The Difficulty of Spreading Webcomics

[ben]

I actually haven’t found it super difficult to promote conics. We’re lucky to already be working in a visual medium.

What I used to do and still do on occasion was just draw daily strips. I would do them extremely quickly and I allowed myself to post even the ones I thought were garbage. Strips literally spread themselves on social media because they’re one of the few things people actually share. I’ve known people who start em and within a month they’re already getting fan art from strangers and hundreds of likes and retweets.

That’s not to say every strip is gonna be a hit. There is a format to them and you get better at them as you go and the good ones are the ones that are gonna take off.

I gradually started adding pages to strips and eventually they became little vignettes and that was an extremely good primer for getting people into my longer format stories. I had built up the audience, set them up for longer works, and now that’s basically all I do.

Also, you might not think that strips would help you develop skills that’ll translate well to longform but it absolutely does.

[joannekwan]

I think the challenge with strips though is boiling down a complete concept into just a couple of images. It has to be relatable to be very shareable, like Sarah's Scribbles, or if it's more esoteric, fit a certain brand of humor, like FalseKnees' birds.

The little luck I've had with strips is fancomics for IPs like Dragon Age and Overwatch. Since they use recognizable characters and there is implicit information about them already (their background/personality/etc.). You don't have to outwardly explain those things and can use that referenced knowledge as part of the joke.

[FroyoFighter]

start as early as possible, find some content (I use past sketchbook(s))

[DokiDokiTsuna]

Considering this, stand alone illustrations/images have the high ground in quickly grabbing one's attention.

As someone who does a lot of illustration (and actually prefers it to making comics) I'd like to add to this:

Yeah, it's probably easier to get someone to want to look at your art than to get them to want to look at your comic. But doing standalone art isn't exactly easy street either...especially when you're stuck in that 'middle ground', where people like your art but just not enough.

They'll request free things from you even when you explicitly ask them not to, but no one will actually buy anything from you (no matter how low your prices are...). They'll 'like' your art, but they won't share it with anyone or talk to anyone about you. Growing your audience becomes like pulling teeth, and if you feel like you're in a good place with your art style it just makes it worse, because then there's nothing you can really do to try to improve your situation.

That's why a little story every once in a while, comics included, actually helps a lot. Even something as small as a recurring OC that people will recognize can do a lot to help stave off stagnation, if you're not fortunate enough to be one of those miracle-tier artists that just happen to have exactly what the people want these days.

[ben]

I actually think fan comics are severely limiting the audience because the wonderful thing about strips is that if you just keep it simple it’s sharable amongst a wider margin on people. There’s a vast array of strips that are all wholly different and wildly successful so I wouldn’t be so quick to say it “has to be” one thing or another. The only thing it has to be is funny.

It is harder to do original content and have it work but the payoff is a lot higher and you learn a lot more about developing characters that readers have to know and understand quickly. And you won’t have to worry about folks abandoning your work when you do eventually start your own IP.

[JRHoch]

Webcomics might just be like writing poetry--the readership will always be small, and only a very few will get widely known and heralded. Forget about doing it to make money.

I have noticed that a lot quickly popular comics have come from artists who had existing fan bases, often from doing illustration work online. Fisheye Placebo is only one example of this. Sometimes I'll see a comic on Webtoon with only 1 page, a cover, and the creator already has 100 subs.

[Iris-Grimoire]

It's important to be consistent and memorable to get by, above all. Even if you do a mix of fan and original content, you can't just do what's popular and expect it to stick - but if you're the person that really likes to draw Hollow Knight, or has that funny looking OC, you stay in people's minds.

This is also why a lot of bigger artists say to do what you love, because that shows. If you just rely on following trends or drawing a thousand OCs expecting one to hit it off, you spread yourself too thin. Drawing for a franchise you really like or making a repeating cast of characters (which usually is what's happening in a comic already) is a big difference. Of course, if it only it were that simple, but it's a start.

Making promotional illustrations is a really good tip as well! Your comic might be 30 pages away from a cool action or emotional scene and you probably can't draw any faster without harming yourself - why not just draw your character fighting something in a single, much faster to finish picture? And even if you want to avoid spoilers, you can always draw something out of context or an AU for kicks.

[skicoak]

Well, here's a tangential question... we've really focused on vertical storytelling over the last year in our webcomic...then when we went to a mini-convention, we realized we had to push a product that could only be fully appreciated in a form that was hard to replicate outside of the form.

Same thing tends to pop up in other social media forms, vertical storytelling doesn't translate.

Anybody got a better work around than producing enough content for two different purposes?

[nostalgicroxas]

I actually think it might have a bit more to do with marketing. A friend of mine does novels and comics and is able to sell them. It's nothing like she's making bank from it, but she's able to attend conventions and shows to sell at. I'd like to stress that this is the kind of person who you would never see not doing something. Even when sitting in a hotel room at a convention to relax, she's literally talking to you while drawing her comic out as sketches and working and doing two things at once. http://www.s-kojika.com/about/

Yes, take commissions and advertise you're doing them, but you need to show people that you're always doing something and always being active. I mentioned it on another thread about Patreon needs to look alive even if you have 1 or 2 Patrons, or none. The same for dA, and I imagine instagram and tumblr aswell. If your portfolio you're showing people hasn't been updated in 1 month, 3 months, how likely are people to stick around?
@JRHoch - in regards to Fisheye Placebo, this is from an artist who clawed their way up from conventions and selling in Artist Alleys and shows. It's all working hard. If you look at their dA page (pretty sure they started there, I've been following them on there for like a decade it feels like), you'll see that they're just invested even through health hiatus's.

Lots of these "big" people have guides (Sacred's creator is one that comes to mind youtube here ) and information on how to make it. "Graphic Novels" might be a different sell than "webcomics" since the terminology holds water differently.

[BlueWorldComics]

That is a really interesting take. Where do you think would be a good place to post art and accumulate a following?

[GesuGesu]

I'm doing more of a fake "if these characters were real" kinda posts

I've been drawing on top of photos on my phone, but unfortunately Medibang mobile doesn't have the full blur filters that I use in CSP

[JRHoch]

Hey, I have no doubt it's about working hard. Many people think it's about working on the comic; the bulk of it might be the networking and marketing.

[joannekwan]

The only thing it has to be is funny.

Which is a hard thing to be for a lot of people in just a couple of panels.
Not everyone can be a comedy queen.
What's a person to do if they're into making serious, high-drama sci-fis? Or simply just don't want to write comedy?

[ben]

It’s very learnable and useful for writing in general.

But regardless it’s just a suggestion! And I don’t think it’s a bad one having seen it work often and seen it work for myself! Nobody HAS to do anything they don’t wanna I just wanna be helpful.

[BlueWorldComics]

It's definitely a skill you have to work on, IF you even care to work on it.For the first time in my life, I came up with a single panel political comic I think is pretty funny (pending) and I've been making comics for 16 years.

But to be fair to myself, my main series is more of a longform narrative-style, and I'm not focusing enough on any side projects to assess proper execution.

[DasIstWunderblyat]

Sweats nervously

Well, I apologize because I don't think I'm good at answering that (I'm not popular or successful, so I'm not qualified for an answer).

What people commonly use here: Instagram, Discord, Twitter, YouTube.

I think it's rather the combination and knowing each site's characteristics, strengths, weaknesses, and what to expect from it.

[BlueWorldComics]

Well, all things considered, that was a great, informative answer.

I'm a bit of a simpleton in regard to modern social media ("back in my day..." and all that). For one, I don't know what Discord even is lol (I guess I will look that up). For two, I already have a Twitter, do you think it's necessary to also have an Instagram?

[joannekwan]

Discord is basically an app in which you can create or join different servers that essentially act as chatrooms.

And I highly recommend Instagram. You can actually get your work seen with tags.
Twitter's tagging system when it comes to looking for art, or categorizing your own art posts, is awful.

[DasIstWunderblyat]

Instagram is helpful especially if you are more visual-oriented. The tagging system helps although the algorithm can be kind of shitty. Beware of art thief and reposters who sometimes give no credit, though; although it's never happen to me (my art is too ugly to steal) the regulation is somewhat crap.

Step one is to follow people you know and interact (liking, commenting, doing shout-out), the more you get engagement on post the more chance it get featured by algorithm. Use relevant and trending tags to gain more exposure, and tag people if necessary. Adding location can also help.

Instagram is moving on a fast pace, you need to post oftenly and consistently to get a following. Followers number often fluctuate and it's normal, some are bots or just people wanting to be followed, don't be disheartened if you're unfollowed out of sudden. Don't fall with follow for follow bullshit unless it's a friend or a trusted person, good chance they'll unfollow you as soon as you follow them.

Consider getting a business account for followers and engagement insight, it also can be connected to your Facebook page or you can claim a mew one.

[ble]

The reason i choose webcomics, is because my art is not good enough by itself (especially not on the level of Kuvshinov Ilya or many others i follow), so having a story and characters, it's a way to cover my amateur art. My art gets no praise, so i think people like me more as a writer ._.

So what i'm saying is that i'm not on a point that i will get any audience, just by my art alone.

Now, good art is not everything. I have seen someone on instagram that only makes b/w stick figure comics, yet still has a huge following on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chrishallbeck/ I'm gonna bet this person gets more followers by the relatable writting than the art aspect.