This thread is pretty amazing and it's really great to hear from a variety of people with different experiences.
@SeraphicMayin Wow. WOW. Thank you for writing this novel of insight and even inspiration. Well, I hope people do feel inspired by it since it is just very honest and encouraging to keep trying to improve the story of my comic. Though at this point, my comic's story is basically set in stone so I can't really change it without doing a massive overhaul (but I think the story is pretty good anyway).
@LordVincent I am incredibly sorry to hear you have felt that way. I don't think I ever contributed to it, but if I have, then I am sorry. I found your post also to be inspiring and moving forward I'm going to try and make sure I don't act that way to an artist just because they are popular.
I have also seen this behavior with an artist that I follow. Every time she posts an illustration, it gets TORN apart if there is something a bit off or if it isn't perfect (like I remember seeing a fanart of Mei from Overwatch where she was drawn thicc and had a tiny thigh gap and people LOST THEIR MINDS). Seeing and hearing about these things makes it a bit frightening at possibly becoming a popular artist someday.
Yeah, this is basically how I feel being someone who is sitting at 74 subs and waiting with anticipation for sub #75! And then it's only 25 more until the big 100!
It also doesn't help though when, and someone else talked a bit about this I don't know where the post is lol, Tapas and WT also only like a very specific type of comic so they don't really push comics that fall outside of it. I changed my comic to scroll format just for them, but even with that, the fact that my comic is black and white means it will never be highlighted/promoted in some way. My goal isn't even to be a premium creator since I'm not really interested in the webtoon style anyway, but it sucks that just not fitting into this tiny mold gives my comic a much lesser chance of succeeding.
I do believe the story matters a great deal, but we can't deny the visibility does help. I think someone also mentioned this, but back in the day with Smack Jeeves, two website redesigns ago, they had it where just updated was on the front page. During that time, my comic would almost ALWAYS get a new subscriber. Even though my art wasn't nearly at the level it is now, I easily had gained 100+ subs. I think my highest was 140-150ish. I would gain a new sub right after posting. Now, with a MUCH better story, much better art, I still struggle at 74 subs.
Though on WT I'm actually at like 120ish.