Would you read a comic with crappy art?

Absolutely, although that wasn't always the case.

When I first found what would eventually become my favorite webcomic, I almost didn't read it because the early art was kind of bad. But I gave it a second chance, and it really drew me in.
I have since learned to look past the art, because what I really care about is the story and characters. As far as I'm concerned, as long as the art isn't so bad that it makes the story hard to follow (e.g. can't tell what's happening or can't recognize characters because they all look the same), it's enough to just have a really good story.

Honestly? Yes, my art isn't amazing or anything (thanks time restraints) so I get it, usually art in a story gets better as it goes too (I mean look at Attack on Titan when it first was being printed to now, huuuge difference art wise)

However, if a webcomic has not amazing art, the story really has to grab the reader right at the start and keep them wanting to see what will happen next, otherwise the comic sort of becomes forgettable... At least in my experience.

I would (and I did numerous time).
My only criteria about the art is it to be understable and convey the story rigthly. If I can tell who is who between the characters and understand what is happening in each panel, then it's good enought for me.

I think slightly shit art is ok in some situations. It's harder to pull off if your story is the emotionally charged, intense angsty kind cuz like my experience with this is i'll be reading this intense emotional scene where the mum is dying and saying her last words but then instead of being into it and being sad all i can notice is "wow her fingers rlly look like sausages in this panel". Conversely shitty art is much much more passoffable in gag comics or more lighthearted genres like romance or comedy. (SORRY AUTHOR OF OTOKOWARISHIMASU BUT) I think one example of this is otokowarishimasu, the anatomy is slightly shit and you can tell that the artist doesnt feel confident drawing a variety of poses (mostly reusing around 5+ poses) but it still works because it doesnt detract much from the gags (which are 4koma gags that dont really need a lot of dynamic poses/actions to come through). So I think it depends on what the comic needs to be to convey what it wants.

If were talking on purely objectional terms, the answer is no. It doesn't have to be perfect by any means, but it has to be good enough- which is to say I don't give much time to what amounts to childlike scribbles photographed on crumpled line paper. It just can't be an eyesore. People are pretty visually based creatures, they're gonna be making judgements based on what they see first so i'm pretty confident when I say i'm not the only one who thinks this.
The thing is, there has to be something visually redeeming about it. One Punch and Mob Psycho are awful examples of what constitutes crappy art. To start, ONE has insane compositional skills, and he only draws the characters for Mob Psycho. His assistants do the rest. ONE is an exceptional case in "crappy art", it's not an excuse for failure to improve your own skills.

The art only determines one thing- that it has my attention. I don't read comics only for the art, lord knows there's a fuckton of comics out there that surpass my dumbass standards. Art hooks, but story makes or breaks it.

I'm not that picky on art, cuz' i'm not very good myself,I make it for jokes, anyway.
If someones art looks like it was drew in ms paint with a mouse by a 2 year old THEN i won't read it.
But I hardly stop reading because of art. Not sure bout' other people tho...

Art is 60% of the reason I'll read a webcomic. It can have an amazing story, but bad art or questionable stylistic choices can be a huge turn off. I'm willing to let it go if the art improves over time (I tend to judge on the latest page released), but if it's terrible through and through, I won't bother.

No. But doesn't to be really good either. Comic is more about sequential visual art rather than just art + text. So if you can tell a story you want to tell panel by panel through your art I think that's good enough. Depends on the reader though, it can be the best story written carried by the best artist in the business if the reader is not into the genre they probably wouldn't touch it.
I mean just look at the most popular comic, manga, Webtoon, etc pretty much all are mediocre at best. Some are garbage coated by fan service but I don't mind killing time reading them.

Then look at Pax Americana #1 by Grant Morrison and Frank Quietly. One of the few comics that should be a required academic reading for all comic creators. Here are all the theories in Understanding Comic and Making Comic delivered perfectly in a way Scott McCloud could ever hope to see in his lifetime, in one compact issue. How to guide the reader, give them subtle or not so subtle hint, misdirect or confuse them altogether. Add another layer of dissing your long-time rival in every way you could possibly imagine through:
1. Paneling number
2. Core theme
3. Characters
4. Every time and every way that permits you to do so

All of these meta playing on the pages of these beautiful artwork is freaking godly in each of the pieces, but as a whole I find it very hard to like. I almost freaking hate it. And that meta is played, predicted perfectly on the scene where Dr. Atom dissects his pet dog, part by part in mid air telling the exact same thing.

That. Complete. The. Infinite. loop
Inside and outside of the comic. A masterpiece that is so perfectly beautiful yet the reader may utterly hates it.

TLDR: maybe

It's either a hit or miss with me. Though, maturing as an artist is a huge deal to me. Everyone goes through a natural progression in style (or even to find that specific style they want), but even then that style improves over time.

Most of the comics I look at now are just out of habit, sadly. It's not that I look down on people who don't push themselves as an artist. And although it may be true that a comic can be story-driven with crappy to mediocre art--but if you don't put in the effort to improve and get out of your comfort zone, what's the point, you know?

The one thing I can't stand is when artists say they can't draw backgrounds and just use a solid color or gradient. I admit, I did that when I first started, but I learned how to draw backgrounds; and now they're absolutely fun to draw because I can think outside of the proverbial "box."

"I don't like putting effort in because it's too tedious." Then why don't you write your story and get someone to draw it? XD Seriously, someone said that to me and I couldn't believe it.

/ramble

Looks like the consensus is, most people don't mind! Which is awesome, takes a lot of the pressure off artists who aren't yet confident in their art - because honestly, the fact that they're making something and uploading it at all is awesome.

For me, I don't mind the level of talent - I love looking back at a comic I've been reading for ages and seeing the artist mature. But I can be picky about a style. There are some comics that I love the content, but the style is just repellant to me - whether it's incredibly skilful or not!

I'm okay with crappy art in a webcomic - as long as the art itself has good visual direction and effectively conveys what the author intends, I'm all for it.

Hyperbole and a Half mentioned by @shazzbaa is a really good example. Another good example would be ONE's Mob Psycho - the draftsmanship is clearly poor, but he really knows how to convey the atmosphere and tension of a situation.

7

As long as it not stick people I'll always give it a try

I've been having the same concerns with my comic. I haven't uploaded it to the site yet. I have even been redrawing the early pages because they were very amateurish, like having one eye off center or smaller than the other eye so I've been trying to fix that. I'm worried that the art isn't consistent now though so I feel like I have to redo all the pages, especially since I decided to change one character's hair style. I want to post my comic but I'm worried about the art. I know I have a lot to learn as an artist and I'm excited for that process but I'm also self conscious about my work so I don't want to show it to anyone. That's what's been keeping me from posting here.

@theladiesi You should just take a deep breath, and do it! I seriously did the exact same thing when I started (genuinely, check this out lol6) - so long as you're doing something, you get this awesome feeling of yesssss I did a thing! Followed almost immediately by noooo what have I done I'll never be able to do it oh god why (not joking lolol) - but you'll be able to look back and go heck yeah I started. So don't even worry if you think you're good enough or not! And like, if your style changes over time - that's awesome! It shows you are ever improving! And you will find that this community will love and support you through the whole journey~

(I personally am considering re-drawing the entirety of my comic just so the whole thing matches and is "good enough" lol...)

Thanks, I really appreciate that. You're comic is so relatable and cute. Subscibed! I think the art is really good honestly, a cute chibi style.

I've been redoing the art for my comic but I don't want to fall behind on continuing with new pages. I decided to bite the bullet and publish. They say we are our own worse critics and I think that's really true for me but it does feel good to start. Good luck with your art. Maybe I can post some before and after pages to show the improvement or something just for fun. Thanks for the encouragement.