I'm going to pass a pretty large milestone in hits in few weeks and was wondering if i should do a full color 'thank for X hits!' picture. (It would be like smackjeeves version of 'thnks 4 favs!'.)

I got wondering if this was too much and if i'd just seem like i was gloating;

What thought comes to your mind when you see hits pictures like that either on here, smackjeeves or more commonly artist's gallerys?
Do you think artist is being a douche or just glad their stuff is liked so much?

It takes time and effort to make those kinds of things, so it is sort of a giving back -- a gift of appreciation from the creator. ... It's fan service. The ones I've enjoyed the most are "cameo-loaded" pictures. Those always go over well because they physically include the readers. ;) (And they are considerably more difficult to pull off.) Otherwise, I think a funny picture (or non-cannon strip) is best, one with a punchline that will make readers smile.

If it's just a character pin-up with a "Thanks for the _____," it is still a "gift" but it feels more like "gloating" (as you put it) because the readers don't get as much from it and it's not any more special than filler -- unless the picture is considerably different than the norm, like a different medium or setting or something really unique.

Basically, just give the fans what they want. If they like jokes, do a joke. If they like cleavage, draw some cleavage. If they go for cute, make it cute. (I usually include the cat from my comic because he is loved among my readers.) You're thanking them, so do something nice.



(Also, congrats on your X hits. ;) )

I always kind of cringe when I see them. I'm not sure why. Something just seems very... 1998 about them to me.

It's fine to do extra art, a comic, etc for the readers as a thank you- whatever's most appropriate or wanted. But please don't plaster 'thanks for the hits' on it! Just tell them what it's for as part of the picture's description/author notes.

I had done one of those recently . Short, simple, to the point. Like most of my extra stuff, I put it up on an off day so it wasn't like I was coping out on a real comic. I'm not planning on another for quite a while, so I'd say you wouldn't be out of place as long as you're not doing a thank you for every thousand hits or something.

Skullbie
What thought comes to your mind when you see hits pictures like that either on here, smackjeeves or more commonly artist's gallerys?

Something like: 'shut up and do more pages instead'.

there's nothing wrong with being excited about your work. go ahead and do it! these things can be fun sometimes and a change from just pumping out pages constantly. go ahead and do it.

but like a lot of other people said, make it something special if you really want it to go over well, have a major character doing something they wouldn't usually do, cameos, a different style then you usually use, whatever, have fun with it and make it something special.

When I got featured, I did a "Thanks for the Support!" filler . I've never thought of the "Thanks for~~" as gloating, but I'm sure there are people who think otherwise, like skoolmunkee.

It would probably be advisable to make sure you only do one of these, maybe two. Colored fillers are nice every once in a while, but there are fewer things more annoying than an artist posting a LOT of fillers, especially when they don't update on a regular basis anyway. OR, you can just make a gallery section for things like that and point it out with the next update.

korosu
I've never thought of the "Thanks for~~" as gloating, but I'm sure there are people who think otherwise, like skoolmunkee.

I don't see them as 'gloating'... I just think they're, I dunno... crass?

On a devart account, I consider them par for the course. On a webcomic account, I consider them filler; it irks me if I'm reading through a storyline line to be interrupted by something like that.

I think its a way of congratulating yourself for the effort.

It's mainly an excuse for the artist to indulge in some fanboyism of his/her own, on his/her own character. Because you get to draw your character(s) in poster format, often doing something OOC. The thank you message is basically your excuse for the self-indulgence.

If you remove the thank you message and instead have a title like "Plastic Extreme Beach Volleyball!" or "Plastic Mardi Gras Drunken Party!" it'd go over just the same way I think.

I think it also depends if the "Thank-You!" art replaces a regular update or is on top of a regular update.

I did one for Skull Girl accepting the "Best Superhero Comic" award (and am still meaning for Iron to accept best parody), but it didn't disrupt the regular schedule and was a lot of extra work since I also wanted to experiment with Photoshop effects. Also, it appeared exclusively on Drunk Duck. Which... now that I think about it, maybe would have been better if I actually posted it elsewhere too to bring more traffic to the Duck. Hmmm... in retrospect, not as nice as I thought.

Anyhow, I think as long as it doesn't interrupt the updates there's nothing wrong with a thank-you for a major milestone.

As a side note, an alternative to 'filler' artwork is to include a little graphic note on the side. When ST hit 200 strips, I put a little extra graphic in the "Character Comments" part of the strip.