How often do you think of giving up?

Hey, you're not alone. I think every creative has gone through this at some point. No matter what we make, we're all still united just through the fact that we are creators and as such, love when people enjoy our work. For me, I never gave up because working on my series just simply... makes my brain feel good. When I started work on "Red Shift" years ago, literally no one knew who I was. And I did feel pretty alone. I remember sitting in my university library at night after classes and working my butt off on world building and painting. Before I even completed chapter one, I had 100 (literally) paintings of my main boyo. I had basically zero social media presence and didn't really know many online. (Most of my friends were from uni.) I ended up joining the DCEU sub-reddit and made a lot of lasting friends who still cheer me on today. I have a reader-base now and that makes me insanely happy. I would have continued whether I had readers or not however, since as I said, the simple act of creating makes me feel content. I love working on my stuff.

Eh... too often. Although it's an on & off cycle. Some weeks I have bouts of positive motivation, other weeks I feel like below. It doesn't help that I get burnt out and over stimulated easily.
I started my current comic around 2013, finalized the everything in 2015, and published it online in 2019. That's a long time to be working on one project. Also I was still in school and trying to rebrand my online art "career". I wasn't expecting to get good numbers right away, but it's disheartening that my comic's on it's 3rd year, still hasn't broken 100, and less than 10 of my total audience is paying attention. Same with Instagram and Twitter. It feels like the world is telling me "No one likes your ugly drawings and dumb stories. Go away."

What also sucks is that there's no one to tell me where I went wrong. Is my art/design that bad? Are the characters bland? Are the flashbacks annoying? Should I've introduced the love interest sooner? Played up the romance in the promo art? Is the villains' plan dumb? Were chapter 4 and 5 necessary? Is the story is too convoluted, too slow/fast, doesn't work? Are there problematic elements that I'm blind to? Is the title itself a turn off? Misleading? Why do people respond to my ads by unfollowing me? I feel like I'll never know the answers to any of these.

I've wondered if...

• I should redo my comic from scratch; rewriting the entire plot and redesigning the characters. If I do that, whatever following I do have will lose faith in me and I may end up hating it again.
• I should drop it and work on my other ideas, but it'll also lead to people losing faith in me.
• Just draw for myself and quit sharing art online? It's hard nowadays to indulge in a hobby guilt free due to ingrained hustle culture. We're all poor, so if what you're doing doesn't make money or lead you to making money, it's a waste of time. "Oh, you play video games? You can make a ton of money streaming!" "Oh, you make quilts? You gotta open a shop and sell 'em!"
• I should quit art all together. That'd be saying "Yes. Everything I've done was a waste of time. Time that I can't get back. Time that I could've spent doing something that would've made me successful like my peers." And I don't know if I have the stomach to admit that.

I don't have any other plans for myself, so I guess I'll keep doing what I'm doing. I like drawing, I really do. But liking to draw and wanting to make a following off my art are 2 mindsets I have and they mix just as well as sodium and water.

Not enough.

With my health I absolutely should not be working on a comic.

Only in those fleeting glimpses of moments where I wonder, gosh, maybe I should spend a year studying popular/classic media to increase my skills and understanding of storytelling. Then thirty seconds later I realize that that year would most likely be spent just playing video games and working a job I don't enjoy that much, so actually no way would I ever give up.

Whenever I give up or take a hiatus, I kind of feel like I'm disappointing my readers, but at the same time, who is there to disappoint? My comic occasionally gains a few subs here and there and then it plateaus for a while, and looking at all the comics that have skyrocketed makes me lose hope. Sometimes it's hard to work because I feel like no one will care about it, but this comic is my passion, and has helped get me through the pandemic and keep me sane.

But honestly, @ButterflyEmpress summed it up perfectly. My "fanbase" is currently made up of 44-ish people but only like 3 different people ever comment, and no one really tells me how I can improve (well except TamakiLeon who's the only one who gave me constructive criticism on my story, props to you ) .

But, if you're feeling down and want to quit, remember that you've made something that no one else came up with before, and you deserve more for that.
To quote a youtube post I read the other day cause I can't come up with anything better, "You have so much more potential than anyone says you do. Prove them wrong, because when they come crawling back to you, it's an amazing feeling."

I gave up on making comics when I was a teenager and put my focus on making music and living and I picked it up
again around 6 years ago. I never think about giving up, it´s just a natural process, you spend less time doing this
and spend more time doing that. But I never have thoughts like "this is too hard and I will never be good and give up"

I don't think about giving up. I do think about whether this is worth the effort. I think about whether maybe I should step back and not stop doing it but stop doing it with the intent of building an audience or trying and failing to get people over to my patreon. I think about whether or not I would be better off spending the time I put into this relaxing or doing other things. Even in those circumstances I wouldn't quit. I just wouldn't be trying to make this as active a goal in my life. I wouldn't be concerned about finishing the comic or hitting my own deadlines. I'd just post when I post and so be it. I still enjoy doing this but is the return worth the hustle? Probably not tbh. But I'm still going to hustle.

Not having the best day today, so I am considering it. But I don't want to completely give up so I won't.

Well, I think a lot has already been said, but I'm going to add on to what everyone else has already said anyway - yes, of course I feel like giving up. Like, at least once a week. Sometimes more. And sure, sometimes less.

To add with my own personal experiences --

I will be 30 years old in just a few short months, so that's got me really thinking about life a lot more lately, especially with my writing.

Sure, I can sit here and tell you I've been writing stories since I picked up a pencil. But taking my writing seriously as a career really came around in high school. And I went to college for writing. Twice. Got my Master's. A lot of money in debt and no end in sight.

I wrote my first serious novel when I was around... 18? Plus or minus a couple years. It started as a screenplay, which in a few years, I turned into a short story, then a novella, which I then had published through an indie publisher. Which would have been exciting - woo, accomplishing my dreams! - but the only people who bought it were my parents. A few months later, the publisher broke off their contract with Amazon or something and the book was removed.

I took the opportunity to rewrite it, turning it into a novel at almost 100k words. I wrote a sequel. A prequel. A spin off series taking place in the future. And two other books that would make it a full series. I approached publishing companies, then agents, and got rejection after rejection after rejection. I started to post it anywhere I could, trying all the different platforms. Fictionate, Fictionpress, WattPad, and yup, now, for some unholy reason, I decided to try here on Tapas, too. I even started to reach out to book stores in my area for exposure.

I made business cards, promo materials, and I found a local group that promotes indie authors. They hosted events all over, so I purchased tables, attend events, walked around and talked to other authors (as an introvert, this was huge for me!! Wouldn't have been able to do it without my family and my husband at my side). I attended readings, expos, even presentations by other local authors who have talked about their experiences and shared their expertise. I sold a few books - barely enough to cover my costs. I met some great people who I still talk to, and we pass our books around amongst each other, write each other reviews, etc.

I got serious into social media - created a website, a newsletter, even purchased advertising. I tried Patreon. I even tried to create an indie blog that focused on helping out indie authors promote their books.

Then I decided to rewrite the entire novel, because in those 10 years, my voice has changed a lot, and I no longer feel that it accurately shows my ability as a writer. I cringe when I read it.

Takes a deep breath Now my novel is sitting, half rewritten, in my folders on my computer collecting dust because I'm just tired.

All that being said... Is it because I wasn't extroverted enough? No, I don't think so. I put myself out there in every way I could think of. Is it because I'm not good at marketing? Shrug. I made some really cool posters, business cards, advertised anywhere I could. Is my story not as good as I think it is? Eh. Of all the reasons as to why it's not working out, I don't necessarily feel this last one is a real reason. I mean, with all the people in this world, there's something for everyone. I just haven't been able to connect with those people yet. Or, that's what I tell myself, anyway.

Is it happening as fast as I want it to? God, no. I really thought by 30, I would have my novel published. I never expected to be the next JK Rowling. But a damn ISBN would be nice. (Okay, I know it's easy enough to get that these days on Amazon or Lulu lol). The point is, I didn't want to go the self published route. I wanted the 'legitimacy' of a publisher and an agent. I thought, if I could at the very least nail down an agent, I would look legit. If I could just get that one person to notice me, everything else would fall into place. An agent meant publishers would take me seriously. A publisher meant the world would take me seriously. I wouldn't be just another nobody who put their book on Amazon because anyone can these days.

That was an older opinion of mine. One that has changed over the years. I mean, it's freaking 2021. Websites like Tapas and Webtoons - websites I used to stick my nose up at because I thought they were beneath me - they've offered more for their artists than I ever thought possible. And we're really in a golden age of media. I mean, Netflix, Hulu, Amazon Prime, etc - all these places are creating their own shows and movies, and they're even making deals with some of these websites!

Okay, yeah, shut up, that's all well and good, but it's still not happening for me, or you, or any of us here in this thread. And my reply here has turned into a huge rambling tangent. I guess what I'm trying to say is a few things.

1 -- you're not alone!
2 -- it's okay to feel like giving up
3 -- but that being said, if this is truly the life you choose, you have to come to terms that nothing in this line of work is going to happen the way you want it to, at the speed you want it to.

To add a small light at the end of the tunnel that is my story - its been a long time. I've tried a lot of different things. But the thing is, I kept trying. I gave myself the days I needed to feel defeated, and then I picked myself up again and got back on the horse. Even if I just needed to take a break and work on something new or different to get excited again. I kept looking online, I kept searching for events, I kept reaching out to people. Yes, it's tedious. It's heart breaking. It's exhausting.

But one of these days, something will come out of your efforts. Maybe, just maybe, that has happened for me. It's still too early to tell... but things are promising. And I never would have found the lead I found if I didn't keep trying.

There's a post I saw recently, and I think it's worth sharing here (you know, just to make my ridiculously long reply even longer...)

Whatever your dream is, it is not too late to achieve it. You aren’t a failure because you haven’t found fame and fortune by the age of 21. Hell, it’s okay if you don’t even know what your dream is yet. Even if you’re flipping burgers, waiting tables or answering phones today, you never know where you’ll end up tomorrow.

Never tell yourself you’re too old to make it.

Never tell yourself you missed your chance.

Never tell yourself that you aren’t good enough.

You can do it. Whatever it is.

How are you feeling these days? Anything you can do to sort of refresh yourself? I find a hot, fragrant shower helps me out of a bad funk sometimes.

Meanwhile, I think about giving up a lot because I'm soooooo slowwwwwww, and my art isn't that great yet. I'm hoping a miracle is going to befall me where my backgrounds and anatomy suddenly improve, but the main thing that holds me up is more to do with the fact that finishing a page feels like a MASSIVE accomplishment, and sometimes I wonder, "that's not fair to my viewers".

I'm also getting really worried about not even realizing something I write about needed a sensitivity reader and coming up with something problematic. It's something that holds back a lot of plot points in my story - this fear of hecking up and unknowingly writing about something I shouldn't. :< Makes me wanna just quit while I'm ahead and haven't written about it lol.

More so than giving up, I constantly wanna start over because I'm never satisfied with how a chapter turns out and feel guilty somehow

It's difficult for me to keep up long running plot threads, everytime I think of including one there is strange sense of guilt that's towering over me saying "why aren't you working on it right now? The thread is still going, you're going to leave people confused if you don't explain it already! Write more you lazy dickhole!"

The anxiety struggle is real yo, but this is the path I've chosen and I promised myself to make it worth the ride

To all of you who thought about giving up, kudos for not

About once or twice a day when I am stressed. And a good week about once or twice a week. XD
Writing is hard.

Greetings!

To be honest with you... There are a lot of days I think that. When I lose followers on my art account, when I don't see much traffic or subs on my comic, when I don't get replies on my instagram posts... I guess that the success of others sometimes gets to me. In the other hand, however, I gave up once, and that was horrible.

A few years ago, a had an art block and I was only able to draw and design on demand, because I had to graduate on college. I felt worthless, below average. I even told myself that I was no artist. Then... One day, on one of my bellydance classes, in the middle of a dance workshop, I drew myself in costume. A regalia that I am still going to sew. Bit by bit, I regained confidence.

Being independant is hard, and most of the times we will collect rejections rather than approval; overnight successes are inspiring, but they can be deceitful; our career is a difficult one, we must do everything we can every single day. It's massacrating. However, it is part of the process. Believe in your artwork --- it is good enough! Our career is hard, but you'll manage to get a place for your work. And sometimes it's not on the first try --- some stories, even when they are great, are not what mainstream culture is looking for. Sometimes it is. It's out of our hands, mostly.

But do not give up. Your art is unique and it has its value, its worth and definitely has the attention of people. Keep doing what you are doing in your pace. =)

lately a lot, depression is giving me massive writers block and my art tablet died
And it really feels like no one's interested in my story sometimes. I know it's niche and still new but gosh its still going slower than others comparatively which is really demotivating.

I'm just glad I have a 6 chapter backlog so I'll be able to get back on my feet without a haitus or anything.

Very, very often.
I suffer from pretty severe chronic depression so it's almost a daily thing.

In fact, I've given up a few times, but whenever I do, I end up even more miserable.
Making comics is the 1 thing that keeps me from tipping over the edge.

I still get overwhelmed and want to disappear off the the face of the Earth.
When that happens, I use the 3 day rule.
I give myself 3 days before making any major decision.
I also get help from readers, fans and friends. This has helped a lot too.
I've been running my current project for six years now, my longest project ever.