Is making comics even worth it?

[Katzalcoatl]

Luck is all about being in the right place at the right time. Luck is only one factor. You need to work hard as well. Success is about having both. I am a firm believer of creating my own luck.

If i can't get super lucky then I will work fifty times as much to compensate the lack of luck.
Does that mean working 24/7? No!!! Many people don't know this but that is highly inefficient. In order to work harder you have to work less.

Wait what?! Yup, you have to take breaks every 45 minutes. You can't work 5 or 6 times a week on the same thing. You shouldn't work 8 hours straight per day.

What should I do then? Work smart. Create a grantt chart. Think of ways to promote yourself. Grantt charts will help you work on multiple things at the same time while preventing your brain from getting a burnout. The charts will also help you plan your breaks.

What happens if I am behind my own schedule? Grantt charts help you plan that by having a buffer zone for each of your activities.

What happens if I am ahead of schedule? Relax for a few days. Don't start working again. Don't be a work addict it will only hinder the quality of your work.

I have studied your series. Roughly 1 out of 9 views leave a like. That is way above average! It is competing with some of the best series tapas has, on a view/like ratio. You started posting without a regular schedule and each time you finished a chapter you posted it instead of waiting to release it.
As time went on this affected your schedule and now you roughly post every 10 days. I will say that those looks like signs of a burnout. And there is nothing wrong with that. My suggestion is to finish this next story and take a break for yourself. Forget about drawing on a schedule for at least a week or two. Just announce a seasonal break or something. You have the advantage of how your series is divided into stories.

I will also suggest you keep each story shorter than 22 chapters. It seems the last story which is lobger than the previous ones is already burning you out.

P.S. Your ko-fi and patreon are not really visible unlike how you promote your instagram.

P.S.S. I saw 0 explanation of the perks on your ko-fi. You might want to add them so people know what they are. Your patreon perks don't create a good incentive for your fans to use it. You need to create a tier that really wants to make them feel like they will get a clear advantage by buying it. (For more info I can dm you what I mean if you want).

[Katzalcoatl]

Forgot to mention this. But sometimes when we lose our spark/inspiration it is good to go back to our origins. Go back to what made you want to start your comic. What did innocent XiuLyn want by starting their series?

Don't forget, if you feel like it is time to finish your project and start a new one then go ahead and do it. Nothing ties us to continue working on a single series for life. But be sure to do it on your own terms. Not just because your brain starts doubting itself (scumbag brains at 3 am amiright?).

And hey you have a fan in me of your art style. Can't judge your stories as I haven't given myself the time to read them. But your art is one of the things I like seeing. Even if the world one day hates it, I will still like it. Keep in touch love I may one day need your art.

[SargentAlchemist]

Hey dont worry friend, making comics its a great journey that take time, in my case I cant even do a chapter per week cause now Im working fully on my translations on an English version, what ypu need to do its promote your comic in everyplace that you can! Create a Twitter, Instagram or even a Tiktok account and start from that! You will see how people will come eventually! Trust the process and make contacts here, do some collabs when you want and, this will helps a lot!! Trust in yourself! and take breaks if you need too!

[JaveCraze]

I also feel this a lot of the time. I basically gave up my gamedev hobby completely for comics, and although I still feel the urge to make a game every once and a while I recognize that I'm WAY worse at gamedev, and I like the real version of making comics, as opposed to the idealized version of gamedev. Anyways, this isn't about that.

I made my first comic a few months ago, and it took me about a year to finish the whole thing. My friends and one or two people enjoyed it, which I cherish, and then it completely dropped off the face of the earth. That's expected.

The moral of the story isn't that I should've just made something popular, divested most of my time into marketing, or that I shouldn't have made a comic if it was going to take that long. The moral of the story is, even knowing this, I would never want to have that time back. I had made something that was mine, something that I wanted to make for a very long time, and I finally got to going and made it, and now the story is out in the world and isn't just thoughts inside my head. My art improved, my writing improved, and I had fun making it.

So maybe making comics is a waste of time, and maybe people don't like your genre/story, but so what? You made something, and you're bringing your ideas to something physical. That's a lot better than a lot of people can say. I believe that comics are a really fast way to improve, because you're making tons of little drawings of unique situations and figures. When I started, I had no idea how to draw pigs and other animals. ..I still kind of don't, but I'm way better than when I started, and if it wasn't for this comic I would've never even attempted to draw anything other than humans. No matter how bad you think your story is, or how your art looks to your eyes, you're trying something, which means it's fruitful.

I have some advice for the feeling you're currently having, and I think your burnout hunch may be correct. Taking breaks is really good for dealing with that, and even big authors take breaks sometimes. I wish you all the best on your comic journey

[cherrystark]

Fortunately, my current comic is almost finished. Then I can try new things. I'm not sure what to do besides art since it's what I do for a long time without trying new things. I really hope I'll find other things I enjoy (that I do, haha). Thank you!

Best of luck! I seriously recommend taking walks. It can be tedious at first but it's a great way to get outside and explore your city.

[Shanny8]

it´s very rare that I have customers who want me to draw something that I like

THIS. I think that is partially one of the reasons why I havent started doing commissions or opened myself to taking illustration gigs. I want to work on something that gives me life, not "draw my pet" or "draw a Black man in [slave] chains"(YES I used to get asked to do this back in the late 90s- and "not my thing" was the answer)- basically surmising that I don't care to work on things that don't spark a creative interest or passion in me, coz I know I'll hate it and I won't put my best energy into it.

It's the same with comics, where some person might've asked me to be their artist on an idea they had and it be like some old 1930s-1950s type superhero-ish material where everything makes me cringe, and I'm just like "I'm a little busy right now"

I do want to eventually work with someone on a collaborative thing, but AFTER I finish the ton of stuff I have and can devote that free time to a thing like that; of course I'm gonna picky as hell about it as well.

The feeling you're describing does seem a little like the start of a burnout, if you're also:- feeling exhausted to the extreme with little to no reason for that feeling- having difficulty focusing on tasks- irritable, or with frequent mood swings- thinking/worrying about a task when you're not doing it, but once you get the opportunity to do it you can't- want to do a lot of things but have no energy to do them- feeling worthless, or like you are failing because you are resting while everyone else is productive

It might be burnout or a symptom of a wider problem.

The nail on the head. I've gone through this(or been going through this) since 2017; I've taken breaks(currently on a hiatus since 2019) and I can say it has helped(I've remastered my print only comic and drawn/created stuffs for print)...I'm not at full power, but the rest has allowed me to focus and tackle smaller projects.

[moontokkym]

I hope everyone who feels the symptoms I've listed can take time to rest and demystify the idea of productivity as a requirement to do... anything, really. You're still a fine human being even if you don't churn out stuff.

I also mentionned that they may be symptoms of a wider problem because a couple of them are also found in ADHD and depression. I was also listing the symptoms from memory from what I had while I was in burnout, but I was specifically in what's called autistic burnout, so some symptoms may not apply (or be less noticeable) to neurotypical people. It means that if you only have some of the symptoms on the list and other symptoms that are not, it might be a good idea to do some research or even contact a psychiatric healthcare provider to talk about it if that's an option for you. Everyone deserves peace of mind.

Basically my solution was to rest and get a bunny so that I can always remember that real life and my and my rabbit's wellbeing is way more important than any productivity quota.

[abigaillmartin]

I just write the outline then sketch for a couple months whenever I can and release the episodes in digital. I don’t know if this is healthy is this healthy?

I mean I’m not really worried about building an audience yet I’m just wanting to just finish my stuff and get it done, have it be ready. It’s a slow process for me but writing comics and drawing is such a joy to me!

[moontokkym]

You can't really judge what's healthy just by that but a good barometer is:
- Is this rythm sustainable (i.e. would you feel generally ok keeping this rythm up for a very long time, years for example)?
- Are you feeling any type of dread, worry, fear, or guilt about your comic/your worth as a comic creator when you are not working on it?
- Are you experiencing physical symptoms such as joint pain in your writing hand, wrist, or arm?

Basically if you answer "yes, no, no" likelyhood is you have a healthy relationship with your work. It's not guaranteed, there's only three questions, but basically with those 3 answers it's likely that you're not overworking yourself, you body can physically take the strain of the work at your current pace and mentally it's not affecting your mental well-being outside of when you're working on it, so if you ever do get overwhelmed, you can just take a break and be ok.

[Shanny8]

I also mentionned that they may be symptoms of a wider problem because a couple of them are also found in ADHD and depression

I know I was dealing with depression between late September 2020 and March 2021(right after my dad died). In fact I only did ONE art project in 2021(a logo design that I was commissioned to do). I didnt start really getting back into my art stuffs until last year...some of that wasn't the depression; there was still some remnants/cobwebs from the small episodes of burnout that I had in 2017 and 2019(the reason why I'm on hiatus).

[abigaillmartin]

This is good to keep in mind. This helped a lot!

[AmazementComics]

I haven’t necessarily found a solution to this problem. But I think I found a way to cope.

I’ll never forget, when I posted my first webcomic online back in 2017, I thought to myself, “my comic is gonna take the world of webcomics by storm”. Despite the fact that they were hand drawn and traditional, I was expecting quite a decent following. Well, my bubble got burst real fast. When I reached out to other artists, I was slammed with criticisms left and right. It led me to be discouraged, but it also gave me knowledge that I needed to be aware of: to actually try and make something worthwhile telling not only through writing, but by art as well. So I spent the next several years plotting and slowly developing better art skills and writing. So then, when the time came to release my first digital comic back in 2020, I thought, “this is going to be the one that really takes off”. That wasn’t the case either.

A part of me is so passionate about my work that even when I do better in my storytelling, I sometimes get upset that it’s not gaining enough traction. I also get tempted to ask the same people who give me criticisms that I fix why they don’t come back to the story for a second time. Or even when I post a new picture here on the forums or social media, why it doesn’t gain a lot of interest. At times it seems as if people are avoiding me at all costs which makes me feel like I’m being singled out by people who I thought wanted to at least help me and watch me succeed in anticipation for my next great project.

I really don’t know where I was going with this, but whenever I have these intrusive thoughts of not being worthy of pursuing my stories on this platform, I remind myself of this: if your creativity is driven by a desire to get attention, you are never going to be creatively fulfilled. Forget what others think, if you enjoy it, great! I’ve found that so many people create art for for the sole purpose of getting likes, algorithm and followers on Instagram, to be a people pleaser. It’s intoxicating!

If you're insecure about your comics, I might suggest not posting online for a while. Enjoy it because that’s what art is for. If you hate it too, find better inspirations and “borrow” them so no one catches you did. Find 10-20 good inspirations for your type of storytelling. Just keep going. That’s all any of us can do.

[prisaodasbolhas]

If you're thinking about it as a source of income, no, it's not worth it for the 90% of authors, who either don't get paid for making comics or get very little money out of it.
As a way to improve your art skills however, I'd say yes, you'll be "forced" to improve when drawing a comic:

Drawing the same character over and over consistently,
making backgrounds,
applying perspective, shadow and light,
creating character design's,
planning the writting and dialogue of your stories.

These are some of the many aspects you'll need to work on to get your comic done, if you just drew whatever you wanted, there's a chance to neglect some of these aspects, for example: "I'm not good at drawing backgrounds, so I'll avoid drawing them". When making a comic, you can't avoid certain aspects of art, that'll make your skills better and more well rounded than just drawing whatever.

[XiuLyn_12]

@darthmongoose

No comic is ever a waste of time. Every comic you make will teach you something, and every comic, as part of your portfolio, has the potential to lead to bigger things.

Thank you for saying this. I should be more appreciative of my progress! I may have dwelled in my negative thoughts to realize the solid start you mentioned. Thank you for reminding me.

@Katzalcoatl

As time went on this affected your schedule and now you roughly post every 10 days. I will say that those look like signs of burnout.

It surprised me because I thought if I worked on my comic non-stop, I could work faster when in reality, I got slower! I'll keep this in mind and will take some time to rest.

P.S. Your ko-fi and Patreon are not visible unlike how you promote your Instagram.

Regarding my Ko-fi and Patreon, I understand that I didn't provide enough perks for people to subscribe to me. I planned to close it and create a better offer in the future!

But your art is one of the things I like seeing. Even if the world one day hates it, I will still like it.

This is so sweet! I'm glad you like my art style, I've been a bit insecure about it, but you helped me a lot! Thank you!

[Katzalcoatl]

Having a relaxed brain can do so many wonders. The brain is like a muscle in that sense. If you go to the gym and workout your whole body everyday it will eventually give out. There are times you need to take a whole week to fully recover. And it does wonders. The brain is the same in that sense it needs time to rest.

And yes your art is awesome. I will say it as many times as I need to.

[XiuLyn_12]

@SargentAlchemist

Trust the process and make contacts here, do some collabs when you want and, this will helps a lot!! Trust in yourself!

Thank you so much! I've been planning on doing collabs if I have the opportunity! It sounds fun

@JaveCraze

So maybe making comics is a waste of time, and maybe people don't like your genre/story, but so what? You made something, and you're bringing your ideas to something physical.

This made me feel a lot better! I shouldn't have been too focused on doing what other people like.

I have some advice for the feeling you're currently having, and I think your burnout hunch may be correct. Taking breaks is really good for dealing with that, and even big authors take breaks sometimes. I wish you all the best on your comic journey

Thank you so much! I wish you the best in your work as well!

@AmazementComics

if your creativity is driven by a desire to get attention, you are never going to be creatively fulfilled. Forget what others think, if you enjoy it, great!

Thank you for reminding me of this! I need to get out of this mindset asap!

[DarkSena]

This topic is so very relate-able.

I also am going through a very shitty phase, it makes me feel really bipolar lately, I cried myself to sleep last night lol I'm a very emotional person and I do suffer inferiority complex since childhood. It's like an endless circle when you fall and then you get up again in hope the things are going to work better for you if you keep on trying.

Before I decided to make my own comic I haven't had the burnout phases so often the way I do now. It's really hard to overcome the feel like you're an utter failure. I have never dedicated myself to a course so passionately the way I do about my comic, what burns me the most I also feel like no one cares about my comic and I seem to be the only one who cares about it.

How to cope? It's hard to say, it's like a rollercoaster you fall down and then you get up again. I love creating my time, it's like the time is used well and I feel proud of it but the lack of interaction of readers is literally burning me alive

[VersusVII]

I make my comic because it's years I want to tell this story. I practiced making sketches, studied the lore of the setting, I'm also learning some social marketing skills to better promote it! If I can't be published because editors in my country aren't good, I want at least to gain some cents and get readers on my own.

It's difficult to keep me motivated sometimes, especially when I have to prepare the pages in the free time from my job. I try to cheer up looking to the results I get, not focusing too much on the dashboard data

[spadesart]

It took me a long time to learn and come to terms with this, but if you go in with the expectation that your story is going to take off or if you're too focused on numbers you're only going to get frustrated and feel dissatisfied. This is easier said than done of course, something you have to come to terms with yourself. It took me starting a project that I loved so much that I don't care nearly as much about numbers as I did with SPIRE. Of course I want people to read it, but at the same time working on it is also fulfilling in its own way. SPIRE wasn't, unfortunately.

[bronte448]

I don't write for the tens of thousands of people not reading.
I write for the (currently) twenty-five people who are.
It's not even all on one series.
I just want to bring these stories to life.