Comicfighter
Allow me a moment to talk shit.
I am not a very good artist, or a very good comicker. I know this, I accept it, I am working to change it. I don't have any illusions about being a complete neophyte and an unprofessional one at that. Right now I'm still learning, and I have so, so much to learn.
I am also not a webdesigner, which is why I host my comic on a site called Comicfury. I have nothing but good things to say about how Comicfury is set up, by the way. It's clearly explained, easy to use, and doesn't randomly fuck up anything, so far. There are a bunch of very good comics on there as well, and quite a few with some great potential (I'll probably talk about them in a later post).
However, for the most part, the people who use the site are usually either beginning creators just learning the craft like me, sprite comickers, or people who, well, have a huge archive but are not very good at what they do.
I feel bad criticising anyone's art or writing when my own isn't terribly amazing, but I also read a ton of comics, and I can tell when people are doing things badly, even if I can't do things well at this point. I know when the lettering is bad, I know when the perspective is off, I know when the panels don't flow correctly. It's like someone who doesn't know how to play an instrument, but knows when one isn't being played well. So I can feel pretty secure in saying that a lot of the comics on this site aren't actually very good.
Which, you know, is fine. Like I said, it's only to be expected.
Here's where I get annoyed: The forums. The people who are most vocal are not the ones that have the best comics. On the contrary. And they act like a bunch of 10 year olds. I'm not going to say that comics are supposed to be all work and no play, but come on- they can't seem to follow even basic forum ettiquette. They spam topics and derail threads, talk about themselves constantly and fail to give any help to people asking for critiques. I looked at a thread asking for constructive criticism today, and it took 13 posts and the original poster asking again for criticism before any was actually given. Note that it was not one of the forum regulars who finally offered an on-topic post.
Elsewhere in the forums there was a thread entitled "Give constructive criticism to the person above you". It was a really good idea, which devolved in less than two pages into in-jokey offtopic posts.
This forum has a spam section where people can do this sort of thing to their hearts' content. It's full of stupid spammy posts too, and I'm totally fine with that, because that's what the section is there for. I even hang out there sometimes. But the fact that it spills over into comic-related sections is really irritating to me. I mean, come on. I might be in the minority, but I thought a forum full of people making comics, sharing tips, resources, ideas, etc. would be exciting and stimulating and fun. And to be fair, there are a lot of on-topic posts and a lot of threads that haven't been derailed, and I've gotten some useful information from a few people on the site. But for the most part, if it's not spam, it's self-promotion, self-aggrandizement (with little to no cause, if I might add) and ignoring the original poster's question in favor of "better" topics.
Come on, people. Come on. I want to see moderation, for heaven's sakes. I want a forum that does what it's supposed to do. I want the spam in the spam section. I want proper freaking ettiquette to be followed. Most of all I want this forum to stop constantly disappointing me.
*I'm sorry that this has essentially turned into the Comics And Bitching Blog. Most of the "interesting" things I have to say fall into one of the two categories, if not both, these days. I'm actually not as riteously enraged about this as it sounds, maybe I'll go back soon and make it funny? Maybe not.
I am not a very good artist, or a very good comicker. I know this, I accept it, I am working to change it. I don't have any illusions about being a complete neophyte and an unprofessional one at that. Right now I'm still learning, and I have so, so much to learn.
I am also not a webdesigner, which is why I host my comic on a site called Comicfury. I have nothing but good things to say about how Comicfury is set up, by the way. It's clearly explained, easy to use, and doesn't randomly fuck up anything, so far. There are a bunch of very good comics on there as well, and quite a few with some great potential (I'll probably talk about them in a later post).
However, for the most part, the people who use the site are usually either beginning creators just learning the craft like me, sprite comickers, or people who, well, have a huge archive but are not very good at what they do.
I feel bad criticising anyone's art or writing when my own isn't terribly amazing, but I also read a ton of comics, and I can tell when people are doing things badly, even if I can't do things well at this point. I know when the lettering is bad, I know when the perspective is off, I know when the panels don't flow correctly. It's like someone who doesn't know how to play an instrument, but knows when one isn't being played well. So I can feel pretty secure in saying that a lot of the comics on this site aren't actually very good.
Which, you know, is fine. Like I said, it's only to be expected.
Here's where I get annoyed: The forums. The people who are most vocal are not the ones that have the best comics. On the contrary. And they act like a bunch of 10 year olds. I'm not going to say that comics are supposed to be all work and no play, but come on- they can't seem to follow even basic forum ettiquette. They spam topics and derail threads, talk about themselves constantly and fail to give any help to people asking for critiques. I looked at a thread asking for constructive criticism today, and it took 13 posts and the original poster asking again for criticism before any was actually given. Note that it was not one of the forum regulars who finally offered an on-topic post.
Elsewhere in the forums there was a thread entitled "Give constructive criticism to the person above you". It was a really good idea, which devolved in less than two pages into in-jokey offtopic posts.
This forum has a spam section where people can do this sort of thing to their hearts' content. It's full of stupid spammy posts too, and I'm totally fine with that, because that's what the section is there for. I even hang out there sometimes. But the fact that it spills over into comic-related sections is really irritating to me. I mean, come on. I might be in the minority, but I thought a forum full of people making comics, sharing tips, resources, ideas, etc. would be exciting and stimulating and fun. And to be fair, there are a lot of on-topic posts and a lot of threads that haven't been derailed, and I've gotten some useful information from a few people on the site. But for the most part, if it's not spam, it's self-promotion, self-aggrandizement (with little to no cause, if I might add) and ignoring the original poster's question in favor of "better" topics.
Come on, people. Come on. I want to see moderation, for heaven's sakes. I want a forum that does what it's supposed to do. I want the spam in the spam section. I want proper freaking ettiquette to be followed. Most of all I want this forum to stop constantly disappointing me.
*I'm sorry that this has essentially turned into the Comics And Bitching Blog. Most of the "interesting" things I have to say fall into one of the two categories, if not both, these days. I'm actually not as riteously enraged about this as it sounds, maybe I'll go back soon and make it funny? Maybe not.