Playin' to yer Readers?

Gau dog · Post by **Gau dog** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 12:21 am

Who dictates your comic work, you or your audience? When creating what I'm creating, I'm mindful that someone's going to read it, but in reality, it's mostly a result of my own likings.

I show off a lot of comic strips that are intentionally of various genres and various flavors. Showing off 7 comic strip series on my site, I notice some series are more popular than others. For instance, my "Instant Kung Fu Girl" comic seems to be the stand out in popularity for some reason. I don't work on it anymore, since to me, it's one of the lesser interesting strips I would want to continue. But I know that's what people want. I currently don't have any plans on revisiting it though. In a way, it's a little disappointing for me to see this preference, especially when my focus has been mainly on multifaceted portrayals of chinese americans. It's like people love mindless action more than anything else.

Is it better to satisfy the audience's demand, please the crowd, give'em what they want or to do your own thing, please yourself?

Toxic · Post by **Toxic** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 12:44 am

Why should I play for my readers? They never did anything for me!

Except for McDuffies, Bob, Luprand, Komp, and Warren, all whom I cherish dearly.

TheSuburbanLetdown · Post by **TheSuburbanLetdown** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 5:47 am

Popularity doesn't dictate the quality of work.

I'm mindul of what readers like and want, but ultimately it's my choice of what I want to do and what advice I actually listen to. Some people say useful things, and some people talk with their asses So I say do what you want to do, but always listen to reader feedback. Sometimes they're on to something.

Evil Jamie! · Post by **Evil Jamie!** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 6:01 am

I call the shots, dangit!

Leonine · Post by **Leonine** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 6:09 am

I was pretty much set on what my comic was going to be about from the beginning. I knew that, at the start, I was going to have a solid following from one of the tech forums that I frequent and figured over time I would develop a following from the furry fandom as well. I know that, as long as my storylines are good, the content and subjects of my comic will natrually maintain the interests of both of those groups. I encourage and listen too all critisizm (except from a certain troll lurking on my site), but havn't really had any to speak of.

Cortland · Post by **Cortland** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 6:48 am

Do a comic about video games. Do it in manga style, include some yaoi, and add Jesus to your cast of characters. Success is a given.

CaptainClaude · Post by **CaptainClaude** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 6:54 am

8 had it right with this. NSFW

Birdie · Post by **Birdie** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 7:00 am

I'd like to think my comic is mostly of my own ideas, but sometimes someone lets out something that inspires me, or someone makes a comment like "why not draw backgrounds?" so I try to draw backgrounds now. but that whole wesley carlos is gay thing, is totally my idea and not someone elses!

McDuffies · Post by **McDuffies** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 7:16 am

Shooting at what has been popular so far is sometimes as much a shot in the dark as anything else. Very often, completely new things will gain audience simply because audience is sick of being offered same thing in thousand of variations.
There's other thing, though, artist is a tiny part of some audience too; I don't think that webcomic authors usually try to flirt to audience despite their personal taste. If someone is making a talking-heads-gamer comic, that is foremost because he simply likes that kind of comics. Webcomickers aren't managers and PR experts, no matter how much some try.

Anywherebuthere · Post by **Anywherebuthere** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 7:55 am

Nope. I don't play to my readers at all.

It may seem like I do, but I just seem to write what they want to read. (Although, thinking about how my strip will end...I have a feeling I'm going to lose a lot of people in the last year or so.)

Anyway...

I have a story to tell goddamn it. A story of love, hope, loss, and dispair. My thanks to those who like it, and to those who don't...well...sorry it couldn't work out. There are a lot of great comics out there, and I guess it just wasn't destined to be. I hope you find what you're looking for, but I'm not changing for nobody.

CaptainClaude · Post by **CaptainClaude** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 8:28 am

anywherebuthere wrote:A story of love, hope, loss, and dispair.

Play with yourself, meet enchanting member of opposite sex, they wont go out with you, play with yourself.

Sam_Charette · Post by **Sam_Charette** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 8:54 am

ryclaude wrote:
anywherebuthere wrote:A story of love, hope, loss, and dispair.
Play with yourself, meet enchanting member of opposite sex, they wont go out with you, play with yourself.

Why would I want to read about the exact same stuf that happens in my own life?

Er... I mean...

Dammit!

Anywherebuthere · Post by **Anywherebuthere** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 9:05 am

Sigh....

I'll go into detail about how most of my first dates go.

Actually, they're pretty bloody comical...now that I know both sides of the story.

Col · Post by **Col** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 10:24 am

It's tough not to play towards what you think is the audience's preferences. And you could be wrong about what they want in the first place.

Pimpette · Post by **Pimpette** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 10:26 am

Seeing as how my comic started out as a fun little inside joke that was never meant to actually go anywhere... Yeah, I just write for myself. It still surprises me when I get comments from random people about my comic - I never expected that it would be something that anyone other than myself and a couple friends would actually read.
I still do everything for myself though. I enjoy writing and drawing my comic, and if I were to fall back on doing everything my small audience is demanding of me, I would get very sick of the whole thing very quickly. My comic is one thing that I have where I can do whatever I like, and anyone who doesn't like it can shove it up their nose.
After all, it's a hobby for me, not work.

Leko · Post by **Leko** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 10:37 am

Mi comica est por moi. (Spanish? French?! WTF) I started it ebcause I reada lot of comcs and I thought it'd be fun, and because I wanted to improve my art. So it's all about me, baby. Oh yeah. All the way.

I like having reader feedback, of course, but get plenty of feedback from the people I force to read my comic while I'm bored and have my sketchbook with me at school, so the fact that I have no fans is not really an issue.

TheSuburbanLetdown · Post by **TheSuburbanLetdown** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 10:47 am

Pimpette wrote:Seeing as how my comic started out as a fun little inside joke that was never meant to actually go anywhere... Yeah, I just write for myself. It still surprises me when I get comments from random people about my comic - I never expected that it would be something that anyone other than myself and a couple friends would actually read.
I still do everything for myself though. I enjoy writing and drawing my comic, and if I were to fall back on doing everything my small audience is demanding of me, I would get very sick of the whole thing very quickly. My comic is one thing that I have where I can do whatever I like, and anyone who doesn't like it can shove it up their nose.
After all, it's a hobby for me, not work.

This is pretty much how I do things.

Laemkral · Post by **Laemkral** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 10:48 am

I started doing this without considering readers. One of us mentioned something about people actually reading and even following the strip, and then dollar signs flashed in our eyes and we were instantly commercialized.

Okay, not really. My material is written by us (my roommates and me), for us, without any care as to what some one else might like. That's what readers are, people who enjoy the same humor as us.

If any came at me with jokes, suggestions, etc. I would listen, consider it, and possibly use it if it was a worthwhile idea. But I wouldn't do it for them, I'd do it because I'd feel it makes the strip better and benefits all of my readers, not just a couple.

Warofwinds · Post by **Warofwinds** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 11:07 am

For story? Never. If my favorite comic artists listened to me about what I wanted to see happen in their stuff, it'd end happily-ever-after in about 10 pages. The story is mine, completely mine, and NO ONE gets a say about what will happen.

Art, on the otherhand, is something I want people to like. If people want pin-ups, or different colors or styles or something, I listen to that. I'm always out to improve my art.

Jackhass · Post by **Jackhass** » Mon Sep 12, 2005 12:16 pm

For the most part I write what I want...but I won't say that my readership's opinions don't have any effect.

Certain characters I'm not really that interested in I'll continue doing comics for because people have professed a liking for them.

Basically at the moment I'm most interested in writing comics for my Octopus and Guinea Pig characters...but I try to limit it somewhat because based on feedback they're not my most well liked characters.