Inspiration loss

[Leesaliah]

If you find this too long, and didn't want to read....well, thats fine.

Hello, you probably see me as that random person that goes on any random post and make random comments.

I've been here for almost a year, producing Gargandia, the comic I dreamed of(no seriously, my comic was a dream I had XD)
and, well I think it's going very well. But the thing is, I've been loosing lots of motivation.

First, let me give you an introduction~ Like all types of people, I was inspired by my favorite artists. My style though comes from many artists, my favorite artist was first from an online game I played, called Latale, Susansijang has an amazing style and I loved it as much as I loved playing Latale, I mostly liked the way she drew Levi...Ok umm, don't want this to be a topic about my 1# favorite character :DDDDDD
My second was Aki, I first saw her Manga at barns&noble which my brother bought for me, it was Olimpos.
I loooved her style sooo much, I googled her to find more of her comics~ which were Aruosumente, Angel of Elhamburg, and Utahime, which were also bought(Not bragging...) so yeah, because of her stuff and Susan.....I started getting into the whole bishie thing.....cough

Anyway, yeah, I have others that I love too, Aron's absurd Armada, The seven Princes of The Thousand Year Labyrinth, and so on.

Also, because of those inspiring artist, I've made accounts on Deviantart and Tumblr, which are filled with pictures of Levi Arens.....Ok so, yeah, I rarely drew other types of fanart. And to tell you the truth, I don't want to get famous off of that! I drew things like Five Nights At Freddy's and a few pictures of Tales of graces(Richard) and so on but do not expect fame from that....So yeah, I've been on the Internet since..who knows when? And still here...making pictures and drawing comics.

Ok, now that that's done, I have been loosing motivation because of feeling like I don't really exist, I know that I made it that way by not conversing a lot, but I really get bored and tired when I go to my Deviantart or Tumblr or Taptastic and see possibly no feed back on my webcomic or art. My ideas for the webcomic have been put into place and I know what should be in it because it's in the back of my head(I don't write scripts for my comics XD)
But when I start drawing or inking the images, I start moving on to something else or stalling....Yeah, it's been a pretty bad habit.

Soooooo.....have any ideas on how to motivate me?

[AnnaLandin]

It's tough, posting original art on the internet and hoping to get a response. Sometimes, it feels like you're shouting into the void, and it can get really discouraging. I know the feeling - I post mostly original art on Tumblr, and it's a happy day when it gets more than 15 notes, while my most popular fanart piece is at 4600+ notes.

It's just how it works - people will latch onto stuff they're familiar with and already love. Trying to convince them that the stuff that's yours is worth their time is hard work, and it's always going to be.

But the only thing you can really do is to keep going. Keep plugging away, and readers will start trickling in.

When you feel down about it, go back and re-read your comic. Look through your notes, draw your main characters, etc. - and try to remember why you loved it in the first place. Try to remember what got you excited when you started. What is it about it that you love? Try to get back to that, and keep going.

[Leesaliah]

Thank you so much the moving reply~

I do sometimes go back and read through the comic, and sometimes I feel great how the way it went or see how it made me want to make more pages.

back when I started, I could produce pages quicker, and as I improve in drawing I put more detail in the the pages..which didn't really effect the production... Life though, has an effect on what I do, since I have more responsibilities and want to start on new things, that too sort of gets in the way, But that's life, I can at least try to block somethings out to keep going.

[joannekwan]

This is just my advice, and what I go by: forget about other people for a moment. Create for yourself! Think back to when you were younger, before you had any social accounts, before you really shared any of your art on a massive scale. I know I drew most things just to entertain myself and make me happy. Perhaps take a break from DA and tumblr, and just draw whatever you enjoy.

[Aspie_Gamer]

If you don't mind, could you pretty please post a link to your comic so that potential subs can check it out?

Adding on to what @AnnaLandin told you, I too can attest to the fact that people will naturally gravitate towards brand name stuff more than they do original stuff. Before I found Tapastic, I was just coasting by as an artist posting ANYTHING I thought would help get my name out there. Even if I drew fan art, I noticed that while it got me slightly more views on deviantArt than my original stuff did, I also noticed that people were gravitating more towards fan art drawn by well known dA members who could make it all super sparkly and shit or had a unique style that's 100 percent theirs. This frustrated me to no end and for quite a while it made me both depressed and very ornery towards other people. I wouldn't say that I hated all the popular artists on dA at the time, but rather it was the fact that they could make their fan art pop with sparkles and vivid colors while I was struggling just to make my colored art simply stand out (and fail hence why I don't color my art or my comics anymore) that made me feel inadequate about my own artistic merit.

Here on Tapastic, I haven't really had that problem of not feeling good enough in the year that I've been here. At first before my comic Life of an Aspie "took off" (that is before I started gaining subs and views on a regular basis), I struggled with that same feeling I struggled with on deviantArt in regards to not feeling like my art was good enough or hell that my unique idea for a shoujo inspired manga mean diddly squat in a sea of self insert slice of life comics that tend to be the most popular here on Tapastic (no hard feelings to anyone who has one and lord knows I'm subbed to several of them. In fact, most of the comics I just described above are somewhat niche or aren't THAT popular compared to the ones you see as "staff picks"). Before I exploded with subs the past few weeks, I was actually considering putting LoaA on the back burner and instead work on this idea I had for a NSFW raunchy rom com gag manga thinking it would help me gain exposure as author that I was craving quite a bit at the time.

On my birthday last month, a funny thing happened however. I simply posted that it was my birthday here in the forums. Nothing special. Next thing I know, about 2-3 people had subbed to my comic. Thinking it was a fluke, I spent the next few weeks "reaching out" to new authors who were just starting out or were struggling to find their own footing here at Tapastic. Now not every comic I've subbed to or person I've said hello to here on the forums has subbed to my comic. That said, the sudden influx of subscribers to Life of an Aspie and to a lesser extent, its sister series Susan's Secret Stash (an art gallery of mine where I post LoaA concept art, fan art, the works.) is what motivated me to finish the first chapter of LoaA. This was that moment in my life where I was like "Y'know, I think I'm on to something here."

tl;dr don't be discouraged if you aren't getting the results you want at first or for what feels like the longest time. One invaluable trick I've learned just within the past month is to "network" here on Tapastic. I generally go for series that have low sub counts or are just starting out as those types of authors tend to be the ones who are in the same boat like you or me. They too feel like they are shouting into the void and by liking their content and subbing to it, theres a good chance they will do the same for your content. Being active in the forums doesn't hurt either.

P.S If you say you are going to update your comic, then be a person of your word and update even if its a "sorry, but I can't update today bc of whatever" strip. Having a consistent flow of updates helps as well. This was something I struggled with for the longest time partly because of what I was going through emotionally and mentally speaking several months back. Slowly build up a "buffer" so that you can sit back and relax for a few days while you update your comic as though you have an infinite supply of strips to offer. A buffer also helps if something irl comes up that you can't avoid like illness, new job, death in the family, etc.

P.P.S Lastly, I'm just going to throw this out there. Last Autumn/Winter's number one anime One Punch Man that the internet couldn't stop gushing about began life as a poorly drawn webcomic that also struggled in its infancy to carve out a niche for itself. In that author's case however, the mangaka behind the famous sports manga Eyeshield 21 saw it and offered to re draw OPM as a serialized manga (which would eventually get an anime adaptation) I'm not saying that its possible for any webcomic author to have their work noticed by a pro, have it redrawn by said pro, AND get the number 1 anime of the current anime season, but hey life is pretty strange like that sometimes so when you have nothing to lose by publishing your work no matter how horrible it looks to you or others who read it, you may as well give it everything you've got right?

Again, welcome to the forums and I hope this post helps

[monotone_ink]

Don't focus on other people, focus on yourself for the moment.

Ask yourself what you can improve on your work, experiment, evaluate again, keep experimenting, keep posting your progress, experiment more, evaluate, more experiments.

Eventually, people will notice your stuff while you've been busy improving on yourself. If you try too hard to cater to everyone, your body of work will just be boring - it'd be a pandering fest. Do your own thing, and people will eventually come to appreciate your work.

[orangeandglad]

I had a similar problem just recently where I would just sit down with a blank piece of paper for hours even though I had ideas brooding for months. Just picking up the pen to start was really difficult for me because I lost a sense of purpose in what I was doing. When I was a kid, I would just draw anything without questioning why. Now that I'm an adult, I draw to please an audience that does not yet exist because that takes time to earn.

Seeking instant gratification took a toll on my emotional well-being. I think by the end of the day, you have to know who you're doing this for. It's easy to forget to have fun and the feeling that started it all in the first place. Revisiting old art and don't pay so much attention to the numbers really helped me. Perhaps try that? : )

-ORANGE

[orangeandglad]

I like what ORANGE said but just to simplify even further:

At the end of the day usually we're not doing this for everyone - we're doing it for SOMEONE. Maybe that's you, maybe that's someone else or maybe that's a bunch of people. Ignore the numbers and really think about what you want to give that someone.

• GLAD

[RewindLabs]

Funny how I can somewhat relate to that.
Though the way we react to it is different.

I think you should start of my questioning the purpose of your art.
Don't be afraid to get stuck in a rut, eventually you'll get out of it, once you figure out what caused that.

Personally, I don't believe in motivation. I believe we all can do almost anything as long as we decide to transcend our current and personal feelings. Its about understanding, knowing that how we feel about ourselves while calling ourselves 'creators' is irrelevant. Its rather self-centred.

I'll keep it short. I would just advice you to take a break and really think about why you consider yourself a creator. Its highly subjective, but useful. As for the number of view sand feedback, you have to put in some effort to be seen, if you want to, and then, just be patient.

[Leesaliah]

Well, thank you every one for keeping me moving.

I sort of looked back at the topic that I wrote and found it a little dumb...

I pretty much thought about this, and I try my best to improve, and not really think about other people, I just want to hear only one thing, I'm not expecting a whole lot like fame, just one person to say something that keeps me going.
I don't care if it's something senseless, don't care if its hate...I just want to hear someone say something.

I know it sounds stupid, and you're probably thinking "Ok if that's the case then what do you want!?!!?" well, what I said, just someone to write a simple comment.

Also, I'm not like other people, I need motivation because I want to feel like I'm getting somewhere, not staying in one place drawing and...just doing it! I mean I thought about my role as a creator, but I do things and soon I get bored.
Because, one day drawing will a part in my career!

Yep, I'm pretty much a person that reallllly isn't easy to understand....and stuff like that.....................................................................................................

By the way Toad, here's the link to my comic. (:

[Aspie_Gamer]

Thanks. 1.2k views ain't bad for someone whos been at this game for a while now.

[thomasfallaeriksen]

Makes me think off this one. Very funny but also very true.
http://imgur.com/uC1DsgG

Myself I only post 99.9% original stuff on tumblr and other sites. And currently, if I can rack up 10 or more notes in one day, it is way above average.
Humans are weird creatures. We always want something new, but are usually most comfortable with something that are familiar to what we already know. But If everybody just did tried to camouflage themselves in what is most popular we wouldn't get very far.
It is very important to like what you do (most important in my opinion). It may not reach as many people, but I often think that I would rather make a comic that 1 out of 10 find amazing, than a comic that everyone finds good enough. And there are over 7 billion people in the world. If you like it, there have to be somebody else out there who likes it too. We just have to be patient and do something we really love. It will show in the end.

[R.n.P]

Find the comic that first inspired you to make yours then just read it within some minutes you would feel like drawing

[Mane]

My advice is along these lines as well. The key element is that you should enjoy drawing regardless of the feedback you get. Just keep doing what you do and you'll see that even if you don't receive the popularity you are aiming for as fast as you'd like, constantly working on something will inevitably bring : improved art skills, greater story telling ability, etc, and it just might result in a bigger readership later on. I can't say that you shouldn't let lack of feedback get you down, happens to me too , but despite that I can look at the art I'm posting and think, "yeah , I like it, I'm proud of this" even if I didn't so much as get one single like for it. And in the case of a burn out , yeah, take a break, and come back to it later, but not too late so as not to lose the readership you have already gained. Oh, and avoid trying to start other complicated projects. I was always tempted to take a break from a story by starting another which grew bigger than I expected and then I got tired of that too so instead of going back to the first one I started another one and then I had all these incomplete comics lying around..... long story short, a bit of discipline is also needed.

Also , if you have artists that you admire, don't compare yourself to them , try to reach that level.