to translate them any time soon =(

[collegeaccount2015]

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2
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The promised Neverland is a great example of story>characters>art. The story is amazing

[modrawmanga]

Is promised neverland the shonen jump manga drawn by demizu posuka?

[collegeaccount2015]

sorry it took so long to respond college up all my day but
Yes, yes it is and its great the first time I ever felt real fear that made me heart race and fear what would happen next

[modrawmanga]

No worries! I'm offline several days at a time too.
I'll definitely check this one out, I follow Demizu Posuka on twitter and I first found him/her awesome art floating around on pinterests, I was surprised to found out that he/she is a real manga artist.