Write Every Day

Independent Webcomics

I posted a longer version of the following article on a different website around a year ago. It’s been on my mind again recently, so I thought I’d revisit the idea, edit my original article, and share it. Enjoy (or not)…

Show some respect; it’s not all giggles and doodles.

Any publicly distributed content is fair game for criticism, but think before you bash the next time you come across an independent webcomic project. These artists deserve better than thoughtless, anonymous, hateful comments.

I go out of my way to avoid using this site to promote the other projects on which I work (the one exception being my bio, which I feel is fair game). However, the fact that I write one webcomic and write and cartoon another inevitably means I will have a bit of a bias any time I write about comics and illustration.

I love webcomics and I make webcomics, so I can be particularly hard to please when it comes to reading webcomics. As such, what I’m discouraging is not criticism of popular, lucrative work (though I believe they deserve similar respect, I am willing to entertain the idea that maybe those products actually deserve the most scrutiny). What I am speaking out against is the unbridled bashing of independent work. Nothing is more sad than seeing a passionate artist’s labor of love torn down by what little audience it finds.

Many of these people—illustrators, writers, cartoonists, artists, or whatever they may be—often work on their creations tirelessly, for hours every night after coming home from day jobs, forgoing restful leisure and any semblance a social life because they physically cannot function unless they produce their art.

It’s a thankless job. Many comics, good or bad, will live online in obscurity for years, whether they update regularly or not, and the vast majority are lucky to have as little a one hundred readers per installment.

When producing and sharing any work publicly, one naturally accepts the hazards of doing so. If you put your thoughts online, you should expect to have them challenged. If an artist posts their work on a public blog, they should expect criticism—perhaps unfair criticism—of their efforts.

I’m not saying this sort of response is inherently wrong. I’m saying that if you happen to come across one of these little projects, one of these passionate attempts to make something of worth, one of these hopeful endeavors to perhaps connect to the outside world, don’t be so quick to whip negative comments upon the creator or lambaste their honest efforts to create.

Anyone who creates deserves consideration. Maybe they don’t always deserve praise, but they all deserve respect.