Do you tell offline friends you doing comic?

[TedGravesArt]

Dude! I haven't had the time to sit down and read through all of your pages yet, but the page that really got it's hooks in me was #43. What an epic page! Show em that one!

[nathanKmcwilliams]

Oh, thanks dude! I've been meaning to check yours out too. I'll do it soon!

[Utamee]

Hi Guys, Thanks all for sharing your experience here. It really encourage me to be more opened up ( to selected people).
I planned to tell my group of best friends later.
@FritzC Not young anymore, In my home country. Since I'm mom and wife. ahahaha..
But I do feel young now I live in US.
Anyway, For sure I can't tell to mom's group or my son teacher for example. That probably will be awkward.
If I tell my extended family, it will be "if your sons/daughters read comic? I make one". So, I don't think I can do this one yet too.
Ps. regardless the success of comic, glad to know Tapas forum.

[Caro]

Its my full time job so it has to come up in conversations when i meet people (the classic “what do you do for a living?”) and i wish it didnt! I hate explaining what i do and the forced response of “id love to read your work!” and only maybe 3% of people ever actually mean it and its just sooo uncomfortable. The worst is when people understand that it means i have a social media presence so they ask to see my Instagram or whatever RIGHT THERE.... so uncomfortable

I used to try to just say im an illustrator and try to avoid that whole line of questioning and discomfort but then it leads to “what type of illustration?” and circles right back to me having to say “i draw comics/im a cartoonist”

[cortezlord96]

I'm 28 and I tell my friends, peers, and family. I've put too much time into this to care if they think "i'm too old". Some of the best creators of our time have been older. You're doing something 99% of people can't or won't do, so why worry about what they think? If they think your too old, will it make you want to stop creating? If it does think about why you create and why you like to create. Cause if you create for yourself, then all you will have is passion and love for your products that others thoughts won't matter, at least as much.

Some family supported me, others didn't, but I still did it and I still do it, cause it is what makes me happy and if they have a problem with what I do then...unless they gonna pay my bill when I make it big (lol) Then they can either shut up or get out of my life.

TLDR : It doesn't matter what your friends and family think cause it's your passion and your happiness. You can find better friends and craft a supportive family.

19 Late-Blooming Artists Who Prove It's Never Too Late

[Utamee]

@cortezlord96 Thanks for the article. That's really motivates me.
After read everyone posts, it depend on situation & preferences that a person makes a choice to speak up or not.
one path might good for ones, but not for another.
Regardless to speak up or not, I can see all the people here have strong passion for what they do and proud people, for that I respect.

[BrambleberrySquirrel]

I'm 31 I've told family and friends about it and, well they just aren't that interested. Besides my husband nobody I know has bothered to read it. So while that kinda sucks, its not like I'm being negatively judged for making something I enjoy.

[UrMom]

Ah no, I don't tell friends or family about my comic.

1. Because I don't have any friends.
2. The mass majority of my family members are racist, bigoted, "Christian" fanatics... and my comic features LGBT+ characters, and subjects they're too dumb to comprehend. (mental health mostly.)

My mom and a cousin know, but they're both pretty chill, and generally show no interest in it. My mom's lack of interest being she thinks it's porn, and my cousin's lack of interest being he's a fine artist who just doesn't understand comics. The only time the rest of my family will ever see my comic is when I get the printed version ready, and launch a Kickstarter for it. I'll be advertising on a lot of sites I'm apart of, although I will be very upfront about not wanting trashy bitches to read my comic. A.K.A: Any bigot family member who will be a pain in the ass, acting like a bratty child over the story's content.

If I heard that my mom or dad made a comic I would be extremely interested, and genuinely flabbergasted. Both my parents know nothing about comics, with my dad not even being interested in art. He sees it as a product to sell rather than... well, art.

[sarahmcsquish]

I will literally tell any person who will keep eye contact with me that I have a web comic. If they are within 10ft of me, they will find out I have a comic. I'm proud of my work, and I'm happy to show it to literally anyone who will bother to listen. My comic is LGBT, but I'm gay myself so if they dislike my art being gay, well that's just one more person for me to avoid all together!

[Lady_T_Musings]

At first, I was very selective about who I told, but once I started releasing it on the web it just seemed like a free for all and so I went why not tell everyone. I sent a message to pretty much everyone I know to let them know I have a comic now and that they should check it out if they like fantasy comics with lots of diversity and body positivity with the cover and banner card that had my social media om it lol.

Some folks responded excited, some ignored it, and a few looked at it, but it wasn't their jam so they went on about their day, but you never know how people will truly react if you don't try them (unless you are making a comic that covers topics you know would make them uncomfortable).

[R.n.P]

all my friends in Nigeria know but overseas only a few that I'm close to

[JuneBuggy]

Sure, although I may leave the content vague lol. Everyone laughs at me for my love of vampires, so I usually tend to leave that part out, and just call it a mystery. I believe from your initial post, it sounds as if you draw for a living. I personally find that cool as hell, but I know that if you’re not the author of a well-known comic, it could be a bit underwhelming. When I first said as a kid that I wanted to be an artist, my family said I’d have to die before anyone would recognize my art (super supportive, guys...). So I drew as a hobby only, but always dreamed of being able to do it for a living. I’m picking it back up, although still as a hobby for now. I hope maybe more can come of it.

But tl;dr I do tell them. Just might leave some details out lol

[Utamee]

I tried to told some people yesterday, not very good result. LOL
I already know they not people who read comic tough. ahahaha..
@UrMom Thanks for flabbergasted reaction.
@JuneBuggy I'm not draw for living. I will just happy if there's people actually read my comics.
anyway, I still learning to draw and tell story. It will be dream come true if I can make professional. I still do this as my double life.

[WoollyPAR]

It's not something I'm confident enough about to tell people about in person, but I've shared it with my irl friends over messaging apps. I've told my mom and sister about it, but I haven't told my other relatives. That's about it tho, I'm way better at telling people about it over the internet.

[ble]

Luckily I have no friends and my family doesn't know about webcomics, so my secret is safe.

[boondogggle]

I've got a whole lot of stuff I'd never want anyone I know irl to see that I've posted online, and I've got basically all my social medias linked, so yeah no, none of my irl friends or family know. Basically all my online friends do, though.

[nauko]

Negative.

I mean some know I am actively drawing one, but they don't know the title or where I actively post.

The only reason my friends found out is because I was trying to draw thumbnails when I got bored on an outing with them and they proceeded to flip through my very embarrassing private sketchbook

[NiWo21k]

I mostly only tell people near me when they have the same interests or just are interested in what I do in my spare time.
Some think it's interesting to try writing stuff and work with an artist together, others just shrug and say, good for you.

But I am not actively advertising it. Not because I feel ashamed or anything, but as long as I don´t know if the person on the other side might be interested, I don´t feel like it's a topic to talk about.

[dsptss78]

I tell all of my friends I made a webcomic. Most of them checked it out while others are bit shocked I started a webcomic. Dan was my first attempt at a webcomic series and so far I feel like i'm doing good considering I'm a beginner. However the early works of dan was a bit rough but I didn't give up and I improved on it. So if you're shy about sharing your webcomic don't be because everyone has a rough start. Making webcomics is hard and very time consuming.

[arcojawa]

I... cherrypick who I tell. There's still a lot of people in society at large who still see comics and animation as strictly childish or a waste of time, so a lot of friends and family will either have no interest or be actively derisive if you show them your work. But at the same time we are kind of slowly going through a transition.
The group of people that Disney taught to think "cartoons are for kids" is slowly dying off and the people who grew up with cartoons are slowly taking over. It's a slow, quiet transition but at some point things like comics, cartoons, and videogames will just be a normal part of life.

So ya... still inclined to NOT talk about my comic to a better chunk of my peers. But a lot more of them are accepting of this sort of thing now then, say, 10 years ago.