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Feb 2022

I'm not sure if you were talking to me. I have always been called boring. I guess I couldn't find many people that like the same stuff as me, but I haven't been really looking for people. If I find them than I'm glad to be friends with them or at least have someone to talk to. Having someone critique my work would be a bonus.

honestly, I often think of how cool it would be to have a few comic-artist friends to share booths at bookfests with, help each other proofread, brainstorm together etc.
But I click with very specific people, my brain is always distracted by its own ideas, and I'm always busy with irl stuff so it's been difficult. This forum has some cool folks whose work/convos I appreciate tho.

I made most of my friends through making comics, and also my fiance, and I've made a good number of friends on Tapas, so yeah, there are plenty of people who want to be friends.

I think the fact that you're not currently updating a comic is part of the issue? It makes it hard to have common ground, because creators can bond most easily over that weekly grind of getting their pages done, and it's way easier to talk about your comic if you can show each other what you create and discuss your different approaches and aims, while having that common ground of hard work and the courage needed to put that imperfect creation out into the world and deal with people telling you exactly what they think of your labour of love with varying amounts of tact.

When a person wants to talk comic creation but hasn't actually got anything out, it can be a bit of a red flag. People like that often either ask for a lot of advice without providing much in return creating an unequal feeling relationship (like you're not really friends so much as you're an unpaid mentor), or they insist on giving advice, but their advice, coming from somebody without experience of having to maintain an update schedule for months or years or building an audience, is often impractical and based on assumptions rather than things they have put into practice themselves successfully while under pressure to maintain weekly updates at a consistent level of quality that effectively attracts and retains readers.
It's so easy to sit on the sidelines telling comic people they should put more effort into their pages and not cut corners, and to never chase market appeal, while always being the person whose comic will come out "eventually" and they're confident it'll be the best comic ever and an effortless hit, but never releasing it because they built it up too much and they're scared to actually face the music, that a lot of comic creators will instinctively avoid anyone who seems like they might be that sort of person.

If you actually start putting your work out there, you'll have an easier time making friends with people who can also relate to the ridiculous amount of hard work that does into making, updating and promoting a comic every week and trying to make it look as good as possible while knowing it can never really look as perfect as you'd like it to. Passionate comickers respect hard work, motivation, bouncing back from mistakes, self-learning and dedication. If you demonstrate you have those qualities, you'll easily make friends with comics people. :smile_01:

I’ve made a few friends here. :blush:

I don’t think I went out of my way to find them, we just clicked I suppose. They’re the reason I come back here to be honest. I like to see what they’re up to (with their projects), or even just to hang out and be silly. :sweat_smile:

im a 21 dude in uni who has just realized they hate their course and would rather be poor than do a job they hate lmao. I also have not really made very many friends out here, tho i am new.

I ... I feel called out o_o

There are a few people that I recognise and kind of look out for just because I see them around so often that my brain automatically goes "ohey it's you :D", but I don't have much to say to them so it's more like a parasocial relationship than an actual friendship :stuck_out_tongue:

Yeah most definitely. I gave up entirely for a while and I'm back at it now that my vision is a lot clearer, but I agree with you. Hopefully i can get something substantial out there before this thread dies because I think there are a lot of people here who I might really get along with lol

My experience at university pretty much FAQ'd up the little social desire I had, so I'm pretty reserved and only meet/talk with the friends I made before I started getting tired of people.

I'd like to be more open again but there is some stuff I need to reconsider about what I want and ultimately who I am, but that too will mean breaking bonds with things and people I don't want to hurt.

I am anti-social by nature despite people telling me the complete opposite. I am just an individual who prefers to draw, watch anime, and play some games. Hanging around people always makes me feel awkward and I've always been indifferent about friendship. That might explain why I didn't lose my marvels when the Covid-19 hit and we were forced to stay in Quarantine and isolation, I didn't really have to do much of a change of lifestyle.

I'm about the same. I have a hard time keeping up with friendships especially if we don't talk in person. It's not that I hate people, socializing is mentally draining and I wish it weren't. It's like wanting to exercise, but walking up one flight of stairs has you panting and sweating.

I do. I tend to be introverted but I’m trying to make friends like I live in a socioeconomic system that’s completely falling apart and need to find comrades so we can survive what’s coming. As you do.

I'll be glad to send some of my work to you to get feedback. I'm a writer, so I don't think I can help you much with comics.

Communication & online friends are the only 2 reasons why am on this forum.
I´m also not one of the 30 year olds with no time to work on my hobby,
I´m 46 and I spend all of my time on my passions which are rock´n´roll and comics.

I´m always interested in creative projects and I think that this is a great way to make
friends, contacts, be creative and to communicate. Unfortunately things don´t last very
long and people lose interest. I have one big real life illustrator group in my hometown,
it started great before the pandemic and not it´s almost dead. At the meetings we were
12 people, that we had a smaller split group of 5 people who were doing studies, we did
"drink and draws" which was great. We also did a 6 hours comic day (6 pages in 6 hours)
in a craft museum which was in the newspaper and that was also great. But now it got
very silent which is maybe because of the pandemic. Creative people are often introverts,
a part of me is an introvert but the other part is someone who is very communicative
and wants to meet people all the time.

I think having a creative project group would be a great way to have friends

It's pretty hard for me to make friends online since I'm not that talkative. I'm just too shy to engage in anything. :sweat_02:

I have IRL friends who I love, but none of them are interested in making comics. I'd honestly love making online friends.

BTW I am 30 and I DO have time to work on my hobbies, i will always make time to draw it is my passion. but I guess it's one of those anime video game stereotypes mentalities... once you reach the elder age (you know, above 25) you pretty much useless and your life is pretty much over... at least according to anime and video games

it even gets weirder over 40.
I´m 46 now and I somehow missed the growing up point

Same, Though I think I feel the 'growing up point' when I am going through a tutorial in a video game. I get pissed off fast. Game spends most of the time insulting my intelligence and here I am crying because I just want to play

Man that's such a strange mentality. I'm almost 20 and all I've seen from adults is that it gets more fun when you're older. You can't really be free with school, but I guess it's the most relaxed part of your life without the whole bill paying thing.