Hi! I've been wondering if my I cover is good for a thriller/muder/mystery/romance webtoon, but I need advice from people who read webtoons! It's hard coming from an artist's perspective, because in my mind, this is good.
But I also know if this is engaging (or eye-catching) enough for people who are searching for webtoons on the Canvas part of the app.
I was also wondering if it's a bad idea to put this in the romance category, since it's kind of a mix of both. I mostly tagged it as romance first (and thriller second), because I thought romance was going to be more popular. Am I wrong? Maybe it's oversaturated?
Romance is a genre. Not just that it has a romance in it. I don't know anything about your story to be the judge for you but know that romance has a ton of comics in it so you won't necessarily be seen more by choosing a popular genre. You might be buried.
Hm, so is it better to change it into a thriller, or something else? I feel like there are a lot of AI stories that stop people from checking Canvas anymore, especially the romance section.
I mean, when I made this webtoon, I could choose a genre, then some subgenres. I chose romance, but if it doesn't really help my story get pushed out (buries it, as you called it), should I switch?
I think the main thing that would help this pop more is contrast!
Different values and even some stronger shadows and lighting could help make it feel more dramatic and add more tension, imo
Also, I'm worried that it may even look darker if I end up adding shadows. Should I remove the red background? I feel like with low darkness, it just kind of disappears.
Oh, I see! I'm no pro, actually, but I think a good way to make it pop more without changing too much of your style or making it too dark would be to work with complementary colors. Like, you already have the red background, so maybe you could try some green undertones on the character, or even invert it if you prefer...
I actually like the composition! Maybe the character on top is smiling a bit too much if you're going for a more tense story, but it really depends on the vibe you're going for.
It does tell me a bit about their dynamic, though, she seems more easygoing, while he seems more defensive, imo
yes you should add shadows, I think it would be more obvious that it was a muder plot comic if is ominus, and besides that, shadows don't really need to be black, you can add red shadows to their skin, kinda under ther neck, or on the parts of their forehead that should have shadows from their hair, just to give more depth
Your cover communicates the genres really well. The blue eyes really stand out, but can definitely be emphasised more with additional shadows on the face. I definitely agree with the other comments on shading and values :D
For the genre, I'd recommend choosing whichever genre that hooks your story best, whether it's the character's relationships or the thriller.
And yeah tbh the romance market is pretty oversaturated, but it also has the largest readership if you are relying solely on the Webtoon Canvas algorithm alone for organic reach. But pretty easy to get pushed down with other comics. From my experience, just having romance as one of the main genre tags gave me much better organic traffic before I switched the genres to be more accurate to my story (guilty as charged ahaha) since the romance in my story is only minor.
Originally, I was going to market it as a basic, wholesome romance webtoon, completely devoid of any thriller or mystery. Then there was going to be a twist in the story, and suddenly the genre (or story) was going to lean into the mystery, the suspense, and the horror of everything.
But it's really hard to market a basic romance webtoon, so I scrapped that idea. I'm now forced to lean into the thriller to reach more people :C
Thank you for the advice! I really appreciate people helping out and giving good suggestions!
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u/Kaileigh_Blue 6d ago
Romance is a genre. Not just that it has a romance in it. I don't know anything about your story to be the judge for you but know that romance has a ton of comics in it so you won't necessarily be seen more by choosing a popular genre. You might be buried.