#but ngl i don't really feel connected to any drawing i post ever

[hoofpeet]

hai i have been a huge fan of your art probably for a year or two now and gosh. your environmental game has seriously shot through the roof. i have always been rather impressed by how you color-pick and in general how you color and shade your art. i was wondering if you would ever feel comfortable providing some insight into that process, especially color-picking? personally i have always struggled with my art pieces seeming muddy or washed out or what-have-you. Colors are a huge struggle for me personally and i always get lost with color theory tutorials because, sure, i know the basics, so i tend to. accidentally tune it out. anyway, i know you're not a teacher or anything, but your art seriously inspires me, so i thought i might shoot my shot with an ask =o)

1; thank you !! I appreciate it :]c

2; Truthfully every piece of art knowledge I've ever absorbed is locked away in a part of my brain I'm not allowed to access; so I don't fucking know anything !! You just have to do 300 million art studies until things come naturally to you I guess b/c that's apparently what I did !

[genericpuff]

Hi! I love your comic Lore Rekindled, it's pretty entertaining! (definetely planning on reading Time Gate when I finally have some time lol). I'm currently very early in the process of making a comic myself, and while I have the main idea down, and the planning sorta done (I'm busy with uni, so I've been working on it bit by bit), I can't seem to figure out how to grow an audience. I was wondering how you did it and how long it took?

oh god oh no y'all are asking me how to grow an audience UH-

so like, here's the thing, I can try and give you pointers, but I also like... don't consider myself as someone with an audience ?? Like obviously there's an audience for Lore Rekindled but up until that point, Time Gate's been running for like 10+ years and I think it only has 5-10 regular readers nowadays, it peaked in its audience numbers years ago when it was still on Tapas before their platform went downhill and I bailed and since then the industry has only become more and more saturated making it even harder to get seen. Rekindled, on the other hand, has been super refreshing to work on because of how much people have flocked to it (which was surprising af but I couldn't be happier about it ngl it's been great ;o; <3) but that's really because Rekindled had the advantage of a pre-existing audience to tap into (specifically the communities of ULO/antiLO/etc. who were looking for something to rejuvenate their love for what once was in LO). So that made it a bit easier to build an audience, but that's something that goes for a lot of fandoms.

Original stuff is definitely a bit of a harder sell because you have to go out and find the people who might like your stuff and then convince them to give it a try. Building an audience in an original market is just not something I've ever been good at, I can't stand social media, I don't like "playing the algorithm", I just want to tell a story with my own characters and because of that, it often feels like I'm posting to the void with only a couple cheerleaders rooting me on. Which like, don't get me wrong, I'm grateful for the readers I DO have, but it can make creating comics feel like an uphill slog when you're not seeing any growth at all every time you update and try your best to advertise. Original projects are my own personal boulder if y'know what I'm saying (￣y▽,￣)╭

At the very least, working on Rekindled has definitely helped open up the doors for Time Gate a couple more inches, because a lot of stuff in Rekindled is also in Time Gate so when people enjoy Rekindled, I can point them towards Time Gate and go "Oh, you like Persephone's hot and cold characterization? You like Charon's aloofness? You like the banter between Hades and Persephone? Go read Time Gate." (｡･∀･)ﾉﾞ

That said, I think the best experience I've had with marketing Time Gate so far actually happened this year - when I went to the Island Entertainment Expo, a gaming and media convention (similar to Comic Con but on a waaaaay smaller scale lmao). There I was actually able to talk to people face to face and draw them in with physical proof of my work, it was less posting and hoping and more connecting with others and showing them my work and giving them an elevator pitch. And considering it was a convention full of like-minded people cosplaying as video game and anime characters, Time Gate fit right in because that's the niche it was written for. I'm due to go to another convention in June and possibly one in October (if I get in) and I'm hoping they're just as successful as IEX was because it was so refreshing to actually get to market my comic on a playing ground catered to my work; rather than one that would bury it after 30 seconds just for not posting at the right time of day or using the exact right combination of hashtags or not using reels.

Of course, doing tables and stuff is something that you're likely not going to jump right into especially when you're starting out. So considering you're just starting, focus less on growing an audience and more on just making your comic. It's a lot better of a sell to an audience when you have proof of your work existing and your biggest struggle in the beginning isn't going to be building an audience, but building good habits. A lot of webcomics don't even make it past a year of regular publication because of how difficult it is in practice to maintain a regular schedule. Often times the people who don't make it past that year either get bored, overwhelmed, or burnt out from the work it requires, especially when they're drawing the same characters over and over and over again - and even more so when they're doing it by themselves, with next to no audience, and no return investment. No exaggeration, drawing comics is hard, but like going to the gym, it gets easier as you get into your groove and learn what works and doesn't work for you as a creator.

Most of all, while I do hope that anyone going into webcomics can build themselves an audience they can be proud of having, please please please don't go into making webcomics purely for building an audience, because it's hard and not guaranteed. As I had said above, I still don't even consider myself as someone with an audience in the traditional sense because when it comes to Time Gate, it's still a VERY small thing, and with Rekindled, I consider the people who read it less of "my audience" and more just the community that I came into who engages with my work because it's made specifically for the community. So please, for the love of god, do it for yourself first and foremost, don't get trapped in the grind of chasing an audience when you're still just getting your work off the ground <3

I hope that helps a little, sorry I don't have a more direct "do xyz and that'll do the trick!" answer (and it turned into another essay post) but to be perfectly honest, that straightforward answer just sorta doesn't exist in this industry. Sometimes you get an audience from catering to a niche, sometimes you get one from going viral on IG, sometimes you get one from climbing the ladder within the industry, it all depends. But the good news is, there's no surefire 100% way that you have to be obligated to stick to. It's okay if you try some things and they don't work, just as it's okay if you don't feel like doing things the way everyone else is telling you to. Just have fun, learn lots, and be open to putting yourself out there and trying new things! \(￣︶￣*\))

[capwilsons]

I posted 3,483 times in 2021

201 posts created (6%)

3282 posts reblogged (94%)

For every post I created, I reblogged 16.3 posts.

I added 5,216 tags in 2021

#sam wilson - 1211 posts

#tfatws - 835 posts

#sambucky - 828 posts

#art - 708 posts

#tfatws spoilers - 620 posts

#bucky barnes - 490 posts

#caatws - 200 posts

#anthony mackie - 184 posts

#sharon carter - 71 posts

#sarah wilson - 69 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#ngl just the idea that you had the audacity to tell me that if i had looked at his arc with the lens of ptsd and childhood trauma i'd get it

My Top Posts in 2021

#5

potential options for sam wilson flashbacks off the top of my head:

Sam as a kid/young teen working with his dad on the boat, and having more context about why it matters so much to him to keep it (some emotional moments b/w him and his dad please?)

Sam and Sarah's relationship (flashbacks w/ reference to that 'to the rescue' line)

Generally any flashbacks with his family??

Sam training to be falcon // putting on the jets for the first time and the kind of responsibility he took on with that

Sam dealing with the loss of his parents

Sam dealing with the loss of Riley

what else are you guys thinking of??

160 notes • Posted 2021-04-12 20:56:41 GMT

#4

anyways give me sam breaking down to tears because he's just had a shit day (wasn't able to save someone in a fight, feeling the weight of the mantle a little too much, his past + trauma being used as media fodder for why he does or doesn't deserve to be cap, the overwhelming weight of the responsibilities he has, or perhaps nothing but yet every reason all at once). And give me bucky simply holding sam, cradling him in his arms, wiping the tears away and doing everything he can to comfort sam. give me bucky drawing sam a bath after his long brutal day, tending to his wounds and holding him while he falls asleep. give me sam being vulnerable and open and raw, and give me bucky being there to solely to comfort his love in his time of need

258 notes • Posted 2021-04-18 22:23:13 GMT

#3

The world needed bi croptop + jean cutoffs sam wilson... I don't make the rules

438 notes • Posted 2021-06-20 22:29:06 GMT

#2

so sam has wings which makes like angel imagery easier obviously but the lengths they went through in ep 6 to really amplify and highlight this was incredible. like so many of his scenes were so beautiful and ethereal, and god did i love it. like i dont know why i connected so much to this but seeing him that way was really satisfying and impactful

759 notes • Posted 2021-04-24 20:46:16 GMT

#1

"Talking of titles, was there ever any conversation about it being called 'The Winter Soldier and The Falcon'?"

2505 notes • Posted 2021-04-03 22:48:22 GMT

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