Share your story: How did you get into webcomics?

[jacintawibowo]

Hey guys, this is our first time in the Tapastic forums, so here we go!
We'd like to ask you guys about your experience getting into webcomics. What got you into reading and or making webcomics? What do you like about comics on the web that are different from printed comics? Did webcomics change the way you think about comics?

Let us know your story!

Also for creators: we know webcomics aren't an easy feat, so what made you decide to go at it? And how do you keep yourselves motivated to keep going?

[eschaefges]

Fun topic!
Long version:
I have been reading print comics since I was about 11 or so, and steadily branched out from mainstream Marvel/DC to include Dark Horse, Image, manga, Oni, and others. In college I would read PVP or Penny Arcade and get some chuckles, and would draw my own comics and put them online. They were short, awful things, and I didn't think of it as "making a webcomic". It wasn't until a friend mentioned that HE was IN a webcomic (the old strip Mac Hall was done by his college floormate, so he was a character) that I seriously considered it.

I first made a webcomic called Red Pixel vs. Blue Pixel where the main characters were literally one pixel big and argued about life on the monitor screen. I don't think its on the internet anymore. Then the aforementioned friend and I made a comic called Ground Floor (which you can still see some of online) - I did it for over 500 strips and even printed a book of the first 225 or so, but the art was simplistic and we switch to using Bitstrips (before that became popular). Then I got busy with work and marriage and kids and forgot about making webcomics (though by this time I had started reading a bunch more, and loved supporting them via Kickstarter).

When my daughter was six months old (4 years ago now), I realized I had never really given the webcomic/graphic novel thing a good try, and sat down to write what would become A Legend (of some sort). I decided to write and draw the entire thing before I put it online, lest I start something and not finish. As such, I have 208 inked pages sitting next to me here, and have lettered & colored all of them, with shading left on the back 38. Nearly done! Hence my daily updates!

Naturally, I've decided that once I finish this story, I will be working on something new. Can't give up being a creator! It's the best!

Short version:
Me read comics long time, many false starts to write one, finally did it, took forever.

[samuraiotaku]

My first experience in reading webcomics started back in the early 2000's with Megatokyo. My older brother bought the first 2 volumes one day and since then, I had become a huge fan of Fred's. As for drawing webcomics, it all started a year or two ago when my friend started up his own comic on Smack Jeeves called Love Apocalypse. I had no idea that there were sites that you could easily upload your work and so I following in his foot steps and started my own comic about a year after him. It's almost been a year since I started drawing my own comic now coming up to my first anniversary in 10 days (^^)

[ashriott]

Hmm can't 100% remember! But I did stumble onto some websites dedicated solely to one webcomic series when I was younger. Those sites were affliated with other original webcomic sites too. Those sites not only shaed their comic, but character profiles, a gallery, trivia etc... I loved the idea and thought that it was a great way to share comics and get an audience without having to go through publishers. I had a passion for website design back then too, so the pretty layouts excited me. I found Smackjeeves and some other webcomic sharing platforms a turn-off, cause I hated their ugleh website layouts, so I stayed away from those back then xD

I then stumbled onto the Tokypop website when it was up and running with OELs and users uploading their personal works. I uploaded a few, which was probably one of the first times I shared my comic online (the other time being a short-lived Pokemon webcomic on Serebii.net forums, but that's another story).

For a long time the goal was to set up an official website for my webcomics, but it wasn't gonna happen if I wasn't very dedicated. Considering I fluctuated in and out of comic making over the years due to poor time management and lack of experience didn't help. Now that I'm older and hopefully wiser, it's a lot easier to make and upload webcomics with awesome sites like Tapastic. Also, I can't forget to mention my acceptance of the ugleh Smackjeeves layout.

[AnnaLandin]

I've always been reading comics. Some of my earliest memories are of my mother reading me Asterix-albums as bedtime stories - doing all the voices and everything! So reading comics has always been sort of natural to me. As for webcomics, though.... that came later.

My older brother, who has always been more computer savvy than myself, told me one day that hey, there are people who post comics online for anyone to read! This sounded fascinating to me, so every day after school - back in the days when we were on dialup, and only had one old, slow computer to share - I'd sneak some time on the internet before my brother got home and read webcomics. The first one, as I recall, was Penny Arcade. I read a bunch of gag-a-day strips, but then kind of stumbled into adventure stories and dramatic stuff. I remember reading Evan Dahm's Rice Boy back before it was even finished.

I didn't start making webcomics (or comics, full stop) until I was 16. For some weird reason, I've been drawing since I was old enough to hold a pen, but the thought that I could make comics just never clicked with me - even though I loved telling stories. It wasn't until I was 16, and got to pick any project I liked to do for school (it was an art-focused high school), that I took the plunge and made a webcomic. It was absolutely terrible, went nowhere, had no point, and was seriously awkward - let us never speak of it again - but it let me dip my toes into the ocean of webcomics-making, and I've been drawing comics ever since.

Some of them as webcomics, some of them as fanzines, some of them for competitions and anthologies and who knows what else. Grassblades is my first longer-format ongoing webcomic, but I have finished longer-format comics before - specifically, a 168 page graphic novel called Fathoms of the Sky. I also do a 24-part comic/illustrated story every year for Christmas, as a countdown/calendar type deal. I do one-shots on the side, while working on Grassblades. I turn #inktober into an opportunity to draw 31 illustrations in narrative sequence.

It took me a while to get there, but I'm pretty sure comics are my home now.

[jacintawibowo]

Ooh wow you've been a pretty dedicated comic reader since you were quite young! I was never confident enough to get into Marvel/DC until quite recently.

You mentioned making some short comics and other projects before moving on to your current webcomic, which I think is a really good point. It's really important to learn comics by making comics, and you've shown that very clearly in your artistic journey.
Dang! That's an impressive buffer too. Happy comicking! Since you've had a break from drawing/writing comics because of marriage and kids, did it take some getting used to before coming back to webcomics again? Or was it natural for you, and not hard at all to get back into comics?

Awesome, glad you're enjoying your time being a creator, and here's to your current and future comic's success!

[jacintawibowo]

I've heard of Megatokyo somewhere! Definitely way back when. It's neat what makes an impression on us that got us started doing what we liked. Have you ever contacted the creator by any chance?
Aw that's so cool! Happy almost-anniversary! It's great having art friends to inspire us and to follow. Is your friend still keeping their comic updated? :]

[jacintawibowo]

So like their main site? That's really cool! What a great way to network and suggest other reading material for readers. And I agree, it's really nice seeing these strange stories in webcomics that might not have been approved under a publisher. Great way to get into comics too!
Haha ohmygosh Smackjeeves. We were actually given an option in webcomics class to post our comics onto either Tapastic or Smackjeeves, and Tapastic's modern design won me over way quicker (along with pretty much everyone in class) XD

Did you ever get out of the habit of going "in and out of comic making"? Or is that a feeling that still happens? Have you found a way to combat it, or are you comfortable with that as your work flow? : )

[jacintawibowo]

That is actually really boss of your mom to do! It's super epic-awesome that comics came to you naturally that way. It's sometimes tough getting into comics considering the stigma that's attached to it being a low-brow art and "not a real book". I certainly struggled reading comics because it was frowned upon in school!

Haha ohmygosh the olden days of sharing one very slow computer. I know exactly the feeling (and we both have computer savvy brothers, that's fascinating)! Penny Arcade always felt like it was there since forever! And it's still going strong too. So your double life of being a webcomic reader had commenced at that point! :B

Holy moly we have a seriously similar way of getting into webcomics XD You totally get it! We started making a (terrible, terrible, absolutely horrible) webcomic when we were 13 years old for a highschool project. We made another webcomic when we were 14 that was also equally terrible! It was a really good experience though, because since it was a school project, it meant you couldn't back out and that you absolutely had to finish it. I think if it wasn't for that, I wouldn't have gotten into comic-making! Was that high-school assignment like a Personal Project of sorts? How did your art-focused high school work exactly? (I'm fascinated because often art is not very emphasized at school!)

I like that your artistic journey helped a lot with persistent practice of the medium. It makes a lot of sense how you got to where you are now, with the very top-notch art we're seeing in Grassblades.
HOLY HOLY HECK WHY ARE WE SO SIMILAR! (I'm sorry I keep saying that but this is getting weird now XD) We also TOTALLY DID Christmas comics every year for 4 years! They were about our original cast of wacky Victorians up to weird stuff every Christmas. Excellent way of doing one shots and practicing!

Comic home <3 it's been a long journey for you, and hopefully one that'll continue to bigger and better places! Keep up the awesome job with Grassblades B)

[fishscribbles]

For me, as a reader, it was finding and reading fan translations of korean webtoons, catching up with the translations searching out for the original, and then finding out there was a official translation site, LINE Webtoon. Other than the translated webtoons, there were webcomics in a vertical format, like Newman, Elena,and Shoot Around, so I started to read those and I fell in love with them.
As for anything outside of that website, I was introduced to Tapastic by my twin, and then I went prowling on my own.
Fish

[eschaefges]

It was hard in the sense that I hadn't drawn regularly - and the first 20-40 pages show that (the ones posting now) - later pages in the series get a bit more confident in the lineart as I go. A comparison I posted elsewhere of my first drawing of the protagonist 4 years ago and one i did two weeks ago:

So yeah, it took a little while! I needed the buffer because there were sometimes months-long breaks where I had little-to-no time to draw or color - and if I had released my comic as I was drawing it, it would've had a terrible schedule and I would've lost any audience I'd manage to get. Moral I guess: Know your weaknesses and plan for them?

[samuraiotaku]

My Friends comic is completed and he's curently working on a new series called "Cabertoss Girls" on tapastic. I Got to meet and get the autograph of the creator of Megatokyo. He was super cool and nice. He had his own panel at anime expo one year. it was so much fun.

[Pandastrophic]

As a kid I loved making comics and in like 7th grade I started posting a comics I was drawing on piczo before I even knew what the term 'webcomics' was. But then I left that since I got bored of the comic.

I officially discovered that there are other people posting comics a few years later, I started reading awkward zombie and then discovered Smackjeeves where I read a bit then started my first official webcomic on there which didn't do very well and I personally wasn't happy with it either. I stopped working on it after a year and sort of convinced myself I'm a bad writer then got into making adopts and doing other stuff. (This was around 2012)

My friend then introduced me to tapastic and I started to really enjoy reading some comics here, it was so much better than smackjeeves XD. Comics like American ghost jack and jujus diary are probably my inspiration for starting my own webtoon style comic, a style that I felt more comfortable with.

[getsuart]

I got into comics because of scantrad.
And plus, there are tons of story on the internet that are just amazing.

(and mostly by pure luck)

[ikushina]

Once upon a time when I was a mini Kushina, I wanted to be a cartoonist/mangaka sooooo badly. I found out that many mangakas got in the industry by entering contests, so I wanted to do the same.

Yeeeeeeeeeeeears later when I got more advanced at technology and found out that you also can publish stuff ONLINE, so I wanted to try it out too :'D
/For now I only create comics for fun x) maybe i'll enter a comic contest some day in the future~/

[jessiepolfliet]

Well to put it simply. I had stories play in my head like a animation serie. But I have no experience in animation. I am good at drawing so I drew the stories out. Printing costs money, but then I learned of this magical place called:the internet. I love web comics now. thousands of amazing web comics for free, just at your disposal.

[ashriott]

Yeah! Like their main site lol. I was trying to think of the word to use but had a total blank at the time xD

The habit of "going in and out of comic making" was a long time ago, I'm pretty dedicated now! Back then I kept drawing and scrapping the same story again and again cause I wasn't happy with it. Also uni work and life got the in the way so it was hard to find the time D: I think was waiting for a stage where I could get my webcomic right the first time, if that makes sense. Despite that I still did a lot of redraws. But the luxury with webcomics is nothing is set in stone and you can go back and change things!

[insomniascrawl]

I've always liked telling stories and just writing and posting it online wasn't getting me a ton of feedback so I wanted to try something new. Also I read some Korean webtoons when I was younger and I really loved them and sort of wished I could make them too, a few years later and here I am! They're fun to make and it reaches more people than when I was simply writing, so I like it. Guess my reason is pretty simple haha.

[joannekwan]

Well I never got into reading webcomics until I joined Tap to upload my own stuff. I just really love the platform here and reading multiple series and keeping up with them is so easy.

As for how I started, I've always liked drawing sequential art, and I've done comics before for my own amusement. In college I was seriously considering starting a couple of my projects to try and submit them to publishers; then after some research, I realized the web was a much easier place to get a foot in. It wasn't until my friend suggested this site that I actually began a couple of my projects and started to share them with the world.

I appreciate how some people have used gifs to tell their stories, but print will always be the objective for me. I love holding real paper copies of things in my hands.

My main motivation is to complete my stories, because I have a bunch all scripted out. It's satisfying having them all drawn and finished. But of course, every week I am also encouraged by my readers' likes and comments, especially comments.

[jacintawibowo]

Fascinating! For you, what was the difference between online and printed comics? Did you stick to webtoons because of the ease of the format? Both Webtoons and Tapastic are great for formating comics for mobile reading, I find a lot of people are reading comics from their phones these days (which is great for us creators! Another audience to tap into!).
Those comics look really good too! I hope I have time to read them one day : )