Tapastic So awesome and my plight

[iamABLE]

So i went comic shopping through the list of comics hosted on the website and I only just realized how great this platform is and how many great stories and authors are on this website. In complete shock actually.

But the sad part is that ive been sitting on trying to create the very best story all these years and as a result haven't had anything to show for my love of art and comics... i admit that i am really scared not only about my art but especially about my stories... i rewrite and rewrite and give up and throw away .... and im stuck in this process and worrying myself over following cliches and creating the best work since insert great series here... any advice from you veterans need help?

incase your curious i can be found on the websites below...check it out if you wanna see my art

Art station: https://www.artstation.com/artist/iamable
Deviantart: http://lamable.deviantart.com/
Insta: https://www.instagram.com/iam_able/

[phen]

I totally agree with you on the amount of skill and hard work being put out by creators on this site! It is intense, there are so many of the most skilled storytellers and artists conglomerated here, it's really inspiring. And I believe that you would make an awesome addition to the monopoly, haha^^ Seriously, just going through your dA gallery, I see a wonderfully unique style and quite a keen eye for sequential art (your Zelda practise page submission is something else, man!).

Seeing a lovely painting style, tremendous facial designs (there are some distinctive visages in your gallery, love it!), and I think that if you enjoy crafting a story to your art, throw those worries to the curb! Cliches are nothing to get hung up on, use them to your advantage, and it's so important to keep that fire of bringing "the best" with you while you work. Neither of these issues are bad things, take them with stride! You can do it, yo, I really look forward to your comic!

[iamABLE]

thanks a lot for the kind words ... i guess its just the fact that i myself have put down comics with good art if the story wasnt a holder... its for that same reason i find myself favoring korean webtoons over manga these days...and i find that even the badly drawn one can still hold my attention

[Sanz]

Awe hi and welcome! I know what you mean when it comes to being fearful of sharing your stories and art. Im the same way...i was browsing and intimidated thinking "holy crap..this site is grand... Can i acutally do this?" let me tell ya put your fears aside and just do it nothing is impossible. EVERYONE here is so helpful and kind that you can ask almost anything and someone will be there. Plus plenty of threads on story writing too and you can ask to be reviewed and someone will be there. Its magical. Tapastic is magical.

[AnnaLandin]

<3

Re: your plight - one of the greatest things I ever did was decide to stop worrying about whether something was too pretentious/clichéd/not-awesome, and just start drawing/telling things I really, really wanted to do. So what if your work is a bit clichéd? So what if it isn't the greatest story ever told? It's going to be your story, and that matters more than anything else.

Yes, it's good to pay attention and make sure you aren't doing a direct rip-off of something (like, don't do Star Wars with the names changed, or Lord of the Rings only the elves have different haircuts, or whatever), but clichés are clichés for a reason. Use them, but think about why you're using them. What is it about them that you love? Pick those things out and go for it, and maybe get rid of the aspects you don't love as much.

If you still don't feel ready to take on the creation of a gigantic epic adventure of awesome (which is a LOT of work, and definitely something to prepare for), maybe try doing shorter stories first? Start with a little 15 page oneshot comic, and try out an idea you have. If it works, great! If it doesn't, put the oneshot aside and try something else. Work your way up to bigger and bigger ideas, and longer and longer stories, until you feel ready to take on the big one! It's what I've done, and it's worked out pretty well so far.

[shazzbaa]

Agree 100% with Anna!

Plus like, if you are a person who has an idea that you want to do, and then something in your brain goes "wait, no, that might be stupid," the best thing you can do is ignore that part of your brain and try it out anyway. Not only are clichés not terrible, but also, even the most original ideas often started out as cliches. A lot of my characters start out as stereotypes, and instead of going "oh no, I can't do that, it might be too stereotypical" I go "Okay cool, I enjoy this kind of character, let's see where this goes," and as I continue to write them and develop them, they get more and more depth!

If you shoot down every idea you have that's not a great idea, it'll never get a chance to BECOME a great idea.

Just write a story that you enjoy, that you want to read. Don't worry about a hypothetical audience that you imagine possibly not liking your story. Your story doesn't have to impress everyone! It just has to be one you can connect with.

[niinasalmelin]

It's very true! When I first got here I was v e r y pleasantly surprised about the quality of the works here. Makes me want to work harder as well. And I can say I understand your fear for your stories, since I still have those same thoughts about my stuff. But when it comes to your art, you have no worries on that regard. Just keep going, tell the stories you want to tell and learn from mistakes and feedback you'll recieve, you'll get better and find your audience. I can't say I'm a veteran tho since I've been here for only under a year, but we'll both make it

[hushicho]

Welcome!

Don't worry too much about retracing someone else's steps. You can have something that is similar to another story, but unless you set out to make it a retread, you're more likely to create something unique to your perspective, with the things that you include and the way you bring them together. People will always find things that remind them of other things they've experienced, but your story is your own. Even if it's a pastiche, homage, or satire, there will be elements that make it unique to your telling unless you take some significant effort to copy someone else.

For example, The Ring of the Nibelung and Lord of the Rings are both fantasy tales that revolve around a ring that tempts evil and ruin, but they are very, very different stories. I wouldn't be too concerned about being reminiscent of other stories unless you find yourself writing leitmotifs or having Legolas pop in.

[PotooGryphon]

In art college, one of my professors had a saying he'd use often on this common problem, "Shit, or get off the pot."

Now as vulgar and harsh as that might be, there is some validity behind it. A lot of artists are crippling perfectionists and extremely hard critics to themselves, however, the only way to gain experience to is do. It's important to do the artwork and post it (if that's the next step you want to take).

The beauty of webcomics are that it doesn't have to be perfect. In webcomics, artists/writers are free to experiment and play around with the medium. It's also possible in webcomics to later rework and update old pages (though I personally recommend to just proceed forward instead of looping back).

And Tapastic is the best site to test your comic making chops, because the community here is so kind and supportive. So with that, take a leap into your story, do the work to learn and grow from it, and share with others so they can enjoy your work and help motivate you to continue.

[elixiadragmire]

as per the norm everyone have given great advise and as the Great Boeuf said:

[elixiadragmire]

those weird poses ... he's freaky awesome

[iamABLE]

T_T Thanks all!!! great advice!!! I appreciate... i ll try to post something in the coming days and work on it from there thanks a lot

[Sanz]

Best inspriational speech ever. !!!!!

[gruetzi]

Oh, don´t be so worried to fail, you learn a lot when you make mistakes, so is not reason to fear them. Also, enjoy what you are creating, take time to experiment new things, and if is your first time, don´t try so hard to make the most epic saga of the whole world, you can start with something simple. Nobody can make something perfect the first time

And the most importatn, have fun! and enjoy your work, do things becouse you love to do it. And remember, nobody can make something perfect the first time, so relax !

[carloswebcomic]

Well, I spent the better part of 10 years trying to come up with a comic. I would write, then re-write, then have a false start, then write some more. One day in 2003, without planning, I drew a page, uploaded it and was shocked to see that I was getting about 20 hits a day. AMAZING!
I was even more shocked to see my readership go from a few dozens to a few hundred, then from a few hundred to a few thousands for something I pulled out of my bum.

I guess what I'm saying is that sometimes you just need to stop arguing with yourself, put your head down and just start drawing.

[iamABLE]

yes senpai ! @carloswebcomic @gruetzi

[hushicho]

This is pretty much my experience too, though I never went to an art school myself: one must do, and make peace with something, and then let it go. It's important to do, even if you never publish it, even if you never end up pursing that idea, because the time spent doing is time spent learning. You are bettering yourself and developing your skills whenever you do something.

Also a little caveat: don't be tempted to go back and redo things. Make your peace and let them go. It's far too easy to get into the trap of "my style has developed, I should redo this" because by the time you're done redoing that, there will always be something else that tempts you to redo it. It never ends, and it keeps you from doing new things.

I hope this will help!

[VermillionWorks]

Yes, it's already been said here, but trying to be "the first to do this" or "the first to defy this cliche" is what make things a pain in the ass. I used to reboot and reboot my old comic based on this mindset and based on people's opinions of my characters. It's a horrible, frustrating circle to be stuck in.

You may decide to make a story about a group of badass, cliche-defying female super heroes, for example, but if you find yourself unable to get into the characters or theme and are just disinterested with everything you write/think up, then perhaps a badass superhero lady story isn't really your thing, and if you try to stick with it just to be the first to do something, you'll get bored with it very quickly. XP If you just don't feel inspired by the idea, then it may not be really for you.

It's good to explore different concepts though, because even if it doesn't work out, it may stir up new ideas for something else!

Don't be too afraid of the cliches, embrace the ones you love and work with them rather than doing everything in your power to prevent them from occuring. Revisit your old favorite media, try to figure out what gets you the most excited and inspired.

Write the story you never got to see as a movie. If you enjoy your story, it'll reflect more in the writing, partially cliched or otherwise.

[Aspie_Gamer]

Just do it. No really...just do it. No more waiting. No second guessing yourself over whether your art is "good enough" because in my experience the only way it will get "good" is to start drawing on a regular basis and that encompasses comic making. As for the writing, you may want to check out TV Tropes. Get a sense of how certain creators use certain writing tropes. The main thing to know about writing is to write for yourself first and foremost. Worrying about what others think about your work and sometimes you as a writer will just cripple your self esteem in the long run. If they like it then they like it. If they don't, that's also fine. You aren't here to please everybody. Hope this helps

[hushicho]

Yeah, trying to be the first to do something is usually pretty pointless anyway because most likely, you aren't the first to the concept, just maybe the first to bring it together in that specific way. There are a lot of concepts that are just unworkable in a long-term story, or you won't feel as fond of them very long; there are others that may not be something you're really passionate enough about to make the best story it can be, so being "first" can be kind of pointless.

I don't know how many of you saw that funny (and, at times, sad) list of "100 worst adult movie titles" a while back, but one of those that stuck with me was the hilariously-titled Adventures of the Fart Bitches, which I later found out was a superhero-themed film with essentially evil women whose flatulence had the power to kill people. Which of course happened, as you might expect, after having intimate relations with them.

So someone had to come up with this concept, it had to be greenlit, funded, cast, written, rehearsed, filmed, edited, produced (with effects!) and marketed -- and there was a market for it, because it was successful enough to persist in some form until the modern day, where its title was found, amused someone compiling a list, and put on a list. I mention this because, while it's ridiculous in title and concept, it is an example of something that I can only imagine was a "first", and it makes me feel like, if it can exist and do its thing and be even a remote success, I can surely achieve some of my goals in life.

But no judgement -- as ridiculous as it is, it's something someone clearly had enough interest in and thought there was enough market for to go through with it. That's a not inconsiderable amount of work.

So I guess what I'm trying to say is, do your thing, and if it's a "first", then it's a "first", and if it's not, then it's not, but don't do something just for the sake of trying to be "first" or "original". It may not even be something you want to be attached to or remembered for, and if you don't really care about it, then you really don't want to be the person who, years later, is remembered as "the guy that did Adventures of the Fart Bitches". If that's what you want, though, go for it! It's far better to be remembered for something you love -- even if others don't understand the appeal -- than to be unable to shake the attachment of something you grew to hate.

If you have passion for even something kind of pastiche, kind of outmoded, kind of last season...bring your passion to it and bring it to life and share the reasons why you love it, through your writing. You can get people enthusiastic if you bring your love for the material and share it with them, whether or not it's a new idea. And it will always, guaranteed, be new to some of your audience, no matter how much you personally have been exposed to it. You will almost certainly be someone's first experience with something that you yourself may have seen dozens of times over your life, because you were looking for it and enjoy it already.

Just some things to think on! I hope I haven't been too incoherent.