My Webcomic Failed. Here's Why.
Cyberbullying saved the day.
In March 2020 I began my webcomic, “AniApt ~Animal Apartment~.” It’s a slice-of-life furry 4Koma. Beginning in chapter 2, the setting includes a (deliberately unnamed, but similar to Covid) lockdown. The characters are anthropomorphic animals sharing a 2-bedroom apartment, and the series follows their various antics. The elevator pitch is “Aggretsuko meets Lucky Star”.
Here’s chapter 1 in its entirety (Reads right-to-left)
If you would like to read more, the series is also uploaded to FurAffinity, Webtoons, Tapas, and Mangadex. There are currently 9 chapters, and the series is still running.
Anatomy of this Failure:
AniApt was a case of “Dress for the job you want.” I decided, I am going to be a mangaka, so I will make a manga.
I am speaking about this series the past tense, but I have a chapter 10 planned. It contains a supernatural element, and, despite being foreshadowed in earlier chapters - I know it’s going to be jarring to include this in a slice-of-life comic. I want to do it carefully.
I wanted to take the steps to make sure it would be a success. So I went in with this mindset:
It will update consistently and frequently
Easy-to-read. The one thing that can ruin any comic is being difficult to read
Easy-to-follow. I made it a 4-koma, so no confusion about panel layout. Furthermore, gag comics are easy to share and meme, so why not make mine in the format that’s easiest to manipulate and read out of context.
Furries. Making anything with furries is about as close as you can get to printing money.
Despite this, AniApt never gained traction. I don’t want to dismiss the support my series has received over the years, and I’ve felt legitimately touched by the heartfelt comments I’ve gotten. This is a story for another post, but one of my friends channeled the character Riri to improve their life. Seeing art influence someone like that is the highest compliment any writer can receive, and I’m honored my little webcomic could have that effect on someone.
But if I did a print run, exactly 10 people would buy it.
10 people buying your book is the manga equivalent of “My mother told me I’m very handsome.”
It’s now currently updating “Whenever” versus its original strict schedule of every other week.
So let’s break down why, despite doing everything “right,” it still failed.
Updates Consistently and Frequently : I did this perfectly, so, no notes. Moving onto the next point.
Easy to read: The text was big enough, but I got frequent comments about the dialogue feeling too ESL. Ouch. I guess “readability” is more than just font size.
Easy to follow: I should’ve made it more obvious this is a comic that read right-to-left. I realized a few chapters in, I should’ve made the title/credits like this:
I also should’ve tossed in a “← Read This Way ←” just to be absolutely sure no one would get lost.
However, since I was already a few chapters in when I realized this, I kept it the same. The page layout is the only thing I could keep consistent.
And this is a little more technical - but many of the panels are outright crowded. Either too much dialogue or too heavy with background element/screentone. So in that regard, the mere fact that it’s a 4koma doesn’t mean it’s immediately “easy to read.”
Furries. This one is the most heartbreaking.
I was sure that furries meant success. Really. But I wasn’t drawing the right kind. And that didn’t click until I got comments on a manga pirating website.
I never received any particularly mean or even negative comments posting AniApt to FurAffinity/Webtoons/Tapas/Amino. Any critique was always wrapped up with a solid ganbatte attitude, and it came from a place of love, of wanting to see a creator improve.
And why be mean to an indie artist? If you see an amateur comic that sucks, it’s a little more rude to leave a mean comment. There’s a greater chance the author will see it and you’ll either ignite an internet slap-fight or it will completely ruin their day. You don’t wanna be a day-ruiner. And most readers expect a lower level of quality when you read self-published work.
But if you go on Mangadex, where Naruto and One Piece are just a few clicks away- you’re more inclined to keep reading a work, because you’re assuming there’s a reason it’s there.
Okay, let me try to explain. Most works on there are scanlations, which means it is assumedly “legitimized” by being printed in a magazine, and then a third party loved it enough to make a scanlation of it (If that love is misguided or harmful is another discussion). And if that manga sucks, you leave a comment saying it sucks, either to vent your frustration at the wasted time or to warn fellow readers. You don’t expect Kishimoto to materialize behind you after saying Naruto sucks.
My point is, I was able to see how people really felt after I put AniApt on Mangadex, and from there a bot reuploaded it to Mangakalot. Those readers definitely didn’t hold back.
And so on, and so fourth.
This was the nicest comment on the pirating website:
If I do a print run, it’ll be to put that quote on the back cover.
Anyway, all of my careful planning for success ultimately didn’t matter since the characters were drawn so ugly, and no one wants to look at uggos. It’s a laughably simple explanation, and it was one that I wasn’t able to get until I got anonymous feedback.
I over-corrected this for PolyMonFur. I lived and breathed various “How to draw Moe” books for the months leading up to its release to try to master the style (or at least pretend like I do for the few illustrations I have to make every month).
In later AniApt chapters, I have actively tried to make all of the characters a bit cuter. Skunk especially got a cuteness boost once his eyes got bigger, and I finally figured out how to draw Riri’s fox snout.
Chien will always be an ugly, beady-eyed fella, but he has a great muscled body. I’m sure that works for someone (that someone is me).
Now, to prophesies future failure:
Engaging with scanlations to any degree is going to be a bad look to some, career suicide to others (“others” being “most mainstream Japanese publishers”).
Sure, maybe someday, I’m going to get a-talkin’ to for dicking around on scanlation sites. But I’ll be honest, I’m not really too worried about it. That’s up there with the impossible hypothetical of “Man, someday I’m going to need a bigger bank vault to hold my millions after my smash hit anime gets bigger than Pokemon.” Right now it just doesn’t exist. The bigger barrier to me making professional manga is my art, not my short-sighted thinking. And I’ll burn that bridge when I get to it.
Anyway, I’ve heard from manga editors that I need to improve my anatomy, but I’d shrug it off with “what I lack in technical skill, I make up for in personal style!” That and editors are so damn polite with everything they tell you, so really, they should be meaner if they wanted me to listen (They really don’t understand my personal style).
I think that if it weren’t for this comments-section freakout, I would’ve kept grinding away at AniApt. No doubt over time I would’ve eventually eked out a bigger audience. But I’d take my slow growth as symptom of one of these three things:
I’m victim to The Algorithm
I’m Bad at Social Media
-or, most likely-
The Masses Don’t Understand Real Art, Man
I honestly wouldn’t have had the self-awareness to see that AniApt’s art style is largely unappealing if it weren’t for all those comments. And I really could see an AU where I make this series for years, lacking this awareness. Then I’d be one of those guys who spent my life on a webcomic that’s too niche for me to live off of, but I’ve dug myself in this hole as The AniApt Guy, which seems pretty hard to get out of.
I have always wanted to make mainstream, palatable art. I knew AniApt would be different stylistically, but- I didn’t go into this thinking I’d be this wrong. Another key element - which might be harder to explain, but I’ll try to do it quick - I feel oddly aware of the little differences in OEL manga vs. Japanese manga. When I made AniApt I felt particularly obsessed with these minute differences. I think that was the bigger issue to me - not “Does it look good” but “Does it look like an OEL manga?” I wanted it to look like a Japanese manga despite it being OEL, and that stylistic difference was really important to me.
Now that I write that out, I realize how insane it sounds.
There’s a lot I could say about the creative forces behind this manga, the characters, the storylines. This is a work I love even if it’s incredibly rough. And even if I tried to improve the art in later chapters, the heart of the style is still quite ragged, which I really like. I think the style’s fun and expressive, and it’s okay if it’s not for everyone. I just know now that this isn’t the basket to put all my eggs.
And that can be said for any of my projects. I have a real-deal aversion to being tied down to one thing. Just let me keep experimenting and growing and trying new things, please.
Taken as a whole, AniApt can stand as a testament to experimentation - other than the malleable character designs, the heart of the story is about growing and adapting. Which is something I hope I can keep doing in my art, no matter where it goes.
Please do not message the commenters mentioned in this essay. Any attempt to contact these individuals based on the content of the essay is strongly discouraged. “PolyMonFur: How to be Polyamorous in a World of Monsters and Furries” is my serialized ecchi light novel. Read it on Lumebento today (it's free!)
Thank you for reading 🫶
Two thoughts:
1. Honestly better to have failed and learned than to have never tried. Cliched as it sounds., but your article shows why. You will have to eat sand if you try anything, and I feel pain more sensitively than most. So I tend to respect those who persist despite taking the hit, more so if they learnt from it.
2. Ahh furries. It's a tough situtation, very loyal group but also small and fickle at times. I am trying to be more comfortable in non-furry groups at times.
An interesting look into your creative process for sure. I'm sorry to see that this comic failed, but hopefully, you'll enjoy success in the future :)