Share your story: How did you get into webcomics?

[michaelson]

[pottedlilgoree]

my experience:
well
it's like...breathing?
you just, do
it's not much of a conscious decision/event for me i think
this one answer is for all questions... reading, making, liking (print or not) - all feel like breathing
as you might guess, nothing changed much about how i think of comics - print or not

for creators:
well...we don't really simply stop breathing even when life gets hard now, do we?

[pottedlilgoree]

this sounds so divine <3

[jacintawibowo]

Oh wow! That's amazing! We can't wait to hear everyone's stories <3 thank you, Tapastic's really improving our forum experience :')

[jacintawibowo]

Yes that's true. It's a visual medium, so it catches people's attention quicker. I'm sure there's a group of novel readers and writers somewhere on Twitter. I brushed against them briefly after making fanart of a novel I liked. The community's there, but not really a site for it.

Mhmm I see. The good news for comic writing is that it's generally more explicit than say, movie/tv scripts. The action is more animated so explaining things or feelings isn't as necessary. The transition is definitely going to be weird the first time, but you'll get the hang of it with practice!

[jacintawibowo]

When I read more on the internet I realized what was concerned good an bad in the storytelling, characters etc. I always did sort of my own thing but my original plans were everything but original. It was cliché and done a 1000000 times before.

Honestly, that's totally what I was hoping you'd say! It's tough for people to change their stories that they've planned for so long. A lot of the stories we planned "for an eternity" are often the most unoriginal, because we're actually pulling from other pre-existing stories without realizing it. Being open to change is super important.

Dang! Such a hassle to get comics! I used to order printed comics on Amazon when I started getting into Marvel/DC comics, but now with Comixology it's much easier (and cheaper without international shipping!) do you have a comixology account?

Oh! Yes I do! I'm the artist and writer of Tales from the Well. I work on it with my twin sister :B

[jacintawibowo]

She's amazing! She's one of the big names in webcomics right now :]

[zelkats]

I got into webcomics when I was a puny teen back in 2004-ish? I found a lot of webcomics through onlinecomics.net which is pretty much gone now. It worked like topwebcomics.com but back then it was THE place to get your comic known (every webcomic I knew back then had links to the site hoping that people would go there and vote/comment).

Through there, I found and followed a whole bunch of online comics like Sarah Ellerton's Inverloch, Amy Kim Ganter (my favourite. Got published by Tokyopop one time)'s Reman Mythology, Directions of Destiny, Red String, The Way to your Heart, Flipside, @VermillionWorks ' Vampire Phantasm, Earthsong, Nina Matsumoto's Saturnalia and plenty more.

They're definitely different than published and printed comics and mangas in some ways. I adored the personalised websites, the character bio pages, galleries, guestbooks, shoutboxes, forums dedicated to those webcomics <3

Those webcomics inspired me to start a webcomic for many years and failed many attempts until recently, lol. I even made quite a few web designs with zero comic pages in them because who doesn't love to dream LOL.

[Jewe11s]

@zelkats AGH! Inverloch, Reman Myth, Earthsong and Saturnalia were all on my early reading list too! (I kept up with Sarah's Pheonix Requeim for the whole run and I am still reading Earthsong today! )

Earthsong was my very first webcomic. I too was a little teen in the early 2000's (maybe it was '06 for me) and the once or twice a year purchase of an Archie Comic from the grocery store was just not enough for me anymore. I vaguely remember searching 'free comic online' or something in google and - wham - I found Earthsong. From there I also found Fey Winds, Undertow, Sokora Refugees, Order of the Stick, Haru Sari, and a whole bunch more
I was addicted and still am.

[GFalconDX]

I started reading webcomics beginning with Megatokyo. From there, I got into other webcomics like Instrument of War, which is gone now, but I really loved how accessable they were. But I didn't realize that I wanted to do webcomics until around 2013, after not being able to find an animation job, and not doing too well in the field of Visual Effects, and I decided to try my hand at drawing webcomics, starting with the comic that I have, which was in it's early iteration on paper at the time.

Now, after a few restarts, I'm 1-2 pages away from completing the 1st chapter (yeah, I'm only able to work on it on my own free time). But it's slowly gaining momentum, at least to me. I'm hoping to ultimately make this a full-time career, but for now, I'm going to keep this going one page at a time.

[jacintawibowo]

Ooh what an interesting way to get into comics! Was your dad a comics collector? Or was it a hobby thing of his?

Her mom would buy us manga, or if I couldn't afford any my friend would let me borrow some of hers.

Aaw that's so sweet! You were like a little manga appreciation team (also hey! I read some of Fables too!).
Haha, I totally get you with the "mind explosion" over making comics XD when I found out people were drawing original comics with original characters and everything, I just exploded with awe :b
did you and your friend ever finish 3RWT (the story)? Or was it a project that was dropped and you two moved on from?

Your passion for webcomics really shows in your artistic progress. Regardless of the projects you've done and the different career paths you've taken, you keep coming back to comics, and that's admirable!
Super cool that your first solo webcomic got picked up by a publisher! You've definitely got a lot of webcomics in your future.
Do you see yourself taking on webcomics professionally as a career path, or as a hobby?

[jacintawibowo]

I've never heard of Sinfest or Whomp before! Looks like they're both really well-known and established comics.

Definitely good to just try comics! Even if it's just to test the waters. It helps to start somewhere!
With the good reception you're getting on your current comic, do you see yourself coming back to your story comics? Or are you comfortable with your current comic series?

[jacintawibowo]

Hmm, I see. I don't think it's unheard of for creators to lose motivation in their webcomics. That does happen, and it can be a challenge to get back on your feet.
I don't think you should worry so much about your story having writing issues, a lot of people in this discussion have admitted to writing very flawed stories when they started (myself included!). Many of them had to re-boot series or start anew, and there's no shame in that at all.

I think right now your response shows a lot of uncertainty, and your anxiety is kind of coming out of this fear of the unknown. To combat that, take a moment to really figure out all the "maybes" you're thinking about. I can tell you already that no one expects "strong imagination" in a story. That's not what makes a story good. Be honest and get objective, list down what you can improve on. With an attack plan, you'll have a direction and certainty. Confidence will come in time :] I'm familiar with anxiety, and understand that it can really take a toll on self-confidence. I'm still nervous with talking to new people online here and on twitter, but constant practice goes a long way. Don't be afraid to make mistakes, they're essential to the learning process.
I talked on there for a while, but I hope that helps even a little bit.

[jacintawibowo]

I see. Looks like you've used your resources before the program discontinued :B
It's good to hear there's another school to help out comic-industry peeps out there :3

[jacintawibowo]

I agree, actually. Tumblr's great for getting work out there and having an organized doodle/portfolio blog, but I found it super painful that I couldn't respond to comments or reblogs. There's no proper messaging system, and the site's strength is in getting fandoms to notice fanart than getting original content be discovered :b You'd have to be a pretty established and popular artist to have a successful webcomic on tumblr.

Haha XD exactly right? The characters are all amazing! Cucumber Quest is doing a fascinating job with giving us the unexpected with her characters. I definitely have a soft spot for Nightmare Knight's quiet side, I really want to know more about him! I hope he'll have a chance to talk to Cucumber more :<
That's good, we both have a mad love for CQ >:D

[jacintawibowo]

Wow! First person in the discussion who mentions finding comics through Google+ XD
I agree! Tapastic's got a great way of showcasing soo much quality reading material!
Honestly, that's a great way of getting into comics! I love the fact tapastic is encouraging readers to become creators, and how easy that process is. Before Tapastic, posting comics on the internet was very intimidating, with no guarantee of any readership.
It's awesome that you found yourself and your purpose through Tapastic and comic-making. Do you see yourself continuing this craft in the future, professionally?

[jacintawibowo]

Hmm I guess it's different for some people. I know artists that make beautiful drawings, and when I ask how they make it, they shrug it off and say "I dunno, I just do it." not really informative (or helpful), but it shows that it comes naturally for them.
I myself, don't personally work that way. Comics takes a lot of conscious decision-making and brainwork to get working compositions and readable pages for me.

What's your work flow like? Is there method to it, or is it "just do"?

[Doubtcent]

I really have no idea. I can see myself getting better through time, for sure, but as for becoming a professional? That's up to the readers and how long my perseverance goes. To be paid for art is a dream, but not the one that has a lot of bearing on what I make.
My goal is in fact to get better, and to make something I can be proud of. And as I keep going forward, I'm finding that I'm prouder of the stuff I make currently, and rather put off by my older stuff. Of course, I suppose that's normal. 0-0

[pottedlilgoree]

Oh... sorry for not being very helpful... i thought it's good to present my take on the matter and such...
I guess I'm that "just do" person - but that's a short answer
I want to be helpful - though for now i don't know the long answer for "how"
I can try to describe the specific details of some of my thoughts and feelings - but i guess that's just too much off-topic info

On a more related note - I really appreciate and believe that Tales from the Well are very well composed both visual and story wise it's an honor to read such nice comic

[iestavien]

I wanted to share my comics with a wider audience. And what better way to do that than the internet? Although, that hasn't worked out as good as I expected. I still want to have my comic published though. I don't understand how to do that yet. But it's too soon to do that anyway, I don't have enough material to publish yet.