May 2016
19 / 99
May 2016
Oct 2016
BraveHeartTatsumaki
May '16

I'd never put hentai in my comic, I'd rather imply two characters did it but never show it, cause it's not the point of the story. Though if it's to show these characters as a couple they develop their relationship, then again I'll just imply, like those two are in the same bed, what could possibly happen there? :'u
I'd play with fanservice if the character it's a flirting one and it's using his/her "attributes" to attract the other one, but like, that would be all, and always keeping those things for especific situations, and never make them become more important than the plot.

mariusthered
May '16

interesting topic. and it's a bit of a flip coin..

I have already said "anything can happen in swipe city" but saying that there are a few things I would not do. Religion is one thing i tread very carefully around so if i did a story line that covered this topic it would be done most lightly. the other thing I would not do is very strong sex content. While I am happy to hit few grey areas, i don't want to do anything that will get my comic pulled after all the work I have done.

On the other hand covering taboo topics can sometimes allow people to see things from a different POV but as the saying goes it's not what you do....

Kura
May '16

Rewrite the story to include scenes that would cater to someone foot fetish or hiccup fetish (or whatever else it was that I can't remember). This is something that I have been asked to do a number of times too, just a PM with "hey do you think to could redo the scene for chapter 3 and include some ____ in it? It's my kink so it would make my day to see it in your webcomic"

End the series with the sad excuse shit plot twist of 'it was all just a dream'

Michelle
May '16

Wtf why do people think this is remotely ok? It seems to be really common behaviour on DeviantArt and I can't understand why people so rampantly push their fetishes onto others.

carloswebcomic
May '16
1

This is just a theory, but I'm pretty sure whoever makes art, comics, stories and puts them on the internet, rightly or not, becomes an entertainer. Someone doing art (if you feel inclined to call it that) for the benefit and amusement of others, hence the audience feel it is completely acceptable to request changes that fulfil their wants and desires.

That's my theory anyway.

AnnaLandin
May '16

It's funny you bring up titles, @carloswebcomic - I have a firmly held resolve to NEVER name a story after the good old classic fantasy-trope-y "The [Thing] of [Thing]"-formula. No The Sword of Truth or The Throne of Shadows or The Queen of Light or whatever in MY stories.

It's not a terrible thing to do, but having grown up reading a metric ton of fantasy - and browsing through bookstore shelves filled with even MORE - I just find it so very, very boring.

What else would I not do....

Grassblades has a lot of swordfighting, but you're never going to find me drawing excessive gore of the kind that depicts internal organs. Partly because I want to keep below the NSFW-limit, and partly because that sort of thing makes me feel a bit sick while drawing. Also, it would lead to some CREEPY browser-history if I tried to find useful reference photos.

You're also unlikely to see graphic sex-scenes in my work. Not out of any sense of morality/religion - it's just that I don't find it very interesting to draw. I'm on the asexual end of the spectrum - sex just isn't that interesting to me. I have no problem drawing nudity when the situation calls for it, but there probably won't be obvious sex-scenes.

Also, no prophecies unless I can reverse the trope and make it a prophecy so vague that EVERYONE misinterprets it and starts fighting about it and I get to write a story about internal religious politics, and NO LOVE TRIANGLES.

phen
May '16

Quickly? Plagiarism! Contribute to anti-diversity funds! Offer adds to Big Tobacco! Endorse American political candidates!

It's interesting that sex is the hot topic here. Censorship runs rampant but there's been amazing strides made to avoid such, especially in art. Self-censorship is another topic entirely but it's influenced by societal views. I wonder if this is tied to the (ill-conceived by my standards) notion that comics are not art? And particularly webcomics? When sex/sexual situations are depicted, it's often lewd or low-brow thus lending to this idea that it's simply an empty-minded indulgence.

But again, I totally understand that we MUST take our audience into consideration. The very community that builds our perspective will also be the community that we use to build our worlds. Integrity in one hand, viewer acceptance in another (catering aside).

When all's said and done, the thing I wouldn't do in my comic is break a character for an arc or a quick plot fix. The characters are so bloody important and it would be a travesty to change them against the grain of themselves.

carloswebcomic
May '16

Yeah, I'm a bit surprised at the widespread aversion to sex, although it could be a cultural thing.
I have no problem with fan service or sex scenes, but I do have a strong aversion to the glorification of violence and discrimination.

Each to their own I guess.

alaingrey
May '16

I think the only serious thing I wouldn't do is anything involving minors shown in a sexual manner. Other than that I think risky topics are important and that risking offending a few people on the Internet is worth it if it means you're saying a message important to you. Not included in this would be that your message is hateful. But being able to talk about sex or bad religious experiences or bad drug trips or anything else that probably offends a few people is important and I wouldn't ever want to not pursue any morally ambiguous topics.

Things I wouldn't do out of principle: any sappy romance movie cliches, any offensive token type characters, anything preachy....

Stupid small thing I wouldn't do: put a reference to popular culture without checking the date for it 20000000000 times

Michelle
May '16
AnnaLandin

Same here. The avoidance of sexual content isn't a morality or cultural thing, it's just completely uninteresting to me and I feel blatant sex scenes are often unnecessary. :u But it's hard for many to understand that point of view. Though it's good to have seen several other people around here feel the same.

gateofselidor
May '16

I will never draw characters who smoke. I think it's an awful habit, and I just couldn't enjoy drawing or writing a character who does it, nor do I want to promote it as an acceptable habit.

I won't depict most other kinds of drugs either. I might show characters drinking a little alcohol (but probably not to the point of getting drunk), and I might show characters using drugs for religious rituals if I felt it necessary, but generally speaking it's something I avoid.

Michelle
May '16
carloswebcomic

It depends on the kind of precedent you wish to set. If you're all about doing whatever your audience wants and have established yourself as such, by all means.

joannekwan(ง ˙o˙)ว here to help~
May '16

I won't ever depict rape, abuse, hard drug-use, bigotry, racism etc. etc. in a positive light.

I'm okay with most sexual things, but not those really niche fetishes like vore, cake-farting, anything to do with fecal matter, sounding, or anything that makes me cringe.

R.n.P
May '16

I mainly hate discrimination so I won't allow any of my characters to discriminate someone n let him live without a consequence.
THE LAST SAMURAI

noctuidae
May '16
  • no using rape to create dramatic/traumatic backstory. It seems to be used too often/poorly in fiction, and i think it would be good to keep myself from choosing the easy (and often offensive) plot point.
  • on that note im not going to depict explicit sex, partly out of being raised catholic and partly out of being asexual. i can draw nudity if doing anatomy studies, but the moment i have to show any character showing skin then i chicken out. :B
  • no dramatic love triangles.
  • wanna avoid having a clear split between the good/evil alignment. i'd prefer for all my characters to have a motivation for their actions, have something a little selfish about them and something a little redeeming about them. no characters purely to root for/hate on.

there's not too many things i would say i absolutely would not depict in a comic. i actually sometimes like being repelled, and a story being repelling just for the sake of being repelling is better than a story being repelling because the creator themself is repelling.

of course, the limitations depend on the kind of story being told. swearing, political intrigue, and copious blood and guts, while i'm not opposed to any of it, would look somewhat out of place with my current comic, whose protagonists are mainly children in a subdued society.

AnnaLandin
May '16

Same! It's unfortunate, but there are a lot of stories out there that romanticize abusive and controlling behaviour. I'm definitely trying to avoid that!

... is.. is this a thing? I had no idea.

purrlpankras
May '16

Fillers?

Obvious tropes and cliches, you can have words of power that aren't the obvious tropes, but it's very hard to make them.

Porn, that includes no weird fetishes you only see on Deviantart

And discrimination

@joannekwan ...Do I dare ask what Cake-farting is? lol

niinasalmelin
May '16

I'm not sure if I want to say there's something that will forever be off limits for me.

However I would make sure that if I ever pick up some shadier topic, I wouldn't downplay it in any means (like it wasn't that bad because they love each other now TEEHEE). Also like @joannekwan said about portraying racism, abuse etc. I don't like to see those things romanticized, which is what happens pretty often.

Also the pure evil vs pure good is something, like @noctuidae, I don't think I'll ever want to feature in my stories. Grayscale is something I like when it's about characters and their morals. I'm not saying it can't be done well, but it's not something I'm interested in making. At least for now.

I think most important is to be aware of things you put in to your comics and for what reason.

SpavVy
May '16

Things I'll never do in my comic:

I'll never mush two characters together just because they are being shipped.

I'm not going to spare a character just because a lot of people like them, if the character is destined to die in the story, then they are going to die.

Like Joannekwan, I won't depict rape, abuse, bigotry, racism and so on in a positive light.