Should I give up to continue making my comic?

[magnavarra]

You can try working on your coloring skills, making it neater, and introducing more color. ppl like color comics more.
Do not ever use Comic Sans font ever again in your life.
If you want your comic at least to look like a comic and attract readers try reading about basic principles of lettering and comic format like narrative and dialogue bubbles on blambot site at least. or other google results.
Once you can make or at least mimic a pop style comic you can think about originality and shout out your personal style when you gain enough audience.
I don't want to sound rude that's an honest critique and advice, Also if you ask such a question you should be ready for a negative response.
Vent thread is somewhere below.
I relly think you have potential to improve your art and maybe focus on OC drawings or illustrations but not the whole comic at once

[Rhonder]

More or less agree with the sentiments of "continue if you want to, but don't feel like you have to, but also 2 months isn't that long in comics".

I'll instead focus this reply on a tip that might help out a bit! I agree with @scribesunlimited that it may be beneficial to do a once-over on the grammar/spelling of the dialogue before posting, or maybe try to find someone that can help look at those things if you're not as confident in it It's not unreadable by any means, but there are a fair amount of people that see a spelling mistake or two, for example, and immediately nope out.

Also take advantage of your readers for that too and don't be afraid to edit episodes with revised dialogue! For example, I noticed in the most recent one someone pointed out "soulds" vs. "souls", you confirmed it was supposed to be "souls", but yet the comic still reads "soulds". I do see that the episode just came out yesterday (?) so you may not have had time to fix it yet, but do try to fix it in the near future. Readers can be excellent tools for catching that sort of thing!

Some other examples I noticed on a quick read through just now:
episode 6:
"That must be enough to send her back to hell"
"hey stupid"

episode 7:
"Demonic Perception"
"Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up! Shut up!"

episode 8:
"don't worry, Zacky, she won't bother us anymore"
"I'm... (<- apostrophe included ->) I'm sorry-"
"I will do anything to be by your side"

final episode "Apparently you were the only one left in this city."
"I only wish for one thing"
"to kill all of this race"
"and it seems to be haunting a poor soul day and night"

and so on (I started from the last episode and worked my way up but I don't have time to look at the rest right now )

---

The other thing is the lettering itself. I recall commenting on a previous thread of yours about the hand lettering being a little rough (especially in the first episode though, it gets better after that!) but I see that you've swapped to a typed font in the newer episodes which is probably a good move I think hand lettering can be cool, but it needs to be neat and easy to read if you do so. A cool trick I've seen people do is to type out the words, set them to a low opacity, and then hand letter over them if you're really adamant about hand lettering because that sets the letter spacing evenly and also gives you a horizontal base-line to work from.

There are also cool sites like https://www.calligraphr.com/en/ where you can make your handwriting into a typable font which is what I do! This way you can work to get each letter looking clean and nice once, then be able to write out the dialogue much faster while retaining the same look. The free version restricts the number of characters you can have in the font, but it's still enough for an upper and lower case of each letter, a number set, and a few common punctuation marks.

The font you have now (eps 8 and 9) will definitely work but it does look a little generic. Not the end of the world but if you don't want to make your own custom font, you may consider continuing to look into other font options to use- typically a "handwritten" class font looks best in comics. Lastly, I would recommend centering the typed text into the classic diamond word bubble shape. Right now it looks to be left-aligned but it'll fit in better with other comics if centered, I think.

---

This got to be long, but hopefully at least somewhat helpful Best of luck with your comic!

[nickolaidas]

No, I literally meant 'no one'. If NO ONE reads it, how is that supposed to give you critique, or a feeling of accomplishment, or making friends?

[KoreanTacos]

You're calling:

328 views
5 subscribers
21 likes

NO ONE? That's kind of insulting to the people who are giving up their time to give the original person the time of day.

Less you already have a major presence online you're not making gigantic numbers in only 2 months

[nickolaidas]

I think you have taken my statement a little out of context - perhaps that's my fault. I wasn't talking about the creator's particular story in this sentence:

"The reason we post those stories ONLINE is to have people read them. If nobody reads the story, what's the purpose of telling it?"

I was talking about stories in general. If someone was making a story and no one bothered to read it, I stated that there's no real point in keep making the story at all, especially if there are other things one could do with their spare time.

[Mari]

As someone who has trudged along 10 years with limited audience I say keep going. If there's not issues on early pages that would fuck with the continuity of the story you have in mind, there's really no reason to not keep going.

[KoreanTacos]

But then what do you call the people currently reading it, cause they see a reason for the story to exist.

No ones obligated to give you or any of us a chance, it's free choice if they want to read your stuff. Not every story on the internet is worth reading no matter how much you beg for the attention. One doesn't walk into the book store and exclaim "I need to buy and read every book in here, because it's published in print which means I'm obligated to read it." No every book has it's own reason for existing and it's own audience it's going to attract.

If you feel like your story doesn't have a reason to exist that's fine stop making it and pursue something else or make a different story. Your stories existence isn't solely based on how many people you can collect to read it. Sometimes a story can just exist for the sake of the person just writing it...

[nickolaidas]

I never said that anyone is 'obligated' to give a story a chance. No one is obligated to do anything. I'm simply saying that after a while some retrospection is needed and one has to ask themselves, "is it worth it?"

But anyways, I said my piece and there's no reason to detract attention from the OP.

[KoreanTacos]

I'm simply saying that after a while some retrospection is needed and one has to ask themselves, "is it worth it?"

This is a completely different question than what you originally asked but:

No story has a right to actually exist. Every story exists because the person writing it wanted it to exist. Homer told his epic on the stage to entertain an audience, whether or not he felt like it needed to exist is fairly debatable.

So to answer your question it isn't worth it, but what you have to ask is "Do I want to do it?"

If you can continue with your life and not look back and ask yourself why didn't I do it, then maybe it was never worth it to give it a shot, but no, no story is worth working on, it's what happens after that story is finished that matters.

[Tanako]

@KoreanTacos I agree with everything you have said.

@diegoxaviercruz : "Two Months", is an extremely short time to be expecting miracles. I'm not sure exactly when you started drawing or posting online but let me tell you, it is a rough, hard, and cumbersome process and not a lot of people make it. which is why you need to love and have passion to be an artist.

Artists that are popular and have paved the way to success had a starting point and let me tell you, my dear, they didn't quit regardless of the outcome.

I myself have been drawing since I was 5 and been posting online since 2007 and even with that I'm still struggling like other artists but due to the love and passion I have for my craft I keep striving to achieve my goal.

in my opinion, I do believe you should keep doing it. but at the end of the day your passion and your love for art will determine what step you should take. aside from all that. you do need practice and you do need to study art, and all the information that comes with it to become better so you can achieve what you want and giving up won't help.

for my old comic "Strings and Time", it took almost 3 yrs to get 4.2k subs. some people it takes them longer and some shorter. REMEMBER, subs does not equate to "success". do what you will with this information.

[scribesunlimited]

@diegoxaviercruz

We're more than happy to go through your work, or anyone else's, and check for spelling/grammar as needed.

Just contact us. We're fast and thorough. I'm not sure why we haven't offered that to anyone until now.

Hit us up.

I'll instead focus this reply on a tip that might help out a bit! I agree with @scribesunlimited that it may be beneficial to do a once-over on the grammar/spelling of the dialogue before posting, or maybe try to find someone that can help look at those things if you're not as confident in it It's not unreadable by any means, but there are a fair amount of people that see a spelling mistake or two, for example, and immediately nope out.

[rajillustration]

something to remember is that Tapas isn't a social media site--it's a hosting site. It does a lot of things well, but the search is pretty bad, it's algorithm relies solely on likes and subs, so people aren't really funneled towards content they would be interested in. The front page system relies on getting trending or hoping that you'll get placed into specific features (which relies on matching a certain style) So if you're looking at views, you need to go to an actual social media platform and make a good marketing plan to get eyes on your stuff or change your work to better fit into that Tapas mold.

But if you hang around here, chances are you'll get people trickling in to look at your things. Typically the forum people tend to read eachother's work, over time. And like...if you're new to comics, if you're just starting out, then it's expected to have small views. You haven't built up that audience yet, and even comics that appear to have no audience but rocket overnight--they do--it's just somewhere else before it came here. No one comes out of a vacuum.

[lynestjules]

If it's a project that you truly feel passionate about, I say to continue with it. 2 months might feel like a long time, but it's really not. Yes, some comics do boom right from the start, but it's really not the majority of creators. It can take over a year to start to see your subscribe numbers go up.
I suggest that you don't worry so much about numbers, but focus on creating the best comic you can.

From my experience (I don't have a tons of subscribers), is that if you put in the extra effort in creating the best story you can and really feel passionate about your project. People will respond to it.

I read the two first pages and it's really isn't a bad comic at all. It's good so far. I'd review your spelling as well. If you're like me and English isn't your first language, it's good to double check that stuff. I noticed some copy had errors.

I do suggest to participate in the Tapas forums and be active on social media. As annoying it is to keep up with social media, it helps to get your work out there. Algorithms don't help the situation, so you do have to put in the extra work to get notice. And Tapas is right to keep a consistent upload schedule, but that doesn't mean you absolutely need to upload every single day.

I try to upload every two weeks. My pages require a lot of work and I also work full-time and spend time with family and select friends. So, you can space it out a bit, just make sure it's a schedule that works for you. Personally, I can't upload every week, I'll burn out.

[BreakingChalk]

Nah man, looks fine, and as others said, two months is too early.
However, if you want to get to more people you could use some social media for your story: stuff like Instagram and twitter would do as long as you promote them with your close ones so some of them would follow you, and using hashtags befitting for the images you'd upload there.

Other than that, I would recommend you to make a cover with the title of your story visible, and promote your social media in the last page of each comic or at the banner below.

Saludos pana!

[cortezlord96]

Well my question would be what are you doing to market it?

• Are you posting (NO SPAMMING) in relevant webcomic groups (FB, REDDIT,)
• Are you creating promo art for it and posting it on (Twitter, IG, FB, etc)
• Are you paying for ads? (Topwebcomics, FB, Google)
• Are you reaching out to influencers? (Still working on this one)
• Are you doing collaborations with other creators to help cross promote

There are TOOOOO MANY webcomics on this platform to not be marketing your book as much as possible. If you aren't screaming into your target markets face, you are NOT going to get found. Marketing is hard, but there are plenty of free things you can do to get word out. If creating webcomics is something you love, then no you shouldn't quit just cause noone sees it. You need to find out WHY no one is seeing it and make a S.M.A.R.T plan with reasonable goals.

You got this.

[cortezlord96]

Wonderful advice!

unless 4 volumes is going to be your norm, keep a good schedule and work on a backlog for when hard times come

[irresponsiblepics]

No problem with your disagreement ...interesting!

If having thousands of readers "subs" etc is what you want out of your creation then sure I can see how it could be the driving force.
In that case yeah quit because you are not getting that attention you strive for.

However many are just happy to create and share and not obsess over the stats.
We do share for somebody to read it but I now ask what number would any author 's motivation to be fulfilled?
Ten? A hundred? Thousands? Millions?
Why does it bother the author so?
Ahhhhh addiction...surely it couldn't end in disaster?

Lets not forget that many subbers only sub because they want subs themselves and never actually read your comic/novel.

Again its simply that dopamine addiction. Validation. Attention. Call it what you want. This should not be your reason.

Its better to create with no expectation at all and that way you can do so unclouded.

Like and subscribe!
XD

[carloswebcomic]

I have been publishing my comic for almost more than two months, and I know that I am not a good cartoonist but I know the basics and my comics do not look so bad, but since I started publishing I have almost no views even though I have even gotten to upload 4 volumes in less than 1 week, as tapas says that you can recommend me if I am very constant and even then nothing, so if it hurts a little to do something for a long time and in the end less than 5 people see it.So far I have 9 chapters and I honestly don't know whether to continue or not: ")Here is the link in case you want to see it: "3https://tapas.io/series/sinister_love

Dude, two months is nothing. It might as well be 5 minutes.
I've been making webcomics for well over 17 years, and I can tell you that two months is a fly's dick in the grand scheme of things.
There is no such thing a instant gratification. You will need to be doing this for years before anyone notices.

Don't be fooled by the ultra popular comics you see in the front page. For every popular comic there, there are literally thousands of really good comics that have a small following.

Yes, I understand that if you don't get a decent readership it hurts. I've been there and it's a fair enough expectation, but you have to be realistic.

Tapas is a business, and they will push the popular comics and give stats called "Performance" to push you to bring in more readers, because that's how they make money.
It gives you a disproportionate idea of what success is, and frankly, it's harmful because it makes people feel like you do.

Just keep at it and keep improving. Try not to pay attention to how popular other comics are.
If you want readers, you need to do a lot of ground work on social media and such. Don't expect people to find you out of nowhere.
Making comics is a road. A long, thankless, soul destroying road.
But if you keep at it, and are willing to learn and transform, it can become something special.

[ble]

In my own experience at least, i say if this is your first comic or your first comic you post online, treat it more like a "warm up", to gain experience, develop your skills, and all that. I'm sure some people hit it big on their very first comic, but i doubt it's common.

For example i didn't know about Hirohiko Araki's previous mangas before Jojo's Bizarre Adventure (i heard of Baoh, but was surprised when i found he made at least 4 short comics before), And the creator of My hero Academia? Before he hit it big with that series, he got 2 previous comics that were cut too early and canceled by the publisher.

[bubbybunnyart]

never give up youll improve as you go readers will come eventually g.o.t wasnt popular with readers for like 3 centuries until the show