Remember the moment you wanted to be an artist?

[sartinjacqueline05]

Any type in general really. Not just comic artist. I remember exactly when I decided I wanted to make my own cartoons.

I was in 3rd grade when I started drawing cartoon characters. Alot of them were fanart of course. The first character fanart i ever did was Stitch from Lilo and Stitch. That was when I decided to learn how to draw really good (at least for an 8 year old). It wasn't until 4th grade when 9 year old Jacqueline was sitting at her tiny desk and received a pamphlet from some rando who walked by and continued to hand them out to the other students. The pamphlet showed the characters from Fosters Home For Imaginary Friends and said the school was holding a contest for students to create their own imaginary friend or cartoon character and the winner would be put on tv. Excited, I decided to try it out. Ended up making some weird orange, bucked toothed, aardvark thing. And sent it in. Didnt get anything back unfortunately, but it was because of that I realized I love making my own characters and thats where my journey took off.

I guess I can thank that rando with the pamphlet for inducing my passion.

[Kajaysee]

My earliest memory of drawing stuff was in 3rd grade I think when I tried drawing some gen 1 pokemon. (They were terrible of course.) But pretty much through the rest of elementary school I just drew a bunch of fanart from shows I watched and games that I played. They were just for fun, and at the time, I didn't really think much of it. It wasn't until 5th or 6th grade where I started creating some OCs and some general story ideas for them. It slowly became more and more of an interest as I grew up, and what REALLY sparked my interest in it was a girl in my 6th grade class who was super good at drawing. And in my little brain I thought "hey, I want to draw stuff like that too!(Also sat next to her in one of my high school classes and she's a phenomenal artist now. I wouldn't be surprised if she becomes famous for her work.)

It wasn't until middle school that I fully realized I loved to create characters and stories and I wanted to share them with other people. (But I was too shy at the time to actually show any of my drawing to my friends. -v-" ) And my hobby just sort of took off after that. I drew in class, out of class, late at night at home, sacrificing my sleep sometimes, the good ol' days.

I suppose I have that girl to thank for unknowingly sparking my interest! Thanks Sharon!
(she'll probably never see this, but I'll thank her anyway)

[SagaHolmgaard]

I think I've been making stories for as long as I can remember. Kid me made litle 'zines' without knowing that was a thing, just little illustrated story books for myself :>
I think I was maybe 12 or so when I first started thinking I wanted to be a children's book writer and illustrator. Before that I had wanted to be a photographer or just an author. At this point I probably also fantasized about getting a job drawing my favorite comics at the time (a swedish kids' comic that I was obsessed with), but whenver I tried drawing comics I thought it was too hard.

Was maybe 16 when I got interested in making comics for real, and started doing some casual comic projects that eventually led me to the comic I'm currently drawing!

[demthorshie]

I was in 1st grade when I realized that art was the path I wanted to go down. This may sound silly, but we were having a mini art contest in my 1st grade class and I remember drawing a frog on a water lily as my submission. I ended up winning the 1st place prize in my class and my classmates and teacher were amazed with the art. My teacher encouraged me to keep going with my art, which wasn't that hard to do since I loved to draw and color already back then.

[magnavarra]

My grandfather was an artist so I kinda started drawing before I've learned how to talk despite wanting it or not - it just felt natural. Me and my sister always went to art classes in various schools we have changed for various reasons, learning traditional painting, pencil, oil, watercoloros, even clay sculpting, sumi-e and maga and comics eventually. Later we parted our ways - she went to a graphic design college while I focused on IT whcih lead me to digital drawing and becoming a vfx artist.
And my sister is a tattoo artist now))

[malwdark]

I was always drawing so, don't remember when it started. But I do remmember when I wanted to be comic artist, I was like 11yo and got a school asignment 'Make a comic strip inspired on this news article'. I loved to do that.

[KiabIce]

For me it was 3rd grade too.

[ar-ninetysix]

I remember wanting to be an artist very clearly, and it didn't go anywhere since music took over my life instead. Now I'm barely good at either lol

Sketching backgrounds come more naturally to me than people now and honestly I bet if I really put my heart and soul into that, it'd be good enough for people that'd want a background artist.. but that's gonna require a lot of time and effort I don't really have at the moment tbh

[Kelheor]

Clearly! We were at my grandmom's the summer before I went to school, it was the first Sailor Moon episode I ever watched (don't remember which one though). I believe I only made it in time for the last 5 minutes+ending at first, but I immediately was

because oh my gods I fell in love with the characters and art and music, and I wanted to draw like this

[lynestjules]

Summer of 1992, when I was 9 years old, on Merritt Island after visiting the Kennedy Space Center with my parents. I told them that when I grow up, I wanted to be an animator. They shot me down and told me that I wasn't going to be an artist, I didn't have the talent and it wasn't a real job.
Bet they don't remember that conversation, they'd feel pretty low if they did. I became an animator, but I've moved on to graphic design eventually because I got annoyed to work under a contract and I was sick of moving around.

[sartinjacqueline05]

Its a shame when parents say that art isnt a real job. Considering how much blood, sweat and tears we pour into it. i remember my parents were discouraging about it at first, but they eventually came around.

[ninjashira]

I think I knew from the age of five or six that I wanted to be an artist. My mom would draw for us all the time when we were little, and encouraged us to do it too. She drew paper dolls for us to play with, and then she would only draw three outfits, and if we wanted to make more outfits for our paper dolls, we had to draw them ourselves.

My favorite thing she used to do was, anytime we had a nightmare, she would draw a picture of an angel for us to keep under our pillow to scare the nightmares away.

Because she would always do those things for us, I really got into drawing from a very young age, and just always knew I wanted to find a way to make it my career somehow.

[lynestjules]

They did come around eventually, because it's my life. Parents tend to want their children to have big dreams, but sometimes, those dreams are so big and difficult to achieve.It gets scary for them, because the percentage of people who can actually make a living is so small and there's high chances of disappointment or failure in their future.

[amortelito]

I always loved drawing, but I didn't take it seriously.
One day I made a landscape, with UFOs and floating cows and I got a lot of attention I suddenly felt like I had interesting ideas and maybe I could be an artist. Then the teacher trashed my work, and asked to see my parents because I was too weird. Everyone laughed at me.

I have been self-conscious since that horrible experience in which I felt in a "witch hunt" and even now I have trouble sharing my art. This experience confirmed to me that I was out of the box, that I could be an artist, but also made me ashamed of sharing. It was so long ago but was very traumatic.

[NickRowler]

I always was into being creative. In 3rd and 4th grade, I got into making comics and developing characters. I then became obsessed with coming up with characters and giving them back stories however I struggled with a huge hurdle of having dyslexia and beIng told I could never be a writer. So most if my ideas had to stay in my head. In middle school I was inspired to write comics with storylines and I carried around a four subject notebook through high school which I took comic notes in.

[lynestjules]

Oh my! That's a horrible thing to happen! Especially when you're just starting to learn a skill. You try to hard and then someone just crushes you. it's not cool.

I'm glad it didn't make you quit. If it makes you feel any better, I was sent to a psychiatrist because of a short story I wrote for a contest. If you want to think about the silver lining in this experience, you made an impression and you will mostly likely not be forgotten. Because, that company sure didn't forget me.

[dinoboo]

I always wanted to make comics ever since I was in 3rd grade. My first comics were about me and my best friend discovering a utopia with magical animals. They were kinda based on dragon city and games like that. I remember clearly about how I cried furiously about how I wasn't able to publish them since they were done on paper. I wrote like 4-5 thirty paged volumes up until 5th grade when I lost motivation. In 7th grade, I began to make comics again, this time about my classmates that I did not like. After 8th grade I stopped making comics again. Now as a to be junior in high school with a drawing tablet, my motivation to draw and write comics rose again. This time with a comic about my classmates imagined as dinosaurs. I have confidence that I can improve my art now.

Dinosaur prodigies

[amortelito]

was sent to a psychiatrist because of a short story I wrote for a contest.

Well done, high five! It must have been really good!

Now I really take pride in scaring people with my stuff, it means that I'm leaving a mark. Back then what hurt the most was that nobody supported me, my parents told me to be normal and draw normal. So I did, we had to make other works and my technique was the best so I was asked to participate in the expo for the class. It took place the last day...so I walked to the classroom, took my stuff from the exhibition and nobody could do anything because I was literally graduating. I think I was braver as a kid than as an adult.

[Snooze_R_tist]

As one of the fan of your art work, I haven't seen any negligence in your part till now.

You have worked hard in your creation and I think all the fans of your series will agree with same.

So, keep up the great work you are doing!

Well, as for the UFO's and cow.. most of kids think they fly alongside.. maybe?

[dinoboo]

I read your webtoon and it is so good.