Will draw cover art/fanfic of your comic! + need advice on reader preferences

[katie99]

Hello everyone! Hope you all are doing well

Before you go on to read this long post, I'd like to offer anyone who gives me their advice a cover art for your webtoon (you absolutely don't have to pay anything) or even a fanfic if you already have one! Please reply here so I can keep tract

I'm an artist who has drawn for some webtoons under different writers (can't specify since the contract binds me T=T) but now (thankfully haha) those are over and for once, I'd like to make something on my own. I feel oddly excited and indecisive. Had been dreaming about a few stuff since I was in middle school, and now I'm almost finishing undergraduate college; so many years have passed shelving those while I tried to improve my drawings and get a better grip on webtoons working for writers.

So, I have a few ideas which are vastly different from each other, and the problem is that I would be equally invested in any one of them since they're literally like my babies, but I have to choose the firstborn ToT
I still (somehow) shortlisted 2 of them:

1. Slice of Life/Romance/Fantasy (think Your Name anime?) - follows a tight group of 3 friends with supporting characters across junior to senior high of school, includes a love triangle of course, will have some fantasy elements at the very end of the story (and maybe hints in the middle), but is mostly ground reality overall, focusing on adolescence/coming-of-age struggles - psychological, physical, everything you can think of - and a lot of character developments. Very easy to relate to and grasp the gravity of things, based on a lot of personal experiences of various real life incidents.

2. Action/Romance/Dark Fantasy (think Attack on Titan) - follows, again, 3 main characters with a lot of focus on supporting characters, but these 3 are unrelated to each other mostly, presenting different sides of an ongoing war. The 3 meet at points, and there's again a very painful love traingle, of course, but this is literally trivial to everything else happening around. Realistic-kind of fantasy elements will be there throughout, but definitely not magic or overkill, rather subtle. Immense character development involved.

Tried to explain without explaining too much :')

One thing common in both will be a quite strong and important main female lead, as in mentally apt, who absolutely does not fall head over heels for some guy thing, but is rather a human with realistic emotions like contempt and love and insecurities, while also struggling with her inner demons. She will NOT be overly beautiful or extravagant, since my inspiration lies in Shinkai's and Miyazaki's females. I want the story to touch normal, real people, and change the way they look at life, maybe even if a little.

Quite ambitious you would say! xD But I really, really want to start on this journey, even if someone tells me it is doomed to fail. Now the real question lies in what you would like to read! Perhaps not any of them? ToT
Still, I need your absolute opinion on this. What your perception is and how you feel about the story from whatever little I've given you, to please help me start SOMEWHERE. Since it's not realistically possible to draw both at the same time... HELP ME CHOOSE

Also, my art style will follow probably more of a cinematic anime vibe than a webtoon manwha, do you think that might be a problem? o_O

Some examples of my previous work:

[moontokkym]

I personnally prefer dystopias and characters growing through turmoil and the like so with the minimal info you've given us i'd prefer your second option, but I will say that in general romantasy appeals to a wider audience AND an audience that is more used to reading a lot in that genre with voracity. I like your colour schemes though and your style lends itself more to classic romance, i'd be curious what it would look like for something darker. As for "cinematic style", i don't think you have to worry. I'd say my style of rendering is a bit of an outlier too, certainly not anything close to classic webtoon (it takes too long for that lol), but my comic still does pretty ok for how much I update it, even on webtoon. Just concentrate on making a good story.

I'm not sure if by "no overkill" you mean less violence than AOT, because a massive part of AOT is that they live in a cruel violent world where hope is scarce and tomorrow isn't promised and how that can make cruel people.

Again I can only go on my basic personnal preference because the details are very vague in your descriptions so I'm not sure of the actual vibe you're going for. I just tend to like stuff where there's a bit more external pressure on the characters.

(Also just advice, don't call women and girls "females" when speaking about humans. "Female characters" or female as an adjective can be ok but it sounds kinda dehumanising when you use it as a noun, especially if you're going for romance where readership is overwhelmingly comprised of women. It can make some people lose trust that you understand women as people because of the types of people online who call women "females")

[Rob012]

Well, to begin with, you have to realize that the people who regularly post on this forum are usually creators, not the bulk of readers who frequent Tapas, who are mostly women ranging from their teens to around 25. So, you have to take the feedback you get here with a grain of salt.

That said, take a look at Tapas’s homepage. You’ll see that the vast majority of webcomics are manga/mahwa style, and they’re usually romance-based, regardless of their appearance.

Now comes the decision: Do you want to be part of the crowd and play it safe, creating a webcomic that doesn’t particularly stand out but gets steady, moderate numbers, or take a risk and build an audience?

We all like idealistic talk, but I find it dishonest to tell you to blindly pursue your dreams. Look, I’ve done it, and so far it hasn’t gone well for me, but I’ll keep trying because I’m stubborn (and honestly, I don’t have anything better to do), but I wish someone had warned me back then not to get my hopes up so high right from the start.

As for my personal opinion, your work looks good, very good actually. You make a good first impression, and that matters a lot in webcomics. If you can maintain that quality with a fast workflow, I think you’ve got a shot.

[kyupol]

In my honest opinion, I prefer the 1st option. But then again, I'm part of the older crowd here on this site. I'm male, in my 40s, work 45 to 60 hours a week at a metal shop. Not much time to draw or read webtoons.

The younger crowd may prefer the fantasy option, I understand. When I was younger, my OCs and storylines I created were filled with fantasy elements, fighting, and the whole power scaling idea. Influenced by yuyu hakusho, DBZ, and other shonen anime.

And BTW I love your art style. Keep it that way. Just my 2 cents.

And if you want to do cover art or write a fanfic since you mentioned it, here's my recent work:

Read AngHell Dela Blackpill | Tapas Web Community

Wishing you the best

[abigaillmartin]

Yeah I’m of the younger group of this server. Early 20s. And I gotta say, your style is awesome! And I’d say with the story, if you enjoy writing it and it makes you happy, I’d say whatever you choose, go for it. You could write both if you wanted! Hehe! ️ but if I had to choose I think I would read the darker toned one. Out of what I’m feeling right now. And apparently right now I’m feeling something with action.

If you want to draw a cover, here are some references my Houdini (yes, the magician) story “Bound to be Together” It’s set in 1912 and it’s an alternate universe where my self insert and this alternate version Harry have a family.

I need to draw another family portrait

(Miss Martin)

Here’s the real guy for reference too:

And the logo it’s really nice

I really hope this project goes well for you. Whatever you decide makes you happy. That’s the beauty of art isn’t it? ️

[katie99]

Thank you so much for your advice. And yes, coming from a non-native english speaking background, I should revise my use of certain terms Thanks for pointing it out though!

[katie99]

Aha, I certainly did not take the Tapas forum crowd type into consideration. But nonetheless, I definitely respect everyone's opinions the same, so it matters!

Thank you so much for your positive words! Now I'm feeling it

[DrizDew]

Hi there, to me personally, the second story sounds more interesting. It has a clear storyline and fits into a niche of shonen/shoujo mix, which would resonate with a lot of female readers on this platform. But it is also the more risky to pick out of the two of them. As someone who has been on tapas for a long time, the first story sounds like it has the potential to become more popular quickly, as the target audience on tapas are young female readers, who follow episodic romance stories rather than complicated storylines. Both stories feature a strong female main character, so that's a good starting point for both of them, and your style looks appealing and would fit with both ideas as well. If I were you, I would still publish the second story, because it fits my taste more, but that's just me

I think in the end it comes down to what you prefer or what you feel more comfortable with. What suits your current level and which story you would rather keep in the backlog and improve while learning during own your publishing journey. If you ever do comic commissions again, you can always send me a message btw, as I am always looking for artists and I really like your style

[katie99]

Thank you so much. Please do not think that you are not valuable in any way because of your age/background I do get your point though. Thanks again for the hype!

I'll dm you to discuss about the cover art!

[katie99]

Hello! I'm in the same age group as you, that makes two of us, haha. Thank you so much for your opinion! I'm glad we young people still like some adventurous/action romance stuff, because I found very few of those on the frontlines of Webtoon and Tapas.

I'll dm you about the cover art, though I hope you won't mind my artstyle since it is completely different I'll try my best though!

[katie99]

Thank you so much for your observations about the small snippet I tried to write about the storylines. I understand the risk part of it - definitely, which is why I'm in a big dilemma Both stories are very close to me. Do you think I should publish the prolouge of both of them and then ask for review?

Thank you so much for the art appreciation!

[abigaillmartin]

It’ll be so cool dude! I love to see other people’s interpretations of my characters and stuff. I have great confidence you’ll do very well. ️

And if you want to dm me somewhere else I have Instagram, discord and tumblr
It’s just the inbox on this thing kinda sucks and it doesn’t notify you when someone DMs you for some reason.

Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/cila_17_?igsi=dzhwbTRxdHhwc3Uy&utm_source=qr

Tumblr (I have two accounts)
cila-17
thathandcuffqueen

discord
Cila-17

[Red_Dog]

To me the second option is more interesting with just what you told us about your story ideas.
I'm a horror fan who makes a horror/comedy comic so I more attracted to dark subject matter.
But do which ever one you're the most excited to do.
I think your artstyle will help you do well on this site. Your art is very good so don't worry on that front.

[katie99]

Couldn't find you on dc, followed on Insta!

[abigaillmartin]

Oof maybe if I put in my other thingy

cila17

Cila-17 is my display name

But thank you but try that too

[DrizDew]

You could definitely post the prologue on forums or ask friends about reviews, but I wouldn't publish both of them on tapas at the same time. If both series are getting readers, you will have to let some of them down, if you can't manage publishing both series at the same time.
If it's just about the risk though, I'd say, go for it, otherwise you will never know what you could have achieved~ And no problem~ Could I send a DM about the cover too or are your slots for requests filled by now?

[katie99]

Thank you so much for your insight! Gave me a lot of confidence to go for the 2nd option :")

[katie99]

Yes, you are indeed right about that
Maybe I should make a difficult choice, afterall.

You are very welcome to DM me regarding the cover! I may not be able to do it in 24 hrs but I'll surely give you something

[abigaillmartin]

It’s okay. Take all the time you need

[moontokkym]

No problem! I make that sort of mistake all the time in French, that's why I ask for help translating i did assume it was a nuance of a second language rather than anything in your attitude, don't worry

I realise you might be interested to have a look at my comic since I mentioned the artstyle thing, it's here if you want ^^

Read Petrichor | Tapas Web Community

Good luck with your series, whichever you end up choosing :3