What do YOU perceive as your strengths and weaknesses as a comic creator? I don't just mean I write coz I can't draw or vice versa. Also if others can comment on those given, whether you agree or not etc.

I'll begin.
Weaknesses
Layouts, not bad as such but a little pedestrian.
Dialogue
Colouring
Absolutely not a perfectionist, so I rush things a bit too much leading to small errors.

Strengths
Productive.
Writing obnoxious characters.

I always have the feeling that it's hit-and-miss. So, if I list any strengths, it doesn't mean I don't horribly fail at those sometimes... Also, strengths are mostly based on what people tell me, while weaknesses are more based on introspection/paranoia :p

Strengths
- Layouts
- Dynamic action scenes
- Writing interesting dialogue (probably not so much writing naturalistic dialogue) and weaving together different layers of meaning in my stories
- Keeping myself motivated and interested in my own stories

Weaknesses
- Anatomy (I'm slowly getting better, but I still often cringe at what I produce)
- Clarity - sometimes I'm afraid my writing as well as my art is hard to make sense of
- I guess I'm too pragmatic sometimes and don't make "art for art's sake"... which detracts from the effort I put into my art. However, that could also be labelled as "efficiency" under my strengths ;-)
- Complete and utter lack of motivation to advertise or promote my comics :p

Like Abt_Nihil stated, some of these are based on what I've been told by others, some weaknesses are things I think I'm improving on.

Weaknesses:
-Layouts (Something I'm always working to improve on)
-Dialogue (I feel I need to be a little more concise in saying "more with less" words)
-Anatomy (Far, far from perfect, I can always improve on my artwork)
-Updating (But sometimes I can't help it! I currently have such a busy life D: )

Strengths:
-Storytelling (I personally feel I'm pretty skilled at this. I like to make many different threads of a story gradually tie together)
-Character design (It's something I really enjoy, and I think my characters have unique personalities; I don't feel like you can get them mixed up or forget anyone)
-Dialogue (I've been told that some of my dialogue is quite nice)
-Panels (Aside from my sometimes lackluster layouts, I like to create unique panel shapes that I feel work with the mood of my comic)
-Motivation (I love my story, so I'm always motivated to work on my comic when I have the time, and I'm always wanting to improve with every page :D)

Wow, interesting to see similar and dissimilar traits in other people here, especially with myself!

Strengths:
-Colour skill.
-Making good layouts.
-Backgrounds and attention to detail.
-Good and making "realistic" atmospheric effects (smoke, fire, clouds, desert haze, ocean surface, undersea...)
-Good machine and prop design (guns, truck, mecha, ships...)
-Good costume design.
-Good HTML template design.

Weaknesses:
-Can't make characters look the same consistently.
-Poor anatomy.
-Poor characterisation.
-Can't keep focussed on the story.
-Weak dialogue.
-Extremely slow at finishing pages.

Abt_Nihil
I guess I'm too pragmatic sometimes and don't make "art for art's sake"... which detracts from the effort I put into my art. However, that could also be labelled as "efficiency" under my strengths ;-)

I'm the other way there. Expediency and pragmatism always take a back seat to making a pretty pic for me. :)
If there's a better looking, more artistic way to do something I'll jump through hoops to be able to use it.
...Which could be a strength for the pages, but a weakness overall.

Abt_Nihil
Strengths
- Layouts
- Dynamic action scenes
- Writing interesting dialogue (probably not so much writing naturalistic dialogue) and weaving together different layers of meaning in my stories
- Keeping myself motivated and interested in my own stories

At this point I have only read Holon of your work but I agree with all those. None of your dialogue has ever seemed out of place or unnatural.

Someone
Weaknesses
- Anatomy (I'm slowly getting better, but I still often cringe at what I produce)
- Clarity - sometimes I'm afraid my writing as well as my art is hard to make sense of
- I guess I'm too pragmatic sometimes and don't make "art for art's sake"... which detracts from the effort I put into my art. However, that could also be labelled as "efficiency" under my strengths ;-)
- Complete and utter lack of motivation to advertise or promote my comics :p

I haven't seen an issues with anatomy, as your art is pretty stylized and short comings may just seem like part of the style. Regardless it works for me, wish I could do stuff half as good.

Strengths:
Joking
Storylines

Weaknesses:
Not talented with art
refusal to try and get better
get better but it be a really lame step forward
comics are confusing at times

And that's when I decide to revert to paint.

Hmph, I could write a book on my weaknesses.
Some of which are:
Anatomy (However some characters do defy the laws of physics deliberately.)
Backgrounds.
A lot of characters have spiky hair.
Some of my older pages were written ad hoc and it shows.
Older pages look awful.
Among other things.

Strengths:
~Character development (Someone once said my characters were "real people." Made me kinda proud.)
~Dialogue
~Expressions
~Color* (Honestly, I don't think I'm good at this at all :P, but I've been told this.)
~Pacing/timing (Story pacing in Used Books, and punchline "timing" in Gelotology)
~Keeping to my schedule -- most of the time
~Persistence (No matter how much I suck or sucked, I push forward.)

Weaknesses:
~Human Anatomy
~Perspective
~Action
~Clarity (Sometimes I sacrifice detail for pacing and the meaning of things is either too subtle or lost entirely.)
~Writing bad guys
~Sound effects -- and any other effects like smoke, explosions, etc.

Well, where to begin.

Strengths:

Effective facial expressions and body language.
Consistency with characters faces and bodies and settings.
Good pacing and panel-to-panel continuity.
Handling of action/fight sequences and comedic scenes.
Indoctrinating sound effects into the picture/panel.
Getting to the point with the story with no meandering. Except maybe
when drawing something out adds to the drama.
Artwork is clean and easy to read (MOST of the time).

Weaknesses:

Story-telling seems a trifle shallow.
Character development is stereotyped or archetyped and not in-depth.
Excessive use of Cliches.
Sometimes the stories take a surprising dark turn to unhumorous things.

In all fairness I won't try to justify weaknesses except to say that I never wanted to do deep complex stories anyway, just tell some fun adventure tales featuring diverse and recognizable characters.

And the dark turns are to balance the stories.
Just as the best dramas and adventures have comedic moments, the best comedies have serious turns.
As for my artwork being occasionally messy, I blame my tendonitis, carpel-tunnel syndrome or whatever they call it and it sometimes hampers my drawing skill.

Oh, and I'll leave the last characteristic of my comic for you to decide if its a strength or weakness:

Copious use of puns and plays on words and names of characters, places and products.
:)

Reading these, I realize there are so many things I forgot to list, like sound FX, character design and storytelling. I think I'm good at the first two if I put in effort, and I'm trying desperately to get better with the latter :P

Genejoke
At this point I have only read Holon of your work but I agree with all those. None of your dialogue has ever seemed out of place or unnatural. (...) I haven't seen any issues with anatomy, as your art is pretty stylized and short comings may just seem like part of the style. Regardless it works for me, wish I could do stuff half as good.

Thanks, I'm glad to hear that! I should add that many gripes I have with my art are more obvious during earlier drawing stages. Sometimes in my sketches people will look like horribly stilted stick-figures, but then I work on them until I think I've hidden all the stiltedness. But hey, if my sketches were already great I would just stop and upload them, I guess ^_^

Strenghts:
- character developpement
- ambiances
- proficient in many black and white styles

Weaknesses(the main ones):
- Stiffness in characters, difficulty with action poses
- Layouts
- Using different angles
- Clarity of actions

There's only two comics here I'm familiar with so...

Genejoke
Weaknesses
Layouts, not bad as such but a little pedestrian.
Dialogue
Colouring
Absolutely not a perfectionist, so I rush things a bit too much leading to small errors.

I've seen you do page layouts where it's basically just two really big panels (actually, you do that often), so I can't argue with you on the first one! Your paneling is effective and easy to follow though. You don't need to change it.

The dialogue in your comics is usually quite good. If not always 100 percent believable, it is entertaining and memorable!

I think the coloring and the rushing are both the same issue. Anyone who can draw can also color, if they put in the effort. In general however, I've never seen much of a problem with your coloring. It's simple and effective. If anything, it's your linework that's a bit messy. Maybe it's that the clean, sharp coloring doesn't go so well with your rough lines?

Genejoke
Strengths
Productive.
Writing obnoxious characters.

You are WAY too productive! I can hardly keep up with you most days! And I'd agree your more memorable characters are the obnoxious ones. Also some of your more likable characters are obnoxious, come to think of it.

I'd also add as strengths that your composition within individual panels tends to be very effective, and that you have a talent for putting together exciting action sequences.

@Meemjar: I pretty much agree with all of the strengths and the weaknesses. I'm surprised you'd be so self-aware! I don't think I've ever noticed any of these "dark turns," but I'm not sure they really are necessary. It could just be that you're indulging yourself at the expense of the comic, which happens a lot with webcomics because the guy doing the quality control is also the guy writing and drawing it! :)

Overall, I think Smorty's a great comic and the use of stock characters and familiar plots is part of its identity. I don't think it's worth changing. Nobody wants to see Smorty take on deep philosophical issues or anything like that.

Oh, and I don't expect anyone to critique my comic, but while I'm here:

My Strenghts:
Too many to list

My Weaknesses:
I'm a clutterer. I know that, ideally, the way I do layouts my pages really shouldn't ever have more than six panels each. But usually I end up with eight or more, which makes the artwork smaller, the text more encroaching, and just generally makes the pages look like a cluttered mess. I know it's a terrible way to put a comic together, but I do it anyway, because I like to make each page a mini self-contained "story," and sometimes five or six panels just isn't enough.

El Cid
Oh, and I don't expect anyone to critique my comic, but while I'm here:

My Strenghts:
Too many to list

Modest much? :)
You do have a lot, some really interesting layouts great lettering and SFX. Some of the panels leave me thinking, wow how can I do that.

El Cid
My Weaknesses:
I'm a clutterer. I know that, ideally, the way I do layouts my pages really shouldn't ever have more than six panels each. But usually I end up with eight or more, which makes the artwork smaller, the text more encroaching, and just generally makes the pages look like a cluttered mess. I know it's a terrible way to put a comic together, but I do it anyway, because I like to make each page a mini self-contained "story," and sometimes five or six panels just isn't enough.

I don't really disagree, but it isn't a big problem and it does mean updates are usually satisfying.

I've seen you do page layouts where it's basically just two really big panels (actually, you do that often), so I can't argue with you on the first one! Your paneling is effective and easy to follow though. You don't need to change it.

The dialogue in your comics is usually quite good. If not always 100 percent believable, it is entertaining and memorable!

I think the coloring and the rushing are both the same issue. Anyone who can draw can also color, if they put in the effort. In general however, I've never seen much of a problem with your coloring. It's simple and effective. If anything, it's your linework that's a bit messy. Maybe it's that the clean, sharp coloring doesn't go so well with your rough lines?

Yeah the two panel pages happen for a variety of reasons. Sometimes I look at a page and it's too busy so I split it, or some panels just need to be bigger than originally planned. Other times I'm just lazy and occasionally I do it by design.

For dialogue... well with Malefic most of the dialogue is Jabberwockyjones's work. I give him the broad outlines and he does the hard work :)

That said the Meat shield bit was all mine, originally the creature was going to eat Simon but he got a reprieve.

And why does it tell me that dialogue is spelled incorrectly on this forum?

Colouring, never been any good at it, never been able to paint for shit. Which is why I colour my comics, I NEED the practice. Also lazy with it.

s for why I write obnoxious characters well, they're far more interesting. Greg is a "nice" character but he's also pretty dull.

I'd also add as strengths that your composition within individual panels tends to be very effective, and that you have a talent for putting together exciting action sequences.

I'll take those compliments, thanks.

El Cid
Anyone who can draw can also color, if they put in the effort.

Wh--? That's coming out of nowhere. I think this is only true if you put the emphasis on the "if they put in the effort"-part, as in "Anyone can color, if they put in the effort." I don't see how being able to draw relates to being able to color at all. I've been drawing for almost twenty years before taking my first baby steps in coloring, and I still think my coloring is so-so. I think that coloring uses entirely different areas of the brain :-)

Abt_Nihil
I've been drawing for almost twenty years before taking my first baby steps in coloring, and I still think my coloring is so-so. I think that coloring uses entirely different areas of the brain :-)

Your colouring is simplified, but it works perfectly and looks fantastic.

There are a lot of different approaches to colour, but you're right, it's very different to line drawing: You think differently when you do it. Line drawing involves specific mental processing that simplifies the world artificially into edges.
Colouring, for a comic artist, generally involves even more complicated mental processing to turn that highly simplified version of the world back into something more real: shapes delineated by colour, tone, shadow, texture (depending on how much you're doing).

It's actually easier to just simply paint colour to start with -Once you get the hang of that.
For that reason I cut back my line work to the absolute minimum and then go back and erase bits further before i even start colour so it doesn't get in the way.

My Strengths:
-Writing (This is the one thing most people tell me is my strength lol)
-general anatomy
-backgrounds/cars (or at least my willingness to draw them)

My Weaknesses:
-Reusing the same poses/angles
-uninspired coloring/shading
-sounding like a weeaboo
-using names that no one can pronounce (Koji= kohGEE. Tadhg= TIEg like the first part of 'Tiger')
-pacing
-inking gets kind of blocky/pool-y in some places
-getting waaaaay to close to knocking the comic from the T rating to the M rating

I'd like to list character development as a strength, but Koji Comic is only 15 pages strong on DD. I have the comic planned out until the end (it's a short story and technically the prequel to my larger project) and I think there's some good development coming up.

Being in art school, I think I'm HIGHLY aware of my weaknesses and tend to put my strengths on the back-burner so I can work harder on fixing my flaws. I'm noticing myself improving a little more on each page though, which says a LOT for me, since I'm prone to being my worst critic.

Regularly updating a comic kind of forces you to improve to some extent.

ozoneocean
Your colouring is simplified, but it works perfectly and looks fantastic.

Was that--

That was a compliment. Man, I still remember back when you agreed with me on my opinion on Batman Returns, and I was really happy then. But this--

Okay, I'm being a bit too ironic for my own good, it's just that for all this time I had no idea what you were thinking about my art, so: Thanks, and I'm glad ^_^

And yes, I can relate to what you say about color and shape vs lines... basically, I'd been thinking in outlines all my life. In the few years that I have been working with color, I have learned that color takes its appeal from working with juxtaposing palettes and values (of lightness/darkness and saturation) rather than the sort of "naturalistic ideal" of how a thing is colored under ideal lighting conditions. I think a lot of people, myself included, start coloring by coloring skin orange, grass green and snow white. It took me some time to see that lighting conditions are never ideal, and that they aren't even appealing. In short, it's completely different from thinking about what makes a b/w illustration appealing.

@El Cid.
Well, the 'Dark turns' in my story weren't really all that ugly but in the first adventure there was scenes of drug-pushing and use by one of the characters.
Sexual harassment and attempted rape of one of the female characters.
Racist slurs made by the villains, that sort of thing.

But they were essential to motivating the story to give it reason to exist.

This is great thread!

Strengths
Character designs
Monsters
Action

Weaknesses
Props
Backgrounds
Layouts
Animals

Dodger
-using names that no one can pronounce (Koji= kohGEE. Tadhg= TIEg like the first part of 'Tiger')

Personally, I like those kinds of names XD The Wheel of Time series seems to have the same thing going on sometimes.

As for me --

Strengths
Colors
Shading
Special Effects -- no wonder, these are all my favorite parts of the process.
Atmosphere
I'm also told I'm good at creating suspense but I'm not so sure about that.

Weaknesses
Anatomy -- I don't see this listed often as a strength.
Dialogue
Line weights
Composition
Clothing design

Strengths

Characters, Character Design - I can make good characters. I don't like to brag about most things, but I'm downright proud of my characters and designs.
Worldbuilding, Lore - I love making worlds. And making the things and people that populate them. I can ramble about these things for an eternity and a half, and still have more stuff to talk about.
Dialogue - Heh, you'll have to read Elements to see what I'm talking about.
Art - I can draw most of what I want to put in, and in the case of what I can't, I think I'm a pretty good learner once I can figure the general idea out.


Weaknesses

Story - To be more specific, it's getting from Point A to Point B that gives me difficulty. I have no problem with the actual main segments.
Pacing - Although in the case of Elements that kind of comes with the medium. I'd still like to try and get it paced better though.
Backgrounds - Okay, I can draw most of what I want to put in except trees. >.>
Procrastination - I'm sorry, I'll go update :C


Because of this combination of a really good world and characters, and an inability to write a good story for it, I opted for the CYOA format, to allow people to explore at their own pace, writing what is really their own story and at the same time giving me plenty of opportunities to go off on tangents about mushrooms and banjo-playing Italians.

As for the procrastination, I'll get to that later.

Strengths

-Storytelling
-Pacing
-Humor
-Creative Ideas
-Willing to improve on my weaknesses
-Semi-Layouts

Weaknesses

(Oh boy! Where am I going to begin?)

-Anatomy
-Dialogue
-Cars
-Colors
-Animal Anatomy
-Semi-Layouts
-Proportions
-Slow updates
-Posing
-Character Design
-Robot Drawings and Designs
-Shitty Art style
-Being negative and angry for most of the time

Strengths:
-character Development
-backgrounds
-character designs/wardrobe
-colors
-storytelling
-pacing

Weaknesses:
-dialogue
-action sequences
-layouts
-eyes
-anatomy

Strengths
-Distinctive designs in content
-Writing as a whole
-World Building
-Long term characterization

Weakness
-Verbose
-Rough unpolished art style
-Inability and disinterest to use colors much
-Realism, particularly in technology

Strengths
-Humor
-HTML
-Consistency
-Complicated Plot lines
-Planning
-Research
-Details on items I'm copying

Weaknesses
-ART!!!
-art
-Art
-Penmenship when I use it
-Layout
-Choreography and Angles
-expressions
-Did I mention I stink at art??

As with pretty much all my posts until this summer, I must point out that the comic in question is not actually in existence yet. I do think I have a good idea of my strengths and weaknesses though, so here they are:

STRENGTHS:
plot
character personality
character development
character relationships
character designs
fight scenes
dialogue
humor
tension

WEAKNESSES:
backgrounds
backgrounds
did I mention backgrounds?
shading
using my tablet
backgrounds
coloring
artistic consistency
paneling
and also backgrounds

Dear Lord do I ever hate backgrounds. I refuse to take the lazy way out and just not have them though, so I guess I'm stuck with 'em.

This is interesting!

Hmmm lessee now...

Strengths:

-plot
-character building
-dialogue
-expressiveness
-anatomy
- I never thought I'd ever say this but I think BACKGROUNDS! (In WM especially)

Weaknesses:

-continuity in the little details, like bloodstains and plants on windows.
-bubble placing (more often that I'd like to think)
-layouts
-odd angles

Of course everything on both lists and all that is in the list of 'not quite strength or weakness' are on the 'to improve' list anyway so... :P

Strengths:

-Enthusiasm/drive- still working on the same couple comics for years. Huge archives!
-Update schedule- Demon Eater least once a week always
-storytelling-(maybe)
-Characterization(maybe)
-Some of the art like drawing expressions(maybe)

Weaknesses:
-Can't draw great illustrations for covers for the life of me.
-Sketch books consist of mostly faces. Not enough studies on drawing full figures and fight scenes
-Update schedule- All my other comics but Demon Eater
-art rendering(rush it too much.)
-designing a website/ website coding

Strength:
Inking
Cleanness
Panel layout
Character design
Backgrounds! (a former weakness)

Weakness:
Dialog
Color(fucking hate it asfhgjg)
action(but i'm getting better)
Pacing