How do you draw more people to your site?

I know we've got some folks on this board who are currently in the top ten and twenty on Top Forums, so I was hoping you could throw out some pointers on how you built your following?

My comic is doing pretty well for an unknown. It gets between 15 and 80 unique hits per day, I've run into a lot of people who check it infrequently, but I only have a handful of dedicated fans. Maybe that's just a commentary on how good my comic is or isn't, but do you guys have any suggestions beyond registering at Top Forums, Buzz Comix, and the like? Even there, it's hard to get noticed unless you're already at the top.

We've been fighting for over a few years with ours. Its funny, because I know people in the top 10 would wine over how there not in the top 10, and now they are.

Just hang out, make friends, get linked. Eventually there 2 people will become your 2 people, then they get 2 friends, then they 2 friends, and so on, and so on, and so on...

Solid advice.


Thanks :)

What exactly do you mean by "get linked", by the way? Is that like a banner exchange or something? How do you go about arranging that?

(bear in mind I'm new to all of this :))

It's customary for almost any webpage, not just webcomics to have a links page to other sites. Most people, assuming they don't have an elitist attitude, will be perfectly happy to swap links with you if you just ask them via email.

you could buy advertising, mac hall, and mega tokyo have the best deals.

if you don't have money, you could bribe your readers to vote for you by offering them rewards if you get to a certain point on the list.

Being in the top 20 lately has gotten me quite a few extra hits actually.

<high horse>
The best way to get more traffic and readers is to do good work. Word of mouth and unsolicited links/plugs do more for gaining explosure than anything else, and the only way to get those is to create a quality comic.
</high horse>

No, seriously, the BEST way is to 5P@M, 5P@M, 5P@M EVERY message board you can FIND screaming OMG MY STRIP IS TEH SHIZZLE IF YOU DON'T READ IT RIGHT NOW MONKEYS WILL FLY OUT YOR BUTT thank you for you time and consideration (it never hurts to be polite)... :jester: :headshot: :D

Yup you can pay a gazillion dollars for ads in big sites but if you don't make a good quality comic you won't have any regulars.

Advertising, friends, connections, quality (although quality and quantity go for web comics), a great attitude (being conceited is a big no-no), honesty, good web design, excellent content, a pleasurable personality, and an open mind.

Advertising, friends, connections, quality (although quality and quantity go for web comics), a great attitude (being conceited is a big no-no), honesty, good web design, excellent content, a pleasurable personality, and an open mind.

Everyone knows that webcomic artists don't have any personality. We are chained in our caves and forced to produce strips for 'The Machine' ! :jester:

I create awesomeness at predictable, scheduled intervals, and then I recognize the awesomeness of others. Key. Word.

No, seriously, the BEST way is to 5P@M, 5P@M, 5P@M EVERY message board you can FIND screaming OMG MY STRIP IS TEH SHIZZLE IF YOU DON'T READ IT RIGHT NOW MONKEYS WILL FLY OUT YOR BUTT thank you for you time and consideration (it never hurts to be polite)...I love you, Erik.

Awesome advice. Thanks, guys!

Spamming only makes enemies.. as does being named Bowjangles.

:: Hands Marine a slice of SPAM :: Here you go. :O!

Everyone knows that webcomic artists don't have any personality. We are chained in our caves and forced to produce strips for 'The Machine' ! :jester:

I know, Ask anyone thats been here longer then 2 months. They know I'm all about being another brick in the wall, and never speaking my wonderfully nice views of the world.

I love you, Erik.
So... what, we're not keepin' this on the down low anymore? I thought we were going to talk it over before going public...? :Puzzled: ;)

1) Post at other sites, espically ones that relate to your comic, in some manner

2) Buy some advertising space (give Sara and David (http://www.sara-and-david.com), they sell ad space by visits, not hits)

3) Create a link section and use that to read your comics. Some servers offer a site hit counter, where they see where alot of people are coming from. If they see that 30-odd people are coming to their site, via your site, they'll check your site out

4) Try writing your site adress in random places, where people well se it. It couldn't hurt to try

make your comic so good/weird/shocking/bad that people will have to tell their friends about it

update frequently

take part in collaborative projects with other artists

be patient

DON'T exchange links. DON'T ask people to link you. DON'T spam forums. these are desperate, shameful practices, and no amount of readers is worth your dignity.

update frequently

Comming from the man who just updated for the first time in 3 months :D. But on the other hand Elftor is the best of the best so he doesnt have to update as often...

Being a regular on forums that relate to it & having your banner in your sig will get you hits... That's how I got most of my regulars. Zelda Comic's subforum here & the Zelda Headquarters forum... I'm starting to get some from the Sega Emulation Forums, now that I've stopped posting there & despite not using Sonic that much (yet.) Of course, you have to be entertaining to keep people there... And if all the comics THEY read are in your links section, you just might become thier homepage. (I'm at least 5 people's homepages.) Using the method I've mentioned, & Strippers-Corner, & TWC/BCX/RBX/ISK/TFP toplists... I've settled at around 1250 uniques per month... I wish I could view my "per day uniques", but I can't.
Not that I'm well known or anything... But I do get a few fans.

The best way to get hits is to have dedicated readers...

The best way to get dedicated readers is to grab your first-time readers by the neck, chain them to your wall, and force them to become obedient slaves.... If only somebody had told me this three months ago when I was getting 40 hits a day.

By the way... Wanna come check out my site? ::dangles handcuffs in front of your face:: It'll be fun, really...

Mafia ties.

But seriously, make a good comic and give it time. Drawing is a thankless job. Look at Stan Lee. He can't even get run over in movies anymore.

But seriously, Mafia ties. And the Freemasons.

Could someone give me some advice? My comic is still in its early days, and I'm still looking for an audience. I tried starting a new thread in the Cartoonist Lounge, but it was almost immidiatly thrown in the trash bin. :(

So, any advice for this pathetic noob?

Don't do a sprite comic about megaman.

Don't do a sprite comic about megaman.\

well said.

*grabs nobel peace prize and hands to zspade*

Now come on, we could always use that one extra Megaman sprite comic to bring the count up to a nice even 10,000 comics...

::duck::

I just had this kick ass idea....


I'll make MY Megaman pink. I'll be so original!!


....err, wait.

Now come on, we could always use that one extra Megaman sprite comic to bring the count up to a nice even 10,000 comics...

::duck::
your crusing for a brusing :hammer: just kidding....but as advice for A-wel even though you are banned...no meggaman, no sprite for that matter, and I believe what you were doing is called whoring not pimping...no one likes a whore so dont be one :clown:

You used the Genesis MegaMan, didn't you? Well, at it's the first time we've seen one using THAT series of MegaMan sprites... Not as if all MegaMan comics are bad. I know of a few that ARE really good.

*sigh* I hate it when I spend fifteen minutes on a big high horse, only to lose my post... mysteriously...

Basicly I plugged this horrible example comic I made, and showed how it is what all sprite comics eventually become.

Notes to self:

1. Spam like crazy

2. Find ways to include Megaman sprite (preferably one who will have nothing funny to say but WILL talk like someone who's been on AIM for far too long. ROFLMAO!!)


...sorry.


Advice noted.

Think I'll definately start up that links page. I've been meaning to put all my favorites in one place, anyway.

I had my reservations about link exchanges, and can see both sides of it. I'll give it some more thought.

Notes to self:

I had my reservations about link exchanges, and can see both sides of it. I'll give it some more thought.
I'll do a link exchange if you feel that you want to

More hits? Try internet pornography. It worked for me, and it'll work for you!

put a bunch of leet in your comic. as we all know a normal sentence is FUNNYATIZED by leet and therefore making your comic so much cooler.

put a bunch of leet in your comic. as we all know a normal sentence is FUNNYATIZED by leet and therefore making your comic so much cooler.

Heh, yeah.... I used leet speak in one of my really early comics here (http://www.snakestudios.com/nerdcore/pages/p0004.html). I've gotten more crap about that one comic.... (ignore the art if you check it out. My newer stuff is eternally better).

My newer stuff is eternally better).
How does one get "eternally better?" I mean, my artwork sucks, so I'd really like to know... :stolid: ;)

How does one get "eternally better?" I mean, my artwork sucks, so I'd really like to know... :stolid:Your artwork doesn't suck, I like it. Besides, it's the funny that most people are after. Sprite (oh god not sprite comics!) and Stick figure comics have no real art, but can be great because they're funny. Well, unforturnately some sprite comics just suck, and some just rock, all because of the funny. You got it or you don't, and dtx3 (http://www.dtx3.com) has the funny. (Yeah, this got a little confusing as I read this over myself)
put a bunch of leet in your comic. as we all know a normal sentence is FUNNYATIZED by leet and therefore making your comic so much cooler.I tried that for a bit, then, I stopped because, it was just stupid for my characters (a revelation from one frame of an episode, that was fast).
Heh, yeah.... I used leet speak in one of my really early comics here (http://www.snakestudios.com/nerdcore/pages/p0004.html). I've gotten more crap about that one comic.... (ignore the art if you check it out. My newer stuff is eternally better).I looked through most of your stuff, and I don't see the eternally better. I see the slight improvement, but it was good from the start.
More hits? Try internet pornography. It worked for me, and it'll work for you!Try digimon porn :lol:
God, that still goes trough my head.

How does one get "eternally better?" I mean, my artwork sucks, so I'd really like to know... :stolid:

All I can say is if that is bad artwork then I want to suck. You've got a solid comic.

All I can say is if that is bad artwork then I want to suck. You've got a solid comic.

Shhh!! Don't boost his ego! It's like feeding a gremlin after midnight! ;_;

On topic: Me, I don't advertise, I don't plug (often), I haven't link exchanged for at least 6 months, my website is in total disarray, I ignore my readers all the time, and my updates are more irregular than a carbohydrate diet. Which explains the 4 (probably accidental) hits a day, then. :D I dunno, exaggeration, maybe...but I don't put myself out much, 'cos I'm lazy. When I did though, I found the best way to get people to your site was to exchange links with them. Sure, you only get a few hits in from that per day, but you'll keep getting them over & over, and the effect imo is cumalative. For example, I get about 40 hits per day to articide from various links and I haven't updated it in over 6 months, and there's a huge "I'm not doing this comic for frekken ages" splash page. That's either 40 people that don't expect to see anything, or 40 people that haven't seen it before. Which is cool. So yeah, I reckon do that. :D Then all you have to do it retain whoever comes in. XD

How does one get "eternally better?" I mean, my artwork sucks, so I'd really like to know... :stolid:

OK, so maybe "eternally better" wasn't the best way to describe it. But when I look at my first comics, compare them to my most recent stuff, I can't help but think how bad my early pages were. Of course, my most recent stuff quickly becomes the pages that I look back on and realize how far I've come... which leads into a cycle that causes the world's destruction?

I dunno.... I think I need to get out more often. Spending 12 hours of the last 16 that I've been awake for seems to have fried my brains... Mmmmm, gellied brains...

Yeah, don't be lazy. That never works.

Also, be a girl.

Yeah, don't be lazy. That never works.

Also, be a girl.
Solid advice! yeahhh! now... how would one go about being a girl? mmh...

Shhh!! Don't boost his ego! It's like feeding a gremlin after midnight! ;_;Slim chance of that! It's physically impossible to be both arrogant and a perfectionist (a true perfectionist is never happy with anything he/she does...), and I'm definitely the latter... :dead:

Anyway, my previous remark was only partially serious. I was mostly making a snarky comment about the gentleman getting his expressions mixed up ("eternally grateful" and "infinitely better," I would assume). Sorry. :( Sarcasm's just in my genes--I can't stop! If you think I'm bad, you should meet my Mom! Whoa... :shhh: :D

Although, one of the most interesting things that I've noticed since I started this crash course on drawing is how radically my... perceptions have changed. When I first started doing this comic (what, a month ago?), I was pretty happy with the artwork I was producing. But now, it all looks horrible to me. It's quite bizarre to go through such a rapid transformation (at least, it has been for me)!

one way to get better is the dirty word that starts with p and ends with ractice. if you do that enough it can help. But who am I to talk...Im just as lazy as anyone of you.

I'm not lazy ! In fact I FORCE myself to draw even when I don't want to. Which usualy results in inferior rubbish ! So, euhm, yeah !

I have a question, though. How does link exchanges help make a comic known ? I don't know about the rest of the world, but I barely ever go to link pages...

(Why do I have one then ? To keep track on what I'm supposed to read, mostly... )

I have a question, though. How does link exchanges help make a comic known ? I don't know about the rest of the world, but I barely ever go to link pages...(Why do I have one then ? To keep track on what I'm supposed to read, mostly... )
Well way back when I only used to read elftor. Before that I had no idea about the webcomic comunity. or that webcomics even exisited. Then I went to his links page and learned all about it...so some people do...others dont.

Although, one of the most interesting things that I've noticed since I started this crash course on drawing is how radically my... perceptions have changed. When I first started doing this comic (what, a month ago?), I was pretty happy with the artwork I was producing. But now, it all looks horrible to me. It's quite bizarre to go through such a rapid transformation (at least, it has been for me)!

For what it's worth, I really enjoy your drawing style. It's not intensely sensual and expressive like some things I've seen, but it's "just enough". Simplistic, yet cute, fun to look at, and the characters are visually expressive.

I know a lot of folks in the community are fans of elaborate artwork, and I respect that, but I'm a meat and potatos sort of reader, who reads for story and wants artwork that aids it, rather than distracts from it. I think you've got the right balance for the comic tone you're going for.

Just my own two cents. Then again, I'm the guy who takes pictures of toys cuz he can't stand the thought of working on his art skills :)

I'm glad you like it. Hopefully, some day soon, I'll get to the point where we're both happy with it! :)

Anyway, it wasn't my intention to hijack this thread, so let's get back to talking about ways to get more readers for your web comic. Here, I'll summarize my thoughts from earlier:

<high horse>
do quality stuff
</high horse>

OMG VISIT MY 5!TE NOOOOW OR ELSE MONKEYS FROM YOR BUTT!

:clown:

<high horse>
do quality stuff
</high horse>




Hopefully, I've already got that part taken care of ;)

I do understand your point about looking back at your artwork and not thinking much of it though. I think I only recently achieved the visual look I was going for in my comic (especially with word balloons), and the early stuff makes me shudder. But all you can do is improve. I know I am :)

Slim chance of that! It's physically impossible to be both arrogant and a perfectionist (a true perfectionist is never happy with anything he/she does...), and I'm definitely the latter...


Thats a false perfectionist. A true perfectionist would only produce perfection and therefore the only "true perfectionist" is someone that is entirely unproductive due to his dissatisfaction with his work, or god. And, of course, gods are usually pretty arrogant. Because they're "perfect".


As for getting people to your site only. The quickest way is spending money. Keeping people is different etc etc

Yeah, don't be lazy. That never works.

Also, be a girl.

Also come out, after saying your a girl. Remember the first time Korinne came out? And everyone was hitting on her. Yeah, good times....

I'd link exchange cybertron, its funny as hell.

Thats a false perfectionist. A true perfectionist would only produce perfection and therefore the only "true perfectionist" is someone that is entirely unproductive due to his dissatisfaction with his work, or god. And, of course, gods are usually pretty arrogant. Because they're "perfect".
All right, smart guy, you made me hafta go and break out the American Heritage Dictionary...

"perfectionist"

"NOUN: One who has a propensity for being displeased with anything that is not perfect or does not meet extremely high standards."

Thus and therefore (i.e. ergo) a "true" perfectionist is one who is most accurately described by the previously aforementioned definition of "perfectionist," and a "false perfectionist"--as it were--would logically describe one who, although prescribing to said and previously defined mode of behavior, in fact, does not, and is, thus (i.e. therefore), "false."

I'll never understand how I managed to flunk outta law school... :Puzzled:

I'd link exchange cybertron, its funny as hell.


Thanks, man. I appreciate it.

I think I'm going to hold off on link exchanges and just do a straightforward links page for now, but I appreciate the offer!

Thanks, man. I appreciate it.

I think I'm going to hold off on link exchanges and just do a straightforward links page for now, but I appreciate the offer!
yeah I'd probally link you anyway myself I only got to comic 3 but it looks like it has some potential...Ill get back to you on that for sure

Thanks, man. I appreciate it.

I think I'm going to hold off on link exchanges and just do a straightforward links page for now, but I appreciate the offer!


No prob, I played with toys as a kid a lot. And watch cartoons far more than I should, so Transformers holds a special place in my heart, just like Godzilla..

Fan art is a fun free way to get visitors.
Find some comic and do some kick ass fan art for them. Then have the author drop your link somewhere like a newspost or attached to the comic or whatever. I did a strip for Cucumber of Hate about 2-3 weeks ago and I still get multiple hits a day from there.

Yes, fan art is good too. I still get hits just about every day from the fan art I did for Elf Only Inn (and that comic is over with, even). I didn't put my URL on a guest comic that Brian ran for 8 Bit Theater and I'm still kicking myself. :D But I don't do fan art because I want hits... I do it because I love the comic and I want to say "thanks for making something rad."

That said, I love all the fan art that *I* get and I could care less if they're just doing it to get hits or not. :3 (Not that people would do it to get hits when my comic doesn't get many in the first place....)

yeah i was in no way implying that you shold try to do fan art to get votes. But if you happen to do some fan art, it will get you some :D.

NOUN: One who has a propensity for being displeased with anything that is not perfect or does not meet extremely high standards."


The definition is contradictory. Isolating the bolded section, we get: "A perfectionist is someone that is displeased with anything that does not meet a satisfactory standard that is distinctly not perfect."

Don't defer to dictionaries arbitrarily.

perfection refers to something that is without flaws.

ist is a suffix that signifies practitioners. Craftsman, etc.

So satire is a technique that is used to show the folly of some real world circumstances through use of wit. A satirist is a practitioner of satire.

Physics is a study of the nature of the world, in super general terms.(super!)

A physicist is a practitioner of physics.

Perfection refers to somethign that is without flaws.

A perfectionist is someone that performs perfectly. A perfectionist creator would be someone that creates perfectly. A false perfectionist would be someone that shows disdain for imperfection but still creates it. They would be a practitioner, craftsman, -whatever other term is most accurate- of imperfection.

Mind you I didn't make this post dependent on a dictionary of any sort. I try not to, unless its the Cynic's Wordbook because I think it is "the hilarious". I only used your post as a jumping point because I wanted to make that comment about god's being arrogant since you said that perfectionist can't be. It wasn't to be a punk about definitions as it may have appeared to be. I try to not do that. This post is me failing~

and I failed PE several times after high school. But I know why it happened. I never showed up =\

Well, that's me. I set the highest of goals for myself, and I am not satisfied with anything less. Take for instance interpretive speech, I was in Drama my senior year. My goal, was to get first place at the national tournament. I ended up taking 1st at districts, 2nd at states, qualifying for nationals, flying to atlanta and breaking into the top 50 in the US. Was I satisfied? Absolutly not. I wanted first at nationals ;). 99% of the people you'll meet in life have no confidence in anything they do, they've shot themselves from the start. Bullshit. I don't accept anything but #1 from myself, I was the same way in football and I take all of my work just as seriously.

Now, that doesn't mean I don't enjoy myself. I love doing everything that I do :). However, everything you do from school, work, hobbies etc.. it's about the constant persuit of improvement to the highest achievable goal.

obviously with my numbers (only about 100,000 people to the site a year) I have nothing of worth to add to this thread. and yet I'm injecting anyway

The secret to high votes (and therefore visits from the toplist) is to do a cut and paste daily comic. Art is of minimal importance, as is character depth. Make your characters jerks

Or you could try this


READ TINY TURTLE NOW.
or this
WHY ARENT YOU READING IT.
And if your still need help than
YOUR NOT VERY GOOD AT FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS

This may sound dumb, but make a good comic that people will come back to, and keep your audience supplied with goodness.
Of course, having a killer signature doesn't hurt either. Make people notice. Stand out.

READ TINY TURTLE NOW.
or this
WHY ARENT YOU READING IT.
And if your still need help than
YOUR NOT VERY GOOD AT FOLLOWING DIRECTIONS
that shit don't fly here. banned for three days

harsh...

I find that if you update regularly (say, ever 3 days) Less People come in between comics, but if you update semi-sporadicly (two days in a row, skip a day, skip a day, two days in a row) More people come by your site on a regular basis. If ya give em something to hold them off while theyre there (ie, answer your fanmail on the site, announcements of upcoming comics, etc) they come back a lot more. The only way I've managed to get new readers is word of mouth so far. "Hey, you know those characters I draw on everything? They're from a comic I draw! Check it out!" They'll read it, laugh a while, and say hey, mind if i tell my friends? I think they'd like it!

Anyway, thats the system that works for me. I dont have a whole lot of fans, but they're good kids.

a shotgun and a thong.... that's all I'm saying...

I advertise and TILT my bandwidth. Then when they click and get nothing, it makes them insanely curious and want to come back an hour later, once my web hosts get their butts in gear and re-activate me!

That's what I'm hoping, anyway. More likely they'll be annoyed and not bother.

I make my comic, keep a solid updating schedule, and continue to grow while improving the work itself.

that solid schedule is whats killin' me. i update when i say i will...just at random times. makes me cry.

consistency

I draw people by featuring two storylines.

That, and cow heads. Cow heads will draw readers to a comic like flies to a dead raccoon.

Also the key to a good cake.

"How do you draw more people to your site?"

Beats me. My comic has been running for half a year now, consistently updating twice a week. I've worked on the script since 1999. I've drawn 200 pages of preliminary scetches just to prepare myself for the biggest project of my life. I've taken art classes in school to shape up my skills. I spend at least 20 hours a week on drawing, processing and script-tuning my comic. I have detailed subsections on the homepage. In short, I'm serious about it and put all my effort into it. It's registered at Onlinecomics.net, I tell my friends about it when they ask what I'm drawing, and I have several forum and internet friends, each with their own comics. I am a very nice guy, and visit my forum several times a day to chat with my friends. My drawing has notably improved over these six months.

Still, I get at most 5 hits every update day, and it's only my forum friends. According to my tracker, the people coming from Onlinecomics view the comic once and never come back. From this, I gather that my comic sucks, which does not help me find the strength to spend the three years it will take me to draw the entire comic. So, am I simply subject to lack of linkage (I am very shy to tell people about my comic), or is it just the fact that my comic sucks? My forum friends tell me otherwise, and one of them analyses the subtle plot points and whatnot, but appereantly no-one else is interested.

I did a fanart for Mark of Portent once (my fifth MoP fanart I think), on which I scribbled a link to my page in a little corner. From that, I got 13 hits, but they too disappeared. So, what am I doing wrong? Too few links? Lack of appearance on top comic lists? Too poor comic? Or maybe it's just that "serious" comics get less hits than humor comics that update once a day.

(I've only been at this webcomics thing for four months, so people should take my opinions with a grain of salt but...)

I think the question people doing webcomics don't ask themselves nearly enough (Especially before joining lists and buying ads) is:

"If I wasn't the one doing this comic, would I have any interest in reading it?"

If the answer is "Yes" then hopefully you are being honest with yourself, you have good taste and with hard work and determination you will succeed.

If the answer is "No" there are three probable reasons:

A) You don't put much effort into what you do. (Lots of shortcuts, reused art, ripping off people's style, no writing etc) The answer is to either kick yourself in the ass and take things seriously or quit.

B)You're not doing the kind of strip you like, but rather the type of strip you think other people want. You MIGHT succeed, but probably not. You're not likely to do as well as other people doing the same thing out of love for what they are doing. You won't have as much fun either.

C) Your skills don't match your ambitions. This is a common one and the hardest to address. There are so many bad webcomics out there that it's easy to say "Hey, I'm better than THAT guy!" That's not the way you should be focusing. It's better to compare yourself to the BEST of what's out there, web OR print. Falling short doesn't mean you should quit, but you need to get feedback from informed sources (Not your friends and family) and work hard to address your shortcomings. Spend less time promoting your site and more time soliciting criticism. (If you live near anywhere that has conventions, those can be great places to get critiques.)

Spiff, I think your problem currently is C. Looking through your strip, there's some potential in design and ideas, but it still falls way short of the mark. You need to spend more time studying anatomy, perspective, lighting and rendering. (That shaggy pencil shading has gotta go). The writing needs to be fixed as well, the dialogue tends to sound high schoolish and the narration doesn't flow like real prose. You also need to stop throwing Photoshop blurs all over everything, it looks like you're trying to cover things up. I'm not trying to discourage you, but I think you need to compare what you're doing to professional sci-fi action comics and assess how you need to improve.

Listen to the Hogan, for he is wise and awesome, like his unrelated wrestling relative.

Listen to the Hogan, for he is wise and awesome, like his unrelated wrestling relative.

I'm not so hot, but Unca Hulk is great at teaching people foreshortening in the ring. ("See how now my fist looks much larger than my bicep as it comes in closer to your head?")

I am already aware what I need to improve, my friend has already pointed it all out. I am aware that my drawing skills do not match the expectations, I started drawing three years ago and have never been happy with it. The reason I started doing the comic now, and not three years later, is because I wanted to start it SOMEtime, or I never would find the motivation to (people giving me crap about my drawing in school being the main factor). However, I personally do not agree that my lack of drawing abilities hamper what I'm trying to express so far. I have studied anatomy in books and from looking at real people, I've studied clothes, geometry etc, but I am a slow learner (and besides, Raxai are supposed to look similar to humans, not exactly like them). All I have is a 0.7 mechanical pencil, a computer and a scanner. I get 20 hours of practice a week; it's not like I'm not doing my best. The problem is time - time spent on drawing practice - and I do not have enough. :( I seriously don't feel like quitting now, only to pick it up again three years later for the benefit of improved drawing. I rely on my skills improving through the time I spend creating the comic itself. So far I've seen notable improvement, but perhaps I do ignore the problem too much.

And I'm not trying to give an excuse, but the reason my English sounds high-schoolish, is that I'm a Swede. I'm not very much into American slang language or more creative uses of it. To correct this, I'd have to study English more than what I've had the chance to do in school. At least I manually spellcheck everything I write, and have my friend read and comment the scripts. I've read and written English since I was 9, but appereantly my skills aren't up to the expectations of a native English-speaker either - I don't think they ever will. I've only written English, not spoken to a native. Thus my language will always seem very stale and colorless, I know. Sorry.

In short, does the fact that I haven't had enough time to practice drawing scare people away from my comic? I think you have a valid point. But again, I don't feel like quitting now to catch up on my drawing skills. So I guess I have to make do with what I've got and hope that people won't have too high expectations on me. I'll only quit if I think myself that I suck too badly to do the comic justice. But now at least I've gotten some unbiased comments on what I'm doing wrong, thanks.

I'm coming into this conversation late, but basically just to smack Spiff around. His English is good, his drawing skill is good, the comic is great and he should stop putting himself down. :P

You draw people to your site by advertising. Pure and simple.

Edited to add: I read the posts above Spiff's and I have found that I completely disagree with Steve Hogan's assessment of Spiff's website. His comic is different from the norm, but in a good way. I was friends with Spiff before he started the comic, but I am impartial enough to know that I like it for what it is not who draws it. Some of his artistic skills and anatomy aren't perfect, but they are more than "good enough". There are comics out there with anatomy skills that aren't that good that are very popular. I can name you one, but it is so popular people would throw rotten tomatoes at me for mentioning it.

Hey Spiff,

I'm not trying to encourage you to quit. The point was that you were wondering why your traffic is low and I'm citing a more probable reason than linkage or lists. There are a lot of webcomics out there and people can't read them all. If you want people to stick around you have to deliver them something better than what they can find elsewhere. Doing action comics requires a very high degree of skill and you have to work very hard to pull it off. Right now it's not working, but with more study and effort it could. Ditto the writing. I realized from your profile you were Swedish, but the dialogue seems to suffer more from being cribbed from stock sci-fi/fantasy melodrama. You don't need more American slang, you need to get inside the character's heads more. As far as the prose goes, there's too much of it (It would be better to let information be revealed through the situations as the plot unfolds.) and the overall structure and content could be better. If you aren't already doing so, try reading more good, non-genre literature.

None of this is to say that you did the wrong thing by starting your webcomic now. A lot of people come up with elaborate plans and go nowhere with them. You're to be applauded for having the guts to go public and try things out. I think having the strip out there and getting feedback on it will help 100%. Keep at it!

Heather,

I'm sorry you feel I'm being unfair to Spiff, but we are going to have to disagree. Advertisement may get you intial hits, but it is wasted money if people don't stick around. I'm not sure what popular strip you have in mind, but I would question if it is trying to do the same things Spiff is. White Ninja for instance has crude minimal artwork, but it fits what the author is trying to do.

I have nothing against Spiff and I give him marks for not doing some cut n' paste video game comic, but rising to the challenge of criticism will make him a stronger artist.

Yes it will make a person a stronger artist, unless the criticism is unnecessarily brutal like a lot of the criticism on this forum tends to be. I know you have nothing against him, I just think your criticism is too subjective and not very constructive.

I agree that we are naturally going to disagree on this issue. I like Spiff's comic because it's different. Granted I haven't read a lot of action comics. From what I have seen of them and of Spiff's, I really like how different his is. I like how the pencil shading works with the rest of his style. I like the photoshop effects that he adds.

But then again, I am not mainstream and maybe it is that I don't know what most people like. I don't necessarily like things that are done the way everyone else does it. I keep myself ignorant of these things on purpose so that I can not have my likes and dislikes influenced by knowledge of them.

I think you overestimate how the general population decides whether or not they will follow and ad link and if they will go back. I don't look for perfection in the artistic style. I look for something neat and interesting. I look for a unique story (can we agree Spiff has a unique story idea at least?) This reminds me of a comment I saw for a comic on Buzz comics (I forget which, but it was near the top of the list). They complained the art was poor. I went to the comic and I liked it. The artwork was not bad, but it was simpler than your typical Saturday morning anime cartoon that seems to be everyone's favorite artistic style for comics these days. I think their criticism of that comic was unfairly harsh too. They may not like the comic for that reason, but it doesn't mean they need to make that statement to the world.

I'd hate to have you look at my comic! I know what you would say (that is, don't say it). My style is too crude (on purpose). The writing is all over the place (on purpose). The dialog is kind of awkward (this is being improved over time). The style, layout, flow, blah blah etc isn't consistent (again, improved over time).

I don't think Spiff asked you to go to his site and pick it to pieces. He didn't post a thread asking for criticism. If he did, I wouldn't have said anything at all. I mean, he asked for it. Except in this case he didn't.

I think both of you have a point. While I do this on my spare time while going to the university, you can't expect me to be perfect. I didn't enter the webcomicing world to be up there with the best, I just wanted someone to notice all the work I'm pouring into this while sacrificing a lot of other things. Also I want to entertain my friends and flex my creativity.

But while I also agree that my skills are not yet good enough to convey the later Parts (by which time I will hopefully have those skills), I won't stop to go back now that I've begun. Similarly telling me that my shading needs work won't help, because I practice it with every panel, I don't have the time to practice any more.

I'm aware that Ultimortal fits into a smaller niche than many other comics. Its story seems simple and cliché at first, but will evolve into a deeper, more serious plot than most poeple will expect from someone nice and pure-hearted like me. I think that's a problem; people will look at the first few pages, and think that it's not good enough, not knowing what will come later. Think Body Harvest.

Hogan is telling me why mainstream people won't like the comic. But I'm not going for catching the majority of my readers; I just expected at least someone other than my friends to pick it up. I honestly don't think that it's all because of my drawing skills, though. I don't want to compare myself to the masters, because I'm not aiming to become one. I'm satisfied with less than perfect. I just hope other eople are too. But thanks for your input, both of you.

As for imitating scifi/drama, the only sci-fi thing I've ever seen/read is Star Wars and Lord of the Rings. The rest is my imagination. But you can't do anything that hasn't been done before, for example I can find some similarities with Skies of Arcadia, though I've never played it until now. The main influence is from McFarlane's Spawn.

Forget I said anything kids. BUY AD$ !!!!

Just remember to take every criticism with a grain of salt. Every person who reads (or doesn't read) your comic has a different take on it, so some might be blown away, or satisfied, or so-so, etc on down the line. If someone is criticizing something, that's valid to them. It's something you might want to assess yourself. While "OMFG your comic is the best ever!!!" is nice to hear, it's just as "wrong" as "Your comic sucks it's the worst comic ever." It just depends on a person's tastes and expectations. The only really important thing is that you're trying to improve and that you enjoy it.

Just remember to take every criticism with a grain of salt. Every person who reads (or doesn't read) your comic has a different take on it, so some might be blown away, or satisfied, or so-so, etc on down the line. If someone is criticizing something, that's valid to them. It's something you might want to assess yourself. While "OMFG your comic is the best ever!!!" is nice to hear, it's just as "wrong" as "Your comic sucks it's the worst comic ever." It just depends on a person's tastes and expectations. The only really important thing is that you're trying to improve and that you enjoy it.

That's true, but on the flip side people who give criticism should be sensitive of how subjective it is just as much as the receiver. To come across like "people won't like you because ..." and then provide purely subjective reasons why isn't very constructive. Do you see what I mean? I'm not trying to make people angry with me, but it doesn't seem fair to place all of this on the receiver of criticism. It's just as much the responsibility of the person who is shelling it out to acknowledge how subjective it is.

Otherwise, you could argue that someone could say "Haha you suck!!!11 Everyone hates it when people use electronic fonts instead of hand lettering! If you ever want to have people love you, you should learn to letter things yourself!" and no one would think it was rude, ignorant, or easily dismissed as a worthless comment.