Our user Zeyo inspired me to redo a poll that we did over a decade ago. What are your thoughts about fan-colored pages? I feel these are a lot less common now, probably because we don't have a huge amount of weekly Bleach, Naruto, and One Piece fans submitting their work to be included in scanlations

You can submit poll ideas here
http://www.mangaupdates.com/showtopic.php?tid=3903

Previous Poll Results:
Question: How do you feel 2021 is going to be, compared to 2020?
Choices:
Completely terrible - votes: 318 (9.3%)
A bit worse - votes: 292 (8.5%)
About the same - votes: 1351 (39.5%)
Just a little better - votes: 1101 (32.2%)
Exceedingly better! - votes: 356 (10.4%)
There were 3418 total votes.
The poll ended: January 23rd 2021

Measured optimism

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A just ruler amongst tyrants

As long as they're at the end, I can ignore them.

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I also read EU/US comics and am a librarian.
Manga-Masters, My ANN-Lists + Imdb

I couldn't care less mmm..

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I will change this world mmm...
So the world can change me mmm...

I mean it's nice that some people do them, especially when they're done well, but I really like just the black and white linework that sets manga apart to me compared to most other graphic novels. Putting color can also be jarring if the one doing it doesn't really capture the nuances of the work.

Plus I mostly prefer the occasional officially colored pages here and there, especially if done in watercolor. Something about the rarity makes you appreciate them more.

I understand the feeling of wanting to show the results of your practice and your learning progress. When you feel like you’ve seen improvement to your skill, it’s natural to want others to see it too. So I don’t mind the fan-colored pages as long as they keep the original black-and-white pages as well. Because as much as I can appreciate the effort of the person coloring the page, I still came with the intention of reading and seeing the author’s original work. So it’s quite upsetting when they completely replaced the original page with the fan-colored one.
Also, I prefer the fan-colored page to be put either after the original page or at the end of the chapter. Because the sudden change of style (from the author’s original style to the fan-colored style) often times interrupts with the flow and mood/feeling of the reading experience. But the weird thing is, when the colored page is officially done by the author, it still flows and blends nicely with the rest of the black-and-white chapter. I guess it’s because the author’s colored page is usually of the same style as the colored cover page so it doesn’t feel like it’s a separate work.

I was torn between the second and third answer, but ultimately picked They get in the way, but it's no big deal because I've had them occur at the beginning and just clicked past it without caring.

i voted for "in the way but no big deal". But in reality i don't really mind as long as the original page they colored is still kept in the chapter, before or after the colored one; some groups color like the most important page of the chapter and they remove the original black and white and that makes me die a little inside XD so color all you want but when you remove the real one that is just showing off and sometimes they are not even that good... (some are superb though)

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"It's so warm that, Before the snow has a chance to stick, He melts it for me."

Honestly none of the answers really cover my feelings--the good ones are worth seeing, but they really should never be replacing the original page, and they should be at the back since at the front usually means they interrupt the rhythm of reading. And, honestly, quality matters: It needs to be worth dropping in, not just 'oh look somebody attacked the scanned-in page with the fill tool.'

Under roughly the same conditions, including fanart and gag edits is also okay. But it's got to be pretty good.

I hate them. Very very few are anything but complete shit. And when they're also in the middle of the chapter... Jesus. Just show them to your mom or something.

Hmm... They kinda get in the way. I don't hate them but I can do without. Most aren't very nicely done and in the middle of a chapter they can be annoying. Plus, I don't get their purpose- why alter a page of a manga like that? Just extra work for the scanlators.

Last edited by amy_levi at 1:26 pm, Jan 26 2021

I would not care that much.

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MILESTONES
1st: Death Note

I was asking the same question, but I’m guessing they want to practice their coloring skills and show it to the world.

They're terrible; less because of the interruption, but more because I don't think fan-colored pages should have a place in scanlations. After all, scanlation should focus on conveying the original intent of a mangaka, not adding a scanlator's own adaptations to a work.

It's also rare to come across a really good fan-color; most people just slap a multiply layer with flat colors over the raws and call it a day. And even the best of fan color pages are jarring when they pop up in the middle of a chapter, esp since fan-colorers seem to prefer pages with impactful scenes.

I can definitely appreciate the time and effort that goes into a fan-colored page, but please... post it on your own sns, on your own time. Don't foist it upon unsuspecting readers. 😔

They're terrible! Not because I can't stand interruptions, interruptions are fine. But because 99% of the time they're genuinely... terrible. I wouldn't mind a good one.

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As long as they're at the end, I don't mind.
Putting them in the middle is annoying and breaks up the pace or flow of a chapter.
Putting them at the beginning kind of feels like spoilers for the actual chapter.

Just put them at the end as a way to cap-off the release. That's the best option.
Also, as others have said, never replace the original greyscale pages with your colored version... you're not the author of the work, so respect the author's intent and leave the pages greyscale.

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::End of Transmission::