I catch my self constantly looking for validation

[dbeirigo]

I get desperate for any positive reaction to me or anything I do and want lots of it and as quick as possible and it's not healthy, how do I learn to enjoy the processs of making comic instead of the return?

[SoftWonderBun]

Remember, external validation is a VERY slippery slope into burnout. Do your comic because you want to and because you enjoy it first and foremost. It is nice to hear that people like it but that isn't a guarantee. If those comments and likes dry up, you have to be able to fall back on internal validation to keep you going when it feels like no one else cares.

[Lensing]

IMO it´s not healthy when you don´t enjoy what you are doing and when you harm yourself or other people.

I think it´s good to be motivated and to want success

[TheDoublekey]

It's very understandable and relatable. When I first begun posting my comic, my main source of hype were comments and likes. It almost became an addiction and I realized it's not a good mindset to have. So, as time passed, I learnt to just enjoy what I'm making. Back when I had just started making the comic I had no intention to put it online and I was only doing it for pure fun and mostly for myself, because I wanted to see my story come to life as I had imagined it.

So, now that my webcomic is on hiatus because I'm rebooting it, I feel much much better. I'm taking my sweet time to work on the new chapters and I no longer feel that same desperate need for validation I once used to. Sure, I am still quite desperate for reviews and feedback, but it's mainly because I want to learn from my past mistakes and avoid repeating them in the remake. I'm fully enjoying the process and that's what should drive you to make your comic as well!

[Iris-Grimoire]

Everyone's already made good points, but also, remember that it's human to want validation, you just need to measure it so you don't depend on it more than your own drive to create.

One thing that helps is screenshotting comments and compliments you treasure. Instead of looking to get that feeling every time to have confidence in your work, you can remember someone already loves it a ton.

[ohno-mydear]

When I fall into that mindset (which I do, often), I remind myself that I think the story is meaningful enough that I want to tell it and that it existing in the world is really what matters to me. What's helped me, action-wise, is making it available to more people offline, if they are interested in it, and trying not to check my statistics on Tapas/my website more than once a day. This stops me from constantly scratching that itch of wanting to know how it's doing. Dunno if that would help you, but thought I would suggest it. Good luck!

[TheLemmaLlama]

trying not to check my statistics on Tapas/my website more than once a day. This stops me from constantly scratching that itch of wanting to know how it's doing.

This Sometimes you just gotta physically stop yourself from checking XD For a while, I made it a rule to not check back on my updates within 24 hours of posting it, and now I've let go of that rule but I find I'm not slipping back into my old habits and genuinely don't have the strong, persistent urge anymore

Another thing I do is to keep a buffer, so the update I post is not the update I just finished working on. Since my urge for validation is strongest with the thing I just finished, it helps me to have a system that makes it impossible to show people the thing I just finished, which gives me a healthy amount of 'psychological distance' XD

Finally,

Ego Unleashed: The Non-Humble Artist's Rant

I choose to do things only if I feel like it's worth doing anyway, regardless of the external outcomes. (e.g. if I'm bored, doing anything is an improvement over the alternative of doing nothing, and thus worth it for its own sake.)

In practice this means only working on my comic when I have a burning urge to, or when I'm bored and have nothing better to do. This may not work for everyone (e.g. if you're planning to go pro), but it certainly helps me not-crave as much validation because the lack of validation doesn't make what I did a waste of time :]

(This is basically just 'do your comic because you want to and because you enjoy it first and foremost', but taken to its logical extreme from the perspective skeptical to the idea that you can conjure 'enjoyment of working on your comic' at will :P)

And yes, it's human to want validation; don't let anyone shame you for it! Only try to curb your craving for validation if it's actually interfering with your life, not because you feel bad about being an 'attention-seeker' or smth XD