Bugtopia: A Webtoon Workplace Story

Idolomantises, or Quill for short, chose to join the Webtoon Originals catalogue with his work, Bugtopia, thinking he would be a very fruitful and professional business relationship! He was not. His time working for the Original catalogue was abysmal. What happened exactly? Find out in this video.

[idolomantises]

Hi I’m Idolomantises/Quill and first of all, thank you for discussing this! I was kind of hesitant talking about my situation since I was worried about this escalating into some kind of online drama or people only viewing me as this helpless victim of webtoons mismanagement when it was more of an equivalent to having a crappy temp job, but I wanted to get my feelings out there in case any young artist who is a fan of my work and feels inspired by my success with webtoons tries to work with them.

Also thank you for the nice comments about Bugtopia! The series had some things I wish I could have tweaked/fixed up (the last 15 episodes was when the lack of motivation kicked in and there were so many plots I had to rush and/or cut short to give each character some kind of closure).

Sorry Monsters and Girls didn’t click with you, I know it’s more on the mature side compared to Bugtopia’s general wholesome vibe. But hopefully I can get you to change your mind eventually >:)

(Or not! That’s fine too)

EDIT: I also saw some comments saying this was a pretty bad year for me but honestly? I’ve never been happier. Finishing this series was disheartening, but getting away from a company that was draining me mentally and physically was such a good feeling. Like I said I’ve been working on some projects and one I’m really excited to share in a few years, so I’ve been doing pretty good 👍🏾

[MediaDroid]

I’m starting to realize why most webcomics are on their own independent websites

[snake.sketches]

It's the way there is SO much more content for Bugtopia that was originally released on Instagram that now cannot be read because of Webtoon contract bullshit

[airplanes_aren.t_real]

It's so fucked up that bugtopia had more interesting stories and characters than about half of webtoon's catalog and yet they couldn't let it reach It's full potential

[falconanddragons]

And you wonder why so many people leave Webtoon. I remember that the creators of "I Think I like You" had to move mainly off Webtoon due to being stolen and people not crediting them

[Varinating]

The pay makes me think Webtoon is targeting artists from lower income countries.
This to me is outsourcing with extra steps.
800 a month is pretty decent where I live, but these companies don't only care about pay, they also use outsourcing to for example avoid unions - we can see this in mainstream animation.

[demonarcher]

As someone who followed Bugtopia back in its canvas era (and I still follow their other work to this day) I was so excited to see them bring it back as a original only to see it gone after that finale.

But reading into it myself it was really the best choice for them Given webtoons treatment of creators. Hopefully whatever their next big project is, it'll be alot better experience then this

[MissSweetie]

Bro. I loved this comic. I remember it when it wasn't even on canvas, only on the creator's instagram. It ended so suddenly and I was like "oh, its probably just the first season" but now seeing that webtoon CRUSHED all of this creator's motivation to continue bugtopia it makes my blood boil. Honestly, I will uninstall webtoons once I am done reading Love for a walk or whatever the comic's name is. Thats so bullshit

[terrortaste]

Really sucks that Bugtopia is essentially on infinite hiatus because of webtoon's bullsh*t. Massive respect for Quill for quitting in solidarity with his editor though. Hopefully we'll see more webtoon artists do the same in response to this.

[dg]

This is why if I ever make a comic I will go indies all the way. These predatory companies will exploit you at every given opportunity and will not respect you in any way whatsoever.

[FishyRadioactivity]

i love bugtopia's artstyle :D

edit : jeez- having your comic on the originals page sounds more like a curse than a blessing at this point, or ever. D:

[multilad]

I hope Pixie and Brutus, Raccoon Prints, and Dragon Curse don't get dragged into Webtoons Originals after hearing horror stories about it.

[RubyP]

I read Bugoptia, and love it, and was shocked when it ended. I came across it through Monsters and Girls around the mid way point of Bugtopia being an original. I never got to see it as canvas, and was talking to my friend on the phone was I saw that it ended. I had no idea why, but now that I do, I can't help but be even more mad at Webtoon than I already was.

[terribleeditor]

At this point people should run far away if Webtoon offers someone a contract to have their work featured on either Originals or Canvas.

[skullkid]

Oh thanks god someone's talking about this shit. Speaking as a massive fan of Quil's work (Especially with Demon and Angels) This was just absolutely unfair. I stopped reading bugtopia cause of the needless change from episodic to a more connected based story. I'm not even saying it's bad when it changed but they could've just kept it as is when the original work got nuked from the site! Them having to wait till they get the rights back for who knows how long is absolutely fucked up. Thanks for spreading the word Jack, let's hope that this new site is better than webtoons and this trash platform crumbles.(Thank god Cursed Princess Club didn't get tampered with, at least I hope so)

[canadianexplores]

This comic was the only reason I was on Webtoon

[JMamaa]

I remember Bugtopia when it was just little comics posted on Twitter 🥺 probably one of the only good webtoons on there

[WispyEcho]

I was a bit worried that this would like “reveal the workplace for Bugtopia”. And when I realized it was about Webtoons and not Quill, I gave the BIGGEST sigh of relief. Because god, Summer of 2024 has been overwhelming with the amount of people being called out and cancelled. Still a massive fan of Quill’s work, and would definitely give him money when I get a stable job!

[Danioni-nxov]

(I deleted my old comment to say this)
Quill’s Monsters and Girls series, I like it, and it isn’t for everyone, but it gets flagged constantly. And for stuff that’s not even that bad. I’ve seen worst stuff on WEBTOON than what is shown on M&G, and they don’t get flagged unless someone brings attention to it.

[Anonymous-]

It’s fucking infuriating how Webtoon allows people who make straight up soft core nsfw completely alone and completely decimate actually good content like this. Are you _trying_ to kill your reputation?