Application FAQ

The comic, the creator(s) attached to it, and the comic’s web presentation are all considered in our application process. Here’s a quick overview of what we’re looking for:

• Comic: Should demonstrate good storytelling both in art and scripting. Does your art match your script in tone, style, and ambition? Do the visuals effectively convey your story's settings and its characters' performances? Is your lettering appropriate and easy to read? We’re not looking for perfection — we’re looking for clear presentation, dedication to the work, and consistent improvement over time.
• Creator(s): Should be willing and able to be an active member, and someone who can strengthen our community. For example: do you have technical expertise/organizational skills/connections you could bring? Whatever you can do, tell us! Give us examples! This is your time to shine!
• Web Presentation/Website: Should be intuitive and easy to navigate. Your comic in its (current) entirety should be available on whichever URL you’ve linked — through your own site or a dedicated comic host site — and we should be able to find and navigate the archive easily. Loading times should not be a major detriment, and avant-garde layouts/presentation should not present an obstacle in our review of your work.

We also have some requirements that applying comics must fulfill, which are listed on the application page.

The first thing we want is all questions answered properly and thoughtfully! We want to see that you care about being in our collective. Most of the questions in the application form are simply information, but the last questions are open-ended. Those final questions are the most important. Read the application page thoroughly and give your most thoughtful and succinct answers. Remember to talk about what you yourself would bring and how you envision participation with other members, not just the features of your comic. (Note: While a casual tone is perfectly fine, humor can sometimes read poorly in a text format.)

We encourage you to give it another shot, however, we require that all reapplying applicants solicit constructive criticism on our forums. This must be done by the February following your first application, so you have time to work in any applicable feedback you received from us before we review your comic again. (Please note, this only affects those who wish to reapply after being declined, not new applicants, though using our forum to ask for critique may give you insight into what our members are looking for.)

If you’ve already posted to the critique forum and addressed the concerns that members had with your previous application, then go for it! Multiple SpiderForest members were accepted on their second or other subsequent application.

Being active in SpiderForest spaces is not a requirement for application nor does it guarantee acceptance. Every SpiderForest member has a single vote based on their own metrics, and how important prior participation is varies between all of us.

That said, we encourage potential members to interact with us beforehand because it gives both our members and applicants more information about one another. Potential members learn our styles of communication, our focuses and goals, where our priorities are as a collective, and get to decide if, yes, this is a group of people they want to join! In turn, our members learn more about the applicant, and this may factor into how they vote and the discussion around their application.

In addition to comics that update with one page or episode per week, we also welcome comics that use a scrolling or other non-page format, make batch/episode updates, or post full scenes at a time. Such applications may take a different update schedule approach, though we still expect keeping a regular online presence to be a priority.

For the sample pages you provide in our application form, our preference is to see your pages in the context of your archive if possible. If it is not possible to link to an episode, or you are showing work that is not yet live publicly, you may upload your pages to another location.

Our preference for most comics that apply with SpiderForest is a regular update record of at least one page or episode per week. However, we also welcome comics that aren't laid out as traditional "pages", and/or make batch updates, or post full scenes at a time. Such applications may take a different update schedule approach, though we still expect keeping a regular online presence to be a priority.

For more information about our scrolling and batch page policies, see our "I make a scrolling comic, or update in batches/episodes" FAQ.

This can vary from season to season, so do check the current application requirements — but generally yes, as long as you’re willing to learn enough of it to maintain your own site or hire a developer to keep your site maintained. If you’re applying during a season that hosting is offered, we pair accepted members who are unable to build sites with a volunteer member to help with the heavy-lifting in getting their SpiderForest site up and running. Once that’s done, you will only need to worry about making little edits here and there, and we’re always happy to offer site-building advice through our forum and chat outlets.

No; only one comic per season, please! We recommend that you simply pick your single strongest active comic, or an active comic that best represents your work. Accepted members can chose to submit an internal application for their other comics at a later date.

It strongly depends on how that content is framed. When a comic has scenes with nudity, sexual situations, or extreme violence, we look to see that said content is tastefully placed to serve and reinforce the themes and plot of the story.

Comics in our membership may opt-in to a Teen or Mature rating, which will display in our banner rotation and on the listing of the comic on our website – and we have many comics in our lineup with those ratings! That said, our current lineup is not at its core focused on NSFW 18+ work, and if your entire comic is more adult-oriented, you may find a better fit with a community focused on work for mature audiences only.

As with adult/NSFW content, it depends on how that content is framed. While many comics under our banner tackle controversial topics, we also strive to make SpiderForest a welcoming place for comic creators from all walks of life. Our members come from a wide variety of backgrounds, and we respect the dignity and individuality of them all. Comic themes which run contrary to that spirit won’t be well received, particularly if they promote racist, sexist, homophobic, or otherwise intolerant views. Overt political agendas, especially ones that promote intolerance or violence, are not appropriate content at SpiderForest, so think hard about your goals before you apply.

Keep in mind that SpiderForest’s acceptance model is democratic, and so applications that are a “fit” for SpiderForest can be something of a moving target depending on that year’s voters and the current cultural climate.

Historically, though, applicants that are “not a fit” for SpiderForest include:

• comics with a very high amount of controversial, violent, or sexual content.
• comics that depict real-life marginalized groups with a lack of nuance and/or respect.
• comics that depend on its readers' understanding of a niche subject or community (i.e. gaming comics such as Penny Arcade).
• comics wherein aspects of the art or writing are not owned by the comic's creator(s), are not within the public domain, and have provided no license agreement granting the comic creator(s) permission for their use (i.e. fan-comics, or comics using stolen art assets [wholesale or traced/altered]).
• atypical layouts or web presentations that may be difficult for our voters/readers to use or understand.
• creators that suggest they want SpiderForest membership for reasons outside of our intended purposes (i.e. implying that SF must increase their comic's revenue/traffic, etc.).
• creators that give us a very strong reason to think that they would not associate with our community, would be disrepectful to/intolerate of people in our membership, or would represent SpiderForest in a negative manner.

This is not an exhaustive list, but it should give a general idea.

A referral doesn’t guarantee anything, but it certainly doesn’t hurt. We have strict rules about how much the referrer (or even someone who is a friend) can participate in the discussion of your application. The rest of the collective will decide in an impartial manner.

As every application is voted on by the full membership of SpiderForest, there’s no single tip we can offer that will guarantee acceptance. Each individual voter will be using their own judgement in their decision. That said, there are a few more things you can do that may sway things in your favor:

• Engage with the SpiderForest community: drop by the Discord or post on our forums. These are great ways for us to get to know you, and vice versa. We like to see active community participants who jive well with our body of members, so interacting with us in advance counts in your favor.
• Ask for and participate in critique! The best place to do this is our public critique forum. We like to see applicants who can take and give critique appropriately. However, we don’t recommend you do this while applications are open, as most members will be too busy evaluating applicants.

There isn't any singular reason why our members choose to join. Some of the reasons people have cited include, but are not limited to:

• We provide a large and supportive community of other webcomic creators. Being a content creator on the internet can be lonely and confusing, and many times when a member needs advice, we have other members who have experience in the area and can help. One of our core tenents is being respectful toward other members, even if — and especially when — we have our differences.
• To a similar effect, those who want to take an active role in uplifting other creators will find many opportunities to do so at SpiderForest. Our volunteers often build new members' websites free of charge (if needed), take part in promotional events to plug other members' comics, participate in advice discussions, and more. Ideally, our members enjoy making contributions to their fellow members and to the webcomic community at large.
• We make no claims over the IP of our members' comics. This is a value we hold very highly at SpiderForest, especially in light of the current landscape among webcomic platforms.
• SpiderForest, nor any of its administration, profits off of our members' comics. We are not a corporation, nor a publisher, nor a business, and thus nothing we do at SpiderForest is motivated by the profiteering of our membership. SpiderForest is kept running primarily through voluntary member donations and sales of group projects, such as our anthologies (which, again, are voluntary participation only).
• Our democratic admissions policies, which can only be afforded by our not-for-profit nature. While this does mean that the occasional debate will happen, it also, and more importantly, means that every member has a voice here. There are very few and specific scenarios at SpiderForest where the word of an administrator or a long-standing member has any more weight than the word of any other member.