The Gentrification of Webcomics
Sep. 30th, 2021 08:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rynlingMakes a video essay about the gentrification of webcomics
https://niuniente.tumblr.com/post/663668059162247168/i-wanted-to-add-here-whats-also-different-between
It’s very good that webcomics are being taken more seriously as an art form now, but it feels like it’s becoming harder and harder for small-time artists to find places and projects to express themselves. Everything nowadays is an industry, and if you’re a single teenager who wants to write a webcomic, nothing is more intimidating than seeing the professional full colour long-form stories on these sites, the artists of which usually have assistants and full creative teams helping.
Where is the lie. Where is it even.
I have two points of contention about the (excellent) replies to the original post, which are:
(a) Fanzines have always been super cliquey and competitive. This is not new. Still, what's been going on with a lot of fanzines during the past few years has been next-level unreal.
(b) It's not like there's some American Psycho business executive putting on his tie and going into his corner office to run the social media accounts of a webcomic. A lot (if not the majority) of people on professional comic publishing teams are horribly overworked and underpaid. The industry is devouring itself, and I hate it.
Still, I think everything in this chain of posts is very real and very concerning. For me personally, it's also frustrating that older people who got into zines and webcomics ten years ago are out of touch with how insanely competitive the scene is now. "Anyone can do it," they say, not realizing that to be "anyone" you have to take on the work of at least half a dozen people these days. Good luck to all of us, I guess.
https://niuniente.tumblr.com/post/663668059162247168/i-wanted-to-add-here-whats-also-different-between
It’s very good that webcomics are being taken more seriously as an art form now, but it feels like it’s becoming harder and harder for small-time artists to find places and projects to express themselves. Everything nowadays is an industry, and if you’re a single teenager who wants to write a webcomic, nothing is more intimidating than seeing the professional full colour long-form stories on these sites, the artists of which usually have assistants and full creative teams helping.
Where is the lie. Where is it even.
I have two points of contention about the (excellent) replies to the original post, which are:
(a) Fanzines have always been super cliquey and competitive. This is not new. Still, what's been going on with a lot of fanzines during the past few years has been next-level unreal.
(b) It's not like there's some American Psycho business executive putting on his tie and going into his corner office to run the social media accounts of a webcomic. A lot (if not the majority) of people on professional comic publishing teams are horribly overworked and underpaid. The industry is devouring itself, and I hate it.
Still, I think everything in this chain of posts is very real and very concerning. For me personally, it's also frustrating that older people who got into zines and webcomics ten years ago are out of touch with how insanely competitive the scene is now. "Anyone can do it," they say, not realizing that to be "anyone" you have to take on the work of at least half a dozen people these days. Good luck to all of us, I guess.
