Relatable visual content is what makes webcomics popular, say their creators

With most of your news and information going digital, it was only a matter of time before comic strips followed suit. From Cyanide and Happiness to XKCD, and even The Oatmeal, original and genuinely funny webcomics from around the world have inspired our own range of homegrown strips.

Comics like Royal Existentials, Crocodile In Water, Tiger On Land and Sanitary Panels have grown in readership thanks to their relatable and current content, with more than just great art on display.

“Webcomics are like an opinion piece but in an easy to understand and share form. Since they’re a lot more visual, shareable, relatable and mostly easy to understand with simple language, I think that’s why they do well,” says 24-year-old Rachita Taneja, creator of Sanitary Panels.

One of Sanitary Panels’ comics about LGBTQ awareness

The Bengaluru-based human rights activist says her comic has three main themes — feminism, LGBTQ rights and politics. “When I’m making Sanitary Panels, I don’t think of a topic and then make one. The idea is already in my head with a dialogue and everything, and then I sit down and make it,” she explains.

A recent addition to the list is Brown Paperbag, created by another Bengaluru-based artist, Sailesh Gopalan. A 20-year-old animation design student, he began working on the comic as a small project aimed at his family and friends but once people found his creations on every day Indian and millennial life relatable, he began gaining followers by the dozens.

“The internet is phenomenal in terms of worldwide reach, especially with the involvement of social media websites like Facebook, Twitter, etc.,” Sailesh says, adding, “It is most certainly the relatability factor of comics that makes them successful, simply because people love to share material they see on the Internet if it appeals to them at a personal level.”

A strip from one of Crocodile in Water, Tiger on Land’s episodes

However, the creators of Crocodile In Water, Tiger On Land — who have also released an anthology of their strips in a self-titled book — say that their form needs wider reach before they can consider themselves a popular medium.

“If we use Bollywood, a popular soap, the advertising industry, or even newspaper cartoons as benchmarks, there’s clearly some way to go. Much more needs to happen, in terms of content, reach and most importantly, vernacular work, before we can say there’s a ‘taking off’. Until then, we are all dabblers,” the creators say.

This, they add makes living off webcomics nearly impossible: “There are webcomics like Cyanide and Happiness where the artists make a lot of money but that’s the exception that proves the rule. And the rule is artists don’t make money unless they are very good, very lucky, and/or have a lot of contacts. Don’t quit your job is what we always say.”

A strip from one of Brown Paperbag’s episodes

Sailesh, however, is a little more hopeful in that sense when he says, “I am not earning anything from Brown Paperbag at the moment, but I am certainly waiting for an opportunity where I can begin to monetise it... I hope that with its rising popularity, more cartoonists are encouraged to take up this art as a full-time profession.”