Would having a predominantly animal cast at the start of your comic turn people off?

my current project wound up being one with more animal like characters than humans but honestly to see it wouldn't bother me at all. i think the issue is more to do with the weird stigma folks sometimes have with animal comics or furry content in general (even tho we were watching tons of shows with animal characters as the protags and overall cast as kid)

but it shouldn't be an issue especially given i know there's some very prominent comics here on tapas whose cast are all/mostly animals. just a few off the top of my head i can think of

• sam davies comics stutterhug and words and creatures
• samantha whiten's gamercat (which includes human but the cats are the focus)
• absurdity
• gesugesu's phantom theif
• simon's comic weirdogs
• laid in lavender
• sheharzad's interstellar cat crew
  and what i think had been pretty big in it's heyday
• Ducky's Animal Court

like speaking from a similar position i wouldn't change a thing since it's what i feel suits my comic. there may be instances of humans showing up later down the line given the overall world i'm writing isn't strictly animal it's just one of several races but the focus just so happens to be on these animal people. just because some folks are weird about furry/anthro comics isn't gonna detract me it's just a matter of readers or potential readers getting over their own hangups and being able to see the comic for what it is

I do feel I have lost some subscribers because of my animal village I focused on. I assume that I have a similar case, at least people didn't leave because my story was boring. Hehe. I'd feel more sad about that.

I don't think so. There's been a shift in the mainstream with anthromorphic animal casts. Like even now in theaters there's The Bad Guys, and Paws of Fury which will be coming out soon.
Besides that in the past a good chunk of the animated feature films would feature animal casts.

People on the internet just suck in general so ignore them and make what you want.

Yes - what Nathan said.

Make it for you. Don’t worry about the people who won’t read it because of XYZ - go with your gut and what makes you happy.

I would love to see more animal casts in comics, especially in story-driven ones! TToTT Even putting aside the weird hangups some people have about "furries" (as if anthro characters can't exist outside of that realm and haven't done so for centuries...) people, at least on this forum, tend to unfairly associate animal characters with goofy kid stuff.

When I do use animal characters, I don't do it because I have a younger target audience in mind, I do it because animals are cute and make for fun character designs and worldbuilding. I'm still taking my murder and torture and kidnapping plots just as seriously as I do when I write with more humanoid characters...

I know it's not really my place to say this, but...please don't. ^^; I mean, if you really think your characters would look better that way, then by all means; but if you're only considering it in order to placate a potential audience, I don't think it's worth it.
Do you know how many millions of fantasy characters there are out there that are basically just "human, but with tail" or "human, but blue and with horns"?? And of course, 'human, but with pointy ears' is in almost every single modern fantasy story in existence...
In short: we don't need any more! >_< It just breaks my heart to see someone on the verge of throwing away something that could be unique and interesting in favor of 'Generic fantasy character design #55604836'.

That's always a danger whenever you try to do anything unique, unfortunately. ╯︿╰ And honestly, if you think your potential comic could be more popular if all the characters were just the dragon-equivalent of catgirls, I wouldn't blame you for going with that art direction.

HOWEVER, I think one way to avoid people simply refusing to connect with your non-human characters at first glance is to just go all in on the art style. Invest your time in making your characters look too cool and inviting to ignore.
For instance, I don't think anyone would look at these two and decide they're just 'too weird' to be interesting:

For the record, this is Junta (bird guy) and Tinchai (deer girl) from Maple Story 2...and even before the game shut down, I was so mad at how underutilized they were. The first time I saw Tinchai was basically as a cameo in a dungeon event, and immediately I wanted to know more about her and where she came from. Junta's later arrival only added to that curiosity.

Was this due to the fact that they were two of only three major anthro characters in the entire game? Yes...but was it also due to the fact that they look magical and cool and fantastic and cute and they have fun personalities?? Hell yes. ^^

So true!! And besides, the original Drachenseele designs are already great. I'd keep it that way.

And about that whole pigeonholing thing as "only doing animal characters"? What about those people who only do human characters? I think that's even more limiting. But, because most artists seem to only do humans, no one says anything about that.

So yeah from one non-human artist to another, don't redesign your characters just to fit the status quo. You might find a unique audience of people who'd rather read about fluffy dragon animals. I know I would.

just do what you want i did all my main Mc's are non human charcters as is the main villian .(though he is more humanoid)

Come to think of it, there aren't many prominent webtoons with furry animal characters outside the realms of comedy. I say go for it and be an outlier! I personally love your designs and would check out your comic based on that alone.

There are lots of successful mainstream works that have animals as their main cast or as a core aspect of their setting.

So, no, this won't turn people off.

Maybe it turns older people like me off but I think in general it can be very popular

@DokiDokiTsuna says it right. Go all in & do it confidently. In fact your character design is very catering to younger readers in a good way.

I also once worried that general readers may not like my character designs and thought that at least anthro/furry lovers would look into it. What did I do differently afterwards? Nothing. I underestimate the readers' wide range of taste. Embrace the nakedness.

I'm pretty sure it's a turn off for some...mostly because of the degenerate side of Furry fandom.
Many reasons people avoid creations.
For example.. being monochrome. Or like anime fans who think all western animation is crap and vice versa....much like people who don't watch foriegn films with subtitles or old b&w films.
Wouldn't worry about it to be honest. Just create the world you envision. Can't please everyone!

Mind if I share one of my favorite comments placed on my anthro series (because it sums up a lot of points here):

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No matter what, some people are going to have a bias toward something in your comic. And yeah, Anthro can be a definite "no" from some people and merely a hesitation with others (and a "hell yes!" from others too). It's the writing or art (or both) that are going to pull you across the finish line with readers.

Every comic has limitations on its fandom. So I wouldn't let that stop you from making the comic you want to make.

But, this isn't your first rodeo either. You have comics out there. You have readers. But if you want to branch out and see if you can pick up new readers- why not try an experiment? You can always do a poll featuring concept art in both styles (as long as you can live happily with either style) and see what more people are attracted to.

No matter what, always stay true to yourself. Your base (both future and current) loves you for you. But if you could do either style happily- why not try something new if that's where the winds are blowing you. Blind adherence to your preferences might just be navel-gazing... but it might also be exactly where you need to be.

If you're up to letting other people dictate where your style should go, I would suggest doing a poll here and getting more eyes on it in general to better inform your decision.

If you have one style you really want to do, do that (your heart will attract other hearts).

It may be a touch skeptical-sounding, but my day job is making beer packaging and I often do the same job in 3 different styles before we land on a winner. And sometimes something that didn't seem like a big deal to me in the design was so eye-catching/important to someone else. You never know. And getting out of your comfort zone will provoke growth.

As long as you're on the path you want to be on, stay on the path. Sometimes either path in the fork in the road will still get you to where you want to go. If you have a clear goal in mind, get there anyway you can.

We have beloved movies like "Toy Story" and "Cars" where the characters aren't humans or animals. I personally think you'll be just fine if that's the route you want to go down! Yes, some people may not like "furry" art but overall I don't think most would judge you. Anthro characters are pretty popular. Besides it's your series and you get the final say!

I don't like some "furry" stuff, but it doesn't mean I'm automatically put off if a series is about anthopomorphic animals. There are a bunch of things with animal characters that I like, like Mouse Guard, Duck Tales, My Little Pony, Ruby Quest etc.

I think so long as the creatures are either like... quite realistic fluffy animals like Mouse Guard, or they're cartoony looking like Duck Tales, I'm perfectly happy, so the first example in the thread I'm like "aww! That's cute! I'd read that!" So anything like Sonic the Hedgehog or Pokemon I'm happy with... and the point where it triggers my "NOPE" reaction is when the anthro characters are....drawn to be sexy.
So as soon as they like... have proportions a bit too close to a sexualised depiction of an adult human with defined muscles and prominent breasts, and it's combined with a cartoon animal face with big shiny eyes, that's the kind of stuff where a non-furry like me goes "uhhhh... okay, this is for furries, not for me, seeya!".
Like no shade intended on furries for liking that and enjoying it, but that art style, where the face is very much "cartoon animal with big cute anime eyes" but the body is "sexy human but with fur and a tail and paws" is what will immediately put a non-furry off. Like as soon as it looks a bit too much like the artist would like to have sex with the purple cartoon wolf, not accompany them on cute adventures, I'm immediately uncomfortable. About the furthest I can go is Disney's Robin Hood or Zootopia, largely because the characters are still relatively animal-like and not too muscular or with really pronounced sexual characteristics.

Of course, some non-furries will put the bar even higher and won't touch ANYTHING even a little anthro, but I think most are like me and it's all about not liking that specific furry aesthetic of very anime-animal-like face, hands and feet combined with unsettlingly human-like torso, arms and thighs. So if you don't want to get pigeonholed as a "furry artist" that's the area to avoid and either go more cartoon-like or go "they're humans but with horns and some patches of scales". Really though, there's nothing wrong with being a furry/scaly artist, furries seem like mostly decent people and they're an audience that lavishes stuff with attention and support, so it's really just whether you want to be in that niche or not.

I think some people assume animal stories are for kids. But other people also assume animal stories for older audience are just furry fandom stuff.

Personally I don't mind it but I think I am bias to the stuff with cute animals. I like Yokai Watch, Sonic, Neopets, Zootopia, that sort of stuff. I am not really a fan of the stuff that tries to be sexy. I am sort of weirded out by Goldie from Rockadoodle and Angela from Duckman. They have a sexy human body but a bird mouth. I know some people in the furry fandom can be very nice, so I am not going to shame people for liking that, it's just not for me.

Oh god. Yes, that's definitely crossing the line for me. Don't like that.

I think the line can easily be defined as "if it's drawn any sexier than Princess Sally from the old Sonic cartoon show, THAT'S TOO MUCH."

This is Sally, she is the line.

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You just hit me where I live, but I gotta say: throw a vest on her and you have the line. Vested Sally is the line.