Should we always critique art in comics?

[IndigoShirtProd]

I prefer not to separate story from art. It's not a good story or good art. A good story can be hampered by poor visuals, and I don’t just mean quality, I mean clarity as well. Your art more than "looking good" and other than looking polished, should be working too elevate the story and give a visual aspect to better illustrate plot details. If the story's "bad" but the art is "good," I'm leaving. If the story's "good" and the art's "bad," I'm still leaving.

[cherrystark]

I don't think so unless the creator is explicitly asking for critiques. You are entitled to your personal opinions about the quality of the artwork but posting art of any kind online takes a lot of courage. They could be so proud of what they accomplished and one negative comment or a misunderstood comment can halt their progress.

[Avonguardian]

This comment gave me a good chuckle haha, yeah sometimes it isnt that simple really. It has to do a lot with subjective opinions and I suppose taste haha.

I agree that a comic is a medium that utilises both art and story to convey a tale to readers, and that clarity is integral.

Which is why one of my favourite joke is "A Bad artist and a Bad writer becomes a great comic artist" I dont know where I heard it but it resonated with me. Its a mix of both, that you can use text to convey what you can't draw and draw to convey what you can't write.
As someone whos terrible at writing enviromental stuff and descriptions, being able to just draw it does save a few headaches.

[Avonguardian]

I 100% believe in positive reinforcement before any critique, I think I saw another forum post talking about it, that you bring up stuff you like about the given piece and then bring up things to elevate the art!
(Of course if the person want the critique to begin with lol)

[cherrystark]

I think I saw another forum post talking about it, that you bring up stuff you like about the given piece and then bring up things to elevate the art!

Yeah! I've learned that across the board when you do art - you tell them things that you liked or appreciated about the work and then give them realistic things that they can improve upon.

[Kelheor]

It's all right
Yeah, can't disagree that comics and novels are very different things.
And honestly, it's hard to say which one I would rather read. I dropped some beautiful comics because they had bad story, I continued reading plotless comics for the sake of nice art to learn from it, I dropped comics with a good plot because I couldn't put up with the style (looking at you, Fables)... Hell I even dropped some awesome looking comics because somehow my brain decided it's not what we need, it's very unpredictable xD

In the end I do try to find good parts in every art style, but I am a very very visual person. That's why if the comic art doesn't work for me, I will prefer a good novel, I will prefer just imagining the novel as a movie while reading than trying to get through art I don't like

[Avonguardian]

That is a very fair point

I am very picky about certain things and story elements in comics and stuff, and visuals can have a big role with that. Sometimes I find myself not reading a comic with good art and good story because my brain decided to be a hipster and go "can't read them anymore, theyve gone... commercial" even if they havent and I'm just being weird xDD

I still subscribe to alot of comics that i dont read abut i check them out once in a while, I dont think I've ever unfollowed anyone unless the author is a legitimate bad person lol. But that's also because I always get sad when someone unsubs so I never want to inflict that sadness on anyone else, Im that dramatic.

[BoomerZ]

My opinion is it's not the art. It's the use of the comic panel to tell a story that can be critiqued. Your set up of a story through storytelling, the "acting" of the characters, and layout of the shot. Is all your panels medium shots from the side. Are all the background shots 1 point perspective. Are you more interested in making cute people or telling a story. I look at most of the professional comics on tapas and other sites. Most of the artist/creators are more worried about there characters looking good, hence all the males look dead eye into space and all the girls look pretty no matter the situation. Very little emotion. This medium is a visual storytelling medium, not a slide show with dialogue.

The skill to draw comes with time. But for comics that skill has to come with the ability to tell a story. Mixing up shots, moving the reader through your story is far more important than being about to make pretty pictures. That is fine art or cover art. We are making comics. Being only good at art isn't enough. Telling the story is more important so that is what should be critiqued.

[bulgariansumo]

Depends on a lot of factors, but I think the most important thing in comic art is being able to tell what's going on / the mood of the situation. To paraphrase a friend of mine, ONE, (One Punch Man, Mob Psycho 100) isn't up to par with other mangaka when it comes to things like anatomy and linework, but is really good at things like composition and pacing. Plus he's a good storyteller. I don't know if I'll trust anyone else to write an overpowered MC in a compelling way.

However, its always struck me as something that maybe I need to improve on on myself, that maybe I am resistent to getting art critiqued because I don't wanna "Face the truth" Or whatever.

I feel this big time. I'm very proud of what I have, but there's things I want to go back and fiddle with because I don't want someone else to point it out first (or worse, lose readers!) I also just want to get on with the story. It's a constant tug-of-war. Sometimes I have to remind myself that it's unlikely that I'll make the best series of all time, so there's probably going to be some missteps.

The only thing I ever and will ever care about in regards to my stories is-"But do you like the story?"

Yeah, that's my main thing too. I'm a little antsy knowing that some of my chapters don't have illustrations yet (or the illustrations they do have are old art that I'm unhappy with), but the only reason I'm concerned with that at all is because I want people to keep reading the story.

[Avonguardian]

This is such a good reply, been starring at it thinking of thoughts I could put in but you really nailed it!

I think I've had a bit of a crisis lately about my own art and the concept of criticism, should one suck up and ask for it and then be disappointed in what will be said, or perhaps will it reveal something you actually didn't think about.

I think texting is something thats super important, and a lot of people forget that, heck I forgot it. But when someone pointed it out (when I did ask for a critique a while back) It dawned on me. Sometimes You get tunnel vision in your own art, and you are convinced that you know everything and wont need it, heck I thought the font I was using made me look more "mature" until I caved and got a more "comic sans" looking font. Oh yeah it looks so much better now hahah.

[Avonguardian]

Yeah I was thinking of ONE and how the art is very simple yet also successful.

That being said I dont think people should strive for success, draw what makes you happy and if you wanna improve you can ask for advice. I think what I was after with this whole thread was what advice is more warranted based on the medium of comics, since personally I dont think just purely the art matters.

To me I know I can't draw good perspective and houses that make sense... But I can make it look kinda cute and add a bunch of cool colours so people will be too distracted by the speech bubbles and pretty colours to notice the glaring flaws. Making something intentionally bad looks nice, or as is a good saying
"fake it til ya make it"

[Katzalcoatl]

It can go both ways. A good example of bad art but a good story is Mob100 and One Punch Man. Original manga is... well... you know. (Already mentioned I think).

But One Punch Man and Mob100 are not the norm.
People, in general, prefer to have awesome art over a good story.
Seen it many times in webtoons. Most popular stories have great art but story is... pretty lacking. There was even a story (which I often use as an example) that got serialized by webtoon.
The story was bad. In the early chapters the female MC started flirting right after the mother "she loved" died a few hours ago. Not to mention that all her friends died as well.
Needless to say said story didn't do very well and it has almost no views and likes compared to stories translated from korean novels or stories adapted from novels.

[Katzalcoatl]

You should always accept critique. But not from everyone.

Only accept critique either by a proffesional or friends/family you trust will be honest and help you grow.

The critique should be on point. I highly recommend contacting either a quality checker or an art teacher who you trust/respect.

Be sure to distinguish constructive criticism over plain criticism.

The reason I recommend a quality checker is because they make sure nothing is weird like anatomy or other things (unless your art wishes to simulate cartoons). They can also help you with identifying errors in colors and shadows. People rarely hire a quality checker but it can be a world of improvement without changing your art style.

If you want to make sure your story is great then you probably need an editor.

In the case, you can't hire either (or you sinply aren't comfortable with strangers judging you) then ask friends for their opinions. Fresh eyes lets us see errors we didn't see before. (Again be sure you ask friends/family members who are honest but can give good criticism it will do you no good if they only criticize you just to bring you down or if they only praise you.)

[NickRowler]

I think what is more important to a comic is readability. If bad art is getting in the way of understanding what is happening, then that should be fixed.

I feel like I have also see comics with amazing art that just doesn't work well as a comic. And I have seen comics with simple or meh art that were successful.

I feel like when it comes to critiques, people are always going to have their bias. However, if an artist feels like they need help, they shouldn't be afraid to ask for help. I also don't think there should be a pressure that everyone needs to have this "perfect" looking series starting out. I have seen young and new artist who don't really want to try because they are afraid of being "cringe" or whatever.

[Avonguardian]

I've tried reading some of those more popular korean translated stuff but it really flies over my head, I do def agree with you that there is this priority of having good art before anything else, personally I find it pretty shallow but who am I to judge really xD.

I think another factor is that often people who make comics are just one person, I for example, do all the scripting, sketch, lineart, paneling, texting and uploading all on my own, its tough for one person to measure up and its tougher even then to have time to spot mistakes, I mentioned tunnel vision within your own art before, and I think about that especially when you work solo.

[Avonguardian]

I always have my partner to go over fine details with, and read outloud scenes, theres this method used by programmers called "rubber ducking" where you talk to a rubber duck about the code and then you discover whats wrong with it or what needs to fix. I often use this both with my partner and also with my cats xDD

I think it helps to say something outloud, somethings only sound good in your head xDD

I think asking for criticism from strangers can negate certain biases close and even honest friends can, however it can also open the door for the type of criticism you might not want. Its a gamble on the internet.

[Avonguardian]

I've always said, "no matter what you do now, you will cringe later, so stop worrying."

If I had a penny for everytime I've heard of artists who want to make comics but they never get to the making part because they're afraid it wont look good later or that it'll be too bad, I would have at least 1 billion because it's alot.

I think theres a lot of pressure and need to succeed from artists, you wanna make the next big thing
I've been putting up my comic since 2020 and I've worked on the story since 2014, I realised that if I dont put it out now when will I. Sometimes ya just gotta bite the bullet and do something, might it look like shit compared to the latest chapters? most likely, but instead of feeling bad... look how much you've grown!

I also think that being too critical of yourself and maybe worrying too much about the critique of others wont help you improve your art at all, it'll just stifle the progress.

I don't look back, it distracts me from the now.

[Katzalcoatl]

Then you are good.
At this point I think you don't need criticism and if you do get some you probably need a professional trained eye.

I will suggest however to do your comics in advance so you do have time to check any error yourself. Like you said doing everything creates a tunnel vision but we can bypass it by organizing ourselves and scheduling a time for us to check our own art/story before release.

[Avonguardian]

Oh yeah, I often go back to do edits in my comic, usually only minor things, like spelling errors or forgot an essential detail.

I do need to get a better schedule but these are trying times indeed, thanks for the suggestion

[LouisWinter]

YES!!!!!!!!! I mean yes.