The Rise and Rise of TikTok Comic-Book Creators

You want to see new comics? The platform is chock with 'em

I just filed my latest Long Box column with editor

Lauren LaRocca

(check out her Substack … It’s brilliant).

I took a fairly deep dive into why I love TikTok by interviewing some of my favorite comic creators on the app. If you’ve come here from that column to read the full responses, hello. Scroll down.

Honestly, I’ve had a laconic approach to posting on the platform. I enjoy it, but I have trouble wrapping my old, calcified brain around what “the kids” find entertaining, and I’m lazy, so I’ve built only a modest following compared to some of these guys, whose energy is seemingly boundless. But there’s a ton of comic-creator-specific information below on how best to use TikTok’s reach to grow an audience and promote your work.

That column publishes Thursday (Feb. 15). Read it over at The Frederick News-Post’s 72 Hours arts and culture magazine.

Thanks to all the creators who generously took the time to respond — you’re all brilliant, and I’m glad to have met you on the Tok.

Matt Thornton

• Full Name: Matt Thornton

• TikTok Username: @emskript

• Website: www.emskriptarts.com

• Brief Bio: My name is Matt “Emskript” Thornton, I’m a comic book artist and Illustrator. I developed an early love of comics and cartoons from weekend visits with my Aunt, who was an accomplished oil painter. She introduced me to the work of J. Scott Campbell, Todd MacFarlande, and Jim Lee, who would become my earliest influences. In 2009, I joined the U.S. Navy. It was there, I would travel and gain the life experiences that would inspire my illustrations. I left the Navy in 2013, and enrolled in the College for Creative Studies in my hometown Detroit, MI., and graduated with a B.A. in Fine Arts, with a focus on traditional Illustration, and Mixed media. I am currently working on my creator-owned comic book "Doris,” and live with my 16-year-old son Isaiah in Oak Park, MI.

• Current Projects: Doris

• Location: Detroit, MI

• Inspiration for TikTok: When I first joined TikTok, I saw its potential to be a vehicle for sharing information and actively engaging with an audience that seemed to be much easier than other social media platforms.

• Significant TikTok Moment: I did a live drawing of a comic book page for my self-published work. People really engaged with the process of making a page traditionally, and asked questions. I treated it like I was drawing at a convention or an art show, and viewers responded positively and religiously returned whenever I decided to do it again to see progress.

• Interaction with Audience: I prefer to interact with my audience using the TikTok live feature. It allows me to talk directly with my audience, and engage with them on a more personal level. It allows me to get to know them, and they in turn get to know me. That personal connection with the art and person is what I strive for.

• Influence of TikTok Community: I find it fascinating what other people see in my work, their suggestions indirectly get my cognitive wheels turning. It's also great to get real-time feedback from your audience, sometimes they catch things that I didn't even notice, and can go back and edit before I get too far into the process.

• Content Creation Process: It usually involves my drawing table and a camera mount. I usually put on some instrumental music just to set an overall tone, nothing too aggressive, I don't want to invite a negative energy into the stream (even though some guest insist on it, and are promptly dismissed.) I usually draw for about 90 minutes, and talk about various strategies and thought processes when it comes to drawing a page. Inevitably I get asked about my comic, and I have the finished editions off to the side, just to prove to people that I indeed have finished a comic. At the end of most streams, I go through all the pages that I have drawn and discuss them as a group.

• Balancing Creation and Performance: I don't think about what will perform well on the algorithm. I just try and do what I think will look cool. The app's priorities change, and changing what I do to keep with the trends could potentially knock me off my message.

• Unique Opportunities from TikTok: Nothing unique, I have had businesses and organizations reach out to me about work outside of comics, which I get also through other social media platforms also.

• Challenges or Limitations: Keeping the community standards in mind is a huge challenge. Events or story beats in the comic I don't think or perceive as being violent has gotten some of my videos removed, so I have to remain conscious of that.

• Professional Growth and Opportunities: Sadly no. But if I'm being perfectly honest, my goal is to grow my personal art brand, not necessarily become a part of the industry of comics.

• Future of Comic Creation on TikTok: I feel like you will see bigger creators using the app to display their own IPs. Artists that work primarily for bigger companies will have to adjust their strategies working on NDA content that they can't show at the moment, and to keep up they will be forced into ownership over their work, thus leading them to create things that they can show in real-time.

• Evolving Content and Strategy: I don't want to fall into the trap of full-time content creation. Right now the live-feature, along with the occasional process video tends to mesh well with my current lifestyle.

D.J. Coffman

• Full Name: D.J. Coffman

• TikTok Username: @djcoffman

• Website:

https://drawordie.co

• Brief Bio: American cartoonist D.J. Coffman is best known in comics for his "Hero by Night" series and being one of the very first cartoonists to publish online and coin the phrase "webcomics". A versatile artist, Coffman has collaborated on projects that merge art with social activism for bands like the Flobots from Denver. Beyond making comics, he also produced a best-selling children's book for WNBA All-Star Ivory Latta, and founded Draw or Die Co. in 2022 to support creative professionals. He is currently producing the daily comic strip for Gary Vaynerchuk's VeeFriends brand.

• Current Projects: VeeFriends Daily Comic Strip

• Location: Pittsburgh, PA

• Inspiration for TikTok: It's smart to go where the attention is, and right now and for the foreseeable future, that's TikTok and live streaming. You have much more reach and brand discoverability on TikTok than any other publishing platform.

• Significant TikTok Moment: I stumbled into success by publishing my "Scribble Challenge" videos which were essentially an exercise for artists but had a broader appeal. It's important not to just be in an echo chamber of other artists as your audience. And TikTok does a great job of finding the right audiences for you if you're consistent. A really BIG unlock for me was what I called "Breakfast, lunch, dinner" posting schedule- I forced myself to post morning, noon, night. And Scribble Challenge came out of that. On some days I would do the scribble in the morning, and then the final at night. The lunch post was anything I wanted.

• Interaction with Audience: I try to answer all of the DMs and messages when I can. You can sometimes listen to "audience signals" and see what's resonating by what gets the most response.

• Influence of TikTok Community: I try not to let platforms dictate the output. You don't want to rely too much on any platform. Just try to make something that can work almost anywhere. At its core, comics is just about escapism. And right now people are "escaping" on TikTok.

• Content Creation Process: Right now I'm focused on the 4-panel comic strip. A classic for papers, but fits quite well on social media and the short attention spans. With the swipeable posts, it's a good format. I can't stress enough how much you should be livestreaming your process. We currently go live 3 days a week on TikTok @veefriends channel and will increase that heavily. Allow the fans, new and old, to take a look behind the process.

• Balancing Creation and Performance: Scribble Challenge was a big hit for me, but I didn't want to be known as the "Scribble Challenge" guy. In my opinion, you shouldn't chase trends because your work can become very outdated. Look what just happened to all the creators who used trending songs to build their channels, and now all that content is gone when Universal pulled the partnership.

• Unique Opportunities from TikTok: On TikTok, you can reach a much wider audience than the echo chamber of the comic book industry and other social platforms.

• Challenges or Limitations: Nothing big. Maybe the lack of time when you're busy actually making the work. You can easily fall off course and forget to publish and lose that momentum.

• Professional Growth and Opportunities: I've definitely received more offers for projects, most of which I turn down or filter the paying jobs to my friends in the drawing club (drawordie.co) Unfortunately for comics, it's full of publishers with no budget and a lot of crowdfunding, even some "big" names.

• Monetization Strategy: I get offers and have done collaborations for the Pittsburgh Pirates baseball team because they found my Scribble Challenge videos on TikTok. The SEO reach is incredible if you know what you're doing and what kind of jobs you'd like to attract.

• Future of Comic Creation on TikTok: Live, live, live. Being LIVE is the future of comics because it can really accelerate building a community around your work. Fans come to hang out while you work and they feel more connected to your work and the project. They can say "I was there!" or "I saw this drawn live!" and it makes them feel more a part of it. Keep in mind, you don't have to "put on a show" - You could just put the camera up, have some royalty-free tunes playing and just get to work. Answer the chat when you can or when you're having a sip of coffee. It's that simple. But consistency is key here.

• Evolving Content and Strategy: For @VeeFriends comics we plan to go live much more often and testing different times of day. Always be testing! We will likely lean into new features as they emerge on the platform. A good example of this are the swipeable posts which are perfect for comics.

• Additional Insights: One last thing... a quick recipe for success for artists to think about.- First ask yourself what you REALLY want. Most artists don't know what they really want or what they are passionate about outside of "making comics" - Remember, TikTok is powerful and can connect you to much bigger audiences and niches.- What are you TRULY passionate about and could talk about all day? (beyond comics) - Start making 4-panel comics around that topic. Lean in HARD on the subject.- Tag it accordingly and DO NOT post about it to your "comic friends"- Let TikTok do the work of finding the audience organically. It will!

Ezra System

• Full Name: Ezra System

• TikTok Username: @itsallreallyalot

• Website: Www.lucky33comics.com

• Brief Bio: I am a writer and comic creator for our team at Lucky 33 Comics! I also handle all the marketing and advertising, as well as many other hats.

• Current Projects: The New Luminaries, Astronaut Highschooler, Bubble Pop and the Wonder Witches

• Location: Basking Ridge, NJ

• Inspiration for TikTok: I started posting about my comics on TikTok because we had just come out with a new book, and we had lots of cool stuff to show off. At that point, I didn't see too many other people posting about their comics, but pretty soon that changed!

• Significant TikTok Moment: Funny enough, a lot of the engagement I initially had on my account was for non-comic related subjects. Over time I started putting comic content in with my other posts, and pretty quickly I found so many other people on TikTok who were also making comics. I made so many friends so quickly and it was such an incredible community to be welcomed into.

• Interaction with Audience: I love chatting with my audience as many of them are also other comic creators or artists, and they have tons of great insights and content themselves! As for “fans”, TikTok is really the first place I have had strangers buy our books and then review them, which is HUGE!

• Influence of TikTok Community: Making so many friends on TikTok in the comic community has made making comics so much more rewarding. I’ve made real, genuine friends and also am able to see incredible and unique work by people I would never have seen before.

• Content Creation Process: I do both! Most of the time I really just focus on being authentic. I think authenticity leads to connection and if something does well it’s because it resonates with people. I try not to make content I “know” will go viral because that seems like a burden.

• Balancing Creation and Performance: I balance between creating what I love and what I know will perform well on TikTok by focusing on authenticity. This approach has led to genuine connections with my audience.

• Unique Opportunities from TikTok: Absolutely, nobody took me seriously until all of the sudden people saw my followers, saw my videos, and saw how passionate I am. It has really changed my life.

• Challenges or Limitations: The main challenge has been creating supplemental content that engages the TikTok audience and encourages them to seek out the full finished books.

• Professional Growth and Opportunities: TikTok has allowed me to speak to more professional comic creators than any other platform. While it hasn't directly advanced my career, it has provided invaluable encouragement and connections.

• Monetization Strategy: We sell our books through the shop, and I am also a participant in the creativity eta program which gives me some extra funds for comic creation!

• Future of Comic Creation on TikTok: I think comics will explode even more than they have in the next few years. With the TikTok shop allowing us to sell our comics directly through videos about them, it’s a built-in marketing and distribution channel for those who like to make content or just yap!

• Evolving Content and Strategy: I plan on integrating more of my behind-the-scenes content, doing lives showing me and my teams on various books interacting, and showing my journey into creating comics professionally. The honesty train has done a lot for building a fan base, and I think the plan for now is to show even more.

T.S. Luther

• Full Name: T.S. Luther

• TikTok Username: @cantbekilledcomics

• Website: Cantbekilledcreations.com

• Brief Bio: Hi, my name's T.S. and I write comics!

• Current Projects: Tokyo Fire #1, FishTales #2, Hellion & Bash #1

• Location: Grand Blanc, MI

• Inspiration for TikTok: I needed to get the word out there about my projects and I saw people like Fish Lee (Mr. Fish) and Alex Silverii (Ezra System) among many others sharing their work and gasp not getting ridiculed for it. In fact, people were excited to read their books and gasp harder...pay them for it. Then, the real difference of TikTok vs other social media came apparent, we all started talking to each other. We stitched each other's videos, replied in comments, it didn't feel like posting into the void like other platforms. It felt like a community where I was not only welcome, but encouraged to engage, post, exist! I found friends and collaborators and our fans saw us interact organically. That's just not something you see on other social media sites.

• Significant TikTok Moment: Two video series in particular helped. I found a lot of fans in embracing the dancing in the morning videos, my "How I get going in the morning" series where I rant about my morning and include a secret music video at the end, trying to lean into the "Musically" roots of TikTok. Then the second was my video where I talked about the honest costs of attempting to become a comic book writer and what that has cost my family in lower wages, home displacement, and the general toll it takes having to provide less for my family in order to pursue a career in the arts.

• Interaction with Audience: I attempt to engage with every comment, thoughtfully and as fast as possible. It is not a chore! I am so excited to see people have something to say about my content. I especially love answering questions about writing and that has truly influenced my writing. It's forced me to put a name to many of my techniques and catalog them into a little writing utility belt.

• Influence of TikTok Community: It's truly helped in my anxiety of sharing my work. The words of affirmation from strangers and comic consumers have bolstered my confidence tenfold. And as much as there are critics flinging insults in every public forum, this is also true insight from fans on where to put my books, what to price them at, when to release them, what they like to see from crowdfunding, and what type of books they truly want to see more of. Honest and extremely helpful feedback to the logistics side of the process.

• Content Creation Process: I don't truly create comics for TikTok. What I've really done is used TikTok as a supplemental platform for behind-the-scenes content and marketing. I can share a sizzle reel trailer that gets people extremely excited about a book far more so than just seeing a poster advert for the next issue. So, I've pivoted to talking mostly behind-the-scenes stuff and pitching new books rather than sharing a few slides of a comic that people generally don't engage with because that's not what they're on TikTok for. They want to view their video and scroll on.

• Balancing Creation and Performance: This is the hardest question you have asked so far. When I find the balance I'll let you know 😂. What I have found is chasing trends, sadly does work to bring people in, but they stay for the honesty, whether that's talking about being a writer and a father, or me explaining why the commuter culture of Michigan workers stinks. They found a strange hairy man dancing silly and laughed and then watched him cry about loving his children and loving comics and how sometimes that is beautiful and sometimes soul-crushing.

• Unique Opportunities from TikTok: Quite simply, it has allowed me to find friends, peers, and an audience. Three things I did not have before and found nowhere else.

• Challenges or Limitations: As I mentioned before, you cannot truly get people to read a comic and enjoy it as thoroughly through TikTok. So you have to create supplemental content and hope the audience will seek out the full finished book.

• Professional Growth and Opportunities: I have talked to more professional comic creators because they have seen my silly videos on TikTok than any other content I have ever produced. I have spoken to childhood heroes and some of my favorite creators working today. It hasn't really helped my "career" but it has helped me meet the people that have inspired me and they've given me so much encouragement, so it's given me the will to keep going.

• Monetization Strategy: The main one here is marketing. TikTok shows my videos to new people every day. This has allowed me to boost sales and get my books in front of more people. So while I've made zero dollars and zero cents directly from TikTok, the platform itself has helped me find fans who spend money on my books.

• Future of Comic Creation on TikTok: I think as the TikTok shop trend dies down, where we are currently, we will see more coverage beyond the pure store elements of TikTok and more of the community aspect. Many of my fellow creators are the future of the comics industry and as the traditional industry sees shakeups like Ghost Machine and the sentiment of certain digital-only apps shifting, people are going to continue to embrace new players in the industry and many of us can only really be found on TikTok.

• Evolving Content and Strategy: I plan on integrating more of my behind-the-scenes content. Doing lives showing me and my teams on various books interacting, and showing my journey into creating comics professionally. The honesty train has done a lot for building a fan base and I think the plan for now is to show even more.

Levelle Williams

• Full Name: Levelle Williams

• TikTok Username: vell_will_draw

• Website: N/A

• Brief Bio: Comicbook Illustrator

• Current Projects: None

• Location: Las Vegas, Nevada

• Inspiration for TikTok: I saw a new platform to use to showcase my artwork, over the years I met a lot of amazing creators, they help support me encourage me to keep going.

• Significant TikTok Moment: It was my Daredevil punisher drawing with 4k likes back in 2022.

• Interaction with Audience: I try my best to answer all comments, I believe it's important to engage with the audience. They often return, liking other posts.

• Influence of TikTok Community: I've received positive feedback from showing my comics. I learned a lot about using Clipstudio through other creators sharing their techniques.

• Content Creation Process: I record every step in 1 to 2 seconds per clip, and try to use different angles, and popular sounds. Or find a way to use viral sounds in relation to comics.

• Balancing Creation and Performance: I always create what I love. I try to draw characters that a lot of people are not drawing. I try my best to be unique on the platform.

• Unique Opportunities from TikTok: I got some commission work. Met a lot of amazing artists that's in my city.

• Challenges or Limitations: Trying to find different ways for engagement is something that will always be challenging for all comic creators I believe. Comicbook and art is not the most popular thing that TikTok pushes through the algorithm.

• Professional Growth and Opportunities: I have not made it to the next level of attending cons and doing cover variants and whatnot. I've had creators encourage and try to give me the ins and outs to help. That's the next step for me.

• Monetization Strategy: I use fanart to showcase my skills and get a following while introducing my comic book progression. Then I would get feedback. I have not made profits directly off of TikTok. Just through cash app.

• Future of Comic Creation on TikTok: I think more animated comic shorts would be a good way to go. It's something I'm considering myself.

• Evolving Content and Strategy: Try to come up with unique ways to draw popular characters in my style. And using animated comic stories for my comic book.

Andrew Rende

• Full Name: Andrew Rende

• TikTok Username: Buufoh

• Social Media: @drewrende on Instagram and TikTok

• Brief Bio: 20-year-old part-time comic artist, currently writing and illustrating an unreleased comic, Limerence.

• Current Projects: Limerence

• Location: San Ramon, California

• Inspiration for TikTok: I started sharing my comic on TikTok when I realized I could promote my work while simultaneously learning from the community that would be supporting my videos and my work.

• Significant TikTok Moment: Using popular trends, I decided to use my comic work as content for those trends, and the comic book community on TikTok loved the spin on the viral trends.

• Interaction with Audience: I stream regularly, so it allowed me to update my small community on what I was working on and what I was being inspired by. It also allows me to have a more intimate interaction with them by talking to them live and making them feel like they’re part of a community as well as the process of making my comic.

• Influence of TikTok Community: Learning what popular culture is favored by young people. And seeing how people my age post their work allowed me to learn how to make my comic more understandable for audiences that would otherwise never touch a comic book.

• Content Creation Process: TikTok content is fast-paced and easily dismissed, so I learned how to make eye-grabbing visuals and use words that get people's attention faster.

• Balancing Creation and Performance: I only make what I love, and if it works, it works. TikTok allows me to not focus on what will perform well, knowing I’ll entertain my small community is what matters to me and my comic.

• Unique Opportunities from TikTok: It's allowed me to talk with career professionals on a personal level. And it gives me a broader view of what comic lovers are into these days. It provides me with a niche community that’s willing to support up-and-coming artists just like them.

• Challenges or Limitations: The only limitations I’ve faced are TikTok censorship and then creators that look to put others down, but I usually address them by ignoring it or talking about it on stream briefly.

• Professional Growth and Opportunities: It’s given me a following that I can use to prop up my art and show professionals that people other than myself care about my art. At conventions, people usually write me off until they see my comic work and my following on TikTok, which, granted, isn’t very large but still impressive to them.

• Monetization Strategy: TikTok allows me to promote other forms of monetization. TikTok itself isn’t great for making money. So the videos allow me to promote commissions and website sales.

• Future of Comic Creation on TikTok: I see it expanding into other apps such as Patreon and Kickstarter, using the easily gained following from a platform that promotes niche creators to use for other monetization.

• Evolving Content and Strategy: I plan on making higher quality videos and showing more of my process.