How often do you think of giving up?

@BeautifulDoubt Speaking as someone who felt DOWN about their book for the first 3 months of posting (not down about the work, but the lack of readership/subscribers/likes and all of the other external gratification), it sucks. It sucks feeling like you're adding something worthy to the world and very few people seem to notice or care.

But intrinsically? I know that I'm improving. My story-telling and my art are taking leaps (the art is harder to gauge since I started making my book years ago but only recently started posting, so it's painful posting at times). But hey, maybe my book is a soft opening for something bigger. Maybe it's not. But I wouldn't want to be doing anything else right now. I love my book. I love my characters. It's feeding me internally, even if it doesn't gratify externally. You don't have control over what others will do in reaction (or lack there of) to your art. It's not up to us. I make my comic because I needed to make my particular comic. And yeah, I might end it earlier than I expected due to lack of interest and start a new one, but that's just to make way for the next part of my journey.

I forgot who said it, but one artist said anytime they felt down about their work not being seen, they used it as fuel to keep going. Like "okay, I'm not there yet. Let's keep going until I do."Waaaay easier said than done because I still struggle with it. But finding a positive outlook that takes in the reality of your situation might help.

Also, short term goal-setting may help. There's the big first question- what do you want to get out of comics? And depending on your answer, you may be able to start setting smaller, achievable goals to get there.
Do you want your stuff published? Maybe try to get on an anthology book or a fan art zine. Start there. Work up.
Do you want to get a publisher/agent? If so, you can research the steps on how to achieve those goals.

Either way, if there's still something you want to achieve in comics, I hope you find your answers.

I'm just taking my first baby steps. And yeah, I'd love to have your numbers (seriously). But I get it. People at ALL levels struggle with these thoughts.

But you do you. Find your happiness. Enjoy the ride.

Honestly, a lot of times.

I had two projects in the past, one writing and one video, and I gave up on both. Mostly because at some point I struggled a lot with no feedback or people just giving me a hard time. At some point, I tried to please people and that was my downfall. I always tried to continue, but at some point, I just gave up.

With knowing this, I went into my comic project and said I have a plan and a goal, and now I am able to drown these thoughts of giving. Because I do it for myself and not for others and I want to see the end. And when I reached that end, I can say, it was worth it seeing it through.

And when this has happened, then I will decide where to go from there and give myself another small goal

Maybe try to do something similar. I can´t say if it will help you, but maybe it gives you at least a small window of distracting yourself from these negative thoughts and you will find what can help you to believe in your work and stop thinking about giving up.

I think about it pretty regularly, to be honest, but it's usually a fleeting thought. At this point I've put so much time and effort into my projects that giving up on them would feel like a bigger waste than just pushing forward, because at the end of the day I'd rather have something finished but not successful than unfinished and not successful. I know that's very "sunk cost fallacy" of me, but it's the only way to keep going sometimes I feel like a lot of people give up less because they're not enjoying what they're doing and more because it isn't getting the attention they wanted--and like, don't get me wrong, it's REALLY hard to stay motivated when you're not getting any feedback--but sometimes you just gotta stick it out a little longer before you get a break, and if you never do, hey, at least you made something you care about.

Hmm, not a lot, really. Art has always been a huge passion of mine. Telling stories, creating characters... it's my favorite thing. It's like, the main thing that keeps me going. My characters mean everything to me, they've helped me get through thick and thin. Maybe it's unhealthy

I don't know if it's because I don't think I'll get a career in art? I'm currently majoring in history, with a minor in anthropology. So far from art lol. But maybe it's because since it's just a hobby for now, a really intense hobby that I'm putting all my energy into lol, but I just don't think about giving up.

I get really insecure sometimes. I hate my work sometimes. But I never want to stop. I want to keep going and keep telling my stories and keep improving, because that's all that's helped me with my struggles.

I'm sorry you're feeling this way. The way I look at it, and this is gonna sound really corny, but do it for you! I think, as long as you love it, and you put your love into it, that love with shine through.

I don't think about giving up much.

I just think of trying to draw but...I can't always draw.

I love to draw, don't get me wrong. But...I don't always have the willpower to do it. Frustrating.

Okay, I know this is a comic thread and I'm a writer but this honestly resonates with me, so I'll go ahead and add my two cents as well. I can't say I've ever really considered giving up writing before. But that's mostly because writing is as much a form of relaxation for me as it is a passionate hobby. I write for the same reason others read. To escape into a fantasy world of my own creation. And while I can't speak for artwork, considering I buy all my art and don't have a single bone in my body that can draw, I don't see that going away any time soon.

That said, I have absolutely one hundred percent thought about quitting when it comes to promoting my work.

It can be incredibly frustrating to work so hard on something and then see it not pay off the way you hope it will. Or you seem to have hit a peak as far as people who are actually interested in reading your material. It can really sap your energy and make you wonder why you bother editing, doing revisions, making social media posts, paying for concept art, all while continuing to write a series no one seems interested in.

Worse than that is when someone comes along and tears your work apart. Either because they don't like the subject matter, or they have an agenda they're trying to push. Don't get me wrong, if someone tells me I need to change something because it's offensive, or demeaning to someone else, I listen. I don't take those kinds of remarks lightly. And if I feel changes need to be made, I make them. That doesn't stop some people from telling me that my work has no business being here, or making other unhelpful comments. And those can really get under your skin after a while.

There were several moments I really did just consider giving up and going back to writing just for fun. But then I'd see a post like this one on the forums, reminding people that nothing good is going to happen overnight. I can't remember where I saw it, but there was one post someone made about how the writers and artists who are the most successful on Tapas and on other sites are the people who genuinely enjoy writing and art. If you believe in your work enough, and put the effort to make it the absolute best work you can, whilst remembering to be grateful to the few fans you have, then I genuinely believe you can make it.

I didn't quit, and I'm not going to any time soon. As it stands right now, I'm only eight subscribers from reaching the one hundred subscriber milestone, and I now have over a thousand likes on my work. It's felt like a very long, bumpy road getting to this point, but I can say wholeheartedly it's been worth it. At the end of the day, I think the ones who will be the most successful here, are the ones who can ignore that voice in their head telling them they're not good enough and continue to believe in their work even when they don't feel like they believe in themselves.

If nothing else, at least take pride in the fact that you're doing something most people only ever think about doing. The fact that you've made it as far as posting your work, regardless of how many subscribers or likes you have, is in itself something to be really proud of. At least, that's what I tell myself when I'm feeling low.

Find how I can make it work, long and short term, for the drawings, dialogues, plot points and events, to get people to know me in social media, my blog, etc.

Also give myself some free time, do other stuff I'm not accustomed to but I'd like to do more often (learn something, read books about certain topic/theme, music genres I didn't listen that much, etc)

Just don't overwhelm yourself, little by little.

I've been fortunate to have mostly avoided coming face to face with 'giving up". Most projects that I've started and dropped have mostly been due to falling out of interest with them (usually in the early stages).

The only time I've put my foot down and officially "gave up" on something was my big 10-year long project that never got off the ground. The idea was initially conceived in 2007 and I continued to dedicate most of my creativity towards it until early 2018. It was a mixture of chasing too big of an idea and being too inexperienced to know any better (it was made in middle school lol). The majority of the time was spent in the re-do loop, I have at least 10 iterations of the first chapter, have rewritten the beginning like 2 or 3 times, and spent way more time thinking about characters or scenarios that would happen dozens of chapters in rather than working on getting it started from the beginning.

Finally on the final reboot, that I started at the end of 2017, I decided "enough is enough" and gave up on it. The realization stemmed from the fact that I was churning out pages at about 1 page per week and the first cool fantasy action scene in my fantasy action comic was, like... 70 pages in. I did some quick math and realized that from where I was at page 8, it would take me over a year to get to that point... and I wasn't willing to spend that much time on a series that a middleschooler wrote just to get to the first cool scene. It put into perspective too that the project was probably like a 20 year endeavor or something and was just completely unfeasible to work on and complete.

So I gave up and started writing my first official webcomic, which was a short 70 page one-shot. That there was a cool fantasy action scene in the first 7 pages rather than 70 pages away made me very happy as a creator and it was a much more enjoyable experience for everyone involved xD

More often during the readership lulls.

I don't think of giving up much. I just give up a lot. I bury myself under my covers and decide not to exist for a little while. Then I crawl out of bed when it's time to deliver the next chapter of my novel, edit it, draw the art, publish, feel proud, try to market, try to be active in the community, run out of energy, give up. Rinse Repeat.
I think it's normal, especially during these awful times, to run out of creative or extrovertive energy. I think it's normal to take breaks but I think it is important to bring yourself back up again. And it's important to talk about these things. You're never alone in this.

Way too often. For so long, I've been inspired by multiple artists and animators on social media thinking, "I want to do that stuff too." Starting in May, it will have been 6 years since I started trying to get a following for my art and animations.

Just about 6 years later, and I barely have gained any traction.

I know it's easy to say "You shouldn't care about numbers! Your value doesn't lie in how many followers you have or how many likes you get!" It's true that you shouldn't let numbers drive you or else you'll lose your passion for your dreams, but when you've been trying so hard, it really starts to bring you down. You put your all into the thing you love, making it just to make it, and when you share it to the world, no one wants it. It makes me question if all the work I do is even worth it, or if what I make is even any good.

Especially now, I am a freshman in an expensive art college, already starting to accumulate a lot of debt which is really scary. My family and friends told me I should follow my dreams, but I have no idea how I'm going to pay it off. That's been a prime factor of me trying to build up my social media presence as of late. I still love doing the thing I love, but I also need to start earning money from it too. But nothing has really done much. My sister keeps telling me, "you need to improve." Which is pretty discouraging since I've been improving or so I thought I have, and I'm pretty happy with how my art style looks. I know I will keep improving, but will it even change anything? Plus, with how a lot of social media algorithms work now, it expects creators to have the time and energy to post consistently, which isn't an option that everyone has. The system itself causes a lot of burn out that I have begun to feel a bit.

I'm a small content creator who has struggled to make their mark anywhere in life really, but what's weird is that I still haven't given up. I've been told that I'm quite a stubborn person, and I'd like to think it's one of my better attributes. Despite feeling like I'm going nowhere, I want to keep trying, after all that's all I can do. If I give up, I'll never know if I could've made it. Of course it's a bit childish (for a lack of a better term) to complain about something like this, but I guess most creators kind of go through that kind of thinking too. And plus, I'm already pretty lucky to have gotten the support I have received thus far. It makes it a bit easier to know that at least some people have your back and know that you're not alone as well. As creators, we all have to stick together and bring each other up

I’m a quitter and I often think about giving up on the project I’m currently working on. But I try to remind myself that if I enjoy working on it, and if more than zero people are reading it, it’s worth to keep working on it. I’ve found that often when I feel down about my work and think that no one cares about it, I’ll suddenly get a nice comment that gives me energy to keep going.

So I think it’s good to be resilient and not get too sad if a post or update gets kinda ignored. Maybe the next one will do better, or maybe there are readers who enjoy it but you don’t know about it (yet).

With that said, I don’t think it’s bad to give up on a project if you want to try another one. But please don’t give up on creating if you enjoy it!

Btw, when I’m down and feel like giving up, this song2 always gives me motivation to keep going.

Yeah. I feel that way all the time.

Look, I know I'm just supposed to tell you not to quit. But that's bullshit. That's a reassuring platitude. Change can be good, and I think the real question you need to ask is what do you actually want? What would your life be like if you actually quit making comics? What would you do instead? Would it be more personally fulfilling than making comics? Would you miss people reading your stories? Sometimes reminding yourself that you really could stop what you're doing and do absolutely anything else helps remind you why you've shaped your life this way in the first place. I could quit my job making video games and go work at McDonalds right now. Some days that sounds like a relief! But I know I would miss parts of my life that are important to me.
Or do you enjoy making comics and you want your comic to be more successful? If that's the case, quitting resets all your progress to that goal. Formulating a roadmap to that goal seems like a better solution. Maybe buy ad space, talk to publishers, get professional feedback, etc.
Getting discouraged sucks. And it's ok to feel that way. But realistically speaking, quitting isn't going to make you feel less discouraged. Remind yourself why you're doing it, and go after your goals like an angry bee.