Experiences sharing your comics with people irl? How did it go? (Share your stories)

[foxowl]

I share my comic on facebook, since I know my family don't bother with my artwork so I know they won't read it. A lot of my close friends seem to like it, one I shown a few pages before uploading it seems to be a big fan, but my classmates (bar one) seem to switch off and stop listening as soon as I mention anything about my comic or the artwork I do (yet they're all over me when it comes to making a storyboard) They keep saying they'll read it but I doubt it.

[insomniascrawl]

Most people read it passively, but a few of my good friends are super supportive of my art and for the most part always have been interested in it. My family is a bit more critical, but mostly in the constructive way... Mostly.

I have a few acquaintances who expressed that they felt my art/writing/comics were a waste of my time, but I never really cared about those people much in the first place, so their opinions were largely unimpressive to me >_>

[Tweekling]

Mannnn I wish I had better experiences. I mean, I did, some times. In high school I was the art kid and everyone knew that about me. I got interviewed for the yearbook, I got in the newspaper, I won a gallery award at town hall, I won probably 5 or so awards in art shows, and people regarded me very highly. However there was this one guy who was the art kid in middle school who desperately tried to compete with me and quite literally challenged me to draw something it have it judged like a contest and I refused. He had a grudge against me every since his crush said she liked my art more lmao.

I also ended up more or less co-teaching my graphic design class because my teacher barely understood the programs.

I got the highest possible score on my AP exams and got college credit for that, yadda yadda yadda I pretty much got every possible award and recognition in high school yet people did the stupid immature, "lol why are her who boobs so big" and "is he being raped by a tree?" .... And people would steal my sketchbook. Or ask to look through it then do so anyway when I said no. Typical stuff but eh it doesn't really phase me.

ONE TIME this guy had a crush on me?? And he sought me out on Facebook because he saw me in the halls in school and instantly went on and on about how he wanted me to draw his anime for him, and without a breath he said "so I'll take you on a date and we can discuss"... wtf, I never even said I'd do it, why did he feel so entitled to me? I was 14 and he was 18 so good going dude.

[niinasalmelin]

Woah there's some really down putting experiences people have had. I have avoided all of this stuff.

I used to be very timid when it came to sharing my work. Nowadays I do it more often, but usually only when people ask to see or if the discussion goes there. Most of the reactions are "oh nice" but still not that interested, some have actually subscribed to it and came to talk about it to me later, which was SUPER.

Feedback is not something I often get from them and most of them said anyway that it's too early to give anything about the story yet. So I think I'll wait until I've finished the first story arc and then start asking around from some of them who kept reading.

Then one of them turned out to be real fan and is always commenting me when she reads newest page (and is slowly forming into Nikita-fan I think.. :'D I love it). It really makes me even more excited to update more pages.

[Wolven_Sister]

I don't share my work a lot irl due to my past experiences. My family until very recently started supporting my comic but whenever they talk about it to other people they sound like they're bragging...=__= something I don't condone at all. of course I want to be able to make comics as a steady income, but I don't want to be famous and I don't want unnecessary attention. All I care about is that people are enjoying my stories, for all I care they don't have to give a rat's ass about me as long as they enjoy my characters I'm introducing them to.

Even still, I'm very hesitant about sharing my work IRL and I tread carefully when I'm doing so. I observe the crowd, think of what to say, and brace myself for any negative feedback. I welcome constructive criticism but I've encountered some mean people so it's these types I especially ready myself for. I don't really like pushing my comics on my friends or my facebook feed unless it's something I'm very proud of, so I may post about it once every couple months. But I do share a lot on Facebook Groups which helps generate interest in my comics and I've gotten some pretty good feedback, mostly humbling comments like "Nice," "Good Work," or "Congrats." A couple of times I've interacted with people who wanted to buy my comics from posting FB Groups and then they did :') So that's always a small vicory.

[KreativeConfusion]

I've only really shared my comics with my art friends when i was in high school. It was actually my first friend from then that would really help me with my ideas. We used to do comics and swap them to read in between classes. It was fun and helped inspire the story I have now.

I'm too shy to show my comics to other people though. Aside from online even my parents don't know about it. My sister knows about it but doesn't really care that much? Not in a negative way, just in a "I know all the plot twists so I won't even bother" way.

[afisch321]

My mother will shut me up when I talk about Elemental but my friend is so nice she'll listen for a long time. She doesn' tseem to mind. To be frank I am a blabber mouth, everyone knows what I'm doing 24/7. Thank god I don't have social media...

[Cielle]

There are very few people I know irl who know I make comics. And of those few, there is an even smaller number who know where to read them. I'm shy, I guess. And I don't handle rejection well : I like getting constructive feedback (who doesn't want to get better??) but when people dish out hate I take it really hard. I haven't really gotten much hate, but I also haven't put myself out there. Most of my IRL friends don't read comics, and I don't really have 'art friends'. Since my comic is a long form story, I have a hard time believing my IRL friends would get into webcomics just to read my story. So I keep it to myself. I'd rather them never know than find out they hate it. I guess I'm weak haha ¯\ (=.=)/¯

[Tweekling]

Yeah I'm really nervous and scared of rejection in general too. Often people want me to fail, fail, fail so sharing this part of my life doesn't seem like a very good idea. I had this one particular leech of a friend who drove me into the ground to the point I was miserable and losing sleep. They never cared about my art, the only thing they liked to do was make me upset so I could be upset with them and go on and on about "woe is us" and whatever. They said to me, out of the blue, hypocritically, "All you ever do is say bad things about your art you're never happy about anything good that happens to you." So, hoping to change that I said, "Well, something cool is that I've gotten a new group of readers and people supporting my work, and I'm really happy to have made it a step further." Only to be met with a "Wow you're so grandiose :/ " right after. What a trap. Another reason I've resisted sharing IRL.

[demthorshie]

I typically have no shame when it comes to letting others irl know about my comics. They've been received differently depending who I am sharing them with (family, friends etc.) I've gotten some push back from some family before but I've pretty much gotten to a point where I could care less! Other than that, most people in my life are very supportive and even read my stuff :3.

[DaHae]

I've had my share in bad experiences as well. My interpretation is people arent fond of those who seem the need for constant recognition. (Im not saying that is you but it could be how others see it as)
I post my art anywhere I can. But of course the problem always come whenever I post art on my facebook. People you experience in real life arent used to hearing anything related to "fans" or "followers" so I understand it can be a bit of a turn off when your friends think you have massive popularity that they dont recognize.
I try to keep myself humble for the most part. (Key word is try lol) I dont post all of my art on fb and I dont share my tumblr to anyone unless I know they are actually interested in my art. For the most part, my close friends and family are supportive but not in a realistic sense. I have a large family and I can say most of them dont fully acknowledge my work and instead see it as a simple hobby. Which is a little disappointing but that's nothing I can do.
I have the most problem with friends who only know me based on what my friends say about me. (which never goes well) They will always seem to be bitter towards you for reasons you dont understand and will always compare you to someone else they prefer.
So over the years I've shared less of my personal work on fb and instead showed some school work or works I've done in the professional field which always got better responses. (Things I think they ARE interested in) and I dont share my webcomic unless they ask.

Basically what Im trying to say is, not everyone will care that you draw well or have fans just like there are those who dont care about that photo of last night's dinner lol. Its unrealistic to expect everyone you know to appreciate what you do and thats okay.
Those negative comments you got from your friends are hurtful and I understand since Ive had similar experiences but if your friends arent going to appreciate your work then you dont need to talk about your art. There has to be something else they like about you otherwise you wouldnt be friends. If you really want their recognition then I would say let them see your success on their own.
Im sure this is something you've figured out already tho..
I do hope everything works out for you in the end.

[Tweekling]

The only issue with that is is that I hardly evvveerrr talk about my art to anyone irl. And especially when it's artist friends who talk about their art all the time... why can't I say something about mine? FB is a scary place to share so I try to be careful haha. Mostly just unrelated pics every now and again. Some even TELL me to talk about it. It's a weird and confusing thing. So I try not to even bring up anything about it anywhere unless explicitly asked even more so these days. I've never been confident enough.

I'm probably just going to continue to not... share. It hasn't done me any good lmao.

[jonno]

man, maybe i just got lucky. Nobody ever really liked my art (art teachers ESPECIALLY, god they hate my and my unorthodox methods), and i never really got any good feedback, until i moved to Australia. now, i have gotten a few friends who are complete nerds and can actually tolerate my art haha. i told two of them i was making a comic, and they decided to talk to a few of their friends about it, so i got a few people seeing my art IRL.

side note: this does create issues since every time i run into these people outside of making comics, they always bring up that i work too slow and i need to update more and icantworkfastenoughitjustisntrealistic and aaaahhhhhh

also, social media. yeah, i think im just gonna stick to socialising irl ,i am clueless with twitter and tumblr etc..

[Stinahhh]

I don't share my art because I don't want to be all "I made this, LOOK AT IT", but when people see them, they are positive about it. My mom being my number one fan LOL I just recently started doing art digitally (comics and digital drawings) and I don't share it with others, I'd rather not tbh. But I've told only a select few who like anime and comics and they are supportive and like it.

[SamNoir]

With my comic Victorian Four, I find it best to share with folks who have expressed previous interest in the genre (Steampunk), or characters (Sherlock Holmes, Frankenstein, Abraham Lincoln etc), or fans of similar media properties (like Doctor Who). If you know who your audience is, it's much better to find an audience responsive to the kind of work you do, rather than take a scattershot approach.

Victorian Four

[Gaspode12]

I never had any super negative responses to my art irl, with the exception of my old school art teacher who did just not like the way I worked. His negativity made me stop drawing altogether and it's only in the last few years that I've taken it up again. As a result I'm nowhere near the skill level I might have been by this point but I'm enjoying the process again and it's fun to learn and see yourself getting better. As for friends and family I generally get the disinterested polite response, which is fine I guess, comics are not for everyone. I share my comic on fb, but don't ask people what they think of it. A few friends are now quite supportive but most just ignore it. I write as well and have had similar experiences when sharing that. Never anything negative but mostly just feel that people are being polite. That is why I think that you can learn more from online responses to your work because, for good or bad, people are free to give you there honest opinion without the pressure of having to look you in the face while they do it haha!

[dragonfly_kites]

As a rule I try not to share my art with my friends or family. I think the only family member I share with is my little brother and thats because he's fantastic at giving back positive and negative feedback in a constructive and concise way. Now my boyfriend is a whole diffrent ball game. To say that we are opposites would be an understatement he hates anything medieval or fantasy. He's a little bit rough around the edges but a sweet guy whenever he does see my stuff he generally tells me it's good but needs more shot guns....

[whydocowsfall]

Family friends and relatives are always very excited to see it, but most people are more like, "Oh wow, you write a comic? That's cool! You should show me!" and that's it. It's still nice, though! (: I have a few friends who I think check up on it relatively regularly and sometimes ask me what's going on with it if I don't post for a while (none of them manage to see my posts about that, somehow...)

I do have one less exciting example though of a friend who reads it, but I think they read it for a joke. /: I showed them my latest page a few weeks ago and they started crying with laughter. I was kind of confused because I hadn't thought it was particularly funny (my comic isn't a comedy!) but then through their tears they said "Annabel, oh my god, I think you need a writer! :')"

So those are my experiences! Mostly people are impressed. I think they think of comic writing as something only done by professionals, haha.

[allenthomas]

That guy is a piece of garbage. It's a shame you had to go through that, but I'm glad you at least got out of that before things got worse.

[keii4ii]

I invariably get positive responses to my art. Even if people aren't personally interested in the kind of stuff I do, they recognize that I'm at a professional level.

That's for my illustrations, though. For my comic, I don't really like to show it to people because properly checking out a comic takes longer than taking a quick look at a picture. If I know they read comics (that have at least some similarities with mine...) then sure, but otherwise, no. I'm pretty sure I'd still get the same positive response that I get on my illustrations, but I really am not interested in "oh the art's cool" kind of responses for my comic. I want people to actually pay attention to the story. Which is a lot to ask, and that's why I don't push my comic to people.

That is why I think that you can learn more from online responses to your work because, for good or bad, people are free to give you there honest opinion without the pressure of having to look you in the face while they do it haha!

Exactly XD Less than genuine compliments make me extremely uncomfortable, even if they're just trying to be polite.