Reflecting on 2015 - comic creator edition!

[keii4ii]

Talk about 1 thing that you've done comic-wise that you are PROUD of, 1 thing that you are THANKFUL for, and 1 thing that you hope to IMPROVE in 2016.

You can mention more than 1 thing if you'd like! But you have to mention at least 1 of each.

For Heart of Keol:

• I'm proud that I've kept it going. I knew I wasn't going to quit that easily, but that doesn't make it any less of an achievement. I'm proud of my love for the story and the characters, the driving force behind my persistence.

• Also proud that I FINALLY managed to write an outline for the next mini-arc? I have this problem of having all these bits and pieces of the story float around in my head, and being unable to articulate them. The current outline needs a lot of work, but that's a major progress for someone who used to be literally incapable of making ANYTHING like that.

• Of course I'm thankful for all the readers who have stuck with my story! More specifically, I'm thankful that they have stuck with me despite my negative talk. I can be extremely negative toward myself these days. Special shout out to @hades, @elixiadragmire, @noxfox and @infectedbloodcomics for putting up with me. (They make awesome comics, BTW.)

• Big big thanks to everyone in the #tapwinterfest2015, especially @CyndiFoster. As a creator who specializes in longer stories, I feel the project was out of my league, but we got it done nonetheless. (Cyndi also makes an awesome comic.)

• ALSO SOME PEOPLE DREW MY CHARACTERS??????? WITHOUT EVER BEING SOLICITED FOR IT? BRB HEART MELTING

• As for improvement, there are LOADS of writing issues that I need to figure out. Pacing is the big one, but I think I'll be learning that one for a long, long time, way beyond 2016. So to be more realistic, by the end of 2016, I hope my dialogues (wording specifically) will have a better flow. English is not my first language, and it kind of shows, which is embarrassing because I'm better at English than my native language at this point. XD

[AnnaLandin]

This is a lovely idea! :3

• I'm proud of Grassblades. It finally went from being just a vague collection of ideas and characters and free-floating storylines to being something real this year, and I'm proud not only of having started it, but of having not given up when things got hard or I got very busy.
• I'm also proud of all the other things I managed to accomplish this year. I'm proud of Wishlight, I'm proud of my entry in the #TapWinterFest2015 (thanks to @CyndiFoster and @noxfox and @kurisquare and all the other people working hard behind the scenes to make that happen!), I'm proud of the three separate oneshot comics I made, I'm proud of my Inktober-paintings, I'm proud of my Goblin week entries, I'm proud of the Tea Witches I drew in December. I got SO much done this year, and I'm still kind of amazed by it.
• I'm proud of all the things I learned and got better at this year, like perspective and page-layouts and pacing and all the other little invisible skills that go into making comics.
• I'm deeply, deeply thankful for the warm reception my work has had this year. When I started posting Grassblades in March, I was thinking I'd have maybe 300-400 subscribers by the end of the year, if I was lucky and all went well. I got nearly 2400. That is INSANE, an AWESOME, and I am frankly at a loss for words. And not only is my mind boggled by how many they are, I'm also amazed by how nice and enthusiastic they are. Tapastic has been one of my favourite discoveries this year - this place is, like, the nicest corner of the internet, and I'm thankful for that too. Making comics is kind of a lonely pursuit, and all these enthusiastic readers make it a whole lot easier.
• I'm also thankful for the loving and supporting environment I have offline. My family and friends are the best, and I wouldn't trade them for the world.
• Also, I'm with @keii4ii on this one - people have made spontaneous fanart of Grassblades and Wishlight and you guys I'm not even kidding, I start crying when that happens. <3 <3 <3
• And, finally, improvement. I have a bunch of technical stuff I need to improve on - drawing architecture, anatomy (especially hands and bodies in perspective), action sequences, etc. - as well as things that are a little harder to define, like getting the atmosphere and mood of a comic right. I need to brush up on pacing, dialogue, page-layouts, etc. - all the stuff I already improved this year, but there's always more improvements to be made.
• I also need to improve some more personal things. Like, get to grips with my no-good habit of using sleep deprivation as way to cope with stress. I need to get it into my head that sleeping less does NOT equal more work done. It equals more anxiety, exhaustion and sadness. I also need to balance my workload better so that I don't end up working on eight things at once, like I did in November+December this year.
• I'm also hoping to improve my animation skills, and maybe venture into tinkering with making simple games in 2016. Comics are my home, but I would REALLY like to expand my skillset into animation/game-making, because they're two creative pursuits I adore.

[lizm]

I only started posting in December, but hey, positive memories of 2015!

• I'm proud that I finally had the confidence to just turn my dream project into a comic. I wasted about four years trying to settle for another story since it's originally a game concept (way beyond my programming/asset creation abilities) and naturally my heart just wasn't into it, making those projects fail. But life's too short to aim for "uh, I guess this other option is okay too," so here goes!!
• I'm proud of my frequent updates, my overall productivity level, my positive attitude towards the project, the little things I've done to support other creators as well after fearing I wouldn't be able to "fit in" at all, but most of all, despite all of its flaws, I'm simply proud of what I do and the fact that I truly love what I do.
• I'm thankful for all my readers, of course---the ones here, the one on other mirrors or my website, the ones who quietly subscribed, the ones who leave a like here and there, the ones who drew fanart (cue ear-shattering yelling of joy), the ones who commented, and even the ones who may not be readers yet but have acknowledged my existence and may or may not check it out again some other time. All these people make it hard for me to believe it's only been a month.
• A very special thankful note to the person who decided to make my comic a staff pick--the largest part of my subscribers came from the exposure I got there, no doubt. After a long series of failures in my life, both project-related and not, that honestly gave me new hope and confidence in what I'm doing and made me feel like I'm finally doing it right. I was very unsure about joining Tapastic in the first place, but I would've smiled and laughed a lot less lately if I hadn't. So from the bottom of my heart, thank you, mystery staff person and once again thank you to everyone who subscribed and supported me so far!
• The one improvement I'm aiming for in 2016 isn't really about art or writing or any other comic-related skills (I've already lost hope--kidding, I just feel like I do better if I worry less!), but rather, I'd like to improve as a person. I've already come a very long way and have become much happier and more outgoing and whatnot, but whatever's waiting for me in 2016, I'd like to use those experiences and see if they can help me improve the comic, interact with people and find new ideas. I'd also like to improve my health so I can keep working on the comic, and at the very least I've taken the first step by arranging doctor's appointments and taking more breaks that I hope to keep up next year!

[mariusthered]

I am Proud of my Drama comic Talesfromswipecity and although it dose not get the best reception sometimes, it gets mistunderstood and I even get judged for my stories from time to time ( not on tap so far I might add) , writing this comic has given me the place to vent all the negative crap that had polluted my life. I think I can be Proud of myself , because a lifetime of bullies, domestic drama and unpleasant situations has been turned in the the fuel of creative fire.

I am Thankful that I have found this website to bring my comic and give it a home ( even if I am the crazy old coot and the edge of the forest) I sadly have to stand by in the next few months and seen the end on my own website because i don't have the funds to sustain it, so without Tap I would have nowhere to post swipe city. So for that I am very Thankful

In 2016 I hope to improve my comic skills and my subs. I hope that as the new stories are shown more people will turn a blind eye to the pats of my tales they don't enjoy and sub to see the good stuff they like. I know somewhere in my writing their is a story for everyone to enjoy and I will be pleased when i have posted the revamped 32 chapters to Tap and can get on to writing new stuff.

and I will finish with wish you all a happy new year and especially to my subs ( all ten of you) even though I have a low number of people following my work, every single one means a lot to me and has given me push to carry on so I thank you guys and gals the most.

[Mharz]

Hope it's okay if I join in.

• I'm proud that I was able to publish my webcomic The Angel with Black Wings. I waited for like AN ENTIRE YEAR to do that because (1) I'd like to build buffer first and (2) I am afraid that people might say bad things on my comic (which is I'm slowly trying to overcome) so despite that negativity and doubts within me, I manage to post my webcomic online.
• I'm proud that I was able to engage myself in the forums and the twitter webcomicchat despite the fact that I am bad at talking to other people and I'm slowly overcoming my shyness.
• I am absolutely THANKFUL for all those who have read and sub my webcomic despite the fact that it's a little number. I still can't believe that I hit 100 subs before the year ends (I only have like 27 from March to October) and forums really helped me a lot on that. A shoutout to @dracoplato who always takes the time to talk to me on twitter, you are awesome!
• I hope to improve my socializing skills and my courage next year so that I'll be able to meet more awesome creators like you guys and be openly vocal to my feelings.
• I also hope to improve my digital illustrations. I'm actually surprised myself how my art improve this year hopefully it'll kick up a notch even further and I'll be able to beat my past artworks.

and to that, Happy New Year to everyone!

[mg78]

oh cmon, too much to write XD
btw: im happy if some like my work. and im VERY thankfull to who helped (and who ll help again XD ...) to check my english transaltion, so this mean a big thanku to Aloredd and A-verse Comics (RJ)

[BraveHeartTatsumaki]

Lovely idea <3

• I'm proud that I decided to publish Final Light here on Tapastic, losing the fear to people on internet and also get to know more artist here, all of that just because I decided to join and publish it here.
• I'm also proud that my story is getting "fixed" in the part of plot and it's building in my mind something more complex but also funny.
• I'm thankful for the few readers I'm getting for my comic, extremely grateful <3
• In the part of improvement I need to get better at drawing scenes, anatomy, architecture... basically everything, ALSO, my goal in 2016 is to be able to write in english much better (specially dialogues) without the help of someone to see my grammar, because well, my english is terrible :'D hghh

[okellymx]

• I'm proud that I properly planned my story's ending before starting and that I stopped being pessimistic enough to write this.
• I'm thankful to being able to afford a whole year of http://www.newmastersacademy.org/
• I want to improve my self-discipline and actually start finish an entire comic. Also to stop being so pessimistic.

[zoonland]

• I'm proud that I've been working constantly on my comic Zoonland and didn't quit like a lot of ideas in the past. And I am pretty proud that I finished two episodes and I'm about to start writing the third. I like to see the little improvements I'm doing.
• I'm proud and thankful that some people read it and like it! It was my first attempt for a comedy-like comic, so I am glad it received appreciation!
• In 2016, I hope to improve my writing and my english, too. There is a lot to do... hopefully 2016 would be a great year!

[TristanJensen]

For Life of a Homeschooler

• I'm proud I've kept it going all this time. I've never been really devoted to anything for more than a week or two so it was nice to see something not moved to the back burner and abandoned.
• I'm thankful of the fact that I've learned SO much this year. My art had improved a lot since I started and I'm hoping to keep improving.
• I'm thankful for all the people who've read my comics this year.
• I hope to work on writing short stories, fanfiction (not the creepy kind) and maybe a more long form comic series.
• Also making a font so I don't have to write the text by hand

[Doubtcent]

For everything

• I'm proud to have finished an entire year here at Tapastic
• I'm proud of the accomplishments I've made in the past year.
• I'm thankful for all of the support everyone has given for my venture.
• I wish to continue to improve on making comics and making a difference in my life, and in my readers' lives as well.

[Zannen00]

Lets see, for my comic IMAGICA=verse:

I am PROUD for what I have achieved thus far, telling a new tale about Magic Girls and
the (slow) improvement of my artwork as each chapter goes along...
Still, I wouldn't have improved on my own, and thats why:

I am super THANKFUL That I stumble unto Tapastic, and meet with all the friendly community!
From knowing zero things about drawing a comic, the creators here (The first was Big Sis @AnnaLandin) have welcomed me, they give me guidance and steps whenever I asked on how to improve my art and I am so very grateful for that!....
Especially this Creator, who have responded to my noob question time and time again. And on every response, He will always gives me a detailed answer, along with examples to go along. Hey, not many strangers online will do that for you, ya know! The guy has earn my utmost deepest respect and gratitude... that I even make a SIDE COMIC featuring His OC HAHAHAHA XD

Fanboying aside, I'm thankful to @vincentprendick for creating #tapastic KIK chat,
which let me found some wonderful (albeit weird... yea weird is putting it mildly) friends online :3

Hoooo boy... Theres still so many things I need to IMPROVE... things like pacing, characterization, art,
paneling... yea... panels.....
Well, too many things to list down... but I'll keep going! I'll keep going until I'm in the same league as you guys!
And THAT'S A PROMISE!

TL;DR: I LOVE YOU GUYS!! HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

[joannekwan]

I'm PROUD to have started my series this past year. I've always wanted to publish a comic of some sort and I finally got around to doing so! I'm also proud to be juggling 3 series at once!

I'm THANKFUL for all of my readers. I started out not expecting much feedback or subscribers, but I've been blessed with an aggregate of 8.7k subs so far! Truly I appreciate them all! Every like and comment keeps me going!

Also super THANKFUL for @CyndiFoster and @noxfox for organizing and managing the Tap Winterfest! I'm honored to have been a part of it!

I'll IMPROVE my paneling and pacing hopefully in the next year, as well as get better at art in general as always.

[dracoplato]

Thank you @avimHarZ ~! I've really enjoyed meeting you this year~! You're an amazing artist and person, and I adore The Angel with Black Wings~! 2016 is going to be an awesome year, I'm wishing you all the luck in the world ~!!
♡〜٩( ╹▿╹ )۶〜♡

[WintreKitty]

I really love this idea! I'm not a comic creator, but I do make reviews, and I certainly have things I am proud of, thankful for and areas I can improve in.

I am proud of how far my reviews have come along since I first started. I am so pleased with my own growth in being able to write these reviews and how long I have stuck with them. I have had a nasty habit ever since I was a kid to never be able to stick with something for long periods of time - mainly because I don't think I ever found something I truly enjoyed doing (my community is very sport oriented -not my favourite thing in the world). These reviews have given me a chance to express myself in something I truly enjoy: writing.

I am thankful for the amount of people who have supported my reviews. This includes everyone who helped out with making posters, the Christmas gift, banners, tweets, reposts, and everything else that proves this community is amazing! I couldn't be more grateful for all of you!

And finally, for improvement, I hope to be able to further my knowledge in comic reviews, making them as accurate and descriptive as possible to give as much feedback as I can to comic creators. I need to work on breaking the comics down more, but not forgetting to look at the bigger picture. Another important thing I need to remember (not necessarily improve on) is to never compare creators to each other. Everyone has their own unique style, and I need to remember that when writing these reviews. Living by my own words, there is always room for improvement, so I should never stop learning and getting advice where I can

[nobody]

I'm proud that I finally published my comic this year after being very worried about posting it online.

I'm thankful for the Tapastic community that is so incredibly helpful and welcoming, where I've gotten to know some awesome people, and where I've found some great comics to subscribe to. I'm also extremely thankful for all my wonderful subscribers They do give me extra encouragement to keep doing what I'm doing!

I want to improve when it comes to time management - I'm wasting a lot of time that I could've spent creating comics, and I hope I'll be able to start working on pages for at least one of the two long-form comics I'm working on.

[Kamikaze]

Ooo! Nice topic @keii4ii!!

I think for me, personally these are my thoughts on 2015:

I'm super proud

• That my team and I have managed to keep updating Kamikaze on a weekly basis without pause (even during our hiatus thanks to the Midnight Run team), for over a year!
• We worked so hard and so well together, with very few hiccups.
• That we've expanded our team, our professional working relationships, and partnerships with some SUPER cool people! \o/
• That we've surpassed over 1,000 facebook followers, and 750 subs here on Tapastic!
• That we worked our BUTTS OFF and it totally paid off! \o/!!!

I'm so so so thankful

• for the fans that we've made, the people who let us know how much we inspire them and the folks who show true passion for our work.

• For the Midnight Run crew who were so passionate about Kamikaze they totally volunteered their skills and time just to work with us. We were totally flabbergasted to have Jamel Jones, Licca Kirk, and Eisner nominated writer Dan Jolley bascially say, "We totally wanna do this. Let us do this!...omg, stop crying Carrie!" Honestly, it's been two months and I still have to pinch myself sometimes.

• That were were not only nominated for but WON our first comic award!

  

• for the folks that helped us get onto our local NPR station in Atlanta for an interview! (For anyone outside the states NPR is our National Public Radio)

  

• For the podcasts like BlackNerdPower, ArtIsKing (Part1 and our return), and TheMonster that have had us on their shows, and in many cases asked us to return!

• For the conventions that took us on as not only moderators and volunteers but panelists and guests! Special shout outs to the staff of MomoCon and Anime Weekend Atlanta!

• 
  List item

• HELLA thankful for this chick who showed up to Anime Weekened Atlanta as our first EVER cosplayer!!!

I ugly cried so hard, y'all.

There's a whole lot more but I don't wanna bog it down. SO! What this team is going to improve on:

• First of all NOT making file sizes so big Photoshop says "NOPE. OUT. NO WAY. ABSOLUTELY NOT. GTFO WITH THAT MESS. BYE, FELICIA." Case in point ->

  

• Getting more of a buffer done and staying ahead of it. Our buffer was three precious pages and then the holidays killed it. :/ Hello inking while at the families place...

• As always improving artwork and flow.

• We are in desperate need for some good old fashioned organization. The good news is, we've got a friend whose going to help up prioritize and find the kinks in our current system.

• Continuing to improve our outreach to fans and new readers alike. We're hoping that we can double our readership in this coming year.

• Update our website. Oh, geeeeez does it need updating. x.X

• To attend more conventions as a means to educate other creators, both old and new, on tactics, tips, and ideas to help their work shine!
• Our biggest goal is to improve the work we already have, to make it ready for print. \o/

[Kura]

• I my proud I was able to continue working on my comics despite the intense pain from my worsening joint pain.
• I am thankful for the readers I got that gave my cruddy series a chance, despite my drawings being piss poor.
• I want to improve on... well... I'm honestly not one to rush improvements, it comes as it comes for me as my poor health is a major deciding factor what decides that pace. When I set goals I only end up disappointing myself.

[Strontium]

My turn!

I'm proud of the pages I've made this year. I feel like my comic making craft has improved and I've been able to successfully make what I see in my head. I think what I improved the most on this year was making more interesting page layouts and experimenting more with how I could present a page. I've gained so much more confidence in making work that I don't feel I need the services of my editor anymore, and she agrees!
I'm also proud of completing the first part of my comic. I'm proud that I've been able to make a more solid story through being selective and focusing on important parts, and that I can let go of gags I've had for years and years to make the comic flow better. As a person who hates to give up on old ways, that is a huge step! I'm also proud of how I've been able to introduce new characters in the comic that readers have been really receptive to.

I'm thankful that I got featured on the Daily Snack in July! I'm thankful that I was able to manage my wrist pain well enough this year not to have to take much time off from posting the comic. I'm so so thankful for all the people who comment on my comic every update. They make me so happy, I can't express it in words.

What I want to improve isn't actually related to my comic. I want to improve my overall health. I'm not well physically or mentally, and my various illnesses prevent me from doing the amount of creative work I have the energy for. I will be graduating college in May, and after that I need to find someway to get more serious treatment for my physical issues. If I can remove some of the strain of my chronic pain, I hope that will allow me to make more comics and be able to work on other illustrations, because otherwise I'm cobbling the available "wrist time" I have to be able to make two pages a week, and I can't work on other art without dipping into that comic making time.

[shinavar]

Oh this looks fun!

For Entanglement: Along the Seam

• I'm proud that I finally got over my hang ups and fears to even start this! Entanglement's been a dream-brainchild of mine that's turning 16 in March so finally dedicating to it to work out the kinks and start making it as a comic has been a huge step for me! (Let alone posting it online XD Hitting the ground running I suppose!)

• I'm proud that I am pacing myself and working on everything gradually. Scripting is only done on weekends, the comic updates once a week without hiccups. I'm starting to draw to a chapter I scripted out last year, which is both exciting that I am working at such a good pace (and motivating for me to work ahead because holy crap has it really been a year ).

• I'm proud for, honestly, everything I have done this last year towards the comic. I've had to learn CSS/HTML/PHP (and still am), learning a lot about managing a website, learning about pacings, paneling in general, scripting, lettering, sound effects - it's all one massive learning system that just doesn't stop! This was the sort've stuff that's stopped me for years of chasing after this (on top of negative people telling me no) and honestly now that I've started I honestly can't see why I never started earlier? I love to learn. It's challenging but challenges have always been something I enjoy so I am proud of all that. /Sap

• I'm thankful for all of my supporters this year who have had my back; from the loud boisterous ones right down to the silent supporters that the only reason I know they are there is because of a number. You, too, are much loved silent supporters whoever you are! <3

• I'm thankful to my impromptu editor who decided to cling to my leg! <3 You have been a savior and then some! (She's not on Tapastic yet! )

• I wish to improve on my networking and communication skills for 2016. I've always promised to wait until Entanglement was a year old before really trying.

• I wish to improve on a lot of things actually. Speech Bubbles, more lettering, sound effects, backgrounds (dear god backgrounds), juggling a child and real life with my work (and further work), finding better ways to get ahead so I feel like I have more time for learning and practicing new things. So just a little bit of everything that I hope I can focus on to give it the time and love learning each deserves in 2016.