Nîdlò Ikelaia

doin a webcomic The Silver Mountain Webtoon Ko-Fi! Linktree

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More mermaid novel stuff.

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Started this for mermay, but I was busy the whole month with moving and traveling out of country. Glad I finally got around to finishing it now that I'm settled down. I started writing this novel about mermaids a few years ago. The story themes mean a lot to me, so I intend to return to it one day. These two are major characters from that. A knight and a princess.

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Panel flats

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she's kinda important

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In my story "Raptoria," individuals of different species can develop close relationships, especially if they belong to the same occupation. Bonded pairs might wear one another's feathers to represent devotion.

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shiny

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Posted a new update for The Silver Mountain today!

Go read it here: https://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/the-silver-mountain/list?title_no=575307

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boy

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Another Ikana

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Brother and sister of the Ikana. I love blue.

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Oc sketch

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Sentinels' Gate West

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Blue Fire

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Concepts for different raptor species in my dinosaur side-project. Dromaeosaurids and Troodontids.

[feathernotes]

there’s been a few folks talking about the state of webcomics in my last post, particularly how the landscape has changed since webcomics became something bigger corporations could make money off of…. and, well, exploit people to get it. I want to talk a little more broader on the topic at one point, but yeah, it’s been a tough few years seeing ‘new shiny thing’ and uncovering the rot beneath. Please support your fellow indie creators however you can- tell your friends about your favourite comics, make posts reccomending them, share your fics, fanart, your fave moments, etc etc. Word of mouth is still one of the most powerful and nebulous ways to support folks!

[feathernotes]

I’ve seen a few additions on my webcomic posts talking about the ‘barriers for entries’ when making webcomics and my stomach just dropped.

It wasn’t always like that. The expectation to feel the need to be perfect before you begin a webcomic, the need to be Super Popular On Social Media to be ‘relevant’, the want to have 1million subs to feel you’ve ‘made it’ even though the payout is scraped from the platform for their benefit (and nice 50% too). 

The amazing part of webcomics is the fact that you can and WILL grow as you make them. This is what makes them special.

I will be honest in the fact that, there are Very Few People nowadays that can make a living off of webcomics. Even those who seem most successful still have other avenues to generate income. I think it’s unfair that theres this corperate greed that drills this expectation in folks to match industry standards, and imho, that is the opposite of what webcomics should be. They should be wonky sometimes, have some typos, linger too long on things, read imperfect, and most importantly- show that growth of creation over the years. I have a webcomic podcast (screen tones) and our theme always comes back to anyone can make a webcomic, because its what makes webcomics unqiue and accessible. It’s what makes them what they are.

So please, if you feel like you’re ‘not good enough to start a webcomic’- stop lingering on the Expectations these greedy companies have to make you obsess over subs and likes and contests, and make your comic. And make it as unhinged and wild and indulgent as possible. Because i guarantee you, even if they are silent readers, SOMEONE needs your story.

[xfreischutz]

I just want to say, (at least in Korea) the corporate-sponsored webtoons/webcomics industry literally shoves people into the meat grinder to fuel their weekly updates of 80+ full-colour illustration-quality panels. There’s separate people for putting down flat colours, shading, and lines. and even then people literally die from overworking. I’m not joking. People have died because of how hard the webtoon industry works them. You get a bit of leeway depending on your style and genre but this is what happens as a result of corporations setting the goalposts to attain.

No single person can compete with that.

Webcomics used to be something you did because you wanted to, because there was a story you wanted to tell, and the line has now blurred between these personal projects and the “comics that are held to a quality standard that also happen to be accessible via web”.

If you have a story that you want to tell via comic, you should go for it. You probably wouldn’t make money off of it, but the discipline of making something consistently (not even of consistent quality, but literally just having something to post weekly) is pretty gratifying! It literally doesn’t matter what the quality is like. If someone is mean about it, it will hurt but also what have they made? what kind of effort have they made into being creative? have they pursued a project with any kind of effort? you’re doing so much more for yourself and for the world by making something and putting it out there.

The social aspect can and might bog you down, because it’s nice to have that quantifiable validation that your work is liked. It might even stop you from posting. But it’s not the core aspect of making a webcomic, and it’s certainly not a Necessity to getting started. And if there’s readership to be gained, you won’t get it by never starting it. Just make your thing. Also your art will improve so fast when you’re literally drawing so many panels every week. Don’t worry about it. Post on a private blog if you’re really afraid to show people. But really, just get started. And don’t worry about it.

[bob-artist]

And to make sure there’s no confusion - I think there’s a risk of conflating the corporate greed of Webtoon’s exploitative schedule and contracts with the real passion of a lot of us indie creators who want to put in the hours to tell our weird, authentic, personal stories but who also know our labor has value.

“Everyone should be able to make a webcomic” is 100% true. There should be no barrier to entry, no expectation of high skills or a massive following before launching, no reader demand for unreasonable schedules, none of that. “Everyone should have to make their webcomic without being paid” is NOT true. And I’m not saying OP claimed this! Just pointing out that there’s often a belief that people don’t deserve to make money from something that’s commonly viewed as a hobby, along with a huge amount of reader expectation (thanks to Webtoon and the like) that creators should always put out a steady stream of free content, without an understanding of the labor behind the scenes. And that’s part of WHY so few webcomic creators make a living off their comics.

My first webcomic started as purely a hobby and became something that paid. If it hadn’t, it wouldn’t still be running after 12 years and I wouldn’t be launching a second one. The pay is also what gave me the means to improve my skills to a level I found personally gratifying. I never could have justified pouring that many hours into the craft without crowdfunding.

Webcomics is one of those awesome things that can be done either as a hobby or professionally. Please appreciate and support both categories of creator, and the overlap between them! But you absolutely don’t have to be a professional to make a webcomic, especially before you even start.

[expressions-of-nature]

Karkonosze National Park, Poland by Zbigniew Gałucki

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A new Queen rises!