Sep 2022
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Sep 2022
Oct 2022
darthmongoose
Sep '22
RedLenai

Yeah, it's a weird thing. Some readers get very angry if a character doesn't have strong gender presentation perfectly in line with their gender identity.
It's almost like they need to know the gender of a character first, so they can decide up-front things like: "Can I allow myself to think this character is cute/hot, or should I manage and suppress my feelings to make sure I only categorise them as cool/aspirational?"

It's like... "Mate... it's a drawing. If you're horny about the drawing, you're horny about the drawing. Your weird hangups about your sexuality are none of my business. I'm not going to make her more femme-presenting just to assuage your terror at your attraction to a lady who has some boyish elements to her presentation bringing you close to the realisation that you might actually be a bit more attracted to men than you want to admit to yourself."

A lot of people would be a lot happier and a lot cooler if they just acknowledged that they're a little bit Bi/Pan and that it's pretty normal and very commonplace, and just freaking chilled out a bit. :sip:

kyupol
Sep '22

That I glorify school shootings. Even if it's obviously villains that do it and justify it.

smokesalty
Sep '22
2

My comic hasn't been out for too long, but I have a few:

I have people being like "BuT only female mosquitos can drink blood!! :supicious_stache:" every now and again. Buddy, I'm drawing a humanoid mosquito, realism is the last thing on my mind rn.

People have looked at mozzie man's design and been like "sorry, he looks like a mosquito :sweat:" WDYM sorry that's the point of the design?? Some people think he's a bird for some reason.

IndigoShirtProd
Sep '22
darthmongoose

I've never gotten like, an angry critique about this, but have had multiple comments in the past talking about or asking if a few male characters of mine were actually women. At first I was like, "oh no, did I not draw them masculine enough?" But then I realized, no they're fine the way they are and it shouldn't really matter anyway.

SoftWonderBun
Sep '22

Honestly don't know if it was intentionally a critique but I had someone tell me they liked one of my illustrations even though 'it was ugly/his face was ugly'. It's been some years so I don't exactly remember which it was. I did not take it well...But we eventually came to a mutual understanding and apology. Very strange encounter... :rofl:

ilesarki
Sep '22

The strangest critique I've recieved was when I offered my comic to be shown in a comic book gallery exhibition but they didn't want it, only reason given was that "it's not good enough, there is just something missing". Another one was when last year I tried to pitch my comic, the first full-lenght story to be specific, to publishers in a comic book pitching event, and while they didn't reject my comic outright and will take a year to decide what pitches to choose if any, they still were like "we're not sure can this comic be published outside your hometown since it's story is inspired by local legends and ghost stories". While that is true, I myself don't see how that would be a problem, it's not required to know these legends before hand or be interested in them, I've just wanted to utilize them in my stories and they aren't always the main focus, most of the things (the characters, the story, the setting) I've completely made up myself.

DualDragonsMaster of Yeet
Sep '22

Hmmm I don't think I really got any strange critiques. Webcomic aside, yeah people mistake Danivere for a guy sometimes due to her spiky short hair and her small breasts.

thecrystalrook
Sep '22

I once had someone jump in and tell me how much they loved my story and thought it was great (there was a free promo opportunity on the line for the person if they read a few episodes of mine). A month later, they gave me "critique" in which they said they refused to take my story seriously and I quote, "didn't give a shit about it" because the description had a note that alerted the reader that it was a manga series and should be read from right to left. I then got a lecture on how manga just means comic book in Japanese and how the language works. I've been speaking Japanese since 2007.

Awesomeness_Studios
Sep '22

People have told me my comic is very fast paced, but it's usually a good thing. One time, someone said it negatively, but then again they were probably trying too hard to remember every characters' names despite not being important to understanding the story (their first mistake).

Stargazer31
Sep '22

Not a critique, but somebody once asked if Baldr was a femboy, which is an excellent (if inaccurate) observation

Lady_T_Musings
Sep '22

I've received a lot of feed back on my work, usually from one extreme to the other, but the weird stuff isn't as common I'll admit. Some that stick out are:

"The way you draw hair is unrealistic." He was talking specifically about how I stylize afro texture hair.

"Your men don't look like men. They are too pretty." This was in college, can't remember the specific target, but I did/do like playing around with hair and clothes despite gender norms so aye.

LCT_m_a_d
Sep '22

Someone told me a few months ago that my artwork will never really reach people because I don't express enough depression pain and suffering into my fineart.

The upside was I received the critique a week after getting accepted into an up-coming featured cultural art show.
2

BoomerZ
Sep '22

Was told that my main character look is very cringe but they liked the dialogue and wanted to see where the story went. Didn't know if should be happy or sad at that review...

GumshoeComix
Sep '22

one I've gotten before a few times (and this wasn't on Tapas at all) was "it's too cartoony"
and it always baffles me because yes they are cartoons.

LCT_m_a_d
Sep '22

Sometimes I'm grateful I never got to experience life as a full-time artist. :sweat_smile:

To be fair, they never said it's bad.
"Irrelevant" more or less.

liaroger
Sep '22

I've posted art WIPs and been told to ... Do exactly what I'd been doing without being told if I'm doing it wrong somehow or what I'm doing wrong. :smiley:
(Specially, I was told to treat my light sources as light sources and since there was already a considerable amount of lighting done and the moody lighting was kind of the whole point of the piece it just left me wondering if I was somehow unknowingly doing it so wrong you couldn't tell my lighting was, in fact, lighting.)

ShidoDraws
Sep '22
1
thecrystalrook

That's actually a funny critique. Someone gave me a similar critique on my comic as well cause I did tell readers to read right-left as well. They got pissed at me and said something similar.

I'm not Japanese, I've just always read manga as a kid up until now and because I like Japanese comics I would want to make something I feel comfortable reading. After all that's kind of what everyone's doing, right. Making their comics in scroll format. Like no one is going to pull out a scroll to read your comic, also everyone ain't Korean or Chinese. If it were up to the ethnicity then I think people are a little less open minded than they think they are.

But yeah. Haha!

margodraws
Sep '22

idk, obviously in both your cases there's no call for the person giving the critique to be rude. But, I think pointing out that a comic's reading direction doesn't make sense for the language it's written in... is a very normal and sensible point to bring up.

thecrystalrook
Sep '22

You can have an opinion on someone's choice in reading direction. That's not the issue here. The issue is when they go unhinged over it.