I'm just curious about this. Before webcomics existed, publishing your own comics meant trying to turn in your work to a publishing company and going through a lot of rejection letters before you even get your foot in the door. You could self publish, but that would cost a lot of money to start and you'd have to go around making deals with the local stores to sell your amateur published comic.

Now there are a ton of webcomics out there made by aspiring comic artists. Many of them are really REALLY bad (for me, Sonichu would be an example). There are a lot of good examples though and some of them even make money. But what do the "professional" comic artists who draw print comics think of us webcomic artists as a whole? I also wonder if they think we're ruining the world of comics with the many bad webcomics that keep being cranked out...

"Do "professional" comic artists look down on us webcomic artists?"

Probably, but who cares?

dinosaurs ! they prolly not aware of our existence just like the old reptiles were oblivious of the mammals. but then we ate all their eggs and there were no more comic book stores. and even though we are small and sometimes unreliable and confusing at least we can make a big mess of the forest floor

Even I look down on webcomic artists, and I am one!

It'd be rather juvenile of them don't you think? In the grand scheme of things we all work in the same medium. Only difference is the skill level really. And I mean, even professional artists work in the Webcomic Domain. Paul Duffield for instance. There are tons more who do work at that a professional level. You can find a ton here on DD too.

In some ways I have a feeling professional artists wish they had the creative control and input of webcomic creators. Jeph Jacques can make whatever the hell he wants in his comic and it pays his bills. I'm pretty sure Professional Artists can't get away with "I decided to try a new look for Spider Man for this page." and still expect to be on the same book the next month.

Anyone looking down on real art is not a real artist. Or a professional one in my opinion. Feeling contempt or believing something isn't good enough because of the material (not where it is published) I can understand and respect. But feeling something isn't good enough because of whether someone OTHER than the artist(s) who makes choices based not on art but money/politics/interests and connections has funded it, is just plain proof of empty pompousness in my book.

Oh, and lack of real artistic mettle, too- even if there is technique.

And this criterion goes both ways- both for the print comic artist and the webcomic/indy artist.

So far with the guys doing graphic novels and comic books for a living that I've met and been taught by, they kind of consider webcomics to be the equivalent to say, playing college football. Most of the folks in that bracket won't ever move up, but when draft season comes, that's where they'll probably be pulling most of their talent from. It's not so much a matter of looking down on them, as they seem to prefer to view that the folks in webcomics as the gifted amateurs who have potential and might be their eventual team mates but just aren't ready yet.

I've had a couple Profs, Alunms and their friends ( look up Max Estes for an example if you want. ) from my school who I've gotten to talk to and that's the general impression I've gotten from them.

lba
It's not so much a matter of looking down on them, as they seem to prefer to view that the folks in webcomics as the gifted amateurs who have potential and might be their eventual team mates but just aren't ready yet.

Interesting.

When I look at a lot of professional published comic and illustrated work I tend to think things like "someone PAID you for THAT? why?" o_O
lol!

Other than that I just view as equals in another line of work. - but then I do graphic design anyway...

Still, it's interesting to have that insight lba :)

Generally speaking, yes they do. But is is changing.

Professional creators have long looked down on all indy creators and, in turn, indy print creators have looked down on webcomic creators. It's changing, though. As indy print creators discover the advantages of using the web, the dividing line between print and web creators is already disappearing.

It will take longer for the pro community to get there but Zuda was a big step in the right direction. Whatever you thought of its technology, its contracts, its popularity-based voting system, or the quality of the comics selected, Zuda was a huge nod by DC towards acceptance of the web as a viable platform for "non-mainstream" comics.

The line was blurred further when Warren Ellis began posting instalments of Freak Angels online. I very much doubt that this will be the last example of a big name professional creator turning to the web to launch his/her own personal projects.

Acceptance of webcomic creators by the professionals, therefore, will come, simply because a large number of them will become webcomic creators themselves.

Considering how poorly I regard most newspaper comics, I wouldn't be surprised for those authors to return the hate.

ozoneocean

lba
It's not so much a matter of looking down on them, as they seem to prefer to view that the folks in webcomics as the gifted amateurs who have potential and might be their eventual team mates but just aren't ready yet.

Interesting.

When I look at a lot of professional published comic and illustrated work I tend to think things like "someone PAID you for THAT? why?" o_O
lol!

Other than that I just view as equals in another line of work. - but then I do graphic design anyway...

Still, it's interesting to have that insight lba :)

It as constantly seeing crap art in mainstream titles that made me do a webcomic, that way I can say I can do better see... sadly the crap pencils have a far better "finish" than I have achieved yet, one day, one day,

I don't know for sure what a lot of print comics authors think of webcomic artists but as I've hung out in the art world for a bit I've comes to the conclusion that --


1. in art there will always be a group of old schoolers who look down on new techniques. (I.E you use computers? You cheater! It's all hand drawn and toned here!)

2. In art there will always be people who embrace the new techniques of doing things too enthusiastically and the expression and art itself suffers for it. (I am going to copy my favorite manga then publish it but it's different cause I made that guys hair blue)

3. There will always be a group of artists who find that happy medium between the old and the new and comics will benefit and grow because of these people.

4. In Art there are people who come up with new techniques and think of new ways to execute and idea they make even more change the above group and whole genre's and artists movements are created by these people.


So yeah plenty of folks probably think our work just blows monkey chunks but hey so do many professionals as well.

Considering the sheer wave of crap the big companies have been shoveling out for 20 years now... who cares what they think? Professional doesn't actually mean talented, seems like. But yes, there will always be some artists, let alone people in general, who look upon their status in life and get all puffy foo-foo (re: elitist wanker) about anything that doesn't fit their little p.o.v. perfectly. I've seen some high and mighty goober recently who went on about a 'talent drain' on DD, citing everyone good left right in the beginning and that the real talented folk only want to interact with their own kind.

Depending on where his head was, I wondered if the special air he breathed was clean from his high ivory vantage point or if he preferred the cinnamon scented odors he was surely producing in his own two legged cave of wonder.

The fact that just about anyone with an internet connection can post a webcomic will insure that most of them will be terrible. I'm sure that most of the people who do print comics are aware of this.

Still, I doubt they despise the medium in an abstract sense. Print is dwindling, and the web is growing. Many people in the world of print comics also post new material on the web. Zuda and Warren Ellis' FreakAngels have been mentioned already, but there are tons of other examples. DC and Marvel have expanded their web content considerably, and other publishers like Dark Horse also have enterprises in this arena.

There are also a lot of comics artists who moonlight a webcomic for a variety of reasons. Some want a venue that doesn't have an editor telling them what to do. Others like the idea of having the comic serve as an online portfolio of sorts. Dean Haspiel has mentioned that he got a lot of commercial art gigs based on his comics for Act-I-Vate.

I'm sure there are print artists who look down on webcomics, but if they really enjoy the medium I'm fairly confident you'll find even print artists have a favorite web comic.
Really though, there's a lot of discrimination among the comic commmunity. In the 30's you were only good if you drew Political Cartoons, you were considered okay if you did a strip, but if you did a full comic book you were nothing.

Of course things have changed, few really care for political or strip cartoons, and comic books dominate the market.

Now with the print industry shrinking (I don't think its dead or ever will be), there's going to be a lot more favor towards the web, which will mean great things for webcomic artists. So webcomics are going to grow in popularity, and strong ones are going to gather more respect than they had before.

But really for me, I think the major problem webcomics face is the fact that at heart most of us are functioning as if these were comics designed for print (myself included). Webcomics will fully gain the respect of the comic community once it has taken a true form, soemthing that definitively is a webcomic, and would only function as a webcomic.

There are many things that we can do with webcomics that simply can't work with print comics. One of the best minds on the subject I can think of is Scott McCloud: http://scottmccloud.com/1-webcomics/index.html

but yeah, if you really want your webcomic to be taken seriously you have to consider how best to use the webcomic medium

Hawk
Considering how poorly I regard most newspaper comics, I wouldn't be surprised for those authors to return the hate.

Well I know that for a fact to be true. I had an argument with a syndicated cartoonist on a cartooning forum once. Basically if you weren't in any sort of mainstream print media, you were an amateur even if you could draw circles around the syndicated cartoonist who managed to barely get his strip published in 5 papers.

Technically he was right about amatuers and pros. But I don't know I've always judged cartoons and comics by their quality, not whether or not they managed to get published in the Kalamazoo Gazette.

i sure hope so! for every good webcomic there's a sea of poorly-done garbage that infringes on all sorts of properties and has no intent of improvement or quality while begging for money.

webcomics are by and large the equivilent of back-alley "vendors" compared to the proper "stores" of print stuff. you can fins some amazing stuff, but it's unreliable and most of the bums aren't offering anything worth it.

like me! i only ever post utter crap.
case in point, this post.

Orin J Master
i sure hope so! for every good webcomic there's a sea of poorly-done garbage that infringes on all sorts of properties and has no intent of improvement or quality while begging for money.

Judging by the poorest examples only...? Isn't it also just as valid to judge by the best examples only?

Depends on the artist.

Gosh this guy on a certain podcast said that self-hosted site webcomikers look down on free-hosted site webcomikers.

So looking down's all over the place.

JillyFoo
Gosh this guy on a certain podcast said that self-hosted site webcomikers look down on free-hosted site webcomikers.

There's an element of that, certainly. I tend to think it's exaggerated, though. Probably a rumour spread by web-hosting businesses who want to drum up more business!

JillyFoo
Depends on the artist.

Gosh this guy on a certain podcast said that self-hosted site webcomikers look down on free-hosted site webcomikers.

So looking down's all over the place.

Well, I sort of understand that. Not to say that all self-hosted comics are going to be better than free-site comics but it is certainly a decent indicator of how serious the artist is about the work. Most free site people are creating there comics pretty casually and don't plan on making a career of that comic. On the other hand, if a person is willing to invest their money into the comic, setup and write the code for their own site, I think it's reasonable to assume that they are going to be taking it more seriously.

Again not that it WILL be better, but you do have improved chances

I think they do. For example, there was this comic in the newspaper today.

http://comics.com/arlo&janis/2010-07-23/

Of course, it totally backfires because it's actually saying that newspaper comics are only good for cleaning up cat shit (and that seems to be the case with a lot of the ones I see these days).