Hi there! As a comic artist, I had to go through a long journey — from underpaid freelance work to finally making sales from my own comics.
And trust me, I’ve felt that pain myself. I understand other artists who get 100 views per day and hope for the same results as creators getting 20,000 views per post.

If you’re a comic artist still publishing your comics on platforms like Webtoon or Tapas…
and you’re paying for Instagram ads that send traffic to those platforms —
I have bad news for you. You’re spending your budget trying to attract readers, but in reality, you’re promoting Webtoon, not yourself. These platforms redirect your audience to their featured titles.

When Webtoon Felt Like the Forbidden Fruit

Back in 2015–2016, publishing your comic on Webtoon felt like tasting the forbidden fruit — like in One Piece. That’s where all the readers were, and everyone else was invisible.
Webtoon and Tapas didn’t allow external titles and were growing rapidly. Everything changed when Patreon entered the picture.

The young site with the orange logo wanted to help creators monetize their art and made a deal with Webtoon to pay artists who published comics with a Patreon link.

At that time, monthly payouts ranged from $700 to $1,000, which was incredible — with almost no marketing effort!
The audience was active and loyal. Within an hour, you could gain a thousand new subscribers.

But Then the Audience Got Tired

Fast forward ten years — readers have consumed so much free content that they’ve stopped valuing it.
The partnership with Patreon ended, and today the payments offered by Webtoon or similar platforms for views look more like pocket money your mom gave you in school.

What was once a hopeful industry has drowned in the noise of free comics.
Contracts now include penalties of up to $100,000 and “slave-style” work — drawing 300 panels per month for $1,200.

The comic industry turned into a content mill, chasing quantity over quality.
Honestly, you’d earn more cleaning houses — and your eyes, neck, and health would thank you.

Why Comics Lost Their Value — and Why I Blame the Platforms

Here’s what happened:

• Endless recycled stories about princes, princesses, and censored nudity.
  
  

• Weak, boring artwork with awful 3D backgrounds that hurt your eyes.
  
  

• Platforms only promote their official creators.
  
  

• All traffic is redirected to the “main titles” to farm millions of views for ad revenue and TV adaptation chances — while you get 1–2 subscribers per chapter.
  
  

• You invest in ads to bring readers, but the platform immediately recommends them other comics — you’re basically paying to advertise your competition.
  
  

• Almost every main character looks like a stereotypical Korean boy or girl.
  
  

Readers got used to comics being free, and now they don’t want to pay because they expect 100–200 panels every month at no cost.

In the past, a comic issue cost $1–3, which made sense considering the work of the writer, artist, and colorist.
Then Webtoon started giving everything away for free, earning money through ads and licenses, which completely devalued the entire industry.
Now people think: “Why pay for it? It’s free online.”
Repetitive stories made the art boring and meaningless to readers.

Patreon Took the Lead

Eventually, Patreon took the initiative and evolved from a simple payment site into a full creative platform — where you can run a blog, publish videos, host podcasts, and build your mailing list.

My own Patreon is now open, and Chapter 2 of my manga Webtoon world is available there for just $8 per month.

Let’s make the comic industry grow again — it all starts with us, the artists.

Keywords: Webtoon, Tapas, Patreon, comic industry, monetization, free comics, online publishing, artists, creators, manga, comic platforms, digital comics, web comics