2018 Creator Growth

[TadxSarah]

Since Half Of The Year Is Gone. I Have A Question For Everyone.

How Have You Grown As A Artist Or Author This Year?

I Know No Matter If You Are An Amateur Or Pro At What You Do We Are Still Always Constantly Learning Everyday.

I'll start with my personal experience.

I have learned to not let the negative get to me and build on the positive when it comes to our artwork and writing.

I also learned that there is always need for improvement and always humble yourself whether if you like what people have to say or not.

I also learned that as long as i'm doing what i love that's what matters and treasure every moment of the journey.

What about you guys?

[A-weird-girler]

I have definitely grown. i hope to continue learning, though. I just broke through with 30 subs and to me it's a big deal to make my episodes the best quality possible since I care for my audience.

[moonfixer]

I believe that I have grown to be a bit more consistent in the chosen art style for my comic. I still hope to improve. I already have a few art related ideas that I'd like to try on my current comic, just to see how it will look.

[Penni]

I feel I have grown a lot, I'm at least writing on a regular basis which is a huge improvement from last year. I've also gained enough confidence to participate in the Writers Camp this time around, so I think that's the biggest sign of my growth

[silverraven0]

I'm think that I'm not that improved. (O-O )

I've grown a little, but my procrastination and no motivation keeps on pulling me down whenever I try to climb higher.

Mostly my inner problem tho, but I still try to find the effective way to kick myself up.

[xanedis]

My ability to plot(don't take this the wrong way) and to construct stories has grown immensely. Not only that, but I also started writing web comic scripts this year and have found the practice very much in line with my current style of storytelling. I am more confident than ever in my ability to tell a compelling story, but it'll still be an upward climb. It always is. There's always more to learn.

But who knows what the future will bring. All I can say is that I've gotten better at writing and I'm mighty happy about it. And I think my writing style is way more consistent, too.

[baasinsimple]

I've learned that despite my frustration towards slow growth that I have to keep going. It's not the reader's fault. It's my fault for not being good enough to keep the reader's attention. Since I wish to have an audience one day it wouldn't be healthy to blame them for things I need to improve.

I've learned the basics of writing character writing and political intrigue which are concepts I plan to be the forefront of my current Serial. Along with some Kickass composition and fight-scenes.

[Bri-Arty]

I started off the year in a bad place with art. I had to relearn the basics after several years of no improvement. I struggled because I forced myself to draw realistic human anatomy and prevented myself from drawing what I loved. I had art blocks for months and couldn't be happy with anything I drew, because I never learnt the basics of art and hated everything I drew.

Now I'm slowly trying to overcome art and writers block, being steady and allowing myself to draw what I love whilst learning some basics like gesture drawing. I've learnt that progress takes time and everyone's art journeys are different. I'm gonna have days where I can't draw anything or be motivated so I want to challenge those thoughts and be consistent with working on my upcoming projects and ideas. I just want to enjoy my passion instead of making it a frustrating chore....

[baasinsimple]

Good for you, hope you have fun Bro!

[Katy-L-Wood]

I think I've gotten a lot better with my use of color, my ability to stay on schedule, and my ability to keep good records.

[amortelito]

Awesome topic!! 100% agree with the lessons you said. let me see...for me this year has been a huge leap, from not having a comic to have one! It was hard to keep consistency in characters though panels, learn anatomy, dynamic poses, chose a palette of colors, leant to use the drawing software. Before this year I had unorganized pages, like 7 books of scribblings and texts and I had never shared this in public. I love how interaction has changed the project a lot. Not the even deliberate feedback, just simple comments, jokes that gave me amazing ideas! I'm loving interaction.

[Shanny8]

Both.

My art has improved, and I continue to see improvement- but my storytelling has grown as well. I look back at some of the plots that I had concocted, and see how some of the material wasnt as well developed as I had thought they were- but the current material I've been brainstorming, help improve the old stories and make them stronger.

[MariMontoya]

Last fall I barely got 7 subscribers for a story. Then I got a lot of helpful advice. I took ideas that I thought up as a kid, ones that I am passionate about and I wrote. I would like to think I've improved a lot in my writing and have around 300 subscribers right now. Someone told me, no matter what, to write a sentence a day, so I can be consistent and to keep up my drive. It didn't matter if it was good or bad because you could always rewrite and in the end, that's 365 sentences in a year and you got a start to a story. That's what I've learned so far and I hope I will continue to grow as a writer

[375]

Oh mai I have sure grown a lot! I'm hitting a year next month (whoa time flies by) and I'm not as insecure about my writing and about me being a writer anymore! Before hand I was deathly afraid of being an outcast again because my work was never approved by other writers in the writing community. They always looked down on me, even when I approached them irl and online and I always thought maybe I'm too weird and too overly happy? So I never made any friends who were writers until I came here Now I'm a happy cookie who is comfortable being themselves again <3

[TadxSarah]

Wow 0_0 i didn't expect this to get this many responses i just read what everyone said just now.

I'm glad everyone is learning to improve their strengths and overcome their weakness

The key is to just never give up because we all struggle at times.

No matter how big or small our fanbase may be. I think everyone should be proud of their dedication to what they love to do.

The way i see it is whether if it's just 1 person, hundreds or thousands i believe as long as someone enjoys reading your comic and you have fun it's all worth it.

[Oksa]

This i so nice topic! it's always good to remind yourself and others how you have been grown. It helps to get over stuff like art block.
I think I've grown as an comic artist, even tho I haven't posted my comic yet. I have been doing the script and been planning the pages all this year, and I learned to not fear that I might get bored while planning the (oh shet I forgot the word I am not native help me!) uh... the panel... order?? anyway, I haven't gotten bored even if I have planned over 150 pages so no worries. Also I learned not to fear drawing different angles and perspectives. or other peoples opinions about my comic. I guess I had a lot to fear X'D

[ericsalinas149]

I've learned a little on how to balance work and drawing, shuffling time between my day job and cartooning.

Despite my glacial slow growth. I am getting a little more recognition this year than in the past. Some people write to me and tell me how much the love my comic and try to get the word out to spread my comic around.

[Harmony-S-S]

I have learned a lot about how to improve my novel writing and I also learned how to write comics. The learned the kind of work that goes into it. So overall, I would say that I have improved a lot as an author

[VandaQ]

Hmmm. Interesting question. Well, for one, I got involved in writing groups a lot more, learned how to receive feedback and improve on it as well as give constructive feedback. Secondly, this year was the first year I ever felt confident enough to submit to literary magaznes and even contests. I am still not great with writing on a constant basis, but I'm turning that around slowly, with the help of Tapas as well.

I feel this year so far has been one of the most productive years of my creative experience. I have worked on collaborations, got to be a beta-reader, publish work, found my medium and voice, to say so. And I damn well hope it's going to continue on the same trajectory.

Also, it's so so nice to hear y'all have had good experiences this year. Let's keep up the awesome work!

[SeraphicMayin]

It's heartwarming to get to read everyone's replies of improvement. I like knowing that my fellow creators here on Tapas continue to strive forward and make stories.

That said, yes, we never stop growing and improving, so long as we keep at it. Persistence is all it honestly takes, in my opinion. Inherent talent or not, the people who grow as storytellers are the ones that out-work everyone else~

As for my personal experience...

This year I finally read Story by Robert McKee. It's a book on the Substance, Structure and Principles of Screenwriting. I'd done a lot of thinking and realized that just learning about stories from books that focus on novels was not helping my Comic-writing. Comics are primarily visual experiences, like Shows and Movies.

In reading this book over the past 5 weeks, I simultaneously managed to write a comic pitch I love and draw the concept art for this year's first Incubator Program submissions. And I gotta say it was worth putting in the time each day to learn and write and just get something done to submit.

Apart from this, I've gained a greater appreciation for the art of making Comics that I think will help me down the line.

I hope that everyone here continues to grow and that we continue to support this insanely positive community that we have on Tapas~