How satisfied are you with your art/writing? How are you actively trying to improve?

[shaneoid77]

I realise I need to improve in so many different areas, especially getting some better perspective work in. However, as arrogant as it may sound, I think relatively to my contemporaries I'm doing an okay job.

[shazzbaa]

I'm happy with my art and writing! Like every other artist in the universe I hit points where I feel like "THIS IS IT!!!!! I'm getting worse now, I've used up all my talent and now its all gone!!! I'm becoming imperceptibly more mediocre with every page!!!!" but I'm still really proud of the comic overall!

I think I prefer "proud of" to "satisfied with." Like, even the very beginning of my comic, I look back and think "wow heavens I could've done that So Much Better if I knew then the things I know now" but I still feel like, at the time, I did a real good job, and I'm proud of what I did. I think, it's not like I look at my work and go "yup, this is good, I'm content, this is where I wanna be," it's more of a continual process of "I think I'm doing pretty well so far!"

Right now I'm trying to improve by spending more time on planning -- both in the sense of art and writing. Taking more time to think through a scene and plan out a chapter and design a space before I get there. Planning ahead more with my writing is helping me to see just how many different threads I'm juggling at once, and to try not to forget important ideas and have to cram them in right before they're needed. I'm also trying to pay more attention to colour, and think about making pages aesthetically striking and distinct, rather than just "convincingly in the place/time of day that they're meant to be."

Another question I wanted to ask that I didn't get to include because I asked two already was "what is more important in your comic for you? Art or story/writing?"

Writing, I think? It's tough, because if art wasn't extremely important to me I sure wouldn't spend 15 hours on a page, but at the same time, I'd rather readers tell me I've messed up some anatomy than have readers admit that an emotional moment didn't land for them.
Though slotting "story" as a part of writing makes this tough to answer too, because story is 100% the most important thing to me, but so many art elements matter to me because they're part of story-telling -- expressions that read well, a sense of space that doesn't become confusing as characters move through the environment, the design of an area that makes the world less generic, the pacing that comes from the composition of a page, the mood that comes from the colouring of a scene. So I'm not sure. I can say "story matters most" with certainty, but that could mean all kinds of things.

[Shanny8]

I'm also trying to pay more attention to colour, and think about making pages aesthetically striking and distinct, rather than just "convincingly in the place/time of day that they're meant to be."

This is definitely the phase where I'm at with my colors. I want my colors to define that I can convincingly set the mood, as opposed to "he's trying to do something, but hasnt quite got it yet".

[shiftingverses]

Writing-wise I'm quite happy with where I am. I know I'm not releasing lighting bolts of clarity, or shaking the ground with deep truths about the nature of life, but I can turn out a pretty affecting passage and I think my dialogue is pretty natural (I read it out loud to myself, I can't recommend this enough as a way to quickly bug-fix a wonky script).

Art-wise I am only improving when I motivate myself not to be lazy. I can go back to things I did years ago and feel they're better than what I can put out now, but then it was always a simple "effort = result" equation. These days it's hard to muster the time that I used to have in order to make the art as good as it can be. I'm getting better as a whole though, especially in pose and expression.

[GrimRose]

I am slowly improving my art by making new panels/art for my comic. And as i find myself getting more comfortable with drawing my characters i also find my writing has improved a little bit maybe.

I'm the type who usually likes to burn through a bunch of styles and try new things to try and improve my art, but this can backfire leaving me frustrated trying to push my time and limits to create better art in an art style im not used to. The slow/gradual improvement is much better i think as it hasn't caused me to quit or give up due to frustration.

While i will probably never be satisfied with my art skill or writing. Improvement is the goal. I'm not trying to actively improve as much as i used to.

[Wumbl]

I love my art. Regardless of if it's perfect every time I enjoy doing it and I am proud of the things I get right. I learned to focus on the growth aspect of being an artist and it basically means I don't compare myself to others anymore.
Then again, a lot of change has happened in my life that's forced me to stop focusing so hard on others and learn to appreciate myself. It ain't an easy thing to do but if you don't care about being perfect "NOW NOW NOW" then you'll realise that nobody has achieved perfect art and never will because that's the entire point of art. It's supposed to be imperfect. People can make their art more appealing, more detailed and more accurate but it takes years and years of intensive learning, studying and practice.
Expecting your art to just "be better" isn't realistic. I think there's a lot I can improve but I also think there's a lot I HAVE improved.

My writing is pretty impeccable. I have always been good at it and probably always will be. My english teacher in high school legit thanked me for picking creative writing as a college course. I'm extremely good at writing prose and script, because I've worked hard on it. I used to not know where to start but now I'm genuinely really good at it. I don't have a lot of time to get all my work written and therefore it's a slow crawl but my stuff is well-received and I'm proud of it. I know my strengths are dialogue and fight scenes, and I'm also getting really good at characterisation and generally realistic characters. I need to work a bit on setting and lore but that's a skill I can build on. Obviously I'll never be satisfied though - I want to be better than I am and crawl closer to being truly great at it.

TL;DR I have a big ego but it's probably a good thing.

[BobbyjoeX]

i'm proud that i actually got started, how im improving is just pressing on, bugs get ironed out in time

[dawgofdawgness]

In terms of narrative skills, I’m overconfident but in terms of art, I’m insecure on whether or not my style is recognizable/unique enough. That’s really my goal- if someone can point at my art and say “THAT’S dawg’s work” I’ll be happy

[LT1986]

Thank you for making the forum topic. I am satisfied with my art and writing, because I keep getting better. If I stop improving, I will be dissatisfied. Part of improving to me is not only making better work, but to just recognize little things that need to be worked on to get better and going through a process to advance my skills.

[ramiek]

your art style is so good. I like the colors you use.
it looks very good

[fleohr]

I'm satisfied with the writing and some parts of the art. But I feel lost when I have to do backgrounds and different angles, so I'm slowly working on that with my comic, and other projects hm

[monotone_ink]

Satisfied in that it's comprehendable and serviceable for being a webcomic.

A fun way to improve is to copy things that you enjoy, like Asano Inio's godly backgrounds. You end up learning the benefits/detriments of various techniques while also having a good time.

[Memai]

Oof, well I think I'm pretty good at characters and expressions (my anatomy's NOT the best but you know, improvements!). I think what I REALLY wanna get better at is actually committing to backgrounds that are a lot more complex?

My only tool for actually improving would be the little background studies I do, or small little trace overs of very complex buildings. Nothing that will see the light of day, of course, but hopefully one day it'll show in my art uwu