I want to make a Comic but I have no motivation

[SomethingInMyCloset]

I bought my tablet a year ago with a really neat software. I've always wanted to make a comic and oh boy, do I have a lot of ideas! However, I don't have motivation and I suffer from my own illnesses that seems like a block for me and when I get started, I easily just drop everything. Does anyone have anything for this?

[alliascompany]

You can try working on it a little bit of at a time. Start with the easy parts and the what you find the most fun about making comics. Can even try doing some planning like writing an outline or creating thumbnail sketcches.

[SleepingPoppy]

Hi, and welcome! Making on going comics is very much a test of endurance, and it's hard for most of us. So don't feel like you're alone. Getting started is hard, and so is being consistent.

What I recommend (and you'll find the advice pops up often from many of us on various threads) is to try making a short comic. Something you feel is a doable accomplishment. Maybe 3 pages? 2? If you're not great with short ideas, try taking inspiration from a fairy tale or even a scene from a book you like.

Doing this gives you a chance to practice the skills you want to use, a sense of the time and effort it will take you if/when you work on a longer series, and it helps you have a feeling of accomplishment that should make starting something bigger harder!

There is no easy fix. It'll still be hard. Especially if you have other factors making the work difficult.

[SleepingPoppy]

Can even try doing some planning like writing an outline or creating thumbnail sketcches.

I second this. Script and sketch first, it makes creating the pages WAY easier.

[Kamikaze]

What you're suffering from isn't a block it's fear and insecurity. You're scared of failing so you're intimidated by the tablet, or even getting started. When you do get started your insecurities well up and begin to push that little button called performance anxiety.

Acknowledging and knowing the things that keep you from creating is the best way to push past them. Setting realistic goals (as in not aiming too high) is what's going to give you a good start to your work. Don't begin with a giant epic or comedy with a huge cast of characters. Start small. Begin with something easy that you enjoy drawing.

I love dogs. I drew dogs for years. I did a little comic years ago about a dog and it's everyday adventures being a derpy little dog. it wasn't my best work, but it got me started and helped me build confidence to do something more complex.

You cannot get better if you don't finish anything. So start on a SIMPLE and SHORT comic. Make working on it a habit. Schedule time during the week, even if it's only two hours, as your set "comic" time.

Create a ritual for yourself to keep you going and get you in the right headspace. Maybe you work better at night? So change into your PJ's, put on some music (seriously, music or podcasts ONLY anything more than that will just be a distraction), and settle into work. Personally, I use a candle and incense. I strike a match, light a tea light and then light the incense. I only use a specific incense for my creative time. I do not use it any other time. The smell sets my mind to focus on the task in front of me, and snaps my brain into "work" mode. You can use music to do the same thing, for example only listening to a certain musician or type of music only when you're working.

I hope you get started on your projects soon. Only you can tell the stories you have to share and I look forward to seeing them.

[HARSNOR]

Discipline, discipline, discipline! Atleast in my experience, the times when i felt i needed motivation, i just needed discipline.
Learn to do things regardless of how you feel, or whether your motivated or not.

Start off by getting used to drawing/writing comics 30 minutes a day, or even 5 minutes if 30 minutes is too hard. Then after a few days or week increase the amount, until you're spending as much as you feel is necessary. And once that habit has settled in, it will feel wrong to not work on your comic, or do some drawing or writing in a day.

[ZombieOwl]

Start with one of your smaller, less "near and dear" to you. This way, you won't feel as intimidated, like you're not ready and going to mess up your baby

Use the smaller project as a way to practice techniques and experiment with your style, and you'll be ready for the big ones!

[ZombieOwl]

when i felt i needed motivation, i just needed discipline.

So true! I like the saying that says motivation is fickle, but discipline will always have your back

[SheiDraws]

I absolutely agree with what everyone's saying here. The lack of motivation commonly stems from trying to do something either too difficult or too simple. Find a good balance between the two. Something challenging but very achievable. Don't force it if you find a certain thing to be way out of your capacity at the moment. Learn it in a way that you are not overwhelmed. Doesn't matter if you're progressing slow as long as you keep at it.

[droidmonkey1]

You wrote you have a lot of ideas. try sketch'em out. not some thing detailed but rough. see if one of them makes you want to continue, try to do an anthology comic. a collection of short to one page comics, just to get the juices running.

[punkarsenic]

start small. like, four page small. a big comic is real hella daunting, and you should absolutely work your way up to it.

also, whats your process been? when starting something new like this, it can be really hard to get started when you dont know what youre doing (which you wont, bc youve never done it before.) if you give us some insight into what it is you do when you try to get started, we could give you some more specific advice

[orchidesyl]

I'll be blunt with you. You just gotta start. Just do it!

Motivation is initiated from within. No one ever starts only from external motivation.

I am aware that your mental illness makes it feel taxing to work on it, I've been there after being blown over in a strict academics course that cost me a year, sleep, and time I could've spent towards my art, and with an emergency in the same year that could've broke my family and cause a member to not be with us anymore.

I don't think I can resonate with you completely, but try to dedicate some time on it, whether it's sketching some character art or writing a script, and I randomly get shifts to where I can't sit down and i constantly feel like I'm watching paint dry.

Ultimately, every time I complete a page, I end up feeling proud, even if there's mistakes that I fix along the way of adding text and paneling it.

[orchidesyl]

I hope my message didn't come off as dismissive or rude--
if you don't feel well to work, that's okay. It helps to take breaks and rests!

[AVXP]

I easily just drop everything. Does anyone have anything for this?

Yeah, you don't want to make a webcomic, you want to own one.

Stay what you are, which is a writer/visionary until you choose to become an illustrator. Get someone else to make it. To dip your pinkie-toe in, use the tablet to doodle a bit so you can give them a few sketched-out-ideas.

[ramiek]

I'll just add that sometimes thinking too far a head (ho, no I have 20 more pages to do to finish this) or thinking what you do must be perfect, are things that really deflate any motivation.

try to think in smaller steps and be happy on any page (or even step) you finished without being eager to get to the end. enjoy the journey. it's so much fun!
And not thinking anything you do must be a masterpiece can also help to the feeling of fun.
Just create, even if it's total garbage. you don't have to share it, but once you have something you can learn how to improve yourself further.

best of luck!

[MGComics]

I would recommend you so much "The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield or sth, even reading a summary or listening to a video.

He calls what you're feeling as resistance, specially if you're used to NOT doing a comic.

It's like me for working out lol

I also recommend the 5 second rule by Mel Robins, wake up early in the morning and dedicate at least 30 minutes every day. And don't check the phone

By doing half an hour every day, little by little it will just be a part of your routine, and you will work more and more and more ^^ I started with just one hour and today it's practically my whole day sometimes <3

[lil-sea-salt]

I think the best way to think of creating is like playing basketball. If you want to make a basket you need to practice shooting. Let's say a basket is a completed comic . . . so practicing shooting can be trying to write. But you don't make the big basket at the end of the court without practicing at the lower baskets on the side of the court. So make shorter comics. Make a 1 panel comic. Once you do one, you'll be a lot more comfortable doing another one. So you can make a couple and then you try 2-3. And so on until you can get to the big basket at the end of the court.

There's a big difference between motivation and discipline. Motivation (inspiration) will never get you to where you want to be because it's not there every day. Discipline will. Sometimes it will suck. Sometimes it will be awesome, but that's the fun thing about creating.

Write one sentence and see where it goes. Don’t overthink it or criticize the ideas, just jump in and do it

It really works and some of my best writing came from using that technique, letting the plot write itself and break away from my initial ideas of how I thought it was supposed to go.

It can apply to anything. Just one step, one phone call, one new accomplishment outside of your comfort zone. Jump in and get going.

This isn't mine, but I thought it was helpful in this case. (Source)

[lartianmartian1]

You might have one too many ideas, my friend. I myself have been waffling between two story ideas that I love from two very different ends of the story spectrum (one slice-of-life, one epic fantasy). The slice-of-life felt too basic at times, though I loved the characters. And the epic fantasy is waaaay too ambitious for a first time comic artist like me. And for years I barely drew or wrote a damn thing, even though these stories never left me. Then "divine" inspiration struck and I am now motivated to pursue a third, entirely different story that falls somewhere in between the two extremes.

Now, I'm not saying you should just wait around until that happens to you. I'm saying you should keep messing around with that year-old tablet of yours. Draw characters/etc. from any or all of these story ideas. Draw them in different poses, different outfits, in different styles, with different crazy expressions. Draw characters from two or more entirely different stories side by side, imagining how they would interact. Draw (gasp) fan art. For fun?! Maybe you love your own characters more than the settings they are in and feel less and less motivated to see them in it. That was happening to me for the longest time until I switched things up, and now I feel more motivated that I have in... ever? I have faith you'll get to that point. It may take some of us longer than others, and that is just fine. It certainly took me long enough! So don't you stress about it.

[albertorob58]

If you don't have the passion and feelings you can't write good comic. This is quiet impossible for someone. You need to calm down yourself. Take a little bit of time and then start writing again.