Three big obstacles
But while this new generation has been reveling in these new creative opportunities, Fan is still deeply troubled by what he sees as the three biggest dangers facing the industry in Taiwan.
The first is a lack of professional talent. Both art and writing are crucial to comic books, and Fan is of the mind that there are very few in Taiwan who can successfully do both. Those that are good artists lack writing ability, and those who can craft amazing stories lack artistic ability.
He attributes this to Taiwan’s lack of a strong comic training system. With the education system not even deigning to consider such skills worth focusing on, the majority of comic artists are self-taught, figuring things out on their own and spending upward of a year or two refining their skills to professional level.
Fan believes that through professional schooling, creators could get a stronger foundation in art, so once they go out into the industry, they won’t have to “apprentice” as long, and they will be able to get straight into focusing on things like dramatic structure.
Second is the impact of the digital revolution. The rise of the Internet, Fan says, has made it easier to obtain and distribute pirated comics, which has led to a drop in legitimate retail sales.
With more and more people owning smartphones and tablet computers, and with online options like social networks and online games capturing more and more of the audience, the Taiwanese comic industry, already small to begin with, is becoming increasingly fragmented.
The final problem is that of erasing the general public’s prejudice against comics.
Fan remarks that surveys have shown that some 50% or more of Japanese elementary school students want to become comic artists when they grow up; in Taiwan, not only are most parents strongly against their children going into the industry, very few of the children themselves even want to. As an illustration, look at Tongli’s New Comic Artist Awards, where entries are less than half of what they once were. Thus it is more urgent than ever that those in the industry and in education can come together to train new talent.
Cory, a rising star in Taiwan’s comic industry, hopes her creations can be a force for good in her readers’ lives.