Anyone else feel insecure about making a comic?

[M.ComicFan]

I hope no one minds me making this thread since I'm sure this is probably gonna sound like a rant, but I know I'm not the only one who may be going through this, so I figured I should talk about this.

For the past year, I've been working on a comic that I plan on posting to Tapas and Webtoon. I put in a bunch of effort into making just the first chapter alone and even got as far as finishing the line art for the pages of that first chapter. But after looking over it, I realized that I didn't like how it turned out. I felt that the writing and the artwork needed quite a bit of improvement. What's worse is that this chapter took a few months for me to complete mostly due to my own procrastination and lack of motivation.

So, I decided to try and work on it again by fixing my script, my artwork, as well as time taking the time to better study the elements that go into making a comic. But the truth is, no matter how much practice I'm going to try and put in, I'm worried that the quality of the artwork isn't going to be as good as I wish it could be. I know that my art style doesn't have to be perfect by any means, but I'm worried that I won't be able to fully understand or utilize the fundamentals that go into making a comic.

I figured that maybe I should see if anyone else is going through a similar problem, as well as if anyone has any advice or suggestions for my problem.

[migxmeg]

No one minds you making this thread - I think a lot of us struggle with these feelings <3.

I'm the artist (as in, not writer) for our comic and it took a while for us to start our Webtoon because I didn't think I was good enough. And, um, frankly if I look at the beginning of our comic, I am not a fan of my artwork!!

But we did go ahead and start in July and we do post almost every week, and I've improved so much, at least in my own eyes. Without just kind of sucking it up and posting it and moving on, I don't think I could be learning so much about drawing, visual storytelling, lettering - there's still a long way to go and so much to learn. But you can't really learn it or learn it as quickly by going over and over things.

The good news is most readers are lovely and supportive as you undertake figuring out the comics process! And hopefully you can be kind to yourself and appreciate how you improve instead of beating yourself up about where you start.

[IndigoShirtProd]

My advice is: just realize that nothing you make will ever be "perfect."

Rather than striving for perfection, especially as a one man team, you should be asking yourself if the project at least is completing most of your goals for it. What do you have planned for the characters, and has the comic reached that? What do you have planned for the artwork and is it something you can execute in a timely fashion without it looking rushed or without effort? I think the phrase is "minimum viable product." What can you do that still looks good and reads good without taking up too much time?

I think about how my comic could be better all the time, but I also recognize it's not worth it to try to keep going back to make it better, in most instances. There's always a what if, just don't let the "what if" stop you from doing anything in the fist place.

[ninjashira]

I say this a lot, and I'm going to keep saying it: The best way to get better at drawing comics is to draw comics. Not by redrawing your old pages out reworking your old scripts, but by going forward and doing new things and drawing new pages, learning from any mistakes or hurdles you encounter in the process, and then applying that to your new pages going forward.

Nobody expects someone's first comic to be amazing - it's a brand new skill that you are learning and figuring out as you go. But you will only learn it by doing it. The more pages you draw, the more you'll figure out what works and what doesn't, and you'll naturally get better at it by virtue of continuing to create.

Even people I know who went to college to learn how to draw comics agree that they still learned so much more about drawing comics in the several years immediately following college, when they were working on comic series or webcomics and actually drawing new pages on a consistent and regular basis.

There's also always going to be an infuriating learning curve moment where your knowledge exceeds your skills. You will be able to look at your art or your pages and know that it's not right, and probably even know why it's not right, but lack the practical skills to elevate your art to that level. When that happens, you just need to push through it and force yourself to draw consistently, study other artists, learn new techniques, and build your skills up.

For just the fundamentals, to get you started on understanding the theories and logics of comic pages, just... Read up on it! There are a ton of tutorials online that will help you with your shot calls and page layouts. Read books by Will Eisner and Scott McCloud about making comics. Absorb as much knowledge as you can, then do your best to implement it. And when a page doesn't work out quite right, don't keep fiddling with it and redoing it and redrawing it! Move on to the next page, and try to figure out why your previous one didn't work, and then consciously do something different with the next page.

[M.ComicFan]

There are a ton of tutorials online that will help you with your shot calls and page layouts. Read books by Will Eisner and Scott McCloud about making comics. Absorb as much knowledge as you can, then do your best to implement it.

I've actually started doing that. I have Scott McCloud's book Making Comics that I started re-reading to see if it can help. I've also started compiling some art tutorials I found on YouTube.

[amortelito]

I can totally relate, I deleted almost 100 pages of my black and white adventures and even when I improved and upgraded the comic still feel is not fully "there", I'm not super happy with the results.

But I'm super happy with the experience of making the comic and I enjoy making it so much, regardless of the flaws. To me enjoying main what you love is more important than the result itself, I'm not advocating for "mediocrity" you should always improve what you can. But we can't expect to master a craft that sometimes takes decades to learn. Masters make comics look easy to.

Feeling this way is common, it happens to many of us. It does take time and effort, and even some professionals still have a wonky less tan perfect works but they embraced them.

[Bokyongyo]

There's a quote I go by and it is what pushes me to do things, especially making comics.

That quote is:
"If you're waiting until you feel talented enough to make it, you'll never make it"

You will never feel ready.
You will never feel sure of yourself.
Especially when you've never done something before

The great thing about webcomics is seeing a artist grow from episode 1 to the most recent update, that's my favorite part of this specific medium is seeing that growth and improvement of not only the art but writing as well. If you wander the forums you can see multiple examples of this growth with a slew of creators, even looking back in my first episode of my own comic I can already see a slight growth between episode one and the most recent one.

So all in all, you'll never feel like you're ready, with anything you just gotta jump in and do it,
nothing helps you grow and learn about making comics than actually making comics

[TedGravesArt]

I think everybody who makes comics feels like they're not good enough to make comics. The quickest way to feel like garbage about what your skill level is to make comics lol. Comics force you to draw weird stuff you've never tried to draw, or in a way you wouldn't normally draw them. But that also forces you to grow as an artist very quickly. Feeling like your issue isn't good enough is just an indication that you're becoming a much better artist at a rapid pace.
I think "mastery" is a misleading word that gets thrown around too much. Mastery implies that there is a point you can reach where you're finished learning. Remember, art is a journey, not a destination. Even if you're an extremely accomplished artist, there will always be more to learn. That's just part of being a creator.
To put it bluntly, none of us will ever be good enough to make comics, because there's no such thing. You're always good enough. Consider keeping what you've done, and telling more of your story!

[noenoh]

I didnt feel insecure, I felt scared. LOL

I think, my 20 years old self was more secure and impetous and if I have had the tools nowadays exists I would have definitely published my stories back then. Not because I tot my art was good, even today Im far to be good enough, but because I had the energy to do it xD
Im glad I didnt published it back then tho cause at least for ASEDO I needed to mature as a person before developing some topics in the story I wanted to talk back then. But now Im so scared after re-learning to draw with the new technologies (and later after an accident where I lost the use of my right hand for almost a year) that it took me 3 years to decide to finally do this story Die Instrumente Gottes first, so I be less scared, less insecure, to do it even if I fail. I want to take back that part of me that didnt cared to mess taht the important thing is I wanted to draw and tell a story.

[Rhonder]

I'm a big proponent of the "learn by doing" approach, coupled with a mindset of "try to make each new page/episode just a little better than the last". I think that if someone approaches comic-making like that (and are diligent about actually pushing their boundaries/studying & practicing their weak areas- can't be complacent) then they will see really rapid improvement in the majority of cases.

It's also helpful to note that the folks who are open to reading non-premium series don't typically have astronomical expectations for comics- there's definitely an audience there for comics that start a little rough but improve over time. So long as your comic is easy to read (i.e. panels aren't claustrophobic / lettering is a readable font and size / reading direction & flow is obvious and clear) then that's a good enough base to start from

I used to be super insecure when I was younger, especially in middle school and high school. I really enjoyed drawing and making comics, but I had some classmates and peers who were just so- SO- much better than I was that I was embarrassed to show many people who I wasn't close friends with my art. It was a strange dichotomy between doodling in my margins all the time during class, but also being shy when people asked to see what I was doing xD

By the time I started my first comic here I had mostly shed that (having been up and out of college by that time) but I still felt super nervous about launching my first webcomic. I lowered my expectations as much as possible and just approached it with a "I just want to learn how to do this and get better along the way" mentality. There's a looooot of rough areas with that comic- shaky linework, saturated color choices, a custom font that is tall and skinny and hard to read, a very basic and straightforward story, etc. I just dived in and went for it though and was surprised that there was an audience willing to accept even a comic with that many flaws. Now that I've been around webcomics for a good while I see that this is the norm, rather than the exception. You might not be topping the charts anytime soon with your first project, or one that you're still learning while making, but I think just going for it is pretty low risk, high reward

[scribesunlimited]

Nah.

We mostly just feel old.

[M.ComicFan]

Thank you all for your advice and encouragement. I'll take what you all said to heart and see how I can handle my comic going forward.

Thank you.

[Kelheor]

All the wise people up there already told everything what could be said
I will only add: learn to love single details, this one panel that turned out nicely, how you nailed the particular scene, how it seems that you captured the mood right, this crazy pose you finally done for the first time.
It will probably never be as great (in your eyes) as you want it to be and how you see it in your mind, but all these small bits push you closer to this vision

[Lady_T_Musings]

Looks like you have gotten a lot of fantastic advice from a lot of fantastic folks all on the same comic-making road heading to destination completed comic. Anywho, my 2 cents is to also remember why you started making the comic you are working on and keep that close to heart. Since you decided to go down the path of comics, you have to have had a pretty big want from the start to create your story with pictures and even when you look back at your finished work and aren't as satisfied with how it turned out, you took the initiative to make it and did it. One step at a time until you have more and more panels done and before you know it you'll have this story that not only shows what you wanted to tell, but also of your own journey as an artist and storyteller evolving through time,

IDK about you, but seeing my art at the end of each chapter always fills my heart bc I can tell I'm learning as I go and improving along the way and remember

art is a journey, not a destination.

Keep moving forward!

[Kaydreamer]

Of course your old panels looked terrible a year later; you'd gained a whole year worth of experience and improvement in those twelve months!

Any artist who's not yet a master at their craft, if they'd been working on something as intense as a comic, will see a world of difference in skill 12 months apart. I'm three months into making mine, and I can already see clearly how I'd change the first few pages if I were to make them again.

The problem with indulging in the temptation to change them is, you get trapped in an ouroboros of changes and improvements, and your work never gets released. That's not good, because you improve faster by drawing new things, and you can't build up an audience for your work if you never release it.

So, just release it! Set yourself a date, and tell people you're going to release it on that date. Once it's released, you'll have less reason to go back and change things, and you can just focus on new pages.

[gempompadour]

This is really important! And it took me quite a while to realize this. If I didn't like something on a page I thought the whole thing was ruined. Like I'd wasted all that time, effort and energy to produce an embarrassing turd. But now I try to be more positive and find something (a single panel, character, part of a character/ background/ lineart/ coloring/ composition, anything ) that I like and I start to feel good about the whole thing. It wasn't a total waste of time. I can create something that I think is neat.

Just shifting your perspective from always seeing the flaws in a piece to actively looking for the good things - and they exist in every work of art! - makes a really big difference. Especially for someone like me whose personality is naturally pretty self-deprecating.

[TedGravesArt]

YES. The little things will get you through! I have panels from early on in my comic that I'm still in love with. Give yourself credit for the things you've done well, and focus on amplifying your successes!

[Dialusion]

All the time, from conception to reaction I'm always insecure and self-conscious about my work. How I've managed this is I do two things.

1. Get it done. I know it won't be as good as it is in my head, I know I won't have the time or energy resources to make it exactly like I want, so I don't worry about it. I plan around those limitation. I only have X amount of time to work on this? Ok, how much time would I need on each step while still giving myself some breathing room? It is going to take way too long? Then cut out everything unnecessary and tell the story in it's simplest form. Turn those 5 of script pages into 1 or 2. As long as you get it done, that's what matters. The more you put it off, the worse you'll feel. But as you finish it and work on your fundamentals during production, improvement will come. As long as you also practice your fundamentals outside of comic creation, you will improve. If you have doubts, don't fight against it, flow with it. "I don't know, so I'll give it a shot." Of course, think about why you want to create and lean in on that. Myself, I want to leave behind something when I'm gone that's very 'me'. I need to practice my art basics and I have a bunch of ideas running through my head at a million miles an hour. So I put it all together and make something out of it.

2. Fake it till you make it with the mentality to make it. It all boils down to mentality. You didn't like that first chapter's line art. Great! Now you know what to practice. Don't like how it's taking forever? Great! Practice time management and prep work. The problems you're facing have solutions in front of you, trust in yourself to solve them. If you doubt yourself, then fake the confidence. Start small and I mean small. "I'm gonna write this dialogue better than I did last time!", "I'm going to plan this scene better than last time". It's important to recognize the doubt and dissatisfaction, but it's a misplay to let that be the end. Your turn doesn't end cause you're self-doubt interrupted your plan. So what? You can extend your play further than that.

TL;DR Get it done, learn what you did wrong, practice smarter rather than harder and above all else, become a you that's has an end goal in mind.

Hopefully I made at least a lick of sense in this.

[thel3tterm]

There's a LOT of amazing advice in this thread, and I fully agree with what's been said already!

I keenly feel the pain of despising the early pages of my work. It's taken a ton of self-discipline not to delete them all and start from scratch.
There's a few reasons I haven't though, and I hope that my thought process will help you as well.
1: I believe in where the story is going and what it might be someday. I will never get there if I get caught in a loop of constantly destroying my progress and restarting it. I figure I can improve on what's there once I reach the end. That, or I can walk away from it and start my next project at a higher level of artistic skill.
2: Your audience will see fewer flaws where you will. You've been looking at these pages for months. Each page likely takes you hours, or even days to make. Your audience will take a couple seconds-a minute to read each one. There's nothing wrong with wanting to make them the best that you can, but it will never be perfect.
3: Seeing the flaws is a good thing, and means that you've improved. As has already been said here, making comics will FORCE you to get better at creating, and you will inevitably look back on what you already made and see problems. That's okay! Your audience will understand, and even appreciate it getting better over time.

This is your first comic! Finishing a whole chapter is more than a TON of people can say. Regardless of whether you choose to post it, I hope you take time to celebrate your accomplishment and appreciate how much effort it took and how much you improved from the first to last page.

Best of luck, and I look forward to whatever you decide to share with us in the future!