What actually drives you to create?

[MeltingCORE]

This is a good question! My drive to create comes from my love of making stories. I've always been super into world-building (sci-fi worlds) and I just... wanted to be able to create cool things like the media I admired as a kid. (And still do!) It's also neat to be able to tell parts of my own life story but abstracted through science fiction characters/worlds. So, I've worked really hard to develop both my art and writing skills to tell all my different stories. My art has started to gain a wee bit of traction these past few years (I had several art pieces hit over 1K on Instagram recently) so that is a nice bonus. I personally don't create with the sole intention of making money. Do I monetize what I'm allowed too? Of course! Who wouldn't? But it's not the sole intention.

[Stargazer31]

I have loads of ideas floating around my head, and I want to make them physical!

[Macarenaoftime]

Two main things drive me to create:

1. The aesthetic
2. Spite

[Kelheor]

@Macarenaoftime you I like you.

[JaxonBlacc]

The answer's simple: self-indulgent.

[CarltonIsaac]

Wrong career choice /eyes

25 years and going strong, what could go wrong?.

[LCT_m_a_d]

To make people content.

[But_a_Jape]

I'm someone who has a lot of opinions and ideas about things - if neither you nor I stop me from doing otherwise, I can corner someone and talk for hours on end about those thoughts. I'm self-aware enough to know that, no matter how good your idea is, it's never going to sound engaging when condensed into a disorganized hours long rant. So instead, I'll write those ideas down or draw them out, so if I ever need to reference those thoughts to people, I can say "please refer to my writings on the matter" and show them my work. Of course, people don't really approach me for my thoughts on these things, so I just spam the internet with links to my comics.

[Shanny8]

Seeing the reaction of people looking at, reading, & enjoying media I create. Even more so when they come back for MORE(i.e., the next issue/chapter)

[TheGentleArtist]

That is one of the best feelings ^__^.

[Missapogee]

Well, I decided to do this to prove that I could, y'know? So whenever I feel like my work isn't good enough or it's too hard or I'm not gaining any followers so why am I bothering I just tell myself that this is my chance to really dig in and do something that I care about that takes a lot of effort, and I need to be willing to suffer a little for it.

Of course, you should still take a break if you're really tired. I had to stop letting myself draw past midnight because I just wasn't getting enough sleep

[allenT]

or make contents to people

[scribesunlimited]

People look at us and think, "They should be thinking about retirement, not making comics."

I guess we do it because we've both grown up in comics. I got my start writing stories for Weird Tales, and Paola wrote her masters thesis on comic censorship. It's not just a multi-billion industry we're all tapping into here. I'd LIKE to think a great majority of us want to create, because we've seen so many other people do it, they want to try it themselves. They grew up with comics just like we did, and maybe want to bring back some of their past, memories or dare I say it, their youth. That's why we ourselves do it, anyway.

[LCT_m_a_d]

meh... maybe "make contentment for people"

[migxmeg]

When I get low on "drawing comics is so fun" motivation, I think how I experience such joy when my favorite shows get another season or the next episode of the manga/webcomic I'm reading comes out. With enough practice and hard work I'm hoping to return a bit of that. But usually I want to be at my desk drawing anyway .

[kitschensyngk]

I've always been sort of an imaginative person.

I've had stories and characters trapped in my head, and making a comic was the only way to let them out.

[casts_a_shadow]

I often have those curious and sometimes doubtful thoughts about why I create these sorts of things. The quickest response I have is how natural it is. I am not designed for many other things. Creating what I create happens just as my lungs keep moving without me telling them to. I have to do it.

One of the biggest motivators I have is taking something that was but an idea in my head, just a neuron politely flaring up when I feel like I should be on some other task, and then turning that formless idea into something I can see, feel, hear etc. Something I can sense tangibly. Holding a comic I wrote still feels great. Seeing others look at them makes me feel like a proud parent.

[elpenor]

when people like the things I do

I honestly think this is the main reason people do things because otherwise you'd make something and then keep it to yourself

we are a social animal

[ble]

"Why am I doing this? Its late, and I could be sleeping, reading, watching something, or playing video games instead."

For me, the answer to that question is because in those options you're a watcher/spectator, and unless it's your job to critic or react to movies/series or review/stream videogames, no one will care that you do those things, but creating something may have more value or at least feel like is not a wasted day, idk.

[irresponsiblepics]

Creating makes me happy. I do it for myself. I'm selfish. Haha!
If people see it its a bonus. Anything else like wanting to make money from it or thinking it being a career is superfluous to me.
When I stop enjoying it I will stop making it.

Wellside Wishes | Tapas