Nov 2016
24 / 27
Oct 2019
Oct 2019
punkarsenic
Nov '16

i mean, in a way, every character is drawing from the self or from people you know, and i tend to put myself into all my characters in varying ways. maybe because im autistic, so cognitive empathy (or lack of it) leaves me with only really my own experience to draw from, but i think it leaves a link back to me that adds extra dimensions of understanding.

then again... yeah, sure, ive made characters that are genuinely me in a hat. maybe too much. its fun, harmless, and they tend to evolve away as i do anyway.

colinwmd
Nov '16
indagold

I'm planning to have a self insert in my long story once I start it.

It's set in the town I grew up in and I used to clean windows there when I was doing my A levels. One of the locations is a cafe I used to clean so a young me might appear in an establishing shot there with a bucket and a cloth, in my old yellow and black chequered shirt...

Michelle
Nov '16

I've yet to literally draw myself into a panel, but sometimes I'll give a random person in the crowd my hairstyle and/or fashion style.

Strangely, I've had a couple people think the main characters of my comic were supposed to be me and my boyfriend...? I kinda see it with the bf, because his hair is similar, though he changed his hairstyle -after- I made the character. So I joke that he's modeled himself after the comic |D as for my appearance, I really don't see the similarities... but the idea of making a self-insert comic about me and my partner would be super weird.

aran150
Nov '16

Uh.. Noooo... Totally not. That's a different Aran in my comic. Totally not based on me.

But seriously, yeah, Aran shares my name, he looks like me, but personality-wise, totally removed. I'm not that much of an ass. And since I don't identify as him, I feel no regrets doing terrible things to him or making him out to be a dislikable character.

VermillionWorks
Nov '16

I don't usually put straight-up self inserts into my stories, but I certainly have put parts of myself, like certain opinions, behaviors, beliefs, ect. and put them into characters, often times without really thinking about it.

I kind of think a part of 'you' naturally goes into your stories sometimes. For example, when humor crops up in my stuff, a lot of my characters have a strange penchant for sarcasm, like me. XD

Aspie_Gamer
Nov '16

Susan from my comic Life of an Aspie2 is pretty much the closest I'll ever get to being in my own comic. To elaborate upon what I mean, Susan's personality is sorta based off of mine, but I've given her a few quirks I personally don't have as an aspie particularly a couple related to her gender such as seemingly being able to socialize normally. (What's called "chameleoning" in the aspie community; basically copying what normal people do in social situations to help mask her autism. With boys, its pretty obvious when one of us is on the spectrum especially growing up.)

Kura
Nov '16

Not a literal self insert no. There are other more interesting or important things to throw in my comics from my life personality and experiences. My face not being one of them.

Chopythes
Nov '16
1

Yep! It's a thing I do just for fun or when I need more people in a crowd xD
From Beyond the Ordinary

And one from Vasteros Next1

I try to make it less obvious that it's me, despite the odd looking hat I've got <3

But I also have as a rule to never have a line when I do self inserts, unlike I did with my first (rather terrible) webcomic: themoronn.smackjeeves.com in -08.

TrustyShamrock
Nov '16

i sorta did by accident. my main character geckie in robo hole turned out to be wayyy too much like me. first i was like wow what a interesting design! i never thoughta making a character with a face like this. hurr dee durr. but halfway thru my comic i was just like oh my god its me
plus when i drew his character design i just put him in the clothes i was wearin at the time cuz i didnt feel like comin up with a costume. but i ended up liking it on him so i kept it. its too late now to change it tho so... ewps

Isky
Nov '16

No. If I ever throw in a self-insert character in my story, I'd probably give them a gruesome death.

2 years later
tmunnerlyn
Oct '19

My novel started off as nothing more than cringy self-insert fanfiction that I used to manage my anxiety. Over time, that character developed his own personality, had his own backstory, his own tales to tell and eventually...it just wasn't me anymore. I've used my story to vent about situations I've been in and to help overcome my own trauma. I wanted to tell a side of anger that most wouldn't understand without having gone through it themselves. I initially wasn't going to write it, being "too good" for self-insert stuff, but my friend Kaetana encouraged me as a lot of people find relief in it. Four years later and at a nice 260k words, I have no regrets.

DualDragonsMaster of Yeet
Oct '19

I was planning a self insert in the past, yes. The character had black hair like me and was supposed to be really badass (perhaps too exaggerated).

In the end he kinda became his own character, and he doesn't really resemble me anymore which is fine.

Though there is another character that's based on me in my comic. He doesn't play an important role at the moment though.

arcojawa
Oct '19

I.............. briefly considered it. But I ultimately decided against it and put some rando in "my place"...... I don't remember why I decide to do it and why I decided against it. So long as you don't go overboard with their characterization I don't think there's anything good or bad about self-inserts.

GamerPrincessXI
Oct '19

I did a self insert for Nova and Max and mentioned Life of Shiori in that same comic, XD.