Remember the moment you wanted to be an artist?

[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.

[amortelito]

You are the sweetest, Thank you so much for the support it means the world to me.

[Snooze_R_tist]

You're welcome, It's my pleasure!
Now, I have to go to control the diabetes from the sweetness xD

[lynestjules]

I think any artist is brave in a way. Technically, we're going against the grain, there's always risks and we often have to take some kind of leap. It could be that it's not that you're not as brave as before, but that you don't need to be. Plus, as an adult, the risks are bigger, so they get scarier. But, if you pursue any kind of art career, you're brave in my book.

Well, it didn't win, it was far too dark for them. Clearly, as I was almost diagnosed as a person with a severe mental disorder because of it. Despite that, they did interview me during a job fair, because I showed potential. Reader's Digest also suggested I needed to seek some kind psychological help. I stopped trying to get it published. Everybody is very quiet and weird around me after they read it.

[amortelito]

Hmmm some people don't understand that fiction allows us to explore crazy ideas from a point of safety. It, not that we aspire to be like the people in the stories. If I write about an abusive relationship, or a killer, or a kid that kills their family doesn't mean I think it is okay in real life, it is just interesting. It has to do with pouring your emotions. Sometimes you truly are damaged and want to have an artistic outlet, but people do overreact to reading "weird stuff".
If you make your story public I would love to read it. In fact, I will check your comic, looks interesting!

[thel3tterm]

Oh man, it was the third grade for me too!
A friend was getting rid of things, and gave me a copy of "How to draw more manga" that his little brother had trashed. Most of the pages were missing, and in retrospect the art wasn't that great, but as a little kid I loved it. Some of the basics were still in there, and I had a lot of fun trying to design characters.
Obviously, it stuck, and I still draw constantly.