What kind of fan base do you want?

[KoreanTacos]

I just generally like an audience that likes the work/content I produce because it's my thoughts and my life I'm sharing with people. I think one of the critiques I absolutely hate getting as a slice of life/comedy writer is "I don't understand this situation" and it'll be one of my strips about working at a grocery store/fast food, college, or just existential thinking. The subs I do have now are my favorite people because they take the time to understand what I'm thinking even if they don't agree with it.

I also want fans to feel like they can communicate with me as well I know that was one of the things I wanted to improve on with my work. I want people to feel it's ok to give an opinion on my strips and be an active role in what I do which is one of the reasons I'm starting an event in which my readers can follow me and submit requests I give them and it can appear in future works. I want them to have fun with my work is what I'm basically saying I guess, send me fan art, I love seeing my characters drawn in different styles, I love it when people make character request posts, I've gotten so many interesting character designs from various other artists that I love sharing with my subscribers.

So I got a little to excited writing all this, I''m going to stop it here. But I hope you guys know where I'm going with here.

[keii4ii]

I want people to GET my characters. To truly understand their motives, etc. I want them to truly understand what's driving them and why they act the way they do, even if they don't necessarily support their actions.

And I want that understanding to matter to them. I can relate to this:

Not in a "I WANT TO MAKE PEOPLE CRY B/C THEY FEEL FOR THEM" sort of way, just... having opinions about these people, as people.

Basically that, but add the whole understanding thing to it and that's what I want.

I mean, hopefully there will be people who love my characters? But love without understanding wouldn't be as meaningful.

I also want people to express that understanding, so I can see whether it's happening, and to what extent. If no one says anything about it, how am I to know?

[punkarsenic]

obviously i every so often daydream about a fanbase, but overall im not that interested in that? its uncommon for webcomics to gain a Fandom, capital F (i can think of maybe three examples?) and theyre extremely stressful anyway.

that being said, if TWAW did develop a fanbase, id want it to be a... mature one? ideally like, a diverse fanbase of gay girls who love and appreciate cath as much as i do. i can understand people leaning towards relating to balor, because its from her POV so theres more of her but i worry about the mistreatment of darker characters. thats my responsibility too though; i have to make sure i treat cath (and characters to come) right.

[JKNNKL]

you know actually even if i turn out to have. fanbase that just draws tentacle xxxx fanart of my characters 24/7...i'd probably still be happy...to actually have a fanbase...#lowstandards

[indagold]

Any type of fanbase would be nice. Just please for the love of god don't become corrupted and draw fucked up porn or try to start a witchhunt over politics like every single fanbase out there.

[GesuGesu]

BL fangirls/fanboys??????

[joannekwan]

A kind and respectful one.

Like sometimes I wish I had as many fans as Snipster who not just comment the hell out of her episodes but also shower her profile wall constantly with fanart and nice messages but I recall some months ago some readers started some discourse and a shit-storm happened and Snipster had to write a lengthy post defending her work on her tumblr.

As nice as it would be to have so many readers, that many more eyes on your work will eventually bring that many more opinions. :/

[azureXtwilight]

I really want to have people who makes theories, and the ones who ship. Having shippers is a personal goal imo :') I think the last one is achieved.

[ryoko]

I'm happy that people are enjoying what I'm posting and I'm happy drawing and telling my story. The fanbase I have is awesome. They all have great comments that either help me improve or they contribute fun thoughts on what's happening on a page and I make a point to reply to each of them. So, I guess I already have the fanbase that I want? ^_^

[SpavVy]

All I want is a fanbase that isn't full of toxic people that bully others so bad that it drives them to attempt suicide.
(I'm looking at you Steven Universe fanbase)

Other than that I don't really care what kind of fanbase I have as long as people are kind to one another.

[ahhvecadoes]

I'd like a fanbase that's invested in the characters as well as the lore built into the story! I don't have a huge mystery being solved, but I do think that the hints I'm going to drop about the demons' world will be fun for people to speculate on how things are run, who's in charge, different origin stories, etc. If the fanbase asks, I'll make certain tidbits public or make one shots about certain characters' pasts, but I'd like to see that involvement in headcanons.

[Mocha]

I'm not sure what kind of Fandom I would want, but I do know what I don't want to happen.... I'm really hoping that in the future when I actually get around to posting my comics that I don't get a following that's obsessed w shipping all the characters together since romantic relationships are not the focus of any of my stories. Though I have a bad feeling that this is probably going to happen anyways since my main story has a few important male/male and male/female (platonic only) friendships going on between the main characters.

[Herofeeder]

one that is constantly offended but still come watch my comics...to spice it up a little

[JoichiChan]

@Zetsubonii Cool, I love the way Alex Hirsch writes the mysteries in the series, using visual tricks and easter eggs. How do you plan in showing mysteries in your comics? A good idea I thought is colored comics benefit from this and camera angles?

For me as creator of Lavender Tea`, I'd love readers to say they enjoy/get inspired by my stories. It takes place in our world, so it reflects life not fantasy. The atmosphere is similar to something like: Petgirl of Sakurasou or Little Busters (crazy cast + underlying depth) while I want to keep ships open-ended for now. I like fans to have freedom, OTP fanart and so on.

I had some lovely fanart from wonderful friends. such as JD Benefield (thank you):
I'd like to see my book in print and meet new fans at cons. To get fans, I believe, you gotta work hard for that!

[MissMagicGirl]

@miesmud I really agree with you I am always happy when people ship my characters since I am pretty good at shipping characters from other comics myself

[MissMagicGirl]

When it comes to Magic Advisor I appreciate all kinds of readers. Shippers, theorists... ALL KINDS! As long as people read my stuff and enjoy it I am happy

[gosunkgugi]

I want a bunch of people who complain about every aspect of my comic, but for some reason keep coming back and reading every new page. That's loyalty.

[JoichiChan]

oh man... same here, buddy. That evil side of tumblr... shivers

I think comic fanbase takes a long time to grow, you have to go through self-promote, even weeks of empty days before appreciation.

[Michelle]

My fanbase has been pretty swell so far :> They're a respectful bunch and I appreciate it.

I like when my readers are willing to come along for the weird, twisted ride and not try to pick everything apart right off the bat. It's a mystery comic, so I encourage theorizing! But if you're the type who wants solid explanations right away, you'll probably be frustrated.

[niinasalmelin]

Theory folk! There's few of them already so I'm quite happy about that I really like to interact with them so it's great when readers feel like commenting and giving their input.