May 2021
23 / 44
May 2021
May 2021
thedude3445
May '21
spiderbrahdfo13

You're still very young, so you really don't need to worry about any of this. You're making way more progress than you think.

Maybe you should give up on collaborations though, for a couple years. Focus on writing scripts, improving your craft. Branch out to short stories and poetry, lots of smaller projects for yourself. Do the same thing with drawing. Small projects made for practice and fun. You'll get better and better all on your own until suddenly one day you look at yourself and realize, "Holy crap I've improved so much."

If comics really are your passion, then practicing both writing (in all mediums, but especially scripts), and art (in many styles and different software) should be paramount here. Have fun with them both! But don't try to rush through trying to make the giant pro projects when it's too expensive and too expansive; it's just a road to frustration. Trust me on that one; a skilled enough internet stalker could very easily dig up 5 or 10 failed collab projects I had when I was 17 that were way too ambitious and took up way too much of my time. I really had much more fun working on smaller stuff later on.

liamnaughton7
May '21

Christ, 17. You're only a baby yet.
The great thing about comics is the low entry barrier. Even if your works a little rough your storytelling can still shine through. I say chance your hole and start drawing. Comics have a great way of putting you through your paces in a way that practice drawings and tutorials won't because the story will demand certain things from you.
Also, if you've made your fair share of work on your own steam it may be easier to net an artist for other work. I don't know about everyone else but I'm far more keen to work with someone who's actually wrangler with the medium themselves.

spiderbrahdfo13
May '21

My art is not even really all that readable even when I have been trying to improve.

Kaydreamer
May '21

You have so much time to learn new skills. So much time. My drawings were still absolutely terrible three years after I started trying to learn as well, it takes a long, long time. By saying you'll never improve, you're only creating a self-fulfilling prophesy. I have a friend in his mid 30's who only started learning how to draw a few years ago, also in order to create a comic, and his figures and perspective are only just now starting to come along nicely. He's still only working with pencil, and has a while yet to go before he can actually transition to digital and begin his comic in earnest, but he's on the right path. Again. Mid 30's.

I don't know what this society has done to convince 17 year olds they're too old to learn new skills, but wow. No dude. You're so young.

Art takes many years to learn. Art takes a long time to create, which is why you're having trouble finding an artist to work for free.

The only way to improve with art is to just do it, draw heaps and heaps, and accept that for the first few years, your drawings will probably be terrible. Enjoy making them anyway, and appreciate the improvements as they come.

If it's not just that you're not good at drawing yet, and it's more that you hate drawing, then there are other ways to get a script into the world. (You stated above you hate novels.) You can structure it like a play and upload it to the novel section. You could look for voice actors to turn it into a radio play on YouTube. Or, you could just hold onto it, refine it over the years, and see if a comic publisher will buy the rights from you. (In which case, they pay for the artist.)

But seriously, the best way to get a comic created is to learn how to draw it yourself. Accept that will take many years, and enjoy the journey.

Shanny8
May '21
Rhonder

THIS. There have been too many posts/threads with writers facing the same dilemma doing the same thing as listed above. No artist is going to stay on a project that long- especially if it isnt their own.

You might wanna start out with a shorter project.

My interpretation of a "collab" is me going in 50/50 with someone, not me contracting/hiring someone for something.

Upon reading more of this I do agree...you're 17, you have PLENTY of time to learn to draw and get good at it. I've seen plenty of artists do a complete turn around with their skills in a short amount of years- but they also probably sat at least every day working on it at one aspect or another. You have to be willing to put in the time to do it...

I wish I had access to computers and digital art at 17(I only had notebook paper and BIC mechanical pencils :sob:)...now I'm XXXX and putting every iota of energy into catching up. Some days it sucks(aint gonna lie); other days it's cool as heck.

Ordinaryaverageguy
May '21
spiderbrahdfo13

You gave a thumbs down to whatever has been suggested. I don't know what else you can do to bring your project to completion anytime soon.
Maybe this is just a bad time? Like a little depression, and things may not be as impossible in the future.

rajillustration
May '21

You're probably looking for someone to tell you to give up because you're too old and it's too expensive or whatever, but a lot of people on this forum are like in our 30's. 17 years old is an excellent time to start drawing, and ten years go by quicker than you'd think.

As for the cost, publishing is very expensive, there's no way around it. Illustrators cost a lot, which is why standard publishing exists to cover those costs. Self publishing is WAY cheaper than it has been in the past, but it's still going to be a heavy investment, and you'll want to be older before you start making those type of investment decisions. That and like...you don't spend that money all at once--you do it per chapter, per page, over the course of many years. 15 chapters is a lot. (depending on length, too).

My suggestion is...if you don't want to do art but just want to write--write a book. Not everything needs to be a comic, and you can upload art to a webnovel. That way you might only commission like 1 or 2 drawings, and you can do it with other high schooler artists who will be a much more affordable range for you since they are your age, too.

Ordinaryaverageguy
May '21

Sorry to hear that... I know it can be overwhelming sometimes & then it feels like everything is doomed. Don't give up, even if you have to put it aside for a while.

T4pasBelongsToKaka0
May '21
spiderbrahdfo13

WTF? plenty of artists that would do 4 chapters per month for just 200 dollars a month, that absurd price you're quoting is only for artists living in the first world, I know that because I live in the third world and I see freelancers here asking for 200~250 dollars a month (which is above minimum wage where I live)

spiderbrahdfo13
May '21

really? I keeping looking for lower prices like that and I couldn't find many that I liked.

sorible
May '21
spiderbrahdfo13

This isn't meant to tear you down, just a tough love(?) kind of post.

This depends on each person, how hard you are willing to work and how passionate you are about your project. I was a traditional artist, oil and acrylic realism paintings was what I mainly did and I just left the webtoon and anime drawings up to the professionals. Then I decided to start, and I found out how much I actually enjoyed it. I didn't improve much, but I wasn't doing it everyday, so that was a given. But because of covid, I ended up practicing everyday since I didn't have much else to do, and I improved this much:

Summary

drawing 1.jpg1600x1600 673 KB
최다연.jpg1000x900 558 KB

And that was within the span of 2 ish years. You're about the same age as my younger brother who said he wants to get into art too but he's worried that he's too old to start. I told him this: If it's something you really want to do, you have to put in the effort and work, not wait around for your art to "improve". Art doesn't get better over time, it gets better with practice. I don't mean to be harsh but you just say, "your drawing skills are bad, they'll never improve." If you keep going with that mindset, you're never going to improve and you won't go anywhere. Have some faith in yourself, if you look at your four year old art vs now, there has to be at least one thing that improved about it.

sorible
May '21

sorry if I sound a bit aggressive, I just get frustrated when I see people who have potential give up. You never know, maybe in the future you could have a popular webcomic or manga or whatever. Just think of your goals and what you want, and aim for that. That's honestly how I motivated myself.

T4pasBelongsToKaka0
May '21
spiderbrahdfo13

I'll be honest with you, that was the case until at least early 2020, but with the whole pandemic, I'm not so sure anymore, maybe people are hungry for more money because of uncertain times, idk, good luck tho.

T4pasBelongsToKaka0
May '21
sorible

I know how you feel, pls don't give up Sorible :slight_smile:

liamnaughton7
May '21
spiderbrahdfo13

Okay, quick question though, if you don't mind me asking. Do you enjoy drawing? Not if you think you're good enough or whether you'll be successful at it but do you like it?

Puck
May '21

Don´t give up on collaborations.

When you form a team you need to find a common ground which you both love and both
are passionate about everything else will fade out after some time. This is what happened
to you with the artists and that´s why I also wrote to you in the other topic that I only want
to work with a writer who I have that common ground with and it doesn´t make any sense
to try and force yourself to write something you don´t love just to work together with someone.
The same goes for me as an artist, I can´t force myself to love to draw elves and dwarves when
I´m not into it and rather want to draw a funny erotic story playing in the real world (example)

I have been looking for a writer for 5 years now and I don´t give up, rough genre: crazy, european
style, funny, can be adventure, slice of life, erotic and I wrote with a lot of writers about it,
it´s hard to find a partner which fits, it´s hard for both sides.

And about the age thing, I started relearning to draw 6 years ago at the age of 40. I´m drawing
every day and I´m training every day, took me at least 5 years to be able to draw something which
doesn´t look ridiculous. I´m now getting a better grasp of perspective which really helps. I think
I will be good in another 4 years

I tried to learn to write but I´m not passionate about it, so I gave up, it doesn´t make sense to force
yourself when you don´t love it