The One Punch Man excuse

[smokesalty]

I've been thinking about this since I saw a thread on twitter comparing One's webcomic artstyle to the manga. Here's the thread: https://x.com/ROCKSDZORO/status/1740746546940133525?s=20

And I was thinking to myself, "I feel like I've heard a lot of people say that a comic's artstyle doesn't matter too much, using One's art as an example."

Here's the conclusion I came to when looking at One's artwork: The guy is incredibly good at making comics. He has good compositon, layout and pacing. He knows how to make what's happening clear, and how to frame the most important elements so that it draws the viewer's eye in. Hell, I think he does a better job with some of the panels and comedic elements in his style than the manga. And looking at the manga, there really doesn't seem to be drastic changes in how he's laid it out, it mainly makes the art look professional. (And I personally find One's style quite charming!)

And another thing to point out- one's work is an exception, not the rule. I see people saying that they don't have to worry about their art turning down readers because "look at One!" But really, I think one is so successful because his style fits the genre he's writing for (comedy) and he has a very good grasp of comic making. His work is readable and enjoyable. Even still, there are people who will not read the webcomic because the art is amateurish. And we can't discount the fact that the webcomic getting turned into a professional looking manga has helped the comic succeed drastically.

I'm not talking about comic creators who are starting out and doing it for fun, more of the "why can't I get readers" crowd. There's a lot that goes into making comics, and just kinda looking to One's work as to why your comic will be a big success even with issues with comic fundamentals is just ehhh to me. It kinda screams to me that the person doesn't understand why One's work is successful, instead pointing to it as an excuse. Criticism sucks but it's important!

Short ramble done.

[vapidink]

Yep, back when I read the original webcomic all I heard was how bad it was, but it was actually pretty well done! I remember thinking the fight scenes in particular were really well composed and clear, even when there was a lot going on. One's art always felt like a rough sketch of a well-structured comic. He doesn't have the art skills of Murata, but, like you said, he does have solid technical skills.

[Chronomel]

Exactly. Comics are a visual medium and the art is used to tell the story just as much as the text. If the art doesn't matter, why not just write a novel?

[ButterflyEmpress]

Another thing that annoys me about the One example is that he's the only example. No one ever gives a long list of successful stories from other amateur artists, it's just One. Nor do we get perspective from readers expressing that the art quality isn't that important. If you go on the Webtoon subreddit, which has mostly readers, they are honest about their feelings towards art quality and style. While readers admit that they are less likely to read a story with subpar art, they do expect good art to be backed up with good writing.

[Lensing]

I agree and a novel with bad or not fitting cover artwork will also fail.

[llobucervallince]

I think that the punch man author is a great thumbnail artist for those exact reasons.
The composition is great, and do is the pacing and paneling, as you said, which helped in the remaking.
I feel is something similar as a storyboard artist and the complete animation artists, one set the mood pacing and composition, the other makes sure to make the best out of those drawing to complete the project.

But then again, the reason I started my comic, among others, is to improve on all the drawing skill I can, character and background design, composition, storytelling, color, expressions. It's all about analysing and figuring or what works better, not just drawing whatever and keep going.

So yeah sure, you're not good at drawing, but if you're going to do it, you could try to better each time, so that you don't have to use that excuse.

[llobucervallince]

Wait wasn't the original manga of mob 100 also kinda bad in the art?
Hol up let me

Yeah this one's also not really beautiful when it comes to the art, but again, the paneling and pace, that's without the beautiful story, makes it entirely worth it.

[thepenmonster]

I'm glad people recognise that One is, well, just one.

People also forget that One already had connections in the industry. They didn't simply fall from Heaven and wowed everyone into making a professional version of their comics.

[DNoble]

People often forget that being good at drawing and being good at making comics are not the same skillset. There's a good amount of overlap, but you can be good at one without the other, and it's not just down to writing.
There's a ton of extremely skilled illustrators out there who make garbage comics because they don't understand how to lay out pages, lead the eye, compose for dialogue, or create flow.
Regardless of his technical drawing skill, One is extremely good at making comics.

[daniporf]

I was thinking a lot about this myself.
I just published my first episode to a short 4-panel comedy webcomic. It's deliberately badly drawn, and that's because it's how i conceived it in my head and i can't envision it in any other way.
But that was my main fear of posting it online. Getting hate for being "bad" or "not even trying".
It's also very simple-looking and i might get compared to other artists or even accused of plagiarizing their style.
Still, like One, I couldn't shake the feeling that I had to put it out there, so I did.
I totally understand being upset at 'incompetent' (though that's probably a harsh word to describe it) people, especially when you put a lot of work in your own stuff. But people should be allowed to be bad as well.
Of course, they shouldn't expect to be given the same response as hardworking artists...But free and effortless self-expression should be allowed to exist. Just my two cents.

[Lensing]

Free nd effortless self expression is allowed to exist.

But people use examples like OPM or other successful comics to
make a point that either art style doesn´t matter or that storywriting doesn´t matter.
And that´s just an excuse and also not true. Story and art matters

[daniporf]

not disagreeing with that. both things are definitely important.
especially if you plan to be paid for it at some point. you have to give some value to people.
i'm just saying that in some situations it's ok to be bad. to not be great at storytelling, or have a defined art style.
as long as you own up to it and expect nothing from it, it's okay.

[Lensing]

It´s all okay, I enjoy a lot of comics which are really primitive in art or story telling
and there are just endless ways to do it

[DiegoPalacios]

True, One's webcomic nails certain aspects like composition layout and pacing. And while some stories may have a simpler art style as a creative choice, it's important to point out that no matter the style, one needs to make it look appealing.

Some successful comics like captain underpants have simplistic styles, but the cases that work happen because the character designs are expressive and appealing, they know about how to make a clean composition and the style matches the tone of the story.

[Innocynce]

Ya gotta point: I had a friend who actually had a decent story and was good at comedy; and directly said her inspiration was One Punch Man.. It fit; her style and story was different or course, but from what I saw, it fit..

On the DARK side; yeah people can try to hide behind it..but not everyone wants to do that..or are aware they are

For instance: UBERNATURA was a comic at first, and some of its inspiration was One Punch. Unfortunately, people would STOMP on the comic whenever they saw my art, so I quickly realized I shouldn't bring up OPM help inspire it, because they'd think I was using it as a excuse, when in actuality: it took a horrific amount of planning and the story was so deep that things I'm learning just now can and should be added in it.. Nobody will see past the art style though, which is why it's a novel now