New Poll - Art Quality

5 days ago
Posts: 10806
Our member lollylopmr wants to know if changes in art quality matters to you.
You can submit poll ideas here https://www.mangaupdates.com/topic/kilkdnn/site-manga-poll-suggestions
Question: Are you in a Discord server for any scanlation groups?
Choices:
- Yes, but I say nothing - votes: 566 (28.8%)
- Yes, and I contribute to the conversation there - votes: 41 (2.1%)
- Yes, as a team member of the group - votes: 64 (3.3%)
- Nope - votes: 1293 (65.8%)
There were 1964 total votes. The poll ended: February 1, 2025
Hmmm, looks like most of us don't use Discord
A just ruler amongst tyrants
5 days ago
Posts: 501
It doesn't even need to drop in quality. If the art significantly changes I'll probably drop it.
D. Grayman comes to mind.
5 days ago
Posts: 79
Blood Alone R.I.P. 🙁
5 days ago
Posts: 59
I picked "Yes", but I really would have preferred a "maybe/it depends" option instead.
Plenty of times I've kept reading and still enjoyed a series even when the art quality sadly suffered a significant amount, but if it reached beyond a certain point, especially if it started impacting not just the visuals but the storytelling and the way things like characters, emotions, and movement are portrayed to the point where I was no longer enjoying the story, then I would drop it.
If it's only a bit disappointing because it's not as pretty, I'm much less likely to drop it, it really has to be enough to make a big difference to my enjoyment of the story as a whole.
I don't care about art quality as much as the story, so for most part I will say no mmm... But ofc, if the story itself is already subpar, if the art also take a hit then I'll probably drop it mmm...
I will change this world mmm...
So the world can change me mmm...

5 days ago
Posts: 254
Recently author of one of the series i was reading had the arm hurt pretty much permanently and couldn't provide same quality, but i didn't drop it because of that...
What will make me drop it actually is artist/author changing, doesn't matter if it is better or worse quality... Like i dropped Berserk because original author died and whoever is doing it right now isn't Kentaro Miura, so i prefer the feeling of Berserk to remain prestine within my mind...
I am envoy from nowhere in nowhere. Nobody and nothing have sent me. And though it is impossible I exist. © Trimutius

4 days ago
Posts: 88
Same. Exactly the same.
It's not just the artistic quality itself, but also how the art is used to tell the story.
As long as the overall quality doesn't plummet to the point of interfering with the story or being distractingly jarring, I'll probably soldier on.
As an artist myself, I try to give a generous margin for artistic foibles anyway, since the art is highly stylized to begin with and certain anatomical errors are practically universal (to wit, giraffe necks and shallow pelvises — limbs are another matter altogether). Also, the publishers tend to force-march everything, so the quality is in general flux from the start.
4 days ago
Posts: 58
I feel this needs additional options of 'Yes if the story quality also drops " and "No as long as the story quality remains good." But I know that invites more discussion about story vs art that might be another poll.
4 days ago
Posts: 132
In my defense my original poll suggestion had 3 options: yes, no, sometimes.
My answer is also sometimes because I can continue reading a series where the art has tanked if the plot is strong enough with good pacing and if it particularly appeals to me.
Funny enough I recently dropped a series for the art. The art was pretty but it seemed souless will a lot of panel layouts just feeling flat. I kind of suspect AI.
So I guess that make the question of what do people consider bad art? body proportions? layouts?

4 days ago
Posts: 659
No, because generally I read stories where the main focus is the plot or characters and not the visuals. I can definitely see dropping an action manga if the art got bad, but haven't had that experience.
3 days ago
Posts: 59
I think there are a lot of different aspects to what makes art "good" or "bad".
Yes, purely visual things like proportions (and the consistency of proportions) and details are important parts of what usually make people call art good. However, since manga/manhwa/manhua are primarily a storytelling medium, I really think that the art's ability to convey expressions, emotions, tone, and motion are just as if not more important.
The way the artist chooses to depict angles, what to show and not show, whether to make moments more serious or comedic, and how they pace things, all of that can massively impact how the story itself flows and how I feel about it.
I've dropped series before that I saw people complimenting for their art because they were sparkly and detailed, but they came off to me as soulless and stiff, with the characters all looking more like posed ball-jointed dolls than expressive, feeling individuals that I should care about.
In particular The Siren: Becoming the Villain's Family sticks out in my mind as a very strong example of this. Maybe this would be good art for a novel cover because of how detailed and sparkly it is, but as a manhwa it consistently fails to convey motion well, and the characters are almost always expressionless, dead-eyed, and stiff. Instead of conveying the tone well using angles, lighting, and colors, it feels like every panel is just part of a photo shoot for ball-jointed dolls. I couldn't find myself at all emotionally invested in these bland and lifeless characters.
It also doesn't do a good job incorporating the 3D assets, so they stick out like a sore thumb, although that's a relatively minor complaint compared to the rest. For that reason, I don't care how at a glance pretty it might look, to me it fails to tell the story it's trying to tell very well or compelling way, and therefore in my opinion the art is bad.
3 days ago
Posts: 243
I had to say yes because of 2 times this has happened:
-
The artist changed for a webtoon and the new one was good in terms of lineart but bad in terms of composition and posing and too generic in terms of clothing design. The change was made worse because it was a reboot. It was the exact same story, and I was not going to sit through another 60 or so chapters to get to the next unknown part if the art was not as good.
-
While a different story did break my suspension of disbelief, even had it not, the art quality had dropped from slightly above average manga/anime style to low quality American newspaper cartoon (the squiggly line kind). I just wasn't going to keep reading no matter what.
With that said, I have read a couple stories with terrible art that I only dropped when (and because) the story broke my suspension of disbelief. So the degradation of art has to be quite drastic, but it can cause me to drop a series.
I'm a jack of all trades but master of none. Too many jars and not enough hands.

3 days ago
Posts: 264
Hmmm...this needs a wider range, 'cuz if it's only the art, then no, but if it's also the story, then yes Etc
Nothing is Eternal but Eternity
Enjoy life as much as you can and do whatever you want, because it may be only one.

3 days ago
Posts: 26
I answered yes but really, it depends. Some stories can carry themselves even with the art quality going down while others have only art going for them.
Also there is a large difference between a change where it's the same artist, just injured/sick so the art quality goes down (possibly temporarily) versus a totally new artist that makes it feel like not even the same story anymore.
Please never die, MangaUpdates.

2 days ago
Posts: 17
I still remember Hunter x Hunter went dogshit bad because iirc people say that the author was sick.