Don't be a webcomic artist. Be a webcomic creator

carloswebcomic 2016-09-15 04:16:55 UTC #1

Anyone who has ever made a webcomic soon realises that it's work. Hard, time consuming, often thankless, demoralising work.
You really need truckloads of discipline and a borderline obsessive attitude to keep you and your comic going.
Late nights, lack of sleep and bugger all free time is common in this hobby. It's a Herculean task to have your own comic, yet we somehow manage (most of us, anyway).

So what's wrong with being an artist?
Well, the term itself is fine, the issue is the common perception of 'art' and 'artists'.
According to public belief, artists are these mythical beings that shoot rainbows out of their arse and are forever looking for a bright spark of inspiration before finishing their masterpiece in a few strokes.
Artists do not create products. Artists are chefs that prepare food for the soul thanks to the magic of art.
Yup.

I don't know, maybe there are 'artists' like that, but I've never met one. The artists I've met (Real artists. You know, with studios and galleries and all that good stuff) do not approach art by sitting around waiting for inspiration to hit them. No. Art is work. You want to create? Then you got to brainstorm, plan, calculate and get shit done.
There's no magic. There is no contemplation of the soul. There's work. Lots of it.

I often see people procrastination and asking whether they should be work on this or that idea.
We're making comics. Making comics is work. Hard fucking work, and the sooner you start, the better it is.

There is no magic moment when everything will fall into place and you will create a masterpiece. Nope.
This is not brain surgery. If you fuck up your comic, you can start again or start another one. Your life does not depend on it and neither does anyone else's. Trust me, readers couldn't care less.

So stop asking if you should do it or not? Just do it. Or don't. The only person affected will be you.

TrustyShamrock 2016-09-15 04:23:13 UTC #2

well shoot thats explains exactly. especially the rainbow part

carloswebcomic 2016-09-15 04:30:52 UTC #3

I pee pixie dust. It fucking hurts.

Aspie_Gamer 2016-09-15 06:29:11 UTC #4

Well shit, I wish I could shit rainbows out of my ass and make breathtaking masterpieces in a day. Thanks a lot for dashing my dreams Carlos.

BeetleMilk 2016-09-15 09:11:58 UTC #5

@carloswebcomic It's so true!! The obsessive part haha. Ive found that I.. don't know how to relax anymore? Like I can't play video games because I start thinking "..but this isnt constructive. This isnt adding anything to the comic!!". Its a little sad tbh

carloswebcomic 2016-09-15 09:29:45 UTC #6

I know, right?!
I can't sit down and watch TV or movies at all! I can sneak a game here or there but I'm constantly thinking about the next page!

BeetleMilk 2016-09-15 09:54:33 UTC #7

@carloswebcomic It's a gift and a curse! Haha

shaneoid77 2016-09-15 13:13:43 UTC #8

Totally agree on this, having been the tormented artist in my teens who was in creative 'hell' trying to get that masterpiece out there. And by trying so hard to get it done right, failed to get it done at all.

I was recently inspired by Masters of the Universe (you may know it as He-Man) which was a project in the 80's which became a toy franchise with a cartoon to sell them. If anyone looks in to the early days of the ideas which went in to MOTU, the franchise began with so many ideas being thrown about, some solid, some, not so solid, even to the time of broadcasting the first episode!

Later, things became more cohesive, however there remains to this day a multitude of variations on the original ideas. It's like a melting pot of imagination, which is something that has kept it alive and thriving to this day, 30 years on!

My point being, these guys went on to make millions. Not that money is a motivation in creating a webcomic (yeah, chuck that idea outta your head) but as these guys discovered, it's possible to find out where you're going only when you're going.

The important thing to remember is interpretation. What you may consider profound and epiphanic in your work, once it reaches an audience, may be interpreted differently, to the point where the epiphany is totally lost. However you may make something you feel is so throw away you don't even remember doing it, and you could hit a spark with your audience. Once the concept leaves you, it becomes open to interpretation, so worry less about profundity and more on what @carloswebcomic says, prepare for some hard work!

Herofeeder 2016-09-15 13:15:46 UTC #9

i just like drawing..im a drawer : P

ToonDoctor 2016-09-15 13:17:04 UTC #10

I consider myself a cartoonist.

timinabox24 2016-09-15 13:38:41 UTC #11

well I'm glad I'm not an artist
I just get an idea, make a comic and I'm done ¯_(ツ)_/¯

also who ever thought artists are mythical creatures who poop rainbows, I've never heard of such thing wut

Shanny8 2016-09-15 15:18:58 UTC #12

@BeetleMilk I havent played my PS3 in almost 3 years. When I do relax, it's mainly watching TV or watching a movie- something a feel I can control for a certain amount of time. With video games I lose all sense of time coz I get lost in the game.

BeetleMilk 2016-09-15 15:43:09 UTC #13

@shanny8 it's so true. I get super lost in kingdom hearts omg

Rabbit 2016-09-15 15:56:56 UTC #14

So wait.. we should stop calling ourselves artists because some people have a perception of what artists are that isn't realistic?
I guess you mean that you want to make sure people who don't make webcomics know how much work it is, but.. I dunno.
I'd rather people read a comic of mine and see it as some kind of magical 'art' thing than look at it and say 'urgh look at all the work put into this'.
I didn't work that hard just for someone to pity me when they read it.
Whenever I tell people I'm a webcomic artist, though, I find that I usually need to explain separately that I also write it and design the characters and animate the gifs and stuff.. technically our job is much more than just an artist, and that doesn't really click with a lot of people, but I don't really mind that.
Other artists know what I mean, and readers just know they like the finished product, so I'm happy.
Or you mean that changing the name to 'creator' will inspire people who are thinking of making comics to make them, but that's just dumb.
People who procrastinate creating or see it as something magical that will just happen one day and then they'll make a webcomic, aren't cut out for webcomics in the first place.
And that's good, because then the people who really do work hard and have the drive to get webcomics made are the ones.. making webcomics.
And then those people who flip flop on the whole art thing and whether or not they have enough 'inspiration' to create a comic, can then go do the thing they actually can work hard on and finish, and be happy doing that, instead of being distracted by a webcomic they can barely keep up with.
I feel like.. if you have to go through measures to inspire someone to make a comic, they don't really have the drive for it. Which means they probably have the drive for something else. And they should go find that thing, instead.

carloswebcomic 2016-09-16 02:28:38 UTC #15

A big factor in people not starting a webcomic is fear. They think that if they fuck up they can never do another comic ever again, so they are forever waiting for the planets to align.
What this rant is about is that the perfect moment never comes.
So no, it's not about 'inspiring', it's about telling people that it's useless to wait for the perfect moment, because it doesn't exist.

tzuba12 2016-09-16 05:18:31 UTC #16

Agreed. I kept putting off my comic (which before was an entirely different story) for years. I kept saying "I gotta get better at drawing before I can do it" or "I need better tools", etc. I thought it had to be amazing even if it was my first time.

One day I just said "fuck it" and started designing new characters for a new story and just started. Best decision I ever made.

If you have an idea, just do it. Don't worry if it doesn't look the best or you struggle with some things. Just do it and you'll learn as you go. It won't be perfect, it might even be crap, but you'll never know what you're capable of making unless you just stop procrastinating and making excuses about why you can't do it.

Zannen00 2016-09-16 08:34:26 UTC #17

It saddens me to find the lack of this GIF when mentioning "DO IT" in this thread.

The majority of the "Should I should I not" mind set is mostly seen in teens/ young adults... as evidently seen in most of the wall post I've been notified countless times.